The Old World and Its Ways

We had planned to make this trip, but were deterred partly because a revolution in Tangiers made it uncertain that we would be able to land, and partly because unfavorable weather threatened to delay our return.

I found at Gibraltar an instance of hereditary officeholding which is not often paralleled among our people. The position of American consul has been in one family for eighty-four years consecutively. The present occupant, Mr. Sprague, is the third of his line to represent our government, his father, who held the office for over fifty years, in turn succeeding his father. The present consul, Sprague, is intensely American, notwithstanding the long residence of his family outside the country.

As the traveler leaves Gibraltar for the west he bids farewell to Africa and to Europe at the same time – Gibraltar and a somewhat similar rock on the opposite side of the channel, the two, anciently known as the Pillars of Hercules, stand out in bold relief against the sky. These rocks are not the last land, however, although the most striking features. There is a point a few miles farther west known as Tarifa which, according to tradition, was once occupied by bold robbers who exacted tribute from all who passed by. It is even said that our word tariff traces its origin to this Tarifa; if it be true that the two words are related it is fitting that Tarifa should be the last thing seen by the traveler on his departure, for the tariff is the first thing which he encounters upon his arrival in America.

CHAPTER XLIII.

A WORD TO TOURISTS

The articles of this series, taken in connection with the articles written during a former visit to Europe, cover all of the countries which I have visited, and nothing is left but to offer some generalizations covering the more important questions discussed in the course of these articles. First, as to routes of travel. We have found the trip around the globe far more instructive than we had expected, and it was entered upon for educational reasons. There is so much to see and learn that one can occupy an indefinite time in travel. We set apart a year for the trip and reached home sixteen days within the limit. Those who have followed these letters will admit, I think, that we have covered a great deal of ground and seen a great deal of the world. If we were repeating the trip, I hardly know of any country that we could afford to leave out, and I am satisfied that it is better to start from the Pacific coast than from the Atlantic. One could make the trip in half the time that we spent and see a great deal, but he can see more if he has a year or two to spare for the journey.

If one desires to make the trip in six months, he should set apart about two months for ocean travel. He could then devote two weeks to Japan, ten days to China, a week to Manila, three weeks to India, a week to Egypt, two weeks to the Holy Land, a week to Greece and Constantinople, and the rest of the time to Europe. To go through Korea would require ten days or two weeks more, but the Hermit Kingdom is different from any other country, and its queer people are worth seeing. Very few of the tourists have visited Pekin, and yet, it is in some respects the most interesting of the Chinese cities. The Manchu element of the Chinese population – the ruling element – can only be seen at Pekin or in the northern districts. The Great Wall is near Pekin, and the wall around the city of Pekin is even more imposing than the great wall itself. The Altar of Heaven, the most beautiful and elaborate sacrificial altar on earth, is in the suburbs of the Chinese capital and in itself well repays a visit.

Until recently Pekin could only be entered from the sea via Tientsin. The railroad, however, from Pekin to Hankow was about completed when we were there, and this greatly facilitates travel through the interior. If one goes on through Korea, it is best to go on to Pekin by water and then go on the railroad to Hankow and down the Yangtse river to Shanghai.

Every American who visits the Orient should spend some days in the Philippine Islands. He owes it to his country to do so. If he will visit the schools, he will be convinced that there is increasing intelligence in the islands, and he will not doubt that the people want independence. An inspection of the factories will prove that the Filipinos are industrious as well as intelligent.

It takes about two weeks to go from Singapore to Java and return, but we remember that visit as one of the most delightful parts of the trip. The ruined temple at Boro Boedoer, the delicious fruits, the terraced hills, the far reaching rice fields and the shady drives linger in one's memory.

To visit Ceylon, Burma and India requires a good deal of travel upon the Bay of Bengal. We went to Ceylon, then back to Burma, then on to Calcutta. Some go to Burma and then to India and return to Ceylon from Bombay, but all three of these countries are interesting, and one can hardly afford to pass by any of them. Burma is the home of Buddhism, and one can learn more of the worship of Buddha here than anywhere else. The yellow-robed priest with his begging-bowl is everywhere present.

