Page:They're a multitoode (1900).djvu/89

 no other nation has history written so large, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." Her list of honor runs, scholar, farmer, mechanic, merchant. The scholar sways by thought, so is first. The farmer and mechanic each produces, so come next. The merchant does neither, but distributes, so is fourth. The soldier is not even mentioned, for he exists but to destroy. Such being the sentiment, in times of peace but few are maintained or indeed needed to follow the profession of arms among these most easily ruled of the millions of earth. Li, like the many of his fellows, must have other means of support.

His father was a merchant in the market village of the Chao family, near Jenshow. By dint of industry and economy, he had also added a small farm to his possession. Li was placed in the shop. Affability won friends, time and tact got him trade, while his fearlessness gradually carried him far afield. Back from the borders of the aborigines he brought white wax and ponies; from the province of Uin Lan he led pack mules laden with tea. In Kweichow, south and east, he sought silks and horses. From the far-flung tribes to north and west he bought musk and medicines, and from the Thibetans wools and hides. Soon agencies were established, compass-like, all about his centre, and Li, the trader, was known to big firms in scores of cities, towns, and in the great capital.

But travels had touched more than trade. In larger centres he had seen the much-talked-of foreigner, with his ever-present hospitals, schools, and churches, and had heard him discussed from province to province in