“There is very much poverty and misery among the heathen.  They do not pity each other and love each other as some Christians do.  Those who have the comforts of life seem to have very little pity for those who are destitute.  Therefore they have no poorhouses where the poor may be taken care of.  Consequently very many steal, very many beg, and very many starve to death.  In going from my house to church on the Sabbath I have counted more than thirty beggars on the streets.  The most of them were such pitiable looking objects as you never saw.  I have seen persons who are called beggars in the United States, but I never saw a real beggar till I came to Amoy.  Some of them are covered with filth and a few filthy rags.  Some of them are without eyes, some without noses, some without hands, and some without feet.  Some crawl upon their hands and feet, some sit down in the streets and shove themselves along, and some lie down end can only move along by rolling over and over.  On Sunday before last, while I was preaching, a blind girl came into the chapel.  She was led by a string attached to a boy going before her.  He could see, but could not walk.  He crept along on his hands and knees.  A month or two ago, during a cold storm, late in the evening, just as I was going to bed, I heard some one groaning by my front door.  I went out to see what was the matter.  I found an old man with white beard Iying in the mud and water, and with very little clothing.  He was shivering from cold.  He was unable to speak.  I had him carried into my house, and covered over with some mats.  We prepared some warm drink and food for him, as speedily as possible, hoping that thus we might save his life.  But before we could get it ready he died.  He had probably been carried by some persons and laid at my door to die, that they might be free from the trouble and expense of burying him.

“A week or two ago when walking through the streets I saw a beggar Iying a little distance off.  I inquired whether he was already dead.  Some men, who stood near, said ‘Yes.’  I then asked why they did not bury him.  ’Oh, he is of no use.’  I inquired, ‘Is he not a man ?’ ‘No,’ they said, ’he is only a beggar.’  ‘But,’ I asked again, ‘is he not still a man?’ They laughed and answered, ‘Yes.’  A few days after, walking with Mrs. Talmage by the same place, we saw another beggar Iying nearly in the same spot.  I inquired of the persons who were near whether he was dead.  They answered, ‘Yes.’  Close by sat a beggar who was still alive.  He was scarcely grown up.  But his face was so deformed from suffering that we could not guess his age.  He held out his hands for alms.  We gave him a few cash and went on.  The next day we passed that way again.  We saw two beggars lying together, both dead.  We went to them.  One was the lad to whom we gave the cash the day previous.  On Sunday in coming from church we again passed by that sad spot, and there was still another beggar lying dead directly in the road.  This gives you, in part, a picture of what heathenism is.”