Editorial Letter by W. W. P.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 28, 1907

Editorial Letter

By W. W. P.

Jottings from the Editor’s Note-Book

AFTER the close of the Sabbath spent at Hsiang Cheng mission station, we began to make preparations for starting on the return journey the next day. In the meantime it had rained so that the roads had grown no better. After some delay on Sunday morning, due to the difficulty of securing a cart for Dr. Selmon and wife and the evangelist, we left the station promptly at one o’clock. Owing to the lateness of the start and the condition of the roads, we could make only half the journey to Shang-tsai that day. At seven o’clock we reached Tsai-ku, the half-way station, where we stopped at a Chinese hotel for the night.

To call such a place a hotel, conveys to the mind of the foreigner an altogether wrong idea. To say that four foreigners, two Chinese evangelists, and two drivers with their teams were cared for at a hotel overnight for thirty-three cents, gold, seems to indicate a very favorable condition for travelers in China. But when the facts are fully stated it will be seen that the price was abundant for the accommodations furnished. When we first looked into the place called a room, which Brother Anderson and I were to occupy, I found one of the Chinese evangelists with a brush scraping up dirt and litter into one corner of the room. He then struck a match and lit the pile, which gave forth much smoke and little heat. The Chinese then brought in two or three armfuls of sweet potato vines which they spread down at one end of the enclosure on the dirt floor and then laid upon them a Chinese mat; and on this we made our bed.

The donkeys had the same accommodations that we had, in the same room, with the exception of the sweet potato vines and the mat. As there was no door to our room and the donkeys were near by, they really became our companions in tribulation, and their constant munching and treading around served to soothe our excited nerves. We had

just gotten into bed when we heard that other members of the Chinese family were to occupy the same room with us. When we woke in the night we could hear the donkeys munching the straw, the drivers talking to each other, and the Chinese snoring on the other side of the enclosure. In the morning, although we were the guests of the house, and had taken this so-called room, we found that three members of the family had taken the liberty to occupy it with us.

We arose at four o’clock and started a fire of corn-stalks by which we warmed ourselves, and prepared to complete our journey. At five o’clock we were off, and between eight and nine o’clock it began to rain, which continued until we reached Shang-tsai at twelve o’clock. Traveling through rain and storm, over muddy roads in Chinese donkey carts, is an experience long to be remembered. It was difficult walking as the roads were so muddy and slippery; it was difficult riding under the cover for reasons already given; it was difficult to ride on the shafts without getting soaked through: and so we took our turns at riding under the cover, stretched out at full length, sitting on the shafts protecting ourselves as best we could, and walking through the rain. We arrived in due time, however, and in good condition with a good sprinkling of Chinese mud on our clothing and boots. During the afternoon it continued to rain, but our appointments were out and we must start the next morning for Si Ping where we should take the train again. During the night, however, it ceased raining and turned cold so that in the early morning the ground was frozen and there was a biting north wind blowing.

We left at seven o’clock with a heavily loaded cart, there being five passengers with a large amount of baggage. We found it very cold on this journey and suffered quite a bit on this account. However, we all stood it well, and reached the railway station at half-past one in the afternoon. As the train did not go until half past four, we had a good long wait in the cold, there being no waiting-room, and, of course, no fire.

We took the train for an hour’s ride to Chu Ma Tien where the train stops overnight. Here we again stayed at a Chinese hotel. The walk to the hotel was through a mass of mud and mire. Our room opened into the central gathering place, the office of the hotel, and as the Chinese continue their talking and smoking until late, we had this sort of music the most of the time. Next morning we rose early and had breakfast of Chinese food, consisting of rice and some scrambled eggs, and other things which I did not dare to try. During the night it had frozen so that we were able to walk to the station on the surface of the mire. We took the train at seven o’clock and after riding for two and one-half hours arrived at Sin-yang Cheo, where we were met at the station by Dr. Miller and other friends, who escorted us to their compound where we were to be entertained, and where our meetings for all the workers of Honan are being held. As practically all of us had arrived, we commenced our meeting the same evening. The next morning nearly all the company visited the ground recently purchased for a printing-office on the west side of the city, just outside the wall. A plot of land containing about one and one-half acres, fronting on the main road to the city, has been acquired, and the work of building has begun.

A Chinese contractor who has had some experience in erecting buildings for foreigners has charge of the work. His pay is two hundred cash, gold, (twelve cents) a day. The ordinary workmen receive one hundred and thirty cash, or about eight cents, a day. The sand for the mortar and the small stones used in the footings for the foundation are brought on the shoulders of Chinese boys from the river near by. The large pieces of cut stone to be used as a kind of water-table are brought by men who carry them suspended from poles which rest on their shoulders. The brick for the main walls are burned near by. The building will be thirty-five by seventy feet, and two stories in height, and will be used almost wholly for the publishing work.

Our meetings have continued until the present day, February 3, with the following program: Morning worship, 6:30; Bible study at 9, followed by committee work; reports and counsel meetings from 2:30 until 5, with an intermission; Bible study in the evening at 7:30. All the mission workers in Honan, and Brethren Anderson and Wilbur from Canton are here. We have had a very profitable time thus far, and the outlook is that the meetings will be a great help to the work in this field.

W. W. P.