Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 67.djvu/532

526

to ask. Thou came an ironical burst of glee—'This foreign teacher does not know what his own hat is made of.'

Still more significant is the treatment these visitors received from the master of the school, for it typifies in itself quite well the change in China's mental attitude in her contact with western thought, as pointed out in our first paper* —from initial arrogance and conceited ignorance to a lively appreciation of the value of the newer learning:

Before we left the college we found a teacher sitting at the head of one of the courts with a bandage about his head. He was not glad to see us, his

malaria possibly accounted for his incivility, which, however, might have been aggravated by the fact that two of the company forgot to remove their spectacles on coming into his presence. However, his frigidity wore off, and when it came out that the foreigners could write (more or less) as well as talk his native language, the professor rose slowly and stood as he talked with us. Enquiring if we were students he seemed first abashed and then incredulous when he learned that all his interlocutors were second degree men. He looked as much as to say 'These foreign chaps must have bought their degrees, if they really have them'—not an unnatural thought for a Chinese.

At length when the professor was thawed out, to the point of civility at least, the Bostonian in the party produced from his impedimenta a large package of Chinese books. The professor, with a quizzical look on his face, received a beautifully illustrated life of Christ, and Dr. Faber's four volume Commentary