Morning Calm v.3 no.30(1892 Dec.)

THE MORNING CALM. ________________________________________ No. 30, VOL. III.] DECEMBER 1892. [PRICE Id. ________________________________________ The Bishop's Letter. CHEMULPÓ: July 1892. DEAR FRIENDS, The principal event of this month has been the ordina-tion of Mr Davies on Sunday the 24th, at St. Michael's-an event which, from one cause or another, had been unavoidably deferred till then. The little Mission Church of St. Michael and All Angels is now a familiar object to you all. You will, therefore, very well be able to imagine what the service inside was like when we were making our first deacon in the diocese. The first deacon of the Mission, the Rev. L. 0. Warner, was made for us, you remember, by the good Bishop of Lincoln To Mr. Warner, now a priest, was accord-ingly assigned the duty of preaching the ordination sermon on this day. He served his diaconate in Corea. It was surely fitting, therefore, that one of the earliest acts of his priesthood should be to declare the duty and office of a deacon, the peculiar dangers, difficulties, and responsibilities which attend the diaconate in Corea. Taking his text from Isaiah vi. 8, he not only exhorted Mr. Davies, but took occasion to remind the members of the two other orders of the ministry (we need reminding very often) how irrevocable is the position they have assumed and how much more serious a responsibility it is to assume this position in Corea than elsewhere. It was pleasant to hear our duties at last put before us, from a Corean point of view ; by one, too, whose residence in the country gives him a right to say somewhat. The deacon-elect was presented to me by Mr. Trollope, who, during my absence in China, has been bearing some of the burdens of an archdeacon without enjoying any of his dignity. The Litany followed, and then the Holy Communion, which was sung, unaccompanied, to Merbecke. There were present, besides the clergy, Dr. Landis, Mr. Smart, and Mr. Hodge. Mr. Smart assisted us greatly by his accompany-ment of our hymns on the harmonium. Thus we have once more the three orders of the ministry amongst us, and, our laywork being now in good hope of being begun, we felt that the Mission   154 THE MORNING CALM. ________________________________________ had on that day taken an altogether new and most important departure. I want you to remember our lay helpers very earnestly and frequently in your prayers, that God will bless the laywork in its beginning and develop it to the good of His Church. The ordination over, Mr. Trollope left for Chefoo and Niu Ch'wang. At the former place he will see Bishop Scott and confer with him on questions relating to the Chinese, especially our own Chinese Christians and enquirers. At Niu Ch'wang he will relieve Mr. Pownall, who returns to his post at Chemulpó. The month of July, usually so wet in Corea, has thus far been unaccountably dry. We are beginning to think that we shall have no rainy season. In spite of the heat we are all well, except Mr. Smart, who nevertheless is mending. Praying God to bless you all, I am, dear friends, Yours affectionately, C. J. CORFE. ________________________________________ Correspondence. THE following is an extract from a letter from the Rev. Maurice Davies : - “August 22, 1892. “The Bishop ordained me Deacon yesterday, the 6th Sunday after Trinity, in the Church of S. Michael and All Angels, Chemulpó. It was to have taken place in Seoul, but the Doctor would not let the Bishop make the journey during the hot weather. I came down last Tuesday by river, and Mr. Trollope and Mr. Warner came on Saturday. The service was very nice. It began with a hymn, followed by an address from Mr. Warner, and then straight on to the Litany. “There were only members of the Mission present, including Hodge and Smart, who arrived by the last boat. "Mr. Warner, I think, is to be stationed at Mapoo, on the river, with a boat in which he will visit the villages on the banks of the different rivers. “Mr. Pownall is at present at Niu-Ch’wang, where there is a fairly large European settlement. “We are all fighting against the heat up here in Seoul ; even Dr. Wiles, veteran as he is, has succumbed more than once. The damp weather is now beginning, and your clothes get wringing wet on you. We had some tremendous rain yesterday ;   THE MORNING CALM. 155________________________________________

