soul through upright living and a creed that is formulated
in true doctrine. But Mormonism is dying out,
and woman in Utah is receiving the rightful place
assigned her by her Creator in the work of building
up the race and perpetuating the virtues and forces
of a true manhood. The followers of Mohammed
are still numerous and powerful, and the Religion
of the Koran has shown great vitality for centuries.
The nobility of character, however, which has manifested
itself in such lives as that of Saladin the Great
is the product of other causes than the specific teachings
and views of Islam respecting domestic life and the
position and office of woman. The destinies of
men have been determined often by their environments.
We must also bear in mind that from time to time,
under the sway of the Crescent, different sections
of the civilised world have been brought under the
rule of the Sultans, and all that was good and noble
in the lives of peoples newly incorporated into the
faith of the Arabian Prophet has contributed in no
small degree to the strength of a system which has
in its own bosom the seeds of decay and which will
ultimately become effete and pass away. Mohammed
Ali, the founder of the present Khedivial house of
Egypt, had in his veins old Macedonian blood, and his
views respecting marriage and domestic life, as well
as the traditions of his family in his old home at
Kavala, had much to do with the development of his
character and his brilliant career; and hence neither
he nor others like him in the Turkish Empire can be
singled out to prove that a religion which looks upon
woman as an inferior being to man is excellent in
its tendencies and produces a noble fruitage.
What Napoleon once said with respect to France, that
she needed good mothers, is true as regards China.
Where woman is held in honour and where the domestic
virtues are woven into a beautiful chaplet of spring-time
blossoms to bedeck her brow, there you will find good
and great men. Our own nation is an example of
this. To regenerate China then, to improve the
morals of Chinatown in San Francisco, or Chinatown
in New York where there are between seven and eight
thousand sons and daughters of the Flowery Kingdom,
you must create pure homes, and to do this you must
first of all sweeten them with the precepts of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. Confucius will fail you.
The Son of God will reform you and save you!
Such thoughts and reflections as these naturally sprang
up in my mind in my walks through Chinatown. I
saw its people on every hand. Sometimes they
were in twos, again in groups of a half a dozen or
more. They scarcely noticed us as we walked by
them; they showed no curiosity to observe us, but went
on their way as though intent on one object.
They moved about like automatons, as if they were
a piece of machinery; and such as were at work in shops
heeded us not even when we stood over them and watched
them as they handled their tools. It was work,
work. They were doing their masters’ bidding