Liindulgence est comme: epirfie lo lavirte" Madame SwercHixe.
First experiences of China are for most of us, I think, a series of surprises. Neither men nor things, native or foreign, turn out tobe in the les what we had fancied them. Fur my own part, at any rate, I have an indescribable feeling of amused and incredulous wonder whenever T look back and try to recall the vague anticipations I had formed, half consciously, of the elements composing our societies at the pen ports, Of the missionaries, for example, whose beautiful tracts, like showers of angelic fireworks, illu of this heathen land. Or those enterpr merchants who burn to see Chinese enjoy the inestimable benetite of a railway system; and who, meanwhile, forward this geand work of civilisation by importing as many dales of *T-cloths " and grey shirtings" aus the natives can be persuaded to buy. I mention these two articles of commerce because they have always been a tantalising mystery for we. What ave the 'T-cloths anyhow, and what becomes of the all They are certainly never spread on Chinese tea-tables. As for the "shirtings," not a Chinaman in the realm wears a shirt, white or gray; the Emperor himself, so far one can learn, being as guiltless of such modern effeminacy xs was Barbarossa or Charlemagne. Reully, my ignorance is ap-T must get some well-informed friend to conch me up on these matters. But Tam drifting away from my theme, which has no relation to things mercantile.
More likely than not, it is on board a steamer that the new- omer will be brought into touch for the first time with that great Protestant missionary movement which has given the world' so many renowned sinologues and us few Chinese converts. Its embodiment usually takes the fo young man of solemn aspect and dry di course, Aa soon as he speaks, a mellow nasal twang in nine out ut ten cases bowrayeth the lund of his birth, His formidable moustache sets you. thinking for a moment of corsairs and book-ayonts but there is no mistaking the import certain suber y in the cut of his clothes; " simile, deprecating, and unctuous; the impressive way in which he refuses wine at table; the demure austerity of his whole beating: " modest consciousness of superior virtue brexthi gesture, every look, every inflection of his deep, low voice. He takes himself very seriously, this bearer of ghd tidings to the Gentile; he seems oppressed with the burden of his own sanctity; you would as soon expect to see him commit hara-kiri in public us to burst into " hearty and spontaneous Iaugh. But beneath this envelope of prim and fastidious puritanism, there way be discovered the indications of a zeal bottled at high pressure, and ready to explode, for your especial profit, the most absurd pretext ur on none. For he is charged with a message, not to the Chinese alone, but to all "poor lost sinners; and to you in particular, So beware, for example, how you speak at table about "saving" or losing " money, about the conversion of our currency into another, or the like; or better still, watch his eye, and when you see it kindle, prepare for the inevitable. For myself, 1 confess that inglorious and precipitate flight, is my rule of conduct on these ocean sions, Tam not of iron mould; and rather than be rude to any human being will put up with a great deal of pious impertinence on the other hand, to be for any length of time tolerant with the intolerant, is sore trial.
Unhappily for all concerned, but few of the Protestant missionaries one meets in China are fair representatives of the best Christian thought of our time. They seem to be drawn in large measure
perhaps the most sound and vigorous, certainly not the most cultivated section of our communities. Brought up, as a rule, in the narrower and sourer sects of Pro-restantism, their piety is of that nerid and censori.us kind proper ts those who follow Gospel according to Calvin, est, pinrase-ridden folk, out the pale of their auathea. For all the other great religious systems which for ages have consoled and elevated mankind, they are affected with a sort of intellectual colour blindness. The gilded urkans in a Buddhist temple snd the sculptured saints in " Guthie cathedral ate alike "idols"; indeed, their Catholic fellow-Christians (" Romunists" is the term 1g they prefer) are little better than the graz less heathen himself. Their religious ardour, fierce in proportion to its narrowness, has well-igh thrust wut of doors the being that irrepressible tendency to cmtute themselves the spiritual mentors of everyone they meet, which makes them the bugbears of every steamer and hotel in China." Itis their misfortune that, to quote with a slight change the most Protestant of Apostles: "they have x zeal for God, but not according to wisdom,"
Th of discretion, and the tinge of mild pharisaism that leavens the whole fraternity, are the real causes of Il-feeling between merchants and tis-onanes which shoulders all over the East.