SUPERIOR OF CHANG-AN-SA MONASTERY.   156 THE MORNING CALM. ________________________________________ 6 1/2 inches fell in less than twelve hours. The whole city was under water. "A few days ago it was a trifle cooler, and we took advantage of it to take some exercise. Mr. Warner and I rode out in the country, to a place called the King's Farm, to look for snipe. I walked up to my neck in reeds and ankle deep in water for four hours, and only rose two snipe, and of course missed them. "I saw a huge flock of about fifty cranes. Reaching a stream with a sandy bank, I laid down and waited for Mr. Warner; he only had about six shots. We brought a rifle with us and practised shooting at a straw hat at 120 yards; the firing so frightened our horses that I could do nothing with mine, and he finally threw me into the middle of a stream, about 2 feet deep. He refused to take to the water, and when I whipped him into it, he rebelled and showed me who was master. They are vicious little brutes. I was thoroughly soaked. I must confess I prefer walking to riding. Yesterday I did 20 miles in the heat, and one way all uphill, with gun and cartridge belt. I shot some strange birds, some-thing like a woodcock, but with beautiful plumage. They turned out excellent eating. “The other day I went to see the funeral procession of a nobleman. It was a curious weird sight. Thousands of lanterns and torches. All the female servants of the establishment were on horseback and entirely covered with sackcloth, wailing dismally. Most of the lanterns were huge things, 20 feet high, containing about twenty candles. Some were very pretty. Chinese umbrellas hung with little tiny red lights, held on long poles, and some were made in the shape of a flower which Buddha predicted would grow in the next world. “The most curious fact about the procession was that there were two biers. After the first one there was a break in the procession and pitch darkness; this is in order to deceive the devil, for whom the first bier is prepared. It certainly deceived me! “The real bier was a most gorgeous thing under a wooden canopy, with four heads of dragons, magnificently painted. “There must have been fifty or sixty bearers, all singing a mourning song. Large white lanterns immediately surrounded the bier and then thousands of coloured ones, on which were written two Chinese characters, being the rank of the deceased. “Standing on the platform in front of the coffin was a man in deep mourning, slowly ringing a large bell, and another man stood at the back. "On the whole there was an absence of that solemnity which   THE MORNING CALM. 157________________________________________ is such a striking feature in a Christian burial. Imagine about 500 men carrying lanterns on the end of their long pipes, which they were smoking. Funerals always go out of the same gate, which is called the ‘Gate of Blood.’ Sometimes you may see a row of corpses hung up outside, and even, I believe, criminals cruelly tortured in the street, having one leg tied to one ball and the other leg to another ball, then the two balls driven in opposite directions. These indolent Orientals know how to torture.” The following is an extract from a letter of Miss Cooke, which gives an interesting account of her work : -________________________________________ "SEOUL, September 14, 1892.

“The dispensary for women and children was opened on March 1st; this I told you in a former letter. The attendances in March were 50 ; the work has gradually increased since then. The highest number of monthly attendances was 180 ; the total number for the six months ending August 31 was 757. Com-pared with India and other countries this is rather a small number, but for Corea I think it is fairly good.

