* hundles.
. composure.
“tiger
Bellefonte, Pa., Dec. 7, 1900.
THE LAST FURLOUGH.
Dead! Dead 1—My boy! Did you say he is
dead ?
“Shot twice through the heart,ard again through
the head 7°
Did you say it? I thought seo; please say it
agein, :
“Lying dead,” did you say, ‘‘with & theusand
more lain 7"
«A thousand ¥"" perhaps so, I read it last night;
But Willie—my boy ; he was not ia the fight.
I’m fearfully nervous. You're jesting, 1 know,
But I am his mother, so please tell me so,
"Tis some other mother whose name is the
same,
And some other boy with my absent boy's
name,
ll bring you his chair—you look weary, but
stay ;
You'll know by his letter which came yester-
day.
“My own precious mother. I write you to say
I'm given a furlough one week from to-day,
I'll see you, my mother—the time will be soon—
The last day in May, or the first day of June.
1 send you these kisses to last till I come ;
I'll give you a hundred the day I get home.”
A picture? Another? And one did you say
Was clasped to his heart when they bore him
away ?
Be quick! let me see them ! Youv’e nothing to
fear ;
But, heaven!
it. here!
And this one? Great God! Am I turning to
stone !
0. Father! 0, Christ! 'Tis my Willie, my own!
this is my face ! there's blood on
My Willie, my angel, with sweet tender eyes,
Soft locks of brown gold in their Titian hued
dyes,
Asleep in your gore on that blood-reeking sod ?
Go, stranger ! and leave me alone with my God!
— Thalia Wilkinson.
WHOM GOD HATH JOINED,
1t was almost time for the Philadelphia
express to be called,and in the waiting room
the usual quota of Sunday evening travelers
had gathered, as bored and limp looking as
Sanday evening travelers can be. It wasa
common enough scene, but fall of absorb-
ing interest to a serious mite of a child sit-
ting like an obedient little statue on the
seat where her compavion had placed her.
her hands sedately folded in her lap and
her plump little legs barely long enough to
dangle over the edge. There was so much
to see, from the white and gold frescoing
of the walls to the solid little Italian wom-
an with her many small children and large
Her wide eyes questioned each
face about her with wistful intentness, and
there were occasional evidences of a mighty
struggle of cogitation in the little mind.
It was such a big, mysterious world, so
fall of rushing people, and one little girl
was such a small and unconsidered atom.
The man with her was kind enough, after
his own lights, but he was not used to
children, and this child was not used to
him, and she was lonely.
The Deshrosses street ferry had just
come in, and among the string of passen-
gers who hurried into the waiting room
were a man and woman, upon whom the
child’s eyes fixed themselves in'speculative
admiration. This was a stately and beau-
tiful lady, from the modish fluff of her hair
to the graceful sweep of her tailored gown.
The man was large, and -perhaps would
some day be larger, but now he carried his
bigness of height and breadth with an envi-
ably easy swing. He went to the window
and bought one single ticket, and then the
two came and sat diagonally opposite the
child and her companion. The woman was
speaking in a constrainedly polite tone.
ok.
*
“There are but a few moments to wait.
I beg that you will not consider it neces-
sary to stay. There was no occasion for
your coming at all.”’
““You forget that there are still some ap-
pearances to maintain,’’ he answered stif-
ly.’ “There is no occasion is create any
more gossip than is necessary, and this is
an absurd hour for you to start.’’
‘‘Isn’t.it a little late to consider appear-
ances?’ she asked, with, a touch of scorn
in her voice, chafing at this cold supervis-
ion of her actions, which he did not at-
tempt to explain by any warmer motive
than conventionality. She knew what he
meant—that it put him in the light of a
brute that she should be fleeing from his
home unattended at a particularly incon-
venient honr. She knew that it was an
absurd journey, bringing her to her desti-
nation at midnight, but she could not en-
dure that silent house another minute.
The fever to be among her own people—
the few, the very few, who would sympa-
.thize and ask mo eruel questions—had
rushed irresistibly upon her a few hours
before, and she had. recklessly made her
preparations and started. What matter ?
They had "agreed that the hollow sham of
their married life had better end “at once,
and that later they would be legally sepa- |
rated. It would soon be’ known: to the
world, and New York had become a cell of
torment to her. iis
And he—when he was coldest he was al-
ways punctiliously polite, and be had in-
sisted on seeing her off if she was deter-
mined to take this foolish journey. His
' face had been hard and indifferent as the
door—their door—had closed “upon them
+ foréver'as man and wife, and the ride to
he ferry had been made in frigid silence.
