Newspaper Page Text
ft TJT C 7? <7 ’*J ’7? TJ A T T? 99 . A mmon written rya woman
niKj IJIL/l -L J-jJX. 11/I.JUJI . AND DELIVERED RY A MAN
By Mary Lindsey Hi es.
P
AUL ANDERSON was a divinity stu
dent in Morrison’s College in a Missis
sippi town. From the day of his birth
his mother had named him Paul and
said it was foreordained that he should
go forth into the world to preach the
Gospel. As he grew up the dream of
her life was that some day she would sit
in church and hear her son expound the
Scriptures, telling folks how to be good and warn
ing them to flee the wrath to come. Her husband
having died when Paul was a baby and Paul her
only child, it required good management and much
hard work for the little farm to make enough to
meet their expenses and to lay aside a little every
year for Paul’s education. When Paul had finished
at the village school his mother brought forth the
savings and purchased him a Prince Albert coat (so
that he could grow up in it and get accustomed to
it as she explained) and sent him away to Morri
son’s College. Paul possessed a fine form and made
a good appearance in his ministerial attire; he had
a solemn expression and was gifted with a good de
livery when he had anything to say, but to put ideas
together and make a sermon out of a text he could
not for the life of him. It was ’most time for the
close of school and a contest was to be held; the
student in the senior class preaching the best orig
inal sermon in the minds of the three judges was
to reecive a medal- also a charge for the ensuing
year. Poor Paul he sought ideas through fasting
and prayer, but it seemed they would not come;
it was now only a few days until the contest and he
had not started his sermon. Utterly dejected, he was
in the library, his head resting’ in his hands, defeat
was staring him in the face. At that moment he
was conscious of a presence in the room, looking
up he met the eyes of Mary Alden, the boarding
house keeper’s daughter. Mary was not considered
pretty as far as features went but a close observer
would notice that the dark-haired girl ha. 1 beautiful
eyes which hid many lovely thoughts from the
world. Paul had never particularly noticed the fact
till now, but he could never forget them after to
day. Mary was a silent girl and possessed a brill-
CLIPPINGS PEON THE CHINESE PRESS * Article No. One
(Through the kindness of Mr. Wade D. Bostick,
missionary to Po Chow, China, we have received a
series of articles taken from the Chinese newspa
pers. These articles are full of information to all
Christians who are watching the signs of the times.
In spite of the disturbed conditions existing in the
Flowery Kingdom, an encouraging note sounds out
above the din and uproar, and Christianity is prov •
ing its all-sufficiency on its own merit.—Editor.)
The Changsha Riots.
Changsha, May 13.
Proclamations and Proclamations.
It seems that Governor Yang is to be governor in
more than name. For some time Changsha was not
quite sure who was to be master. The walls of
various compounds and even the city gates bore
evidence of anything but settlement and peace. Rev
olutionary propaganda was manifest. Sometimes
the posters were enigmatic in style, others were in
the simplest of conversational Chinese. Five char
acter rhymes that bore a strong family likeness to
the Boxer posters of ten years ago were to be seen;
so were proclamations of one “Is’ao, by Imperial
command, wearer of the First Rank Button, brevet
appointment commander-in-chief of the infantry and
cavalry and governor general of the Five Southern
provinces.” r I here was no doubt about the Impe
rial Command.” It was not that of the reigning Em
peror, nor of the Prince Regent. One of the posters
announced that “Hsuan Tung’s reign will not have
lasted long before the eighteen provinces of the Mid
dle Flowery (Kingdom) will all follow Emperor Chi
ang.” This emperor-about-to-be is one Chiang Sou
tan, a man who was connected with the rising in
The Golden Age for July 21, 1910.
iant imagination. She had long admired the hand
some divinity student that the boys at home dubbed
“parson”—her heart went out to him, seeing him
in trouble. And her woman’s wit had discovered
the cause of his sadness; her presence was like an
inspiration to Paul. It would at least be a comfort
to talk the matter over with Mary. She had always
been kind to him; he did not know that she had
timidly slipped into the room under the pretense
of getting a book, for the very same purpose. Mary
I shall leave here to-morrow, for if I stay until the
contest closes there is nothing but humiliation and
defeat for me. And to think of the sacrifice my
mother has made and I have turned out to be
a failure. It is this that hurts me most. I can re
member the days when she talked of how proud
she would be of me when I was a minister, and, Mary,
I can not write a sermon.” “Now, Paul 1 have what
you lack and you possess qualities I haven’t; let’s
be sensible and make use of the qualities God has
given us. Now, I can write a sermon as good as any
of the students, but to save my soul 1 couldn't de
liver it and besides you know it is a shame for a
woman to speak in church, so I’ll tell you what is
the conclusion I’ve come to. I’ll write the sermon
and you deliver it at the contest.” “But, Mary,
would that be right?” Paul asked, a gleam of hope
beginning to dawn on the horizon, for he fully real
ized her ability to put ideas together and his to de
liver. “Certainly it would be right. I’ll do just half
you know. Now, it would never do any one any
good for me to write it if it wasn’t delivered, and,
Paul, you know that you could not preach an inter
esting sermon unless some one wrote it for you.
