Mackay had
now learned Chinese well enough to preach, and his sermons
aroused the indignation of these proud graduates.
Sometimes when one was passing the little hut by the river, he
would drop in, and glance around just to see what sort of place
the barbarian kept. He would pick up the Bible and other books,
throw them on the floor, and with words of contempt strut proudly
out.
Mackay endured this treatment patiently, but he set himself to
study their books, for he felt sure that the day was not far
distant when he must meet these conceited literati in argument.
He went about a good deal now. The Tamsui people became
accustomed to him, and he was not troubled much. His bright eyes
were always wide open and he learned much of the lives of the
people he had come to teach. Among the poor he found a poverty of
which he had never dreamed. They could live upon what a so-called
poor family in Canada would throw away. Nothing was wasted in
China. He often saw the meat and fruit tins he threw away when
they were emptied, reappearing in the market-place. He learned
that these poorer people suffered cruel wrongs at the hands of
their magistrates.
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