UPS AMD DOWNS IN CHINA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2525, 6 August 1902, Page 71

UPS AMD DOWNS IN CHINA.

PAGES FROM THE DIAHY OF MB W. S. STBO^G. Edited by Em>rbd J. D. Hekotts, M.A., B.Sc.

(Maps, plans, etc., drawn by Mr Strong.)

No. VUL— T-CHANG STILL.

I'Chang, October 1. — I am still alone in ©ur big house in this place, and, being without my books, -and prevented from open Gospel -work, I give much time to reflection. Such time I cannot «feel to be lost;, for, with. Jackson, I hold that if a man will sit idown. . and think — think of Limself and'ius-Jife, what he -is making of it, what the issues may be, what its eternal result -will Tie ; of Tiis relationships with God and His requirements ; of the terrible facts of fiin, — the sin of the world and his responsibility as a forgiven sinner, the sin that still lurks within his own "heart ready to submerge and overwhelm like a huge tidal wave tke *my breakwater with which he seeks to stay it.; — if he will then think of -what Christ 'has >done for him and His claims upon him — how they have -been vindicated and proved in men for 1900 years, and the best men and -women he has known were those wlio had yielded themselves to Christ, — then will that man soon find .himself drawn to Christ, and serving Him with both affections, intellect, and v/ iIL I -may think my life wasted when my thoughts wander to other parts of the world ■where I might be actively employed, but over -against that I place "God's_ plan for me," and my present crrcrrmstances are. I feel, not of my own making. I must wait. and if I cannot do so, I must learn to do no.

I shall soon have my books up here again, and then I shall go on with any studies once more, especially the Tibetan. The Grammar and Lexicon published by, Jaschke, the Moravian, apply to the lan-,: gnage of the west border, and are of very , inited use on this side. Though I have , them, I shall wade my way to Tibetan, through the Sanskrit and Puncrit, which, ; though apparently the longer route, "will p*ove, I believe, tlie most reliable, and act improbably Ahe /shorter too. ?0n the present state of China one can ©fily say, Pray, P ra 7> — darker thanever:. 9000 H^C. comserts in the north reported massacred. What will the end : be? It is a very serious testing time to many of God's servants in China. We need a firmer grasp of His sovereignty to strengthen our faith that, amidst and through it all, "as for God, His way is per- , feet." il •don't .expect to go to the coast.' Will stick here — just .one-third of the way to Tibet — till H am pushed out.

'October 6, 1900. — It is evening and about tea time, but I am sorry to have to confess that I have spent the whole •afternoon from 12.30 to 5 o'clock eating and drinking (tea, of course) — that is to say, I have, in company with my friend Professor 8.,' been -wading through a Chinese feast, the courses of vwhich it would be impossible for me -now to Tecount. Not that I have fergdtten them, for my .poor digestive organs are still trying to play to the tune of them all, an attempt which by no means adds to my comfort. It is not the quantify one .eats, hut the terrible mixture of tilings, of which there is no time to study the chemical .action or neutralising properties. The middle dish, which is the course par excellence, consisted somewhat as follows : —

Vegetable P-uddiag. Tripe in Sugar. k Fowl ia'Syiup, with precious vegetable from Pe'kin. BeS Pork. Fat Pork hi Sugar and It cc. Pork J.elly. •' -Smoked Ham arid -Bamboo Roots (ertrerne'.y fat). Mutton in a kind of Custard.

Custard and Kidney, with some expensive vege- .. -table from .FuJlien called ' Clear-skm," just like leather. I»ean. Pork, with. Chinese 'Macaroni and other

stuff ; very sweSt. Boiled fish, with Sweet Cakes baked in fat. 'One-Fries .Fish in Jelly. Seaweed Jelly, with "Pig's Feet.

Other dishes there were, too, the composition of which I .really do .not -wish to know. Between these principal courses, the time was filled in eating melon seed, baked peanuts, dried plums, and several other sweetmeats. Around the big dish are placed eight smaller dishe*,, which are replaced continually and constantly changing, but what they were, it if impossible to recollect or even know. By way of conclusion yon get <the small dishes, and for a littK time eat pomegranate seeds and drink tea, finishing up with a bowl of rice, for whirir you have 'no .room. On our return home, my friend wanted .some pepsin, feeling certain -that df .any stomach could stand all that unaided science must need revision.

