THE CELLAR GOO*
ICIV
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THE FULFILMENT OF A DREAM
OF PASTOR HSI'S
HE FULF] JMEN'
OF A DREAM
OF PASTOR HSFS
THE STORY OF THE WORK IN HWOCHOW
BY
A. MILDRED CABLE
Of the China Inland Mission ^y/ /^*~-
Is it a dream?
Nay, but the lack of it, a dream.
And failing it, life's love and wealth a dream,
And all the world a dream."
WALT WHITMAN
LONDON :
MORGAN Gf SCOTT LTD.
12, PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS, E.G.
CHINA INLAND MISSION
NEWINGTON GREEN, N. MCMXVII
TO
DR. G. CAMPBELL MORGAN
THE "APOLLOS" WHO
BY PRAYER AND SYMPATHY HAS " WATERED
THIS WORK
THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
INTRODUCTION
TWENTY-ONE years ago, on 19th February
1896, Pastor Hsi, to quote the words of
his biographer, " was translated to higher service."
Those who read the fascinating and wonderful
story of his life by Mrs. Howard Taylor will at
once be interested in The Fulfilment of a Dream,
which is the story of the work in Hwochow, and
gives the account of the carrying on of the spiritual
labour of that remarkable man, and of the fulfil-
ment of his dream. I think it is equally true
that those who have not read Pastor Hsi's life
will desire to do so after reading this book.
It is a commonplace observation, but none the
less true, that the story commenced in the Acts
of the Apostles could not be finished by Luke,
because the great activity, the commencement
of which he recorded, is still going forward.
Every tale of missionary endeavour moving for-
ward " toward the uttermost part of the earth "
is an added chapter. It has been given to Mildred
Cable and her fellow workers, to labour in the
vii
viii INTRODUCTION
apostolic succession ; and then to Mildred Cable,
to write this wonderful chapter.
From my own standpoint the book is full of
charm. While by no means its supreme value,
the first impression made upon the mind is that
of the naturalness of the story. The reader is
made the friend of the writer, and listens to an
artless and charming account of places and of
peoples. My first reading of the book at one sitting
(as all such books should be read), left me with
a sense of the atmosphere of the missionary's life
and surroundings. I was admitted into the
actuality of everyday things, and was made
familiar with the pathos and tragedy and humour
of life in a land and among a people largely un-
known to me.
As I have said, this is by no means the supreme
value of the book. That rather consists in some-
thing that grows upon you as you read. The
writer does not state it in so many words, or very
seldom, and certainly is not trying to persuade
you to believe it, but there it is. I refer to the
tender and yet strong revelation of the power of
the Divine Grace, both in its sustenance of those
who are called to missionary work, and its trans-
forming power in the case of those who, often at
cost, yield themselves to its call.
In Chapters I., V., VI., VII., and VIII. the reader
will trace the story of the development of the
work, and a wonderful story it is. Chapters XI.
INTRODUCTION ix
and XII., containing first the story of Ai Do, and
then a record of demoniacal manifestations, show
the reader how these quiet and earnest workers
are brought up against the big, naked, awful
things of life ; and also how being so confronted,
they are unafraid and unconquered in the name
of Jesus Christ the Lord. The fact that I draw
special attention to these chapters is not intended
to suggest for a moment that the others are either
uninteresting or unimportant. They are neither
the one nor the other. For all that it is intended
to be, the book is a whole, and is supremely
precious, because it is manifestly a part of the
larger whole of Christ's great emprise.
With confidence and joy I commend the story
to all those in whose heart burns the passion for
the coming of the hour when our adorable Redeemer
shall " see of the travail of His soul, and shall be
satisfied."
G. CAMPBELL MORGAN.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
I WISH to acknowledge that apart from my co-
workers, Evangeline and Francesca French,
this book would have been impossible. To Mr.
Albert Lutley, Superintendent of the China Inland
Mission Work in the Province of Shansi, I am
indebted for help and kindnesses which I can
acknowledge, but never repay. I am also indebted
to my Chinese secretary, Miss Wang, for her able
reporting of the many interviews which the com-
piling of this book has necessitated.
The Chinese themselves say : " One mile alters
the speech, and ten miles change the customs."
In view of the fact that the Province of Shansi
alone is larger than England and Wales, I wish
it to be clearly understood that the usages and
customs to which I refer throughout this book
are local.
EDITOR'S NOTE
ALL personal names are spelt according to the
system employed by the authoress, except
where it has been necessary to modify this to
retain the identity of someone mentioned in Mrs.
Howard Taylor's Pastor Hsi. All place names
are spelt according to the orthography of the
Chinese Postal Guide, which system is now used
in the standard maps of China and has been
adopted by the larger missionary societies. Thus,
Hoh-chau of Pastor Hsi becomes Hwochow,
T'ai-yuan becomes Taiyiianfu, P'ing-yang becomes
Pingyangfu, etc.
xii
CONTENTS
PAGE
PROLOGUE ... . xix
CHAPTER I
MRS. Hsi's GIFT, BEING AN ACCOUNT OF THE OPEN-
ING OF THE STATION OF HWOCHOW . . 3
CHAPTER II
THE BIG ROAD, INDICATING THE SITUATION OF
HWOCHOW IN THE PROVINCE OF SHANSI . .11
CHAPTER III
A NEW VENTURE, IN WHICH is RECORDED THE
APPOINTMENT OF THE FIRST MISSIONARIES TO
HWOCHOW . .... 19
CHAPTER IV
THE CONTINUATION OF THE STORY, BEING A RECORD
OF SOME WHO WERE COUNTED WORTHY TO SUFFER
FOR CHRIST'S SAKE, AND OF MRS. Hsi's EXPERI-
ENCE IN THE BOXER OUTBREAK . . -27
CHAPTER V
LIFE IN THE VILLAGES, AN INTRODUCTION TO
CHINESE HOME LIFE. . . . -37
xiv CONTENTS
CHAPTER VI
PAGE
OUR RECEPTION AT HWOCHOW, SHOWING THINGS AS
THEY SOMETIMES ARE . . . -47
CHAPTER VII
A PORTRAIT GALLERY, WHEREIN THE READER is
INTRODUCED TO SOME OF OUR FELLOW WORKERS 57
CHAPTER VIII
WORK DEVELOPMENT, RELATING HOW WE SOUGHT TO
ENCOMPASS THE WORK, AND THE WORK EN-
COMPASSED US . . . . . .69
CHAPTER IX
MRS. Hsi's SECOND GIFT, BEING AN ACCOUNT OF HER
LIFE FROM WIDOWHOOD . . . -77
CHAPTER X
THE STORY OF AN OPIUM SMOKER . . -85
CHAPTER XI
THE GREAT FURNACE FOR A GREAT SOUL, BEING
THE STORY OF Ai Do . . -95
CHAPTER XII
THE POWERS OF DARKNESS, BEING A RECORD OF
SOME OBSERVATIONS IN DEMONOLOGY . . 109
CHAPTER XIII
THE LIFE STORY OF PASTOR WANG . . .127
CONTENTS xv
CHAPTER XIV
PAGE
A VISIT TO THE BASE, FROM WHENCE WE ARE AGAIN
SENT FORTH WITH FRESH SUPPLIES . . 14*
CHAPTER XV
THE BUILDERS, RELATING HOW THE SUPPLIES WERE
USED . . . . . . .151
CHAPTER XVI
WOMEN'S BIBLE TRAINING SCHOOL, WHICH TELLS
HOW A LINK WAS ESTABLISHED BETWEEN WEST-
MINSTER AND HWOCHOW BIBLE SCHOOLS . .159
CHAPTER XVII
THE DRAW NET LET DOWN INTO THE SEA, AN
ACCOUNT OF FRESH EFFORTS TO REACH THE
MULTITUDE, AND BRING THEM TO DECISION . 169
CHAPTER XVIII
LIFE AMONGST THE UPPER TEN THOUSAND, RECORD-
ING HOSPITALITY SHOWN TO us BY THE OFFICIAL
CLASSES . . . . . .177
CHAPTER XIX
THE REVOLUTION OF 1911, AND HOW WE WERE
AFFECTED BY IT . . . . .189
CHAPTER XX
CHANGED CONDITIONS, WHEREIN SOME, THOUGH
FOLLOWING A PATH OF ACTION, FAILED TO UNDER-
STAND IT , , . 199
xvi CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXI
PAGK
ANOTHER PORTRAIT GALLERY, WHEREIN THE READER
IS INTRODUCED TO SOME WHO HAVE FAILED . 211
CHAPTER XXII
PREACHING THE GOSPEL, HEALING THE SICK, TELLING
OF THE DAILY ROUTINE .... 223
CHAPTER XXIII
A CASKET OF JEWELS, BEING AN ACCOUNT OF THE
GIRLS' SCHOOL . . . . 233
CHAPTER XXIV
THE TREASURE HOUSE, WHERE THE READER is
SHOWN THE LAPIDARY AT WORK . . . 247
CHAPTER XXV
CONCLUSION, BEING A REVIEW OF THE PRESENT
SITUATION ...... 257
APPENDIX . . . , . .263
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
MRS. Hsi ...... Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
A WOMAN OPIUM SMOKER . . . .82
PASTOR WANG . . . . . .136
WOMEN'S BIBLE SCHOOL . . . . .160
"PUPPY" AND HER MOTHER .... 218
THE TEACHING STAFF ..... 228
SOME KINDERGARTEN SCHOLARS . . . 236
LING Ai, HER CHILDREN, AND HER MOTHER, MRS.
LIANG . . . . . . .252
PROLOGUE
THE spirit of the Confucian scholar Hsi met
with its Master Christ, and overwhelmed
by the vision yielded all to His control. Con-
strained by His love the souls of men were sought
and won ; led by His Spirit, churches were estab-
lished in the faith ; sharing His sufferings, their
failures became his burden.
In the darkest days the Hwochow Church has
known, when many forsook their faith, he was
strengthened by a dream, in which he saw a tree
cut down to the ground, only to sprout again, and
throw out branches stronger than before.
In his dream, Pastor Hsi knew this tree to be
the Hwochow Church. He knew that though it
were brought low, it would revive, and by faith
obtained the promise, the fulfilment of which is
recorded in these pages.
WHEN Thou wouldst pour the Living Stream
Then I would be the earthen cup,
Filled to the brim and sparkling clear.
The Fountain Thou and Living Spring
Flow Thou through me, the vessel weak,
That thirsty souls may taste Thy grace.
When Thou wouldst warn the people, Lord,
Then I would be the golden bell
Swung high athwart the lofty tower
Morning and evening sounding loud ;
That young and old may wake from sleep,
Yea, e'en the deaf hear that strong sound.
When Thou wouldst light the darkness, Lord,
Then I would be the silver lamp
Whose oil supply can never fail.
Placed high, to shed the beams afar,
That darkness may be turned to light,
And men and women see Thy face.
When Thou wouldst slay the wolves, O Lord 1
Then I would be the keen-edged sword ;
Clean, free from rust, sharpened and sure,
The handle grasped, my God, by Thee.
To kill the cruel, ravening foe,
And save the sheep for whom Christ died.
Translated from Pastor Hsi
by F. L. F.
MRS. HSI'S GIFT
" First love is the abandonment of all for the love which
has abandoned all." Dr. G. CAMPBELL MORGAN.
"... such men
Carry the fire, all things grow warm to them.
Their drugget's worth my purple, they beat me."
R. BROWNING.
CHAPTER I
MRS. HSI'S GIFT
BEING AN ACCOUNT OF THE OPENING OF THE
STATION OF HWOCHOW
MRS. HSI was in great mental distress. The
blow she feared had fallen, and her hus-
band was a prey to the bewitching power of the
" foreign devils." How cleverly the trap had been
laid. Firstly, the offer of a monetary prize for a
classical essay which he had won ; secondly, the
insistence of the foreigner on a personal interview
with the writer, on the occasion of which, certain
as her husband had been that he had tasted neither
food nor drink under his roof, some means had cer-
tainly been found to introduce into his system
some of that subtle foreign drug which, as every
one knew, must eventually compel the victim to
embrace Christianity and follow the " foreign
devil " to the world's end. Thirdly, he had been
invited to become the teacher of this dreaded
man (Rev. David Hill), and she had foolishly yielded
her consent. She had taken every precaution
and had, on three occasions, sent for him on plea
of her own illness during the time he was an in-
mate in the foreigner's household. His clothing
had been carefully searched for traces of the
4 MRS. RSI'S GIFT
magical compound, but in vain ; nothing had
come to light, and now here was her husband,
one of the leading Confucianists of the district,
declaring that, of his own free will and action, he
had determined to follow not the foreign
devils but this Jesus, around Whom all their
preaching centred. He attributed this change
of mind, evidently quite irrationally, to the reading
of a book printed under the strange title of Happy
Sound, but perhaps even the sacred Chinese
character might become a snare in their hands 1
Nothing but the influence of some powerful magic
could have worked so complete a transformation.
Even his intense craving for opium was gone, the
Confucian writings which had been his constant
companion were now neglected, and in spite of
her entreaties and fears, the family gods were
destroyed.
During his stay at home he spoke constantly,
both to her and in her hearing to many visitors,
of the teachings of this Jesus Who, he explained to
all comers, was the Son of the only True God.
Time passed, and gradually her fears were
somewhat allayed, so that she even consented
to repeat "certain sentences which, he told her,
were to be used night and morning, kneeling, and
with closed eyes. Her inclination to favourably
regard what he told her grew, especially during
his absences from home ; for, strange to relate,
she soon began to find herself under the influence
of an unaccountable external power, which com-
pelled her on each occasion of a visit from her
husband to fly into an uncontrollable rage at
MRS. HSI'S DELIVERANCE 5
the sight of him, and this despite her most deter-
mined resolution to the contrary. To her husband
it was most distressing to see so gentle a woman
thus transformed. As his own spiritual experi-
ence increased, he recognised in this an onslaught
of the devil, and betook himself to prayer and
fasting in order to discover how they had laid them-
selves open to the attack. It was then that there
was brought to his remembrance the fact that,
in a room at the top of the house, there stood a
small idol responsible for the health of the family,
whose existence Mrs. Hsi had been careful not
to bring to his remembrance, and which had been
overlooked in the general destruction. The shrine
was instantly destroyed, and Mrs. Hsi was free
of the tormenting spirit, and shortly afterwards
openly confessed Christ.
From that time their home in the Western
Chang village was a centre of Christian activity.
Through intense suffering Mr. Hsi had freed
himself from the craving for opium, and he
felt that, for the evangelisation of his native
province, some means might be devised whereby
the treatment of opium patients might be
combined with widespread preaching of the
Gospel.
The more he thought of this the stronger the con-
viction grew that it was of God, and when, through
the agency of a dream, a system of treatment was
revealed to him, he accepted it as a revelation
and at once prepared the medicine which proved
successful beyond his highest expectations. After
a time, men who had been delivered from the
opium vice and led to Christ through the Refuges,
6 MRS. HSFS GIFT
were gathered into his home (which he called the
Middle Eden) and trained for the work.
This community life for so large a number was
only made possible by Mrs. Hsi's enthusiastic
devotion. The extension of the opium refuge
work was rapid and widespread, and necessitated
frequent absences from home on the part of Mr.
Hsi, during which time a heavy burden fell upon
his wife.
Houses were rented in many towns and villages,
and patients entering the " heavenly called refuges " 1
were numerous.
The burden of one city, however, lay heavily
upon the heart of Mr. Hsi, and he and his house-
hold constantly prayedtogetherthat Hwochow might
be opened to the sound of the Gospel ; but funds
which seemed essential for the initial expenses of
the venture were not forthcoming. His itinerant
journeys frequently took him through this im-
portant centre, which was situated sixty miles
north of his home.
Day after day prayer was made, and Mrs. Hsi
often heard her husband in the night watches,
as he knelt alone in the court, plead with God
that nothing might hinder what he strongly believed
to be the Divine Purpose.
One Sunday night she was wakened by the familiar
sound. She knew that her husband, like herself,
had gone to bed tired out by a long day of preach-
ing, during which large numbers had joined their
household from more or less distant villages. Ac-
cording to their custom, they had spent the day
fasting ; it was Pastor Hsi's habit to refer to the
1 Heavenly Invitation Office (" Pastor Hsi's" translation).
A REVELATION OF DUTY 7
Scriptures direct for guidance on matters of daily
conduct, and in the early days of his faith he
feared to sin against the law of God by allowing
fires to be lighted and meals to be prepared on
Sunday. In accordance with his habit, he had arisen
soon after midnight to give himself to prayer,
and her ear caught the murmured sentences, " I
beseech Thee, O Lord, open a way for Hwochow to
hear the Gospel." As she listened, the sound of
his voice brought conviction to her own mind
that she was to be the human agency by which
the Divine Will should now fulfil itself. In a flash,
the path of duty was clear.
At the back of her cave were large painted cup-
boards which contained the whole of her worldly
possessions : bundles of handsome silk, satin, and
embroidered garments, and a box holding the
heavy jade and silver ornaments, which had been
her husband's marriage gift. Leaving her
kang 1 Mrs. Hsi unlocked the cupboards and
spent the rest of that night in sorting their con-
tents. All except a few cotton gowns were put
to one side, and as the voice in the courtyard
still pleaded for Hwochow, even the earrings were
taken from her ears, the rings from her fingers,
and the ornaments from her hair.
He Who is worthy to receive accepted the
offering, and her heart sang a song of thanksgiving
as she murmured to herself, " Hwochow shall have
the Gospel."
Morning prayers at Middle Eden was an hour
of joyful worship, and on this day Mrs. Hsi's
1 The raised brick or mud platform, heated by a fire, used as
a bed in North China.
8 MRS. HSl'S GIFT
heart was so full of happiness that she could scarcely
wait until the full congregation had assembled
before she, laden with her bundles, entered the
room and placed them on the table, saying, " I
think God has answered our prayers ; I can do
without these, let Hwochow have the Gospel."
Every heart present must have been moved,
for all could judge accurately what the sacrifice
must be. She had offered her only worldly
treasures, articles which her husband could not
ask her to sacrifice, ready as he was to use in
God's service all that pertained to their home.
Surely the angels joined their song to that of
the little Christian community that morning, as
the words of their own pastor's hymn ascended
with the sacrifice of praise :
" I hung for thee on Calvary, what dost thou still withhold
from Me ?
Thy strength, thy time, thy goods ?
Oh say, what dost thou yet deny, My heart of love to
satisfy ? "
THE BIG ROAD
" Aliens ! whoever you are, come travel with me !
Travelling with me you find what never tires.
Whoever you are, come forth ! a man or a woman,
come forth !
You must not stay sleeping or dallying there in the house,
though you built it, or though it has been built for
you."
WALT WHITMAN.
" The Master said : With coarse rice to eat, with water
to drink, and my bended arm for a pillow ; I have still
joy in the midst of these things." Confucian A nalects.
CHAPTER II
THE BIG ROAD
INDICATING THE SITUATION OF HWOCHOW IN THE
PROVINCE OF SHANSI
THE city of Hwochow is situated on the main
road which connects Taiyiianfu with Sian-
fu, the direct route from Peking to the north-
western provinces. Along this road pass strings
of camels, laden with the merchandise of Mongolia ;
thousands of donkeys, carrying bags of flour from
the more luxuriant southern plains ; cartloads of
tobacco and paper from the large cities in the
south of the province, and caravans of travellers ;
whole families packed into large carts moving to
some new home ; mat-covered litters swung
between two mules and heavily curtained, in
which the wives of an official are transported to
their new abode ; pedestrians, clad in sky-blue
cotton, " yamen runners " yelling as they ride at
furious speed to clear the way before them, and
bearers of burdens combine to form a moving
picture of interest and beauty upon the Big
Road, as it is called.
Not least interesting among the wayfarers
are the Lhamas from distant Thibet nearing the
end of their long pilgrimage to the famous holy
12 THE BIG ROAD
mountain Wutai, where each one hopes to be
granted the vision of the famous opening lotus.
For many months, stretching into years, this hope
has sustained them through the weary pilgrimage.
From the threshold of their Lhama home they
have walked every step of the thousand and
more miles, some at every tenth, some at every
fifth step, touching the ground with their forehead,
and some measuring the whole length of the way
with their outstretched body on the road.
As the traveller enters Hwochow from the
north, he crosses a bridge, passing on his right
a large metal cow. Beyond, flows the Fen River,
and before him is the city gate. To this brazen
image is committed the important function of
guarding Hwochow from flood, and so successfully
does it accomplish its task that dryness and
drought are the normal condition of the country-
side 1
Turning to the east he faces the magnificent
range of the Ho Mountains, in winter covered
with snow, and in warmer seasons touched with
the beauty of ever - changing colour. These
mountains are part of the range which, farther
north, is traversed by the famous Lingshih Pass.
Excepting in the early summer months when
patches of vivid green indicate the fields of grow-
ing wheat, the landscape is of a uniform shade
which is best described as khaki. Owing to the
friable nature of the soil formation known as
loess, the traveller, whether journeying from
north or south, finds himself in a succession of
deep gullies.
This wheat-growing land was formerly given
THE OPIUM POPPY SUPERSEDED 13
over to the cultivation of the opium poppy, and
for miles over the plain the wonderful iridescent
bloom gave the appearance of a sea of changing
light and shade as the wind passed over it.
In the year 1908 a proclamation was issued
forbidding the growth of opium under penalty
of death, and so vigorously has the law been
enforced that the poppy has completely dis-
appeared from view, and no man is bold enough
to openly grow that which has been forbidden by
the authorities.
For ten months in the year brilliant sunshine
can be counted upon, and during that time,
except for dust combined with heat or cold, the
physical condition of a journey may be com-
paratively easy. Ease of mind, however, can
only be attained by the philosopher who, putting
away all thought of unseemly haste, shares the
Easterner's pleasures of observation, contempla-
tion, and wayside intercourse.
The journey from Taiyiianfu to Hwochow is
accomplished in five stages, and nothing will
induce the carter to shorten or change them,
though hours may have been wasted in some
narrow gully where, spite his warning yells, his
cart met another at a point where advance or
retreat on either side were alike impossible.
After fierce recriminations the two men each
produce a pipe, and it is good practice for the
impatient Westerner to see them sit on their
heels and talk the matter over. Time passes,
but the carter is untrammelled by any artificial
measure thereof, and after endless discussion,
amid comforting whiffs of tobacco, he proceeds
I 4 THE BIG ROAD
to think of a plan whereby the deadlock may be
overcome. How they manage to extricate them-
selves, one never knows 1 Some of the bank
comes down, yells and shouts do their part, and
at last the traffic, which may now amount to
fifty waiting carts, slowly passes by. It is an
everyday occurrence, and you ask, " Why do
they not widen the road ? " " Nobody's busi-
ness," is the reply. " Who would spend the
money ? "
It is, however, the rainy season that reveals
to the full the horrors of Chinese travelling.
The loess is slippery beyond description, and
the litter or cart in which you travel may be
stuck for hours in a pit of greasy mud, black by
reason of the coal dust so plentiful throughout
the district, so deep that nothing but the mule's
head is visible, the plunging body being hidden
in the black mass. Your only hope at such a
moment is to throw yourself with the grace of
an expert gymnast on to the bank, thankful if
you escape unhurt and only bespattered by mud.
These pits are carefully kept in condition by a
small group of men who appear, as by magic, to
offer assistance at the suitable moment. No
plight, however, excites their pity sufficiently to
induce them to render help apart from a pecuniary
reward of an exorbitant nature. Once within
the city gates there is hope that you will soon
find a shelter. You will have accomplished
"the stage" which has been allotted from time
immemorial. Marco Polo himself followed these
stages in the year 1280 as we do to-day in the
twentieth century.
WAYSIDE EXPERIENCES 15
The main road runs through the city of Hwochow
from north to south, and many inns invite the
traveller to rest, the red scrolls at the door assuring
him that " From the four seas men all gather to
this great hotel," and that the fame of its food
is far-reaching.
Crossing this road from east to west is another
important street where the official residence is
situated. Here, most of the large shops are to
be found and in the centre of the city is a fine
tower, but all the smaller streets are alike, running
between blank walls, from which access to as
many as twelve courtyards may be through one
small door. Numerous pigs walk unhindered up
and down, acting as scavengers, and as such are
not unneeded, for every one throws the refuse of
the household out of the court door, caring nothing
for the convenience of the public.
Parallel with the Yamen street is another
important thoroughfare known as Prospect Hill.
Here stands the largest and most important
temple in the city, and almost next door to
this, with the money given by his wife, Mr. Hsi
secured small premises and announced that he was
opening an opium refuge, and was willing to
receive patients. Particulars as to rules and
expenses were widely published, and in this place
the first results of the love and self-sacrifice of
Mrs. Hsi were seen.
A NEW VENTURE
" Love has a hem to its garment
That touches the very dust :
It can reach the stains of the streets and the lanes,
And because it can it must.
It dares not rest on the mountain ;
It is bound to come to the vale ;
For it cannot find its fulness of mind
Till it kindles the lives that fail."
GEORGE MATHESON.
" The world had begun to stare, she half apprehended
the fact, but she was in the presence of the irresistible.
In the presence of the irresistible the conventional is a
crazy structure, swept away with very little creaking of its
timbers on the flood." GEORGE MEREDITH.
CHAPTER III
A NEW VENTURE
IN WHICH IS RECORDED THE APPOINTMENT OF
THE FIRST MISSIONARIES TO HWOCHOW
THE first endeavour to bring the people of
Jlwochow within sound of the Gospel
proved in every way encouraging. Numbers of
men entered the Opium Refuge, and before long a
nucleus of twenty were calling themselves Christians.
The effort was, however, sterile so far as women
were concerned, and Pastor Hsi knew the im-
possibility of establishing upon a solid basis a
work which left untouched those who so largely
controlled the home.
The power wielded by the woman in China is
immense, for while she may be despised and, in
her young days, even ill-treated, her day of power
surely dawns, and woe betide the man who has
to combat the determined will of mother or wife.
The question of providing women workers for
Hwochow became a pressing one, and a visit from
the Rev. Hudson Taylor was the occasion chosen
by Pastor Hsi to bring before him the urgency
of this claim. 1 His suggestion was that single
1 It was on the occasion of this visit that Mr. Hsi was ordained
pastor.