"You knew that a small hospital was being built ready for in-patients, but I think you may not know of the beautiful new surgery and waiting rooms Dr. Wiles has just built for this department of the medical work. Originally the work began in an old Corean house, which was not very convenient ; the windows were small, thus giving little light, and the floor was not in a very safe state. “We have had two operations on Japanese women, Dr. Wiles operating ; I was assistant-surgeon ; Miss Heathcote nurse. When Dr. Wiles looked at the old dispensary with a view to operating there he found many drawbacks, especially the floor, which might have given way in the middle of the operation ! so he decided not to do it there, and this, I think, made him consider It would be a good thing to have a surgery in which an operation could take place with safety if necessary, the result being the beautiful new building, which has a large surgery. One side of this room is all windows, and these all glass, and a strong floor of wood ; then a dispensary for storing and making up medicine ; this is also a good-sized room, with ex-cellent light like the surgery. The third room, with a deep verandah facing the street, is the entrance and waiting room for the patients ; this room has a "kong" floor and Corean Windows, and here the women sit and chat, waiting their turn   158 THE MORNING CALM. ________________________________________ for admittance to the surgery. As regards a surgery, &c., I am now quite in clover! “Dr. Wiles' two operations were performed in the new house the Bishop built. It had many advantages-a good strong floor, good light, and plenty of air, and no one had lived there. Both patients did very well indeed. It was the fame of the success of the first operation which brought the second woman to the dispensary, and though a weaker person she did equally well. Both were Japanese women and suffered from cancer. “After the old dispensary was pulled down to make room for building the new one, the dispensary work was also carried on in the new house, the patients continuing their attendances through all the change. “Now we are back again in the new building, the Bishop's house is being finished and put in order for its proper occu-pants. It was only partly finished and unoccupied when we used it as the hospital, &c., which was a good thing for this part of the work, otherwise the dispensary would have had to be closed ‘during building operations,' and that would have been a pity. “The climate of Corea begins to be very pleasant now ; the excessive heat of the summer is over, and the cold has not yet begun, and I hope it will not for some time to come. The heat really felt quite as great as that of India-indeed, I felt it more, but that might be by contrast with the cold of the winter ; still I preferred it to the winter. Now I think anyone would enjoy Corea, and the sunlight is really delightful." ________________________________________ The Rev. M. N. Trollope writes: "I hope my letter from Chefoo reached you, and you will understand my movements. I had a delightful twelve-day holiday at Chefoo, and then came on here, arriving last Sunday at mid-day. Bishop and Mrs. Scott were most kind. The weather was very hot, but not nearly so bad as at Seöul. We had a great deal of thunder and lightning. There is a nice little English church, with a fair congregation and nice services, in the settlement, and another attached to the bungalow where Bishop Scott lives. It is known as St. Peter's Mission-house. We talked a great deal while I was there about doing some-thing to draw our two Missions closer together. We want the friends of each Mission at home to take a special interest in the affairs of the other. There is no reason why Corea and North China should not unite, especially as we are   THE MORNING CALM. 159________________________________________ now contiguous (since Manchuria has been added to Bishop Corfe's jurisdiction). So we all want the friends of Corea to read and pray about North China, and vice versâ. Mr. Pownall is leaving in half an hour by the steamer that is to take this letter. I expect to be here about a month. The steamer made the journey here from Chefoo in less than twenty-four hours-about 220 miles. Look it out on the map and see where we are. A little way up a river at the head of the Gulf of Pechili. Such an ugly place-flat, muddy fens for miles ; very hot and dusty now, though the thermometer does not go so high as at Seöul, but in the winter these poor people are frozen up for four months, with no possibility of doing anything. It must be terribly dreary. There is a settlement of about eighty English here-men, women, and children. The place is very busy. There are generally five or six steamers in the port, and sometimes twenty or thirty. I am settled here comfortably now. I do not expect that the Bishop will be able to get away to relieve me till the end of next month, or perhaps the end of October, but I hope to get back next month, or I shall be forgetting my Corean. Besides, Corea is my home. People are very kind here. I cannot quite see yet how the place is to