290 THE SPRING RIDE. yo wish to secure for Blanche an interest in Diana's will, you will hinder rather than help them to a meeting." "And why?" asked Mrs. Carruthers, indignantly, pushing her work-frame aside. "It is very strange, but you are always insinuating something to the dice of Blanche." "Recall your words, my dear," replied the husband, temperately, "while I explain mine. I simply meant that my cousin and Blanche are so entirely unlike in every respect, that harmony between them would be best insured by keeping them apart." "You'll remember, Blanche," she said, the evening before her departure, "all I have told you about your She is what is called a woman father's cousin, Diana. of strong mind, an odious thing in my opinion. I've been told she writes books, and is amazingly fond of those pretty pieces to her that you learnt at school. preju-poetry; so you must remember, dear, to say some of Your papa seldom speaks of her, but, from what I can make out, she's rather proud of her family, and I don't I blame her for that; and I am sure, whatever he may ing such highly-respectable people as the Danvers'. say, she will not be displeased to find her cousin visitdon't know the name of her place; -Partington Hall, I dare say. Your father is so strangely indifferent on these points; but you must mind and drive or ride She has a large property, dear, and you are her near over to see her, and pay her every proper attention. with all the respect that is due to her." relation, so it's quite right that she should be treated But Mrs. Carruthers could not see a possibility of anybody's being otherwise than favourably impressed by her daughter, and guaranteed that whatever Blanche's feeling might be, she would be too correct to betray any unbecoming sentiment towards her cousin. "Well, don't you think I am right, and that she had better go?" asked the lady, after a pause. "I think not," replied her husband. "And why, Mr. Carruthers? It is thus that you our daughter's continually oppose my plans for benefit." 'Doubtless you think them for her benefit," was the answer; "but experience, I am sure, will show you that I am right, and you are mistaken. She has already been thrown out of her proper connections by going to that school, where none but men of wealth and high station are supposed to send their children. She has acquired there high notions and expensive tastes, ill-befitting her position in life, and our means." "Blanche," said Mr. Carruthers, when his daughter went to his little study to take leave of him, "I hope you will not stay long. Your mother has told you that I have a cousin near: she is eccentric; it is many years since I had any intercourse with her; but I have heard that she is attached to us-it must be for connection's sake. Remember, when you see her, to be considerate with respect to any infirmities she may have; she is growing old, and old people are impatient of levity in the young. Give her, from me, a hearty inviways would please her, though I hope every endeavour tation here, but, at the same time, say, I doubt if our would be made to conform them to her's. And-and Blanche, remember, my child, it is from no lukeYour mother and I are warmness with respect to your benefit that I have opposed this visit of yours. How you talk!" said Mrs. "Position and means! Carruthers. "We are independent; and as to family, be pleased to remember that your great uncle was "Oh, yes, I remember," said Mr. Carruthers; "but one in our desires for your welfare; but I see things to unequal alliances, especially among young people. you see, my dear, the world doesn't measure its respect differently sometimes from her. I object, on principle, by what people have been, so much as by what they are. My great uncle's glory has faded away in the distance, I would rather see you make friendships with those in This your own rank than those above you. Such acquaintand we are nothing beyond ordinary gentry. ances as those at Harley Hall are apt to produce unbeing the case, I don't want Blanche to get her head full of consequence that doesn't belong to her, and steady walking; like high and low ground, one leg upon the bank, the other on the road. However, I would rather she paid a visit to people of our own hope you will get no harm, but come home to us satisstamp, than to honourables and so forth." fied to recover your proper level." But how can eyes that face the north see the south? Mrs. Carruthers had her back upon all that her husband advanced, and beheld nothing but the castles in the air she had built with respect to the future fortunes of her daughter Blanche. If the child thus differed about had been a boy, Mr. Carruthers would firmly, however quietly, have asserted and carried out his own views; but he often gave way, contrary to his judgment, to his wife's management, thinking that she had a greater claim than himself over the disposal of a girl. He reproached himself sometimes for his concessions, and doubted whether they were not injurious to his daughter; but he was eminently a man of peace, and of a very humble spirit, and what with his love of harmony and fear of lording it beyond his province, his wife bore sway too often far beyond hers. In the matter above alluded to, Mrs. Carruthers, as usual, gained her point, and it was settled that Blanche, then entering her eighteenth year, should pay a visit to Harley Hall, the seat of the Hon. Mr. Danvers. Once decided on, the foiled father buried himself in