Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-12-24
BY WILLIAM +, ELLIS.

BY WILLIAM T, ELLIS.
Some persons think OF China as y
land where laundering is the princl.
pal business. Others recall, instructive.
~. ,pig-tails and rats, and upside
down customs. A few. wiser, know
China as tho land of teeming hordes--
four hundred MILLIONS of population =
and as OF social inertness and indit-
ference TO he outside world. Only the
most alert are aware III The present
weakening hat is Transforming China
The new birth of q nation is NOR"
than political event; it is OF mos
personal and vital imru: ,ancp 10 mnl
titu1es OF individuals.
China has he center of the worlds,
international stage. Fer name is syn
orymous with the awakening OF the
East. II is OF interest to note. during
he recent Church Federation Conven
,tion in Philadelphia. that almost all
the speakers who alludsd TO mission
lands or missionary conditions, spoke
cu'v OF China. Thai great nation.
with its powerful appeal 10 tho mag
iHation. is taking StlOng hold Of tie
thought Of leaders in religious poli.
/, tics. Ard within five years TIE rank
and file Of people throughout the
length and breadth Of civilization will
he aware of the greatness Of the
change tina; has come over the Middln
Kingdom.
j The ve12 san;c forces that make
over an American or n Briton are
needed to make over a Chinese.
Much fun has been poked al China
for it's attitude toward foreigners,
whom it has hitherto called foreign
devils. The ChineEe really have be
Iieved that tho white man is a differ.
being from themselves. After all,
though. has Ire attitude Of Western
people toward China been very differ
ont? in self-comDlacency and invuner-
able superiority? BY his attitude ard
by his conduct. the FOREIGNER fro
& cuentlv shows Il spirit even WORSE
hon thst nr tho Chinese who cry
foreign devil" after tho white man
on the streets.
j The newspapers Of China are at
once an evidence end an instrument
Of the nations regeneration. They are
q fearless. fighting force for the new
day. They attack the ancient abuses
and set forth the claims of the new
order. They portray the nature Of fhe
Western learning" and show it's adj
vantages for China. These editors arc
patriots, and their honor will De great
in a coming day. Already they share
with the new schools the distinction
of being the most effective public edu
ators. In the leading cities Of the EN-
pire may be found public reading halls
where the days newspaper il read Il
those who cannot read for themselves
and there lectures upon modern sci
ences are given. In Picking there i
even comic journal. devoted to pro
gress and reform. which fearlessls
caricatures existing evils. In the same
city is published a Woman's Daily
which is powerful factor in bringing
about the new order.
i New life for a nation, as for an in
4 dividual, cannot be put on from th'
outside, like a garment 1t must be
growth from within.
Somebody with graphic pei
should write the story OF the new edu
cation in China. It is a romance. II
. picturesoueness, in portentousness
) and in its deep revealing Of an OLE
nations .new-found consciousn ess
has no analogy in history, except. OF
a smaller scale, the case Of Japan
) China has long spurned the Western
learning. Now-haying been taught j,
the fiery school of the Boxer days, il
the bitter experience Of the territoria
rapacity Of the stronger nations, ant
in innumerable humblings OF an ar
cient pride the whole people hav
set themselves to acquire the way
and wisdom of the west. So by thous
81 andS young men have been sen