20 A NEW VENTURE
women missionaries should be appointed who
could give their time unreservedly to the teaching
of women, and preaching. Mr. Taylor pointed
out the difficulties and the misunderstanding
which would make their lot far from easy, but
these difficulties, Pastor and Mrs. Hsi felt, might
be overcome, and willingly promised to give all
the help which lay within their power. In any
case, the claim of the women constituted a call
to make a forward movement, and Mr. Taylor
promised to give the matter serious consideration.
By the end of that year, 1886, two Norwegian
ladies had offered for the post.
Miss Jacobsen, an idealist, strong, capable, and
critical, gave herself whole-heartedly to the work
for which she had come. Enthusiastic and in-
dependent in thought and action, she soon acquired
the spoken language to a remarkable degree, and
with a praiseworthy tenacity she studied the
classical works of the Chinese, and at the same
time could vie with most of the women in all
branches of their domestic activities. Her extra-
ordinary ability is a byword to this day amongst
the people who knew her.
She was accompanied by Miss Reuter, a lady of
education and refinement, whose grace of manner
and goodness of heart speedily endeared her to all
with whom she came in contact. Varied as were
the gifts and circumstances of the friends, they
were one in desire and purpose. Their home was
one small room, and here they dwelt and received
all who came to them. They wore the Chinese
dress, ate the Chinese food, and whether in their
own home or in the villages where they preached,
WOMEN PIONEERS 21
ever kept before them the one object of the
salvation of souls.
As pioneer workers, enthusiasm sometimes
overstepped discretion, and the violation of
Chinese custom in such matters as the public
playing of stringed instruments and open-air
preaching to mixed congregations, led to mis-
understanding, and even to the gathering around
them of some whose presence was far from helpful.
Desire on the part of Miss Jacobsen to encourage
in every way possible those who were already
faced with persecution as they left idolatry, led
to the preparation, each Sunday, of a simple
meal which might be shared with any who walked
long distances to attend services in the City
Church, and who arrived weary and tired. Others,
however, apart from the Christian family heard
of this, and if matters of business brought them
to the city, Sunday was considered an appropriate
day to transact them, as thereby dinner might
be obtained free. This naturally led to criticism
on the part of the heathen, and many of the
more independent and self-respecting people re-
frained from intercourse with a community of
whom it could be said : " They believe for their
food's sake." Acting upon the advice of Pastor
Hsi, this practice was discontinued, the missionaries
themselves willingly taking no food from morning
until evening, that all might fare alike. It could
but be evident to all concerned that the mistakes
were those of love and enthusiasm, and such
qualities do much to counteract any harm that
might arise from unwise methods of expression.
In every land, the world might well see more of
22 A NEW VENTURE
the love that defies criticism, and forgets its own
interests in whole-hearted devotion.
Miss Reuter felt the importance of at once
reaching the children, and opened a small school
for the daughters of Christians. Three little
girls were committed to her care, and these she
faithfully taught, not despising the day of small
things.
She, with Miss Jacobsen, travelled from village
to village with the evangelist Cheng Hsiu-chi,
and preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Cheng
was a native of Hwochow, and had, at Pastor Hsi's
request, made ready the house for the missionaries
when they came. As a young man he had wandered
far in the paths of sin, and his mother, eager for
his reformation, had spent no mean sum of money
upon incense with which to seek the favour of
the gods on his behalf. Seeing her devotion, his
heart was touched, and he considered seeking
refuge in a Buddhist monastery from the *' fire
of passion, hatred, and ignorance always burning
in his heart." With this in view, he took counsel
of a friend who had harboured similar ideals.
This man had lately been a patient in the Refuge,
where he had learnt of a stronger power to break
the bonds of sin than fasting, penance, and self-
discipline. With him Mr. Cheng attended a
meeting of Christians where, meeting with Christ,
he became a disciple. He returned home to face
bitter persecution for refusing to pay the temple
taxes ; it was understood that no robbery of his
crops, or ill-treatment of his person, would be
punished by the village elders. He had finally
no option but to leave his home and seek refuge
A RACE PROBLEM 23
elsewhere, rejoicing that he was counted worthy
to suffer " for the Name's sake."
He then helped Pastor Hsi in the Hwochow
Refuge, and later took charge of the same work
in new and hitherto untouched districts, returning
from time to time to his own city.
A strong admiration for Miss Jacobsen and her
whole-hearted devotion awoke a consciousness that
this feeling was not entirely on his side, and
gradually, but surely, the difference of race and
outlook was obliterated in the love which revealed
to each the other's secret.
Those to whom Miss Jacobsen in honour bound
confided her purpose, did all in their power to
prevent what it seemed might prove to be a
catastrophe to the work. She was asked to leave
Hwochow, and was sent to another province. Some
years passed, but nothing could change the de-
termination which saw in this union a possible
wider sphere of usefulness and understanding of
the people she had come to love ; moreover, the
mysterious something which caused her to know
that " one man loved the pilgrim soul " in her,
could not be ignored. To her trusted friend
Pastor Hsi, however, she did turn for advice, and
while many fellow- workers found it hard to express
their indignation and regret, he, with a clearness
of outlook only possible where there is absence
of prejudice, told her that while he could not
regard it as a sin for a Christian man and woman
of different races to marry, he felt convinced that
the time had not come for such unions to be
desirable.
As is usual in such cases where inclination
24 A NEW VENTURE
runs contrary to the advice given, the latter was
ignored, and in the year 1898 Cheng Hsiu-chi and
Anna Jacobsen became man and wife. Painful
as must have been the attitude of Westerners to
Mrs. Cheng, a greater trial awaited her when she
came to realise that the Chinese, both Christian
and heathen, regarded her action with disapproval,
and adopted so unappreciative an attitude both
towards her husband and herself, that she found
only critical antagonism where she had looked
for sympathetic understanding. Mr. Cheng proved
himself worthy in all ways of the confidence she
had placed in him, and by self-sacrificing toil
he, both before and after his wife's death, faith-
fully served the Lord to Whom he had yielded his
life. In the year 1915 he too passed to his reward.
Miss Reuter had some time previously married
Mr. Stanley Smith ; young workers who had
joined Miss Jacobsen for short periods had been
moved to other places, and when fresh appoint-
ments were made it was a time of great difficulty.
It was not easy to replace those whose absolute
devotion had won the love of the people amongst
whom they lived ; and while Miss Jacobsen's
action necessitated her withdrawal from the staff
of the China Inland Mission, and made further
residence in Hwochow impossible for her, they could
not forget that she was the first missionary who
had come to them, and that they were losing
with her the man who had been a help to so many
of them in their early Christian life.
THE CONTINUATION OF THE STORY
" Death is short, and life is long ;
Satan is strong, and Christ more strong.
At His Word, Who hath led us hither,
The Red Sea must part hither and thither.
At His Word Who goes before us too,
Jordan must cleave to let us through."
C. ROSSETTI.
" On the other side of the River was also a meadow,
curiously beautified with lilies, and it was green all the year
round." Pilgrim's Progress.
CHAPTER IV
THE CONTINUATION OF THE STORY
BEING A RECORD OF SOME WHO WERE COUNTED
WORTHY TO SUFFER FOR CHRIST'S SAKE, AND
OF MRS. Hsi's EXPERIENCES IN THE BOXER
OUTBREAK
/CHANGES in the staff at Taiyiianfu
\^4 released for the oversight of mission
work in Hwochow, Jane Stevens and Mildred
Clarke.
They might well shrink from the task facing
them. Work in the provincial capital had been
of so totally different an order, and life in a large
community of foreigners had limited their sphere
to the oversight of a small school for girls, and
the instruction of women inquirers.
None had felt more strongly the seriousness of
the step taken by Miss Jacobsen, and they came
to Hwochow with the determination that all should
early understand the impossibility of intercourse
outside the most rigid observance of etiquette,
Chinese and Western. Feeling strongly that such
an attitude on their part would be the most
helpful factor in the gathering around them of
better-class women, they faithfully carried it into
practice. Men who were connected with the
27
28 THE CONTINUATION OF THE STORY
Church were received by them only under the
most formal restrictions. Finding it impossible
to eat Chinese food, a simple, but foreign manage,
took the place of the hitherto free-and-easy con-
ditions.
It was a severe test for Chinese and foreigners
alike ; desire for renewal of the former conditions
of intimacy met with no encouragement from
those who could not but constantly bear the past
in mind, and who felt that, for the highest interests
of the work, a new relationship must be established.
This attitude was naturally regarded as aloof-
ness, and was galling to those whose love had
been set on the young missionaries fresh from
Norway, with all the enthusiasm of youth, to
whom they themselves had taught the language
and who belonged to them as others could not.
Miss Clarke gave her time to the Girls' School,
the pupils of which now numbered nearly twenty,
and those who followed her have reaped where
she sowed. Often sad and weary she plodded
on, but God in His time gave the increase. Miss
Stevens, to the limit of her strength, and often
beyond it, faithfully worked in the city and
villages, suffering much which to her was intense
hardship, and feeling keenly the isolation and
lack of confidence amongst the people who mis-
understood the course of action deliberately
adopted. Thus, while bringing heartache to
themselves, these missionaries were enabled to
make easy the way to all who followed them.
The year 1900 dawned. In the month of June
the ladies closed school and gladly accepted an
invitation from friends in their old station to
THE BOXER RISING 29
visit them. To Taiyiianfu they went, and after
many anxious days spent with the missionaries
gathered there they, in obedience to the Governor's
command, helpless to disobey, even though they
suspected his treacherous promises of protection,
moved to a house near his Yamen. 1
" Arrived at the house chosen for them, they
made themselves as comfortable as possible for
the night ; and the next morning (Sunday,
July 8) were able to examine their surroundings.
They found that for their whole number (twenty-
six, including children) there were only two
comparatively small courts, the two inner courts
being already occupied by the Roman Catholics.
. . . When the fateful day (Monday, July 9)
dawned, the foreigners evidently had no inkling
as to what was to happen. Just before noon
the sub-prefect called and took a list of all who
were in the house, both foreigners and Chinese,
saying it was by order of the Governor. . . .
As was ascertained just a year later, when other
Protestant missionaries returned to the province,
the Governor had determined that on that day
he would kill all the foreigners in Taiyiianfu.
He evidently only took a few of the officials into
his confidence, and one at least the Tao Tai
strenuously opposed the course he was about
to pursue, but unfortunately without result.
"It must have been about two o'clock in the
afternoon when he ordered a number of officers,
with their soldiers, to accompany him, and
mounting his own horse, led the way. He made
as though he would go out of the city by the
1 Yamen =law courts or Mansion House.
30 THE CONTINUATION OF THE STORY
North Gate, but before reaching that point, he
suddenly wheeled round and went to the house
where the missionaries were confined. He there
ordered their immediate arrest, and they appear
to have made no resistance as, indeed, it would
have been useless. All who were found within
the compound (Protestants and Roman Catholics)
were seized ; and it so happened there were
several Chinese there on business. . . . No excuse
was listened to, and all were marched off to the
Governor's Yamen between files of soldiers, where
they were taken into the courtyard adjoining the
street and surrounded by soldiers not Boxers.
"As to what really occurred, the whole truth
will probably never be known, but from inquiries
made on the spot, it seems certain that the
Governor did not assault any with his own hand ;
but, having asked the missionaries where they
came from, and being answered, ' From England,'
and ' From France,' just gave the order, ' Sha '
(kill) to the soldiers, who answered with a shout
and immediately fell upon their defenceless
victims, killing them indiscriminately." 1
The Church in Hwochow, Chaocheng, and Fensi
had a marvellous escape. The Boxers, practising
their mystic rites, overran the district. Whole
families fled to the mountains, and no one was
safe from robbery and violence. The mandarin
of Chaocheng, fearful lest massacres should take
place in the county under his jurisdiction and
desiring at any cost to keep the peace, called
together some of the leading gentry and asked
for advice as to the problem facing them. " I
1 From Fire and Sword in Shansi, by Dr. E. H. Edwards.
MANDARIN DIPLOMACY 31
know," said he, " that calling upon the Christians
to recant will be useless, but can we not issue
tickets to them upon which are the very words
they use in entering the Church, ' I promise to
repent ? ' There should be no difficulty in getting
them to take these, for it will mean to them
what they themselves preach, while to the anti-
Christian fanatic it will be sufficiently satisfactory."
Orders were accordingly issued that all Christians
were to receive this official paper whereby their
safety would be ensured. Large numbers in the
Church regarded the mandarin's action as the
overruling of Providence on their behalf, and
accepted tickets which involved no verbal recanta-
tion of their faith. Others, amongst whom was
Mrs. Hsi (now a widow), with more sensitive
spiritual perceptions, refused to take advantage
of even the semblance of a subterfuge.
The Chaocheng mandarin, surrounded by his
bodyguard, went outside the city gates to the
place where the Boxers were practising their
rites with the intention of burning incense in
their presence, by which act he would acknowledge
them as invulnerable and holy men. At the
critical moment, however, one of them was said
to have made a move as if to attack the official,
who instantly called upon his bodyguard to
seize the men, exclaiming : " These are insurgents,
and no holy men ; bind them, they are prisoners."
As such they entered the city, and Boxerism never
spread in the district. Thus did the Hand of
God protect the hundreds of men and women
who in these three counties were called by His
Name, and while in many places few escaped
32 THE CONTINUATION OF THE STORY
the sword, the numerically largest Church in the
province of Shansi was spared.
Mrs. Hsi was in Chaocheng seeking to help the
women in their troubles, when news reached her
that her brother-in-law, Elder Si, was stabbed by
one of the local Boxers. Rumours followed
rapidly, and she heard that her mother-in-law
was in serious danger. She hastened to her home,
and found matters worse than she had feared.
There was no place in which to live, the house
was destroyed, her clothes were stolen, and had
it not been for the thoughtfulness of one
missionary who, in the midst of personal danger,
found time to buy and send to her some garments
and bedcovering, she would have been in a sad
plight. Her old mother could not walk, so badly
had she been beaten by the robbers, and terrified,
the two women crept to the fields and hid them-
selves. When night fell they returned to shelter
and to get a little food, crawling out to their hiding-
place before the cock crew each morning. Terror
was upon the whole populace. The official had
not been successful here, as in Chaocheng, in
dealing with the movement, and the party of mis-
sionaries who had for some time been gathered
in Pingyangfu were openly attacked and robbed
by Boxer bands as they left the city under official
escort.
In loneliness and peril Mrs. Hsi and her aged
mother cried to God, as the anxious, weary days
passed by. The missionaries were gone, very
many killed, others in hiding, and some, after perils
and sufferings unspeakable, had reached Hankow.
After some months came the additional sorrow of
AFTER THE STORM 33
the death of her brother-in-law, Elder Si', who had
managed for her all matters in which she required
help.
Gradually the storm blew over, but those who
passed through that period can never forget T it.
For Christ's sake they had suffered, and they
could not again be as before. The Church in
Shansi " had a new and powerful weapon " in
her hands, " the power of her sufferings."
A few months later, as soon as passports were
available, the missionaries were back at their
posts. There was much to tell and to^hear, as
old friends met and were able to recount all the
wonderful deliverances of the past year. But
how many vacant places there were ! How could
they be filled ? Ripe experience and Christlike
sympathy were needed to deal with the new
situation.
Some had, under pressure, in a weak moment,
recanted ; others had resisted this temptation,
but fallen over the more subtle question of in-
demnity for property destroyed. The situation,
moreover, was changed ; foreigner and Christian
alike were now in the ascendancy. Compensa-
tion for life and property was granted, and though
the members of the China Inland Mission declined
to accept this, their action was made the occasion
of a laudatory proclamation which called upon
the people to note and imitate such an exemplifi-
cation of self-forgetting goodness.
In the providence of God the lives of a few
missionaries had been spared to return, and with
the benefit of their experience, to help new
workers to an understanding of a situation which,
3
34 THE CONTINUATION OF THE STORY
mishandled, would inevitably lead to disastrous
consequences.
Nothing could give Mrs. Hsi greater pleasure
than to hear from her friend, Miss French, that
Hwochow was to be her future centre. I, as a new
worker, was to accompany her, and together we
reached the city which was to be henceforth our
home.
The reception given by the very few Christians
who gathered to meet us, was both cordial and
critical. Miss French was welcome as being one
whose reputation had long ago reached them,
who had already paid several visits to the station,
and whose Chinese, they soon remarked, was " as
good as Miss Jacobsen's ! " Of me they knew
nothing, and I had to meet the gaze of many eyes
and listen to the remark, before I opened my
mouth to speak, that it was impossible to under-
stand my words. I had only one asset, and that
was the fact that this being my first station I
should belong to them, and when the day dawned
that would release my stammering tongue, the
honour of having taught and trained me would
be theirs !
LIFE IN THE VILLAGES
35
" Great things are done when men and mountains meet
These are not done by jostling in the street."
WILLIAM BLAKE.
" Arrived there, the little house they fill,
No look for entertainment where none was ;
Rest is their feast, and all things at their will ;
The noblest mind the best contentment has."
WILLIAM SPENSER.
CHAPTER V
LIFE IN THE VILLAGES
AN INTRODUCTION TO CHINESE HOME LIFE
THE house at Hwochow, which we were to
inhabit, was still in the hands of work-
men. We therefore decided to delay the un-
packing of our boxes, and to spend several months
in visiting the homes of the Christians throughout
the four counties for which we were then respons-
ible. Our travelling paraphernalia was simple,
luggage being limited to the amount that a small
donkey could carry in addition to a rider. Clothes
and books were tied up in large square handker-
chiefs and distributed as evenly as possible, along
with a folded, wadded quilt in a long bed-bag
which, thrown over the donkey's saddle, reached
nearly to the ground on either side. On the
early morning of the day decided on for our
departure, two donkeys thus laden stood at our
gate. On to one of them I was hoisted, and took
my first lesson in how to sit happily, perched
high on the voluminous luggage with neither
reins for my hands nor stirrups for my feet, for
sometimes as long as twelve hours' travelling
with but a short break for food and rest at midday.
From village to village we wandered, received
37
38 LIFE IN THE VILLAGES
everywhere with cordial hospitality, pressed to
extend our visit, and followed on our departure
by the reiterated cry : " Come again, come again,
come again soon ! "
All was fresh and delightful to me and brimful
of interest, from the hour when I rode through
the city gate, passed the great tanks of lotus bloom
to the edge of the swift, shallow river, where my
servant stripped off his shoes and socks to lead
my donkey knee-deep over the ford.
By narrow roads we travelled where the tall
grain stood like a wall on either side, ripening in
the fierce sunshine which bathed the landscape
in a dazzling glare. Through occasional villages
we rode, where the women called to each other
to hurry and see the strange sight, and groups
of naked and semi-naked children commented
freely on the appearance of the " foreign devils."
A few miles farther and the first stage was
reached a deep courtyard backing the hillside,
from which had been hollowed a row of caves
according to the economical method of the country.
Scarcely any bricks are required for such building,
and the deep, lofty, arched room affords the
warmest shelter in our bitter Shansi winter cold,
as it does the coolest refuge from the burning
summer heat.
" Come again, come again soon," and we were
off again, refreshed by a delicious, beautifully
cooked meal, and our hearts warmed by the evident
pleasure which our visit had given and the cordial
hospitality which had sought to let us know how
welcome we were. And now we left the fertile
plain and well-watered land which lay all along
WITH A PRIMITIVE PEOPLE 39
the river-bed to climb steep, stony roads, and
follow narrow footpaths, where the difficulty of
its broad load made my donkey step gingerly as
near to the chasm's edge as she could secure a
foothold, and I dug my knees into the soft bed-bag
and longed for something on which I could get
a grip. How pleasant and easy such journeying
became before the end of that autumn's wandering,
and how familiar the life of the village homes.
Almost day by day the confused sounds took
form to my unaccustomed ears, and I was soon
able to differentiate quite clearly between the
two inevitable questions, " How old are you ? "
and "How many brothers and sisters have you ? "
I ceased to cover myself with confusion, by answer-
ing that my brothers and sisters numbered twenty-
three, and that my age was six though now that
the days of helpless shame are passed, I would not
not have made these mistakes, so keen is the enjoy-
ment still felt when some one repeats the old joke,
and all laugh merrily at the recollection.
Happy, irresponsible days, in which I learned to
know and love the Chinese. I saw them now to
best advantage, simple, patriarchal, industrious
and thrifty, extraordinarily resourceful, and in-
dependent of all that their own fields and farm
do not supply. I saw the women's activities,
and how they picked the cotton in the fields, spun
and carded it, then wove it into strong cloth on
the loom made for them by their own husbands ;
how they dyed the cloth with indigo of their own
growing, and finally converted it into the garments,
and even the shoes and socks, worn by the whole
family. I saw how those same garments were
40 LIFE IN THE VILLAGES
wadded with a layer of cotton-wool as the cold
season approached, and behold, the whole family
was made proof against the severe onslaughts of
the keenest frosts and bitterest winds. I saw
how a measure of wheaten or maize flour, a vessel
of water, and a few vegetables dug from the field
were daily converted into the three meals on which
young and old alike thrived, the men showing a
muscular development and endurance and an
agility unequalled by anything I had met in other
countries. I learned to recognise their simple,
unexpressed joys, and to realise the deep tragedies
which lay beneath the surface of their laborious
lives.
I was in the midst of the province which in
the very year when I was born had been swept
by the horrors of a famine and pestilence which
left whole villages with no other survivor than
perhaps two or three wailing children, feeding on
garbage torn from the grasp of the dead hand.
My servant remembered the time well. His
whole family had been wiped out, and he had
escaped as by a miracle. " In those days, dogs
ate dogs and men ate men," was the refrain of
his tale, only too literally and absolutely true,
for no man dared to venture on the lonely path
leading from one village to another, knowing that
the likelihood was that murderers lay in wait,
and that a few picked bones alone would tell the
tale even if, satiated with horrors to the point
of indifference, any one cared to inquire of it.
When I expressed surprise at the many rows
of caves allowed to fall into utter ruin, and the
traces of whole villages now returned to waste
HARDSHIPS AND DANGERS 41
land : " Famine year," he would briefly answer,
" dogs ate dogs and men ate men."
I learned, too, why it was that no merry groups
of children wandered away from the village, even
now when no evil-doers lay in wait, upon some
game or exploring adventure. I first discovered
the reason of this through meeting a woman
whose face was scarred and mutilated so as to bear
small likeness to the human, and on inquiry I was
informed that, as a little girl, she had strayed
away from home and been attacked by a wolf ;
men had rushed to her rescue, but her face, which
is generally the part first attacked, was torn
beyond recognition. I then learned what a
common thing it is for wild beasts, wolves or
leopards, to come down from the hills, and steal
children even as they play around the courtyard
grinding-stone. I could not be surprised at the
intense anxiety of a woman whose son was half
an hour late returning from an errand, when I
heard that her eldest child had strayed off one
day, and never been seen again. I was told of yet
another woman who, nursing her baby in the
cave, saw a leopard spring on her eldest child
in the courtyard. Frantic, she left the baby to
raise the alarm, and when she returned bearing
the little mangled body in her arms, she found
that the wild beast's mate had noted her absence
and carried the baby off to its lair.
I also heard, and found myself compelled to
believe, things which I should have dismissed with
an incredulous smile some few months earlier.
It was now that I found myself brought face
to face with the strange phenomenon of demon
41 LIFE IN THE VILLAGES
possession. There is so much to be said on this
interesting topic, that it will require a chapter
under its own heading to note even a portion of
what has come under my personal notice. For
the first time I heard, often in the midnight still-
ness, the high-pitched voice, intoning the magic
incantations whereby some young woman yielded
herself to be the medium of communication be-
tween the spirit and the material, the wild chant
sometimes dying away in the distance, as she
led a group of inquirers over wild mountain paths
in obedience to the directions of her control.
A few weeks were spent in the home of an elder
of the Church, Giang by name, as from this centre
it was easy to make daily itinerations in the
neighbourhood. What a welcome we received
there ! The deep cave set apart for our use was
decorated with flowers, everything was clean and
comfortable, and we were made to feel " at home."
Being guests in the house, our meals were always
served separately, but we liked to take our bowls
into the courtyard and enjoy the family life.
We were able to consult with our host concerning
many whom we had visited during the day, and
discuss our plans for the morrow.
As the daylight faded we joined in prayer and
praise, and listened to much that was of interest
to us as the Elder told of early years spent in
dissipation, opium smoking, and gambling ; of
his conversion through Pastor Hsi, and of first
efforts to preach the Gospel. Meanwhile, the
shepherd folded his sheep, carefully counting them
lest one should be missing, and the women pre-
pared the millstones for grinding on the morrow.
NEW TESTAMENT SCENES 43
I saw much illustrated that had been familiar
to me from childhood in the Gospel stories, even
to the midnight cry announcing the arrival of
the bridal party to a neighbour's house. A little
oil was added to our long-extinguished lamp, as,
being first to hear the clanging of the cymbals,
we hastened to the bridegroom's home to help
arouse the drowsy guests.
We returned in due course to Hwochow, urged
by our kind hostess to come again at any time.
Such homes are resting-places to those who have
left home for the Kingdom of God's sake, and are
part of the literal fulfilment of the promise : " An
hundredfold now in this time."
Nowhere are we more sure of a welcome than in
some of these Chinese courts, and for the Church
of Christ in the home of Elder Giang, I for one
shall ever be thankful.
OUR RECEPTION AT HWOCHOW
45
" The Master said : At first, my way with men was to
hear their words, and give them credit for their conduct.
Now, my way is to hear their words, and look at their
conduct." Confucian A nalects.
" The Master said : A man should say, I am not con-
cerned that I have no place, I am concerned how I may
fit myself for one. I am not concerned that I am not known,
I seek to be worthy to be known." Confucian Analects.
CHAPTER VI
OUR RECEPTION AT HWOCHOW
SHOWING THINGS AS THEY SOMETIMES ARE
IN spite of the valuable help given by study-
circles, training-colleges, and other means by
which the candidate for the mission field is equipped
for his work, I question if many are fully prepared,
when they arrive at the station to which they
have been appointed, to find themselves studied,
summed up, and criticised by the people to whom
they have come in the capacity of teachers, and
from whom they unconsciously expected some
measure of deference.