i deep-seated and indestructible, has in every age led men to distrust an despise thuse who have the appearance of ug to be better than their fellows, To this root may be traced all the apocryphal stories about missionary idleness, hypocrisy, and sybaritism, with which it once was customary to regale the simple globe+trotter, For it is the way with a man first to become dimly aware inion, or foehn shape in his mind; and then to cast about fur verbal reasons, good or bad, to justify it. The "few remaining bricks" style of comment. has long since gone out; but one still hears cavilling of a Kind less extravagant, though altogether unfair, Tt is said, for example, that the bulk of missionaries have their social status distinctly raised by coming to 3 as if that were a fault of theirs were not true of most other foreigners as well. Again, we are told that they are well paid, well lodged, live xs easily and enjoy as regular holidays as the rest Why not, I should like to know? Is it part ofa missionary's duty to neglect his health? And what right has any man to expect from another sacrifices he does not make himself T have no sympathy with strictures of this kind, and still less, if possible, with the fashion of crying' up the medical missionaries at the expense of all the others. I have never been able to persuade myself that the motive for the various mission hospitals, which would never have been built if Chinese bodies alone were concerned, is a straightforward and honest one. These superb and well-ordered establishments are. above and before all, engines Here the prestige of 1 science is used to lend xn illegitimate weight to the claims of certain doctrinal systems. The sufferer is taken in his hour of weakness; gratitude spurs on the laggard reason; pious mottoes and Biblical texts glower at him from the walls; he is preached at and prayed at, with inexorable regularity, several times a day doses of Gospel mingle with doses of quinine; and revealed truth is turned on liberally' with the carbolic spray. Of course much good is done. That is not the question. Far be it from me to disparage the noble profession of medicine but when it comes to evangelising, I prefer to see the men of God pure and simple.
Let Christianity stand on its own merits, It is strong enough!
The missionaries would be more than human if they did not retaliate upon their critics; and accordingly they clu 80 from tinto to time with due severity and equal unfairness. The fringe of native scoundrelism and vice that gathers around every port—for trade in China, as all over the globe, trail a dragyled skirt—is gravely set down to the corrupting influences which a few foreign merchants exert with their evil lives. L take it that Ian not far out in saying that the average foreigner, with all failings, would have to serve two or three centuries' apprenticeship in moral turpitude before he could presume to give lessons to his almond-eyed brother. our missionary friends might stand upon such pinnacles as make one dizzy tw think of. Yet even this would not dispense them from a more indulgent attitude than they are fain to adopt towards those errig fellow-men who like a glass of honest wine and a fragrant cheroot after dinner 5 who upon provocation may garnish their talk with " needless expletive or two; and she (aouetines) play at tennis on x Sunday, thinking it better fun,—the wicked than being bored'to death with hysterical personal appeals, bleating of hymns, Give every man his due. It would be cruel injustice to pretend that the m ries are sanctimonious charlatai hing else but genuine, gle-minded, and conscienti They are continually doing good in hundred quiet and unobtrusive ways wherever they go they set. to the Chinese a high example of blameless and benevolent lives; and if only for familiarising every corner of the Empire with the white man's face, we owe them thanks, As for the mere dry husks of doctrine, the hide-bound and antiquated formulas in which they lave sought. to' imprison the spirit of Christianity, they are not likely tu persuade the Chinese to accept them, wor indeed dues it matter.
Without in any way sharing their ideas, Ladmire and respect them it belief should be respected, conduct admired. But they more attractive, more companionable, more human, Devotion to a great ideal is an table thing, being indeed the very life; yet a larger tolerance, a tineture of scvuir-faire, a little less sulemuity, a little more sense of humour, w little more Christian charity and comuion sense, would spoil nothing.
By far the most striking Ggures, however, in the propagandist rauks are th married ladies sent out in yourly is flocks by the "China Inland Mission," to lavish upon the unlovely yellow race those stores of womanly gentleness and compass: sion which west of us would rather seo: reserved for home consumption. With no: other guard than their own innocence, these trousered damsels scamper through every squalid and pestilential city in the: Ewpire, sending thrills of amazement and horror tu the heart of the Chinese Mrs. Grundy. In France or Spain they would infallibly have drifted into convents; but being born in Protestant communities they find the heroic field of missionary enterprise presented as the natural outlet for surplus female piety. Thata girl should put before her such an undertaking, and follow it out despite the sneers of the vulgar and the opposition of parents and friends (which will be strenuous if they a1 of their charge), argues nut only singleness of purpose, but'a high degree of firmness and courage. One would expect to find among them rich and varied materials for ychological study. But acquaintance is jisappoiutivg; they turn out to be general a set' of amiable, commonplace, monotonous characters: the elder ones are
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.