Norwich bulletin., 1909-06-05

four points OF the compass, as signi-
tying that he war ncttparticulsr which
direction the rain came from, so that
it did come. And his prayer was grant,
ed The rain came in such quaRti-
ties that, six weeks later, there was
talk Of having the emperor go back
to the temple and and pray that the
downpour might 'let up And mean
while, while the emperor at Picking
was 6evoutly praying for rain, the
southern provinces were being devas-
tated by food, consequently the vice.
roys of Southern China were ordering
out their praying men to offer up their
invocations for less rain and more dry
weather. This. 1 suppose, would have
been considered by some OF the New
York dtvineS as a severe test OF the
prayer guase." though in all probable
ity those poor fellows struggling in tie
floods were more Interested in the
rain gauge" than anxious about the
prayer gauge" However. / believe the
prayers at both ends OF the empire
were answered. Only, the fellows with
the subscriptions for the sufferers by
floods got north before those with the
subscriptions for those who suffered
by drought coHld get south, conse-
quently some i'll feeling was created.
The emperor's prayers are usually
effective. / remember another occa-
sion when the snow had been holding
off so long that the emperor took the
matter in hand. He went to the Tenn
pie of Heaven and at midnight prayed
fervently to the heather god who is
supposed to have charge of the snow
supply. In about a week the snow
came, and the Chinese were jubilant
over the answer to the prayer.
Many letters came to the consulate
from boys asking for foreign stamps.
recoliect receiving one that was
rather out of the common. The boy
lived IN BPattleboro. Vermont / sent
him letter with the stamps he wish
de. his reply acknowledging the re-
cetpt he wrote that he was engaged in
cleaning bird cage one morning when
some one brought him letter Just ar
rived In the post, saying, Here's a
letter for you, but I don't know whom
1t is from" The boy said he dropped
his bird cage. tore open the envelope
and pile of stamps fell out. With
out waiting to pick UP the cage he
rushed into his fathers room to show
him his stamps. The latter asked
him. But where Is the letter." The
boy said that in his glee over the
stamps he had not noticed the letter,
but when he read 1t he concluded IL
was equal to the stamps. He also
told me that his mother was a sister
SL jim FISK VINO was murdered by
''the blackguard Stokes" About the
same time another Yankee boy wrote
to me, asking if there were any oppor-
tunity to sell stamps in China, which
was quite in contrast with the Brat
tleboro boys request
The Marquis Tseng paid me an in
formal call when he was in Tien-tsin.
and 1t was quite delightful to me 10
talk toA Chinese dfgnitary without
the interminable interpreter. The
marquis spoke admirable English and
though in his travels he had been re-
eeivec by European royalties and min
gled with the nobility of many lands
he seemed TO have no very strong idea
Of his own Importance. He entertin-
ed most enlarged views, and desired
to bring about important changes in
the management of Chinese affairs In
appearance, though a thorough China
man, his features had more of a Eu-
ropean cast than those Of the Chinese
one sees at home.
Colonel Denbys tour of inspection OF