deadly results of the defiance of all sanitary laws.1 We could still trace in Africa and the isles of the Pacific the signs of the same insanitary foulness which is almost universal in the heathen world. A striking result of the investigation would be to convince us that "cleanliness is next to godliness," and that Christianity, in coöperation with sanitary regulations, has a cleansing mission of colossal magnitude in the world. The enthronement of selfishness. 7. LACK OF PUBLIC SPIRIT.-One of the most subtle characteristics of heathenism is the absence of a humanizing sympathy, that is, a sympathy which is not indifferent to human welfare. In its social relations and activities this broad and generous interest in the common good is known as public spirit. Selfishness is a deep and regnant law in non-Christian society. Even within the precincts of Christian civilization an interest in the general welfare sufficiently assertive to act as a practical stimulus to sacrifice and service is none too common, and is recognized as a very choice and noble quality in public and private life.2 Outside of Christendom " every man for himself" is the rule pretty much everywhere. The restraints and requirements of law remedy summer heat; and the myriads of graves, many of them with half-buried coffins, upon the neighboring plain-these and the like are the surroundings of a population among which typhus and other infectious diseases are of course endemic, but which has never known anything better."-Rev. Jonathan Lees (L. M. S.), Tientsin, China. "In China sanitation is simply ignored; what with filthy personal habits, the absence of practical sewerage provisions, open cesspools, and lack of quarantine measures against infection, the wonder is that any Chinamen survive."-Rev. W. P. Chalfant (P. B. F. M. N.), Ichowfu, Shantung, China. 1 "The invincible uncleanness of the people, joined to the fatalist's indifference to ordinary precautions against disease, is at the root of the cholera question. It is true that there might be no cholera at all in Egypt but for the ghastly sacrifice of thousands of animals during the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. The result is myriads of decomposing carcasses, which form the happy hunting-ground of the cholera microbe, whence he rises like a giant refreshed to open his campaign in all parts of the world to which the Muslim Hajji returns, bringing his baccilline sheaves with him."-"The Cholera in Egypt," in The National Observer, June 6, 1896. 2 The Outlook, in a recent editorial on what it calls "The Crimes of Good Men," contains the following paragraph: "The source of nearly all the evils with which the lover of his country and his fellow-man must contend is the passive attitude of good men toward public affairs. Very good men frequently lack that sense of responsibility which ought to be the inheritance of all right-minded citizens of a republic. If every man were alive to his duty as a citizen, the political corruption of the present day would be impossible." the evil results of this spirit in some measure, but there are certain respects in which it is left wholly free, with no one to challenge its injurious tendencies. It is this heedless unconcern for the public good which makes nearly every street in the villages, larger towns, and cities of Asia under native, as distinguished from European rule, simply an elongated cesspool or a common dumping-ground of filth, breeding disease and death. It is this universal spirit of "passing by on the other side" and refusing to recognize the obligations of neighborhood, much less of common humanity, which is the explanation of such absurd and shameful rascality as often characterizes the treatment of those who are in trouble in China. The Rev. Arthur Smith, in his "Chinese Characteristics," remarks: "Unwillingness to give help to others, unless there is some special reason for doing so, is a trait that runs through Chinese social relations in multifold manifestations. The general omission to do anything for the relief of the drowning strikes every foreigner in China." The same spirit is shown also, as he further remarks, “in a general callousness to the many cases of distress which are to be seen almost everywhere, especially along lines of travel. It is a common proverb that to be poor at home is not to be counted as poverty, but to be poor when on the highroad away from home will cost a man his life."1 A special chapter in "Chinese Characteristics" is entitled "The Absence of Public Spirit," in which many instances are given revealing the indifference to the common welfare which prevails in China.2 In 1 "It is in travelling in China that the absence of helpful kindness on the part of the people towards strangers is perhaps most conspicuous. When the summer rains have made all land-travel almost impossible, he whose circumstances make travel a necessity will find that 'heaven, earth, and man' are a threefold harmony in combination against him. No one will inform him that the road which he has taken will presently end in a quagmire. If you choose to drive into a morass, it is no business of the contiguous taxpayers. We have spoken of the neglect of Chinese highways. When the traveller has been plunged into one of the sloughs with which all such roads at certain seasons abound, and finds it impossible to extricate himself, a great crowd of persons will rapidly gather from somewhere, their hands in their sleeves, and idly gazing,' as the saying goes. It is not until a definite bargain has been made with them that any one of these bystanders, no matter how numerous, will lift a finger to help one in any particular. Not only so, but it is a constant practice on such occasions for the local rustics to dig deep pits in difficult places, with the express purpose of trapping the traveller, that he may be obliged to employ these same rustics to help the traveller out! When there is any doubt as to the road in such places, one might as well plunge forward, disregarding the cautions of those native to the spot, since one can never be sure that the directions given are not designed to hinder rather than help."-Smith, "Chinese Characteristics,” pp. 208, law of China. the original edition of the book, published at Shanghai, is a chapter on The Absence of Altruism," which has been omitted in the American edition. Its contents only emphasize the subject Laissez-faire the social in hand. The tendencies of this same spirit are also manifested in the prevalent habit of trespass upon the rights of the weaker members of society by those who are strong. "The misery of the poor in China is their poverty and their inability to lift themselves out of it, since if they cannot do it themselves it will not be done at all." The North China Herald, a prominent journal published at Shanghai, in a recent editorial on the war with Japan, traces the weakness of China to the latter's regnant selfishness. Each individual, considering only his own interests, is indifferent as to what happens to his neighbors or his country. "Patriotism, national pride, esprit de corps," it remarks, "are all unknown, and, what is worse, undesired in the Celestial Empire. . . . The dynasty may be overthrown and kings may come and kings may go, but so long as the Chinese official can continue to get hold of the dollar he is serenely indifferent to any crisis which may be convulsing the political world." The instinctive egoism of primitive savagery still pervades the barbaric life of the present day,1 and if public spirit is so slow in developing even in the atmosphere of the highest civilization, surely we cannot expect that it will ripen quickly and yield a generous harvest where the promptings of selfishness are so powerful and so free from restraint. tonic. 