Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1922-02-15

/ LeHuG lIlallS 80
ed States but never one of more vital
interest than this one in China. 1t.
was a chief JOY to see the delegates
opening their Bibles and finding the
passages referred to; while the stead
mess of their attention and their OBJ
vious comprehension of the exposi-
tons made one feel that Christianity
is surely planted in. China.
But that canal boat-for l must
remember the title of these notes.
Who built these canals? There is
through all this vast coast plain a sys-
tenn of inland water ways that literal
ly takes the place of roads in our part
of the world. AND as to their ANTIGUA
ty. all one can say is that the memory
of man runneth not to the contrary.
And they were crowded with traffic. A
great city like Huchow has no roads
leading to it-only canal! Most of the
boats are propelled by a single big
sculling oar at the rear, though it was
a steam launch that pulled US the
twenty-five miles from under the high
walls of Kashing through the huge
arch under the wall of Huchow. 1t
was a sunshiny afternoon, and with
many turns our way led through a
succession of mulberry groves that
reminded me of the peach orchards
about Cornelia, Georgia. Forty per
cent of the silk grown in the world is
produced here in this east central
section of China, and Huchow is near
the center of the district. I saw the
silk in many stages of its manufac-
ture and can never forget the skill,
the ingenuity, the endless patience
involved.
1 had been promised a Chinese
guide at Kashing. Alas! we failed to
connect-and suddenly, in broad day.
light, the night of total ignorance set
ktled about me! Attendants at the rail-
way station, policemen-nobody could
help me beyond making signs which
l could only guess the meaning Of
as indeed they had to guess the mean
ing of mine. They did not call the
city Huchow-but as 1 learned later
l-"oozoo"-or something of that
sort! And when 1 asked for the HUI
chow launch they stared at me-and
that was all. 1 found by its smoke a
steam launch and as it was headed
west, 1 went aboard, resolved that If
1 should get lost l would repeat the
word Shanghai" til I got back to the
metropolis. In the little cabin l stilled
my anxiety by reading, and later
when the light failed Il amused the
three Chinese gentlemen with me
by showing them the cartoons of the
Literary Digest and by singing
America! This from II a. m. till z
p. M, when the launch abandoned us
and I discovered that we were being
poled along at a.snail's pace. Was this
Huchow? Or had 1 gone'in the oppo-
site direction? Must I land at the next
stop in the dark and stay in & tiny
shed all night? We bumped into a
platform and with all my fellow pas
sengers l stepped off. My friends of
the cabin signed to ne that a coolie
who took my grip had been sent for a
foreigner. I followed him through
dark alleys to the mission compound
where the association was to assem-
Bile the next day-out of darkness
and doubt into great peace. 1t is great
of not fun, to travel alone in China.
1 see no birds. Magpies and crows
are most in evidence, the crows often
like a cloud in the sky. One sees a
new variety-a crow with white col
lar-ftting around his neck like a
horse collar! He is called the "parson
crow;" and 1 find this skit of rhyme
in my notes of my last railway jour-
ney:
The parson crow a surplice wears;
And when he stands to read,
His audience the Service" heart
In raucous tones indeed.
l saw him at a funeral,
/ And wondered when his style
had been copied by human priests,
And guessed how he must smile.
DR.. E. M. Poteat in Baptist Courier.
Shanghai College,
Jan. 6, 1922.