Winnetka Local History Digital Collections

Winnetka Weekly Talk, 28 Jun 1924, p. 4

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4 WINNETKA WEEKLY TALK, SATURDAY, JUNE 28, 1924 Paul R. Reynolds Explains How He Did Finally Arrive at Sianfu Editor's Note: This is the second of a series of letters written from China by Paul R. Reynolds. Mr. Reynolds needs no introduction to readers of WINNETKA TALK. He is a product of Chicago university and is now foreign missionary for the Winnetka Congre- gational church in the land of Confu- cius. Mr. Reynolds is master of a facile pen and his epistles are both interesting and "instructive. Iam for the Y. M. C. A. The Y. M. SF and Sweden. Next morning with the sun shining both outside and in, we started off to see the sights. No need for a guide. Hummel knew where everything ought to be and generally it was there. First, we went over to the Confucian Temple. Great old place, court yard full of ancient twisted old cedar trees that look like they were doing business long before the ark. Im- posing place. Next we went to the Pei Lin or "forest of monuments." Long ago there was an emperor who wanted to be considered the beginning of all knowledge, so he 'had all the classic books burned up. But as it chanced a certain young woman had committed the Confucian classics to memory and she repeated them and people copied them so the king's purpose was de- feated. But to avoid the chance that such a thing ever coming to pass again, after that the classics were always carved on great stone tablets. This "forest of tablets" is just such a library. Row on row of great stone tablets, some five to seven feet in height and varying in width from about two to three feet, each one carefully carved with the characters of some section of the classics. Among this collection there is the famous Nestorian tablet, which dates back to 782. (I think that is about right) and shows that Nestorian Christianity came over land from Asia Minor and was known all through this part of China. Scholars come from all over the world to see this tablet. Later we went out to a Mongolian temple and there saw the huge stone, carved Fn baptismal font which belonged in the same temple as the tablet. At another RE» time we went outside the west gate of the city and saw the ruins of the tem- ple where'the monument and font were found. There is not much left, but enough to show that the temple was laid out like a Greek temple and utterly different from any Chinese temple. One . day we visited the Mohammedan sec- "tion of the city. There we saw two huge mosques. We were allowed to enter, but had to take off our shoes. Find Temples Bare Outside they looked much like Chinese temples, but inside they were perfectly bare, no images, no idols, no huge grin- ing figures. The Mohammedans came away back in the 9th century on one of the waves of enthusiasm and religious terver which threatened for a while to make the whole world bow to the crescent. It is queer to see these folks dressed like Chinese talking Chinese, colored like Chinese, but so absolutely different in feature. They show the Semitic strain quite strongly. It shows most plainly in the big Jewish looking noses. You would know in a minute that they were an alien strain. One day we went to the governor's military headquarters to see the old scene of early imperial palaces. Next day we were received by the governor himself at his civil headquarters, for he is con- current military and civil governor of hensi. He also gave permission for us to have one of the auto buses to go back to T'ungkuan. He was a jolly, rotund little chap with long mustaches and also a long sword. His intentions were good, but his bus wasn't much. It took us a day and a half to go 90 miles in it. That was partly because the car was a wreck and the other part because the road was even more wrecked. Tour Joys Continue We blew tires, fell through holes in bridges, bounced over ruts, and finally made the 90 miles, but if that car ever makes the return trip, I miss my guess. On the way home, we ate some more bitterness--which is the apt Chinese way of putting it. We had sent word back to Fenchow to have some gasoline carried down to Yunch'eng by sheer man power; but when we got back there we found said gas had not arrived. As it chanced there was a foreigner in the city who has a gas lamp and he had Telephone 1098 ALEC W. KYLE Contractor PLUMBING--HEATING 674 Vernon Avenue GLENCOE, ILLINOIS Enroute On Historic Journey He Finds End of Road Hid- ! den In Ash Heap; Discovery Disgusts Old Henry And Causes Its Collapse some gasoline which he gave us, so off we started with that. Just when that was about gone, we met our own gas coming. It was bitter cold and a dead head-wind biowing a gale, so again a little later on we ran out of gas but luckily at a city. We searched that place high and low and at last found a printing shop where they used gasoline and we sandbagged them into letting us have what they had. Then on to Chieh is a student at Taiku, we got him to go guarantor for us so we could get gas from the bus station. It was at this famous city that they built a motor road and hid the end of it behind a pile of ashes and for got to finish it. We ran around the pile of ashes, found the end of the road all right and fell off, car and all. Nobody hurt so we picked up the pieces of the car and cargo and each other, carried the remains back up the bank, headed toward home and were off again. Went on from here till we were only twenty miles from home and then, by hookey, our one-horse shay fell to pieces and we had to walk home the rest of the way. And this was the end of our historical expedition to Sianfu. The children of the Matheon Day Nursery of the Chicago Commons were the little guests of Mrs. Theo- core Coyne on Tuesday at Community House, where they had luncheon and Shou where by exercising some pull be- cause the nephew of the oil store man were entertained moving pictures. with games and It's the ideal vacation land for the entire family. Wisconsin's Land-o'- Lakes Region has a climate that brings a new joy into living. Pine- rimmed lakes teeming with gamey fish. Hotel and cottage accommo- dations. Get the Northern Wisconsin habit and establish a home or a camp in this great out-o'-doors country. Wisconsin Lakes Special Leaves Chicago daily, except Sunday, 7:00 P. M. (Standard Time), arriving Northern Resorts early next morning. Returning, arrive Chicago, 7:15 A. M. Lv. Chicago Ashland Limited Lj Chics, Bargain Fares, Week-End, 30-Day and Season Tickets For further information, apply M. H. Lieber, Ticket Agent C.&N. W. Ry. Winnetka, Ill. 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