provide work for a whole man, unless perhaps he undertakes the education of all the European children. It is not half a bad place. Of course the winter is more severe, the thermometer going down to 20 below zero. For 132 days last winter they were frozen up tight, so that no steamers could go out or come in, but the European residents seem to thrive on it. They all seem en-thusiastic about having regular church ministrations. Last Saturday an English gun-boat, the Redpole, came in for two or three days. I saw a good deal of the captain and officers, who were all very nice. One of the blue-jackets was very ill with typhoid, and as there is no hospital, I offered to take him in. So here he is, with two of his mates left behind to nurse him. He is terribly ill, and we are very anxious as to whether he will pull through. I sometimes take my turn at nursing and watching for two or three hours. Poor fellow! the crisis must be over in a very few days.” ________________________________________ Mr. J. W. Hodge writes: “You will observe I am now at Nak Tong, comfortably settled down, and am extremely busy, as I have been for three weeks past printing the second edition of Scott's ‘Corean Manual.' It means a lot of work, and it will probably last some months. To-day is the   160 THE MORNING CALM. ________________________________________ King's birthday, and I have had to let the boys in the office off for the day. I have just seen the Morning Calm (for August); it is delightful and very interesting. Doubly so when I find that I, by some means or other, have suddenly made my appearance from behind the scenes. Mr. Smart and I are keep-ing the offices by nearly the same rule as at Vassall Road. On Monday last the King came out in a procession and paraded the streets. The Corean soldiers are a disgraceful lot. Their rotten rifles wanted cleaning very badly; some of them were tied up with string !” Note. Miss DAY writes to say that she finds it impossible to send out by post several copies of Morning Calm in one wrapper at the same rates as heretofore. She will be glad to let subscribers know the cost of postage for parcels of Morning Calm on application to her at Lorne House, Rochester. Miss Day would also be glad to have names of intending subscribers for 1893 as early as possible. Association of Prayer and work for Corea. We have been asked to draw the attention of the friends of Corea to the Quiet Day for all those interested in Foreign Missions, which will be held on Thursday, December 1, at St. John's Church, Wilton Road, S.W. The conductor will be the Rev. A. W. Robinson, and the day will begin with Holy Com-munion at 8.30 A.M., and will end with the 4th address and Evensong at 5 P.M. Corea will be amongst the missions for which special intercessions will be offered. Time-tables and all particulars may be obtained from the Secretary, 9 Ladbroke Square, W. The list of special preachers for the Association is now ready. Copies will be sent to all Secretaries, and may be ob-tained by others on application to the General Secretary, who hopes that much advantage will be taken by secretaries and members of the kindness of those clergymen in various parts of England who have promised to travel about to preach sermons, or address meetings for the Mission. An Association album of Corean photographs is being pre-pared to be sent about for use at meetings, and the General Secretary would be most grateful if the fortunate possessors of views taken in Corea would very kindly send spare copies to   THE MORNING CALM. 161________________________________________ Miss Eva Pownall, Heavitree Park, Heavitree, Exeter, for insertion. We are glad to learn that on October 26 a large number of Stoke Newington Members of the Association assembled to meet Mr. and Mrs. Johnston, of Corea, and spent a most enjoy-able evening, listening to Mrs. Johnston's delightful account of Corea and its Church of England Mission. £1. 7s. was also realised for our funds by the sale of things made by the Stoke Newington Working Parties. The only cloud was in the very grievous loss recently sustained by the parish in our Mission work in the parish in the death of Mrs. Shelford, the Rector's wife, who was one of our earliest members and most earnest helpers. It is hoped that our Association Day, December 6, will be observed in many localities by services and meetings. In Exeter an Evening Meeting will be held, at which the Rev. E. C. Corfe has kindly promised to be the speaker. M. M. CHAMBERS-HODGETTS, Gen. Sec. Association of Prayer and Work for Corea. November 8, 1892. ________________________________________ The hermit Nation. A CITY AMONG HILLS AND TIGERS. THE capital of Corea lies, as it were, in the arena of an immense and beautiful amphitheatre ; well wooded hills or lofty and rocky mountains meet the eye on every side ; a rugged peak, which, I believe, is over 3,000 feet above the valley, forms a majestic bulwark on the northern side, while on the south rises a lovely height covered from top to bottom with trees, bushes, and shrubs, of divers kinds and hues. On this hill was killed, quite recently, a beautiful tiger, one of the many which seem of late to frequent the neighbouring hills and woods, and which must be of gigantic size, one skin measuring 14 feet from the point of its nose to the end of its tail. The city itself has about 150,000 inhabitants, with about as many more in its suburbs. As we enter these latter we find shops-such as they are-abounding. Some foreign goods are visible, especially Japanese, but native products mostly cover the boards and shelves. Restaurants also are not wanting, where the meat and fish are seen grilled, and hungry Coreans are busy with their brass bowls and chopsticks, eating their food just off the fire. As we come near the city wall we pass an open space, where   162 THE MORNING CALM.