The Westerner, as such, has no prestige in the
eyes of the Chinese, and though his wealth, educa-
tion, and business capacity may command more
or less respect, the deep-rooted feeling is a sense
of the intrinsic superiority of the Middle Kingdom
and its sons to the barbaric subjects of a vague
territory known as the " Kingdom without "
that is, without the pale of the ancient civilisa-
tion. By grace, the Christian will welcome you
as a fellow-subject of the Kingdom of God, but
on this ground only, and on no preconceived
assumption of your superiority, will you be
accepted.
47
48 OUR RECEPTION AT HWOCHOW
The fact that you have come several thousands
of miles in order to preach the Gospel, is not suffi-
cient to place you unquestionably on a pedestal.
By temperament you are either impetuous or
slow, easy-going or exacting, courteous or brusque,
and you will prove to be by nature more or less
reasonable or unreasonable when the Chinaman
seeks to make you understand li, an untrans-
latable word, which embodies the idea of the
complete range of all that it is suitable that you
should be and do, on every occasion.
Failure to readjust your mind to such conditions
during the first years of your missionary life may
prove an eventual fatal barrier to mutual sym-
pathetic understanding, and the establishment of
that barrier has been one of the difficulties which
has not been much spoken of by those with whom
you have conversed, though they have doubtless
been keenly conscious of it themselves.
We returned to Hwochow. The house was ready
for us, and so were the Church members. " New
people," said some, " we are unaccustomed to
each other; they do not understand our circum-
stances, and we do not know them."
" Why did they spend months in another district
instead of coming at once to make themselves
acquainted with us, our affairs, and our homes ? "
"It is a case of clear neglect," said another.
"I have been a Church member for fifteen years,
and all the notice they have taken of me is to spend
one paltry day in my home, whereas they were
three whole days in the village of Peace and Har-
mony, where there are only heathen and not a
Christian to receive them. "I," complained
A MILITANT CHURCH MEMBER 49
another, " have been unable to attend Church
service for two weeks, and neither of them has
been near, as yet, to inquire the cause of my
absence."
" Well," chimed in an old gentleman, who by
reason of his seniority in the Church carried a good
deal of weight, " had our beloved teacher of former
days been here, our homes would have been visited,
and I will take the first opportunity of telling
them my mind on the subject."
The close of the following Sunday morning
service found us sad enough. The congregation
numbered thirty, and while some were loyally
ready to help, there was a section of malcontents
who since the early days had been a source of
difficulty to Pastor Hsi and his friends, and from
whom, in the light of past knowledge, Miss French
knew that trouble would come.
The first indication of the brewing storm was
the entrance to our guest-room of an aged Church
member who, by reason of his rank as military
mandarin, was one of the glories of the Hwochow
Church. Vigorous and stalwart, his seventy years
sat lightly on him, his bearing and the play of
his facial muscles affording proof of the brilliancy
with which he had passed the necessary examina-
tions for the obtaining of his degree. Unlike the
civil mandarin, whose examinations require such
arduous study of classical writings, the military
honour was conferred as a reward for physical
prowess. The competitor was required to exhibit
great skill in archery, shooting at the target from
the back of a galloping horse, and to lift stones of
immense weight ; meanwhile throwing the body
4
50 OUR RECEPTION AT HWOCHOW
into such postures as, coupled with a terrifying
expression of the countenance and accompanied
by blood-curdling yells, would strike such terror
into the heart of the opponent that he would flee
without striking a blow.
After such training he had little to fear, and
felt, no doubt, that a few moments' interview
would be sufficient to reduce two young women
to reason, and place matters on a more satis-
factory basis.
When the old gentleman entered, we invited
him to the seat of honour, ourselves taking chairs
at the lower side of the table. He asked for an
explanation. Had he been informed correctly
that we had been appointed to carry on the work
in Hwochow? "Yes," we replied, "that is the
case, and also to help the women in the counties
of Chaocheng, Hungtung, and Fensi, until such
time as lady workers shall be in residence there ;
moreover, our schools are to be for the women
and girls of these counties as well as Hwochow."
This item of information fell as a severe blow.
Hwochow is a curious district, its natives physically
and mentally being of a totally different type to
all around, in all relationships with whom there
exists mutual distrust and suspicion. It was
odious to men and women of this exclusive type
to hear that the foreigner, in coming, viewed the
nurturing of a small band of discontents as of very
secondary importance to the opportunity of spread-
ing the news of the Gospel far and wide amongst
the heathen. It was at this point of the conversa-
tion that the first traces of that terror-striking
expression began to flit across his features, and
A DETERMINED STAND 51
his eyebrows gathered themselves into a most
terrifying bunch. "Are you aware that I have
been a Christian for twelve years, and that I am
known far and wide by Chinese and foreigners
alike ? " "I am fully aware of it," said Miss
French, and might have added, " known and
dreaded of all men."
" Should not the missionaries' conduct be regu-
lated in accordance with the command, ' Seek the
lost until it be found ' ? " " It should," acquiesced
Miss French. " Then are you aware that during
the past three months we have been as sheep with-
out a shepherd, left a prey to wolves, with no one
to care for us, our homes have been unvisited, and
members who have absented themselves from
Church service have had no inquiries made as to
the cause of their non-appearance ? "
" Did you say twelve years a Church member ? "
inquired Miss French. " Nearly thirteen," he
replied. " Then no longer a babe in Christ, but
yourself able to seek the lost, and to come to our
assistance as we take up the responsibilities of
our new work. We have come here," she added,
" for the people who need us, whether Chaocheng
or Hwochow."
" Then go to Chaocheng and leave us alone ;
our missionaries must shepherd our Church." At
this point wrath overcame him, and throwing
himself into the classical position of the Chinese
brave, " A couple of youngsters," he yelled, " un-
taught in the wisdom of Confucius." With
these words he flung himself out of the room.
His spirit was too much perturbed to call to mind
the wisdom of the sage, " In archery we have
52 OUR RECEPTION AT HWOCHOW
something like the way of the superior man. When
the archer misses the centre of the target, he turns
round and seeks for the cause of his failure in
himself."
The loud clanging of a gong was shortly heard,
and the tones of a well-known voice alternately
carolling forth a familiar hymn with a recital of
the wrongs needing redress.
" The Gospel way is the best of all, hark ! I loud proclaim
the same."
(Loud beating of the gong.) " Call that love !
I vow to report them at headquarters ! "
" Heaven's joy bestowed on earth, saves poor sinners and
sets them free."
(Again the gong.) " Much they care for our
souls ! Let them go to Chaocheng ! "
The sounds gradually ceased, as those who were
truly grieved that we should be thus insulted
pacified the old gentleman, begging him to have
a care for his aged body, and refresh it with food
and rest.
Miss French's mind was made up. " We shall
soon make another tour of villages outside this
district," she said, " and it shall be a long one.
These old members have stood in the way long
enough. New converts will join themselves to the
Church ; if they be welcomed, all the better, if
not, the old ones must go ; we can allow them to
hinder no longer."
Miss French's method was fully justified, for
when they saw new adherents keen with the flush
of first love and enthusiasm they, with very few
GOODWILL ESTABLISHED 53
exceptions, awakened more fully to their responsi-
bilities.
Time heals many wounds, and when we returned
from England our old friend, the military mandarin,
came in full official dress to welcome us.
" Good to have you back," he said ; "we are
accustomed to each other, and you know how to
manage this place 1 "
A PORTRAIT GALLERY
55
" We must be as courteous to a man as we are to a
picture, which we are willing to give the advantage of a
good light." EMERSON.
" He asked them to come with Him, and they came ;
and Jesus did not begin by raising questions in their minds
as to whether they were worthy to come. It was the
purpose of Jesus to make them worthy to stay. Now
the Church of Christ ought to be as hospitable as Christ
was. I do not see for what other purpose she exists.
And the Church ought to be as confident and believing
as Christ was, that many a one whom it may be was
unworthy to enter has at length become worthy to remain."
Dr. JOHN HUTTON.
CHAPTER VII
A PORTRAIT GALLERY
WHEREIN THE READER is INTRODUCED TO SOME
OF OUR FELLOW WORKERS
IN meeting the members of an infant and
unsophisticated Church, it is delightful to
observe the directness of their spiritual character-
istics, unfettered by the artificiality which grows
up with theological phraseology and the adoption
of sectarian conventionalities.
So strongly individualistic a band of men met us
at Hwochow, that Christian himself on his Heaven-
ward journey encountered, I think, no more varied
a company, nor more striking, in the various
ways in which CHRIST had met them and called
them to discipleship, and turned their strongly-
marked characteristics into the way of His
service.
Evangelist, Fu by name, keen and even fierce
in his determination to compel men to hear the
truth concerning the City of Destruction and the
burden of sin which rests upon them, would go
from place to place with a bundle of books, preach-
ing and warning sinners " to flee from the wrath
to come." He asked no remuneration from the
Church or foreigner for the time he gave, but
58 A PORTRAIT GALLERY
realising that necessity was laid upon him, he
pointed men to the Saviour. His best work was
done alone for he was easily offended, but, true
and straight, he ruled his house in the fear of the
Lord.
His conversion was characteristic of the man.
Having business to transact in the small city of
Great Peace, he found that large crowds had
gathered to listen to a man proclaiming strange
doctrines. Every one knew why Pastor Hsi, for
it was he, had come that day to the city. A
family had professed their willingness to destroy
idols, and asked him to be present on the occasion.
When the Pastor arrived, however, the man had
changed his mind, and fear of consequences had
proved too much for him. Nothing could hinder
the Pastor from preaching the Good News, and
he made much of this opportunity. When he
had finished speaking, Mr. Fu went to him and
asked him what was this new doctrine, and Mr.
Hsi told him the story of the iarden of Eden,
and the Fall of man.
" In Adam all have sinned, and in Christ all
can be forgiven." It was a strange story, and
yet as Fu listened he felt it was true, and as he
took the long, lonely walk over the mountains to
his home, he meditated much upon it. He had
not as yet seen the wicket -gate, but he had seen
the direction in which it lay, and a subconscious
desire was in his heart to know more.
Home affairs claimed his attention, and he had
no time to give to the further investigation of
new religions ; and yet the seed which had been
sown was gradually germinating, so that when
MR. FU 59
after a few months he found himself again near
Great Peace, in a small place where was an opium
refuge, Mr. Fu went in to see the man who was
in charge. Although he had never smoked opium
himself, Mr. Fu was on this occasion in possession
of some of the crude drug, and was on his way
to the hills to sell it, and hoped by the transaction
to profit considerably. The Refuge-keeper, seeing
he was interested, asked him to share his evening
meal, and when he found out the errand on which
his guest was bent, he told him to sell the opium
he had and avoid any further dealings with so
deadly a poison. Mr. Fu was deeply touched by
the kindness of this man. " I have no claim
upon him, and yet he treated me as a brother,"
was his reflection. From that day Mr. Fu never
sold opium again.
He started on his homeward journey, and once
more as he walked the lonely roads he was con-
scious of the constraining presence of One who
has so often met with men as they travel,
walking through the fields, and inviting them
to leave all and follow Him. Thus untram-
melled by the words and requirements of men,
Mr. Fu met with his iod ; but still questioning,
he reached home to find that his wife was
dangerously ill. He went at once to a neigh-
bouring village to fetch a doctor, and found him
unwilling to come until he had taken a dose of
opium which was then due. Finding that all per-
suasion was useless, Mr. Fu suddenly decided to
go to Hwochow and see if the foreign missionaries,
or the Opium Refuge - keeper there, had any
medicine. He walked the twelve miles, and was
60 A PORTRAIT GALLERY
directed to the missionaries' house. The decision
to go to Hwochow was made suddenly, not so the
resolution to enter the open door of the house.
Perhaps he had been wrong after all ! It was
serious to so openly come in contact with foreigners I
It might be that the stories he had heard of their
magical powers were correct ! And yet his heart
had borne him witness, in that lonely walk, that
what he heard in Great Peace was true.
After walking up and down for some time,
unconscious that Goodwill was watching him
from within, he heard some one call and ask him
to come in. The call came at the right moment
and he entered, knowing as he did so that a definite
step was being taken and life would never be for
him the same again.
" My wife is ill, and I have come to ask for
medicine," he said. After some talk he was
taken to see Miss Jacobsen, who told him that
God could, and would, heal sickness in answer
to prayer. She and the evangelist prayed with
him, gave him medicine, some books, and made
him promise to come again. He left them, saying
that he would do so. Again the long, lonely walk
had to be faced, and Beelzebub gave orders that
arrows should be shot at him, and all manner of
doubts took possession of his soul. " I must go
again, for I have given my word," he reflected.
*' What folly ! " and then again the words which
he could not doubt reasserted themselves, and he
considered, yielded, and believed.
As he entered his courtyard, he saw his wife
grinding corn ! " I am well," she said. " And
I," he said, " have believed in Jesus." To his
MR. GING 61
surprise, not one word of anger escaped her lips.
" I am glad," was her only comment.
There was no time to be lost ; if he delayed,
others might hinder him, and before his evening
meal he tore down the idols, and together husband
and wife prayed to God.
Fu was the youngest of four brothers, and the
three other families were not of the same mind ;
he was unceasing in his efforts to bring them to
the Saviour, but at the Chinese New Year festival
they, as custom required, burnt incense to the
idols.
Serious illness seized upon various members of
all three families, and their Iiv6s were in danger.
Fu, seeing his opportunity, offered to go to the
city and ask the evangelist to come and pray for
them, and to this they consented. When Mr.
Fu returned, he was accompanied by Mr. Cheng,
and in response to his exhortations their idols
were destroyed and the three brothers professed
their willingness to become disciples. That place
has been signally blessed of God. All have given
liberally of their substance to the work of the
Lord, and they have now their own church, a
cave cut from the loess cliffs by their own hands,
where Sunday by Sunday men and women gather
from the neighbouring villages to hear the word
of God, and many have been added to the Church
as a result.
Mr. Ging, little of stature, so short-sighted as
to be almost blind, had recently been a patient
in the Opium Refuge. A scholar of note, holding
a high degree, we first knew him when he was
62 A PORTRAIT GALLERY
about forty years of age, and the only Christian
in his village. He was more than any Chinaman
I have met impregnated with the teachings of
Confucius ; and filial piety was for him no mere
doctrine of words, but a ruling factor in his life.
Shortly before the time of which I write, he had,
one day, given some cause of offence to his aged
mother, in consequence of which she commanded
that, in recognition of his fault, he should kneel
on the ground before her until such time as she
should see fit to excuse him.
For half a day she kept him in that position,
and he knelt quietly, giving to all an example and
illustration of the sacred duty of son to parent
as taught in the Chinese Classics, and as under-
stood by those who earnestly follow their teachings.
By virtue of his learning and position, no
matter of importance would be settled in the
village without him, and he enjoyed great respect
as a teacher of the young, notwithstanding the
fact that he was handicapped in his work as school-
master by reason of his defective eyesight, the
boys taking full advantage of his disability and
failing to appreciate as they should the virtue
of the " Princely Man " of whom they read so
much in their classical studies, and of whom they
daily witnessed so striking an example.
For some of these pupils of his, examination-
day dawned, and the results were disastrous.
The consequences of much undetected mischief
were now made clear in the light of day, and the
indignant examining missionary called upon Mr.
Ging to aid in devising a punishment adequate to
the circumstances. "Is it by extra imposed
MR. LAN 63
work, or by the public disgrace of the rod, that
their misdeeds will be made most heinous in their
own eyes ? " he was asked, the remarks being
accompanied by a look which could not fail to
assure the trembling band of offenders that the
method of Solomon met with unqualified ap-
proval. " I think," replied Mr. Ging, " that the
case does not call so much for punishment as for
exercise of greater patience on our side ! ! ! "
This answer was to the unbounded delight of the
scholars, and discomfiture of the missionary.
It was in his own village and home that he
shone. Before many years had passed, the people
who were formerly unwilling to receive us had
many of them become Christians. One of their
number had lent his room, rent free for ten years,
as a meeting-place for worship, and a good work
had begun. If you spoke to them of the cause of
this change, they would tell you of Mr. Ging and
the force of his example, and how even his old
mother had, before her death, renounced idolatry
and asked for a Christian funeral.
What can I say of Mr. Lan ? One is tempted
to question, " How shall the superficial enter into
the Kingdom of God ? "
One of the aristocratic families, no longer
enjoying the prosperity of former days, yet en-
deavouring to impress upon all its grandeur whilst
inevitably sinking, gave us Mr. Lan.
Contact with Pastor Hsi had been the turning-
point in his life, and from the early days he gave
himself assiduously to the study of the Bible.
Few have more accurate knowledge of the Scrip-
64 A PORTRAIT GALLERY
ture than he, his addresses are well and carefully
prepared, and he has been the means under God
of leading many men to a knowledge of the
Saviour. His kind disposition and good-nature
have given him many friends, but love of money
and appearances have crippled his usefulness.
Any Christian work he now does is independent
of the missionaries, and he will sometimes be
invited to the official's residence to help some
one to leave the opium habit, he and his father
before him having been doctors of no small re-
pute. He is constantly in debt, and will often
remain away from his home during the Chinese
New Year when debts are settled, but when he
does return, he enters the house with such per-
fect manners, and is attired in such gorgeous
silk, that few would venture to mention anything
so unpleasant as the settlement of a debt.
Easily led, he loves the glories of this present
world and is fearful lest, by too great zeal, the
rulers of Vanity Fair may regard him as a stranger
and outcast. And yet, in his high moments, he
finds himself longing for the things that abide,
and his affections and desires are for the time
being upon these, but as a morning cloud they
pass. In other lands, where the line of demarca-
tion is less clear, he might be considered a good
Churchman, but neutral tints are rare here, and
a man must clearly show on which side he stands
or he will get the benefit of neither.
He is ever faithfully served by his dependant
and sycophant, Mr. Diao, who is a weak, physically
decadent man who can neither offend by word
nor deed the man from whom he has had so much,
MR. TU 6s
His manner is too servile to allow one to place
much confidence in him, but he is a believer, and
proves by many actions that he is truly following
Christ. If only he could get free from the net of
the rich man, and yet what Church has not
such members !
Mr. Tu, weak, good, always trusting the Heavenly
Father to supply his needs, temporal and spiritual,
and ever ready to bear witness that He has done
so, in spite of the fact that life's outlook is always
grey ! Very poor, he was the leader in his village
by virtue of his sincerity. Is some aggressive
movement proposed ? " The time has not yet
come," is his ever-ready answer. Do the crops
seem to fail for lack of rain, and the farmers,
anxious and worried, speak of the famine con-
fronting them, and him ? " Fear not, the Lord
will provide," he will say, and though he may
have to eat the coarsest flour, and little of that
sometimes, he never doubts, and never rejoices ! !
On the occasion of the marriage of his son, even
a short time before the bride arrived, nothing was
ready he had so little and all he said was :
" We must wait and see how the Heavenly Father
will provide." When the moment came every
one was ready to help him, and he would be a
discontent indeed who was dissatisfied with the
result. Mr. Tu was full of praise to GOD for His
goodness, and will quote the incident to those
who may have doubts.
I have reflected much upon Mr. Tu and his
ways, and I am reminded of the ravens, " who
sow not nor gather into barns," and our Heavenly
5
66 A PORTRAIT GALLERY
Father cares for them; and I come to the con-
clusion that to us is granted on rare occasions
the privilege of being the medium by which our
Father will prove His care to the weak, yet trustful
souls. Good, faithful old Tu, he could teach many
of us of the active, energetic temperament a lesson ;
for he will tell you, and truly, that he has no
strength, yet he has never asked from man, and
he has perfect confidence that the Good Shepherd
will lead him safe to the journey's end.
WORK DEVELOPMENT
"No Church is fulfilling its responsibilities to God, or
preparing itself for its best and most effective work, which
does not regard itself in some respects as a great Training
School for Christian workers." Rev. A. SWIFT.
"And He gave
Some indeed to be apostles,
And some prophets,
And some evangelists,
And some shepherds and teachers,
With a view to the fitting of the saints
For the work of ministering,
For an upbuilding of the body of the Christ."
The Letter of Paul to the Ephesians.
68
CHAPTER VIII
WORK DEVELOPMENT
RELATING HOW WE SOUGHT TO ENCOMPASS THE
WORK, AND THE WORK ENCOMPASSED us
THE events of 1900 resulted in an extra-
ordinary quickening of interest amongst
those who had a contact of some kind with
Christianity. We very soon found ourselves quite
overwhelmed by the many openings and oppor-
tunities which presented themselves on all sides.
Hitherto untouched villages begged for a visit,
idols were destroyed by those into whose homes
we had never penetrated, leaders in the Church
were begging us to devise some means by which
the women might be taught, fathers were prepared
for any sacrifice so that their daughters might
be received as scholars.
For some time, at vast expenditure of strength,
we attempted by travelling in different directions
to spend, at any rate, one or two days in the
various centres we were begged to visit. Each
month we became more strongly impressed with
the fact that the work of evangelisation was
being carried on with tremendous aggressive
force, not by us, but by the native Church, we
being unable to even follow up the openings made
by them.
69
70 WORK DEVELOPMENT
Such a mass movement afforded an unparalleled
opportunity, provided sufficient teaching were
given to establish and build up in the faith those
who believed ; but if left to itself, this large
numerical increase might prove a serious menace
to the spiritual life of the Church. We had to
seriously consider our ways. Should we con-
tribute our small part to the widespread preaching
of the Gospel and visiting of those who had
already heard through the Chinese evangelising
agencies, or should we leave to the Chinese
Church the responsibility of propagating itself,
reserving ourselves to " preparing saints for the
work of ministering " ?
Chinese Christians going from place to place
spread the Good Tidings more effectually than
we could hope to do, and where such conditions
exist, it is surely an indication that the people
of the land should hear the Gospel first from
the lips of their own countrymen. Moreover, the
Government was seriously considering the establish-
ment of girls' schools, and we had to decide as
to whether the work amongst the young should
be an unimportant branch of our scheme of
missionary activities, or whether our schools
should be established with the object of becoming
training-centres for Christian helpers.
We were faced with this fact : unless we trained
some Christian teachers, the education of the
young would be in the hands of heathen ; no
small matter when the exalted position of the
teacher in China is borne in mind ; and the, if
possible, more urgent fact, that unless we seriously
prepared some Chinese missionaries we should
AN INTENSIVE POLICY 71
go from year to year, decade to decade, with no
trained Chinese staff. The material was there,
and the Chinese Church was supplying young
men and women, earnest devoted servants of
Jesus Christ, who, given the training and granted
the blessing of God, could do a work which it
would be impossible for the most earnest Westerner
to accomplish. Chinese of the Chinese, with
neither linguistic nor climatic difficulties, under-
standing the minds of the most subtle of people,
they enter their work with a flying leap which
we may envy, but cannot attain. The Holy
Spirit will deal with them as He does with us,
and recognising them as fellow-workers together
with God, we shall cease to hinder them by
perpetual criticism and doubt. Faults they will
have, as we, and while of a different order, who
shall say that these failings make them in God's
sight more unfit for the work of preaching the
Gospel than ours have made us ?
We therefore accepted the form of ministry
which pressed with strongest necessity on us,
and from the free and irresponsible life of the
itinerant missionary, accepted the calling of
teachers, and allowed ourselves to be tied to
the numberless claims and responsibilities of in-
stitutional life. In addition to the girls' school,
a plan was formed whereby we agreed to accept
married women for terms of varying length
twenty to thirty days as far as possible classify-
ing them according to ability and previous know-
ledge. The teaching was graded from the first
elements of Christian doctrine to fairly advanced
New Testament classes. From amongst the first
72 WORK DEVELOPMENT
groups of women who came to us, it was evident
that some were capable of receiving a far more
advanced training,' and the zeal they exhibited
in teaching the little they knew on their return
home, promised well for future usefulness: Two
small rooms in our own living-court supplied the
only accommodation for these station classes,
and as each group scattered it was almost im-
mediately replaced by other eager inquirers, p. ^
A small inner court containing two good rooms
was set apart for the use of the girls' school.
Every term brought an increase in the numbers,
and it was soon evident that more suitable
accommodation was essential if we were to meet
the growing need. Though we knew it not, the
necessary provision was already made. We sat
together one evening in a shady spot adjoining
our premises, sharing our home letters ; we
opened one to find it contained a cheque from
a friend who could know nothing of our need,
marked : " For use in any necessary buildings."
The very spot on which we sat, later on proved
to be the site of the John Holt Skinner Memorial
Court in the new school buildings. By the next
term Chinese rooms, providing for the accom-
modation of sixty, were erected; the old school-
court was given over to women's station classes,
and we saw scope for the realisation of our wildest
dreams. The work amongst the men was in-
creasing in a similar proportion. Mr. Wang, who
was in charge when we arrived at Hwochow, was
now appointed Deacon of the Church, and after-
wards Elder. We soon recognised in him a man
of no ordinary influence. Like Barnabas, he
A TRAINING CENTRE ESTABLISHED 73
was " a good man filled with the Holy Spirit,"
and like him might well be called the " Son of
Consolation."
The large numbers who were baptized upon
profession of faith each year entailed many
responsibilities new families to be visited, more
visitors to be received, marriages and funerals
to be attended. Cases of persecution, real or
supposed, called for many hours of patient
listening, and, withal, the constant stream of city
women who desired to inspect all that was going
on, parents to see children in the school, friends
and relatives of opium patients, who lost no
chance of visiting the member of the family under
treatment, changed the once quiet house into a
beehive of activity.
In many Shansi houses there is a large, well-
built room, open to north and south, which is
set apart for the observance of the prescribed
family rites connected with ancestral worship.
Here are the wooden ancestral tablets, image of
the soul and tangible symbol, erected to the
memory of the deceased, affording thereby a
fixed object for filial piety. This room on our
compound was dedicated as a church for public
worship ; enlarged once, and again the second
time, it still proved too small for our growing
congregation.
The strain attendant on such a rapid develop-
ment was severe, but each year found us supplied
with increasingly able help from our Chinese
co-workers. We found ourselves driven to the
practical testing of the principle : " When the
pressure of the work is too heavy, then extend the
74 WORK DEVELOPMENT
work," and we found it to be sound and workable.
Each term some extra responsibility was thrown
off on to the shoulders of willing helpers, that
we ourselves might be free to undertake fresh
enterprises.
MRS. HSI'S SECOND GIFT
75
1 It is Jesus who has introduced into virtue a passion
before which vice is not condemned but consumed as by
fire." Rev. CARNEGIE SIMPSON.
