Norwich bulletin., 1909-06-05

cessity, but so as to have their cloth
ing taken care Of as the poor have no
closets in their houses.
The little missionary children, cons
and daughters of the missionaries, did
not seem to know how to play ais the
other children of Tien-tsin did. I was
surprised to discover how few chill
dren's games they knew. Sometimes
thought the missionaries were max
ing q mistake in devoting all their
best energies to the conversion of the
Chinese and permitting their own Httle
ones to grow up in Ignorance of the
joys of childhood. 1t is true the chill
dren were well bred and all that, and
looked with amazement on the rollick-
ing sports of those outside the fold,
but it seemed to me it would have been
human nature for them to ask them
selves why they had never been taught
those innocent pastimes, and in trying
to solve the problem 50 strange 10 them
they might be apt to conclude that
life is too short to spend the sunshine
of youth amid the gloom Of Puritanical
discipline.
Ali who belong to the Taylor mission
adopt the Chinese costume and wear
the queue. Their labors are in the in
terror, away from the open ports, and
where they are completely isolated
from associations with civilized So
ciesy. If they are not more in earnest
or more conscientious than those who
labor at the seaports, they certainly
make more of a sacrifice. The Taylor
mission was founded by a Mr.. Taylor,
who started out alone, without any
society aid whatever and depended en-
tirely on the voluntary contributions
of his friends for the means to prose-
cute his labors. He had an abiding
faith in the promises of Him who said:
go We into ell the world and preach
the gospel to every creature" and as a
result Of that faith the Tailor mis-
sion, at least when wes In China, was
considered the most successful Of the
Chinese missions. Some of the young
men who came out to join the mission
held gospel meetings in Shanghai, and
the Rev. Mr.. Smith, rector of the ca
thedral there, astonished the people Of
his charge by acknowledging that I'M
til attending the meetings of these
missionaries he had not known,as he
expressed It, what It was to have
found Christ" Surely, it was said, II they
be instrumental In converting clergy
men Of the Church of England, they
ought to be greatly encouraged in their
work.
But. one very excellent young man
who was agent for one Of the steam
ship companies. was persuaded by the
MN CAOQuCAl VI lAlC ILllBll51 IllSSlOIl-
aries TO throw up his position because,
as Stanley Smith said, he could not be
a Christian and do work on Sunday,
even when the work was an impera-
tive necessity in the estimation of his
employers. After the excitement of
the revival had passed over the young
man would have withdrawn his resig-
nation gladly, but his successor was
then en- the way, SO he found himelf out
an r1I.N Ia
asm evaporated. Such missionary labor
may be all right, but to me it seemed
all wrong.
A Catholic institution at Hankow
provided for some six hundred chill
dren of all ages, boys as well as girls.
They taught the children not only re-
ligion, but also instructed them in
weaving, spinning, knitting, hraidtng
straw and embroidering, with music
and languages for those who exhibited
talent in these directions. The earn
ings of the inmates. was told, went
far towards making the institution
The cost for the food
and clothing of each of the embryonic
missionaries was not more than three
cents a day. AS they matured and
opportunities presented themselves
they were sent into the interior to
propagate the religion they had been
taught. Just such institutions are In
operation in most of the large cities of
China. Most of them were established
by French Catholics and previous to
1870 there was one in Tien-tsin known
as the Sisters Ophanage. But on the
twenty first Of June in that year an
Infatuated Chinese mob murdered all
the sisters and burned the building to-
gether with the hospital and cathedral,
killing the French consul and others
Of that nationality. When I was in
IIen-tsin the walls of the cathedral
were standing just as the confiagra-
ton had left them fifteen years before.
Sir Thomas Francis Wade, then Brit
ish minister at Picking, in his dispatch
to the Earl of Clarendon giving a re-
port of the cause and results, did, not
lay the blame entirely, upon the Chi
nese. On the contrary, he said the
sisters and priests had largely brought
it upon themselves by a system of
kidnaping children. The creduIous
Chinese came to believe that the eyes
and hearts of the children were taken
out to be made into charms for be-
witching people, though one would
suppose infants could not become very
efficient missionaries minus eyes and
hearts.
From all that heard and read about
the various missions in China. it is
my firm belief that this people VIII
continue right on living IN the re-
ligion they have lived for two thou
sand five hundred years. even If the
whole evangelical church of Europe
and Aemrica were turned adrift in the
empire and told to wade in" Nor do
7 bsGsSe chat al tfss conversion that