The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1887, Page 3

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The Lutheran Pioneer. 3

The True Story of Chin Lung.

In China, while the birth of a girl is looked
upon as a misfortune, if not a disgrace, and,
according to the custom of the province, all
above two or three are usually in some way
put to death or allowed to die from neglect,
the birth of a son is attended with a great deal
of ceremony, and the more boys ina family the
greater the rejoicing. Yet this is not always
the case, especially among the very poor, and
if the child happens to be sickly or deformed.
Hence, this true story of Chin Lung.

When he was about six years old he Jay in
bed one morning, although his two elder broth-
ers were up and heating some rice in a little
brass furnace. It was a cold, frosty morning;
his father had made a little fire under the bed
the night before, for they spread a mat on a
flat brick furnace, and the whole family slept
on it.

It would not have been much trouble for
Chin Lung to have got up, for to get up was
all he had to do to be ready for breakfast,
since, like all the rest of the family he had
gone to bed with his clothes on, his dress being
along, blue gown coming nearly to his heels
and quilted with wadding to make it warm;
on his head he had a cap, with holes cut in it
to let his hair through, for, like other boys
when a baby, his head had been shaved, ex-
cept three spots, one over each ear and one on
the top of the head, and the hair on the places
was twisted up in three funny little balls.

He lay there very quiet and pretended to be
asleep, but he was thinking how glad he would

be when he could wear a tunic and trousers

like his brothers, and have a long pigtail to
hang down his back, and of next New Year's
day and its pleasures, just as the children of

this country, as soon as Fourth of July is.over

begin to think of the next Christmas. But
hearing his parents mention his name, he pulled
his cap off and listened.

Said his father, ‘‘ We have too many boys.
Fee Song and Loo Choo are enough to do all
the work, and the bed is too full. Chin Lung
eats a great deal of rice. I think we shall
have to get rid of him.”

His mother answered, ‘‘ Yes, the bed is too
full now, and the boys grow so fast. Chin
Lung’s ‘back will never get straight; he will
never be strong enough to work, and he does
eat a great deal of rice.”

‘© We ought never to have saved Chin Lung

at all; he has eaten a great deal in these six
years,” was the mother’s cruel answer.

«J will go out and get some poison this very
morning,’’ said the father, and they began to

~ talk about different kinds of poison.

Fee Song and Loo Choo had stopped stirring
the rice and been listening to the talk. Fee
Song begged his parents not to poison poor
little Chin. ‘I will eat less rice myself and
do more work,”’ he said.

But Loo Choo said Chin Lung crowded him

quite still and never made a sound, not even

stirred the rice.

the night before, and he thought he was one
boy too many.

Poor Chin Lung beard it all, but he lay

about it, a third messenger arrived from the
chief, most earnestly begging him to come.

Mr. Gobat decided to go. Some of the
Druses went with him. Night overtook them
in the mountains and it was very dark. Their
only route lay along a narrow and dangerous
path, along which the Druses were to guide
the missionary. As they proceeded, by the
light of the moon, they noticed a hyena lying
in their path. The animal being chased, kept
the path in making its escape. The guides
would go no further for, they said, “‘The way
an hyena goes is an unlucky way.’’

It was agreed that they would pass the
night at a village near by, and continue their
journey very early the next morning. How-
ever, being very weary, they all overslept
themselves. The missionary found that he
could not go to see the chief and return in
time to take the ship for Malta. Thus he was
prevented again from going, which he regretted
very much. All through his voyage he la-
mented that he had been unable to visit the
chief.

On arriving at an island of Malta he re-
ceived a letter informing him that had he suc-
ceeded in seeing the chief it would have cost
him his life. The chief had sent for him for
the purpose of seizing and killing him. Thus
God overruled all for the best.—Zzchange.

when his parents got up and went out of the
house, and he could not hear what Loo Choo
was saying because of Fee Song’s sobs as he

When his father came back he brought some-
thing in a cup to Chin Lung, and said,

“‘Here is something good for you to drink.”

Fee Song went crying out of the room as
Chin took a big mouthful of the stuff, but
little as he was he knew better than to swallow
it, and he held it in his mouth till he went out
of the house and then he spit it out. As fast
as he could he ran away through the narrow,
crowded streets of Shanghai till he felt so sick
he crawled up in a little corner and lay down.

How long it was before he was picked up
and taken to an orphan boys’ school by a
missionary no one ever knew, but he was ap-
parently almost starved and dead. But he
grew up in the school and became a native
preacher, and for many years walked up and
down the streets of that great city telling the
people of the Saviour of whom he had learned,
often praying that God would guide him to
his brothers and parents, that they too might
know of the glad tidings. —Child’s Paper.

——_— + o=mee

—_— oo

God’s Strange Ways. No Fear, No Hope.

Our heavenly Father has a care for his chil-
dren. This is proved to us over and over every
day of the year. An incident in the life of
Samuel Gobat shows how God sometimes re-
sorts to strange ways in protecting us.

This man was a missonary among the Druses,
who live in the lonely mountains of Lebanon.
About twenty years ago he labored among
these people, reading to them from the New
Testament, and preaching to them of the Lord
Jesus Christ. His labors were not in vain.
At last, however, a secret plot was formed
against him.

One day a man came to him from the heathen
chief, urging him to come at once, as the chief
wished to speak with him about Christ. Mr.
Gobat was glad to hear this, and sent word to
the chief that he would visit him in a fev
days.

In the meantime the missionary took sick
and could not go. Another messenger came to
him from the chief urging him to come. Mr.
Gobat set a day on which he would visit the
chief, but he was again prevented from going
by the arrival of some of the principal chiefs.

On the following day, however, he resolved
that nothing should prevent him from going.

But, just as he left his house, a letter was
brought to him saying that the ship in which
it had been arranged that he should go to
Malta was to sail on the very next day at noon.

What was he todo? While he was thinking

Mr. Robert Owen once visited a gentleman
who was a believer. In walking out they came
to the gentleman’s family graveyard. Owen
addressing him, said: ‘‘There is one advantage
I have over Christians—I am not afraid to die;
but if some of my business were settled, I
should be perfectly willing to die at any mo-
ment.”

‘© Well,”? said his companion, ‘‘you say you
have no fear of death—have you any hope in
death?”’

After a solemn pause, he replied, ‘No.’’

“Then,”’ replied the gentleman, pointing to
an ox standing near, ‘‘you are on a level with
that brute. He is fed till he is satisfied, and
stands in the shade, whisking off the flies, and
has neither hope nor fear.’’—Sword and Trowel.

—_——_—- oo

Little Lizzie’s Answer.

One day the teacher of our infant-class asked
them this question, ‘‘ How big must you be to
give your heart to Jesus? Must you be as big
as I am? All that think so will raise the
hand.’’? Quite a number thought they must
be as big as their teacher. «Well, all who do
not think so will raise the hand.’’ A good
many hands were raised in response to’ this in-
vitation. ‘Well, Lizzie, how big do you
think we must be to give our hearts to Jesus?””
“© Just as big as we are.”