SI-NING-FU TO LIANG-CHOW-FU 1227 
nave and offering up their prayers to the God of the 
Christians. My Belgian cicerones told me that there 
were families in the place who had been Christians from 
father to son through seven generations, and that the 
community then reckoned about 300 members. The 
people I saw entered the church of their own free will, 
as they were going past, making the sign of the cross 
and taking off their caps, and they appeared to repeat 
their prayers with absolute sincerity of conviction. The 
Belgian Brothers also carry on schools for boys and girls. 
peeped into one of the rooms, and saw a score of boys 
sitting at their desks, poring over the Bible and the 
writings of the sage Confucius. The library, which was 
a large and handsome apartment, was adorned with the 
portraits of a host of missionaries, amongst whom 1 
recognized the portrait of my Kashgar friend. Father 
Hendricks. The Belgian Brothers also possess a mission- 
station in the city of Liang-chow-fu, which they visit to 
celebrate mass on the high days and festivals of their 
church. 
I was however pained to learn that the Roman Catholic 
and the Evangelical missionaries do not work amicably 
together, in fact they ignore one another’s existence. 
Yet it is only natural they should do so, for thev 
preach different doctrines, and what the one body sows, 
the other does its best to pluck up by the roots. The 
Chinese may be pardoned if they get confused between 
the two. Fortunately there is plenty of room for both 
to work in Liang-chow-fu. Personally I have no com- 
plaint to make against either. The Roman Catholic 
Brothers were quite as hospitable and quite as kind as 
the Evangelical missionaries. 
I spent my fourth Christmas in Asia in Liang-chow-fu, 
and found comfort in the hope of being able to spend 
the next Christmas by my own fireside, among the skerry 
isles of dear old Sweden. Christmas was always a trying- 
time for me, for then, far more than on any other day 
m the year, I always longed intensely for home. This 
year too Christmas Eve passed as quietly and. unevent- 