" Round the cape of a sudden came the sea,
And the sun looked over the mountain's rim:
And straight was a path of gold for him,
And the need of a world of men for me."
ROBERT BROWNING.
CHAPTER IX
MRS. HSI'S SECOND GIFT
BEING AN ACCOUNT or HER LIFE FROM
WIDOWHOOD
ONE direct result of the lack of foreign
workers was the appointment of Mrs.
Hsi to the oversight of the women's work in
Chaocheng. During her husband's lifetime she
had been eager to learn all she could, and had
with difficulty mastered some of the Chinese
characters. She often expressed to him her desire
to learn more, but he told her to remember that
the need for her to attend to the domestic side
of the large establishment at the Middle Eden
was essential, and her life until his death was
largely a busy domestic one.
Not entirely, however, was this the case. When
it became necessary to open a Refuge for Women
in the city of Hungtung, it was to his wife that
the Pastor looked for help, and she, there and in
other places, did a truly Christlike work. It was
in the city of Hsugo that she accomplished her
most difficult task. It seemed as if the devil
had a special power there, and Pastor Hsi was
almost in despair. Man after man, amongst
them some of his most trusted helpers, fell into
78 MRS. HSI'S SECOND GIFT
sin, or were overcome by difficulties in that
place.
How to hold it at all was a problem. He solved
it by sending his wife, and alone she went to live
six days' journey from the place where he was,
and for the first time the work in Hsugo was
successful.
Almost immediately after her return home,
Pastor Hsi developed the illness from which he
never recovered. He was at work on some Refuge
accounts when he felt unwell, and his spirit became
conscious that the messenger had come with a
command " that he must prepare for a change
of life, for his Master was not willing that he
should be so far from Him any longer."
For nearly six months he lingered still, making
preparations for the journey ahead ; he gave
directions for the temporary closing of the Refuges,
recognising, doubtless, that the time while he was
still on earth, but unable to exercise control, might
be an even more perilous period than that which
would follow his death. Mrs. Hsi herself fell ill, and
so seriously that her life was at one time despaired
of. She was barely able to stand the fatigue of
the public funeral to which hundreds gathered,
yielding to their grief and sobbing as children who
had lost a parent. She herself was bowed with
sorrow, for they had been truly one in God's
service, but strength was sent to her through a
dream in which she saw her husband, in glory
beyond her imagining, and with him the boy who
had been their only son and had died in childhood.
When she desired to join them he rebuked her,
saying : " Nay, but you must return " ; and
DAYS OF TRIAL 79
obedient, she turned her back on the heavenly
glory and faced " the need of a world " of sin.
Mrs. Hsi was now to realise to the full the un-
fortunate position of a childless widow. According
to the custom of the country, the nearest male
relative on her husband's side should have been
her protector, but this duty devolved on a nephew
who was an opium smoker, gambler, and unre-
generate heathen, and what should have been
protection took the form of persecution.
Elder Si', her brother-in-law, took over the
control of the opium refuges and the preparation
of the medicine used. Days of prayer and fasting
always preceded the compounding of the drugs
which were prepared in Pastor Hsi's own home,
and sent out in the form of pills. It was in con-
nection with the medicine that Mrs. Hsi's first
difficulties occurred. Large quantities of the
various ingredients were stored at Middle Eden,
and the said nephew claimed possession of this
stock, declaring his intention of defending his
rights by stabbing any one who dared to touch it.
The time came when the drugs were required,
and arrangements were quietly made for the
removal of the material to the home of Elder Si.
Before touching the goods, Mrs. Hsi called the
young man to her, and addressing him by name
told him to fetch his knife, as she intended to
carry out her husband's wishes and supply the
Refuges with the necessary medicine without
delay. Abashed, and half-ashamed by her self-
confidence and dignity, he muttered excuses and
left her presence with an apology.
Nevertheless, it required all her wits and most
80 MRS. HSI'S SECOND GIFT
of her time to prevent this ne'er-do-weel from
robbing her of all she possessed. Opium he would
eat, his gambling habits were strong, and how
could she prevent him from stealing that which,
as one of the family, he could partially claim as
his own ? The problem weighed upon her mind
and she decided that division of the land, each
taking half the produce of the farm, was the only
solution. Even so she was not safe ; there is a
Chinese proverb which says : "It is hard to deal
with a thief who is one of the family," and she
proved it to be true. If she left home for a few
days she would return to find her door broken
open, her clothes stolen, and her grain visibly
less. Although the Chinese law would offer her
redress, she, by reason of Christian principle and
the example of her husband, never appealed for
help to an earthly tribunal, but daily prayed :
" Lord, have mercy on him, and change his heart."
In the early days of her faith, Mrs. Hsi had
earnestly desired to unbind her feet as witness
that she was a Christian, but her husband, fearful
lest any should be misled to regard Christianity
as conformity to foreign customs rather than to
a change of heart, was strongly opposed to her
doing so. He strictly forbade the binding of
children's feet, but saw no need for outward
change of shoe in the foot already disfigured.
During his lifetime she yielded to his wish, but
after his death refused to let her mature judgment
be held in abeyance by the dead hand of the
past, and did that which she felt was a testimony
to many of her weaker sisters. She unbound her
feet and adopted a normal shoe and sock, and
THE SACRIFICE OF HOME 81
many who had made her supposed attitude on
the question an excuse, now followed her example.
In order to give the Gospel to Hwochow Mrs. Hsi
had parted with the most valuable of her worldly
goods, and when the call came for the second
great renunciation in response to the need for
a woman worker in Chaocheng, she was ready
to move into that city, knowing as she did so,
that by leaving the family home she would finally
close the way of return. She well knew that no
seal on the door would prevent her nephew from
stealing her goods, and her worst fears were
realised when, a few years later, on the occasion
of the erection of a memorial stone to Pastor
Hsi, she revisited what had once been Middle
Eden. All was gone, and she was thankful to
hurry away and leave the scene that could only
cause her pain.
On entering her new sphere of work, the mis-
sionaries at Hwochow assured her that all the love
and sympathy which she had promised Mr. Taylor
years before should be given to the first ladies who
came to that city, was now to be bestowed on her.
The loyal affection of the Chinese Church was hers,
for she is regarded by them with an admiration
and reverence which they consider the right of so
worthy a woman. She knew that she could count
upon a welcome, but it was a costly step.
City and village visiting, weekly classes for
inquirers, and a Women's Opium Refuge occupy
Mrs. Hsi's time in Chaocheng. A sentence easy
to write, but only He to Whom the offering is
made can know the cost at which ladies, with the
refinements of their class, give themselves to the
6
82 MRS. HSI'S SECOND GIFT
Christlike work of rescuing the opium sots who
find their way to the Refuge. Women of the
lowest moral type at times appear, dirty, coarse,
and repulsive, and yet gladly and graciously they
are received. The lady in charge will sleep with
them in order to comfort and pray with them
during the night watches, and no service is too
menial for these saintly women to render. The
impression made is never forgotten by those to
whom they minister ; and even if they return again
to the ways of sin, the vision of that gentle lady
with her kind heart will remain, a reflection, faint
it may be, yet a reflection of the love of God, ever
ready to welcome the wanderer from the far
country.
A WOMAN OPIUM SMOKER.
To face page 82.
''- 1 know that, because of this money-grasping, trade-
compelling feature of England's dealings with my country,
millions of wretched people of China have been made more
miserable ; stalwart men and women have been made
paupers, vagrants, and the lowest of criminals ; and
hundreds of thousands of the weaker ones of my race
mainly among the women have been sent to suicide
graves. All this because gold and territory are greater
in the eyes of the British Government, than the rights and
bodies of a weak people.!' H. E. Li HUNG-CHANG.
'-'- O my brothers and all my friends,
If you would hearken to good advice,
Avoid the poppy juice for ever and aye,
As it is a plague most noxious and vile !
It will eat out your minds,
It will rot away your vitals,
It will shrivel up your bowels,
It will make you walk as a leper,
It will cast you into prison,
It will send you to your death ! "
H. E. Li HUNG-CHANG.
CHAPTER X
THE STORY OF AN OPIUM SMOKER
THE first man to enter the Opium Refuge
in Hwochow, as patient, was named Fan
of the village of Southern Springs. He came
from a once wealthy clan, now reduced through
opium smoking to comparative poverty. He
had not yet reached the stage of positive want,
but that condition is never far from the habitual
heavy smoker, and should he continue a few years
longer, beggary will be the ultimate fate of his
wife and family.
The temptation was at his very door, for all the
best-watered land surrounding Southern Springs
was given up to poppy cultivation. During the
time when the plant was in flower, the village
nestled amidst some hundreds of acres of exquisite
iridescent bloom. The beauty was shortlived,
even as the seeming prosperity of the grower,
and but a few days later Southern Springs stood
amidst bare brown fields of dry poppy heads,
scarred by the cutter's knife, exuding in thick
drops the poisonous juices a striking picture in
the eyes of all men of the fate awaiting the smoker,
who, lulled by the insidious charm of the fascinating
drug, would finally be the only one unable to see
himself a hopeless, helpless, degraded wreck.
35
86 THE STORY OF AN OPIUM SMOKER
At the close of three weeks' treatment in the
Refuge, Fan returned home a new creature, re-
stored in body and mind, and with a heart renewed
in hope. In his own immediate family were
several members, victims as himself of the deadly
drug, and amongst these was his nephew, adopted
into the family on the footing of a son since death
had robbed him of the last boy who might pay
the filial sacrifice of tears and lamentations at his
tomb. Moreover, his wife's keen intelligence and
strong will were gradually being subjugated by
a growing apathy, result of her secret habit. On
these two Fan urged a plea to give the Refuge a
trial, and his nephew, impressed by the evident
good result in his uncle's case and the assurance
that the treatment had induced very slight suffer-
ing, pronounced himself willing to try the ex-
periment ; his wife, on the other hand, repudiated
with scorn any such suggestion. Another few
weeks saw the young man return to Southern
Springs loud in praise of all he had seen and heard
in Hwochow. He recounted all his experiences,
every detail of the treatment, the number of pills
swallowed, and the care with which the strength
of the pills was graded from the powerful " Pill of
life " to the lesser " Pill of strength " and the
final " Pill of restoration."
He also knew by heart a number of verses
from the New Testament, and could sing hymns
written by Pastor Hsi on the subjects of salvation
and the sin of opium smoking, several of which
numbered twelve verses in length.
All this caused much stir in the village, and
became the general subject of conversation when
THE REFUGE INFLUENCE 87
the men were home from the fields, during the
twilight hour devoted to social intercourse. He
was referred to as a competent authority on all
matters relating to the ways and habits of those
" foreign devils " who went to and fro between
the various stations which they had opened, and
even penetrated into the villages amongst the
homes of any who were rash enough to risk having
them under their roof.
Both uncle and nephew had secretly entirely
changed their opinion concerning the foreigner
and the Christian doctrine which he inculcated.
Fear had given place to confidence, and one or
other would frequently walk the four miles to
Hwochow on a week day, or better still on Sunday,
to sit an hour with the Refuge-keeper, whom it
was hard indeed not to trust, and who always
had some good matter to unfold and kind, earnest
words with which to help a man in the hour when
his old vice threatened to ensnare his soul afresh.
Little sympathy was to be gained at home. Mrs.
Fan still took opium, endangering her husband's
and nephew's principles as they returned, weary
from work, to a room reeking with the odour so
attractive to them.
She was a woman of no ordinary character,
exceptionally intelligent, strong - minded and
wilful, capable in every duty which falls to the
woman's share in the home ; by nature hard
working and ambitious, in physique of a pro-
nounced Jewish type. Not easily led, and im-
possible to drive, she flew into such a passion
when her husband ventured to tell her that two
lady missionaries had arrived, and were prepared
88 THE STORY OF AN OPIUM SMOKER
to receive women as patients in the Hwochow
Refuge, and gave such rein to her tongue that
he, poor man, was thankful to escape beyond
earshot of her loud recriminations and curses.
If his words were silenced we may believe that
his actions were speaking louder and more effectu-
ally, for influences stronger than the woman
realised were even now at work, preparing to
overturn all her preconceived prejudices and
hatred of Christianity and its followers.
The climax came more suddenly than could
have been anticipated, revealing to herself and
others the extraordinary change of viewpoint
which had been silently working during weeks
of apparently unchanged opposition.
On returning from the fields one evening, Fan
found his wife in an unusual state of activity,
whilst the three little girls who constituted his
family formed a tearful group on the kang.
With characteristic abruptness Mrs. Fan delivered
the information : "I am preparing to go to the
city Opium Refuge." Scarcely able to credit her
statement the husband stood aghast, and she
explained : " It is no good, the children are taking
it too."
A terrible statement, yet true, for whereas she
knew that she had often pacified the tiny baby's
fretfulness by puffing a few whiffs of the smoke
into its mouth, she had that day made the dis-
covery that, as soon as she herself lay down to
sleep off the effect of her dose, the two elder girls
would seize on the opium pipe and share all they
could get from it, so that already, unknown to
herself, the craving was well developed in them.
CHILDREN OPIUM SMOKERS 89
To the Refuge they must all go, and the next
evening saw a cart at the door into which were
being stowed various bundles of clothing wrapped
in blue-and-yellow cloths, each bundle having
attached to it a small piece of scarlet cotton to
ensure luck on the journey. Flour and millet
for food, and other necessaries were piled up
behind the cart, and the children were packed
inside and told to keep quiet, for they were leav-
ing at night to avoid the jeers of the villagers.
The father sat upon the shafts, the mother cross-
legged inside, and after an hour's drive the city
gates were sighted, and soon the party was wel-
comed at the Mission House.
A very few days in the Refuge served to largely
alter the tenor of Mrs. Fan's mind. The woman
who took charge of her was a kind, confidence-
inspiring body, with nothing of the " foreign
devil " about her. She would hear no harm of
the missionaries, and flatly denied that children
were enticed on to the premises to be done
to death by foul means, or that the foreigner's
blue eye could see corpses in their coffins, or
that magic incantations were used by means of
which all who drank their tea must become their
followers.
All these questions and many others relating to
the personal character of the strange beings
were asked during the long night watches when
sleep evades the opium patient, and the nurse
helps to while away the dreary hours by satisfying
her curiosity. Then at dawn the longed-for dose
of medicine is administered, after a prayer that
the " medicine may heal her body, and the blood
90 THE STORY OF AN OPIUM SMOKER
of Jesus cleanse her soul," and she may settle to
a doze which daily becomes more natural and
peaceful as the body returns to a normal con-
dition of being.
Mrs. Fan saw that much was introduced by
the foreigner in the wake of Christianity which
her alert mind recognised as being all to the
advantage of women. Even the old Refuge-keeper
could read a little, but she was quite dull and
slow, whereas without much trouble Mrs. Fan
herself could master quite a number of new
characters every day, and a few hours had been
enough for the initial lesson of reading the large
print rhyme :
" There is but one true God, the Heavenly Father He,
Who feeds and clothes and pities me.
The only Saviour, too, who can my sins forgive,
I trust and hearken to His word, Jesus my Lord and
Saviour.
Jesus loves the sinner, Jesus pities me,
He gave His life, He washed me clean, He verily hath
loved me."
It was quite evident that a certain amount of
education lay within her own grasp, and quite
unlimited possibilities were open to her three
daughters. The sinfulness of binding up the
feet of girls was touched upon, and a strong deter-
mination took form in her mind that her girls
should be among the first who would have natural
feet in the neighbourhood, in spite of the lurking
fear that all three might be left as old maids upon
her hands if no man might be found bold enough
to risk the disgrace of a wife with normal feet.
A short length of white cotton material was pro-
EMANCIPATED LIVES 91
cured, and the three little ones were soon free of
compressing bandages, each wearing a pair of
calico socks and little red-and-yellow shoes, orna-
mented on the toe with a grinning, whiskered,
tiger's face.
These girls were all destined to lives of signal
usefulness in the Church. Two of them labour
still as teachers and evangelists among their
own people ; the third was early prepared by
intense suffering and deep wrongs to be removed
by death to the realm where the " wicked cease
from troubling and the weary are at rest."
THE GREAT FURNACE FOR A GREAT
SOUL
" Happy the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
" A white bird, she told him once, looking at him gravely.
A bird which he must carry in his bosom across a crowded
public place his own soul was like that !
" Would it reach the hands of his good genius on the
opposite side, unruffled and unsoiled ? " WALTER PATER.
'-'- To radiate the heat of the affections into a clod, which
absorbs all that is poured into it, but never warms beneath
the sunshine of smiles or the pressure of hand or lip this
is the great martyrdom of sensitive beings most of all
in that perpetual auto-da-ft where young womanhood is
the sacrifice." O. W. HOLMES.
CHAPTER XI
THE GREAT FURNACE FOR A GREAT
SOUL
BEING THE STORY OF Ai Do
MRS. FAN'S second daughter came into
the world under the shadow of sorrow,
for apart from the fact that she was a girl, whereas
a boy had been ardently desired, her first lusty
yells revealed the fact that she was born with a
tooth visible. This was well known by every
woman in the village to indicate antagonism to
her mother's life, and disaster would surely ensue
were she not promptly drowned or thrown out
to perish by the riverside.
Her fate seemed sealed, but that a woman
seeing what a dear little baby she was, was moved
with pity, and declared herself willing to take
the responsibility of asserting that the child was
hers in order that the demons which were order-
ing these events might be deceived, and thus
her real mother would escape the fate which
threatened her life, if the baby were not killed.
An incredible amount of ingenuity is expended
in China on deceptions practised to mislead the
gwei or demon, whose influence you have
cause to fear. Being a malignant spirit, his
95
96 GREAT FURNACE FOR A GREAT SOUL
object is to hurt that which you specially value,
therefore it is well to deceive him into thinking
that your precious son is only a useless girl, or
even a little animal. This is not difficult to
manage, for the gwei, though powerful to work
evil, is a simple creature, and it is sufficient for
him to see earrings dangling from your boy's
ears to make him think he sees a girl, or if you
call the child by some such name as " puppy,"
" little pig," " kitten," or " goat," he will quite
fail to perceive that the object of your affection
is two legs short of what one might be led to
expect.
When a gwei has really determined to
injure your child, it is sometimes necessary to
kill a dog and wrap your boy in its skin, that
it may be perfectly evident to the whole spirit
world that if you are bestowing any affection,
it is only on a valueless beast. In the case of
Mrs. Fan's little girl, no gwei could reasonably
be supposed to attach much value to her, and
it was therefore sufficient for this neighbour to
pronounce herself willing to stand in the place
of a mother. She was allowed to live, and with
painful frankness given the name of " One too
many."
After the month spent in the Opium Refuge,
Mrs. Fan often saw the lady missionaries either
at Hwochow or in her own house, and when they
were joined by a lady who had no previous know-
ledge of the Chinese language, Mrs. Fan was
asked if little " One too many " might come and
live with the missionary so that her childish
prattle should help the newcomer in recognising
HER NEW NAME 97
the difficult sounds and tones. She was now
eight years old and permission was readily
granted, so to Hwochow she went and became an
inmate of the Christian household there, her
name being altered to the now appropriate one
of " greatly loved " in Chinese, Ai Do.
The years passed by, and little Ai Do won the
love and approval of all. She received her educa-
tion in the girls' school, and there grew up in her
the ambition to be a teacher, as her elder sister
was. At fourteen years of age she sat one Sunday
evening reading her Bible, and came to the words :
" The Lord seeth not as man seeth ; man looketh
on the outward appearance, the Lord looketh on
the heart." She stopped and pondered, realising
with the force that can only come with conviction
of the Spirit of God, that while in "the outward"
no one had fault to find with her, yet the Lord
looking on the heart saw her full of sin and un-
reconciled to Him. In that hour her peace was
made, and henceforth she served and trusted
God through all the vicissitudes of her short life.
She remained a pupil in the school until the year
1900, when Miss Stevens and Miss Clarke went
to Taiyiianfu, never to return. It was a reign
of terror during which rapine and murder stalked
unhindered through the land, and young women
fled to the remotest districts where they might
claim a shelter.
The matter of Ai Do's marriage had been under
consideration for some time, she having now
reached the age when custom exacts that this
important matter should be settled. Various
suitors presented themselves, but in most cases
7
98 GREAT FURNACE FOR A GREAT SOUL
there was some hitch which prevented the engage-
ment from being finally settled. In one case
the man lived on the other side of the river, and
this would cause difficulty in the girl's frequent
journeys from one home to the other ; in another,
the matter of the sum required as dowry could
not be finally fixed; in a third, she would have
been required to worship idols.
Amongst the number was a young man, favoured
by Mrs. Fan but known as a wild and dissolute
youth, and the missionaries who had cared for
Ai Do so many years refused their consent to
the engagement. Now they were dead, and Mrs.
Fan had scope for the exercise of the domineering
will which made her ruler of the home, for while
she was an enthusiastic follower of the Church
she had never given evidence of personal con-
version.
It was certainly advisable that a young woman
of Ai Do's age should not be unmarried at that
difficult time. Christians went in daily peril of
their lives, and the soldier was scarcely less to
be dreaded than the Boxer.
" No one uses good iron to make nails, and no
one will use a good man to make a soldier," says
a Chinese proverb, which has been proved to be
only too true in many cases.
Hastily, and almost secretly, the formalities of
the engagement were performed, cards were
exchanged which fixed the contract, and the
earrings, rings, and silk and satin garments were
brought from the bridegroom's home. Ai Do
had heard much of this man, and his reputation
was such as to cause her the gravest misgivings.
A FATE OF HORROR 99
The household which she was to enter as a bride
would not require her to join in the offering of
nuptial sacrifices to idols because her future
mother-in-law had come under the sound of the
Gospel, but more than this can scarcely be said.
The son to whom she was engaged had been
brought up on a regime of such extreme indulgence
as can only be met with amongst an Oriental
people. His mother had never once restrained
him in a childish selfishness nor a manly vice.
From a spoilt, inconsiderate, wilful childhood he
passed to a cruel, passionate, licentious man-
hood ; finally, he took to opium smoking and
ruin threatened the home. His mother reaped
a bitter harvest of sorrow from the planting of
those wasted years, and now her urgent plea
was : " My son is good at heart, and a virtuous
bride will soon work a reform in him."
Every relation and friend and neighbour had
a say in the transaction, only Ai Do must not
be consulted, and though she weep and plead to
be left unmarried for a time yet, her tears and
supplications can cause no effect. In vain were
the silver ornaments and fine clothes displayed
before her; she refused to take food and wept
bitterly, not with the conventional tears of the
Chinese girl bewailing her virginity and begging
that she may not be torn from the shelter of
her maiden home, but with a real horror of the
fate which awaited her.
The day dawned when she was dressed in the
scarlet bridal clothes, a voluminous embroidered
satin gown over all ; this came with the sedan
chair which was to carry her to her future home,
ioo GREAT FURNACE FOR A GREAT SOUL
being hired for the occasion. Scarlet shoes were
on her feet, a high tinsel crown on her head,
and covering her tear-stained face was a scarlet
veil. In accordance with the custom which
demanded that the forehead of the bride must
be perfectly smooth, her front hair had been
dragged out by the roots and left her with an
aching head.
At last all was ready, and she was in the
embroidered sedan chair and caught the last
glimpse of the familiar faces. They disappear,
and alone she meets a cruel, loveless, unknown
world.
A Chinese village wedding is a terrible ordeal
for the bride. Her life until that day has been
guarded from every contact with the outer world,
and she has never spoken with a man outside
the family circle. Her arrival at her mother-
in-law's home is the signal for a wild rush of
rough men to surround her chair. The curtain
is lifted, insolent faces stare, her personal appear-
ance is commented upon in vile terms, her feet
being specially noticed because the artificial
compression of this member has resulted in giving
it sexual importance in a woman's appearance.
Ai Do had a normal, unbound foot, and had to
listen to lewd insinuations levelled at her on
this subject. All the while she must patiently
sit and wait until the appointed women of the
bridegroom's family are ready to conduct her
indoors. The waiting is often for a considerable
time, for these new relations are going to make
her feel that she is a most unimportant and un-
desirable person, and her mother-in-law is not
THE MARRIAGE ORDEAL 101
even going to see her until the next day ; more-
over, the longer she waits, the greater her chances
of longevity.
When at last she is told to leave her chair she is
followed by a crowd, and holding the end of a
scarlet sash which is thrust into her hand, she
finds herself in a courtyard where the ceremony
is to take place.
In accordance with the contract made by the
middleman, she is not asked to worship heaven and
earth nor the tablets of her husband's ancestors,
but two cups of wine are placed on the table, and
she and her bridegroom must each take one and
sip the wine, the cups being joined together by a
scarlet thread. When this ceremony is over, she
follows her bridegroom to a room, still led by the
sash, and when he enters he stands upon the
kang and by walking around it demonstrates his
position as head of the new home.
Meanwhile the chair-bearers are clamouring
for her dress, as another young woman is waiting
for the same gown and chair, and delay may cause
trouble. The bride is assisted on to the kang
by the women, her husband having departed to
make merry with his friends, and the ragged
opium smokers who carried her there leave, one
wearing the crown of tinsel on his head, laugh-
ing and joking at much which they have seen
and heard. From the moment that she is seated
upon the kang, the bride becomes the centre
of attraction to an insulting crowd. Her shoes
are stolen, but knowing that this is likely she
has provided herself with additional pairs. For
hours she sits there and hears the remarks made.
102 GREAT FURNACE FOR A GREAT SOUL
One will whisper that she is married to an irre-
sponsible idiot, others will tell her that he is blind
or dumb, and knowing how often the middlemen
deceive, she waits with dread the moment when
she will see for herself more than she was able to
do on arrival. At last the room is cleared, and
she has to face the final ordeal when she is left
alone with a totally unknown man. Even the
hours of darkness are not respected, and every
youngster in the village has the right to enter the
courtyard at any hour of the night, tear down the
paper windows, and heap shame upon her head.
Christianity and the influence of the foreigner
has done much to revolutionise the wedding
customs, but all this and more was endured by
Ai Do, and she found herself withal the wife of a
depraved and vicious man.
It was indeed a deliverance when the Hwochow
girls' school reopened and Ai Do was invited to
teach in place of her elder sister, whose family
claims had increased so as to prevent her holding
the post as formerly. School was opened in a
small courtyard which adjoined our own, and
twenty girls entered as pupils. Ai Do had all the
characteristics of a natural leader, and she easily
controlled the girls and was much beloved by
them, for she had a kind disposition and the hidden
sorrows of her life had made her both strong and
tender.
