he club is a new departure in mission work, and most
worthy of support as a rational and hopeful method of presenting the
best of Christian civilization to a class often repelled by missionary
propaganda.

In Chung-king I parted with the faithful coolie who had come with me all
the way from Yunnan-fu. As carrier or as cook's helper he had worked
well; indeed, on more than one occasion he had cooked my dinner when Liu
was under the weather, and he had become so dexterous in waiting on the
table that he had grown ambitious and was now looking out for a place in
a restaurant. I wrote him a "chit," or letter of recommendation, which I
hope served his purpose if he could get any one to read it. At least I
made it look as imposing as possible. How would the wheels go round in
the East without "chits"? You are called upon to write them for every
sort of person and every kind of service or none. On one occasion the
recovery of a stolen necklace brought upon my head demands for a whole
sheaf of letters, every one concerned, no matter how remotely, wanted
one,--hotel proprietor (it was at a hotel that the affair occurred),
hotel manager, clerk, servants, chief of police, ordinary policemen.
Finally in desperation I offered one to the thief for allowing himself
to be caught so promptly. But I think the strangest one I was ever
called upon to write was for a tiger-tamer in the employ of an Indian
rajah. I protested I knew nothing about such things, but he would not
take no, and as he had reduced the big brute that he brought to my
bungalow to the point of drinking milk from a china bowl that I put
before him, I agreed to recommend him as a trainer of tigers. But for my
Yunnan coolie I wrote a good letter most willingly in spite of the fact
that he was a confirmed opium-smoker; in all the long journey that he
made with me I could not see that it weakened his wits or his muscles. I
was told that such journeyings were not at all uncommon, the coolies
taking work wherever offered, and going on and on as new jobs turned up.
With all its shortcomings the Manchu Government did not make the blunder
of imposing artificial restraints upon the movements of the people, and
since no passports were required within the empire, men could come and
go at their own will. The part of the commercial traveller in creating
the American nation has been noted. Who can tell what the Chinese coolie
is doing in the same way?

At Chung-king I had to arrange f