OCR Text |
Show o NORTH CHINA MISSION to get their fill! By the time the case was reported to the doctor,, though news travels fast in this nigh newspaperless land, a ton or two of the material was gone, and he must needs appoint another watchman. The " unconscious " beggar got hungry in a day or two, and "woke up," so the watchman was released "with a caution." But it was not simply after the a'rrival that such articles brought trouble. On the Canal, goods were often held' up for an extra tax for the "Imrerial Chinese Republic." Otv one such occasion, when telegraphic appeal was made to the American consul, a few days later a note came from the customs-official saying that the law he had mentioned had been changed, so our goods could now go through! And the hauling from Pangkiachwang had its trials too. One dark night, as one of the missionaries passed the string of donkey-cow-mule-horse carts . he saw something on-top of one of the loads. When the procession' had been stopped and the man awakened and: derricked down from his bed. which was exactly on top of the huge uncovered box of big^pictures and oil paintings, the only explanation was the query : "Would it hurt the pictures to ride on< them?" "We were almost profane!" The carters wonder what sort of hospital instrument a bath tub is, and the missionary, wearied with many questionings, ventures the information that it is a kind of foreign casket. For the next half hour one holds-his risibles, for they take it seriously and make laudatory comments on the fine coffins the foreigners use. Coining up the hospital steps one evening, the doctor was a bit surprised to find a Shansi wild boar glaring fiercely at him and nearby a mild' looking deer! This stuffed salvage from the Pankiachwang. museum finds temporary storage in the hospital, along with many cartloads of other "furnishings." Nor was the gravity of the station increased by the arrival of several cases of steam heating plant bearing the legend: "Dr. F. F. Tucker, Made in the- United States." 'The string of donkey-cow-mule- horse carts" |