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from amongst the laughing, bustling crowd of more than two thousand performers, that shifted up and down the field, a wonderful living kaleidoscope. Black nuns and white novices chattered, unreproved, with cavaliers and jesters; a perfect garden of flower-fairies skipped and swung by the tents, or tumbled, shouting, on the grass; small ancient Britons, reverting to primitive savagery, threatened one another with hatchet and hunting-knife, or tore off their shaggy wigs to utilise them as weapons of attack; whilst demure brown elves, Elizabethan boys, and surpliced acolytes played leap-frog and ran races with irrepressible

energy.

The imposing array of "wild men, antics, and beasts,"-the fire-breathing dragon, dragon, the dromedary, the elephant, and the giants, brave in crowns and royal robes, towered weirdly impassive above the gay throngs which surged around them in a riot of colour which, confused and unstudied though it was, had yet a beauty and fascination all its own. True, the materials were cheap and flimsy, the finery tawdry, the jewels mere glass and pinchbeck, but these facts were discounted in the quaint or graceful forms of the dresses, and the skilful blending of brilliant and sombre hues, seen through the transforming medium of summer sunshine. Or, if some critical eyes, impervious to the glamour, saw only "leather and prunella," and deplored the absence of genuine velvet and satin, the

costume designers still held with Bacon that in a masque or triumph it is better to be graced with elegancy than daubed with cost.

Not by the sunshine of nature alone was the Performers' Field illuminated during that last hurrying fortnight; a magic radiance, "turning all to gold,' permeated the whole social atmosphere with a mellowing, vivifying influence, to which all classes and dispositions responded. There were the patience and courtesy, the unwearying and sometimes unrecognised consideration displayed by all those whose duty it was to direct the performances or distribute and adjust the costumes of the performers; the cheery unselfishness of many who came from a long day's work, and could claim no exemption from the next day's duties, however weary they might be; the pluck of the children who faced rain and unavoidable fatigue with perseverance and good-humour; the punctual attendance of some whose homes lay several miles out in the country, and who must needs return on foot at the close of the evening. And many other tokens of goodfellowship and helpfulness, of loyalty and kindliness, noticed except by those who had the eyes to see, contributed to the healthful spirit which sustained and exhilarated those who took part in the work.

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Throughout the British Isles, and beyond, the Chester Pageant has been unanimously proclaimed a spectacular triumph;

financially, its success is assured; but it is impossible to gauge to its full extent the educational value of such an undertaking, or to trace the course of the far-reaching influences which have been brought to bear upon all concerned, old as well as young.

Some of the lessons of the Pageant are, of course, obvious to the most casual spectator, who recognises the power of organisation, the vividness with which past history is brought before the eye, the charm of good elocution, and the benefits of disciplined co-operation; but others, of deeper significance, lie hidden, perhaps unsuspected, beneath the surface of things,

and it may be years before their silent working manifests itself in a higher ideal of citizenship, a broader sense of the responsibilities and opportunities of common intercourse, in habits of unselfishness and resourcefulness, and in a sounder appreciation of the better and more wholesome aspects of recreation.

"Look not on pleasures as they come but go," is George Herbert's maxim. It may be safely said that, whereas the coming of the Pageant seemed to many a doubtful pleasure, its going left us convinced that lasting profit, as well as wholesome enjoyment, had followed in its train.

SPOILING THE EGYPTIANS.

"PADRE, I believe you've been looting!"

The individual thus adaddressed was a short, square-set man, clothed in patched cord breeches, putties, and a serge khaki coat, of the variety described in the Indian Ordnance lists as "Coat, Warm British." On his head was a round fur cap. He was mounted on a white, rough-coated Manchurian pony, whose large ungainly head was balanced by a strange heavy door-mat of a tail.

Behind him, on a similar steed, rode a Chinese mafu, or groom, who also discharged the duties of valet. The mafu wore the Chinese peasant's blue cotton quilted clothes. On his chest was sewn a crude representation of a union-jack, to indicate that he was in British employment. Both master and groom were covered so thickly with grey dust that they looked as if they had been rolled in dry Portland cement. "What is your particular fancy, Padré ? Furs, silks, porcelain, or lacquer?

The missionary's tormentor was a Captain of Indian Cavalry, who was leaning against the doorpost of a Chinese mud hut. His clothes were an exact replica of those worn by the missionary,-in fact, the latter's garments were borrowed from his wardrobe. He was commandant of Ma-cha-su, a small fortified post on the road to Peking. The mud hut

was the commandant's official residence, and was marked out as such by a weather-bleached union-jack on a very inadequate pole. For the better information of wayfarers the Commandant had chalked on the door "Government House."

