IN THE EYE OP DAY 203 



was always up pottering over his duties when 

 Scott and I turned in at night ; and I never opened 

 my eyes in the morning that I did not see Lum 

 already at work, seemingly just where he had been 

 when I closed my eyes the night before. Many 

 and many a morning I lay watching the swift dex- 

 terity, the economical use of every trifle, the infi- 

 nite industry, the mysterious mannerisms and 

 devout supplications. 



How little the white man, especially the major- 

 ity of those of us who go forth as missionaries to 

 " convert the heathen," comprehend the Chinese 

 character ! To the student of Chinese institutions 

 and the Chinese themselves, it seems outrageous 

 presumption, for the truth is that the Chinese are 

 without doubt the most religious people on the 

 globe. Their religion is a very part of themselves, 

 accepted without discussion from birth. The 

 veriest pauper, from a worldly point of view, who 

 lives on one of the hundreds of sampans floating 

 before Canton, will deny himself in order that he 

 may perform a particular religious duty. There 

 are no people save the Mohammedans that so com- 

 pletely live up to the faith they profess. China has 

 no divergent churches, no wrangling apostles ; there 

 is the one creed, of thousands of years' standing, 

 to which all yield allegiance, and to which all pin 

 a faith that continues unto death incontrovertible. 



