suitable moment. No
plight, however, excites their pity sufficiently to induce them to
render help apart from a pecuniary reward of an exorbitant nature. Once
within the city gates there is hope that you will soon find a shelter.
You will have accomplished "the stage" which has been allotted from time
immemorial. Marco Polo himself followed these stages in the year 1280 as
we do to-day in the twentieth century.

The main road runs through the city of Hwochow from north to south, and
many inns invite the traveller to rest, the red scrolls at the door
assuring him that "From the four seas men all gather to this great
hotel," and that the fame of its food is far-reaching.

Crossing this road from east to west is another important street where
the official residence is situated. Here, most of the large shops are to
be found and in the centre of the city is a fine tower, but all the
smaller streets are alike, running between blank walls, from which
access to as many as twelve courtyards may be through one small door.
Numerous pigs walk unhindered up and down, acting as scavengers, and as
such are not unneeded, for every one throws the refuse of the household
out of the court door, caring nothing for the convenience of the public.

Parallel with the Yamen street is another important thoroughfare known
as Prospect Hill. Here stands the largest and most important temple in
the city, and almost next door to this, with the money given by his
wife, Mr. Hsi secured small premises and announced that he was opening
an opium refuge, and was willing to receive patients. Particulars as to
rules and expenses were widely published, and in this place the first
results of the love and self-sacrifice of Mrs. Hsi were seen.

A NEW VENTURE

"Love has a hem to its garment
That touches the very dust:
It can reach the stains of the streets and the lanes,
And because it can it must.

It dares not rest on the mountain;
It is bound to come to the vale;
For it cannot find its fulness of mind
Till it kindles the lives that fail."
GEORGE MATHESON.

"The world had begun to stare, she half
apprehended the fact, but she was in the presence
of the irresistible. In the presence of the
irresistible the conventional is a crazy
structure, swept away with very little crea