his books, while the mother devoted herself to such preparations and instructions as she thought would secure from the visit all she desired. Blanche grew uneasy at her father's lecture, and she didn't like to hear of "level," but she stood silent, waiting for the close. on it. Her father glanced at her face, and read her feelings "I shall not convince her," he thought, "and more ineffectual advice will only stir up a contradictory spirit-that is quite natural." So he kissed her tenderly, and she left him, wondering in her heart how he could be so blind to things as to doubt about the wisdom of her going. He watched her, as, accompanied by her mother, she drove from the door in a fly that was hardly capacious enough to hold her luggage, piled up behind and before, wherever space could be made to receive it. He sighed as he turned away, exclaiming, "How many wants are we breeding her up with !" "It is all wrong; and I am wrong," he said again, "I know what I ought to have done. I ought as he closed his book, and walked up and down the room. to have made her kneel down and join me in asking that a blessing might attend her going out and coming in. Why didn't I? Plain enough why I didn't," he "I felt she ought said, after another turn or two. not to go; that I ought not to send her-to let her go; THE SPRING RIDE. for besides the objection of inequality, are they not a family wholly set on pleasure, and living to the world? When, when shall I know my duty-see it clearly, and have courage to do it? This miserable indecision is ever palsying my conduct as a husband and a father." These, and other reflections of the same sort, threw a pained and perplexed air over him, and when his wife returned in high spirits and great glee from the station, declaring she "had never seen Blanche look so well, dear girl," she assured him he had been suffering from his old nervous pains in his face, which, after a slight contradiction, he permitted her to remain convinced of, not feeling quite equal to make her acquainted with the true cause of his gloom. Things in a transition state are never so well in feeling as before and after the change. "Half done is ill done." This is eminently true in mental and spiritual changes. To be convinced you are wrong, without feeling certain as to how to be right, is a condition of anxious restlessness-more restless and more anxious in proportion to the sensitiveness of the individual. This was the state of Mr. Carruthers, and had been some time. He had, from his youth, been a reader of his Bible, but of late years only had it possessed true interest to him. The light that alone can make it intelligible broke but slowly on him, and instead of assiduously seeking for its increase, he went on bewildering himself with his own reasoning powers, trying -without being aware of it-to make it square with his human views, and failing, of necessity, to do it. He was convinced of sin, at least he thought he was; but he had not found out experimentally the way to escape from its power and condemnation. Sometimes he thought he had got the clue, and joy would reign in his heart and light up his features. Prayer would save him! and he would spend hours in trying to pray, till he became convinced that he knew not how to pray at all. Then self-denial and humiliation would save him; and he would try to become last of all, and servant of all, and study to crucify his flesh with its affections and lusts, and feel satisfied for a time, till the soul, made for God, and capable of being satisfied in none but God, would grow weary of the false way of peace, and ask again for rest. In all these conflicts Mr. Carruthers was alone. Sometimes he had ventured to hint to his wife that he wanted that peace of God which passeth all understanding; but she would reject with impatience the thought of his "not being religious enough." Hadn't he been brought up religiously? Hadn't he always through life read the Bible? Hadn't he instituted family prayer? Were they not most correct in their observance of the Sabbath and attendance on the ordinances? What in the world were people to do? Yes, truly, Mrs. Carruthers was sometimes not far from angry when her husband, whose burdened heart longed and wearied for sympathy, had ventured to complain to her, or, rather, had involuntarily made her a listener to its sorrows. Her own heart reasoned thus: if he, the most unselfish, strict, and painstaking in all religious duties-if he were wrong, what must she be? And the conclusion arrived at being by no means satisfactory or pleasant, she replied to all with renewed assurances that he must not attend to such fancies, quoting one of the few poetical precepts she was acquainted with. 291 "Poor Mr. Carruthers," his wife would say to her intimate friends, "he gets so melancholy at timestakes all sorts of fancies into his head; and, if I would only listen to him, and give way, I should be as miserable as he is. So I am obliged to exert myself for all our sakes." Heroic Mrs. Carruthers! but she verily thought she was doing herself service in repelling every doubt he dared to urge, as to whether she, like himself, might not be a stranger to God and to true peace. CHAPTER II.