st efforts
will be to translate into Chinese Mr. Stead's "If Christ came to
Chicago," in order the better to demonstrate to the Chinese the lofty
standard of morality, virtue, probity, and honour attained by the
Christian community that sent them to China to enlighten the poor
benighted heathen in this land of darkness.

Szechuen is a Catholic stronghold. There are nominally one hundred
thousand Catholics in the province, representing the labours of many
French missionaries for a period of rather more than two hundred years.
Actually, however, there are only sixty thousand Chinese in the province
who could be called Catholics. To use the words of the Provicaire, the
Chinese are "_trop materialistes_" to become Christian, and, as they are
all "liars and robbers," the faith is not easily propagated amongst
them. Rarely have I met two more charming men than these brave
missionaries. French, they told me, I speak with the "_vrai accent
parisien_," a compliment which I have no doubt is true, though it
conflicts with my experience in Paris, where most of the true Parisians
to whom I spoke in their own language gave me the same look of
intelligence that I observe in the Chinaman when I address him in
English. Pere Moutot has been twenty-three years in China--six years at
the sacred Mount Omi, and seventeen years in Suifu; Pere Beraud has been
twenty-three years in Suifu. They both speak Chinese to perfection, and
have been co-workers with the bishop in the production of a
Mandarin-French dictionary just published at Sicawei; they dress as
Chinese, and live as Chinese in handsome mission premises built in
Chinese style. There is a pretty chapel in the compound with scrolls and
memorial tablets presented by Chinese Catholics, a school for boys
attended by fifty ragamuffins, a nunnery and girls' school, and a fit
residence for the venerable bishop. When showing me the chapel, the
Provicaire told me of the visit of one of Our Lord's Apostles to Suifu.
He seemed to have no doubt himself of the truth of the story. Tradition
says that St. Thomas came to China, and, if further proof were wanting,
there is the black image of Tamo worshipped to this day in many of the
temples of Szechuen. Scholars, however, identify this image and its
marked Hindoo features with that of the Buddhist evangelist Tamo, who is
known to have visited China in the sixth century.

In Suifu there is a branch of the China Inland Mission under an
enthusiastic yo