I think that her life in school was a time of un-
mixed happiness to her, but the holidays had to
be faced and contact with the man whom she
could only strive not to hate. His opium smoking
habits increased, and the pinch of poverty was
SORROW UPON SORROW 103
felt in the home from which he was able to steal
so cunningly every article of value which might
be exchanged for money and spent on the
drug.
A great joy came into Ai Do's life with the birth
of a little son, and she realised for the first time
that matrimony was not solely a horror, since it
brought so much compensation in its train. The
child was publicly dedicated to God, and was its
mother's joy for six brief months.
At the end of that time, in the hot weather, it
sickened with dysentery, and in spite of her
prayers and entreaties that she might be allowed
to deal with the disease as she had seen me deal
with similar ailments, she had to endure the torture
of seeing it operated upon by a heathen Chinese
doctor, whose method of treatment was to use long
needles which he ran into its tender flesh. The
needles were of course unclean, and the child's
death was doubtless hastened by the shock thus
sustained.
She was spared the last sorrow of seeing its body
thrown out to be devoured by dogs and wolves
through the fortunate advent of her father, who
insisted at her request that decent burial be given.
This was a cause of thankfulness for her to her
life's end.
A year later, when her second son was born,
the home was in a pitiful condition. All the land
which provided daily bread for the family was
gambled away, furniture and clothes had been
sold or pawned for opium, the wages she earned
were all turned to the same use, and the poorest,
coarsest food was all that was procurable at a time
104 GREAT FURNACE FOR A GREAT SOUL
when her strength was quite insufficient to the
strain imposed upon it.
As soon as the required month of purification
was over, she returned to us and then received
all the care that love could suggest, but we soon
saw that she was going to escape from our poor,
inadequate efforts to protect and comfort her,
into the care of the only One who could save her
from further sorrow. Phthisis took a rapid hold
of her constitution, and her strength daily declined.
During this time she for the first time opened
her heart, and spoke out her sorrows and sufferings
and those deepest wrongs she had suffered which
women have from time immemorial hidden as a
shameful secret. She spoke it all out now, and
left me with a determination that henceforth
any one placed as she was should find an advocate
and protector in me to the extent of my ability.
Three months later she was carried back to her
home, a dying woman, to end her days. We were
able to ride out and see her almost daily, and once
we found her very happy because in a dream
she had seen a messenger who called to her to cross
the river, and when she shrank back I had been
there to assure her that angels would receive her
to her Heavenly Home.
That day her husband came into the room, and
in my presence she for the last time pleaded with
him to leave the ways of sin and seek forgiveness
through repentance. To our care she committed
her child, asking that we would see that it was
brought up as a Christian, and she also begged us
to insist on a Christian burial for herself. To
the schoolgirls she sent the message that they
ENTRANCE INTO JOY 105
must meet her in her Master's presence, and a few
hours later " the bells of the city rang out for joy,
and it was said to her : Enter into the joy of thy
Lord.' ' The wail that went up from the school-
girls when I told them, I shall not forget ; she was
the first of our company to pass over. Two days
later the pupils of her class and ourselves gathered
with the family for a simple service in the courtyard
of her home. On the coffin the words were written
at her own request, " Until He come " symbolic
of the hope which sustained her through those
years of suffering, and kept her eyes ever upward
turned to the promise of the great day of deliver-
ance. A congregation of some hundreds assembled
to see the unique sight of so many girls mourning
for a teacher and following the bier to the border
of the village. The girls and their parents showed
their appreciation of Ai Do and her work by pre-
senting a large banner to the school in her memory.
It was unveiled on their behalf by the elders of the
Church, and above the names of one hundred girls
who had been her pupils were inscribed the words :
"She rests from her labours, and her works do
follow her."
vVe returned to take up the work which she had
left, but with heavy hearts, and the school and
my study seemed empty without her presence.
I missed her help in consultation over difficulties
and dealings with the raw material which came
into our hands at the beginning of each term.
Who could replace her ? Her friend and com-
panion who had helped her during the past months
was the only one to whom I could look, and she was
seemingly of too retiring a disposition to bear
io6 GREAT FURNACE FOR A GREAT SOUL
such responsibility ; but the " trees of the Lord are
full of sap," and if a leaf has fallen there is always
a fresh one developing to replace it, and Ling Ai
was preparing for a development which was going
to make her that which she still is, my faithful
and beloved fellow-missionary in this place. With
her quiet, gentle spirit she has won the confidence
of her pupils, and made possible for me that which
apart from her comradeship would have been
impossible, the establishment of a large school and
training-college where in happy fellowship Chinese
young women are working together for the women
and girls of their country.
THE POWERS OF DARKNESS
ioy
" What name hast thou ? And he said, Legion ! "
-- Whensoever the impure spirit goeth out from the man
it passeth through waterless places seeking rest ; and not
finding it there, it saith
" I will return unto my house whence I came out :
" And coming, findeth it empty, swept and adorned.
Then goeth it and taketh along with itself other spirits
more wicked than itself seven, and entering it, findeth its
dwelling there ; and the last state of that man becometh
worse than the first." The Gospel according to Luke.
108
CHAPTER XII
THE POWERS OF DARKNESS
BEING A RECORD OF SOME OBSERVATIONS
IN DEMONOLOGY
THE Chinaman, though perhaps the most
materialistic of Easterners, is no exception
to his neighbours in the large place which the
occult takes in his outlook. For him, the physical
world is peopled with spirits good and evil, capable
of exercising the most far-reaching influences
on the fortunes of men. These spiritual beings
are bound up in the forces of nature, and combine
to constitute that geomantic system known by
the Chinese as Feng-shui (wind and water),
by reference to which, matters of human life,
inasmuch as they are designed to court the good
influences and avoid those which are inauspicious
to the man, the time, and the place, are decided.
The Chinaman can never experience the feeling
of complete solitude which the Westerner knows
in wild and lonely places ; for him the hillside, the
ravine, and the mountain gorge are peopled with
presences best described as fairies, though in
nothing resembling the light-hearted beings which
this description generally conveys to the Western
mind. To him they present the appearance of
109
I io THE POWERS OF DARKNESS
aged, venerable beings, short of stature, with
white beards. Country, town, and human habita-
tions are alike haunted by psychic beings whose
condition cannot be exactly expressed by the
word spirit, neither form of Chinese belief admitting
of the conception of a pure spirit without matter.
These beings may be grouped into three classes.
Gwei is the term most constantly used by
the common people to indicate the being whose
influence is feared by all, and who receives from
every family some measure of propitiatory sacrifice.
We read in the /" li chao chuan, 1 or Divine Panorama,
that " every living being, no matter whether it
be a man or an animal, a bird or a quadruped,
a gnat or a midge, a worm or an insect, having
legs or not, few or many, all are called gwei
after death."
Apart from these are the shen, which have
been defined as Emanations de la nature per-
sonnifiees, not, as the gwei, spirits of the
dead, but an emanation of nature clothed with
a personality. They possess varying degrees of
intelligence and power. Their interest is not only
in the affairs of men, to the knowledge of which
they have access, but also in the secret springs
of human action. They reside in man as well
1 The Precious Regulations, a book written under the Sung
Dynasty. Its main tenets are derived from Buddhism, though
some writers inscribe the book among the Taoist documents.
Its sub-title explains its contents : " A precious record of
examples published by the mercy of Yu Di (the Jade Emperor
to whom is entrusted the superintendence of the world, the
Jupiter of the Taoists), that men and women may repent them
of their faults and make atonement for their sins." It includes
a description of the Ten Courts of Hell and the judgments pro-
nounced therein.
GHOSTLY INTERFERENCE in
as amongst men, and witness to his good or evil
works before the tribunal of heaven. The classics
of Chinese literature, recognising this, urge upon
readers the duty of decorum, purity, and care
even when unseen by human eyes and according
to the teachings of Confucius ; one of the char-
acteristics of the Princely Man is the discipline
he will exercise upon himself when alone.
Other spiritual beings are those who, by their
ascetic practices, have attained to a life higher
than that of humanity ; it will endure through
many centuries, and they are free to live in the
pleasant places of the earth with considerable
licence to enjoy good things, yet free from the
material claims which govern human life. These
are known by the term hsien, and are referred
to above as fairies. Each and all of these beings
touch the destinies of man at various points.
It is, however, in the important events of life
birth, marriage, and death that the interference
of the spirits is strongest, and such occasions are
used by the sorcerer as a means of extorting
money from his unfortunate victim. In the
Divine Panorama, we read that : " It is not
uncommon at the time of reincarnation to see
women asking to be allowed to avenge themselves
in the form of gwei before being changed into
men. On their case being examined, it is found
that as young women they have been seduced or
have been betrayed in other ways, such as the
husband refusing after marriage to fulfil his
promise to support the girl's parents, and in
consequence of her disgrace the woman has com-
mitted suicide." From that moment terror has
112 THE POWERS OF DARKNESS
dogged the steps of her husband, and he has gone
in hourly fear of sickness, accident, or sudden
death. If he be a student, the day of examina-
tion presents terrors calculated to ensure failure,
for he knows that the gwei has power to hold
his mind in subjection so that he cannot write
his competitive essay. The only hope, he has of
release is the taking of a vow, whereby he under-
takes to study and make known The Divine
Panorama or precious record transmitted to
men to move them, being a record of examples
published by the mercy of Yu Di, that men and
women living in this world may repent them of
their faults, and make atonement for their sins.
The punishments described include all the most
painful tortures of which Chinese ingenuity can
conceive. Truly, idols are the work of man's
hands, and they that make them are like unto
them !
Sculptural art also has left nothing undone to
represent the god as animated by the worst
passions of man, but skill and ingenuity must
inevitably stop short of the final act necessary
to convince man that communication is possible
between him and the spirit world. In order to
bridge this chasm a class of men and women
called sorcerers (mo-han and sheng-po) has come
into being, whose work it is to be the spokesmen
of the gods. With deliberate intent and elaborate
ritual they develop the mediumistic gift, and
learn how to attain conditions of frenzy and of
trance during which period the body is controlled
by a spiritualistic force. Not only as the medium
of the gods, but also as a resting-place for longer
THE MEDIUMISTIC OFFICE 113
or shorter periods to the homeless, unclean spirit,
do these sorcerers serve. At tremendous physical
cost for the medium is never long-lived they
accumulate great wealth, exorbitant sums being
demanded in recognition of services rendered
when freeing a family or village from the visita-
tions of a tormenting gwei. When sickness
enters his home, the Chinaman's instinct is to
attribute it to any cause rather than a natural
one ; his appeal on such occasions is to the sorcerer
whose time is largely occupied in giving what is
called medical advice, but is in reality the practis-
ing of the rites of exorcism. Sometimes he will
declare that the spirit of a sick person has strayed
from the body, and means will be set on foot to
secure its return. A woman I know, whose boy
had apparently died from typhoid fever, was told
that his spirit had been enticed away by a god
whose shrine was built on the mountain side near
the city where she lived. She took the child's
coat and walked to the temple ; here, standing
before the idol, she burned incense and begged
that the boy's spirit might be restored to her.
Holding the child's coat open to receive it, she
swayed to and fro, and with heart-rending cries
besought it to return. She waited until she felt
her request had been granted, and with a move-
ment as though to enfold the little wandering
ghost, she clasped the coat in her arms and swiftly
returning home, laid it upon the lifeless body.
The child revived, and is alive to this day.
Frequently, after supplication to the gods, the
clothes of the patient are carefully weighed ; a
procession is then formed in which one of the
8
114 THE POWERS OF DARKNESS
sorcerers holds a mirror directed backwards,
others, wearing scarlet aprons, carry brooms and
with slow and mystic movements sweep widely
on either side with the intent of gathering up the
wandering soul. Meanwhile crackers are fired
to the weird sound of a minor, falsetto lilting.
After a considerable journey over the countryside
they return to prove the success of their venture.
For this the clothes of the sick man must be re-
weighed to see whether the weight of the spirit
has been added to that of the patient's garments.
Should the smallest discrepancy be detected all
is well, and after feasting and opium the mo-han
pockets his fee and departs, frequently leaving a
prescription behind him, the results of which may
be more or less harmful. Whatever the result,
nothing will shake the faith of the people in these
degraded villains, for they can, by threatening to
call in the intervention of the gods on their behalf
strike terror to the heart of any man, and once
having sought aid of the sorcerer, the family is
pitiable indeed.
In a case which came under my personal observa-
tion, the spirit of a young woman from a village
at some distance from the one in which I was
staying, who had recently died in childbirth, was
said to have returned, having found herself in
difficulties in the spirit world for lack of means
to defray the necessary expenses. Illness became
so prevalent that necromancers were called in
and agreed that a medium must be employed.
The spirit made its requirements known, and by
promising the sacrifices ordained, the family
passed under a bondage from which none dared
IN THE GRIP OF THE SORCERER 115
to emancipate himself by omitting the prescribed
rites. Night after night, at the medium's com-
mand a table was spread at the cross-roads, on
which were laid the fantastic foods suitable to the
requirements of the departed spirit. Gold and
silver paper money was plentifully burned, crackers
were fired, and following the medium, a party of
men left to place earthen bowls containing grains
at various corners of the roads. j
Nothing but the deliverance of Christianity,
or a daring known to few, can set free those who
have been entangled in such practices.
I saw this medium whilst under spirit control.
Before a table elaborately decorated on which
incense burned, she threw herself into extraordinary
contortions, quivering and shaking, her finger and
thumb forming a circle, whilst the little finger
vibrated continuously. She sustained a perpetual
chant in the peculiar spirit voice, the minor strains
of which I find it impossible to describe. A
relative of the deceased acted as questioner, and
she dictated the terms by the fulfilment of which
the spirit consented to a reconciliation.
Another manifestation of mediumship may be
found in the more or less conscious yielding of
the personality to a controlling spiritualistic in-
fluence, known as demon possession. Remark-
able cases have come under my own personal
observation, and all incidents which I quote have
been witnessed by foreign missionaries who are
prepared to vouch for their accuracy. Those
brought to my notice by reliable Chinese are too
numerous to include in this book, but the fact
that men and women who lay themselves open to
ii6 THE POWERS OF DARKNESS
demoniacal influences become possessed, is beyond
dispute. In many cases the possession follows
upon a fit of uncontrolled temper, such as is not
uncommon amongst the Chinese ; in others it is
connected with the taking of a vow on the occasion
of illness in the home, when service was promised
to some particular god ; or again, it has been
undoubtedly connected with the neglect to com-
pletely remove idols from the home of a Christian.
In yet other cases, a spirit may take temporary
possession of a human body in order to find a
means of expression for some important com-
munication, and after delivering its message leave
the person unconscious of that which has taken
place. An instance of this occurred in a family
with which I am intimate. The eldest daughter
was married into a home where she received ill-
treatment from her mother-in-law. For several
years she was systematically underfed and over-
worked, and when at last she gave birth to a son
we all expected she would receive more considera-
tion. The hatred of her mother-in-law was,
however, in no degree abated, and when the child
was a month old she brought her daughter a meal
of hot bread in which the girl detected an unusual
flavour which made her suspicious. She threw
the remainder to the dog, and before many hours
had passed both the unfortunate girl and the dog
were dead.
Her father was away from home at the time,
the young men of the family meanwhile carrying
on the work of the farm. A few days later her
brothers and first cousins, strong, vigorous young
farmers, being together in the fields, her cousin,
SPIRIT COMMUNICATION 117
aged twenty-two, suddenly exhibited symptoms
of distress. He trembled and wept violently.
Those with him becoming alarmed at so unusual
a sight went to his assistance, intending to take him
home. He wept, however, the more violently,
saying : "I am Lotus-bud ; I was cruelly done to
death. Why is there no redress ? " Others of the
family were by this time at hand, and recognising
the effort made by the girl's spirit to communicate
with her own people whom she had had no oppor-
tunity of seeing in the hour of her death, spoke
directly to her, as though present. Telling her the
facts of the case, they explained that all demands
must remain in abeyance until her father's return,
when the guilty party would be dealt with by her
family whose feeling was in no sense one of in-
difference. In about an hour's time the attack
passed, leaving the young man exhausted and
unconscious of what had taken place.
The criminal law of China can only be put in
action under such circumstances by the girl's own
family undertaking a long and expensive lawsuit,
the result of which may end in the punishment of
the criminal, or may terminate in quite a different
way. In this case the demands took the form of
a requirement, the granting of which constituted
a tacit acknowledgment of guilt. The demand
in fact was that a funereal monument should be
erected in memory of the dead girl. This con-
stituted so uncalled-for an honour paid to one in
her position, as to be a public recognition that
redress was due to her, and a law case was avoided.
It may be remembered that in the first chapter
of this book an incident is recorded of Mrs. Hsi
ii8 THE POWERS OF DARKNESS
herself being tormented by a demon which had
gained its power over her, by reason of neglect
to completely destroy all idols at the time when
they were removed from the home. Such a case
is not singular.
Our first woman patient in the Hwochow Opium
Refuge became interested in the Gospel, and on
her return home destroyed her idols, reserving
however the beautifully carved idol shrines which
she placed in her son's room. Her daughter-in-
law who occupied this room, a comely young
woman, desired to become a Christian and gave
us a warm welcome whenever we could go to the
house. About six months later we were fetched
by special messenger from a village where we were
staying, to see this girl who was said to be demon
possessed. We found crowds of men and women
gathered to see and to hear. The girl was chanting
the weird minor chant of the possessed, the voice,
as in every case I have seen, clearly distinguish-
ing it from madness. This can perhaps best be
described as a voice distinct from the personality
of the one under possession. It seems as though
the demon used the organs of speech of the victim
for the conveyance of its own voice. She refused
to wear clothes or to take food, and by her violence
terrorised the community. Immediately upon
our entering the room with the Chinese woman
evangelist she ceased her chanting, and slowly
pointed the finger at us, remaining in this posture
for some time. As we knelt upon the kang
to pray, she trembled and said : " The room is
full of gwei; as soon as one goes another comes."
We endeavoured to calm her, and to make her
INHABITING IDOL SHRINES 119
join us in repeating the sentence, " Lord Jesus,
save me."
After considerable effort she succeeded in pro-
nouncing these words, and when she had done so
we commanded the demon to leave her, where-
upon her body trembled and she sneezed some
fifty or sixty times, then suddenly came to herself,
asked for her clothes and some food, and seemingly
perfectly well resumed her work. So persistently
did she reiterate the statement that the demons
were using the idol shrines for a refuge, that
during the proceedings just mentioned her parents
willingly handed over to the Christians present
these valuable carvings, and joined with them
in their destruction. From this time onwards
she was perfectly well, a normal, healthy young
woman.
Upon recovery from illness a woman I knew
yielded herself to the lord of hell for a certain
period, during which time she was under a vow
to wear black garments, to perform certain rites
as required by the devil, and to chant instead
of speaking. She told me once that she knew
all I could tell her of the Lord of Heaven and of
the death upon the cross of His Son, but that
she served the lord of hell, and his servant she
remained, only giving up her peculiar dress and
manner when the time of her vow had expired.
The yielding of personality to the possession
of a spirit no doubt seriously weakens the will
power. Many cases are on record of those who
once delivered, like the man in the Gospel from
whom the evil spirit had been cast out, uncon-
sciously again prepare the empty house to receive
120 THE POWERS OF DARKNESS
the evil guest, and whose latter state is worse
than the former.
It was to a woman, terror of the district in
which she lived, that a Chinese evangelist was
called. After prayer in which he and some
inquirers took part, the evil spirit in obedience
to their command departed. A few weeks later
on yielding to violent temper, she fell into a
worse state than before. The missionary of the
district was this time begged to go himself. As
soon as he entered the room the woman threw
herself upon the kang, rolling about in seem-
ingly great agony. The Chinese helper, Mr. Li,
rebuked the spirit, saying : " We ordered you
to leave. Why have you returned ? " "I could
find no dwelling-place," was the answer,
given with extraordinary rapidity, in the
curious spirit voice. " Find me a place to rest,
and I will leave at once." " We have come,"
said Li, " to command you to leave, not to find
you a place." Upon this the woman laughed
and clapped her hands, and in the struggle it
seemed as if the powers of evil were in the
ascendancy. As she still chuckled with amuse-
ment, Li said: "Let us sing a hymn," and
immediately the voice replied : "I too can sing,"
and forthwith shouted some theatrical songs.
Mr. Li then prayed, but there was seemingly no
power and the voice also mockingly prayed.
The missionary then interposed, saying : "I have
not come here to hold intercourse with demons,"
and forthwith authoritatively commanded the
demon to leave her. There was a struggle, and
she fell down unconscious on the kang.
CHRISTIAN EXORCISM 121
She came to herself in a normal condition and
apologised to the missionary for her state of
deshabille. Faithfully and sternly he rebuked her
for sin and for giving place to the devil. She
recognised her fault, and was from that time a
changed woman.
An evil spirit has been known to claim a young
girl as its possession, forbidding her marriage
under severe threats. It was in such a case
that a demon, driven from a man who had become
a Christian, went to a village eight miles distant
and possessed a young woman. Speaking through
her, it forbade her marriage and manifested itself
in the same manner as it had done in the man
from whom it came, compelling him to perpetually
rub one side of his face and head until there was
no hair left there. When questioned as to whence
it came the demon replied by giving the name
of this man, and to the question : " Why have
you left him ? " replied : "I have been turned
out, for that man has become a Christian."
Two methods of exorcism are used by the
sorcerers defiance and bribery. The Christian
method is that of commanding the evil spirit
in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ to release
the victim.
Some have been set free from the power of a
tormenting spirit who have not been subsequently
kept free, through refusing to yield to the control
of the great Spirit of Liberty. Pastor Hsi, than
whom none better understood the conflict in the
Heavenly Places, in earlier days would cast out
demons from all the possessed who were brought
to him, but in later years as experience grew, he
122 THE POWERS OF DARKNESS
refused to do so unless idols were destroyed, and
he had reason to believe there was a sincere
desire to obey the commands of God. He doubt-
less saw, as others have done, the futility of
temporary relief during which, in that mysterious
way so graphically described in the Scriptures,
the demon wanders in waterless places, joining
himself to others more evil than he.
Pastor Hsi learned to distinguish between the
greater and the lesser demons. With the latter
he would deal summarily, but not so with the
former. " This kind," he would say, " goeth
not out but by prayer and fasting ; " and thus
he would prepare himself for an encounter with
the powers of evil.
Young believers, doubtless impressed by the
Pastor's command over unclean spirits and
perhaps sometimes eager for a similar power,
were, as in the instances recorded in the Acts
of the Apostles, in serious danger. Pastor Hsi
urged them not lightly to undertake the casting
out of demons. He had been faced by the awful
realities of the spirit world, and on one occasion
at least, by reason of a thoughtless word, had
been troubled by the very demon he had cast
out and which attached itself to his person.
The experiences recorded here may be un-
familiar to many readers, and some will doubtless
think that madness, hysteria, or epilepsy may
account for them. To such I would suggest
the following points for consideration : Firstly,
the striking, detailed resemblance between the
cases seen now in heathen lands and those
recorded in the Scriptures ; secondly, the
A LIFE AND DEATH STRUGGLE 123
complete and lasting restoration resulting from
prayer and from the command in the Name of
the Lord Jesus that the demon should depart ;
thirdly, the appalling sense of the reality of the
conflict with the evil one at the moment of supreme
test, as the missionary is called upon to prove
his personal faith, and to give the command
which shall decide whether God or demon remains
conqueror on the field.
When the promise was given by Christ that
His witnesses should cast out demons, it was
with the foreknowledge that such equipment was
essential to those who obeyed His command to
disciple the nations. Let the signs following be
a reminder to weary warriors that the Captain
of our salvation is actively leading His hosts ;
and to the indifferent and half-hearted who
profess and call themselves Christians, let it be
a matter for serious reflection that there exist
churches in many heathen lands, the members
of which have not lost their first love and faith,
and against whom the enemy has come with his
whole strength.
A feeble conflict may provoke a feeble resist-
ance, but it behoves the aggressive warrior to
prepare for the fight of his life when he invades
the enemy's territory, where the conflict is not
with " mere flesh and blood, but with the
despotisms, the empires, the forces, that control
and govern this dark world."
THE LIFE STORY OF PASTOR WANG
123
" Happy the meek ;
For they shall inherit the earth."
I* The labourer whom Christ in His own garden
Chose to be His helpmate."
DANTE.
"- He went out to seek wisdom, as many a one has done,
looking for the laws of God with clear eyes to see, with a
pure heart to understand, and after many troubles, after
many mistakes, after much suffering, he came at last
to the truth." H. FIELDING HALL.
126
CHAPTER XIII
THE LIFE STORY OF PASTOR WANG
IF Pastor Hsi may be spoken of as the Paul
of the Shansi Church, Barnabas finds his
counterpart in Pastor Wang of Hwochow.
Though possessing none of the peculiar gifts
which made Hsi a leader amongst foreigners
and Chinese, he has exercised a remarkable
personal influence upon hundreds of lives, win-
ning by consistency and sincerity those with whom
he has come in contact. On our first arrival we
found him already in charge, conducting the
Sunday services and generally caring for the
Church members.
His unfailing courtesy, consideration, and tact
simplified many difficult situations, and the
exercise of his natural gift for gathering people
around him and drawing out the best in them
soon resulted in a rapidly growing work. He
was almost immediately chosen as Deacon, and
before long the office of Elder was given to him.
All turned to Mr. Wang in difficulty, sought his
advice in perplexity, and by the unanimous
desire of the Church he was in 1909 ordained
Pastor at Hwochow.
He has developed his gifts in the school of
adversity, for trouble overtook him in his child-
is/
128 THE LIFE STORY OF PASTOR WANG
hood when his father died only a few years
before the great famine which was to sweep over
the province of Shansi. Poor they always were,
and his love for his mother was intensified as he
saw the self-sacrificing devotion with which she
earned enough by her spinning to enable him to
continue his schooling. At the age of fifteen he
was married, and on the bride's arrival the
falsity of the middleman through whom the
engagement had been long ago contracted was
revealed, for the bride was a helpless cripple and
a serious burden on the already overpressed
household.
