The writer sent off a somewhat extended account of flood con tions in and around the northern nort, to Mr. Frederic Henry Balfour, who was at that time publishing one of the small sheets mentioned. It happened to arrive at a juncture when the printing plant by the help of which the paper was issued had been totally destroyed by fire. Guided by that instinct of literary economy with which some (alas! not all) editors are endowed, Mr. Balfour took the letter to Mr. Gundry, then in charge of the "N.C. Daily News" who apparently considered it good enough "stuff" for his staid and highly respectable journal. He even went to the length of writing a letter to the author of the aquatic notes inviting further contributions. But as the senior associate of the writer of the article was one of the two correspondents at Tientsin, and as there was very little worth writing about now that the floods had been duly exploited, the bait was not taken.
In. 1880 Mr. Balfour," who six years before had begun the publication of the Celestial Empire, became editor of the "N.-C. Daily News." He at once assumed that the writer of these lines would continue' his relations with him, and began sending a copy of the ' Daily News," which with alternations of the "North-China Herald," has been a regular visitor ever since.
The daily of that epoch was not indeed a very fascinating sheet from either the literary or the artistic point of view, although Mr. Balfour who had an easy style and attractive manner livened it up materially Real news was, of course, somewhat scarce, and most of what there was could only be of local interest. Mr. Balfour introduced the custom of having a column or more 6f extracts from the "Last Mail Papers," with comments of his own, the aim of which was not obvious to outsiders, though it undoubtedly made good Besides the Daily News" there was an evening paper, perhaps the Courier, which had the advantage always enjoyed by an evening journal of being able to catch the steamers leaving at night, or early in the morning. But it was unable to flaunt in the face of an awed public the notification that this paper is "The Supreme Court and Consular Gazette," and that anything purporting to, issue from these high and sacred sources must accepted as authentic by readers on its appearance.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.