RE ra
Her eyes caught the child’s unwavering
gaze, and her face softened from its flinty
1 She bad no children of her
own, and this’ was such an unconsciously
* pathetic ' figure, with its primly folded
' bands and solemn eyes. = The little travel-
er smiled faintly and looked shyly away.
Then the eyes crept. slowly back again,and
friendly communication was established.
For a few moments she sat in sober consid-
eration, weighing some mighty problem in
her mind, and ever and anon slipping a
tentative glance toward the stately lady;
then there was a cautious peep at the care-
taker’s face, and with the anxious haste of
one who gathers all his courage for a despe-
rate leap, she slid swiftly. down and was
across the way before her companion could
realize what had happeved. He started,
half arose, and then Shonghe better of it
and then settled back into his seat, keeping
a guarding eye on his charge. Meanwhile
she stood: ¢ these two, her eyes gleam-
ing with excitement and her words tum- |
* bling oust breathlessly as she made good this
brief escape from authority. :
**Won’t you please,’’ she began, eagerly,
Sty,
her eyes searching the woman’s face,
on
2
t you please tell me w’ot a diworce
‘There ! it was out—that awful, unanswer-
able question which had been tormenting
her small soul for days upon days—and her
bolstered-up courage suddenly subsided iu-
to flatness as she realized the magnitude of
her temerity in asking this strange and
beautiful lady a question which had invari-
ably met with a startled rebuff from oth-
ers. Her eyes went to the floor and she
drooped obviously.
a 5 z =
The effect was electrical. The two faces
before her seemed suddenly immobilized.
The woman looked ahead of her with hard,
unseeing eyes,and winced as though struck;
but the man, with a man’s distaste for a
scene, was the first to treat this conversa-
tional bomb as a casual matter. He lean-
ed forward ‘in the most friendly manner
possible, although his ruddy skin had
taken on a still warmer tint, and forced a
smile as he looked into the wild eyes that
gazed wonderingly into his own.
*‘Well, now, what makes you ask sucha
funny question ?’* he queried.
The little chin quivered. She could not
have told that this wasan evasion, but.
she did know that her question was
unanswered still. It was such a dreadful
mystery.
“1 ‘wanted to know so bad,’’ she said,
appealingly. *‘Mamma’s got one, and
she’s gone away, an’ papa’s gone away, an’
everybody says, ‘Be still’ wen I ask them.
Nobody will tell me wo'ta diworce is.
Did it hurt mamma ? She cried.”” Her
eyes still urged their question—the ques-
tion that she had asked again and again,
but to which no one had given her an-
swer.
* _%
*
The woman leaned forward, gathered the
small bundle of loneliness into her arms and
held her close,
“Where has mamma gone, dear?’’ she
asked, compassionately. Her husband bad
leaned back again and was staring at the
floor. Husband and wife ignored each
other.
‘Gone to be a nangel,”” was the prompt
answer,
didn’t go to be a nangel, Cook said so.
An’ mamma cried an’ cried, an’ got sick
an’ went to bed, an’ I heard nurse tell cook
that mamma had a diworce. An’ w’en I
asked mamma w’ot that was she jus’ cried
an’ hugged me; an’ I asked nurse, an’ she
cried, an’ she scolded me an’ said I mustn’t
never say such a thing again. Then they
took mamma away in a long carriage with
flowers on it, an’ the lady next door came
in an’said the diworce killed mamma. An’
today I asked the lawyer man over there,
an” he jus’ jumped and said, ‘My good gra-
cious chile!” I do so want to know w’ot
a diworce is.’”’ It was a long speech for a
small girl, but the words tripped over each
other in their haste to escape, and there
were plenty more waiting to be released.
The woman’s voice was calm aud even as
she answered; the curve of her cheek
vouchsafed her husband’s view was as fair
and cold as snow, but the eyes fixed on the
child burned like living coals.
‘But who takes care of you, dear?’
The little one looked blank.
“I don’t know,’’ she said slowly, as
though this were a new idea to ber.
‘Mamma did, but she went to be a nangel
so awful soon; an’ nurse an’ cook did, but
they kissed me an’ cried an’ went away
the day that lots of people came to our
house an’ hought things. Now the lawyer
man is taking me away to live with mam-
ma’s auntie. I guess,” brightening, ‘‘she’ll
take care of me now.”’
She lifted a supplicating face to the wom-
an bending over her, and with a child’s
unwearied insistence again sought an an-
swer to the question that lay so heavily on
her little head. ,
“Won't you please tell me w’ota di-
worce is ?”’'
wo %
*
It was a delicate situation. The man
leaned forward and answered for his wife,
who had mutely turned her head away.
He was fond of children. 2
*‘Now see here; suppose I tell you, will
you promise not to worry about it any
more?’