________________________________________ several streets or lanes seem to meet. What is it? It is an execution ground, where (not infrequently) criminals for some special crimes are publicly decapitated. HOW COREANS WARM THEIR HOUSES. “In China the outer and inner facings of the otherwise earthen walls are of brick, but here they are of greyish granite blocks. The wall of Seoul runs along the tops of the highest hills that bound the city, both on the north and on the south, as well as along the lower grounds. Its circumference is probably not much, if any, under ten miles ; and it is pierced by seven wooden gates-two-leaved, strong, and well shielded with iron, but single, therein contrasting with the double and triple gates of the chief cities in China. The gates are closed at night shortly after sunset, and opened in the morning about sunrise. Within the city most of the houses have tiled roofs, while the thatch prevails in the suburbs. Of the internal arrangements, not the least singular feature is the floor, from which our Western architects and builders might perhaps learn something. Certain parts (in many houses the whole) of the floor are raised platforms, made of stone or brick, covered with several layers of mud and paper, with an oiled-paper surface which can be mopped when cleanliness is desired. Through these floors run flues, by which the smoke and hot air from the cooking fireplace is carried off, heating the rooms most effectively, when the season demands it, and, as I know to my cost, when the season does not demand it. I am told that even the best Corean homes contain very little furniture, and that little, if I may judge from what I see in the ‘cabinet-makers’’ shops along the streets of the city, must consist chiefly of clothes-presses or wardrobes, cabinets, and boxes. Chairs, I am told, are used but sparingly, the Coreans sitting and eating and reading and writing and sleeping on the floor. They do not know how to use chairs yet. A Corean gentleman and scholar, a Roman Catholic, who has come in to see me, and who knows enough Latin to tell me 'Ego sum Christianus,' takes off his shoes and tucks his feet under him on the seat of his chair. In a journey of twenty-two days right across the country, and along one of its main highways, I never saw a chair or even a stool ! A COSTLY PRIVILEGE. "Two-storied houses or shops are very few even in the capital. The only examples I know of are said to be occupied by the chief merchants, most, if not all, of whom have alone the privilege of accompanying the tribute-bearing embassies to   THE MORNING CALM. 163________________________________________ Peking from time to time, and therefore have the privilege of trading with the Chinese in ginseng and other money-making produce on their way to the Chinese capital. The gentlemen thus distinguished by Royal favour are supposed to be wealthy, but it is said they have the further honour of contributing not a little to make up the tribute itself and paying the expenses of the embassies. Sometimes, it is to be feared, even more is taken from them than they possess” RULERS AND PEOPLE OF COREA. In the capital city of this country there seem to be not many large or prominent buildings, and the chief of these are three or four Royal palaces. I was allowed to go over the palace occupied by the king till after the émeute of December, 1884-a privilege readily granted to foreigners by His Majesty whenever asked, and one of the many little tokens of his friendliness towards them. The "palace” is made up of innumerable little buildings, built partly of stones and mortar and partly of boards, and scattered about over the pretty but cultivated grounds in no artistic form or order. The apart-ments had nothing to admire about them ; they were small, ranging from 8 by 8 feet to 8 by 16 ; and the room said to have been the king's library is not to be compared with the corresponding room of a small village pastor in England or Wales. Even the suites of rooms devoted to Royalty differed very little, if any, from those of the better classes of the people, except in number, and perhaps in the paper or painted ceilings, which may be somewhat more gaudily coloured. One or two of the small buildings, by the way, have been completely roofed with the old tin of American kerosene oil-cans! The Audience Hall is a conspicuous exception as regards dimensions and substantialness, its area being about 75 by 