I have already discussed India and Egypt somewhat in detail, and no traveler need be urged to visit these countries. Palestine, however, is skipped by so many travelers that I may be pardoned a word of advice. Of all the countries which we visited none interested us more than the Holy Land, and no member of a Christian church can afford to visit southern Europe or pass through the Suez canal without seeing that portion of Asia which is immortalized by Bible history. The ruins at Baalbek, in some respects the most remarkable in the world, attract many to Beyrout, Damascus and the Lebanons, but the Sea of Galilee, Jerusalem and the Jordan have lessons for the tourist of far greater importance than can be derived from the ruins of heathen temples.

If the reader lacks either time, inclination or means for a trip around the world, he will find one of the shorter trips to Europe only second in interest and value. The Mediterranean trip is a very popular one. This, according to its length, permits a visit to Gibraltar, Alexandria, Cairo, Palestine, Constantinople, Greece and Italy. From Gibraltar it is a short trip to Granada, Cordova and Madrid, and our own experience leads me to commend this trip to the traveler. At Cairo and Constantinople the Orient comes nearest to Europe and America, and the difference between the Orient and the western world is so striking that no one visiting southern Europe should miss the Nile and Bosphorus. One can spend weeks, and even months, about the shores of the Mediterranean; Africa, Asia Minor and Europe all touch upon this great inland sea. Without leaving its shores one can study the most opposite types which the human race has produced and at the same time study the history of the oldest periods known to man. Egypt should be visited before the end of March, while April is the best month for a trip to Palestine.

In Italy alone one could occupy a winter. Rome, the center of the Catholic world and the home of the Cæsars, is a most fascinating city. There are no mosaics like those of St. Peters and few galleries equal those of the Vatican, while masterpieces of sculptors and painters are to be found on every hand. The old Roman forum is the Mecca of the student, and the Coliseum is still a wonder, defying as it has the storms of nearly two thousand years. At Naples one sees Vesuvius and lava beds formed but a few months ago. At one place the stream of lava poured through an archway and hardened as it cooled. When we were there the lava was like stone and could with difficulty be broken. At Florence one sees the best specimens of modern sculpture, and at Milan he visits one of the most famous of the European cathedrals.

Venice is in a class by itself. No other city rivals it in uniqueness. Its streets are canals, and gondolas are the vehicles in which potentate, priest and plebeian ride. It draws visitors from all over the world and sends them away, after a short visit, glad that they came and equally glad to escape from the dampness of the place.

If one desires a summer trip, he can find few journeys more delightful than those through Switzerland and along the Rhine. Lakes, rivers and mountains – these are to be found in abundance, with cities enough to supply the population and hotels to accommodate the the tourists. If one would combine pleasure with instruction, he can profitably employ considerable time in visiting the German universities at Heidelberg and Leipsic and the art galleries at Dresden and Munich. The cathedral at Cologne, it may be added, is by many preferred to the cathedral at Milan.

The northern portions of Europe are even more inviting to the summer tourist than Switzerland or the Rhine. The lakes of Ireland and Scotland and the seacoast resorts of England and Holland give rest and recuperation to multitudes every year. If I were going to suggest a summer trip, it would be as follows:

Leave New York early in June, land at Liverpool, cross over to Newcastle and take a steamer for Bergen, Norway. A week can be spent delightfully in the fjords and on the lakes in the neighborhood of Bergen. Such a combination of deep water and rugged mountain sides, rushing streams and crystal lakes is hard to find. Then let the tourist proceed to Trondhjem, the ancient capital, where King Haakon was recently crowned. From Trondhjem, the traveler can reach the Arctic circle in a little more than a day. While a day's stay is sufficient in the land of the midnight sun if the sky is clear, it is better to allow one's self two or three days' leeway as it is often cloudy in this latitude and at this time of the year. The midnight sun must be seen to be appreciated. No description can do it justice. To pass from day to day with no intervening night, to watch the sun linger for a while in the north near the horizon and then begin a new day's work without a moment's sleep gives one a sensation not soon forgotten. A railroad across Norway brings Christiania within a day's ride of Trondhjem, and from Christiania to Stockholm is another day.

