Later on we had the singular experience of listening to the chorus, sung, probably for the first time, by a trained Chinese choir, The voices were strong and good, the parts admirably maintained, and the time and entrances were nearly perfect. The feeling and verve with which the performers entered into the singing were unmistakable. A number of auditors were present who were familiar with the great oratorio as rendered in the capitals of the western world, on both sides of the Atlantic But there was not one who was not thrilled through and through with the old familiar fervour of delight as the splendid passionate theme moved on to its culti: was, to every foreigner who listened, a revelation of aesthetic possibilities on the Part ofthe Chinese, wholly unsuspected. f they could enter with such appreciation and manifest enthusiasm upon a triumph of musical art peculiarly western, what other ties of aesthetic development might not lie behind. There are many sceptical Occidentals to whom it will be less incredible that the Chinese should be capable of an ethical and spiritual refinement like our own, when they realise that an aesthetic cultivation like ours may be so readily developed. "It should be particularly noted that the whole Work of learning-and mastering this chorus has been done by the young men themselves, under teachers chosen from among their own number. This achievement is rendered possible by the use. of the Tonic Sol Fa system.
'THE APPROACH OF FAMINE, and country about us dino, neezer day by Sharp distress for the lo of both cit
day, and its gradual advance is pitiful to see. The prolonged drought. is the immediate cause of need for many, but by no means for all. The railway, that was tobe the harbinger of better times for poor and rich alike, is spelling starvation, in gaunt staring letters, for not a few: and distress and exile from home for many more. Unless the needed impetus for the building of the branch line from Peking to Tungchou comes very soon, it will come too late to save the homes and fortunes of those now hovering; on the brink of ruin. It is hard to tel which class in society feels most keenly the wreck of Tungchou's trade. The wealthy, with the boatowners and boatmen, perhaps feel it first. The swarms of barrow-men, that once made of the streets a shrieking babel, have disappeared like summer birds at the epproneh of winter. The squadrons of worn-out donkeys, who once carried the through passengers to Peking, have dwindled to a beggarly remnant, Tans once flourishing are now closed for lack of custom. Carters and shopmen alike are discouraged. The great stone road to Peking, which used to be one long strident avenue of sound through the quiet countryside, has relapsed into comparative silence, and the inns and booths along the way are for the most part deserted.
The people themselves can see no ray of light. They have even lost hope of a cure through a hair of the dog that bit them, Perhaps, naturally, they feel that if one railway has worked them woe, two railways would coly finish their destruction. And yet in a railway is their only hope, and its coming would almost immediately revive their fortyness. Its construction would prove a highly profitable investment. ° For sweet churity's suke Wwe hope that some fledgling; syndicate will speedily take advantage this opening.
16th June.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.