A vigorous nod.
He remaived silent a moment, trying to
formulate an answer so simple that the
child’s mind could grasp it, then spoke to
the anxious face.
“Well, a divorce is—adivorce—well,two
people get married. you know ; and then
sometimes it doesn’t work as well as they
thought it would, so they go toa lawyer
man like yours over there and get un-mar-
ried.” : :
He floundered helplessly over his defini-
| tion, ending it with’ an uncomfortably red
face, for it was harder than he anticipated ;
are apt to be disconcerting. It would have
been all right; if she had not been there. It
was confoundedly awkward.
The little one nestled back against the
bosom which exhaled the same faint, un-
| catchablesweet odor that had always clung
‘to mamma's dresses, and with her inquir-
ing eyes still searching the man’s face,
propounded the next link to the endless
chain of a child’s interrogations.
“‘Please w’y do they want to get un-
married 2"
*
*
The face above her was white; the arm
‘around her Srembled. . The thusband stnd-
ied the: the floor intently a few moments
before answering, a frown gathering be-
tween his eyes and a little droop of scorn
self scorn—pulling down the corners of his
mouth. : ; ¢ ai
“God knows,’’ hesaid slowly, and stared
at the floor again. = © 0 0
A stentorian voice was intoning the de-
parture of the Philadelphia express, and
with a nervous start the woman looked up
from the child on ber lap, to see the ‘‘law-
yer man’? approaching them. '‘‘Pardonme
for interrupting you, but the’ little girl
must be going now,’’ he said, raising his
hat and bowing. rd
friend before leaving, ‘and in the woman’s
eyes there were hot tears, and in her throat
an aching dryness, as she gave the upturn-
ed face a lingering kiss and let her go.
4 Eyl
Her husband stood at her elbow as law-
yer and charge passed through the door-
way, the child twisting around for a last
look. Would she rebuff him, turning the
slow scoin of her eyes on bim? Had he
been a fool to detect any feeling for him in
‘the whiteness of her face as she bent over
the child? Would he only make himself
ridiculous? The stubborn pride which
had helped to drive them so far apart ting-
led af the notion. But wasn’t it worth the
o
‘Your train goes next;’’ he reminded
her, watching her face intently.
to go with you, Honora, Of course I won’s
if it is offensive to you, but this is such a
wretched business. Do you know what
we are trying to do, dear? Can’t we try
each other once more? I know I’ve been
‘a hide bound brute; it was just cursed
pride all through; but I love you, dear,and
I can’t give you up. Let me come with
Jou, Ane part way if you like, Honora
ear !!’
In his heart he cursed the public wait-
ing room and passing people, forcing him
“her eyes looked iugo his,
“Papa went away first, but he
and two searching eyes glued to your face |
The child clung’ silently to her new:
“T want | Pa!
to stand like a miserable automaton and
cautiously mumble the words that came
rushing into his mind.
“Her band touched his arm for an instant
‘and she turned
toward him like a weary child.
ching her voice. ‘‘I don’t want to go’
away dear ! Oh, my hushand, I want to go
back with you! I wantto go kome!'’—By
Agnes Louise Provost in The Wowman’s Home
Companion.
ani po,!’ she whispered back, a sob
A Flerce Engagement.
Pennsploanians ve Filipinos.—A Battle in Which
Part of Col. James M. Bell's Twenty-Seventh
Regiment Saw Service. o
The Twenty-seventh regiment United
States volunteers, commanded by Colonel
James M. Bell, of Altoona, ‘and recruited
almost exclusively in Pennsylvania, is giv-
ing a good account of itself in the Philip-
pines. A: letter received at the war depart-
ment thus depicts some of its achievements
“Company A has just returned after a
five-days’ ‘hike,’ and I tell you it was a
‘hike,’ too. We were soaking wet from
the time we left here until we got back.
We were in mud up to our waists all the
time. We left here Sunday night in a
blinding rain storm for Montaboun, where
Company L joined us. We had breakfast
at 3:30 p. m. and then started out to chase
a large party of rebels.
‘As soon as. we struck the trail for Nov-
aliches, a town where Company I:of our
regiment is stationed, we heard heavy fir-
ing. Of course it was impossible for us. to
move any faster, as this mud is so thick
that when it gets on your shoes it makes
your feet as heavy as lead. However, we
kept pushing on, expecting to see the reb-
els any minute. We did not see anything
of them, however, until we struck Nova-
liches at 9 o’clock. The boys of Company
I told me they had been attacked hy a
strong body of insurgents and lost one man
killed and one man wounded They were
fighting against fearful odds, as the rebels
numbered 500. 1
‘“We stayed in Novaliches for dinner,
which consisted of bacon, hardtack and
coffee. We got twenty-five more men for
Company I, which gave us a force of about
200 men, and started out again after din-
ner. . When about three miles ont from
Novaliches we struck the enemy’s trail and
Captain Castelle, formerly colonel of the
Second West Virginia infantry, who was
.aceing as major in command, said we
would follow it if it took until doomsday.
