Newspaper Page Text
She said she was not a Christian, and yet she was
not a sinner. -There was a woman that had been
reared in the church whose parents were good peo
ple, and she had gone through a course of Sunday
School teaching, and yet up to that time, she had
not the right conception of sin.
The Power of Love.
“But if she were a woman of such refinement,
how do you account for her conduct on that occa
sion? Surely she must have been a common woman
from the street, and knew nothing about the social
customs, or she never would have intruded upon
an occasion of that kind.”
Well, let us see if we cannot get the key that un
locks the secret. Jesus gives us the key: “She loved
much.” Nobody needs that I should go a step far
ther. What cared she for difficulty? What cared
she for criticism? What cared she for custom? Her
heart was on fire, love was on the throne, and ev
erything else must get down.
Has it ever occurred to you that the one great
trouble with us to-day in our church life, our
Christian experience, and our dealings with our fel
low-men, is the lack of the very thing that she had?
Why is it that men are so particular about the dot
ted “I” and crossed “T” in religions service?
Why? It is because we lack the thing she had. You
let the church get on fire for God and love for one
another, no matter where the church is, and the peo
ple attending it will have a good time.
What is it that love will not master and over
come? What difficulty cannot be brought down by
the mastery of love?
Do we really love our Bibles? Why not? You
say, “I would enjoy my Bible, but I am not learned
and I cannot understand it.” You cannot under
stand the letter that you received from your three
year-old child.
It is simply a bundling together of marks with
out meaning to anybody else, but my! when you get
that letter you read in every line, and between ev
ery line, love. When we get in love with the author
it is no trouble for us to read His word.
I have heard of a woman who was given a book
when she was going away from home on a visit.
She read the first chapter and it was so dry and dull
that she would not read any more.
Within a few days the young lady met a gentle
man who was staying at the same hotel. They
talked together, but she never dreamed that she
had ever heard of that man before. Finally, one
day they were down on the bank of the river talk
ing. Things had become a bit interesting. The
man had begun to say some very interesting things
to her.
As they walked along the banks of the stream
he said, “If you don’t mind, I will make you a
present of a little volume that I have written.”
In a short time he brought her a copy of his
book, and behold, it was that old, dry thing that
she had been trying to read for two weeks.
She read the first chapter over again, but it did
not read like it did at first. The more she read
the more interesting the book become, and she
never closed her eyes in sleep until she had fin
ished it. Then said she to herself, “How I ever
could have thought that bookwas dry, I do not
see. It is the best book I ever read.” The next
day she wrote her friend saying, “I want to apolo
gize for waiting so long to read the book you gave
me. It is the lovliest and sweetest and best book
I ever read in my life.”
The secret of that woman’s change is the very
thing I am now trying to impress. She had sud
denly become mastered by the wonderful passion of
love, and when mastered by it, everything that
love dictated was sweet and pleasurable.
Oh, God, forgive us if we have not enjoyed our
Bibles as we ought. Help us to get in love with
Thee as its author, then we shall love thy book.
No Cost for Love.
In the town of Goldsboro, N. C., a farmer one
morning went to market with his loaded wagon,
pulled by two spirited mules. He drew up in front
of a store; stopped his wagon; went in, and began
talking to a merchant. Suddenly he heard a noise,
and looking through the window, saw that his mules
had gotten scared and were running away.
He never stopped to discuss the best method
The teolden Age for March 29, 1903.
of getting to those mules, whether it was to be
done decently and in order or not. He never
stopped to see whether his face was washed, his
hair was combed, or his trousers creased. As soon
as he heard the dash of the mules, he rushed for
ward to head them off. When he got to the door
he never asked for the key that he might get out
iu an orderly way. On reaching the gate, he found
it locked. He never stopped to unlock the gate,
but jumped over the fence out into the street, and
began running after them. It did not make any
difference to him whether people thought he ought
to run fast or slow. He finally got hold of the
check of the bridle. The mules managed to pull
him down under their feet, and trampled his life
out.
In a few minutes some people came to his res
cue and assisted him. They took him out from
under the feet of the mules and laid him on the
sidewalk. The blood was oozing from his head,
eyes, nose and mouth. An old neighbor came up
just about that time. This old neighbor thought
a great deal of him and began to weep. Among
other things he said, “ Why didn’t you count the
cost? Why didn’t you count the cost?”
The dying farmer said in a whisper, but a whis
per that was audible: “Look in the wagon.”
The old neighbor got up in the wagon and looked
in the straw, where he saw lying by the side of
the vegetables that had been brought to market, a
chubby boy, the only child the farmer had.
“Look in the wagon, that will tell you why I
did not stop to count the cost.” Ah, what is the
cost where love is. Oh, God, baptize us with the
spirit of the woman, which is the spirit of Christ.
The People of China.
(Continued from page 2).
of its inhabitants, many of whom live on the rivers
in houseboats. The amusements of Chinamen are
few, although he has a passion for the theatre.
The plays last a month, and there is seldom a
vacant seat in the large auditoriums provided for
theatres.
