The charm of the Middle kingdom . own on the spot. And it was remarkable,according to this gentleman, how many werecut down. It only served to magnify thealready great admiration I entertained forthem. A martyr must always be a noblebeing, even though we pity him. Other missionaries told me of riding offin the night, their children clutching theirnecks, and of looking back to see their homesin flames. The Boxers had conceived theidea that the foreigner was a devil and anexcessively personal one, not at all complimented him with the name ofForeign Devil, and to this day the childr
The charm of the Middle kingdom . own on the spot. And it was remarkable,according to this gentleman, how many werecut down. It only served to magnify thealready great admiration I entertained forthem. A martyr must always be a noblebeing, even though we pity him. Other missionaries told me of riding offin the night, their children clutching theirnecks, and of looking back to see their homesin flames. The Boxers had conceived theidea that the foreigner was a devil and anexcessively personal one, not at all complimented him with the name ofForeign Devil, and to this day the childrenbawl it at you from the by-streets. Evidentlythe natives tired of beating gongs at the lust for blood had been slumbering intheir veins ever since the Manchus sheathedtheir swords over the Tartar throne. Herewas an object for venom. But with true celes-tial wiliness the Chinese invoked the aid ofthe spirits temporarily abandoned. The mas-ter stroke was distinctly a pagan one. The Boxers believed that the bullets from136. MONUMENT TO BOXER VICTIMS, RUSSIAN PARK, TIENTSIN THE CHARM OF THE MIDDLE KINGDOM their adversaries rifles were ineffective againstthem. And so long as this belief prevailedthe work went merrily on. It is recountedthat a particularly astute leader demonstratedeach day that all true believers were invul-nerable. He simply removed the slugs froma number of cartridges, stood the selectedapostles against a wall a little way off, andfired at them in rapid succession. The sim-ple folk, who were wont to associate deathat the hands of a foreigner with a very loudnoise, were thus deluded into thinking theyreally were immune. Thousands flocked tothe banner of murder and pillage which cul-minated in the sieges of Peking and English lady who was a girl of fifteenin those memorable summer days of 1900told me how she stood on the roof of her homeand watched the Boxers dancing outside theforeign soldiers entrenchments. There wasso little ammunition left
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