The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1910-03-18
KNITTING CHINA TOGETHER
An American Woman Who Is Caring
for Chinese Mntes.


going to pack a lunch basket and go |
up and have a picnic on the Great |
Wall of China and come back by the !
evening train" said Mrs. c. X.
! Mills
/ Mrs. Mills, who is staying with
/ her daughter at 1S1 East Seventy
/ first street, New York City, has spent
the last twenty-five years in China,
where she conducts the only school
1 for deaf mutes in that country. Just
before her return to America a few
months ago she took a trip of g.,
GOO miles through China. visiting
sixteen of the largest cities, travel
ling by river boats, coast steamers
and railway
"To cross China by rail was very
strange sensation to me-" said she
in describing the journey, after
travelling, as | have for twenty-five
years past in China, on donkeyback,
in sedan chair or a Pekin cart.
This century will see the completion
of 100000 miles of railroad in
China. Four thousand miles are
now completed and 5000 more are
in process of construction.
What the railroad means to
China no foreigner can conceive. II
is knitting the whole country to-
gether, making it homogeneous in
way it never was before. The num-
Der of Chinese who travel by rail
is remarkable. The third class cars
are always crowded, the second
class are hardly less so, and even
the first class are filled with the
official class in their silks, satins and
furs.
The Chinese like to travel. They
take it calmly and arrive at their
, destination as fresh and cool as when
, they started. The trains are on
T time too, without any of the fuss
+ and confusion which seems to be
= necessary here Everything moves
t smoothly.
2 THE journey from Pekin to Han
/ kow can be taken in great comfort.
There is dining car attached, or
r you can buy good food through the
/ window from statesmen on the plat
= form I bought a whole roast chick
f en- for IA cents in this manner
) licu Il Ftls 9OOu luAlNA SCI 'Ch ~ III y
r own comparement from the diner
= for 50 cents.
= From Pekin you go north to the
0 Ming tombs by short railroad built
|, entirely by the Chinese under the
. direction of young man educated
d in this country. There is no foreign
a capital in it. 1t is planned to ex-
a tend this r~"d north to JOIN the
e great route winch will bring China
e within fourteen days of London.
y The last thirteen miles of the
t trip | took on a donkey in the ole
It way, but the next time l go the roat
r will be finished. In this last stretcf
n we met huge strings of pack camels
e l could not help thinking that per
haps it was the last time l woulC
\ ever see these caravans which have
moved through China for counties!
e centuries. The railroad will soOr
l. retire the last of them
il China is in the process of es
y tablishing a public school system
II which requires 4OO,0OO,0OO new
e text books for the 100000 chill
a dren of school age whom it will
IS gather in. 1t is being established
is by Yen Sho, who is considered tn
,r first scholar in China. | saw tn
l. work and exhibits in some of thes
n new Government schools. The.
y were remarkable, especially in man
d ual work
A, There are now 400 periodical
" and 200 daily papers printed il
China. In Pekin is published tn
Womans Journal, the only woman
daily in Asia. or in the world so ia
d as l know. The editor is daughte
l. of one of the principal families il
the city. | was interested in read
k ing her editorial comment on tn
e morning after my meeting there
r She said:
n What are we thinking of t,
d allow foreign woman to come her
20 and establish work like this?'
Ell That is the spirit of modern
, China. They want everything val
II liable in Western civilization an
they blame themselves when the
rs permit foreigners to show them thei
+ need before they see it themselves
ID In China the deaf are shunne
lie and despised by the masses as pos
~ sessed by evil spirits. The blind ar
IN left to get what sustenance they ca
d. from voluntary charity and the in
IT sane are Gagged like wild beasts. Th
as Chinese are not wanting in human
a ity. IL has simply never been tn
he custom to care for these classes
Id the modern way and they regard tn
Up American system of caring for an
l educating such people as nothin
lie short OF miraculous.
ed I'm our school we teach dei
ly mutes to speak. | took a group {
our pupils with me on this trip an
n demonstrated their education /
d. fifty meetings which were attende
TO by over thirty thousand Chimes
The official classes were special
ed invited and everywhere some of thel