Food soon began to be scarce, for the rains
failed and the prospect of the wheat harvest was
poor. They endured and hoped, being mercifully
saved from the knowledge that they must now
enter upon a period when the inhabitants of
Shansi should touch the depths of human suffering
and call on death to end their woes. No pen
can fully describe the horrors of that time. When
summer and autumn crops had failed the rains
were still withheld, and despair seized on all as
they saw the impossibility of sowing the wheat
for next year's harvest.
The delicate bride, unable to withstand the
privations of that time, soon died, and Wang's
sister was married, so that he and his mother
remained alone to care for each other. The poor
young sister lived but a very short while in her
new home, and the circumstances of her death
were so tragic that Wang felt unable to forgive
the man who had been her husband. After
many years, when circumstances brought this
BOYHOOD SUFFERINGS 129
man to his home, he realised that Christ's com-
mand to forgive those who have offended against
you required of him a complete change of feeling
towards this once hated brother-in-law, and he
invited him to share his food as a sign of for-
giveness and reconciliation.
Every month the distress became more acute ;
weeds, leaves, bark of trees, and even some
softer kinds of wood were used as food, but
numbers were dying and of the one hundred
and twenty families which inhabited the village,
at last thirty only remained. The dead out-
numbered the living, and compelled by hunger
the latter were driven to sustain life by feeding
on the former.
Wang saw his mother's vain endeavour to
supply some kind of food on which they might
subsist, and his heart was torn to see her deprive
herself even now that there might be more for
him.
When the famine was at its worst, the most
tragic blow fell. His mother one day told him
it was her wish that he should accompany several
neighbours to a near village where lived a relation.
In those days none dared to travel alone, lest
in their weak, half-starved condition they should
fall a prey to man or beast. The pretext given
was the possibility of obtaining the loan of a
little grain from the aunt who lived there. Beggars
were many and givers few, and he wondered at
his mother entertaining any hope of such good
fortune.
He went, however, only to return a few hours
later, empty-handed. As he entered the court -
9
130 THE LIFE STORY OF PASTOR WANG
yard, heart-sick with disappointment, he called
for his mother and received no answer. Doors
and windows were locked on the inside, and
sick with apprehension he called the neighbours
to his help. On bursting open the door, they
saw her body swinging from a beam in the dim
recesses of the cave. The errand had been an
excuse to get him out of the way, while she per-
formed this act which was the last expression
of her love to him. She had chosen this solution
of their impossible position, hoping that, relieved
of her presence, he might be able to endure till
the coming harvest.
The body, wrapped in matting, was laid in an
empty cave. There was no money for a coffin,
and many were waiting like hungry wolves to eat
the uncoffined dead ; moreover, the boy and his
uncle were too weak to drag the body to the
burying-ground.
The months passed, and still the arid, sun-
baked earth refused to bear any green thing, and
the despairing people longed for rain which never
came. The second year of drought had come
and gone, and there was now nothing sown in
the fields, but on the seventh day of the fourth
moon of the fourth year of the Emperor Kwang
Hsu, the longed-for rain fell and hope revived.
At this time also a stranger came to the vil-
lage registering the names of survivors, and
announcing that foreigners had arrived and were
distributing grain that the fields might be sown
for an autumn crop.
The worst of the famine was over, but the
terrors of famine fever had yet to be faced, and
FILIAL CONDUCT 131
when the longed-for grain had ripened there were
in many houses none left to eat it, for whole
families had been wiped out.
Wang now naturally became an inmate of his
uncle's home, and gradually the conditions of
greatest horror were relieved. As soon as strength
had sufficiently returned, they made coffins and
prepared to bury their dead, that the required
rites should not be lacking which should bring
consolation to those who had entered the land of
shades without the necessary honours having
been paid to their memory. Not only for the
coffins was money required, but also to pay the
fees of the geomancers who must decide the site
of the graves and an auspicious day for the funeral.
In this one family, thirteen coffins were made
and graves dug in accordance with the following
plan : The four quarterings of the celestial sphere
were borne in mind, respectively governed by
the Azure Dragon, Red Bird, White Tiger, and
Black Tortoise, these being identified with East,
West, South, and North. The graves should face
the south, with White Tiger on the right and
Azure Dragon on the left, as these respectively
control wind and water.
On the day of the funeral the son, dressed in
coarse white cloth, with unhemmed garments,
white twists plaited with the hair of his queue
which he wore over his chest, and his head un-
shaven, walked as chief mourner, the wailing
relatives following the bier. In due course,
paper money and other articles were burned for
the use of the deceased, and fire crackers were
exploded to ensure the soul and the mortal re-
132 THE LIFE STORY OF PASTOR WANG
mains against the attacks of demons. The next
year in early spring on the day known as Pure
Brightness, in accordance with national custom,
Wang, dressed in white, again visited and repaired
the grave. For three years he wore signs of
mourning in his dress, and abstained from all
festivities. Thus he strove to leave undone
nothing which filial piety could contrive, to make
easier to his mother her sojourn in those mys-
terious realms whither she had passed.
For the next few years he worked as a silver-
smith in his uncle's shop, this latter being a
generous, kindly man, on whom the responsibilities
of business life sat only too lightly, for an illness
revealed the fact that the profits were not sufficient
to meet the interest due on the rapidly accumu-
lating debts.
Moreover, the sick man, with failing health,
had gradually acquired the use of the fatal drug
known as " foreign smoke," which some years
previously had been first introduced from distant
lands, and was gaining ground every year as a
profitable crop in the best soil. One ounce a day
had become the necessary allowance for the sick
man, and to Hwochow the nephew constantly went
in order to buy the needful supply. He tells
how he walked between the poppy fields and
heard the chant which always accompanied the
sowing of the plant :
" Of ten acres, fateful plant, thou claimest eight,
Thus only two are left for ripening grain ;
From distant lands thou wert brought here,
And hast devoured the best of China's sons."
Of famine, of typhus, and of the raids of wild
THE OPIUM HABIT FORMED 133
beasts, the inhabitants of Shansi had tasted the
full terrors, but now this more insidious foe was
working havoc in their midst. Amongst the
villagers it already counted its victims : one young
man had recently died as a direct result of its
use, for after taking his accustomed dose he had
so lain down that a portion of his wadded clothes
was touching the lighted stove. Shortly after,
his mother entered the cave to find this, her only
son, burned to death, the charred corpse being
all that remained to tell the tale. Another neigh-
bour had gradually parted with all his possessions,
and when nothing else remained on which to raise
money, he took his young wife and sold her to
an innkeeper in whose house she was not mistress
of her actions and had no choice but to obey her
purchaser. Nothing could save her, and the
tragedy of that broken heart still awaits His
judgment Who judgeth righteously.
The duty of preparing the pipe for his uncle
devolved on the young man, and before long he
himself was a victim of opium.
Meanwhile the uncle was weaker than formerly,
and a neighbour strongly recommended Wang to
visit the China Inland Mission station at Hwochow
to ask for some medicine, and this was how he
first heard the Gospel story. He was cordially
received by the evangelist, and given a dose to
be administered according to regulation, and told
to pray earnestly for his uncle ; this he con-
scientiously did, kneeling in the courtyard, and
saying : " Heavenly Father, have mercy on my
uncle." The next day, the sick man was better,
and continued so for many months.
134 THE LIFE STORY OF PASTOR WANG
Troubles soon thickened around Mr. Wang.
When his uncle died he found himself responsible
for business and home, and overwhelmed by
debts.
The great spiritual crisis of his life was at hand.
He had from childhood pursued, by what broken
light he had, an ideal which was intensely real
to him. In the five relationships wherein his
teachers had instructed him as to conduct, he
had endeavoured to be blameless : as subject to
ruler, son to father, younger brother to elder,
husband to wife, and friend to friend. He had
worked beyond his strength to clear himself of
debt, and when his best endeavours proved futile
he had sold his goods and distributed their price
amongst the creditors. Having taken the vow of
an ascetic, for years he was a vegetarian. Never-
theless, all had failed, and he bitterly reproached
himself with having fallen into the sin of opium
smoking.
Now it happened that a certain man, jealous
of Pastor Hsi's success, opened a rival opium
refuge in which he treated patients according
to the Pastor's methods, but with medicine of his
own making. The scheme was a contentious one,
and the man himself a cause of friction and diffi-
culty to the Christian community. It was to
this Refuge that Mr. Wang, now thirty years
old, poor, sad, and dispirited, came as a patient.
He found here a man who, according to the estab-
lished tradition of the opium refuge, received
even a degraded class of men into his house in
order to care for them, and performed many
menial tasks in the discharge of his duty towards
THE GREAT CHANGE 135
them. Also the good news of the Evangel was
proclaimed in the house. If the preaching were
not sincere but proclaimed a Christ of contention,
it behoves us to rejoice that even so Christ was
preached, for Mr. Wang heard something of the
life of Jesus, His love, and His humility, and
thought that he saw the very spirit of the doctrine
exemplified in the man who ministered to these
unfortunate patients. His heart was overwhelmed
by the love of God ; and the beauty of Christ, after
which he for so many years had blindly felt, lest
haply he might find, was now revealed to him.
On the ninth day, for lack of money, he was
obliged to cut his treatment short and return
home ; but henceforth nothing could separate
him from the love of God.
The rumour of his conversion soon spread, and
many visited the workshop where the silversmith
sat at his daily occupation, questioning him,
hearing his story, and taking note of the great
change in him. From the first he exercised a
great influence on men, and soon a few were joining
with him morning and evening for prayer and
reading of the Bible.
The last month of the year a period dreaded
by the Chinaman whose liabilities exceed his
assets found him in great straits. A fever had
laid him low, but as soon as strength returned
sufficiently to sit up in bed and work he was
plying his trade once more, and it was thus his
creditors found him when they came to press
their claims.
The Chinese universal system of debt does not
allow for the exercise of mercy, as each creditor is
136 THE LIFE STORY OF PASTOR WANG
himself a debtor, and his object in securing pay-
ments is to relieve the pressure brought to bear
on himself by his own creditors. Nevertheless,
the sight of the sick man forcing himself to work,
and the reputation he had for integrity so affected
them that they left the house again, begging him
to reserve his strength and free his mind from
immediate anxiety on their account. Health and
strength finally returned, and intercourse was
established with the Hwochow missionaries, which
resulted in his baptism. By the year 1900 a group
of Christian men and women formed the nucleus
of a church in the village. Mr. Wang this year
became a widower for the second time, the wife
he had taken some years previously dying in
childbirth, leaving him the care of two small
children. The newborn babe it was impossible
for him to rear, and he gave it away to a friend
whose wife had lost her own child and now took
this one to her breast.
As the dangers of that fateful year thickened
and news came of persecutions and massacres, the
Church trembled and wondered how she would en-
dure. Finally it became known that Boxers were
marching on the village. Mr. Wang was recognised
as leader of the local Christians, and to him they
would certainly come. He called his little boy
and girl to kneel with him in the cave, and com-
mitted the matter to *od. At sunset, a sound of
rushing wind was heard and a violent thunder-
storm burst on the district. Hail, wind, and rain
were followed by a terrific cloud-burst which
swept man and beast away in its irresistible
violence. The narrow mountain roads were com-
PASTOR WANG.
To face page 136.
HELPMATE OP CHRIST 137
pletely carried away by the course of the waters,
and the Boxers never came.
It was a great spiritual experience for Mr. Wang,
to whom God spake not in the thunder nor in the
storm, but in a still small voice which asserted
His boundless claim on the life preserved from
danger. From that time he was conscious of a
new strength and power, which resulted in his
shortly giving up his trade of metal-worker to take
charge of the Hwochow Men's Opium Refuge.
That position he still holds, and thanks to him
the good name and repute of this institution is
widespread. All his noblest gifts find their full
development in the work which makes hourly
claims on patience, forbearance, devotion, long-
suffering, meekness, and all those qualities which
are bound up in the one characteristic of love.
From amongst the men in his charge a steady
stream return home to destroy idols and subse-
quently request baptism. When the question is
asked : " How came you to believe ? " the answer
will be : "I owe it to Pastor Wang, who taught
me about Christ and taught me to pray." His
methods are not those of the evangelist who
gathers in the crowds, but one by one he wins
them to the Lord. In one particular only did I
hear him censured by a Christian, and that was
on the occasion of his ordination to the pastorate.
A Church member protested that a stronger man
than Wang Bing-guin was needed for the work.
" See my case," he said. " When, as you know, I
was recently the subject of persecution, I came
to Elder Wang for assistance. He listened to my
story and urged me to pray and have patience.
138 THE LIFE STORY OF PASTOR WANG
This I did, but matters only got worse, and I re-
turned to insist on his taking action on my behalf.
Would you believe that he spoke of nothing more
practical than prayer and patience again ? On
the third occasion, when I had very nearly made
up my mind to go straight to the Mandarin, he
only urged : ' I fear that prayer and patience are
your only lawful weapons, my brother.' '
The opinion of the heathen regarding Mr. Wang
was forced upon my attention in a rather startling
way. We were preaching one day to a group of
village women, and as an old lady in the crowd
heard us explaining that " all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God," she said : " Those
words are untrue, for I knew a man who never
spoke a false word and never did an unkind
deed." Interested, we asked who he was, and
she replied : " Oh, he afterwards followed your
Church ; his name is Wang Bing-guin."
A VISIT TO THE BASE
139
" Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye are needing
all these things."
" I would be undone if I had not access to the King's
chamber of Presence to show Him all the business."
RUTHERFORD.
, " Dear children !
Let us not be loving in word nor yet with the tongue,
But in deed and truth."
The First Epistle of John.
CHAPTER XIV
A VISIT TO THE BASE
IT was with mixed feelings that we came to
realise that the days were few until that
experience known as " taking furlough " was
to be ours.
It was indeed hard to leave our post. England
seemed so far away, and the thought of having
to readjust oneself to English ways and English
dress was not inviting. The desire to see relatives
and friends pulled toward the West, but I realised
that an even stronger magnet was drawing me
with tremendous force to remain in the land of
the Celestial.
It was arranged that two experienced missionaries,
the Misses Higgs and Johnson, should join Miss
Mandeville who had been with us for nearly two
years, during our absence. A year of strenuous
effort on their part in a post requiring the exercise
of tact and forbearance, enabled us to see marked
progress in the work upon our return a year later.
In order to carry out our plan of advance new
buildings were necessary, and a consultation was
held as to the sum required. On the most econ-
142 A VISIT TO THE BASE
omical computation this would certainly be 500,
and we left for England with the hope and prayer
that if it were for the glory of God this sum might
be forthcoming.
The ntonths passed by, and sums various were
contributed. We were due to leave England in
March, and we were still far short of the required
amount, when in February, my friend and Pastor,
Dr. Campbell Morgan, arranged that I should
have an opportunity of telling the members of
Westminster Chapel of the work in Hwochow. It
was Sunday morning and the usual collection for
Church expenses had been taken, but at the close
of the service Dr. Morgan announced that those
who wished to do so might send contributions to him,
which would be forwarded to me. Thanks to the
generosity and kindness of those concerned, we left
for China with our 500 less 50. In March we
started on the interesting journey through Siberia,
bringing with us that which was of more value
than much gold, Miss French's younger sister,
Francesca, to join us in our missionary work.
We reached Moscow, that fascinating city with
its churches, Kremlin, and numerous historic
interests. We seemed to be at the parting of the
way where East and West meet and merge. Partly
for the sake of economy and partly for the interest
of being more with the people of the land, we decided
to travel, not by the train de luxe, but by the
Russian daily post train. We were thus able with
comfort to do the journey from London to Peking
for 20 each, whereas by the International train
35 is required for fare alone.
How keenly we enjoyed it all ! The wide, roomy
RETURNING WITH SUPPLIES 143
railway compartments, the "slow, steady movement
of the broad gauge train, enabling one to read and
write with comfort ; the rush with a tin kettle
for hot water from the huge tanks with unlimited
supply, provided at each station ; the buying of
the day's provision from the peasants who crowded
to the platforms with eggs, butter, and milk;
the reading aloud of some Russian book in the
Slavonic surroundings, which contributed so much
to make its disconcerting unexpectednesses seem
the natural expression of the Russian tempera-
ment.
How delightful it all was ; but when we reached
Manchuria Town and found ourselves in the midst
of Chinese, we felt the thrill which comes with
the first sight of home. A few more days, and we
were in Peking.
We walked in the acres of parkland which sur-
round the Temple of Heaven, and saw its blue-and-
yellow-tiled roofs outlined on the azure of the
Eastern sky. We stood in the pavilion where
the " Son of Heaven," fasting, rested before he
proceeded to pray for his people in the double
office of priest and king.
What gorgeous scenes the midnight skies have
witnessed where the altar raises its marble carv-
ings and mystic symbols to the open vault of
heaven. No sign of idolatry is visible ; here he
worshipped Heaven and Earth, and bowed before
the Supreme Ruler, praying for the millions of
his people to whom he stood as father. A mag-
nificent conception ! The mind of man could
scarcely rise higher in ethics of worship, as in
solemn splendour the beasts are slain, and the
144 A VISIT TO THE BASE
prostrate Emperor under the starlit sky calls
upon the unknown god. Confucius seemed to
realise the unbridgable chasm between the offender
and his judge when he said : " If a man have offended
against heaven, there is none to whom he can
pray " ; and here the ruler of this great people
prayed, but with a recognition of limitation
which brought him, later on, back to the familiar
idol shrines with an offering of incense and accept-
able gifts.
From the quiet dreams of that place, we returned
to the hustle and bustle of native city life. Our
rickshaw men, with marvellous speed and agility,
were soon rushing us through the crowds of pedlars
shouting, yelling, and calling on every passer-by
to purchase their goods. Beggars, scarcely recog-
nisable as human beings, knocked their foreheads
on the ground, beseeching us to give them some
cash. The moral support of a policeman is in-
adequate to the task of protecting the newcomer
who has yielded to an impulse of pity.
On we rushed through massive gates, where we
ran serious risks of an overturn in meeting a string
of heavily laden camels, with sonorous bell hanging
to the neck ; brightly and gaily dressed ladies
passed and repassed in rickshaws ; men on horse-
back, coalheavers, foreign women on bicycles,
shining motor-cars, and glass-panelled, silk-uphol-
stered carriages composed a moving picture, with
the gates and huge enclosure of the forbidden
city as background. From the pandemonium
of Chinatown we swung into Legation quarter,
where macadamised roads take the place of cobble-
stones, and for this you call down blessings ou
UNSUSPECTED RESERVES 145
civilisation, the rubber tyfes of your rickshaw
running rapidly and smoothly over the way.
Without transition, you pass from East to West.
The Wagon-Lits Hotel's fine buildings face you,
large foreign shops abound, at night electric lights
will blaze over the streets still filled with pleasure-
seekers, thoughtless and forgetful, though the
words written in days of siege can be clearly
descried on the broken fragment of Legation wall :
" Lest We Forget."
At the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank we
entered to transfer money which was to enable
us to erect those longed-for buildings in Hwochow.
Whilst I was transacting my business, a voice
behind me addressed Miss French by name, and
the cashier looked up quickly. Immediately
upon the conclusion of my business he asked :
" Is that Miss French of Taiyiianfu ? Fifty
pounds have been lying to her account for three
years, and we have been unsuccessful in tracing
her whereabouts." Identity having been fully
established the money with interest was paid
to us, and with our 500 complete and some
extra, we journeyed homewards. A strange coin-
cidence you say ! Yea, verily, unless " we take
our courage in both hands, and call it God."
After a train journey for the next two days,
came slow travelling from Taiyiianfu to Hwochow.
Long and weary days, in which one takes many
hours to accomplish thirty miles, turning in at
night to a Shansi inn. A wonderful place it is,
carried on with the minimum of expense and
trouble to the owner, whose responsibility ends
when he has provided you with a kettle of boiling
10
146 A VISIT TO THE BASE
water in an absolutely empty room, the walls
and ceiling of which are dirty beyond description.
In the courtyard are a few sheds where your
mules are stalled for the night, while horses and
donkeys, kicking and braying, vie with insecta
in enlivening for you the hours of darkness.
Meanwhile your landlord has sent to ask whether
you are requiring food. The bill of fare offers
mien, 1 with accompanying condiments of salt,
vinegar, and red pepper. Should you be a bon
vivant you will ask for onion and a few bean
sprouts, though this entail the reckless expendi-
ture of the further sum of one penny. You
lodge a protest at such extortionate charges, for,
as your servant remarks, " at such a price we
cannot afford to eat." Two sticks cut from a
tree serve for table cutlery. " I hate luxury,"
said Goethe, " it kills the imagination." Here
imagination flourishes. Through the dirt and
grime of the wall I can decipher a poem which
tells me that when I come to reckon with my
landlord, my account will be as flowing river.
Other scrawls eulogise him, and assure me :
" Whoever sleeps upon this kang, sleeps in peace."
(I must have been an exception !) An idol, half-
torn, hangs in one corner of the room, and in
another I discover a Christian tract. Who has
p'assed this way before me ? I am aroused from
my reverie by the sound of a voice, which utters,
without seeing the humour and pathos of the
remark : " The foreign devil is reading characters."
I turn to see an eye filling the space of a torn
piece of window paper, shamelessly scrutinising
1 Vermicelli cut with a knife.
BACK TO THE FRONT 147
me, and as I do so the intruder withdraws to
discuss with the muleteers my failings, virtues,
and intimate habits. Long before light the men
are calling us, and we arise, anxious to lose none
of the cool morning air. Delays occur, for last
night a portion of the harness was pawned to
pay for the men's supper. Either we supply the
necessary money to redeem the pledge, or wait
there indefinitely. We first declare that nothing
will make us produce that sum which they are
not entitled to receive until the journey's end,
but both they and we know that a compromise
must be effected. Alas, it is already light and
the sun rises glorious, but to-day we are to reach
home, and nothing seems hard. A short stay
for dinner, and at sunset the gates of Hwochow
are visible. I cannot describe these homecomings ;
the welcomers and welcomed know, and that is
enough.
THE BUILDERS
149
' The house is not for me, it is for Him.
His Royal thoughts require many a stair,
Many a tower, many an outlook fair,
Of which I have no thought, and need no care.
Where I am most perplexed, it may be there
Thou makest a secret chamber holy dim,
Where Thou wilt come to help my deepest prayer."
GEORGE MACDONALD.
" Toil, workman, toil ; thy gracious Lord
Will give thee soon a full reward ;
Then toil, obedient to His word,
Until He come.
Sing, pilgrim, sing ; Christ's mighty Hand
Will bring thee safe to that bright land ;
Then sing it is thy Lord's command
Until He come." ANON.
15
CHAPTER XV
THE BUILDERS
RELATING HOW THE SUPPLIES WERE USED
IN an incredibly short space of time OUT
compound was overrun by a gang of one
hundred men from the province of Honan. The
land in Southern Shansi has been too fertile and
yielded too rich a crop of opium to leave us good
workmen ; when therefore we want work quickly
and well done, we inquire for a Honan or Shantung
man.
Our helpers searched the countryside for likely
trees, which were felled and in a few days made
their reappearance as pillars and beams. Old
buildings were bought, demolished, and sorted
into usable and unusable material, so that as the
walls went up the empty spaces about the city
increased in number.
Before dawn each morning we were aroused by
the beating of a loud gong which called the men
to work. This work they might not leave until
the last streak of daylight had faded, except for
the brief space allowed for breakfast and dinner,
when huge cauldrons of a sticky mass of boiled
millet was ladled out in generous portions.
Millet is the cheapest grain food procurable, and
152 THE BUILDERS
the Shansi man cannot thrive upon it ; to the
Honan man it is the staff of life, and in conse-
quence their rate of wage is lower.
A race of giants they were, handsome, magni-
ficently built, and well skilled in the use of their
simple tools. In the use of the adze they were
particularly proficient, and able to plane a section
of wood to within a hairbreadth of thickness by
the use of this alone. They liked to use it for
the most delicate work, so certain are they of
their accurate manipulation, and on one occasion
when I supplied a bandage to bind a wound on
the finger of a workman who had met with a
slight accident, as I turned to take up my scissors,
the head carpenter, without a trace of humour on
his face, stepped forward with a four-foot long
adze, and offered to sever the calico.
Heavy work requiring the combined strength
of several men, such as the beating in of founda-
tions, or the lifting of a great beam, was accom-
panied by the sound of the weirdest rhythmic
chant, sustained for hours if needs be.
A night watchman was employed, who in
accordance with the custom of the country con-
stantly beat a loud gong, by means of which any
intending thief is made aware that all are not
asleep. The English policeman's rubber sole, and
the Chinese watchman's noisy methods, strange
to relate, attain the same ends.
On one occasion, hearing blood- curdling yells
at midday, we inquired and were told that a work-
man had caught a tramp, red-handed, in the act
of stealing his tools. Our informant described
him as aged, starved, and infirm, " truly pitiable,"
PROBLEMS OF LABOUR 153
and strung up by his thumbs to a beam. The
sound of those yells made us fear that something
akin to the famous death by slow degrees, so
constantly referred to in Chinese jurisprudence,
was being carried into effect at our very door.
Pastor Wang, the merciful, was already interced-
ing on the man's behalf, and we sent a peremptory
message that the thing must stop. Our desire
was acceded to, and the wretched victim made
his escape, more terrified than really hurt.
The next reminder of the incident was the
following item in the builder's final account :
"To missing tools, unclaimed in accordance with
missionaries' loving heart, 2s."
One of the minor expenses connected with our
building operations was the inviting of guests
to a succession of feasts. The occasion of the
stamping of the contract in the Yamen, which
marked the conclusion of the middlemen's re-
sponsibility in the purchase of property, was
celebrated by a handsome meal, to which all in
any way connected with the transaction were
invited.
The necessity of conciliating our neighbours to
the inevitable trouble which the dust and Utter
of building would entail upon them, caused us
to spread another feast, to which all who could
shelter beneath the term " neighbour " were asked.
By the building contract we found ourselves
obliged to conform to the customary requirement
made by workmen that every tenth day we should
provide a " reward for work," which, in fact,
amounted to supplying one pound of white flour
and a handful of vegetable to each workman,
154 THE BUILDERS
This arrangement ensured pleasant relations
between the men and ourselves, for each time
they were our guests grievances were forgotten
and a fresh start made. The swinging of the huge
beams of the church roof was the occasion for
extra festivity.
