Since Fukow was looted in the summer, things have remained peaceful here, although of course there have been alarms of the coming of bandits. Each household has to provide a man: to watch on the city wall at night, but, with the coming of winter, they have erected matsheds on the wall where they can. sleep, so that they would be caught napping if the bandits did come. To see their primitive means of defence—logs of wood and jars of quicklime to hurl on any attackers and ancient guns—is rather pathetic, as the bandits are well armed and have some big guns.
Last month we were in danger from soldiers, sent to fight the bandits, mutinying while passing through here. When Gen. Feng left, these soldiers were recalled. to Kaifeng to be disbanded, but they wanted to mutiny first. The official here disappeared, but in the end their two Christian officers prevailed upon them not to loot. We have no soldiers here at present and would rather be without them.
About the end of October, one of our school boys, aged ning, was decoyed away from school, on the pretence that his mother was ill. tie went off with his sister-in-law Some days after, we heard that they had never reached home.. At first. we thought they might have been kidnapped, but the dead body of the murdered woman was found some time after, so there is no like-li hood of the boy' being still alive. t is a very sad case, as the boy was the only son of a widowed mother. The reason of the crime was evidently to get hold of the Property the boy was heir to. The supposed murderer has been caught, but the case is dragging on in the local yamen. The authorities of the schools here are all up in arms over the dilatoriness of the mandarin, as a thing like this might happen to any of their scholars, The country people are suffering from. the long drought, hardly any rain, having fallen this autumn. Some of the wheat has not yet been sown, and now it is too late to do so for next year's harvest.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.