We kept-on going until 4 o'clock, when
the advanced guards espied the rebels, and
this news made every lad happy. We
heard the command, ‘Advance as skirm-
ishers,” and we knew we would be ‘up
against it’ in a very few seconds. The
enemy held a strong position on two hills,
and to get to them we had to go through
the tall grass, nearly ten feet high. Imag-
ine us, if you can, wet to the skin, covered
with mud from head to foot, and all play-
ed out from the long march, getting after
them on the double run. Company L to
the right, with orders to get to the top of
the hill in the quickest possible time. Up
to this time not a single: shot. had’ been
fired. Then Captain Castelle yelled as
loud as he could :
“There they are boys ; go get them.’
‘And we did. Our company had to go
up against the front of the enemy. As we
advanced we kept up volley firing, and
for this reason the rebels could not get
our range.
‘It continued like this for almost half
an hour, and we were marching all the
time. Then, as we approached, we charg-
ed the heights, and with Lieutenant Knox
at the head of our company, we gave that
famous yell which the Filipino had learn-
ed to dread so much. It did not take us
long to get them on the run ; but we were
almogt played out, we could not chase
them further.
‘‘We burned the headquarters and then
looked for the dead and wounded. While
we were doing this we espied a squad of
the rebels with two American prisoners,
and when they saw us they ran for their
lives, leaving the prisoners with us. When
they saw us they were almost crazy with
joy. They belonged to the Thirty-fifth in-
fantry and had been held as prisoners for
about ten days. They reported that the
rebels had treated them fairly well. One
was a sergeant and the other a private.
They told us we were fighting against fully
800 men, the same crowd we had a scrap
with up in the mountains of San Mateo on
September 16th. 4
‘We found fifteen. killed and nine
wounded and about thirty-five guns. We
lost none, but had four men wounded. I
came out without a scratch. I wasglad to
get back to San Mateo again and put on
some dry clothing. :
‘There is more fighting bere now than
ever, and. I don’t think the war is half
over.. The newspapers may give the truth
but it is a fact that every regiment here has
its hands full and is fighting all the time.
We have been constantly on the go since
August 22nd, and have hardly any clothes
to speak of.”
Use of Rod Being Forbidden Teachers
Employ Odd Rebukes.
Recently the Reading school board di-
rected the attention of the teachers to the
| fact that the use of the rod in the school
room: was contrary to Jaw. and the board’
warned teachers against its use. | Since
then a number of Reading teachers have
a | adopted very odd methods of punishing
pray boys. x
.. The teacher who ties bad hoys to her
pron strings said recently that she has
found that plan works very well. Then,
again, she makes others stand .on one leg
for some minutes, while others ‘‘sit on
nothing, that is, places them in. the same
position they would occupy when sitting
on a chair, but without any support.
The teacher who adopted the plan of
holding the bad boys in her lap as a pun-
ishment says it has proven an utter fail-
ure. :
Big boys, who had always before been
model scholars, began to misbehave. She
was astonished at their conduct, but soon
learned that all were becoming uuruly be-
cause they wanted to be held in her lap.
TT
Lup Dog Bites Man’s Nose Off.
Victim Compromised Claim for $750 and a New
Organ,
For $750 and a new nose of the lastest
ttern Daniel J. Mountjoy has withdrawn
his suit for $10,000 against Mrs. Louise Z.
Kerr, of Providence, R. I.
Mountjoy was in a department store
listening to free music and his seat was
next to that of Mrs. Kerr. On the lady’s
lap reposed a dog of the Spitz type.
Monntjoy’s attitude brought his face near
to that of the dog. Mountjoy had a very
large and red nose. Suddenly’ the dog
awoke, and, seeing Mountjoy’s nose, made
a quick snap for it, biting it off close to
Mountjoy’s face.
left. Indeed, some of the men haven’t any.
Cause of Uprising.
4 Lack of Tact by Missionaries in China. The Few
Whose Zeal Overleaped Discretion Started a Men-
tal Plague Which Spread Rapidly,Feeding on Super-
stition.
_»«A London letter to the Pittsburg Dis-
pafeh SAYS 7 0 an Maga a
Baron Hayashi, the new Japanese min-
ister to the court of St. James, was former-
ly minister to Pekin, and in the course of
an interview courteously acorded to the
writer he has given information that is of
wore than ordinary interest.