Farther down the village street a tricolour marked the beginning of the French quarter. Beside the French flagstaff stood a notice-board, on which was posted up a short list of crimes committed by members of the French garrison and the punishments awarded. A little beyond the flagstaff was an open space, in which a private of the Corps Disciplinaire was shuffling round at a jog-trot, under a heavy pack. A French sergeant sat in a chair close by, to see that the punishment as detailed on the notice-board was duly completed.

A white flag bearing a red disc flew over the largest building in the village. In quieter times it had been a pawn-shop. It was now the Japanese headquarters.

"I'll give you an account of my doings at dinner," replied the missionary. "In the meantime I must tidy myself up. So much dust has blown into my clothes that they feel like sand-paper." As he spoke he moved off down the narrow street, turned a corner, and disappeared.

An hour later the post commandant and the missionary

They I have been beseeched by some of my converts to punish their pagan neighbours. Wherever I go I hear the same cry, 'Come, let us spoil the Egyptians. A few of them have openly threatened that if I will not compensate them for their losses, and get them something over, they will desert me in favour of some more profitable mission. Only to-day one of them said to me, 'It is very hard to be your sort of Christian.""

met again at dinner. sat side by side on the k'ang, the raised sleeping dais which occupied one side of "Government House." In front of them, on a rickety table, were spread a few enamelled iron plates, with bully beef curry, rice, biscuits, and a tin of yellow oily butter. A hurricane lantern, hanging from the roof on a piece of telegraph wire, gave out a feeble light and a strong smell. At the darker side of the room stood an Indian servant wrapped in a poshteen.

"You asked what I was doing to-day," the missionary began. "Well, I paid a visit to Nan-tao."

"Rather a long way to venture without an escort. Over thirty miles, isn't it?"

"Yes, that is about the distance. I didn't want an escort, and you couldn't have given me one if I had asked for it."

"Although in my official capacity I could not have given you an escort, I might have sent a patrol in that direction, just to see that the coast was clear."

"Well, I am glad you didn't. If I go about surrounded by soldiers, it will look as if I was making converts at the point of the sword. In the work that I was doing to-day any show of force would be particularly unfortunate.'

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"I believe you are trying to entice the Dowager Empress back to Peking!" the commandant laughed.

"A much more unpleasant job. Ever since the European troops drove off the Boxers,

"In fact, they want to turn you into an insurance agency."

"Precisely. I must not only care for their souls, but also for their bodies and their goods. Up till now I have refused their demands, but last week I got this letter." The missionary pulled it out of his pocket.

"Is it from your chief?"

"Yes. He congratulates me on having survived the Boxer rising, and a good deal more to the same effect. But the business end of the letter is the tail, and it carries a sting. Listen. 'I hear that the country is rapidly quieting down, and I am sure that before long the missionaries will be able to go abroad in safety. Of course you will take the earliest opportunity of visiting your mission. I fear you will find the number of your converts sadly diminished, but I rely upon you to do all that is possible to alleviate the distress of those who are left, and to procure for them the restoration of their property, or full compensation for the loss of it. You may also be able to obtain a site for a new chapel, and

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"Do you appreciate my difficulty?" he continued after a pause.

"Of course I do. You can only compensate your people out of the property of their neighbours. You must rob

Peter to pay Paul."

"And in this case Peter is in no fit state to be robbed. As you know, the Boxers made a clean sweep of Nan-tao. Christians and Pagans suffered equally. Both deserve equal consideration. How can I in justice demand that one creed shall compensate the other?" "I should drop this compensation business altogether."

"If I do that, a number of my converts may drift away to other missions. Some may even revert to Paganism."

"You will only lose the undesirables."

"That is true to some extent, but in the eyes of our supporters at home the result would be disastrous. To them one convert is as good as another. Then we have got a new secretary, who takes a pride in organising the mission on business principles. He works for results. He demands favourable statistics.

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"Well, if you don't like the job, Padré, why don't you chuck it?"

"I couldn't in any case leave my post until my successor had arrived. Besides, there is much other work for me here-work that I can do with a whole heart and a clear conscience. I could never forgive myself if I deserted my people just when they need me most."

"You might send in your papers, and then sit tight, and 80 leave this compensation business to your successor."

"If you were given an order that you considered should not be carried out, would you sit tight and do nothing?

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"I should carry it out, if I thought that the chap who gave the order was fully aware of the circumstances of the case."

"And I must do the same. I went to Nan-tao to-day, and made a rough estimate of the losses sustained by my converts. Then I handed my bill to the headman of the town, and asked him to do what he could to settle it."

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"What did he say? "He told me that his towns

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