OURS IN THE FIELD
F ROM Tsinanfu, China, Reuben A. Tor- rey, son o f Dr. R. A. Torrey, thus writes o f an exciting experience he had with some Chinese roughs. It was a very hot day and I held services in four villages for the half dozen or so Christians scattered along that road. Half way between the last two places, and on the road that I had to travel in order to reach my destination, there is a group o f old dilapidated temples, out in the ''open, well away from any village. It makes a splen did place for the annual fair. This fair is held for four successive days and the peo ple for miles around attend in thousands to buy and sell and listen to the theater. Mr. Murray had told me when he passed that place before, that it was a bad place and not safe, so I was not at all anxious to pass through it oh this occasion. How ever, to pass around would have taken us a long distance out o f the way. Moreover the evangelist with me had promised to meet another one o f our helpers there to preach, and o f course he wanted me to go too. Well, I thought with two helpers and the barrow man, as well as my servant, there would be no trouble and I did not want them to think that I was a coward, nor to set a bad example to the helpers, so I said nothing and went along. W e passed through the heart o f the fair looking for the other preacher and seeing nothing o f him. The crowd at our heels kept getting larger, and when we had passed the theater stage and reached the edge o f the fair, there were thousands in our wake. The fields on one side o f the road were considerably higher than on the other and we mounted the bank thus formed to do a little preaching, but the multitude soon surrounded us and the noise was so great that we could not make ourselves heard. It seemed best, to go on, so we descended and I started ahead while the
helper turned back to find the other man. Scarcely had I gotten started when the cry o f “ foreign devil” went up. Then great sun-baked clods o f earth began to sail through the air and drop around me. When you realize that most o f the buildings in the country are made of large bricks which are nothing but this same earth, shaped and baked in the sun, you can understand why it is not a desirable thing to be struck with such lumps o f dirt. I thought it best not to run, but walked off as rapidly as pos sible. The missiles increased in numbers and force until they seemed fairly to darken the air as I glanced back. Natur ally, I could not entirely escape such a voir ley, and was pretty thoroughly pelted all over my.body. The fact that I was wearing a large pith hat saved me serious injury, for it broke the shock o f the pieces that struck my head and neck. Half o f a sure- enough brick fell at my feet and a few small stones dropped around me, but that sort o f material was scarce. There was nothing to 'd o but hurry and pray, and I did not feel at all nervous or concerned. I felt as quiet and peaceful inside as if I were at home and had perfect assurance that the Lord would not let any harm come to me. O f course the crowd did not follow very far and I had soon passed out o f reach o f the missiles. I thought it was all over and was slowing down when I heard some more noises behind me and a man coming towards me yelled “ run,” and when I did not run he picked up something and hurled it at me to make me run. I looked back and saw that a group o f meri and boys -had left the crowd and were pursuing me. I thought that I would warit all o f the breath I had if any thing happened, so I merely walked as fast as I could. The leaders o f the runners soon overtook me and demanded that I rest, which I had
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