-DIANA, THE STRONG MINDED. "There now, if I have not done it like a hospital surgeon, I have spared you his fee; and, I believe, it will go or as well as if you had had a long bill to pay for the dressing. Don't wince, woman! Surely you can bear it, now I have eased it a little; and it mustn't be touched till I come again; and you, Conny, mind you gather the leaves I told you of for poultice they are very small yet, and grow down by the brook. Don't bring wrong or Conny, with little Meg behind her, was vociferous in assurances that willow herb, and nothing but willow herb, should be ready at the next visit. It was hard to say whether the person who thus spoke was a man or a woman. Thick men's boots, with black leather gaiters considerably above the ankle, a short, dark, woollen skirt and coat of the same stuff, with a broad-brimmed hat, made up the dress. The face was neither large-featured nor yet delicate: the expression firm enough for a man, the complexion dark. There was a look of command in the whole figure, as standing staff in hand by the door, the above words were uttered, with a charge to the patient to obey the given directions. It was a woman, and no other than Diana Carruthers, the cousin supposed by Mrs. Carruthers to reside at Partington Hall. Years gone by she had been celebrated for her beauty, and had rejoiced in it; but in the very height of exultation, through the preference shown to another, her vanity received a death-wound. None but herself knew of the wound, least of all the hand that had inflicted it. The loss of a favourite-an only sister at the same time, was an excuse for giving up the world; and people had forgotten to wonder that the beautiful Diana Carruthers should have vanished from among them, and become a victim to self-destroying eccentricities. The truth they had never suspected-viz., that she had quitted for ever scenes and associations where a possibility existed of her being reminded of her secret grief. Solitude and time deadened her anguish, and the vigour of her character asserted itself. She could not live to herself alone, she dared not re-enter "And so right," she would add, "I only wish half the world, so she raised a new world around her, and "He can't be wrong whose life is in the right." 292 THE SPRING RIDE. sought out a life altogether new in its work and its Her isolation from society, and determination to throw up, as it were, a high wall between herself and the circle she had quitted, had naturally led to the formation of peculiar habits. The trifles distinctive of rank or wealth, once so much prized, she despised. She made her life subservient to her theory-" if happiness is to be found, it must be in making others happy." Therefore her dress, her diet, her house accommodations, were all of the most meagre kind; and her strong will overbore all the habits and requirements of her early training in refinement and luxury. Such was "Miss Crubbers," as she was called by the people of Partington, a straggling village, with a barnlike church, where a service was held once a fortnight, some of the people having to walk nearly three miles on the alternate Sundays to attend divine service. To "Miss obviate this necessity for the sick and aged, Crubbers" assembled all such in her own house, which had originally been a small farm-dwelling, and there, with a loud clear voice read a portion of the ritual, Such was "the lady of concluding with a sermon. Partington Hall," with whom Mrs. Carruthers was so anxious for her daughter to ingratiate herself. "I have a relation residing near here-a second cousin. Would it be possible for me to see her?" said Blanche, a few days after her arrival at Harley Hall. "What is "I think mamma said Partington Hall," said Blanche. "Oh, certainly," replied Miss Danvers. the name of her place?" "Partington Hall! Hall! I don't think there is The Hon. Mr. Danvers had never heard of any such "Carruthers-Diana Carruthers," replied Blanche. any hall there or near. You have probably mistaken Master Augustus Danvers, the youngest son, was in "She has a very large property, and is peculiar, eccentric, and very literary. She is an authoress, I believe," she stammered out. "The question would be easily settled," said Mrs. Danvers, "by a morning ride. The road to Partington is very pretty, I believe." Blanche could not make any reasonable objection to an offer so kindly intended. The ponies were ordered out, and, attended by Miss Danvers and her sister, with the lively Master Augustus, under the escort of a trusty groom, she went forth with no pleasant anticipation in search of "the lady of Partington Hall." A morning ride in the prime of spring, who can count up or measure its delights? Especially to young hearts, opening like all things around to the sensations There is surely an answer in the heart of joyousness. of a child to the sights and sounds that are everywhere awakening to life and gladness. Blanche did not feel this, though her companions did, for they were at liberty to enjoy; but what humiliation, in the eyes of her friends, might be before her, she knew not; and any accident that would have prevented their visit to Partington, and would have turned the ponies' heads home, or in any other direction, would have been gladly welcomed by her, even had it been the upset of Master Augustus, to whose vivacity she was indebted for the trial. But no accident did happen: Master Augustus kept firm on his seat, splashing delightedly through the They had nearly reached the village, when they shallow flood made by the swelling of the brook. encountered two children, who had evidently been collecting spoils by the brook side. The elder, in addition to what she carried in her pinafore, held in her hand a bunch of