to be asked of any other City, such as New
York, Chicago, St. Louis, London, Paris, Cairo, Constantinople, as
well as San Francisco. Among the other noticeable things in the
Joss-House were two immense lanterns, as much for ornament as for
utility. Then I saw a big drum and a bell, used in some of the
processions of the Temple; for the Chinese take special delight in
noises, indeed the more noise the better satisfied they are. During
my visit some of the Joss-House attendants were shooting off fire
crackers; and I was told that this was an acceptable offering to the
Chinese god. One who was selling small, slender incense sticks, said
that you could burn them to drive away the devil, an excellent purpose
certainly. He also said they were good to keep moths away. Doubtless
in the Chinese mind there is a connection between moths and evil
spirits; but you smile at all such puerilities. They belong to the
childhood of the world and not to the beginning of the twentieth
century. Among other creatures which they venerate are chickens and
lions. They invest the lion with divine attributes on account of his
majesty and power. But the chicken? Well, it is a gentle creature. It
is the embodiment of motherhood and it speaks of care, not only to
the Chinaman's understanding, but to ours also. The Divine Teacher,
greater than Confucius, said: "How often would I have gathered thy
children together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings!"
Will China, now waking out of the sleep of centuries, allow Him to
gather her children together under the wings of His Cross? "And ye
would not." Oh, what pathos in these few words! But doubtless they
will. Many during the war of the Boxers were "gathered" unto Him,
emulating the zeal and courage and faith of the martyrs of the early
days of the Church. As the hen is sacred in the eyes of the Chinaman,
sacred as the peacock to Juno or the ibis to the Egyptians, they swear
by her head, and an oath thus taken may not be broken.

One of the images which I saw in the Joss-House was pointed out as
the God of the Door; and how suggestive this title and this office!
Another figure, on the right side of the altar, which attracted my
attention particularly was that of Toi Sin. He was dressed somewhat
like a mandarin, and his head was bared, while tears as of blood were
on his cheeks. He lived some three hundred years after the Advent of
Christ; and owing to his disobedience to his parents, for which