The Republican journal., 1909-08-19
The Mission Mail Bag.
THE WORK OF COMMERCE.


Since the dreaded s'tick fever" has at
tackled the cattle of South Africa, mis-
sionaries in Natal are receiving milk
from st. Charles, ILL.,, butter from Aus
tralia; and beef, if they have any,
reaches them via. Chicago. Commerce
has made the world one neighborhood.
It is the work of Christianity to make it
one brotherhood.
A CHINESE DOCTOR.
Medical missionaries in China say that
the natives will bear without flinching a
degree Of pain from which the stoutest
of us would shrink in terror. A woman
in Shao-wu, afflicted with an ulcer Of the
leg, was treated by native doctor.
One day he came to the mission hospital
to show the physician in charge a
''string' which he calmly announced he
had pulled from the wound. 1t was the
sciatic nerve! To people suffering from
such barbarous methods, and to whom
anasthetics are unknown, the merciful
methods of foreign doctors in the mis-
sion hospitals seem like miracles.
UNDESIRABLE CITIZENS.
Among the undesirable citizens" in
Turkey just now are some Armenians
coming back from the United States inn
bued with false ideas of freedom gather
ed from residence in this country. They
confound liberty with license, and main
tain that Christianity makes a people
too lnoffensive to protect itself. They
say this is the cause of their own politi-
cal weakness. 1t is hard for the young
Turk party to have this troublesome ele-
ment added to the difficulties they are
graphing with, and American mission
aries, who have constantly taught gos-
pei of obedience to law, regret that their
own country should furnish this type of
undesirable citizen.
THE AMERICAN DOCTOR IN CHINA.
The province of Shansi, China, with a
population of over 100000 offers an
inviting field to the Christian physician.
DIR. w. A. Hemingway, a medical mis-
sionary of the American board, has a
small hospital at Tai-ku where he treated
2,17 cases last year, besides large
number of dispensary patients. He is
not troubled with rivals, the nearest hos
pital on the north being IS miles distant,
on the east and south $50 miles, while on
the west there is none nearer than
Persia! With only two Chinese assist
ants and two native men nurses DR..
Hemingway has accomplished wonders
since he went out in 1903. Shansi men
are famous all over China for their bust
ness ability, especially as bankers. But
the entire province, once wealthy, is
cursed with the opium habit, and many
of its victims come to this hospital for
treatment. The price of the drug has
doubled lately, thus forcing the poor to
abandon it's use, and the law is rigidly
enforced that the poppy shall not be
planted, nor opium brought into the
province from outside. DIR. Hemingway
is graduate Of the medical school con-
nected with the University of Chicago.
AS OTHERS SEE US.
A missionary in Foochow who has taken
two Chinese boys into his home as help
ers, in order to give them chance to
earn money for their education, finds
them as full Of mischief as boys every
where. One of them was curious to see
how foreign ink worked, and the result
was that large rug was completely
spoiled. The day of their arrival they
could scarcely eat, in their astonishment
at the table customs of this strange
American family. They wondered why
on earth one man divided the food and
gave a portion to the others. Why did
he not put it in the middle of the table
and let each take what he wanted? Was
he afraid they would quarrel over it?
And why did they use white cloth and
''table handkerchiefs?" To these young
observers it seemed foolish to have so
many dishes, knives, forks and spoons
when two chopsticks and a bowl would
be much more convenient. Then it must
be a lot of bother to put so many things
on the table three times day, and what
was it all for any way? Such were some
of the questions that arose in the minds
of these bright boys. But few weeks
residence in Christian home opened
their eyes to the value of many things
that at first seemed useless and mysteri-
GUS. There are about 10000 Chinese
students in Christian schools scattered
throughout that empire who are being
trained to be future leaders in the indus
trial, political and moral life of the new
China.
"BLUEBERRY TIME IN MAINE.