Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 April 1896 — AN UNENVIABLE LOT. [ARTICLE]

AN UNENVIABLE LOT.

The Life of a Missionary in China Far from Pleasant. The lot of the missionary in China, particularly the zealous minister of the gospel, who wanders away from the beaten paths and Into new territory, is far from pleasant. It is a most dangerous proceeding, for in the localities of the recent massacres the minds of the ignorant Chinese have been poisoned by the reports clrculatedby designing officials, aud a portion of the population is decidedly opposed to the presence of the Christians. All sorts of stories are told of the cruelties practiced by the missionaries and every little while this hatred, fanned to a flame, breaks out and several missionaries aud their families are persecuted. Sometimes they escape with tlieir lives and only their property is destroyed, but it not infrequently happens that there Is considerable loss of life, as in the recent cases. Then there is a great hue and cry and the United States government and other powers are denounced for not sending a fleet of warships to the scene, regardless of the fact that the scene of the disturbances are always hundreds of miles inland, far from the coast and navigable rivers. To send a land force would only mean the addition of so many more victims to the already long list. For the United States to send a force of men to- the locality where the last massacre occurred would be about as reasonable as It would have been for the King .of Italy to have ordered a force to march from New York to Colorado, where there were a number of Italians killed hy a mob a few months since. , The missionaries are themselves largely to blame for being in such an exposed position. The Chinese government lias repeatedly warned them to work only in partially civilized regions where they can be properly protected. But the progressive missionary does not want his field of labor limited in the East, and the consequences are that many of them have gone into a territory peopled largely by savages, who, although they are under the rule of the Emperor of China, pay him but slight allegiance. These savages are continually breaking out Into riotous proceedings and the life of the officials is made very wearisome, especially since It means that the viceroy is likely to be shorn of his raiment and also his head, should any missionaries be killed and the oountry from whence they came make a very great noise over the affair.