a splendid time. Officials and people are grateful for everything and the affairs of the church are amicably settled." Early in February just before the Chinese year closed Dr. Ament made a third visit to Cho Chou. He was accompanied by two English gentlemen, one a student in the legation. They were witnesses of one of the striking incidents of this period. The New York Tribune of the 6th of February has the following press despatch : "London, February 6th. A despatch from Peking to the Morning Post says that Count von Waldersee has ordered the release of the Rev. Mr. Ament." Of this incident Miss Russell writes: "It was in this city (Cho Chou), while helping to straighten out things that Dr. Ament was arrested by the French officers in charge. The French officer searched the chapel and put all there under arrest. Dr. Ament writes of this very briefly, 'It is a long story and I am too tired to tick it off. Suffice it to say, it was all a blunder or sinful lying on the part of the Jesuit priest and there was not the shadow of a shade of a reason for gathering me in. One of the Chang boys was staying on the premises and was wanted on the serious charge of extorting money, which was not sustained at his trial. Our claims for indemnity had long been settled and I was there to dedicate the chapel and to marry the poor boy whom the French had condemned to five years of imprisonment, just to save their face and to make the people think they had a case.' "Dr. Ament always felt that the enmity of the French was stirred up by a Frenchman living at the time at Tientsin. In the dress of a Catholic priest accompanied by soldiers, or Chinese dressed as foreign soldiers, he was making demands for large sums of money. Dr. Ament reported him to the officials and also to the French Legation at Peking. In revenge the man made a great deal of trouble reporting that the Protestant Christians were taking revenge by looting." The following story is a full reply to the charge that the missionaries were only satisfied with "more heads." "A noted Boxer was caught and brought to him to be handed over to the Germans. This man had killed eleven members of one family of Christians. For a day and a night he was bound in a side room while the pastor was trying to see what was best to do. The German general had sent word that he would try and punish all Boxer leaders. Much to the displeasure of the men who caught him, Dr. Ament told him that if he would pay enough to support a young widow and a little child, all that was left of the large family, he would spare him. This the man agreed to do and the money was brought the next day. Regarding the payment of indemnities, it early became evident that foreign governments would bear no part in insisting that China pay indemnities for the losses of her own subjects. And yet if restitution of some sort was not demanded, it would be difficult for the native Christians to return to their places and live in peace, since the people, if not punished, would feel that after all China had in some way gotten ahead of the Occidentals." One may close the incidents of this settlement and reconstruction by quoting once more from Dr. Ament as reported in the New York Tribune of March 30, 1901. "There seemed very little hope of native Christians receiving anything through the instrumentality of their officials, nor did the foreign powers think they were called upon to provide indemnity for these. All the survivors of the churches were reduced to absolute poverty. They were harmless, inoffensive people who had no feuds with their neighbors and had not intruded their religion on any one. This at least was true of the Prot estant Christians. If a missionary, by means of his personal influence and by the assistance of the local official who might be friendly to him, could bring the neighbors of his persecuted people to see the error of their ways, and persuade them to contribute money for the rebuilding of destroyed houses and for the support of the survivors of the families, I think he was justified in so doing." "Arise and go forth from the house of your care We admire the man who embodies victorious efforts, the man who never wrongs his neighbor, who is prompt to help a friend, but who has those virile qualities necessary to win in the stern strife of actual life. -T. R. Ο XVIII A MISSIONARY FURLOUGH N the 11th of February Dr. Ament had written, "My plans are indefinite, scheming to get home as soon as possible." The long stress of the siege and the constant labor in settling the affairs of the church made it most desirable that he should have some respite from the arduous tasks thrown upon him. The attacks upon him in the newspapers at home made it all the more desirable that he should return, and give a personal account of himself and especially of his recent work in Peking. It was with a real zest that he found it possible to start for home early in April. Among the many pleasures of the homeward journey was the presence of the American minister to China, Major Conger, with whom he had endured the perils of the siege and had received the thrills of rescue and escape. In a letter to his wife, just as they were approaching the California coast, Dr. Ament writes enthusiastically, "The Congers are full of kindness. Everybody has been kind, and so sorry that I have been abused in the newspapers. I can stand anything, if my friends who know me stand by me. I saw Twain's second article at Honolulu. There is nothing which a few words of explanation cannot answer." The relations of Mr. Conger to the missionaries were of the most cordial kind. The intimacies of the terrible siege had brought them into the closest sympathy. The character of the native Christians won from Mr. Conger the highest praise. His wise and sympathetic, not to say Christian, judgment could not but admire the enduring constancy of the natives who bore the brunt of labor during the siege. The high praise over good work done in raising the standards of character through Christian effort which Mr. Denby and Mr. Conger have given is most important testimony. In her charming "Letters from Peking," Mrs. Conger has emphasized her own and her husband's interest in mission work and workers. In a letter of December 31, 1900, she writes: "I must tell you of a beautiful and valuable gift presented to Mr. Conger by the Protestant Christian Chinese in gratitude for what he had done for them. On the 24th, foreign representatives of different missions came with many of their native Christians, who were bearing an elegant tablet, resting on a large catafalque and sheltered by canopies of embroidered satin. This catafalque was carried upon large red poles by many men. The beautiful tablet came bearing respect and gratitude to Mr. Conger for the sympathy he had shown and the help he had given them. One of the Chinese pastors made some very bright, pointed, and feeling remarks in presenting this tablet. It is a beautiful thing in itself and the thought most beautiful that manifested it." On the arrival of Mr. Conger and Dr. Ament at Kobe in Japan the attacks upon Dr. Ament had become widely known. The Kobe Herald secured an interview with Mr. Conger upon the subject. He expressed his judgment, already quoted, in the most emphatic way, a single sentence of which may here suffice. "There were really no actions on the part of the missionaries there that |