Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1910-03-18


IN change, had change been required.
On that very occasion | discovered.
by the refusal of a Chinese to accept
III, that | had one of the innumerable
counterfeit coins with which the land
IS Hooded When | threw it into the
river the surrounding Chinese plainly
100 ied as if they thought that l should
De thrown after it, as fool and a
mailman. Simple honestly in most
matters seems beyond the Chinese
ken, although they have a scrupulous-
ness about keeping contracts once
made, and about fulfilling trusts,
which has been frequently and justly
praised
No Work for Cupid.
one day certain native pastor was
pointed out to me as a man who really
loved his wife This was considered
so rare as to be noteworthy. Mar
rage here is a matter of barter and
convenience. Yesterday l dired with
progressive official whose head wife
sat at table with US, in concession
10 western ways, While his three sub
ordinate wives stood around the
Dom, or peeIed ii, at the doorway.
ald two OF his pretty little slave girS
waited On the table The family feel
ing, or rather clan feeling, is not
based primarily on affection, but
mutual self-interest. The quarrel
someness of the Chinese family is
patent to the ears of every resident.
If any one thinks that the ordinary
Chinese woman, especially after she
becomes a mother-inlaw, is a crushed
and down-trodden sister, he should
hear her in action for five minutes.
No man is better able to look out for
himself than this same small-footed
creature.
The absence of anything approach
ing the home life known to America
or Great Britain is conspicuous fact
about China. The cities are noisy,
not with traffic, for they have none, of
our ear-splittins western sort, but
with the perpetual and everywhere
present sounds of sQuabbling and
strife. Here it is Every man for him.
self, and the devil take the hinder
most. Only yesterday as rode
along the street in a rickshaw, l saw
a grown man trying to steal a bundle
OF old straw fuel from a group of tots
whose ages must have ranged from
fonr TO eight. And the furious fashion
il which they were assailing him
bowed how early young China learns
to look out for itself China is a
synonym for selfshness.
Il all these observations | have not
had out of mind the virtues Of the
Chtnese-their patience, their indus
try, their frugality, the obedience 70
authority and their respect for the
s'ablished order. All these have
Z Ell magnified in their place. The
present design is simply to point out
certain deficiencies which Christian
ia. ideally, at least, would remedy.
Missionaries would not be wanted in
China, but they are needed
Are the Christians Better?
\ study of the facts compels the
statement that in the case of many ma
tive converts these Objectionable Chi
nese charac teristics have been elm
mated showing that Christianity
really has the power to make over the
people. From one viewpoint this Is
the cruX OF the missionary question.
Are these converts genuine? Do they
display the virtues which are COM
monty supposed to accompany the
Christian religion?
While it is true, as the oldest liv-
ing missionary to the Chinese said to
me recently, that There are more
heather in China to-day than there
wee when Robert Morrison began
work 100 years ago." owing to the in
crease in population, yet there is also
a body of native Christians whose
faith is ineradicable The Boxer
movement convinced China that
Christianity among her people is here
to stay, and cannot be stamped out
These native ChristiAls are for the
most part sincere and steadfast. Sub
tracing all those who may in any way
be called rice Christians" and who.
so far as l can ascertain, are a de-
cided minority, there remains a body
of men and women who have been
made over by Christianity. The light
in their faces alone is enough 10 mark
them. Repeatedly, in various parts
of the empire, l have seen hundreds
such; some have come to know per.
sonally. The unpleasant traits of
heir fellow countrymen which have
Just been enumerated have been cast
off by them; they bear the marks by
which sincere disciples of the Naza-
rene have been distinguished il ali
ages.
Slow, hard and discouraging are
the labors of the missionary, but
handful of such converts are his re-
ward. Despite the dead weight of
inertia which continually confronts
him. and the more or less active op-
position and hostility of the people as
we'll, he is steadily winning his way.
underwriting the foundations OF the
old creeds, disseminating a new spir-
it of understanding, tolerance and
sympathy among the people, and pre-
pairing for the advent of that day,
whose dawning he confidently ex-
poets, when the century of Gospel
seed-sowing in China will bear fruit
in a great harvest Of conversions.
Copyright, by Joseph B. Bowles.)
fiis Sunday.