Baron Hayashia bas known Li Hung
Chang for many years, and when asked if
the aged statesman. was likely to share the
fate of so many other of the empress dow-
ager’s foremost advisers he replied that Li
Hung Chang steod too high, both in royal
and in popular regard, for harm.to reach
him. ‘‘Thongh a pure-blooded Chinaman,
said Baron Hayashi, ‘Li Hung Chang
ranks as a Mauchu prince. He is the on-
ly Chinaman that bas such rank. His
peculiar honor dates back to the Tai-Ping
rebellion, which nearly brought the Man-
chun dynasty to an end. Listood by the
dynasty and, with the aid of Ford's ‘ever
victorious army’ and of General Gordon,
saved the throne to the house that has held
it during the past 300 years. Since then
Li has been, as it were, a member of the
imperial family, for the empress, whose
husband died before the rebellion came to
an end, recognized and appreciated Li's
loyalty and has ever since been his stead-
fast friend. She allowed him to use ‘the
imperial color, yellow. Yellow is on his
sedan chair, and of the yellow jacket and
the three peacock feathers the whole world
has heard. These things are symbols of
the greatest honor the Chinese wot of.’
L1 HUNG CHANG SOLID WITH POWERS.
Baron Hayashi gives one instance that
shows the peculiar regard in which, the
head of the government holds Li.. While
minister at Pekin and at work on the com-
mercial treaty between China and Japan,
the baron had occasion now and then to
have the Tsung-Li-Yamen to dinner. A
Manchu prince was always present. Dur-
ing the banguet the ministers, with the
exception of Li Hung Chang, sat in a row
along one side of the room, while Li sat to
one side on a sofa with the prince. This is
a small matter, butsignificant. Li’s fidelity
statesman and a general, have won for him
a unique position. He is, to use an Amer-
ican expression, ‘‘solid’’ with the Chinese
who serve and with the Mauchus whorule.
He will die with his head on.
As to the empress dowager, who to most
persons would be a myth except for the
terrible things that take place in her name,
Baron Hayashia says that she is a great
woman and not altogether a bad one. Her
training and her experience has heen vast-
ly different to those of Western rulers. Her
point of view is that of an absolute ruler
in the time of the Pharaohs. She sets
small store by human life. If a minister
displeases her off goes his head, even
though it be gray with age in her service.
THE HEARTLESS EMPRESS DOWAGER.
To the Western mind ‘she is pitiless and
malicious. As an instance of this she has
recently shown a cruelty that has revenge
apparently for its only motive. She had
banished an old minister to a place where
he could not by any possibility interfere
with the government or with her plans.
He had been living there almost in soli-
tude, meditating upon the classics, as all
old men of learning do in China when they
have retired from active life. He was as
harmless to anyone as a man could be, yet
when the empress dowager bad to leave
Pekin she bethought herself of the old
man, who had given the better half of his
life to her, and ordered the executioner to
kill him. The act was wanton. It is hard
to believe that in the woman who gave
such an order there can be a heart.
Still, Baron Hayashi declares, the em-
press dowager is profoundly patriotic. She
loves her country, she is devoted to the
imperial house, and according to her lights
she is grateful. General Gordon received
from her the highest honor that the ruler
of Chinacan bestow, and he could have
had vast wealth besides, had he been will-
ing to accept it. Years after, when she
beard that the mighty protector of the
throne was shut up in Khartoum,she wish-
ed to send an army to his: rescue. The
memory of the good office of the days of
1858 was fresh in ber mind a quarter of a
century afterward. ; Heli
As to the ‘cause of the Chinese trouble
Baron Hayashi has a definite opinion. It
is due, he believes, to a misapprehension
of Chinese ideas on the part of the mis-
sionaries.. The baron knows something of
missionaries. He has seen them from the
point of view directly opposite to that. of
Westerners. He is of a people whom
missionaries are seeking to ‘‘convert,”
. He knows how. they approach their work,
and he appreciates what missionaries have
tried to do for him. His early education
was in a Protestant missionary family, and
he has warm personal friends. among mis-
sionaries, both those who have worked in
China among the Romanists, Greeks and
Protestants. He does not doubt the honesty
of purpose of any missionary. He believes.