spring-flowers, over which she and her little companion had been very busily engaged as the party rode up. "Oh, dear! sweet primroses," cried the youngest Miss Danvers. "Little girl, will you sell me those to her sister, and taking the nosegay in her hand. flowers? See, Arabella, how fine!" she cried, turning "If you please, my lady," said the elder of the Some of them is for mother, and some of them is for Miss children, "we didn't gather them to sell. Crubbers." "Oh! Blanche," cried Miss Danvers, immediately, now we shall find out who this person is. Who is MISSIONARY SCENES AND ADVENTURES IN CHINA. Miss Crubbers ?" she continued, turning to the chil-| dren. "Miss Crubbers, ma'am, lives at the White Farm, and she's a-doctoring of mother." "Is there any lady named Carruthers, little girl, living at Partington ?" แ No, miss, nobody at all; only Miss Crubbers." "And is Miss Crubbers a lady?" inquired the young Miss Danvers, anxious, on Blanche's account, to put an end to uncertainty, little knowing the mortification her inquiry would lead to. "Yes, miss; no, ma'am. I don't know, miss," said the child, with a curtsey to each answer. As the groom and Master Augustus had ridden up, they were in possession of Conny's information, for Conny it was, with little Meg, who had been busy obeying their orders. "Can you lead us to the White Farm?" said the young Miss Danvers. They readily assented, and all the party proceeded in search of Blanche's relation, or at any rate to satisfy her that she was not to be found in Partington. MISSIONARY SCENES AND ADVENTURES IN CHINA. I. FIRST SIGHT OF CHINAMEN. HAVE my readers ever seen a Chinaman? Shall I describe one? Well, he is of average size. His hair is all shaven from the front of his head; and the hair on the back part, which has grown since infancy, is gathered together and plaited into a queue, and dangles behind him, reaching to the ground. His gait is stiff, his eyes oblique, his cheek-bones high, his nose low, his cheeks bare, his skirts full, his hair glossy black, his complexion whitish yellow. His tunic is of figured silk; his stockings of plain white cotton; his hat of black velvet, crowned with a red tassel; his shoes made of folds of cloth, with a white edge and ornamented uppers; and he wears a plain blue narrow collar folded down, and wide embroidered sleeves folded up. But what of the inner man? Well, he has a clear intellect and shrewd understanding; he can read and write, and is tolerably acquainted with the history and geography of his country; but he is full of pride, thinks he belongs to the most ancient people on earth, that his nation has anticipated all nations in civilization, and that his country has received the homage of all the surrounding nations from time immemorial. Hence the very coolies that clean our rooms despise us as an inferior race. He cheats with the greatest good will; he thinks it clever to tell a good lie; he is polite and polished, but it is the polish of the marble statue -beautiful to look on, but cold to the touch. He is of great volubility, but little sincerity; with his mouth full of the finest maxims, and his heart of the lowest, meanest designs-cruel and tyrannical when you are in his power, obsequious as a dog when he is in yours. Such is a Chinaman; and if my readers will accompany me in fancy, I will describe some things which I think will interest them in that great country where he thrives. Suppose, then, you take a voyage to China, the first manifest indication that you are nearing its shores will be your finding the captain placing a keener look-out on deck, ordering the fire-arms to be cleaned, and the pikes and cutlasses to be overhauled, intimating too plainly the piratical tendency of the sea-board population. And there is need for this; for not a few 293 European ships have been destroyed, and their crews brutally murdered, by ruthless bands. Bound for Shanghae, you enter the Yang-tse-kiang, and you are amazed; for while the yellow sand and the flowing stream tell you that you are on a river, yet you can discover no bank. On inquiry, you find that the river is fully thirty miles wide at this place, and as the banks are low and flat, they are consequently invisible. Sailing slowly up, huge schooner-rigged craft, with their monster main-sails and their great globular bulwarks, remind you that you are fairly in Chinese waters. At length you reach Woo-sung, with its ruined fortifications, its Buddhist temple, its beggarly buildings-the place where the opium receiving-ships used to lie, armed to the teeth, casting their dark shadow upon the waters, suggestive of the still deeper gloom that accursed traffic has shed abroad on the nation. Passing up a branch of the Yang-tse-kiang, you reach Shanghae. And here, were it not for strong Englishmen hurrying hither and thither in their usual dress, the spire of the English church, the merchant's houses, and the wooden walls of old England riding proudly at anchor, you would almost imagine yourself in a different world, so unlike is the scene to any to which you have been accustomed. There go Chinamen with their peculiar dress, wagging their long pig-tails; there are coolies wriggling along under their burden, uttering that peculiar cry, "Ah ha, ah ha;" there are scholars from the interior, who have come to see the "fire-wheeled ships" (that is steamers), the great houses, and the foreign devils and their thousand wonders, pacing slowly along, brandishing their fans, and