8. MUTUAL SUSPICION.-Social life involves such a web of personal contact and interdependence, and is so based upon general confidence between man and man, that mutual suspicion, if it Confidence as a social prevails to any extent, becomes a solvent of the very bonds which link society together. Public confidence is only another term for financial and industrial stability. Private confidence of man in man is the secret of contentment and security and an essential of social development. 1 "Selfishness is one of the most prominent characteristics of heathenism. The chiefs took the best things for themselves, and tabooed the common people from sharing in them. This extended even to good drinking-water. The sacred men and owners of certain parts of the beach tabooed the sea except to their own special friends. If the taboo was broken the transgressors had to pay the penalty by making a feast. When they could not agree in their disputes regarding ownership of fruit-trees, they cut them down, so that no one would receive any benefit from them. They took advantage of inland natives coming to take salt water from the sea for cooking purposes, and compelled them to pay for it."-Rev. William Gunn, M.D. (F. C. S.), Futuna, New Hebrides. Mutual suspicion begets timidity, and prevents that frank and free Interchange so necessary to prosperity and mutual helpfulness. Distrust is, however, one of the most universal sentiments which govern the intercourse of man with man in the heathen world. Men fear one another because they know one another, and they recognize the fact that there is ground for misgivings. The effect is depressing and paralyzing. Every one is alert, cautious, and on the defensive. The Chinese, for example, are especially suspicious; the Koreans are like them; and the Japanese, although not to the same extent, are yet wary and watchful. Some ulterior and secret motive of a dark and scheming, or at least a doubtful, character is usually taken for granted by Orientals in their dealings with one another. It is hard for them to believe in the simplicity and genuine disinterestedness of any one. Nothing is looked upon as square, upright, and open; it is more likely to be crooked, cunning, and deceitful, or at least to have some concealed design. The atmosphere is full of suspicions, which put a painful constraint upon social and personal relations, and add immensely to the difficulties of frank and friendly contact with one another. Every man his own detective in China. In China the officials are mutually distrustful, perhaps with good reason, since each one either knows or suspects that the other is a rascal. The Tsung-li Yamen eye one another with caution and reserve, and they all look upon the foreigner with the most lively distrust. No mandarin can be seen with a foreigner, or accept his hospitality, without immediately falling under grave suspicion. Sinister designs and portentous conspiracies are always in the air, and it is this deep-rooted distrust and hatred which make the life of the foreigner so full of insecurity in China. The effect of this gnawing suspicion is especially manifest in Chinese domestic life and in all relations between the sexes.1 The real reason for any course of action is rarely accepted as the true one. 1 "There is no social life in China as we understand that term. Men do not trust the prudence, honesty, or virtue of women in general (though there is a great deal of genuine virtue among Chinese women), and women cannot trust men's truth or honor. Therefore there is no commingling of men and women, young or old, for social intercourse outside the family. In all their festivities, whether at weddings or other occasions, the men and women always feast in separate apartments and never meet one another during their stay. There are no concerts, lectures, or other entertainments, except the open-air theatres. Middle-aged and elderly women and little girls attend these freely, under proper escort, but the women are all seated by themselves on the outskirts of the crowd. Even in their religious associations men have their own societies and women have theirs, and these societies have nothing whatever in common, not even worshipping together in the temples.”—Mrs. C. W. Mateer (P. B. F. M. N.), Tungchow, China. If another is not apparent, one must be invented. The Rev. Arthur Smith, writing upon "Mutual Suspicion" in "Chinese Characteristics" (chap. xxiv.), gives many illustrations to indicate the spirit of Chinese intercourse. They seek protection from one another, and are continually on guard lest they should be taken by surprise. The wondrous and mischievous character of Chinese gossip arises largely from the morbid intensity of their suspicions. Chinese family life is often clouded and irritated by this inveterate distrust. A stranger in a Chinese village gives occasion for the most lively solicitude as to who he is, what his business is, and what he purposes to do. If he arrives after dark he will often find that no one will come out of the house to meet or direct him. The effect of this temper in society is to render it exceedingly difficult to establish any new enterprise or undertake anything which is out of the ordinary line. Something dark and dreadful must be back of it all in the opinion of the wary Chinaman. In India it is exceedingly difficult for natives to coöperate with one another on account of mutual distrust. Even philanthropic effort is The distrustful spirit of often misunderstood and viewed with suspicion. In Persia the rôle of deceit and venality has become so commonplace that the people have lost all confidence in one another.2 Among savages in the South Seas there is constant apprehension of evil designs on the part of some one. They live a life of disquietude, and the shadow of distrust clouds every relationship. Says Dr. Chalmers, in "Work and Adventure in New Guinea": "The state of fear of one another in which the savage lives is truly pitiful. To him every stranger seeks his life, and so does every other savage." In Africa it is difficult to convince a native that any one dies a natural death, so prevalent is the suspicion of evil designs. Poisoning is so much feared that the people are exceedingly loath to eat in one another's houses. Even the kings and chiefs are accustomed not to touch their food until either the one who has cooked it, or others appointed for the purpose, have partaken of it. It is not at all uncommon for one who gives food to another to eat part of it himself in order to prove that it contains nothing hurtful.4 The African Kaffir "breathes an atmosphere of suspicion and jealousy in which freedom cannot live." 5 "We never trust one another," re 1 The Indian Magazine and Review, March, 1896, p. 148. |