From western China to the Golden Gate; the experiences of an American university graduate in the Orient, with thirty illustrations . John-ston,who travelled From Peking to Mandalayin 1906, said that he never encountered so manybeggars as at Chentu, and it was about this timethat one of the oldest missionaries in that portionof the empire, long resident in the above city,commenced a series of articles for publicationdescriptive of the 20,000 beggars of took them up in detail, describing theircrowds as they thronged the streets, their dirt,their rags, their wretchedness, their beggarsg
From western China to the Golden Gate; the experiences of an American university graduate in the Orient, with thirty illustrations . John-ston,who travelled From Peking to Mandalayin 1906, said that he never encountered so manybeggars as at Chentu, and it was about this timethat one of the oldest missionaries in that portionof the empire, long resident in the above city,commenced a series of articles for publicationdescriptive of the 20,000 beggars of took them up in detail, describing theircrowds as they thronged the streets, their dirt,their rags, their wretchedness, their beggarsguild, their beggar king, and the beggarsbridge outside the citys east gate where theirchief might frequently be seen levying tollupon his beggar subjects as they crossed. Thereverend gentleman dwelt upon the perfectionof their organization which made it impossiblefor a merchant to refuse their demands abso-lutely; should he decline to contribute, immedi-ately a drove of tatterdemalions would bemarched to the spot by the beggars would besiege his place, block all en-trance, and load the air with their cries for cash. TliE SiWikS. Sprague. photo. 109 until he must needs accede to their demands orretire from all business. The reverend gentleman entrusted thisseries of articles to a monthly journal publishedby the missionaries at a small printing office,the machinery for which had somehow driftedout to that remote corner of the world. Theyappeared in print in due season. Meanwhile,he departed for England on his furlough, forevery seven years a missionary may return toEngland, Canada, or wherever his home may bein order to greet his friends once more andcome in touch with the western world. A yearlater he was again at his post in Chentu, whenlo! he found the beggars gone and the wholesystem of beggary swept away. The beggarsguild, the beggar king, the beggar persecutionswere all things of the past, and it became neces-sary for the reverend gentleman to set to work
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectchinadescriptionandt
