Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1910-03-04


lies where mission work was conduct
cd before the massacres, there is nc
mission work now, although the mis-
sonary force has been increased
similarly, for years after the troubles
IT was found that inquirers concerning
the Jesus way" who had been reached
trough the street chapels, medical
work and otherwise, were forcibly pre-
vented by their families and friends
ION having anything to do with the
church. All this is contrary to the ex-
yectation and preconceptions OF
Christendom; but the truth is more
sacred than any theory.
Wherein the Boxers Failed.
Certain manifest results from the
hoXer days are apparent. AS already
stated, that uprising, which was pri-
marily directed against Christians and
secondarily against all foreigners, was
futile attempt to stamp out the west
ern religion. China now knows that
Christianity is here to stay, force to
be permanently reckoned with. This
is an unreasonable gain for missions
BY the wiping out of mission work
in North China, all the tactical mis-
takes of missions were obliterated
The missionaries were enabled to
map out an entirely new plan Of cam
paign. With the wisdom of expert
enc1, the most strategical places alone
were reoccupied. A readjustment OF
forces and methods followed which
has borne fruit in a markedly in
creased success.
The Empress and the American.
For the reasons enumerated, and be
cause of the spirit of progress which
was Impaired to China at the bay
onet's point, the converts of the mis-
sionaries have not only been
more numerous, since 1900, but
also of higher class as we'll
Before that time, while much
too much-was said about the
favor of Lii Hung Chang, of the pre-
sentation Of Bibles to the empress, et
cetera, the fact remains that the mis-
sions were reaching practically only
the lowest class of Chinese. The
rice Christian" was far more In evi.
dence than to-day. Now the sons and
daughters of the highest officials at
tend mission schools. The social
standing of the missinary has vastly
improved. In Tung Chow, for in
stance the proportion of gentry be.
longing toSthe church far exceeds the
proEortionsin the community at large
This state of affairs runs right up
to the top. Probably no foreigners
certainly no foreign woman, has met
the empress dOWager so often as Mrs
I. T. Headland, one of the Methodist
missionaries in Peking. On one occa
SIGN Miss Sheffield, of Tung Chow
met the empress, and that shrewd old
woman, who seems never to forget a
friend or forgive an enemy, asked
Are you the daughter of DR.. d. z
Sheffield, CT the American board, who
was so kind to Prince So-and-So, and
treated him and his house so honor
ably during the foreign occupation
Upon learning that her surmise was
correct. the empress sent grateful
messages TO DR.. and Mrs. Sheffield
and the other American board mis-
sor aries. whose conduct had been sc
greatly the reverse of footing thai
they had saved the lives and prop
erty of one of the imperial princes
When. shortly afterward, Miss Shelf
field was married to DR.. Steele, of the
same mission. the empress sent hel
sumptuous presents. 1t is said, by the
way, that the empress has richly re
warded all who assisted her in tha
hurried flight from the palace at the
approach of the allies,
Rubbing Clothes with Mufderers.
The world has never learned either
the full extent of the horrors of the
atrocities perpetrated by the Boxer:
and the allied soldiers (these last hav
ing violated every law of God anC
mani, or of the part played by the
missionaries in the siege of Picking
On the former point consideration fol
The feelings of the families anC
friends of the martyred missionarie!
has prevented full recital of the in
dignities to which their bodies were
subjected.
The magnanimity and the courage
of the missionaries now working a
the scene of the Boxer troubles are
beyond praise. They show no resent
ment, but only forgiveness. For the
sake of these murderers of thei
friends the missionaries are giving
their lives. And they are unafraid
although they are not blind to thei
danger. They know full we'll that i
is only the dread of the merciless ant
all-devastating foreign troops which
keeps the Chinese from falling upor
them again. At Paoting-fu we were
entertained at the Presbyterian com
pound, and Miss Gowans, a quiet
sweet-faced, serene-eyed little woman
from Canada, gave up her own room
to u.s. Something was said about the
attractively simple white furniture
1T is all made from packing case!
and boxes" came the quiet rejoinder
You know l lost everything in the
troubles, and | did not think it would
be right, considering the possibility
of similar experience, to put in more
expensive furniture That was the
only allusion made by Miss Gowans tt
the presence of danger. and she timer
ates freely out in the country; yet she
lives, unruffled in spirit, in the con
slant presence of the realized posi-
bility of following her friends to {
martrydom,
Copyright, 1907, by Joseph B. Bowles.)
Sweet is revenge-especially q
women.-ByrOn.
:.
Noah's Animals.