.The igentleman -who gave the dinner is an especial friend of mine, and one who would do anything for me in the event of trouble. He is "not a Christian, anxious v to be one. .But between .him -and Christ stands The barrier callefl '".Love of money," and he .has yet to learn the vaiue.of life .eternal. Then, again, his way of getting bis money is -not a very honourable one <£rom the Christian point of view. * il 3»d .-a dong rcoroaereation at 'his. home •with a minor mandarin . from Sz-Ch'-naif, irho told me -that "he would be for ever thankful to a Christian doctor Who sa"ved the life of one of Jus sons. In a very nice ■way he went on -to "say tliat, although we had reason for discouragement in being compelled to lesive our^wori and haying -all jfegr wlmaaaju looted «ud -©or Iwuses tnnrt*

arc determined to root out every foreigner and everything foreign in the country. The mercantile -world is looking to Field-mar-shal Waldersee, or rather to the German Emperor, as the saviour of China, and Christian feeling is certainly that, according to the Emperor's words, he intends to deal justly and, as far as he knows, righteously with China. This land will doubtless be closed -for a long time ere the Gospel may again be published to its perishing multitudes.

I intend staying on in this place for the present, as 1 find it very quiet for my study. lam trying to get hold of a Tibetan llama to help me in my studies — 500 of them were scattered during the recent troubles .in .Peking. With one of them my time would be well occupied, whilst without auch help the work at the Tibetan language is very hard.

I should just like to give a glimpse of the attitude of the Chinese towards foreigners just now, as I have seen it in moving amongst them in the town ; but I should also mention that no foreigner but myself does any business in the town. The rest (members of the customs community) keep themselves in their own little ':bucd" outside the town : it is a much cleaner place, and one >where few Chinese 'dare to loiste*- -fer fear of-the '•barbarians' " boots and horsewhips, though I must say there is less erf that sort of thing here than I have Men in both .Hankow and Shanghai, whilst the Chinese outside the city and raur.d iibout the concession .ai e a> different in their attitudes as possible. Outside the city they fear to speak disres2>eot fully or show any outward sign of what they feel inwardly ; in the town, on the other hand, they feel free, >and-do net seek to hide their hatred, especially towards a missionary, who carries .no cane, and, as they know, will not strike at Landorn. T£>-dW, as I -walked through long streets, their words and behaviour iiliksj freely evidenced their hatred. Perhaps •'Worse than the word ".foreign devil" is .the spitting at one, .and their cry. '■fi — £ — s — h"; the disdainful laugh in one's very face ; the proud look of disgust iromthe scholai as he meets you, etc. . etc.

As I passed through the city, taking not a bit of notice of them, ior nothing else is ito be expected of them, my mind was much -exercised about fhis people. To this people •I and others are sent as messengers from One whose name is Love, that we may preach love and manifest it in our live» •God so loved tliis people and we that He .gave, aye, of -His best, and if i:hd.t is so. I anust love them, too. Can I do it? Can I move about .amongst them with such a 'forgiving spirit that my love to them alone manifested, and .exemplified in my attitude, Ibchaviour, and intercourse with them? -Are, they -.not 'determined 'to 'foltow their -own gods and liatfi cthe God of .gods? if previously 'they 'used 'the word "foreign devil" a» a qomaion designation for what they hate, now they mean it : now, in the face I of all the temporal and physical benefits the mass of them have received, -they misinterpret the love of God manifested in His .children, and say that it is of the devil. This i-» the people \\ hnm one hat, sftili to Inve. anil I can testify that timing .my :sta.y in fhis tow-XL where I have L.id so many opportunities of studying the people siuoe-Jhe proclamation of -the Gospel in their midst has eeasecU I have faeea vevfisal^

they live up near Hie customhouse and I a bit out of the way. we very seldom see each other, perhaps once a week. I preach for them now and then. One of them I saw yesterday, and dug out the remaining stumps of 10 teeth for him. lam going to make him an iipper and lower set.. I have aiso patched up the mouth of the other, a.« well as a third gentleman on board the gunboat. I thus secure a little change of occupation. I devote two hours a day to dentistry, which gives .me 17 hours to myself, as* 'although I try hard. I never seem to get more than five hours' sleep, which is, I believe, enough.

I 'had hoped ere this to have a companion, but hear Irom Shanghai that the doubtfulness of pause on the Yang T»e does not warrant sending any one so far, and the Consul-general is still of the opinion that ladies ought not to go, even to Hankow. There hie been a disturbance in the outptations belonging to I'Chang, and the-Chris-tians have come into town foi % safety, many of them having lost their all. The officials are now very busy hunting out Boxers, of whom there are Biipposed to be '2ooo hidden in the town. 'One thousand taels are offered for one of tlie chiefs, dead or alive, and 100 taels lor information that will lead to the arrefit of an-v of them.