60 feet, and the tallest wooden pillars which support the roof being about 50 feet high. The roof inside is gaudily painted and abundantly figured with storks and dragons. Bullet holes and scratches are visible on every side in the palace. How many were slain, in addition to the high native officials who were treacherously massacred in that reign of terror, the night of the 4th and morning of the 5th of December, will probably never be known. Their ghosts, however, are said to have been numerous and mighty, and spiteful enough to render the palace uninhabitable for the present. Her Majesty the Queen of Corea, especially, could not sleep at night in this haunted palace, which had to be abandoned for the newer palace on the northern side of the city. (To be continued).   164 THE MORNING CALM. ________________________________________ The Spirit of Missions. "I was in Britain with my parents, who earnestly besought me that, after the hardships I had endured, I would never leave them again. And there I saw, in the bosom of the night, a man coming as it were from Ireland with innumerable letters, and he gave one of them to me. And I read the beginning of the letter containing ‘The Voice of the Irish. And while I was reading aloud the beginning of the letter, I thought in my mind that I heard the voice of those who were near the wood of Foclut, which is close by the Western Sea. And they cried out as with one voice, ‘We entreat thee, holy youth, to come, and henceforth live among us.’ And I was deeply moved in heart, and could read no further ; and so I awoke. Thanks be to God, that after very many years at length He granted to them according to their cry! . . . Whence came to me a gift so great and so precious as that I should know God and love Him, and so leave country and parents, and many gifts which were offered to me with weeping and tears? And moreover, I unwillingly offended many of my seniors. But, God helping me, I by no means consented to their will : it was not my grace, but God who conquered in me, and restored them all, so that I came to the Irish people, to preach the Gospel, and to suffer injury at the hands of un-believers. And if I be worthy, I am ready to lay down my life unflinchingly and most gladly for His name ; and among these people I wish to spend it, if the Lord permit, even until death. For I am greatly the debtor of my God, who has bestowed on me such grace that many people through me should be born again unto God, and that everywhere clergy should be ordained for a people newly coming to the faith, whom the Lord drew from the ends of the earth. . . For it has come to pass in Ireland that they who had no knowledge, and until now have only worshipped idols and things unclean, have lately become a people of the Lord, and are called the sons of God. Sons of the Scots and daughters of chieftains have become monks and virgins of Christ; they suffer persecutions and false reproaches from their kindred, and yet their number increases the more. Wherefore, though I could wish to proceed unto Britain, as to my country and kindred, and even as far as to Gaul, to visit the brethren and to see the face of the saints of my Lord, yet I am bound in the Spirit, Who witnesses to me that if I should do this, He would hold me guilty. And I fear to lose the labour which I have commenced, and yet not 1, but Christ the Lord, Who com-manded me to come and be with them for the rest of my life. . . . And I know that in many ways I have not led a perfect life, as other believers. But I confess to my Lord, and do not blush before Him, because I lie not, that from the time that I knew Him in my youth, the love and fear of God have increased in me, and until now, by the grace of the Lord, I have kept the faith. “Now therefore I have related simply to you, my brethren and fellow servants, why I have preached and do preach, in order to strengthen and confirm your faith. Would that you might both aim at greater, and perform more excellent things ! This will be my glory, because ‘A wise son maketh a glad father.’"_From the “Confession of St. Patrick." ________________________________________ The New York Spirit of Missions contains the following :- "A regiment from Benares, passing through Cawnpore, was entertained at dinner there. One of the captains was asked by a lady at the table what the missionaries were doing in Benares. THE MORNING CALM. 165________________________________________ He assured her there were no missionaries there. ‘But I pay an annual subscription for an orphan-house.' 'I do not doubt it-for an orphan-house which does not exist. Do you think I could have lived three years in Benares without learning of it?' A gentleman sitting by asked the captain, 'Did you go to church in Benares?' 'Certainly-by orders.’ ‘But there is no Government chaplain there.' ‘True; but the service was conducted by clergy-men who were much beloved by our men.' 'Strange, you attended services conducted by missionaries and did not know of the existence of these gentlemen. Now as to the orphanage. Did you ever see the long building in the street leading by Sigra to Marawaddi?' 