n the bean-oil lamp. They were most plausible,
and many thousands of silver dollars were brought forth and given to
the men as contract money. They left us to buy machinery; the years
have passed; they never have returned. Ningpo still has streets of
darkness, men still walk abroad with lighted lanterns, the bean-oil
lamp is seen within the cottage and-- will be until the hills shall fade,
so far as the officials are concerned, who once dreamed dreams of a
city lit by the light as of myriad suns.

How can the missionaries have the face to come here with their
religion, when the dissolute white man is in every port manifesting a
lust and greed and brutality which Chinese are accustomed to
associate with the citizenship and religion attributed to Christianity.
No wonder it is hard for them to make converts among the people who
have business dealings with these men from Christian nations.

But China will not forever bear the ill-treatment of men from Western
lands. She is awake to all the insults; she has learned in the bitter
halls of experience. She sleeps no longer; she will rise in self-defense
and fight aggression; and the nations who have misused her must
remember that when she moves it will be the movement of a mighty
people aroused by the thought of their great wrongs. She is peaceful
and long-suffering, but she is different from the old-time China. She
has now a national spirit that has been brought about by better means
of communication between provinces. In the olden time it was difficult
for one part or the Empire to know the conditions in another. But now
the telegraph and the daily newspaper come to all the smallest
villages. I am sure that the watchman by thy outer gate reads as he
guards thy household, and learns in far Sezchuan what has happened
to-day in Peking, or the Southern city of Canton, and the news is
discussed in the tea-shops and on corners by men from farm and
shop and office.

The foreigners are mistaken in their belief that China can never be
united. She has been one for centuries, in beliefs, in morals, in
education, and in religion, and now she will be more united in her
stand against the hated white man who covets her treasures. She
may quarrel with her brothers within her borders; but that is nothing
but a family feud, and in time of danger from outside, like all families,
she will unite to fight for her own until the last red lantern fades and
the morning star is shining. Enough of po