J have been expecting by Tibeta<n teacher here, aud cannot understand why he :has not turned tip yet. He is a Llama from Llh«<ki, and when he comes. I -shall be able to get an with the language better than at present. Just now lam studying with my (Jtirese teacher every day. I keep him on a chair exactly from 9.20 to 12, -when ho seems glad to get away. After that I play -Ike iidtile till 12.30, when I ha\*£ dinner, and am at my 'beoks again at 1 j;.m .Between dusk and twi I write letters. Of cnm.se the afternoon is interrupted 'by visitors (Ohinese), who are made welcome, and by such quirt means tome real work is drmp. On Thursday and Hunday afternoons the blupjcivket.* come in.

I have been asked about going to India in another six months' time if the way ih f.till clostd for entering Tibet on this side. I am ready to go if that way is npen

Beeember 12 —Still in T'Chang, though it is only day hy day. Everything is so uncertain, and the political horizon .seems tv darken rather than fliovr cigns of immediate pence in this bnd. I fear that the whole of next -year will pa* 1 - by ere we c-in think of entering on work away fiom the treaty ports. For soim time I lwve tried t'> persuade the council to allow me to open iq> Chinese ■wcn<k herein 111 the meantime, but as yet they have not given -their consent. In the event iof their not d/iin^ so, I feel that I wn think more serlou&ly about entering Tibet 'from the Indian side.

■I am not now a! one here, as, four young ir.en have come up to keen me companyI'hey have been v ilh me now v few weeks. Wintei is coming on here, and I feel very cold-; {dready we have frost in the nights, f^uch are the extiemes in "this: place : .summer, the mercury up to 112Jeg ; uintei, ice k1:c! .-'iiom .

(To be continued )

Eiitel R. "Pekjamin. Barrister aad Solicitor, AHjcxt T3uildmg3, Princes street, Dunedin tel-rc-arto 'C.'P-O,), haa trjist moneys to lend o.i

| yet we "must not think- .that a mob stands for .public opinion. He :said -that during riots the large mass of 'those' concerned are •most often gathered together by the beating of a gong, whereat ( on they go, not 'knowing for what purpose. They follow the crowd, and when they come to the foreigner's house, excitement runs away -n ith them : the temptation to steal and loot, with little chan.ee of detection, becomes too strong for -them. We read of two of our missionaries whose lives were saved owing to the .struggle between several men to make off with their boxes which they had just packed. The men had come .to kill, but the chance of getting some plunder was of more value in their eyes than blood. We know that such is at times tli3 case, but by no means always. v In Peking the authorities offered the sum of (1 think) 50dol for a living foreigner and AOdol ior one dead, with lesser sums for women and servants in the employ of foreigners. Details are just to hand of the terrible .slaughter in Shansi. Pifty-one names appear on the list: the loss of the C.I.M. is very heavy. R. C.'s report in Manchuria the massacre of 12 priests and 9000 converts. Many prayers are now offered on bthalf of the foreign powers that they may act aiight, for, humanly speaking, should Tuan Wang and the Dowager be let off, it will only mean yet greater crime, for they

tested on this point. How ready is the old man to assert himself -and cry out, "Leave them to themselves. They do not deserve any act of love." To this, the new man Teplies : " True ; they do not deserve it. Yet God did not leare me."

As I walked homeward I took the long road which leads through some nine square miles of graves, and as I walked I asked myself in what frame of mind I left that town. Then I remembered how, as I came' out through the gate, some small urchins followed me, sent by their parents to shout ar the hated foreigner, and I left the town vith a prayer to God for them. I rememi bered. too, how my .heart's desire was "kindled within me as I walked through the streets praying that the CLftJ. would grant njy request for permission to open a small preaching shop in the town, and truly the need appeared to me to-day greater than ever, dad, then, was I that the .flume of love was still burning brightly within this breast of mine, and that J felt Eiore than ever prepared to let love rule. The more unlovable they are, the more .need is there of the demonstration of God's love to them. To this end, 0 Lord, may I live amongst the people and be the means of winning them, that haters of God may become lovers o"f Him. To be an instrument in such miracles is well worth living far, even amidst > the very archenemies of my Master. To be honoured with such a commission of peace from the very >God of Peace to a people not worthy 'of any considerations of peace whatever is a service of which one feels utterly unworthy ; but God grant that I may prove faithful yet, though it mean even unto death.

November 15, 1900 (I'Chang).— Since I wrote last, Dr S. and the Rev. D. have come up to look after their work here, but as