Stockholm is sure to charm the visitor. It is a beautiful town beautifully situated; it stands where the waters of the lakes and the ocean meet. Several days can be spent in Stockholm to advantage, and then one is prepared for the boat ride to St. Petersburg, one of the rarest experiences that one can find in travel. The boat wends its way through islands almost the entire distance.

A week's stay in St. Petersburg will give an opportunity for an inspection of the capital of the greatest of the nations measured by territory, and one of the greatest measured by population. Here one has a chance to learn something of the Greek Church with its splendid cathedrals, rivaling the cathedrals of the Roman Catholic Church. Moscow is even more distinctly Russian than St. Petersburg, and the art gallery there surpasses the one at St. Petersburg in its collection of the works of Russian artists. Tolstoy's summer home is not far from Moscow, and many take advantage of the trip to see the greatest of living philosophers.

The ride from St. Petersburg to Moscow and from Moscow to Warsaw gives a very good view of the interior of Russia, and one can stop off at most any place and learn something of the village life of the Russian peasant. Several days can be occupied in Berlin, and other points of interest can easily be reached from Germany's capital. Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, is only half a day's ride distant. Hanover, Hamburg, Brussels, Amsterdam and The Hague are all within easy reach. In Germany one has an opportunity to learn a great deal about forestry, agriculture and landscape gardening. The parks, groves, shady drives and boulevards furnish the American traveler with many suggestions while the battlefield of Waterloo and the lowlands of Holland will ever be interesting to the student of history.

The tour can be completed by a visit to Paris and London. The social season in the latter ends early in August with the adjournment of parliament. In three months' time one can make this northern trip and return with a fund of information about the countries and their peoples which could never be collected from books. It is not an expensive trip even for first class travel, and the accommodations furnished by the steamers and railroads for second class passengers are such that one can reduce his expenses considerably without discomfort.

But let me add, in conclusion, that one does not have to leave America to find places of interest and that no one can justify a trip abroad until he has become acquainted with his own country. Europe has no summer resorts that surpass the cities on the St. Lawrence, on our northern lakes and in the mountains of the west. In America one can have every variety from salt-sea bathing to mountain climbing, with fishing thrown in. In natural scenery there is nothing in Europe which surpasses the Niagara, Yellowstone Park, and the Yosemite Valley of California. There are no agricultural views which surpass those in the valleys on the Ohio, the Mississippi and the Missouri, and for a restful winter trip Hawaii, Mexico and Cuba offer attractions that are unexcelled. While the Western Hemisphere is not so old in its civilization, the only advantage that the Orient and Europe can furnish is in the variety of races, customs and religions. In natural scenery America satisfies all expectations. Nothing but the Himalayas offers more sublime heights, and the earth has no other chasm equal to the Grand Canyon of Arizona. After one has seen the wonders of America and the possibilities of its soil, its institutions and its people, he can go abroad with the assurance that he will return, more widely informed, it is true, but more intensely American than before. There is no country like ours, whether it be measured by the bountiful gifts of the Creator or by the works of man. In all that goes to make a nation great materially, commercially, intellectually, politically and morally, our country has no peer. The American, returning to his own shores, feels like thanking Scott for expressing so felicitously the traveler's sentiments:

"Breathes there a man with soul so deadWho never to himself hath said,This is my own, my native land;Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'dAs home his footsteps he hath turn'dFrom wandering on a foreign strand?If such there breathe, go, mark him well,For him no minstrel raptures swell;High though his titles, proud his name,Boundless his wealth as wish can claim, —Despite those titles, power and pelf,The wretch, concentred all in self,Living, shall forfeit fair renown,And, doubly dying, shall go downTo the vile dust from whence he sprung,Unwept, unhonor'd and unsung."