We will be partners, you see.” “All right, Mary, I’ll
do as you say, but you are the better half.” When
she was gone Paul began to think how he needed a
better half through the conflicts of life, and he im
mediately conceived the idea that it was foreordain
ed that Mary should be his better half through life’s
fitful sea. In the meantime, Mary in her little room
with doors securely locked, alone with God, from
the depth of her soul was writing a sermon of Paul’s
farewell to the apostles, for Paul Anderson to preach.
It being finished Paul memorized it and went into a
Liuyang in 1906. He was not captured in spite of
a high reward for his head. The very fact of his
still being at large made his name one wherewith
to conjure. Many readers of the poster hold that
the very fact of the name being so plainly used
makes it probable that the man himself had nothing
to do with it. “White dog, gold snake appear” is
the way in which “the fourth month of the present
year” is indicated. On the twenty-first day of this
fourth month (May 29) it is promised that the
“black knights” are to be here. These “black
knights” are at other times designated “righteous
brothers” —a name which undoubtedly makes a claim
of connection with the “I ho ch’uan” which we have
got accustomed to call “Boxers.”
The new dynasty is to be known as the Pi Han.
Several houses in the city have been marked with
the “Pi” character. Whether this is in token of
adherence to the revolution or a mark foretelling
destruction, or a mere indication of a gathering place
is not at all clear to those who arc not in the se
crets of the movement.
Officials are referred to in one of these posters as
“dog officials.’ They are described as doing* nothing
to relieve the starving poor and being indifferent to
their sufferings, while on the other hand they are
treating foreigners as though they were their an
cestors. (Every reference to foreigners is of a
strongly “anti” type.) The starving refugees are
meanwhile offered Tls. 10 a month if they will enlist
in the regiments of the new dynasty.
Scholarship is apparent in all the posters; wit,
too, is not absent. The street outside one of the
burnt missions was paraded through the night by
one of the city fathers arrayed in all the insignia
grove some distance from town to practice. The
commencement day dawned bright and fair. An
immense crowd assembled for the exercises; among
them could be seen a sweet faced country woman
dressed in her best, a shiny black silk made years
ago for the occasion. Iler hands were rough and
hardened with toil. She was the mother of Paul;
by her side was Mary, the boarding house keeper’s
daughter. One by one the students delivered their
sermons. Paul’s turn came last with a steady voice
and earnest purpose Paul held the people spellbound
by his eloquent true words. Every one noticed that
he spoke with a power that he never seemed to pos
sess before; it was a new power through an old one,
the power of love. And no one knew that a little
dark haired girl with plain features, in the audience,
was the power behind the throne. And that a thin
gray-haired mother was saying that her sacrifice
had ifot been in vain; he commenced by saying:
“On this occasion, in all probability the last sermon
I shall preach in the town of my college career;
this being the time when the senior class of divinity
students leave for the work of the Master in the
different parts of the earth, leaving the place which
is endeared to them by tender associations and sa
cred memories. I deem it appropriate to talk of
the parting words of Paul to the Apostles as ne
left them.” He went on in a beautiful way telling
of the purpose of life growing more and more elo
quent every minute. When he had finished bouquets
were showered upon him; there were tears in every
eye; the judges retired to a room and in a few
minutes came in with the decision. An intense si
lence pervaded the room just before the name of*
the victor was announced. People scarcely seemed
to breathe. When the name of Paul Anderson was
called the house -went wild with applause. After
the benediction Paul made his way through admir
ing friends to his mother and Mary and gave his
trophies to them, saying: “You deserve them all.”
When Paul Anderson took charge of his first church,
his bride, a little dark-haired girl named Mary, ac
companied him. And they are doing a wonderful
work in God’s vineyard. One has what the other
lacks; they are one now, but Paul always speaks
of her as his better half.
of office he was authorized to wear. When morn
ing light came there was a very laughable skit left
on the walls he had been especially guarding, de
picting his night watch and his peacock plume and
announcing the downfall of the “Ch’ing” and the
rising of the “Han.”
Apparently no notice was being taken of these
posters. At last on Wednesday, May 11, one of the
unburnt mission compounds was billed with an an
nouncement that it was to be burned up on the follow
ing day and the camps of the Hunan soldiers outside
the city were to be burned on the Chinese Bth.
The response was immediate. A strong guard of
Hupeh soldiers was sent at once to the Mission,
plain, big proclamations were posted all over the
city in the Governor’s name. One announced a re
ward of SI,OOO for the apprehension of any one found
posting lawless placards, and SSOO for information
leading to such apprehension. Most significant was
the closing sentence of another brief notice; the
four Chinese words require a somewhat lengthy Eng
lish paraphrase:
“In cases where those who resist the authorities
are killed, no inquiry will be made.”
The soldiers have received most unmistakable or
ders to fire on any mob that attempts to gather; and
they are to fire Io kill. Undoubtedly such orders
will tend to save life. The “impossible” has a trick
of happening in China —but it. certainly seems im
possible that a mob should seize and burn the bar
racks of soldiers receiving such orders. The very
fact that announcements have been made involving
the barracks shows that the present movement does
not number the soldiers amongst its adherents; and,
if it does not, how can it overthrow the dynasty?
7
