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ready have meat;' but on the whole, Chinese food is very tasty.

"How grateful we are for their cordial hospitality and for open doors for telling the gospel; and we gladly avail ourselves of every opportunity, using hymn-book, Bible, tracts, anything, to make them understand.

"After dinner with this family we continue to instruct them a short time, and then depart, followed by the family a little distance outside the house. 'It is late, remain all night,' they continue to urge. We have many places to which we must go and so we say: 'Please return, do not accompany us,' and we bid them good-by, or rather the above request is really the farewell greeting, for according to Chinese etiquette they must follow us until we compel them to return.

"We spent a Sunday with one of our native Christians, who lives in a very old-fashioned house. His daughters are all married and his daughters-inlaw keep the house. He is in a pitiable condition. His eldest son had died, his wife is sick and he is much worn by watching with her, as well as by the necessary labor of caring for the family. He has had to fight against temptations arising from his circumstances. His neighbors say to him: 'When you worshiped idols they protected you, but now God does not help you.' I was glad we came to encourage him and strengthen his faith. We held public service here over Sunday and the neighbors flocked in to see the foreigners and to hear the gospel.

"The next morning a Mr. and Mrs. Nang came to

conduct us to their house. They belong to a wealthy family and live in the largest home I have seen in the province. It probably had been enlarged many times to accommodate the various sons, grandsons and other members of the family. There are many large courts with their ancestral tablets, and many quaint and curious carvings. Evidences of idolatry are everywhere to be seen except in that part occupied by our host."

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CHAPTER XVII.

CAUSES OF THE BOXER MOVEMENT.

Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets (Matthew 7:12).

Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed (Isaiah 56:1).

These are the things which ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor, execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates (Zechariah 8:16).

The year 1900 will ever be memorable on account of the terrible disorders in China, usually called the "Boxer riots." They began early and continued with more or less violence during most of the year. Many foreigners were killed, mostly missionaries; and a large amount of property belonging to the various missionary societies operating in China was destroyed.

There has been much written on the subject, and especially as to the causes which produced this sudden and awful outburst of plunder and murder. It would not be in harmony with the nature of this volume to go into all the details of these causes as they appear to the author; but on the other hand, it would seem to leave the matter incomplete and

unsatisfactory if no notice should be taken of this most important subject. There are naturally many sides to any question, and this one especially presents more than the usual number of phases; and what is said here must necessarily be somewhat from the missionary's point of view.

First, it may be stated without fear of successful contradiction that the missionaries were not the cause, and except in a few isolated cases, were not even the occasion of these riots. It is very easy for politicians, dishonest officials, adventurers and promoters to accuse the missionaries of having so aggravated the Chinese by their peculiar teachings and practices, that they rose up against all foreigners in their murderous attacks. In many cases such

statements as the above have been made to divert attention from their own dishonest and nefarious acts.

Attention has also been called by the above-mentioned classes to the fact that more missionaries were killed than all the other classes of foreigners; and more of their property destroyed. Answer to this is easily made. When there were any indications of trouble in any locality, all the foreigners except the missionaries immediately departed for a safe place, while the missionaries always remained at their posts.

The author, from an actual experience with quite a formidable riot, which had just been suppressed, in the province of Honan, found this to be true. He was entertained at a mission station only a few days after the trouble was over and while the heads of the leaders were still hanging in the market

place. The faithful missionaries had remained at their station while all the other foreigners had fled from that section. So also the mission societies have pushed their buildings into the frontier and inland locations where business men and adventurers and promoters would not think of investing their money in buildings of any value.

It is not denied that some missionaries have acted very unwisely, and there have been quite a number of aggravating cases of trouble caused by such actions; but these have been comparatively few in number, and so scattered over a very large territory, that they could not possibly have been the main, underlying cause of these riots.

It is also admitted that a large number of Roman Catholic missionaries have arrogated to themselves prerogatives and privileges which have greatly irritated the better class of Chinese and have humiliated the Chinese officials, but these Roman Catholic missionaries could never have gone as far as they have in this respect, if they had not been more or less upheld and encouraged by the representatives of the several governments to which they belonged. It is safe to say that if there had been no foreigners in China, except the missionaries, there would have been no such event in history as the "Boxer riots."

The main cause of this uprising was the intense hatred felt by the Chinese for all foreigners; for the influencing or underlying causes, we have to go back many years in Chinese history.

The Chinese people are very proud and conceited-not, however, without reason; for they look

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