This custom of inviting guests does much to
smooth over difficulties, and is customary, not
only in matters of building, but also on numerous
other occasions. For instance, the autumn rains
swelling the river necessitate the use of a ferry
boat for about two months of the year. The ex-
pense of this is met by public subscriptions from
the more important people of the city, and a
small fare for each passenger. Those whose
names appear on the subscription list are invited
to an annual banquet given by the ferrymen ;
I have often wondered what would happen were
some simple soul to accept the invitation, which
in reality is only intended to serve as a reminder
that subscriptions are now due.
It is part of the convenient social system of this
land that no woman would presume to put in an
appearance on such occasions. Throughout the
building operations the only part of the feast in
which we were privileged to share which privilege
was unquestioningly granted was the payment
of all expenses.
How glad we should have been to find such an
easy solution to the problem of the importunate
widow. This aged lady entered a claim for two
stones occupying nine square feet of waste land,
to the sale of which she declared her consent had
never been given. The matter had been referred
THE STATION COMPLETE 155
to middlemen who decided in our favour ; neverthe-
less, we learned to dread the daily tap, tap, of her
stick, and the shrill squawk of her strident voice
as she came with fresh deeds (some of them dating
back to former dynastie's) of which she demanded
the examination. She was generally accompanied
by friends, all of whom were prepared to support
her claim.
I have seen her stand by the workmen, and
with her nagging tongue drive them, and the
foreman, almost to despair. It was impossible
to recognise her rights even to the extent of
feasting her, so we endured until the walls were
built, and then to compensate her for her trouble
handed her the equivalent of 2s., which sum she
accepted, but every time we meet her she reminds
us that we are occupying land which belongs to
her.
The first autumn frosts saw a large expanse of
waste land, which had formerly lain around our
compound, transformed into a neat series of
courtyards, and a spacious church occupied
seventy feet of the main street frontage, providing
sitting accommodation for a congregation of six
hundred. In all, we had erected fifty gien 1 of
room space, in addition to the church.
Thanks to an unusually profitable rate of silver
exchange which held during these few months,
and owing to the faithful oversight and scrupulous
economy of Pastor Wang and his helpers, our
500 proved sufficient to meet all necessary
requirements of Church, School, Bible School,
and Dispensary.
1 The space between two beams in a Chinese building.
WOMEN'S BIBLE TRAINING SCHOOL
157
l - Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel."
Motto of the Hwochow Bible School.
" Cornelius halted at a doorway in a long, low wall the
outer wall of some villa courtyard, it might be supposed
as if at liberty to enter, and rest there awhile. He held
the door open for his companion to enter also, if he would,
with an expression, as he lifted the latch, which seemed to
ask Marius, " Would you like to see it ? " Was he willing
to look upon that, the seeing of which might define yes !
define the critical turning-point in his days ? " WALTER
PATER.
138
CHAPTER XVI
WOMEN'S BIBLE TRAINING SCHOOL
WHICH TELLS HOW A LINK WAS ESTABLISHED
BETWEEN WESTMINSTER AND HWOCHOW
BIBLE SCHOOLS
AMONGST the courtyards which constituted
our new premises was one into the walls
of which was inserted a stone, engraved with the
words in Chinese and English : " Women's Bible
School. Erected by the Congregation of West-
minster Chapel, London. Jesus said: 'I am the
Way, the Truth, and the Life.' "
The women's rooms had never been large enough
to hold those who were anxious to come, and now
at last suitable premises were going to make
possible the fulfilment of a long-cherished plan
that of giving adequate training to suitable women.
It seemed a long step from the days when, freely
roaming around the villages, we taught some of
these women the very first character they knew,
spelling out with them the text : " God so loved the
world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,
but have everlasting life." The next step had been
attendance at a station class for twenty days,
sometimes repeated yearly but never leading to
advanced work. In our new premises we divided
159
160 WOMEN'S BIBLE TRAINING SCHOOL
the students into three groups : Firstly, those
attending a ten days' course, who served as train-
ing-ground to a second group of more advanced
women who had passed the initial stage, and
who now entered for the two years' course of
Bible training and practical experience as evan-
gelists. Thirdly, a picked few who, having re-
ceived more regular teaching, were able to continue
their own studies and help to superintend the work
of the juniors, especially on the practical side,
meanwhile giving a considerable portion of their
time to aggressive evangelistic work.
Foremost amongst these was Mrs. Liang, mother
of Ling Ai, the headmistress of the girls' school.
Strong, true, a woman of no ordinary ability, little
escaped her penetrating glance. It was in middle
age that she first heard the Gospel, an indirect
influence of the opium refuge work; for Mrs.
Liang had never smoked opium, nor had any
member of her family. A neighbour, however,
had, and on her return from the Refuge she pro-
duced with pardonable pride the copy of St.
John's Gospel which she had bought, and better
still, could read. It was hard for Mrs. Liang to
see the former degraded opium smoker ahead of
her in learning, and she persuaded her husband
to give her the needed help. She borrowed the
book and started at the first chapter. She had
not been to the Mission House nor had she seen
the missionaries, but before she met them she
had met their Lord. It was but one more proof
that " the words I speak unto you they are
spirit, and they are life," and the Holy Spirit
illuminating the written pages brought home to
09 JS
'
II s
MRS. LIANG 161
her its meaning. " He came unto His own, and
His own received Him not," she read, and how
can I say what took place ? She tells me that she
was convicted of sin, and that she found her
Saviour.
Intercourse with Miss Jacobsen was soon estab-
lished, and under Mr. Cheng's influence her hus-
band also believed. Mrs. Liang was baptized,
her own feet and Ling Ai's were unbound, and the
latter became a pupil in the girls' school.
Mrs. Liang herself lived quietly at home until
the year 1900. At that time the local Boxer
leader was a near neighbour of hers, and he was
prepared to kill these well-known adherents of
a foreign religion. On recovering consciousness,
however, from the trance which preceded the
issuing of inspired orders, he uttered the surprising
words : " Return each to your own place ; let each
busy himself with his own affairs." Not daring
to disobey his followers scattered, and the small
group of Christians was safe. Ling Ai has described
the experiences of those days in the following
words : " For months we were as those whose
hair is bound around the neck, not knowing at
what moment we should be called upon to die,
but after our deliverance we united in saying :
' We have been under the shadow of the Almighty.' '
When we came to Hwochow Mrs. Liang, realising
our difficulties, was one of the first to come to our
assistance, and quickly endeared herself to us by
her thoughtful, kind, practical ways.
To the work of preaching she gave herself with
unusual energy and devotion, so that to-day there
are few women in Hwochow who do not know her,
ii
1 62 WOMEN'S BIBLE TRAINING SCHOOL
and scarcely a courtyard that has not been visited
by her.
Assisting Mrs. Liang is Mrs. Bah, who the first
time I saw her refused to have any intercourse
with us. She was the senior wife of a wealthy
man who had died early, leaving the two widows
to arrange matters as best they could. The
younger one smoked opium, but was the proud
possessor of a son who by law was the property
of the elder wife, but it was obvious that to the
younger was due the honour of introducing a son
and heir to the house.
The fact that Mrs. Bah the younger at last
became a Christian and left her evil habits, did not
make the elder woman more friendly, though she
had in time to confess that life was easier for
both under the new conditions. After some time
the Christians of the village received her per-
mission to use a cave in her spacious court for
worship, in return for their offer to put it in repair.
" It can do no harm," she argued, " and repairs
are badly needed." Every evening they met to
read the Bible and pray, and Mrs. Bah, prompted
by curiosity, took her spinning to within earshot.
She understood little, but the reiteration of the
words " Heavenly Father " puzzled and interested
her. "If it really" be the Heavenly Father whom
they worship," she reasoned, " they should be
in the best room." The thought grew upon her
until a change was effected, and to this day Mrs.
Bah's guest-room is the village church. She soon
left her spinning-wheel to join the worshippers
and gradually came to the triumphant belief,
weak at first, but taking slow shape, that " the
MRS. BAH 163
attitude of the soul to its Maker can be something
more than a distant reverence and overpowering
awe, that we can indeed hold converse with God,
speak with Him, call upon Him, put to use a
human phrase our hand in His, desiring only to
be led according to His will." This was the
spiritual story of Mrs. Bah.
I could tell of many others and the theme is
tempting, for by so many and such varied paths
have these comrades travelled. To mention only
our youngest student who at the age of sixteen,
member of a heathen family, heard the Gospel of
Jesus Christ from an elder sister, a patient of the
Women's Opium Refuge. She determined that
as far as in her lay she would be a Christian.
Yielding to her wishes, her parents engaged her to
the son of a believer. After her marriage, when
her entrance to the Bible School was suggested
we demurred, but agreed to her attending a station
class, only to discover that once more the Spirit
of God had accomplished that of which we knew
nothing. This young woman, who had only
heard the Gospel from a sister who herself did not
believe, had been truly converted. Reference to
the curriculum in Appendix A will make it clear
that the subject which has the pre-eminence is
Bible study. The students prepare the books there
mentioned, and during the years they are with us
cover also the course indicated by Dr. Campbell
Morgan's Graded Bible, which Miss French has
translated for their use.
The instruction of inquirers in the village centres
is undertaken by those women evangelists who
have completed their course. In places to which
164 WOMEN'S BIBLE TRAINING SCHOOL
they are invited by the local church they hold
classes of ten days' duration, following the course
of study as in the central station. By this means
a large number of women are under instruction,
and heathens are brought in contact with the
messengers of the Cross.
City and village visiting forms an important
branch of the training, and last but not least,
classes taken under criticism, when it falls to the
lot of the missionary to ask the questions which
might occur to a heathen audience, and to impress
upon the students the necessity of clear presenta-
tion of the Gospel. It is desirable that they
should express the things which have gripped
them in an individual way, not adopting a Western
colouring but using to the full their Eastern
knowledge : " Originality is like a fountain head ;
orthodoxy is too often only the unimpeachable
fluid of the water company."
The prodigal son, for example, naturally smoked
opium in the far country, and the Chinese pictures
so represent him. It was not, as we have sup-
posed, in her confidence that oil would be supplied
that the widow's faith was exemplified, but rather
in her willingness at Elisha's command to go forth
on a borrowing expedition when she was already
so deeply in debt.
We are sometimes treated to illustrations truly
Eastern in character, as the following example
will indicate. It was accepted by the audience
as a solemn exhortation, as was the preacher's
intention, the missionaries being the only ones
present to whom the humorous side was evident.
The subject was the importance of a whole-
CHINESE ORIGINALITY 165
hearted acceptance of the Gospel, and the foolish-
ness and uselessness of a half-hearted belief. A
man, we were told, was begging by the roadside ;
he was very ill, and a passing doctor had pity on
him, and gave him some medicine which the man
promised to take. Questionings, however, arose
in his mind as to the reliability of the said doctor,
and yet he could not but take the drug, as he felt
so ill. A compromise was decided upon, and he
took half the dose. For a few hours he felt wonder-
fully well, and rejoiced in his restored condition ;
towards night the pain was more acute than
before, and he was at his wits' end. How he
regretted his folly, for his illness was certainly more
serious. A few months later the same doctor,
travelling over the same road, met the same man
now reduced to a bag of bones.
" What 1 " said he ; " are you not the man to
whom I gave medicine last time I came this way ? "
" I am," he replied, " and I have been much worse
ever since."
" Worse ! " exclaimed the physician ; " how is
that ? "
" I only took half the dose," said the man ; " I
did not venture to take the whole."
" Alas ! alas ! " he replied, " how terrible !
Your illness is the result of parasites attacking your
vitals. That medicine would have killed them all.
Had you taken the full dose you would have been
well ; had you tasted none there would have been
hope for you. You took a small dose, and the
parasites were sent to sleep, and later, when the
effect of the drug had gone over, they awoke more
lively than ever. Having once tasted of the drug
166 WOMEN'S BIBLE TRAINING SCHOOL
and experienced its effect, nothing will induce
them to be trapped a second time. Return home,
and prepare for a lingering death."
In the moral drawn, the folly of an endeavour to
serve two masters was made clear a truth which
all present felt to have been powerfully inter-
preted.
THE DRAW NET LET DOWN INTO THE SEA
" Take up God's inspired word anywhere you like, and
while we are called upon to adore the sovereign counsel
of God and to say constantly that it transcends and surpasses
all that we can do and all that we can expect, yet He
does not bring the season of refreshing without engaging
His children to help Him. The splendour of the grace
may sometimes conceal man's effort, but it never cancels
it." Rev. ELVIT LEWIS.
168
CHAPTER XVII
THE DRAW NET LET DOWN INTO THE SEA
AN ACCOUNT OF FRESH EFFORTS TO REACH THE
MULTITUDE AND BRING THEM TO DECISION
METHODS in mission work are many, and
the diversities of gifts bestowed by the
one Spirit are manifest in the striking variety of
means put forth to bring to a knowledge of Chrisj;
the people of the lands in which the members of
His Church are called to work.
The teacher rejoices to see the change brought
about by discipline and regular life in those com-
mitted to his care. The doctor, exercising his
gift, succeeds where others have failed in estab-
lishing confidence and friendly relations which
prepare a road for those who follow. The itinerant
missionary sacrifices the comfort of a settled
dwelling to carry the Gospel to those who dwell
outside the radius touched by the central station.
By the exercise of his peculiar gift, each expresses
the longing that in the hearts of the people he
sees around, without God and without hope, may
take place that greatest of miracles called con-
version. Nevertheless, every missionary has ever
to guard against a most subtle and deadening
influence which may be likened to poisonous
169
1 70 THE DRAW NET
gas in the enemy's country, lulling him to a
condition wherein the idolatrous practices of the
people around, instead of stirring him to greater
activity, come to be regarded as customs of the
nations amongst whom he lives, deplorable but
interesting practices.
The horror experienced on first seeing men bow
down to wood and stone may give way to a com-
placency which ceases to expect an immediate
response to the quickening and convicting power
of the Spirit of God, and philosophises on the
gradual emergence of light from the kingdom of
darkness. The deadening of that vitality which
drives a man to the seeking of the lost is one of
the master-strokes of the enemy of souls, and
one which no man doing spiritual work can afford
to ignore.
The sense of this urgency, and a great desire
that our Chinese fellow-workers might realise
the fulness of their vocation as evangelists, em-
boldened us to move in what was then a some-
what new direction so far as North China was
concerned, by the holding of a six days' Mission
for women in our new church in the spring after
its dedication.
Miss Gregg of Hwailu, in the Province of
Chihli, when travelling through Shansi some years
previously had conducted meetings for school-
girls in several stations, upon which the blessing
of God manifestly rested. From that time plans
were being matured in the minds of the mission-
aries at Hwochow for a Mission to women
in that city at the earliest possible date. The
erection of a church building which could hold
THE FIRST WOMEN'S MISSION 171
the number expected made that dream a
possibility. The city and villages were visited
by the women evangelists, placards were^posted
on the walls, and every effort was made to widely
advertise. Prayer was offered throughout the
Church that God would so prevent us in all our
doings that we might see His salvation.
The men gladly undertook the arrangements
for catering, made necessary by the fact that
women cannot go to the shops to buy food for
themselves, and this department was splendidly
managed. We prepared to receive three hundred
guests, and about three hundred and fifty took
advantage of the invitation, who, with school-
girls, Bible School students and helpers, provided
a resident congregation of little short of five
hundred. They came long distances on donkey-
back, in carts, or even walking many miles.
Large numbers of heathen, attracted by the
unique sight of so large a concourse of women,
swelled the numbers at the daily evangelistic
meetings, and it was an inspiration to see the
new church packed with women and girls quietly
and reverently listening to the Gospel message.
A room was set apart where silence was observed,
that those who wished to do so might pray
without fear of disturbance. A band of helpers
was appointed to teach the passage for the day,
and outside the church in an adjoining court
was a book-stall, and here a brisk trade was done
in hymn-sheets, gospels, and block-printed texts.
The elder scholars, anxious to do their part,
acted as stewards ; each one had charge of some
part of the building, so that should a baby cry
THE DRAW NET
and threaten to divert attention, she could carry
the small offender to an adjoining room and keep
it there until such time as- it was prepared to
enjoy the larger gathering. One of the " old
girls " took charge of small children, and managed
her creche so successfully that we were undis-
turbed by the younger portion of the community.
Each morning before seven a gong sounded
and all assembled for prayer. After breakfast
a short Bible - reading was given, the subject
chosen being the sevenfold " I Am " of St. John's
Gospel. These meetings were simple and evangel-
istic, and many testified to blessing received as
they saw afresh all the wealth laid up in Him
who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
It was to the eleven and four o'clock meetings
that the crowds gathered. While the congrega-
tion was assembling a choir of schoolgirls sang
hymns, and after reading of Scripture and prayer
by a Chinese lady, the address was given by
Miss Gregg. The women listened intently as she
talked, and illustrated her remarks by objects
so familiar. The fan used for winnowing the
grain is, I think, now never used by those who
attended without the thought asserting itself
afresh that thus He will separate the wheat
from the chaff.
This Mission accomplished all that we had
hoped. Christ the Redeemer was revealed to
some who, in obedience to the wishes of the head
of their household, had passively substituted
Christianity for that system of idolatrous ob-
servances which had constituted their religious
life.
THE HARVEST 173
Christ the Master laid His claim upon some
who had believed, but never served.
Even heathen women, listening to the earnest,
convincing words, were startled to a realisation
that the offer of salvation with which they were
faced compelled a decision on one side or the
other, that the detached view with which they
had hitherto regarded Christianity could no
longer be maintained. Amongst the schoolgirls
were some, daughters of Christians, who were in
precisely the same position as girls in a home-
land. They neither doubted nor questioned, but
they now realised that the whole matter had
assumed a personal aspect, and the individual
spirit was summoned to an audience with its
Maker.
The Evangelists, Bible women, and ripe
Christians amongst us suddenly saw the fields
white, and every dilatory thought which sug-
gested the perennial excuse : " There are yet four
months and then cometh the harvest," was
silenced in a sense of immediate urgency : "I
must be about my Master's business." This
gathering affected ? a wide area, for our visitors
came from the "(countiesTof Hungtung, Chao-
cheng, and Fensi, now all gladly welcomed by
the Hwochow church, and missionaries from those
districts came to share with us in the campaign.
Six years have passed, and once more a Mission
for women is advertised to be held on the occasion
of an idol procession which brings thousands
into town from the neighbouring villages. This
time our own evangelistic band was sufficiently
174 THE DRAW NET
strong to undertake the speaking to an audience
almost entirely composed of heathen, who now
heard, not from a foreigner, but from their own
people, of the Truth as it is in Jesus. Once more
we saw decisions made and the evidence of the
working of God's Spirit.
Thus was a further step taken in aggressive
work amongst the women, and a further impetus
given to the self -propagation of the Gospel, and
to the fulfilment of the prophecy of Pastor Hsi
that even Hwochow should see a Resurrection
morning.
I *
LIFE AMONGST THE UPPER TEN
THOUSAND
J7S
l Is it not delightful to have friends coming from distant
quarters ! "
CONFUCIUS.
" All within the four seas are brethren."
CONFUCIUS.
" Society and solitude are deceptive names. It is not
the circumstance of seeing more or fewer people, but the
readiness of sympathy, that imports." EMERSON,
176
CHAPTER XVIII
LIFE AMONGST THE UPPER TEN
THOUSAND
RECORDING HOSPITALITY SHOWN TO us BY
THE OFFICIAL CLASSES
IN the centre of every Chinese city stands the
Yamen, where resides the Mandarin, ad-
dressed as " Father of the people," before whom
their wrongs must be laid, and who, as direct
representative of the central Government, exercises
autocratic power. His word is law, a man must
kneel in his presence when addressing him, and it
is a penal offence to enter his private dwelling-
court unsummoned. His term of office is limited
to a few years, and a change of official entails the
removal of his whole suite. The new Mandarin
will bring with him his secretaries, underlings,
men and women servants, and the prosperity of
a city will largely depend upon the personal
attitude of the *' Great Man " to matters of
reform.
Our intercourse with the Hwochow Yamen has
been frequent, and owing to the strong attitude
taken by the leaders of the Church against inter-
ference in law cases where Christians are concerned,
it has been of a purely social character.
12
i;8 THE UPPER TEN THOUSAND
My first visit was in answer to a request from
the Mandarin that I would go to see his wife who
was suffering from acute toothache. I was re-
quested to make preparations for an extraction,
and was informed that if it suited my convenience
I should be fetched that same afternoon. Ac-
cordingly, I made ready and in due course the
Yamen carriage arrived, a springless, but elegantly
upholstered cart, and accompanied by a woman
servant we started. Ahead of us an outrider,
dressed in a long gown, wore a hat of the inverted
bowl shape, decorated with a spreading scarlet
tassel. Behind followed other retainers, and thus
escorted we passed in triumphal procession through
the quiet Hwochow streets. After many bumps
and anxious moments as we splashed in and out
of mud-pits, we turned into the wide space which
surrounds the outermost entrance of the Yamen.
Here crowds of men were reading the latest pro-
clamation pasted to the walls, whilst others,
talking earnestly, discussed the case tried that
very day, of the poor man who in vain sought
redress from the rapacity of his wealthy neighbour.
He had knelt, and laying his forehead to the
ground at the feet of the Mandarin pleaded for
justice, but only to find that his condemnation
was a foregone conclusion. All these groups
were scattered by the yells of our outrider and
the cracks of our carter's whip, and the sellers
of cooked food gathered their piles of little bowls
and swiftly set them out of harm's way, for the
habits of Yamen retainers are well known to the
populace, and there is little satisfaction to be had
when complaints are presented and compensation
AN IMPERIAL INVITATION 179
for destroyed goods is claimed. With ever-increas-
ing speed and corresponding agony, we were
driven up the steep ascent which leads to the
outer courtyard, where after a preliminary bump
down two steps we found ourselves on compara-
tively smooth ground, and rolled along a broad,
high, paved path leading to the second great
archway where our conveyance came to a stand-
still, and we waited whilst our cards were taken
and presented to the ladies we had come to see.
Many soldiers were standing about, and various
instruments used in the punishment of prisoners
were fastened to the walls as warning to all who
passed that way. A very few minutes and we
were invited to leave our cart and follow the man
appointed to conduct us to the innermost court
where the Tai-tais 1 lived ; slaves attended
us on either side, whilst the retainer went ahead
carrying our scarlet cards breast high before him.
A vista of courtyards opened one from another,
and we saw a number of little ladies in charming,
brilliant, butterfly-like garments coming to meet
us with odd, graceful, stilted movements. Every-
thing must from this point be done according to
the strictest etiquette, so the Tai-tai of least rank
came first to meet us, and led us back to where
stood the head wife, in whose presence we respect-
fully removed our eyeglasses and made a bow.
There were a large number of women about,
for this Mandarin had two wives besides several
daughters-in-law. We were invited to a reception-
room where carpets, felts, tables, and chairs were
all scarlet in colour, and here were served with-
1 The polite term for the wife of an official.
i8o THE UPPER TEN THOUSAND
delicious fragrant tea and small cakes, in which
were mixed rose leaves, nuts, and sugar. All
the preliminary questions required by good
manners were first asked our respective " vener-
able ages " and details of our various near relatives
but soon curiosity overflowed into many inquiries
concerning our " honourable country," and we
were helped to more tea and cakes, and begged
to make ourselves at home. We, on our part,
led the conversation back to matters concerned
with the object of our residence in this country,
and received from our hostess extravagant compli-
ments upon our extraordinary ability and learning,
the reputation of which, they said, was well known
to the Mandarin.
The object of my visit was then mentioned, and
I was asked to see the tooth, of whigh, being
very loose, I recommended the extraction, and
was able to assure the patient that the pain would
not be very great. Many of the younger women
gathered around her, comforting her, and covered
her eyes that she might not see the forceps ; they
begged her to remember that the pain would soon
be over, and as soon as I could induce her to open
her mouth, I removed the troublesome member.
" How wonderful ! " they all exclaimed. " Why,
it did not hurt at all ! "
After such a surgical triumph, long-neglected
and half -forgotten pains were remembered by the
bystanders, and all the ladies on my next visit
came to me with some complaint. We sought to
awaken in them the s sense of those far deeper ills
which they so little realised, finding once more
that in following the method of Christ a sense of
GRACIOUS ENTERTAINMENT 181
need had been awakened: "Ye seek Me because
ye did eat of the loaves and were filled. I am
the bread of life."
As soon as the operation was over, we suggested
that we must be returning home, but this could
not be allowed until we had partaken of further
refreshment, and servants appeared with delicacies
meat balls in gravy, flavoured as only a Chinese
cook can flavour, lotus seeds in syrup, luscious
fruits, sweetmeats, and a drink of apricot kernels,
sweet to excess. The meat balls were daintily
wrapped in pastry, and as she helped me to some
of these, the Tai-tai said : " I think you do not
care for pork." I replied that we did not as a
rule eat much pork. "I am so glad," she said;
" these are fowl, and therefore you can eat them
without fear." A few days later we heard that
the head cook was under severe punishment and
incarcerated in a dungeon, because he had not
taken the trouble to find out what were our special
tastes in matters of the table, and had served
pork in place of fowl ! Some years later he was
a patient in our Refuge, and told Mr. Wang
that he would like to make a feast for us. We
thought this extremely kind of him, considering
what he had suffered on our behalf, and he was
asked to our kitchen to prepare the food, while
we invited some friends to share it with us. I
think he was a man of preconceived ideas rather
than a genius at making inquiries, whatever his
talent in the culinary art, for he said he knew
foreigners liked sweet things, and he served us
twenty or more courses of the sweetest food it
has been my good fortune to eat !
1 82 THE UPPER TEN THOUSAND
Our visit proved to be the commencement of
a most friendly intercourse. A few days later the
outrider, cart, and retainers were at our door
again, this time escorting the ladies who had come
to return the call. They enjoyed the outing
considerably, as is easy to see they would, when
one remembers that they had lived three years
in Hwochow and had now crossed the threshold of
their home for the first time during that period.
They could have no intercourse at all with the
bourgeoisie of the town, and apart from visitors
staying at the Yamen, enjoyed no social life.
