Show ON THE 1 WAY TO TOD LHASA just ten years ago a woman clothed in rags dirty tanned almost black by exposure and at deaths s d oi 01 with fatigue staggered to the court yard of the china inland mission house at ta chienyu writes puth neely in the living church when strength enough for speech returned she told to her story it was dr susie carsons rijn hart the first woman missionary who ever penetrated the wilds of tibet and returned to tell the tory all the world ans the wonderful history of 0 the woman homeward journey of 1500 miles uner and alone from the interior near the outskirts of lhasa where she buried her baby beneath a stone on the mountain side and where her husband was later captured by hostile natives and murdered since chat time only one group of foreigners has penetrated interior tibet chis was the band of englishmen who reached and invaded the sacred city gity under the command of colonel since the unsuccessful ending of that expedition lhasa and interior tibet have agala been closed to the outside world a won darful region whose ms masteries have been guarded as the holy ol 01 holies and as the impenetrable sanctuary sanc of the mysterious east but it Is not to remain so when in 1901 dr RIJn hart returned to her chosen field northwest ern china ehe she took with her two missionaries of the foreign missionary society dr and mrs airs A L shelton with them she established an other mission in ol 01 which or dr shelton and his wife ife took charge on the dath of the famous woman missionary a year ago later it vas was given over to other hands tor for dr shelton Shelto nand and his wife resolved to emulate the example of the and it if it be in human power they intend to penetrate interior tibet and to establish a christian mission in lhasa the very shrine ol 01 boudpha buddha where no foreigner has ever been permitted peacefully to enter and where none has ever dwelt with their baby girls doris three years old and dorothy seven the two missionaries set out from last fall on their arduous ard dangerous journey they have now arrived at batang about a month a journey from lhasa whence they have sent to this country the most remarkable collection of tibetan photographs ever secured the mission station Is near the at batang which houses 3 lamas or buddhist priests and Is one of the five great monasteries of tibet the western theosophist s cherished ideal of 0 this life pure s spirit and lofty contemplation Is hardly borne out by the description of the bud chist lamas as seen in every day life by the sheltons Shel tons to begin with like all tibetans they are inordinately dirty the native of tibet never bathes nor is the lama an exception to this rule they are covered with dirt and grease and exude e an odor ot of rancid butter from the fumes of the butter lamps that fill the temples they are also infested with vermin which they may I 1 ot even destroy because to kill even the humblest bt of 0 animals is contrary to the teachings of the buddhist religion the wonder tul ful learning of the buddhist lama ja 1 also said to be largely a product ot of western imagination the consists largely in noisy incantation Atlon in the groces of which guns are sometimes fired bells ring and horn give forth deal deas ning blasts the tibetan woman may not be without beauty it Is impossible to tell since she does not wash men alen and women dress much alike in gowns of originally bright colored cloth fastened about the waist by green and red sashes the bloused waist portion is always used as the receptacle for the tea basin whence if it Is handily drawn forth at the constantly recurring hospital ity of tea drinking women and men wear heavy top boots they may be distinguished by the head dress both sexes braid the hair into innumerable plaits sometimes over in some sections the pla ta are fastened together with bright colored cloth or with a heavy felt band covered with silver ornaments shells and beads A turban witt a white fur brim and a red tasse tassel hanging from the pointed crown Is often worn women in the district of I 1 hasa wear for hair ornaments a silver halo set et v w ith 1 I 1 turquoise a most becoming head dress dres other tahi things I 1 being echal the tibetan damsel uses her r braids in coquettish fashion touch much as does our debutante her fan II 11 she is or wishes to appear confused contused she shakes the curtain of buttered locks over her face forming a screen through which she peers with artful artlessness in some regions near remote lamaseries the women are said to daub their faces with a greasy black cosmetic lest the lamas might be tempted by their beauty a precaution aich can hardly tall fall to impress the traveler as rather unnecessary except the great caravan route which Is so sr thickly beset with spies that to travel it wilhoit meeting a military company sent out to turn the travelers back Is impossible the roads to lhasa are narrow mountain passes in some places anly to be traversed by climbing single file or mounted on sure footed yaks it Is through such narrow precipitous passes that dr shelton his wife and little ones have so far made their way it if as they near lhasa they should take the path traveled by dr Rijn hart and her huband and child they will pass a big boulder beneath which lie ile t tl e remains of a year told bid baby the first white child ever in tibet do is and dorothy shelton who have so far endured the journey very well are the most re pilgrims in the world they are the youngest younge bt and if their parents accomplish the purpose to which they have consecrated their lives dons doris and dorothy will one day romp romi and rollick in the somber shadows of chaa ra the holiest city of all asia where the dalal dalai lama lives in his wonderful palace a building whose immensity and ornamentation baffle e deverl description 11 ion where many of the houses are ll rp alfed fed with gold and where the dead are dismembered then left exposed on stone slabs to be devoured by vultures or by the hogs that rummage in the sacred Et streets |