CHAPTER XLIV.

AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONS

In former letters I have mentioned the missionary work being done by Americans in the Orient, and I deem the subject important enough for an article, in view of the conflicting reports which have been brought back by tourists. We had an opportunity to investigate the work done by American missionaries in Hawaii, Japan, Korea, China, Singapore, India, Egypt, Palestine and Turkey. We met representatives of nearly all the churches in the various departments of missionary work, and as a result of our observations our interest in foreign missions has been quickened. In Hawaii the missionaries laid the foundation for the present civilization in the islands and exerted a most beneficial influence upon the natives.

In Japan the missionary work has spread rapidly and is carried on under four heads. The religious teacher presents the gospel and establishes churches; the school teacher arouses an interest in education and establishes schools; the medical missionary, by unselfishly rendering obvious service, opens the way for both the preacher and the school teacher, while the Young Men's Christian Association and its accompanying organization, the Young Women's Christian Association, weld the church membership into a religious but unsectarian working body. The rapid growth in public instruction has somewhat dwarfed the relative importance of the mission schools in Japan, and the spread of the science of medicine has made the work of the medical missionary less conspicuous there, but the religious teacher in Japan has a field which is not surpassed anywhere. The Japanese people are rapidly drifting away from Buddhism, which until recently was the national faith. Shintoism, which has become the state religion, is not a religion at all, but a reverence for ancestors. Japan must have a religion, for no nation is likely to avoid decay unless its morals are reinforced by religion. If I had the authority to decide the question, I would send some of the leading men of each denomination to Japan to present Christianity to the educated Japanese. English is taught in the schools of Japan, and one can speak to the Japanese without the aid of an interpreter. This proposition I tested several times. While it would be an advantage to have preachers who could speak the Japanese language, still, it is more important that we should send our ablest divines there – men who can meet the most intelligent of the Japanese upon an equal footing and defend before them the Christian philosophy of life.

Japan is the gateway of the Orient, and is to-day exerting an influence upon China greater than the combined influence of all the European nations. Western civilization is likely to enter China through Japan. In fact, I believe that the Christian religion, presented to the Chinese by the Japanese, would spread more rapidly than if presented in any other way, for China has come to regard Japan as a leader of thought. More than five thousand Chinese students are now at schools in Japan, and Japanese teachers are being more and more employed in China. Some of the most earnest Christians whom we met are natives of Japan. At Tokyo, at Kioto, and at Kagoshima I was especially impressed with the sincerity and enthusiasm of the Japanese Christians. I could not but recall the lines "Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love" as I saw how much stronger this heart tie is than the ties of blood or race or language.

In Seoul, Korea, we found a very successful medical mission and a flourishing Young Men's Christian Association. We also learned of several Christian congregations.

In China mission work has made great progress, although it has had to bear the brunt of the fight now being made against foreign influence. During the Boxer trouble there were examples of heroism among the Chinese Christians which recalled the early days of martyrdom. There were those who suffered death because of their devotion to the Christian faith, and thousands more who did not hesitate to take the part of the white Christians against members of their own race. It takes time to educate a race or to make an impression upon a great population like the population of China, but the next quarter of a century is likely to see the Christian religion spread more rapidly among the inhabitants of the Flowery Kingdom than it has during the last century.

That our missionaries often make mistakes need not be denied. They are human, and to err is the lot of all. A missionary among strangers must exercise more sagacity and discretion than one who works among people of his own race. The wonder is not that missionaries make mistakes, but that they do not make more than are now charged to them. It is even possible that a missionary occasionally proves untrue to his calling – is it strange that this should happen to a missionary almost alone and with but little sympathetic support, when it sometimes happens to ministers who are surrounded by friends and hedged in so that a fall would seem almost impossible?

