The young American bicyclist Lenz has passed through this city. He came from Shanghai vid Kading and Kwensan. Ignorant of the road for horsemen he had a rough ride from Kasling ncross country to Kwensan, From Kwensan ta Svochow there is a good tow-path, wh now as hard as a floor. He spent one night only between Shanghai and Soochow, and he passed this night under a straw-covered shelter built to protect a farmer's buffalo from the sun, As this shelter is merely a straw roof supported upon bamboo poles, he found it uncomfortably cold. He left Soochow on Monday the 26th inst. He proposes to go to Chinkiang along the Grand Canal, and ought to be heard from through your correspondent in that city before the dust of January. On reaching Soochow he found his way to the telegraph office. The English-speaking operator directed him to the house of the Rev. Dr. Parker, by whom he was kindly entertained.
27th December.
On Thursday, 29th December, the Soochow missionaries had a meeting of their literary society. They were kindly entertained by the Rev. and Mrs. Bailie, who gave a hearty welcome to all who came, including guests from Woosieh_and Chang-ssu (Dzang Zo), and a table-fall of litre folks. The literary entertainment was provided by Miss Atkinson, who intended to read a paper upon a Chinese book. But she has eight day-schools to superintend, and found it impossible to complete her essay. Ivetead of the intended original paper, she gave selections from Things Chinese, a book recently issued by Mr. J. Dyer Ball of Hongkong. The society prefers selections from purely native books which have a kind of wild game flavour, and at first the reading seemed to be too much like a cold hash of tame fowl, But as the reading proceeded, it became plain that the book was full ut just, accurate, and well-considered descriptions that are xs true of things in Soochow as of what Mr. Ball has for thirty years been observing in Hongkong and Canton, When the rending was ended the score of hearers all felt that they had been instructed us well as entertained. Under the head of etiquette, Mr, Ball refers to the rash young men who, many years ago in South China, mot an old man, a Chinese peasant, carrying a heavy burden long a narrow pati, "Ho demanded that the young foreigners should give him the road. They refused, and in the course of the quarrel that followed they struck him with their walking-canes, Dr. Clu Bose mentioned the fact, not stated by Mr. Ball, that one of the young men, seeing that the village people who promptly came to the old men's aid meant murder, offered ten thousand taels for hia life: all in vain, The people seemed to think that, dead men tell no tales, the safest plan would be to kill them all, and acted accordingly.
Mr. Lenz, the bicyclist, made successfully the journey of thirty miles along the Grand Canal from Souchow to Woosiel, on Monday, 26th Dec., and on Tuesday 27th, left Woosieh for the next station, Changchow, 30th December.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.