The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1907-10-24

Nih iSiSlOu. Culnd now KNOWS tndt
Christianity is here to stay, a force tO
be permanently reckoned with. This
Is an lmmeasurable 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
has borne fruit in a 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 numerous, since 1900, but
also of a higher 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 the empress, ct
cetera, the fact remains that the mis-
sions were reaching practically only
the lowest class of Chinese. The
rice Christian" was far more in evil
dence than to-day. Now the sons and
daughters of the highest officials at.
tend mission schools. The social
standing of the missinary has vastly
| improved. In Tung Chow, for in.
stance, the proportion of gentry be-
longing to the church far exceeds 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
[. T. Headland, one Of the Methodist
missionaries in Peking. On one occa-
sion Miss Sheffield, of Tung Chow,
met the empress and that shrewd old
woman, who seems never to forget a
friend or forgive an enemy, asked,
Are you the daughter Of DR.. D. 2
Sheffield, of the American board. who
was so kind to Prince So-and-So, and
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 sc
greatly the reverse Of looting thai
they had saved the lives and prop
erty, of one of the imperial princes
When, shortly afterward, Miss Shef
field was married TO DR.. Steele, of thu
same mission, the empress sent he
sumptuous presents. 1t is said, by tn
way, that the empress has richly re
warded all who assisted her in tha
hurried flight from the palace at tn
approach of the allies.
Rubbing Clothes with Murderers.
The world has never learned eithe
the full extent of the horrors OF tn
atrocities perpetrated by the RcKe:
and the allied soldiers (these last hay
ing violated every law of God an
mani, or of the part played by tn
missionaries in the siege of Pekins
On the former point consideration fo
the feelings of the families an
friends of the martyred missionarie
has prevented a full recital of the il
dignities to which their bodies wer
subjected.
The magnanimity and the courag
of the missionaries now working g
the scene of the Boxer troubles ar
beyond praise. They show no resen
ment, but only forgiveness. For tn
. sake Of these murderers of the
friends the missionaries are givin
: their lives. And they are unafraiC
| although they are not blind to the
' danger. They know full well that
5 is only the dread of the merciless an
{ aIl-devastating foreign troops whic
keeps the Chinese from falling upo
them again. At Paoting-fu we wei
| entertained at the Presbyterian cor
pound, and Miss Gowans, a quie
: sweet-faced, serene-eyed little woma
from Canada, gave up her own roo
= to US. Something was said about tt
,, attractively simple white furnitur
:, 1T is all made from packing cast
= and boxes" came the quiet rejoinde
"You know l lost everything in Il
troubles, and l did not think it wou
be right, considering the possibilit
!, of similar experience, to put in mo-
expensive furniture" That was tt
- only alfusion made by Miss Gowans
! the presence Of danger. and she itine
a ates freely out in the country; yet 81
q lives, unruffled in spirit, in the co
!, slant presence of the realized pos
q bility of following her friends to
II martrydom.
Copyright, 1907, by Joseph B. Bowlss
- Ina