mob surpassed
any we had ever seen. They followed us out of the city and over the three
miles' stretch to the mission premises, and there announced their
intention of remaining indefinitely. Again Mr. Redfern feared some
outbreak, and counseled us to return to the city and apply to the viceroy
himself for protection. This proved a good move. A special exhibition on
the palace parade-grounds gained for us the valuable favor of one who was
only fourth in rank to the emperor himself. A body-guard of soldiers was
furnished, not only during our sojourn in the city, but for the journey to
Singan-foo, on which a good reception was everywhere insured by an
official despatch sent in advance. In order to secure for us future
respect, a small flag with the government stamp and of yellow color was
given us to fly by the side of our "stars and stripes." On this was
inscribed the title of "The Traveling Students," as well as answers to the
more frequent of the common questions--our nationality, destination, and
age. The best mechanic in the local cannon-foundry was then ordered to
make, at government expense, whatever repairs were possible on our
disabled machines. This, however, as it proved, was not much; most of his
time was spent in taking measurements and patterns for another purpose. If
his intentions have been carried out, Lan-chou-foo is to-day possessed of
a "foot-moving carriage" of home production.

Our sojourn in this city is especially associated with the three names of
Woo, Choo, and Moo--names by no means uncommon in Chinese nomenclature. We
heard of a boy named the abstract numeral, "sixty-five," because his
grandfather happened to reach that age on the very day of his birth. Mr.
Moo was the local telegraph operator, with whom we, and our friends Woo
and Choo, of Shanghai, associated. All operators in the Chinese telegraph
system are required to read and write English. The school established for
this purpose at Lan-chou we occasionally visited, and assisted the Chinese
schoolmaster to hear the recitations from Routledge's spelling-book. He,
in turn, was a frequent partaker of our "foreign chows," which our
English-speaking friends served with knives and forks borrowed from the
missionaries. Lily and bamboo roots, sharks' fins and swallows' nests, and
many other Chinese delicacies, were now served in abundance, and with the
ever-accompanying bowl of rice. In the matter of eating and drinking,
Chinese formality is extrem