thoroughly in missionary sincerity in en-
deavoring to save souls and to uplift man-
considers missionary methods in their rela-
tion to tact there are missionaries and mis-
sionaries. Zeal, he’ says, is. almost the
entire outfit of some missionaries and zeal
without tact profiteth nothing, rather it
produceth trouble. et
In his own country the baron” explains
ih contrasting ‘missionary experiences in
China and Japan; there is no fierce preju-
dice to make war against. Shintoism is
without dogma, Buddhism is not afraid of
losing its adherents through the efforts of
Christian missionaries, and those who are
merely followers of Confucius do not in-
terest themselves greatly in religions, so
that no one interferes much with Christian
‘missions. : 1k 7
But in China of late years the case has
been different. As everyone knows, there
have been fierce and outrageous attacks on
missions all over the country. This seems
to prove an utterly intolerant spirit on the
part of the Chinese, but if one goes into
the religious history of China one will find
that toleration, rather than intolerance,’
has been a Chinese characteristic. For cen-
turies China has tolerated religions mis-
sionaries. She tolerated the early Nes-
torians; she made no tronble at all over
the Buddhists, nor has she persecuted the
millions of Mohammedans within her
borders. She gave the: Jesuits and other
Roman Catholics perfect freedom of action
also. : . ;
A striking instance of this is the Roman
Catholic cathedral at Pekin, the one: Bish-
op Favier defended so heroically during
the siege. The bishop, by the sway, is a
patticular friend of thebaren’s. Original
ly this cathedral was within the: palace
grounds. Chinese workmen: built it, and
Chinese money paid ‘for if; When the
emperor decided to enlarge the palace and
to cxtend the grounds it become necessary
then, along with his achievements as a |
kind. He says, however, that when one
u
Li-Yamen also, but no one heeded him.
iy,
to move the cathedral. The emperor paid
the whole cost of taking down the structure
and rebuilding it. He even went so far in
showing his imperial favor that he wrote a
tables for it with his own hands. In short,
until recently the Chinese did not resent
missionary intrusion. The literati may
“have sneered and.scoffed; perhaps, because
for them Confucius and Meneius bad "said
all there was to say on the subject of right
living, but though they looked down upon
Mahommedans and - Buddhists and Chris-
tians, and made fan of them and. pitied
them or held them in contempt, they did
not persecute.
DIFFERENCES IN WORSHIP AND REV-
ERENCE.
The reason for this, says Baron Hayashi,
is that the earlier missionaries said not a
word against the custom which writers'in
China commonly speak of as ‘‘ancestor
worship.”” The baron says this term. is
inexact. In China and in Japan, too, the
people pay ceremonious respect to the
memory of their ancestors. Confucius
tanght reverence for the dead, for death,
he said, is as natural a thing as life and
that because one’s parent’s die is not a rea-
son for . filial respect and .veneration to
cease. Baron Hayashi points out that to
worship and to pay ceremonious respect
are acts distinctly different in kind. Out-
wardly one act resembles the other, but in
spirit there is all the difference possible. .
The baron’s early training and his as-
sociation with Christians of different sects
and creeds have given him an understand-
ing of the meaning of ‘the word worship as
Christians use it when they say ‘‘to worship
God.”’ The Chinese, says the baron, worship
many gods, but they do not worship their
ancestors any more than the European
worships his flag or the ruler of his state,
or the acauaintance to whom he raises his
hat. The Chinaman gives reverence, venera-
tion, honor and loyalty to the memory of
his ancestors and he believes their spirits
are alive in the spirit world, but he does
not pray to them, he does not ask favors of
them either protection, forgiveness or aid.
‘‘Honor thy father and thy mother’ is
the spirit in which the Chinaman hows be-
fore the shrine which, in every Chinaman’s
house, stands sacred to the memory of
those departed.
rents he paid them a respect. far more in
accordance with Christian teachings than
Christians themselves show in their at-
titude towards those who brought them
into the world. When his parents have
passed ou they are still sacred in his eyes.
The tie that bound him to them has not
parted. It is as strong in death as in life;
it is the deepest, the most: profound senti-
ment of his existence. The man of the
West regards the character of his mother
as precious and sacred beyond the faintest
hinting of aspersion. So it is with the
Chinese and his ancestors.
A misapprehension of his attitude, to-
gether with the confusion of the ideas of
veneration and of worship, is the canse,
Baron Hayashi believes, of the fierce out-
break against missionaries and lateragainst
all foreigners. If the missionaries bad let
what they miscall ‘‘ancestor ' worship’
alone the Chinese -wonld not have molested
them, neither would the emperor, nor the
empress dowager have troubled them.
Rather they would have enjoyed imperial
protection had there heen occasion. The
missionaries saw the Chinese bowing be-
fore a shrine. Evidently he was worship-
ing, otherwise why the obeisance? Then
they learned that in the shrine were tablets
bearing the names of the Chinese ances-
tors.
