Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-01-16
LECTURE SERIES
CLOSES FRIDAY
Mrs. D. B. Wells Tells of Euca-
ton in China and Books of
the Mormons.

Woman's Missionary Social union, in
her fourth talk took as her subjects, !
Sacred Books and Teachings of Nor
monism," and Educational Revolution
in China"
In speaking of the education in
China, Mrs. Wells said You remem-
Der how highly a scholar is held and
the things from which China is turn
ing that was spoken Of in a former
lecture. Now an honor scholar is the
highest possible honor given scholar.
The government examinations which
scholar must pass before he can
become an honor scholar, are held
once in four years, and OF the 10000
young men taking it only three
pass. The manner in which the gov
ernor of the province chooses them
is by placing the examination papers
upon an umbrella, twirling it, the
first three which fall from it are the
ones chosen.
These examinations last three per-
iods of So hours each, with two in
tervals of six hours each. The victim,
for he can be called little else, is
locked in a cell 7x9, with an iron graf
ing in the front. They are then given
pencils and paper and two topics upon
which they are to write all that they
have committed on these subjects.
THE parents send their boys to
schools where they commit large por.
tions of the manuscripts of Confusis
and Lopsev, 10 effort is made % have
the pupils understand what they
memorize. Although the emperor be-
gan efforts to abolish these examina-
tons, the honor of so doing belongs
to the empress 1Cwager.
THE first examination held after
the examination had been abolished
was in 1907. The young men coming
from some of the far off provinces
were astonished to see the cells gone
and in their places were large, we'll
lighted rooms, in which were tables,
after being seated they were given
paper, pencils and a set of questions,
the first they had ever seer. The Cn'y
three questions now recorded are:
What is electricity? What would be
the effect upon China of the immed-
late enforcement of the Monroe doc
trine? How is it that foreign nations,
especially the United States, have
such good, faithful, honest. intelligent
public officials? This was the first
! time that the Chinese men had ever
/ been asked to think.
THE education of Chinese boys and
girls can not be obtained entirely
/ through the text books. The great cry
/ of the stomach, and poverty can be
/ done away with by education.
what China needs is a knowledge
of soils, a practical agricultural and
| tree culture, for China has the richest
sell in the world They need educa-
ton in metallurgy, railroads medicine,
etc They need education on how
to deal with other nations, value of
athletic culture and IN domestic Sci
ence.
There are 10000 schools in China,
but there is a great lack of teaching
equipment. The people are hungry
longing for education in all branches.
The education received in the mis-
sion school if far superior to that
they have learned. 1t rests with the
church of Christ to send more teach
ers into this field
China has gained an understanding,
is free and is coming to realize that
great things may be accomplished by
means of education and more so,
through the help of the educated
Chinese women.
THE sacred writings of the Nor
mons are based upon four books, the
bible, the book of Mormons, the book
of Covenant and the Pearl of Great
Price. The bible is a mere thing,
used only when dealing with the Gen
tiles, for seldom is a bible found in
a Mormon family, nor are they &C
quainted with its contents 1t is true
as far as it goes. but yet is only a
fragment and much of it is lost The
book of Mormons or the golden bible.
has its origin in Joe Smith, who trans
lated it from the golden plates.
The book of covenant records the
revelation, which empowers the Nor
mons the privilege to practice polyg-
amy, though in the first translation
of the bible by Joe Smith, one wife
is all man could have. The Pearl of
Great Price contains the book OF Abra-
ham, part of Matthew, part of Luke,
and a part of Joe Smiths own life.
For five years the Mormons have
been trying to get the annual meet
ing Of the National Educational asso-
citation, and this year they succeed.
ed in getting il. Tourists are treated
with great respect, for the impress.
sion they wish a person to have is a
favorable one, so everyone will say
that they see nothing wrong with the
Mormons
THE Mormons have juggled the
words in the bible so that they convey
TO one an idea while to them it means
something entirely different They
teach that Jesus Christ was born OF
Adam and Eve, the same as any other
child, not of the Virgin Mary. Jesus
. is preeminent only in the fact that he
took advantage OF every single op
portunity given by nature; Mary al
the tomb was not weeping because
they had taken her Lord away, but
, because thew had taken her husband