A Chinaman’s mind lacks two things which Amer
icans consider essentials—melody in music and per
spective in drawing, but perhaps
The Essential Differences
between the Chinaman and the American are best
summed up in the words of Wingrove Cook, the
eminent traveler, who says:
“China is a country where the roses have no
fragrance, and the women no petticoats; the la
borer no Sabbath, and the magistrate no sense of
honor; the needle points to the South, and the sign
of being puzzled is to scratch the antipodes of the
head; the place of honor is on the left, and the
seat of intellect is in the stomach; to take off your
hat is an insolent gesture ,and to wear pure white
garments is to indicate that you are in mourning.”
No study of China is complete without a glance
at the
Impress Made by This Nation. ’
on modern life itself. That they have made such
an impress is borne out by the fact that almost
intuitively we accredit to this wonderful nation the
manufacture of porcelain articles; a manufacture
which so undeniably belongs to China that the
name is given to the ware in common use to-day.
Then, too, the Chinese are associated with the
invention of gunpowder, with the early use of print
ing, with' the exquisite manufacturing and decorat
ing of silks; with the most wonderful ingenuity
in wood carving and with the manufacturing of
any number of curious articles for ornaments, util
ity and amusement.
There has been so much said in regard to the
validity of the claim of the Chinese as to being the
inventors of printing that it is of interest to note
just how the claim originates. Printing, as known
to us to-day, was not, even in a remote degree,
known to the Chinese, but what they did practice
undoubtedly gave rise to the present methods for
the perfection of an agent that has been the most
potent factor in the civilizing of the world. As early
as the Sixth Century, the founder of the Suy Dy-
nasty had the remains of classical books engraved
on wood, although it was not until the Tenth Cen
tury that printed books became comparatively com
mon. This was nearly
900 Years Before Printing Was Known in Europe.
Originally it was necessary to laboriously engrave
each page of a book on wood and to impress them
singly which naturally limited the number of printed
books. But during the iSuy Dynasty—96o-1127,
B. C., movable type was introduced by a blacksmith
named Ching. His method was to make a fine paste
of thin glutinous clay, of a regular thickness, on
which he engraved characters, and for each charac
ter used he made a type which was hardened at
the fire. An iron plate was then placed on a table
and covered with a cement composed of rosin and
wax and lime. To print from this an iron frame,
divided by perpendicular iron threads was placed
on the iron plate and types ranged in it. This was
then held near the fire and when the cement was
sufficiently melted a wooden board was pressed
tightly upon it so as to render the surface of the
type smooth and even. Despite the inconvenience
of this method, it was assuredly printing, and when
the controversy as to the original inventor of this
great art followed hundreds of years later, full
credit should have been given to the ‘Chinese.
The brush pencil was invented about this time,
and as the Chinese used then, as they do now, only
picture writing, the brush pencil was a vital ne
cessity. The ones used to-day do not differ mate
rially from those in use during the reign of the
Emperor, Hwang-Ti. This emperor did not encour
age the cultivation of letters, fearing the impetus
given by Confucious, but despite his order that all
books should be burned save those containing rec
ords of his reign, the brush pencil, that easy and
practical method of transmitting written messages,
was invented at this time, as was also a sort of
rough paper made chiefly of silk.
Silk culture has ever been a paramount industry
of the Chinese, and is produced all over the coun
try save in the extreme north where the cold is
too severe for the cultivation of the worm. Every
variety of food supplied the worm influences the
kind of silk produced, and in the feeding of the
silk worm the Chinaman excels. The best sort is that
produced from worms fed on grafted mulberry,
but there were four hundred different samples sent
from Shanghai to the Vienna Exposition, and there
were even more in the different provinces.
Bamboo is a universal product in China, and
tea is as closely associated with the Chinese as is
the manufacture of porcelain. Os the latter in
dustry much might be written—too much for the
limited space at our command, but it is hoped that
enough has been said of the attainments of this
wonderful race to warrant the interest that is uni
versally felt regarding the country and the people.
That we have no authentic records of the begin
ning of the Chinese people, that their early history
is shrouded in darkness and each ray of light was
only gained by close study and persistent research
would seem to mean that a force beyond the power
of man was needed to rouse these people from the
sleep of untold ages. Dr. Allen says that force has
been found, and that it is the advent of Christianity.
That no other force in all the years that China has
lain asleep behind her impregnable walls, has even
penetrated beyond her outposts. That with Chris
tianity has come the longing for personal freedom
and personal liberty, and the young Chinaman to
day is struggling in the grasp of new and untried
emotions, desires and ambitions. That the hope of
the country lies with America and American insti
tutions, and of all the many triumphs of the En
glish-speaking race, and of the Christian Faith,
there will be none recorded in all the future more
significant than that indicated by the Awakening
of China.
Mrs. Fannie Griscom Parsons has been named
to fill the office of director of farm colonies which
the New York board of estimate and apportion
ment has just created in that city, with a salary of
$2,500 attached.
5