=S*alcoholic Plants An Echo of the Chengtu Murder Harking back to one's early days jin the newspaper world, as a "lam pidgin" reporter on an obscure) country paper, the engagements Which stand out_most clearly are those in quaint little mission halls where itinerant lecturers gave amazingly long discourses on th: advantages of keeping to the straight and narrow path, and how to do it. There was little variety in their topics, the only noticeable difference being in the comparative forcefulness of their language. Temperance easily held first place as a popular subject, and always ihere was a great reception for the! lecturer who presented "examples." The most usual were a bowl of very lively goldfish cavorting in clour crystal water and another) bowl of dead fish floating in! alcohol, or a healthy pot geranium and a shrivelled plant, nurtured respectively on the same liquids Such examples left a deep pression and compelled one's to unreasonable exertions, resulting] in quicker but more effective work by the senior reporter with a blue pencil, to the accompaniment of the illuminating comparison that, if water rotted boots, whatever must it do to the human system? And, further, had anyone ever heard of whiskey rotting boots, so therefore, hhow could it do any harm to one's interior? Nowadays one feels a sympathy for those fervent all! lecturers, for science is taking the wind out of their sails. An eminent Indian scientist recently amazed the learned professors of the British Association with the announcement that plants have souls, feeling and such as ours. He' proved it in many ways. One was to wound plant so that its vitality ebbed an'l then he injected whiskey and stored it to its old self. That rather shakes one's faith in the little goli fish and the geraniums, and if only When Mrs, W. E. Sibley met her death in Chengtu early this summer at the hands of a half-crazed fanatic with a mind obsessed by Boxerism and racial hatred, a thrill of horror ran through every foreign community in China. Yet it seems as if the very ghastliness of the deed—and we forbear to recall its detail —has reacted on Chinese opinion in that part of the country in a very different manner to that anticipated by its perpetrator and by the people whose poisonous tongues were responsible for the murder when we come down to first causes. Our Chengtu correspondent tells us that the responsible elements in the local community were hardly less shocked than were the forand since that time they i their desire to make life both safer and pleasanter for the strangers in their midst. This attitude seems to have filtered through from top to bottom that cooli and loafers wie longer throw stones and dirt at isolated foreigners in the streets, whilst even the students have gone out of their way to be friendly. Deeds of violence and expressions of hatred of this nature so often beget worse things of a similar sort, more especially in an unrestrained country such at this, that it is with the greatest satisfaction we put this volte face on record. It may yet be that the Wanhsien affair will have a like result—that those Chinese who really have their country's welfare and reputation at heart will make a strong effort to assert themselves and put an end to imilar happenings by sheer force of public opinion, the gruff old senior reporter, who spoilt those brilliant early efforts in order to show what was "copy" and what was not, were still alive, he might be forgiven if he said, 'T told you so." ther credit: and the total loss to the Unions due to the coal strike amounted, as far back as in early August, to £5,000,000. The indirect losses to workers resulting from the damage to, national industry are incalculable. And meanwhile, as) the London "Spectator" well expressed it in a recent number, wage-earners seem to be blind to the remarkable change in the whole industrial philosophy of employers.
Only stupid and backward employ: lers (who are rapidly becoming laughing stocks, if not objects of contempt') believe that successful industry can be conducted nowadays by indifference to the well-being of the handworkers, (says the "Spectator"). Surely the workers ought to have the sense to take occasion by the hand and make use of this remarkable opportunity. We firmly believe that employers and employed never had such possibilities of prosperity before them as they have now, if only they could unite.
Great, Britain has won through 80 much in the past twelve years, that even in this we may believe that native common sense will AppimionAt, troops have been post ed along the Shang the, inspection of pi ins hi become more rigid than ever. carried out at the hai, Tientungan, Kiangwai warping, Wentsaopang, Woosung and Woosung Fort, Iw spite of the dullness of the weather in the morning, quite a large number of members and friends of the Union Church Ladies' Society turned up at 9 Thorburn Road on Wednesday. A delicious tea was served on the verandah and later songs were sung by Mrs. Nimmo and Mrs, Ferrier. Mrs. Allen Youngson told a few racy stories and recited a number of poems, whilst Mrs, Watt and Mrs. Macintyre each gave pianoforte selections. At the conclusion of a afternoon Mes. G. B. the feelings of all present in calling for a hearty vote of thanks to Mr. and Mrs, Tweedlie for their hospitality and to the dies who provided the amusement ide of the entertainment. Next week the Society will hold a musicale, which will be arranged by Mrs. R.A. Watt. ultimately triumph. And there were no other justification for optimism, is it not a very great thing that in all the long' weeks of general strike and coal strike and we know not how many other minor strikes, there fas been no shooting, no loss of life and comparatively speaking no damage to property?
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.