The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1907-10-25

ern religion. China now knows that
Christianity is here to sta y, force to
be permanently reckoned with. This
Is an Unreasonable gain for missions.
by the Wiping out of mission work
IN North China. all the tactical mis-.
takes OF missions were obliterated.
The missionaries were enabled to
map out an entirely new plan of cam
paign. With the wisdom of expert
ence. the most strategical places alone
were reoccupied. A readjustment Of
forces and methods followed, which
mas borne fruit in markedly in.
creased success.
The Empress and the American,
; For the reasons enumerated, and be-
cause OF the spirit of progress which
was impaired to China at the bay
onet's point, the converts of the mis-
sionaries have not only been
more numeruns. since 1900, but
also of hiHter class as well.
Before that time, while much
too much-was said about. the
favor of Ii Hung Chang, of the pre-
sentation Of. Bibles to thu empress, ct
cetera, the fact remains that the mis-.
sions were reaching practically only
the lowest class If Chinese. The
rice Christian was'rfar: more In EVIL
dence than to-day. Now the sons and
daughters of the highest officials at
tend mission schaols. The social
standing Of the mi.sinary has vastly
improved. In Tupg Chow. for in
stance, the proportion of gentry be-
longing to the church far exceed3 the
proportion in the community at large
This state of affairs runs right up
to the top. Probably no foreigners.
certainly no foreign woman, has met
the empress dowager so often as Mrs
I. T. Headland, one of the Methodist
missionaries in Picking. On one occa-
sion Miss Sheffield, of Tung Chow,
met the empress, and that shrewd old
woman, who seems never. to forget q
friend or forgive an enemy, asked,
Are you the daughter of DR.. D. T.
Sheffield, of the American board, who
was so kind TO Prince So-and-So, AMI
treated him and his house so honor
ably during the. foreign occupation?"
Upon learning that her surmise was
correct, the empress sent grateful
messages to DR.. and Mrs Sheffield,
and the other American board mis-
sionaries. whose conduct had been so
greatly the reverse of looting that
they had saved tho lives and prop
erty of one of the imperial princes
When, shortly afterward, Miss Shelf
field was married to DR.. Steele, of the
same mission, the empress sent her
sumptuous presents. 1t is said, by the
way, that the empress has richly re-
warded all who assisted her in that
hurried flight from the palace at the
approach of the allies. =
Rubbing Clothes with Murderers.
The world has never learned either
the full extent of the horrors of the
atrocities perpetrated by the Boxers
and the allied soldiers (these last hav.
ing violated every law of God and
mani, or of the part played by the
missionaries in the siege of Picking.
On the former point consideration for
the feelings Of the families and
friends of the martyred missionaries
has prevented a full recital Of the in.
dignities to which their bodies wers
subjected.
The magnanimity and the courage
of the missionaries now working at
the scene of the Boxer troubles are
beyond praise. They show no resent
ment, but only forgiveness. For the
sake of these murderers of thei:
friends the missionaries are giving
their lives. And they are unafraid,
although they are not blind to their
danger. They know full well that Il
is only the dread of the merciless and
all-devastating foreign troops which
keeps the Chinese from falling upon
them again. At Paoting-fu we were
entertained at the Presbyterian COM
pound, and Miss, Gowans, a quiet,
sweet-faced, serene-eyed little woman
from Canada, gave up her own room
to us. Something was said about the
attractively simple white furniture.
1T is all made from packing cases
and boxes" came the quiet rejoinder.
"You know 1 lost, everything. in the
troubles, and I did not think it would
be right, considering the possibility
of similar experience, to put in more
expensive furniture" That was the
\only allusion made by Miss Gowans to
the presence of danger. and she itinen
ates freely out in the country; yet sha
lives, unruftled in spirit, in the con.
slant presence of the realized possi.
bility of following her friends to Z
martrydom.
Copyright. 1907. by Joseph E. Bowles.>
One Cause of Drowning.
Renewed attention has been called
to the probable explanation Of many
cases Of drowning that was some
years ago advanced by DR.. Lowrie, a
British physician, as a result Of his
own experience. After cycling GA a
hot day, he took a swim in cold water,
and was soon seized with headache,
:dizziness and drowsiness, while mus.
;cular effort became feeble and slug
rrio1, II = -