'Certainly. I once rode into the compound after a fox. I found a heap of little black rascals, who grinned at me. They knew where the fox was, but would not tell me.' ‘Then you were in the precincts of the orphanage.' 'Indeed ! I took it for an indigo-factory, or something of the sort.'” Whether this story is true or not (and we are strongly inclined to think that it is, at any rate, not entirely accurate), it is to be feared that many of the statements made about missions and missionaries by travellers who ought to know better have no more solid foundation than these. The Mission Field for November contains the address of the Bishop of Guiana (whose death just recorded gives his words a most pathetic interest), delivered at the dedication of his Cathedral on S. Bartholomew's Day, being the fiftieth anniversary of his consecration; and certainly nothing could have been more moving. The value of the address is not exhausted now that the occasion of its delivery is past, and it is therefore reproduced here : - "BELOVED BRETHREN.-It has been a sorrow to me that for many weeks I have been prevented from worshipping in the House of Prayer with my people, but God has so willed it, and it is our duty, as we all know, to bow to that will. To-day I am once more permitted to join with others in prayer and praise, and no words can sufficiently express my thankfulness to Almighty God for having thus strengthened me to take part in the dedication of this building to His honour and glory. “Beloved, this is a memorable day for me ; it recalls the most solemn occasion in my life, when hands were laid upon me, and I received my commission to do the work of a Bishop in the Church of God. Fifty years have now been fulfilled since that commission was entrusted to me, and as I look back through the long series of years I cannot but feel how imperfectly that work has been performed, but I pray that the great Master, Whom I have humbly striven to serve, will pardon my shortcomings.

  166 THE MORNING CALM. ________________________________________ "Let me now, beloved, address an earnest word of exhortation to you. And what better counsel can I offer than that given by the Apostle S. John, of whom I am at this time specially reminded as the first of those to whom it was granted to hold high office in the Church of God during an unusual length of days? His life and conversation, and the writings which he left behind him, point to him as the Apostle of Love, and it is to that divine spark, emanating from the heavenly mind of the Master on whose breast he leaned at supper, that I now desire to call your attention. It is said of him that in his last days, when he could do little else, his oft-repeated words were, 'Little children, love one another.' To you, beloved, in humble imitation of the Apostle, I now say, 'Little children, love one another,' and let that love be extended to all Christian people. It was our Divine Lord's prayer that all who should believe in Him might be one. In no way can we more effectually help in promoting that unity than by the practice of that charity which is the very bond of peace and of all virtues. Beloved, I shall presently dismiss you with my blessing, but, before I do so, let me ask you to remember me daily in your prayers, as I can assure you that you are ever remembered in mine. It is my earnest hope that, this life ended, we may all meet in that bright home above, where is perfect rest and peace." ________________________________________ The Cathedral at Georgetown is not a little remarkable. Owing to the nature of the ground no foundations could be laid strong enough to bear the weight, nor was stone for the walls to be found in the colony. So no little ingenuity was necessary before Sir Arthur Blomfield could produce the plans according to which it is built. “A massive concrete wall rises to the height of 6 feet 9 inches above the ground. The superstructure has a framework of wood-the finest and most durable green-heart-the interstices being filled with plaster panels. The extreme length is 187 feet, the width of the nave is 69 feet, and the extreme width at transepts 103 feet. It is estimated that a congregation of two thousand persons can be accommodated." Such a Cathedral may compare with the yet unfinished Cathedral in the Falkland Islands, or with the famous concrete-roofed church of the slave market at Zanzibar. ________________________________________ It is good news to hear that the Rev. Wilfrid Bird Hornby, vicar of S. Columba, Southwick, Sunderland, has been chosen to be the first Bishop of Nyasaland ; that the Right Rev. Dr. Dawes, coadjutor to the Bishop of Brisbane, has been elected first Bishop of Rockhampton, and that the Rev. A. Clifford has been chosen to be the first Bishop of Lucknow,   THE MORNING CALM. 167________________________________________ A very pathetic fact was mentioned by Bishop Smythies at a large meeting which he addressed in Trinity College, Cam-bridge (his own College), on Sunday, November 6th. In an address which he was giving on behalf of work among his own people, Peter Lemo, one of the sons of the Mission who has been studying at Dorchester