ike Him.'

'Mongolia: Sept. 9, 1888.

'My dear Sons,--I am out on a journey. I knew letters were being
sent me, and hoped to meet them. A long way off I saw a red
umbrella, the sun shining through the oilcloth. The thought passed
through my mind, "Can that be the messenger?" But I forgot all
about it, reading a book as I walked along. All at once I heard,
"He's come," and looking up, saw the red umbrella close at hand. It
_was_ him. The messenger returns to-morrow. I had had no letters
for eighty days.

'I wrote you last on August 2. Since then several men have
professed Christ, and one man has been baptized.

'One of the Christians at Ta Cheng Tz[)u] stole my bankbook and
drew money of mine, amounting to about 3_l._ He says he is
penitent, and we have put him on a year's probation to see how he
does. He is a lazy man. Long ago I said, "If you are lazy, some day
the devil will make you a sinner," and so he did. Had he been a
diligent man he would not have been poor and would not have stolen.
Diligence is a good thing, laziness is a bad thing. A good
Christian cannot be lazy, because he knows Jesus does not like lazy
people. I may write you again in a few days. Hoping next mail to
get a letter from you (there was none this mail), and asking God to
bless you in everything, and guide you in all your life,

'I am your loving Father,
'JAMES GILMOUR'

'Ch'ao Yang, Mongolia: Saturday, November 17, 1888.

'My dear Sons,--On the street to-day I saw a crowd standing. I went
up to see what they were looking at, and found two Chinese
gentlemen showing off a trained bird. One of the men stood down on
the street. The other put three little flags so that they stuck on
the wall. The bird then flew away, caught up a flag, and came
flying back to its master in the street, carrying the flag in its
bill. It looked very clever. Every time the bird brought a flag it
was rewarded by being fed with some nice food which it liked. It
was very pretty to see it. But after all it was a very trifling
employment for two grown gentlemen to be engaged in. Even the crowd
of ordinary Chinese seemed to think so.

'I don't like to se