‘“‘Worshiping his ancestors !’’ they ex-
claimed, ‘‘and burning incense to them.
How wicked ! ‘How foolish ! As though
his ancestors. who died heathen, were not
burning in hell now for all eternity !’’
ALL MISSIONARIES ALIKE TO BOXERS.
This may seem a strong statement, but
some missionaries actually ‘allowed their
zeal to go so far’ that they told Chinamen
exactly this :
“Your ancestors are lost,’’ they said,
‘alas ! they are lost. We did not arrive
in time to save them.” i
To the Chinese way of thinking it would
have been impossible to bave made a more
horrid statement. It was an outrage to
his soul, and having but little to judge by
he did not discriminate between those who
were 80 unwise as to attack his sacred cus-
tom and those who sought to avoid refer-
ence to it. He believed all missionaries to
be the desecrators whom in his wrath he
would blot out. oii ' .
Had all missionaries understood, says
Baron Hayashi, that there is no necessary
incompatibility between Christianity and
the reverence of the memory of one’s an-
cestors the troubles'in China would not
have begun. Once they began they spread,
and hatred of some missionaries who were
Jacking in tact became hatred of all for:
eigners. At first the Chinese rose in arms
for ‘the honor of their ancestors. There
was no idea at the commencement of ex-
pelling all “barbarians.”” The horrors,
the indescribable ‘cruelty, that have char-
acterized the actions of the ‘‘Boxers" are
due to madness. A mental plague has
been abroad in the land ‘as contagious, as
any physical disease. It has spread rapidi, ;
for it has fed on superstitions, and the
Chinaman, one must remember, is living
in a remote age. Though patient, often
under trying conditions, when his patience
gives way he is as one
Bishop Favier, of the Roman Catholic
cathedral, saw that trouble was coming
long before it arrived, the baron says, and
‘often he went to the legatious to impress
{upon them the necessity of preparing for
the storm. He told members of the Tsung-
Baron Hayashi cites the bishop's experience
to show ‘to what fury the ‘‘Boxers’’
wrought themselves, . The bishop had been
many years in China, and was in charge of
the cathedral that Chinese Jabor and mon-
ey had erected.” He had been both earnest
' and tolerant in his labors; and had lived a
life of absolute simplicity. He allowed
himself 16 shillings a week for his entire,
personal expenses. Besides this he was a
man of profound learning in Chinese
classics, so that in every way he appealed
to Chinese ideals of what a man should be,
and indeed the natives loved and rever-
enced him. But by the time the ‘‘Boxer’’.
movement reached Pekin it bad become
indiscriminate and even imperial favor
would not have availed. The bishop shut
himself up with his attendants in the
cathedral and held out against the besiegers
for two months without aid from the lega-
tions. He was distant from them, but
he held out one day longer than they.
When he used. up his SuppIY < ammunition,
he made powder and melted down pewter
for balls. By the time ‘the ‘‘Boxers”
raised the siege they had well nigh de-|
molished the cathedral, but they had made
no impression on the spirit of ite defender.
The bishop had to suffer through the indis-
cretion of others. It would have been a
great. thing for the canse of Christianity in
China if the tact and the sympathy. with’
Chinese institutions whieh. Bishop Favier
showed could have heen a part of the
equipment of all missionaries. Faith and
Daring the life of his pa-'
‘ete Square shee Tuesday.
‘cations are that the convention will be one
sincerity and earnestness of purpose are
characteristic of missionaries in China as
elsewhere, but tact has too often been in-
sufficiently in evidence.
PRINCE TUAX EXPECTS A PARDOX.
Baron Hayashi called attention to an-
other misapprehension with regard to the
Chinese troubles." Newspapers in Europe
and America have had much to say of Chi-
nese hostility to the Manchus. Popular
animosity against the Manchus does not
exists, says the baron. The empress dow-
ager and the emperor are with the ‘‘Box-
ers’'—she emperor, perhaps, because he
cannot belp himself, but the empress dow-
ager hecause her sympathies have been
with the anti-foreign movement that the
“Boxers’’ represent, The ‘‘Boxers’ did
not threaten the imperial house. The
imperial house encouraged them, how-
ever, Prince Tuan with his ‘‘Box-
ers’ mow guard the imperial per-
sonages. He is far beyond reach of foreign
troops and it is difficult to see how the
prince can be persuaded to return to Pekin
unless he have a guarantee of safety. If
the diplomatic body sends for him to come
back and be beheaded he will refuse to do
80. Even if they say they will only im-
prison him for life he will still discover
diplomatic difficnlties in the way. ' Neith-
er the emperor nor the empress dowager,
even if they desired it, which is doubtful,
could prevail upon the prince to return
and received punishment. He understands
his position perfectly and relies on the be-
lief that when the representatives of the
various foreign powers are tired of trying
to agree as to how to manage Chinese
affairs they will ask for the return of the
court and will be so eager for "this return
that they will pardon him whom they hold
to be chief offender.