One part of the missionary's work has received scant notice, namely – the planting of western ideas in the Orient. The daily life of a missionary is not only a constant sermon, but to a certain extent, an exposition of western ways. His manner of dress and his manner of living are noted, and even if he did not say a word, he would make an impression upon those about him. It would be worth while to send Christians to the Orient merely to show the fullness and richness of a Christian life, for, after all, the example of an upright person, living a life of service according to the Christian ideal, is more eloquent than any sermon – it is the unanswerable argument in favor of our religion.

It is sometimes suggested by those unfriendly to missionary work that missionaries live in too great comfort. This criticism will not have weight with those who have attempted to live in the Orient upon the salary of a missionary, but even if the missionaries lived more luxuriantly than they do, that would still exert a beneficial influence. As the Chinaman becomes educated he learns of the manners and customs of the people of other nations, and the home of the missionary gives an opportunity for comparisons. In China there is polygamy, while the missionary has but one wife. In the Chinese home the birth of a son is the occasion for rejoicing; the birth of a daughter an occasion for less rejoicing, if not actual mourning. In the missionary's home the girl child is as welcome as the boy. The missionary's wife is not only a standing rebuke to the practice of foot-binding, but is a stimulus to the movement now setting in for the education of women.

The Catholic missionaries reach a class which might not be reached by Protestant missionaries and Protestant missionaries appeal to some who could not be reached by the Catholic missionaries. Each church does its own work in its own way, and the result is better than if either church attempted to follow the example of the other. The celibacy of the priest and his voluntary sacrifice of home and its joys that he may more fully devote himself to religion – these appeal to some, especially to those who have been impressed with the asceticism of the religious teachers of the Orient. There are others, however, who are more impressed with a form of Christianity which does not deny to its ministers the advantages of the family. In other words, the different branches of the Christian Church, each pursuing its own way, meet the widely different needs of the heathen better than any one church could do it.

Missionary work in the Malay states has been very slow because the Malays are nearly all Mohammedans, and it has been found difficult to make headway against this religion. The Mohammedan believes in one God, accepts most of the Old Testament, and regards Christ as a great prophet, but claims that Mahomet was a later prophet and a greater one.

Burma, the home of Buddhism, is one of the best missionary fields, and great success has attended the Baptist mission, which has its headquarters at Rangoon.

For many years American missionaries have been establishing schools and churches in India. While this field has also been developed by the English missionaries, I was informed that a majority of the Sunday school children are now attending American Sunday schools. It is one of the indisputable proofs of our country's supremacy in altruistic work that though drawing nothing whatever from India in the way of revenue, it sends into India every year for religious and educational purposes almost as much as England does, notwithstanding the fact that England draws something like a hundred millions a year from India.

We found the various departments of Christian work growing vigorously in India. Medical missionaries are winning the confidence and the affections of the unfortunate; teachers are bringing increasing thousands to a higher level of intellectual development; and the ministers are explaining to the people why it is that the Christian is sympathetic and benevolent. Simply stated, the medical missionary compels attention, the school teacher takes the one whose attention has been aroused and furnishes an education which enables the pupil to see things in their proper relation, while the minister points out the philosophy of the efforts of the other two and presents the conception of life, which leads both medical missionary and teacher to separate themselves from home and friends and devote themselves to people who are connected with them only by the primal ties which bind each human being to every other.

I shall long remember two meetings which I addressed in India. One was held under the auspices of the Y. M. C. A. at Allahabad, one of the centers of the Hindu religion. At the conclusion of my address an Indian arose and addressed me as follows. "Mr. Bryan, you can not judge of the influence of Christianity upon our country by the number of church members. The spirit of Christ and the Christian ideal have made an impression far wider than the church membership would indicate. Tell your people that the Indians are grateful to them for the missionaries and teachers whom they have sent among us, and tell them how few these are in number compared with our needs. Send us more, and assure your people that we appreciate the benefits received from America."