smoker, taking more than an ounce of opium each day. Here and elsewhere the outcome of "opium refuges" has been mixed, and not infrequently highly disappointing. It has been found that opium pills compounded with morphia may induce a worse habit than the one given up. Or, in Chinese aphoristic phrase, "trying to cure consumption, the patient gets asthma also." Work for the blind is carried on to some extent by Mr. Murray in Peking, in the use of the Braille system of raised dots to represent Chinese sounds, and with wonderful results; but the plan has not yet been widely introduced. Something has been done in the way of Protestant orphanages, and a great deal by the indefatigable Roman Catholics. Mrs. Mills of Chefoo, formerly of the American Presbyterian mission, is a pioneer in efforts for the very numerous deaf and dumb. A refuge for the insane was founded by Dr. J. G. Kerr in 1898 at Canton, and each of these enterprises has a vast field among the hopelessly afflicted in this great empire. Dr. Kerr died in 1901, having been at the head of one of the largest hospitals for more than forty years. He trained a hundred qualified Chinese physicians and published many well-known medical works. A beginning has likewise been made in the special treatment of lepers, particularly by Mr. and Mrs. Brewster in the Fukien province, where the number of those suffering M from this terrible malady is much greater than elsewhere. There is no reason why self-supporting Christian physicians, men and women, should not feel a call to practise their divine art in China, in coöperation with any other work which they might select, with a reasonable certainty that great good in new ways, as well as in those already opened, will assuredly result. SIGNIFICANT SENTENCES He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat, He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat. O be swift, my soul, to answer Him, be jubilant, my feet. Our God is marching on! -JULIA WARD HOWE. The Yale Law School student graduating with the best record (1903) was Chung Hui Wang, a graduate of Tientsin University. Morrison's translation of the New Testament is one of the noblest services ever rendered by any human hand to the cause of religion. Seven years had elapsed before he brought a convert to the font; but through the means of his dictionary it is impossible to estimate to how many souls the doctrines of redemption have been and will be conveyed. — North American Review, What has China to show for her far-famed literary examinations? Only a graduate wearing a yellow crystal or ruby button and to this, sometimes, is added a peacock's feather. This last is a fit emblem of his greatness; for just as surely as the glory of the peacock falls to the ground at the first adverse wind, this man falls from his pedestal whenever he comes in contact with an all-round educated man from the Occident. During my twenty years' stay in China I always congratulated myself on the fact that the missionaries were there... The good done by them in the way of education, of medical relief, and of other charities cannot be overestimated. HON. G. F. SEWARD, former U. S. Minister. I made a study of missionary work in China. I took a man-of-war and visited almost every open port in the empire. At each of these places I visited and inspected every missionary station. At the schools the scholars were arrayed before me and examined. I went through the missionary hospitals. I attended synods and church services. I saw the missionaries, ladies and gentlemen, in their homes. I unqualifiedly, and in the strongest language that tongue can utter, give to these men and women who are living and dying in China and in the far East my full and unadulterated commendation. In China the missionaries are the leaders in every charitable work. They give to the natives largely out of their scanty earnings, and they honestly administer the alms of others. When famine arrives — and it comes every year—or the rivers inundate the soil with never-ceasing frequency, the missionary is the first and last to give his time and labor to alleviate suffering. They are the writers of books for the Chinese. They are the interpreters for them and the legations. The first graduates of the finest western colleges supply and practice surgery, known art among the Chinese. - an un - CHARLES DENBY, former U. S. Minister. THE OPEN DOOR The Open Door for China! Doors that are closed shut in And the old, old shapes of sin; The Open Door for China! And hail to the coming light! The light of the White Man's Gospel — Blood of the pale young martyrs, New-slain for the White Man's creed- Their happy eyes shall see it From the Place of the Golden Floor; They failed - they died! Their hands set wide BLANCHE M. CHANNING, in the Boston Journal. THEMES FOR STUDY OR DISCUSSION I. The Door Opened to the Gospel. II. The White Man's Burden in China. III. The Nestorian Tablet. IV. Fibre of Faith among the Early Converts. V. Native Preachers and Teachers. VI. The Two Roberts - Morrison and Milne. VII. Williams, The Pioneer Printer. VIII. Peter Parker and Medical Missions. IX. Power of Christian Literature in the Flowery Kingdom. X. The China Inland "Faith" Mission. XI. The Tragedy at Tientsin in 1870 and Tientsin To-day. XII. Sir Robert Hart and Our Debt to Christian Diplomats. BOOKS OF REFERENCE GENERAL REFERENCES AS BEFORE Beresford's "The Break-up of China." II, XII. Creegan's "Great Missionaries of the Church." I. "Crisis in China" (reprint of articles in North American Review). II, XII. Curzon's "Problems of the Far East." II, XII. Dukes's "Everyday Life in China." V. Foster's "Christian Progress in China." I, IV, V, IX. Gibson's "Missionary Problems and Methods." I, IV, V. Graves's "Forty Years in China." II, VIII, IX, XII. Gutztaff's "Chinese History." I, II, III. Henry's "The Cross and the Dragon." IV. Huc's "Travels in Tartary, Thibet, and China." III, IV, V. Johnston's "China and Formosa." V, VIII. Johnston's "China and Its Future." XII. Leonard's "A Hundred Years of Missions." I, IV, V. Moule's "New China and Old." III, VIII. Muirhead's "China and the Gospel.” IX. Nevius's "China and the Chinese." I, III, IV, V, IX. Speer's "The Oldest and Newest Empire." I, II. |