gazing in mute yet concealed amazement. You lift your eyes and look at the Chinese buildings, and you are instantly reminded of the old-fashioned willow-pattern plate, for the resemblance is too striking to be overlooked; there are two hundreds of Chinese boats around you, with their grotesque crews, their queer shape, their novel sails; and the scene altogether puts you into a perfect maze. But your thoughts are interrupted by the captain shouting, "Let go!" and down goes the anchor, and away goes the chain, leaping and roaring. At last it takes its hold, and your good ship, like a thing of life, swings round into her allotted position, and rests majestically from her labours and her perils after her long and lonesome journey. You lift your heart, and give thanks to Almighty God, who has safely brought you to your destined haven. You retire to your cabin, and, having again devoutly thanked Him in whose hands are winds and waves, prepare to disembark. A boat has arrived your name is called-your friends are on board to welcome you. You accompany them to their hospitable dwelling, read your letters, and then talk of the dear old country, or it may be on the "days of auld lang syne." After having arranged your affairs, you express a wish to see the native city. But before taking our stroll through the streets, some brief general description of the Chinese empire and people will help my readers better to understand the narratives of personal observation and adventure which follow. II. A GENERAL VIEW OF CHINA. The empire of China Proper consists of eighteen. provinces, each of which has an area about equal to Great Britain; and in addition to these, the Emperor of China rules over Manchuria, Mongolia, Turkestan, and Thibet, so that the "Vermilion Pencil " lays down 294 MISSIONARY SCENES AND ADVENTURES IN CHINA. the laws of a territory larger than the continent of The history of China reaches far back. Some will say, like the Egyptian, farther back than the chronology will sanction. No its authentic history goes to within a few genc- A great deal has been said and written regarding The officer comes round and notes down the a piece of paper, which is nailed to the back of the door. number and particulars. The last was taken in 1842, and the total given forth by the government was 414 millions. But, as the officials generally over estimate the number, a great deduction must be made, and so the common number is worthy of credit. All descriptions of craft are carried on by the ChiTheir constitution, Their trade is enormous. nese. the division and action of their government, their network of canals, their code of laws-so marvellous for its comprehensiveness and minuteness, their public examinations, their pictorial language, their literature, nearly as extensive as our own, though far less varied— are all worthy of the profoundest study. And their science, far behind ours as it now is, demands attention; for in their scientific books, ancient and modern, are many facts and experiments which will be found new and useful to inquirers. But, notwithstanding the vast area of country, the variety of scenery and climate, the different spoken languages, and the multitudes of the inhabitants, the Chinese are one people. In olden time the ancient emperors, who lived long before Christ, are said "to ascend the throne of the black-haired race;" and they are black-haired still. A light-haired man or a redhaired man would be as great a wonder among them as a green-haired man would be among us: hence the euphonious and complimentary epithet they apply to The oblique eye and foreigners, "red-haired devils." high cheek-bone also characterize them all. Their customs, too, are one; for, with unimportant deviations, the manners. of one town and family may be taken as the type of the whole. III. THEIR RELIGIOUS CONDITION. In what condition is this people morally and religiously? Would that we could speak well of them! but, alas! they are entirely without God and without hope in the world. They are not even sincere idolators: atheism is the prevailing feature in their character, and literally there is no fear of God or a judg ment before their eyes; so that, with the exception of the few who have been converted by means of our missionaries at the ports, and, let us hope, some among the communities of Roman Catholics which are found here and there throughout the empire, the name of our blessed God is never praised in all that empire, so rich in the works of his hands, and sharing so largely in as indifferent to His existence and claims as the bounties of his gracious providence. The Chinese are the cattle upon a thousand hills, and they die as the sheep die. IV. THEIR EARLY KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. Though such is their present condition, yet they Springing were very different in ancient times. from some of the immediate descendants of Noah, the founders of the nation at a very early period migrated into the heart of Asia, and settled down in the north-east of that continent. There is abundant evidence to show that they carried with them the knowledge of the one living and true God. Fo-hi, the founder of their monarchy and first emperor, is represented in their annals as an extremely devout man. He inclosed a park in which he reared the six kinds of animals from which victims were taken and offered as sacrifices. On the two solstices-the longest day in summer and the shortest day in winter-he presented |