Costliest of Metals.
Substances that are Much More Expensive than
Gold.
Gold costs about $340 a pound, silver
scarcely $13, but there are some twenty-
five metals which cost mnch more.. To be-
gin. with tellurium and chromium, two
metals which are not so very scarce, cost
$760 a pound ; palladium $1080 a pound,
while titanium costs $1220 a pound,
The two metals known as Zirkron and
Osmium. now largely used in the manu-
facture of electric mantles, cost $1400 a
pound. But all these are ‘‘cheap’’
metals. :
Barium costs $2100 a pound,and rhodium
and niobium $2650 a pound respective-
ly. Strontium and cobium are now being
sold at the price of $4500 a pound, while
didymium_ and a number of similar met-
als cost about $6000 ajpound. Glucininm
costs $6800, and thorium $8400 ‘a pound.
The latter, however, will doubtless fall in
price, as some deposits have been recently
discovered in Norway. Rubidium costs
$11,200 a pound and vanadinm is sold at
no less than $13,000 a pound.
If one could get a pound of gallium it
would cost $77,500, or about 228 times as
much as gold.
Hot Poker Down a Child’s T'roat.
Fiend Murders His Step-Daughter Because it Cost
Mone to Keep Her.
A dispatch from Catlettsburg, Ky., says
that Willliam Gibson killed his two-year-
old step daughter there Friday by running
a red-hot poker down her throat. Gibson
had been married only a short time and
bas quarreled frequently with his wife
about her children. Gibson showed a dis-
like for the girl soon after his marriage and
has said that he was annoyed because he
had to keep thie child. There was a vio-
lent quarrel between the husband and the
wife that day and he brooded over it. He
waited an opportunity when his wife was
out of the house and heated the poker at
the open grate. The little one clutehed at
the red-hot instrument in baby fashion.
Sparing her tiny hands he caught the child
by the neck and forced the iron down her
throat. Then he set fire to the building
in the hope of hiding his crime. The fire
spread to the adjoining houses, but the
dead body of the infant with tongue and
mouth seared was found. The poker was
on the floor at the side of the crib.
A mob was at once organized and went
in pursuit of the man.
Bet Watch Against Wife.’
@ r!/ Won and Lover Had Her Arrested as a Pick-
pocket.
' Because his sweetheart refused to give
up his watch, which she won as an election
bet, William Bigelow, of Lima, Ohio, has
had her arrested.
Miss Zella Mullahan was to marry him
if Bryan was elected, he was to forfeit his
watch if McKinley was elected. -
Bryan being defeated, Miss Mullahan’s
mother, into whose keeping as stakeholder
the watch had been given, delivered it to
her daughter. Bigelow objected, but with-
out avail. Finally he got Mayor McComb
to send a policeman for the watch, but the
Mayor later returned it to Miss Mullaban.
Bigelow then sought a Justice's court and
bad, her arrested on the charge of pocket
picking. She has been paroled for trial
next Monday. 4
Maybe the World's Oldest Man
The oldest man in the world lives a few
miles from Washington, Ga. ‘He is Caesar
Booker, a negro, and he is 1126 years old.
He was born a slave in Virginia, and his
‘memory of events occurring over 100 years
‘ago is very bright. He isa most interest-
ing talker, and children listen by the hour
to his stories. He was owned as a slave by
Richardson Booker; who has been dead now
for filty years. He has a daughter living
at Thomson who is 98 years old.
Old Caesar has seven children living and
a small army of grandchildren. They are
scattered among the plantations along the
‘Savannah River. © Caesar is hale and
‘hearty and appears i. be el joying a renew-
al of his youth. He 1s gue of the most in-
teresting personages in Wilkes county.—
Atlanta Journal. i
———
Woman's Christian Temperane Union.
About 500 delegates are in Washington
D. C. to attend the twenty-seventh annual
convention ‘of the Woman’s Christian
Temperance union, whose regular business
sessions began in that city at she Latay:
e indi-
of the organization, ‘ 3 :
. One of the most important features of
the coming session will be a decision per-
taining to the adoption of some sort of res-
olution with reference to the canteen sys-
tem in the army }
7 TT
Thoroughbred,
“Mamma, I’ve found out my dog’s ped -
igree.’’ ich Shi
“What is it, dear?} . ....
“Uncle Jim’s hired man says he’s a full--
biouded mongrel !"'— Harper's Bazar.