Missionary College and is now a candidate for the Diaconate, said : "People sometimes say that we Central Africans are a dying race (which is not by any means the fact). If it be so, at least we may claim the right to die Christians !" ________________________________________ A recent letter from the Rev. J. Batchelor contains a very interesting account of the methods of divination used by the Ainus, who are the uncivilised race occupying the northern island of Japan. Mr. Batchelor has been working among them alone for some fourteen years, and has translated the Gospels into the Ainu tongue ; and they, printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society, form the first complete book produced in the language. The people, though very low in civilisation, and now, alasb! prone to drunkenness owing to the introduction of spirits by the Japanese, are in many ways very lovablen; in all these years, for instance, during which much of his time has been occupied in going from village to village, he has only once been badly received. Nor does his work fail to give signs, slow and sure, of progress ; this year, for instance, when the Bishop visited the Mission, four Ainus and five Japanese were presented to be confirmed, and two Ainus to be baptized. It is hoped, moreover, that the Mission will soon receive an accession of strength in the person of a Japanese who is anxious to work among the Ainus as a catechist. Speaking of their rites Mr. Batchelor says: “It is by means of the skull of a fox that the Ainus divine. In one of the Ainu villages, in which I have spent many months, one of the men, whom I well knew, was one day very angry at having lost a paper dollar. He had a strong suspicion that his daughter, who was married, had stolen the money. He accordingly accused her of the deed, but as she stoutly and persistently denied the charge, her father proceeded to perform what the Ainus call by the various names of niwok ki marapto, the ceremony of dis-covery, or shitumbi marapto, the ceremony of the fox, or kema koshne gura marapto, the ceremony of the lightfooted person (meaning the fox). This is a sort of divination by means of which the guilt or innocence of an accused person is supposed to be established. In the present case, however, though the person was brought in guilty and implicit faith was placed in the decision, there appears to have been a mistake, for shortly   168 THE MORNING CALM. ________________________________________ afterwards the money was found ; but it was quite beneath the dignity of the father to tell his daughter so. Every married Ainu keeps a skull, carefully decorated with willow shavings, stowed away among his treasures in the eastern or sacred end of his hut. In case anything has gone wrong with him, he takes the skull from its corner, and having prayed over it and told it all his troubles, asks it to make known to him the cause. Should the spirit of the skull be favourable, it will show him the whole matter in a dream. In the case of which I am speaking, the accused person was brought into the hut of her father and made to sit in front of him. He then produced his skull, prayed before it, told it of his loss, and asked it to favour him by answering truly. He next separated the lower jaw from the rest of the skull. The top part of the skull, which is called sapa num, was reverently put on one side, and the jaw placed upon the man's head, teeth upwards. He then gently bent forward so as to allow the jaw gradually to slip to the floor. As it fell with the teeth to the ground, his daughter was thereby proved guilty ; but had it fallen with the teeth upwards she would have been declared innocent. Should it have happened, however, that the loser of the money had no suspicion as to the thing, he would have tied a long piece of string to the skull, and, having gathered up the string in a bunch, would have caused an assembly of likely people each to take one piece of the string and all pull together. He who took the piece immediately attached to the skull would have been the person 'pointed out' as the culprit. It is needless to add that the Ainus have implicit confidence in this curious ceremony, though it plays them false sometimes." In the year 1833 the Rev. M. Jennings, a curate in Norfolk, gave an apple-tree to the wife of a farmer in whose house he was lodging. When it was planted, she promised that as long as she lived she would sell the apples and devote the proceeds to the S.P.G. This promise she faithfully kept for 59 years, during which time the tree only failed to bear a crop twice. Of the exact sum received no account has been kept, but it is known to exceed £ 50. Six months ago the old lady died, and a few weeks after the tree was blown down in a thunderstorm. The good wood has been carefully preserved, and when seasoned will be carved and sold for the benefit of the S.P.G. The Rev. M. Jennings, soon after he gave the tree, was appointed chaplain of Delhi, and was murdered - it is believed that he was the first person murdered-in the Mutiny of 1857. May such a faithful tree set an example to many others !-Mission Field, November 1892.