In due course we were invited to an " eight times
eight " feast, consisting of elaborate courses, in
which the sweet, the fishy, and the meaty alter-
nated in bewildering miscellany, whilst our vision
was delighted by the elegant dishes, the lovely
coral china, the pure form of the many-branched
candlesticks, and, above all, the graceful, gay little
ladies who manipulated the difficult, slippery food
with such a masterly command of their nimble
chop- sticks. Here for the first time I tasted the
delicious birds'-nest soup, gelatinous in con-
sistency and fishy in taste, being, in fact, a mass
compounded of seaweed and small fish into a
nest by a sea-bird.
So far all was well, but we came home faced by
the difficulty that it was now our turn to offer a
return feast which must be equally elegant. There
was only one cook in the city who was capable of
the preparation of a suitable repast, and he was
in their employ, and though some surprising
things are possible in China, we did not see how
we could secure his services to cook a meal for his
A RETURN CALL 183
own mistress. We were, therefore, thrown back
upon our slender resources, and decided that an
English dinner-party was the only possible solu-
tion of the problem. Here at least we were tread-
ing upon familiar ground, and were free from the
snares of Chinese etiquette. We need have no
fear of giving offence to our guests by placing
the fish upon the table with its head toward that
quarter which would indicate their position to be
of military instead of civil rank, and many other
equally subtle and delicate questions would now
have no terrors for us. We felt it incumbent upon
us to do all in our power to please the eye as well
as the palate, and while we fully realised our
inability to delight our guests with such beauty
as that to which they were accustomed, we did
our best. Salmon is a great asset, being decorative
as well as tasty, and only the hard-pressed know
the many uses of a tin of sardines. Jelly is a
certain success, and the last plum-pudding from
home, cut into dice and blazing in a blue flame,
looks mysteriously clever. A bottle of cochineal
is worth its weight in gold on such occasions, and
the piece montee, which none but an expert could
have recognised as spinach, beetroot, carrot, and
yam tinted pink, would have done no discredit
to Benoist. The novelty of handling spoon and
fork, and even so dangerous a weapon as a knife,
did much to enhance the pleasure of the meal.
The conversation was now much more intimate
than on the earlier occasions, and both sides
felt free to ask questions on matters which had
excited curiosity. " Does the sun ever shine
in your country ? " asked the Tai-tai. " I have
1 84 THE UPPER TEN THOUSAND
heard that England is a land of shades." " When
I left my home in Szechwan I was very homesick.
Are you ? " inquired another lady, but before I
could reply, her companion answered for me :
" The ability of these ladies is so great that they
would be incapable of such feelings." A guest of
their own, who had spent much time in Shanghai,
was thoroughly conversant with foreign dress and
manners ; she described the former with great
originality, but admitted that even she was baffled
by one thing : " The spotted webbing with which
foreign ladies cover their face, is it worn for pur-
poses of concealment or as an aid to the eye-
sight ? " My answer that it served to keep the
hair in place carried no conviction, for she had
already remarked that though combs are so much
in evidence in the foreign woman's coiffure, she
seemingly makes little use of them !
The conversation turned to the subject of a pro-
clamation recently issued which forbade the bind-
ing of children's feet : " Alas, the people of China
are not so easily governed as those of your honour-
able country," lamented the chief Tai-tai. " The
Mandarin finds it impossible to enforce this one
order, whilst he read in last week's paper that in
England a man is imprisoned for refusing to send
his child to school, for omitting to vaccinate it,
and the article even stated that a parent is
punished for refusing to call a doctor to see a sick
child, even if it be a girl ; but the newspapers
are full of fabulous tales ! "
The next few months saw a growing intimacy
and a constant exchange of presents. We were
often able to indulge in the famous delicacy of
THE TAI TAIS' PERIL 185
buried eggs, of which the not unpleasant, slightly
ammoniated flavour is so much appreciated by the
Chinese. Once we were faced by a real difficulty
on the occasion of receiving a present of meat,
when conscientious Mr. Fu, fearful lest we should
shelter under a liberty of conscience whereby we
would eat and ask no question, hastily came to
warn us that this had been offered to idols before
being presented to us. Under these circum-
stances we had no option but to crave leave to
refuse a present whereby a brother might have
been caused to stumble.
How little we dreamed of the trouble which
would so soon break over the official classes with
the overthrow of the Empire, and the establish-
ment of a Republic. I remember the last visit
we paid to those friends, and our departure from
the Yamen in the brilliant moonlight, whilst huge
lanterns lighted our path through the archways
and great gateways. As we left the huge en-
closure the guard fired the first night watch.
" Except the Lord keep the city the watchman
watcheth but in vain." That night the Revolu-
tion broke out in Hankow, and the next time we
saw our hostesses they were in terrible distress,
imploring our permission to make our house their
shelter, should the hatred of the mob break forth
and their residence be rioted. They were in a most
defenceless position, for the Mandarin had taken a
journey to Taiyiianfu, and did not return. He
was one of the old school, and faithful to the tradi-
tions of the Manchus whose court he had accom-
panied to Sianfu in the flight of 1900. It was still
far from certain which party would gain the
1 86 THE UPPER TEN THOUSAND
ascendancy, and he, as most of his class, wished
to refrain from an expression of opinion until the
situation was clearly defined. This, however, was
not allowed, and during the massacres of the
Manchus in Taiyiianfu he was arrested, and made
to declare himself.
He held the Hanlin degree, the highest honour
to which the Chinese scholar is admitted, the
Emperor himself conducting the examinations.
Faced by his enemies and fearing summary
execution, he sheltered himself behind the age-
long reverence for scholarship which exists in China
as in no other country : " Death has no terrors for
me," he calmly said, " but, alas, that such a scholar
should be lost to China ! " No armed body-
guard could have afforded him such protection
as this transference of insult from his own person
to the learning he represented. No man present
was prepared to strike a blow at the embodiment
of the Divine Right of Scholarship.
He lived to return to Hwochow, where he faced
death a second time and was dragged through
the streets by an angry populace, but finally
escaped and with his wives reached a place of
safety.
THE REVOLUTION OF 1911
187
'- For an event to be great, two things must be united
the lofty sentiment of those who accomplish it, and the
lofty sentiment of those who witness it. No event is great
in itself, even though it be the disappearance of whole
constellations, the destruction of several nations, the
establishment of vast empires, or the prosecution of wars
at the cost of enormous forces : over things of this sort
the breath of history blows as if they were flocks of wool.
. . . Hence the anxiety which every one must feel who,
observing the approach of an event, wonders whether those
about to witness it will be worthy of it." F. NIETZSCHE.
CHAPTER XIX
THE REVOLUTION OF 1911
AND HOW WE WERE AFFECTED BY IT
THE revolution of 1911 burst on us like a bolt
from the blue. One day we were mildly
interested at the signs of trouble in far-removed
provinces, and the next, the thing was in our
very midst. The first intimation of local dis-
turbance met me in the shape of a contingent of
men, parents of some of my scholars, who were
introduced to my presence with the startling
information that they had come to fetch away
their daughters, not daring to leave them in a
marked place such as the girls' school would
inevitably be, and afraid to delay, lest roads should
become so dangerous that their removal would
be impossible. I had no option but to agree, and
at earliest dawn the next day a few carts and a
string of donkeys conveyed them from a side
door as quietly and unobtrusively as possible.
Two days later the news of a massacre of the
Manchu population of Taiyiianfu reached us ;
and in accordance with the request of the parents,
we hastily scattered all the remaining pupils
whose homes were nearer at hand, and the
whole city yielded itself to a condition of
ipo THE REVOLUTION OF 1911
panic when every wild report was spread and
believed.
The little group of foreigners in this town is
popularly supposed to have access to the most
far-reaching sources of information on matters
national and international ; therefore when we
saw fit to scatter our resident pupils to their
homes, the city concluded that secret information
had been conveyed to us of trouble ahead. That
same night, whilst we slept peacefully in our
beds, terror so seized the populace that every
young woman who had a village home to which
she could withdraw, fled to it. Where horse or
donkey was not available they escaped on foot,
carrying the bundle which held their clothes,
and the gates being shut at dark, numbers climbed
down the steep incline of the city wall rather
than risk the dangers which they feared might
threaten them in the town.
Certainly an anxious time was ahead for all
of us. Postal service was interrupted, and we
were completely cut off from intercourse by post
or telegraph with the outer world. It was un-
certain whether the movement would declare
itself anti-foreign or anti- Christian, anti-dynastic
or anti-Republican. Such uncertainty was felt
on this latter political point, that it was a difficult
time indeed for the large number whose plain
object was to be on the winning side, whichever
it might be. Even the commander of the military
forces, sent to restore peace in a neighbouring city,
provided himself with the badge of either party,
that he might, at the city gate, affix that which
was representative of the predominant feeling.
CHINESE POLITICS 191
The Chinaman has for so long held the view that
politics are no individual concern of his, seeing
that statesmen are paid to give their time and
brains to the consideration of such questions, that
it would seem unnatural to be expected to have
an opinion on such a technical matter as to whether
the Government of the land should remain Imperial
or become Republican.
On our compound were collected seven foreign
women and about a dozen Chinese girls whose
homes were in distant towns, varying from the
borders of Mongolia in the north to places twelve
days' journey by road in the south.
Much anxious thought was devoted to the
question of how the various members of our com-
munity could be placed in safe keeping, should it
become imperative for us to leave the place.
Finally, Sir John Jordan's recall of all British
women and children reached us, and feeling
it our duty to obey orders, we hastily boarded a
few girls in suitable Christian homes, and left
with the others by the North road. A long line
of nine litters swung through the great archways
of the city gates, soon after dawn on 4th December
1911, to convey us to our nearest point on the
railway line, five days' journey away, passing
en route through a city where we knew that a
trustworthy Christian family would take charge,
pro tern, of some of our Chinese girls.
It was with relief that we saw the distant
railway embankment, which indicated to us that
we had reached the end of our litter journey, and
might now expect to be shortly whirled back to
the midst of Western civilisation.
192 THE REVOLUTION OF 1911
The time-table indicated 9 a.m. as the hour of
departure for the morning train, and long ere this
our shivering group assembled on the bleak plat-
form. We were evidently not to be kept waiting,
for the train stood ready on a siding, and our slight
baggage was soon placed in the racks of the only
third-class carriage attached to a goods train.
Those who have spent years away from the sight
of a train will understand the sense of luxury
with which we seated ourselves, and waited to hear
the whistle which would be the sign of our de-
parture, and feel the swift, easy movement which
would carry us over so many miles of road almost
without a trace of weariness. Our number had
increased to about twenty foreigners, assembled
in response to Sir John Jordan's command from
various stations, and pleasant conversation so
engaged the time that impatience was under
control, even though the sun was high in the
heavens and still the train was stationary. Our
servants, who had heard much of the marvels of
steam-engines, still sat on patient heels at the edge
of the platform ; but doubt of the superiority of this
Western notion gained on their minds as the sun
passed the meridian and they, with twelve miles
to walk for their night's lodging, left us still
standing motionless. " A train is a handsome
thing to look at, and the amount of iron used in its
manufacture must be immense, but for practical
purposes give me a cart," was the report they
brought home to inquiring friends at Hwochow.
In the afternoon we steamed away, under escort
of a young man who had just been appointed
Secretary of the Foreign Office in the provincial
HELD UP ON THE LINE 193
capital by the new revolutionary party. His
qualifications for the post consisted chiefly in the
fact that, having been employed by a foreign
firm as piano-tuner, he could make himself under-
stood in the English tongue on simple subjects.
As far as the station of Yangchuen all went
well, but here fresh delay and the unwelcome
announcement from our escort that a battle was
in progress farther down the line, the metals were
required for the conveyance of soldiers, and he
must beg of us to make ourselves as comfortable
as possible for the night in our compartment.
Protest was useless, and we had to submit to see
the engine detached and ourselves abandoned,
a useless derelict, on a rusty siding. The
Secretary of the Foreign Office supplied us with
hard-boiled eggs and biscuits, and made his exit,
leaving in charge of the gentlemen of the party a
packet of silver which he begged might be handed
to his mother. By morning stationmaster,
guards, porters, and clerks had all vanished from
the scene, for the news had come of a reverse to
the Revolutionary forces.
Four days and nights we stuck to our third-
class carriage and our siding ; for part of the
time, trains thundered past carrying men to the
front, and we were informed that the famous
regiment called " Dare-to-die " had gone to crush
the Imperial troops. With a thrill we saw these
brave warriors pass, but a brief period sufficed
to dispel " the great illusion," and twelve hours
later the same men were dashing back to Taiyiian-
fu, carrying a terrible tale. " Had we stayed
longer we should have been dead men ; the bullets
13
194 THE REVOLUTION OF 1911
were falling in our midst." The officer, however,
gave a different explanation of their return.
" Poor chaps, they are worn out, and I must take
them back to get a night's rest," he said. No one
cared for our plight, as cold, hungry, and deserted
we watched the weary day pass to night, and the
yet more weary night give place to a dreary
dawn. Such experiences are not to be desired,
for they who know China best, and the anti-
foreign feeling which may at any time manifest
itself, are aware how quickly such a position may
become critical.
One thing only besides our miserable carriage
had been left on the line, and that was three
trolleys. The hour dawned on the fourth day when
our exhausted patience refused further service, and
we determined those trolleys should be made to
carry us and our goods to some inhabited region,
be it friendly or inimical. That day and the next
we spent racing down and crawling up the gradients
of the line to Niangtzekwan. The " Dare-to-
dies " boasted of having mined the line, and this
did not conduce to ease of mind in being the first
to travel over it, especially when we rushed
through long tunnels. The line is one which
taxed the ingenuity of engineers to the utmost in
its construction, and is one succession of light
bridges spanning deep chasms, tunnels, and long
gradients. Luckily for us, we were travelling in
the downhill direction, else our journey had been
impossible. If the brave " Dare-to-dies " were
too hurried to leave the line mined, they had
taken time to destroy it in some places, and
once a broken-down engine blocked our path.
AN ADVENTUROUS FLIGHT 195
The fleeing soldiers had found the engine-driver
preparing to take in water, but they would have
none of his lagging ways, and compelling him to
drive ahead, were soon forced to abandon the
useless locomotive. Each such obstacle was a
lengthy hindrance, and the kind gentlemen of
our party were obliged to organise a breakdown
gang to overcome the difficulty. Our trolleys,
with all the baggage, had to be transferred to
another line. Effort and energy were not spared,
and the following midday brought us face to face
with the first engine carrying Imperial soldiery
towards Taiyiianfu. At Niangtzekwan Pass
we were under the Dragon flag once more. The
houses of the foreigners there were completely
wrecked, and my recollection of that place is a
land of feathers, contents of the beds of the
Frenchmen who had left their homes, and would
return to find nothing but a heap of ruins and
a litter of broken glass, china, and furniture,
smothered in feathers and presenting a sad wreck-
age of what had once been a home. That evening
we reached an inn where food warm, satisfying
food was to be had, and twenty-four hours later
we steamed into Tientsin station, greeted by a
hearty cheer from a friendly group, for we had
been missing and untraced since we left Yutze.
CHANGED CONDITIONS
'97
- The Master said : The people may be made to follow
a path of action, but they may not be made to understand
it." CONFUCIUS.
" I have seen a Chinese graduate of a Western university,
dressed in proper Western clothes, in his dress-suit, with
an opera hat crushed under his arm, beseeching the goddess
of mercy in her temple, with many rich gifts, to give him
a male child." Rev. C. SCOTT.
" From time to time Jesus was offered a place in the
Pantheon, but Christianity perceived that the Pantheon
was the place for dead gods." Dr. JOHN HUTTON.
198
CHAPTER XX
CHANGED CONDITIONS
WHEREIN SOME, THOUGH FOLLOWING A PATH OF
ACTION, FAILED TO UNDERSTAND IT
THE very week that the British Minister issued
passports for women to re-enter Shansi
saw us in Tientsin on our way inland. Those
precious documents which enabled us to return
to our work were eagerly received, and we lost
no time travelling over the familiar ground. How
easily and smoothly we now sped over the iron
rails as compared with our former journey ; we
need now take no interest in gradients, nor fear
that the train would not start at the appointed
hour, nor convey us to our destination.
We found ourselves in a strange country. In
place of the dragon, the five-colour Republican
flag was everywhere in evidence, which by the
Chinese is thus explained : China's eighteen pro-
vinces are represented by the red line, Manchuria
by the yellow, Mongolia by the blue, Hi, Chinghai,
and Sinkiang by the white, and Thibet by the
black ; the ideal of the Chinese republic, a united
territory, being indicated.
Soldiers in semi-foreign uniform lined up on each
station platform to salute the train, remaining at
199
200 CHANGED CONDITIONS
their posts until the puffing monster was out of
sight. At Taiyiianfu were further surprises.
No man wearing a queue could enter the city.
Should he make an effort to do so, the soldiers
guarding the gates speedily removed the append-
age with a pair of large scissors.
The shops vied with one another in having
the very latest " Republican " goods ; the buttons
one bought were "Republican"; all school-
books were changed to the latest " Republican "
editions ; the cloth trade mark was " Patriotic."
Everything was Republican, and we began to
realise that China, far from being the conservative
country we had thought, was one of the most
progressive.
As we came to districts where the regulations
had been less severely enforced, we found the
queue replaced by the most extraordinary head-
dress ; the hair, varying in length, was sometimes
braided and sometimes held in place by a strip
cut from a petroleum tin, and bent to a semi-
circle. The more wealthy members of society
affected a style similar to that of an English school-
girl, the flowing locks reaching to the shoulders
and held from the face by a circular comb. Others
allowed the tresses to fall as nature dictated,
keeping them of such a length that with very little
trouble the plait might again appear, for as some
remarked : " Who knows, maybe we lose tails
to-day, and heads to-morrow ! "
The hats were even more wonderful. In place
of the neat, circular cap, every shape and size was
to be seen. Round hats like a pudding-bowl,
straw hats, hard oblong hats, soft hats, home-made
REVOLUTION IN DRESS 201
hats, erections of cardboard, giving proof that
some devoted wife or mother had done her best
to copy with the means available, probably only
cardboard and paste, a tall hat, which her lord
described as having seen on some journey towards
Western communities. Women's dress was like-
wise being revolutionised, and skirts were extra-
ordinary. One young lady whom I met, desiring
to be more up-to-date than the rest, wore the
so-called foreign dress back to front, and was far
more satisfied with her appearance than the
charming little lady who accompanied her, dressed
in the dignified, elegant attire of her own people.
Not only had the style changed, but travelling
south we missed the bright-coloured clothes which
had always added a touch of beauty to the land-
scape. We discovered that with the introduction
of the Republic, sumptuary laws were being en-
forced which co nmanded the exclusive use of
earth-coloured garments for the men, and forbade
the wearing of silver ornaments to women. Pro-
clamations followed one another in rapid suc-
cession, several of which were framed with a view
to altering the standing of the army. From
ancient days China has regarded the soldier as
belonging to the lowest grade of society ; the
highest place is given to the scholar, and next to
him the farmer, who on account of his labour for
mankind ranks high. The artisan is placed third,
but the trader, seeing that he only distributes
and does not produce, comes just before the soldier,
who neither producing nor distributing, but only
destroying, ranks lowest in the social scale. One
proclamation stated that no one was to say that
202 CHANGED CONDITIONS
it was infra dig. to enter the military profession.
It certainly needed some such move on the part
of the authorities to add to the prestige of the
army. A few days before the recruiting agents
had been through the district. " Only those
wearing the queue will be enlisted " was the, to us,
amazing dictum. Upon inquiry we found that
former aspirants had given considerable trouble
by running home when the labour became too
arduous. As the donning of military uniform
necessitated the removal of long hair, it was
obvious that the new brigade would be freshers,
and, as our informant said: "Never having left
home before they will not know the way back ! "
The next order forbade us to speak of any day
as " unlucky." Now from time immemorial, some
days have been regarded as good and others as
bad for such important events as weddings and
funerals ; in fact, almost every day of the year
is controlled by some fortunate or untoward
influence, governed by the conjunction of the
" Celestial Branches " and " Earthly Stems," com-
plicated with innumerable elemental antipathies
and affinities.
As an example may be mentioned wood, which is
antagonistic to metal, but has an affinity for fluid
from which it draws its sustenance, whereas the
metal forged into an axe serves for its destruction.
The "Earthly Stems" are represented by sym-
bolic animals, and have zodiacal signs and control
of certain hours. Of the twenty-eight zodiacal
constellations, seven are infelicitous and no one
will risk entering upon a new venture on these
days. To repair the kitchen stove on a day when
SUPERSTITION FORBIDDEN 203
fire was in the ascendancy might cause a con-
flagration, and to go to law on the day when water
is the controlling element is equally foolish, for
the tendency of water is to fall, and this may be
the fate of the overdaring litigant. On a day
controlled by the snake it would obviously be
foolhardy to start on a journey, for with such a
slow traveller as your controlling genius the
journey might be impeded.
The calculations necessary for the correct ad-
justment of these various influences provide a
livelihood for astrologers and fortune-tellers, but
this proclamation, at one fell swoop, attempted to
abolish their profession. The order was issued,
and I suppose in time the yellow paper faded
in the sun ; some read it, many talked of it, but
they still chose the day which according to their
calendar was the auspicious one, and no man
hindered them.
Other proclamations followed in due order :
there was to be no music at weddings or funerals,
only good cash was to be used, women were to
unbind their feet, and brides were not to wear
embroidered gowns. We listened respectfully, as
in duty bound, and waited for the pendulum to
swing.
Upon one point, however, the powers were in-
sistent. The Western calendar must take the
place of the lunar. The actual change of date
was a small matter, but this alteration upset the
whole organisation of Chinese life. The New
Year season is one which ensures to the Chinese
family its annual gathering, and all the subse-
quent festivals date from that, the greatest.
204 CHANGED CONDITIONS
The orders were too insistent to be trifled with,
and we, in common with all the government
schools, closed to enable our pupils to be at home
for the 1st of January. New Year scrolls were
exhibited outside every front door, but apart
from this, the day passed unnoticed. Instead of
paying and receiving calls, inviting guests and
enjoying the family gathering, business was
carried on as usual. The first day of the first
moon, however, found the populace given up to
revelry, shops were closed, it was impossible to
buy food, and the children in school rebelled at
the decree which separated them from their
parents at such a time, and longed for the golden
days of the past. Before another New Year it
was quite evident that proclamations were useless,
and we joyfully returned to the old order, and
now all keep the first day of the first moon as our
festival.
Compulsory education was talked of, even
conscription was whispered, and yet we had no
criminal code, and no one could touch a neighbour
of ours who, angry that her daughter-in-law
presented her with a girl instead of the longed-for
boy, took the child and dashed out its brains.
The child is her property, and she has power of
life and death in her hand.
The new Mandarin was a native of Shansi, the
old rule that a man might not act as magistrate
in his own province having been repealed. He
was not as his predecessor, carried in a sedan chair,
but walked, or rode in a cart as a commoner. He
wore cotton clothes in place of the gorgeous silk
and satin embroidered gowns, and when he sent
THE NEW OFFICIAL REGIME 205
to invite us to dine with his wives, his card was
foreign except for the characters written upon it.
Our first visit to the Yamen under the new
regime revealed some of the many changes which
had taken place during the last year. No longer
were we escorted by outriders, but hired for our-
selves one of the few carts that Hwochow boasts.
The Tai-tais were dressed in black, relieved by
fancy crochet work shoulder capes, of varied hues.
The teacups were of white china, decorated with
a bunch of forget-me-nots, and the well-known
words : "A present for a good boy." The feast
menu was as before, but instead of the beautiful
china and Eastern decorations, we sat round a
glass petroleum lamp and ate delicacies worthy
of a better setting from plates of that familiar
pattern, white with a border of blue. The ex-
quisitely polished table was covered with a piece
of white calico, a knife and fork lay beside the
chop-sticks, and last but not least, the Mandarin,
to add to our pleasure, ordered his servants to
bring out the gramophone, which during dinner
poured forth a selection of London street songs
and Chinese theatrical music. Conversation was
drowned, and we were able the more to observe.
In place of scroll-decorated walls, brilliant paper
met our gaze at every turn, white enamel basins
and bowls replaced all the flowered china on which
we had lavished so much admiration. After
dinner we were not offered the water pipe, but
cigarettes, all expressing surprise that we could
refuse so foreign an indulgence. The Chinese
proverb to the effect that " A wayfarer does not
repair the inn nor the Mandarin his official resi-
206 CHANGED CONDITIONS
dence," was for once in fault the workmen had
been busy ! We spent a very pleasant hour with
the family after dinner, receiving as on former
occasions the utmost kindness and courtesy.
The classical writings of Mencius were for a time
excluded from the schools as teaching reverence
for kings and rulers, a doctrine not to be tolerated
in the most republican of republics.
The friendly attitude of some of the leaders of
the revolutionary movement towards Christianity
lent colour to a widely spread impression that
republican government necessitated a change of
religion. Some favoured the Protestant, some
the Roman Catholic Church, others preferred the
" No-god society," which gained many adherents
as being more modern.
Even the Church was affected by the prevailing
craze, and the wearing of the queue and non-
observance of innovations was regarded as sin
by the ignorant and superstitious. I heard a new
convert warned by a Church member that sick-
ness in his home might well be due to his rooted
objection to calendar changes.
This attitude of mind, happily for us, lasted
only a few months, but it was followed by another
serious danger when the question of introducing
the Confucian Ethical Code as a state religion
was brought forward. This would have imposed
limitations on Christians, Mohammedans, and
others, the alternative suggestion being that
Christianity should be given this status, in which
some saw far greater perils. Meetings of the
Chinese Protestant Church forwarded petitions to
the Central Government, protesting against both
THE QUESTION OF STATE RELIGION 207
proposals and craving only religious liberty, and
the danger was averted.
The habit of revolution is a pernicious disease
of the human mind, and once acquired hard to
throw off. Our political horizon has been draped
in storm-clouds ever since 1911, and our local
social plans liable to disintegration on account
of rumours calculated to disturb the mind of
the people. White Wolf, Wolf King, and other
robber chiefs have announced their intention of
visiting us. Our walls have been inscribed with
the terrifying announcement that " White Wolf
is a devourer of sheep," which in Chinese, by a
play on the last word, can be understood to mean :
" White Wolf is a devourer of foreigners." A
bold sketch of a drawn sword was added that no
doubt might be in our minds as to the bloodthirsty
intention of the threat ! Mohammedan rebellions
to the west, Mongolian raids to the north, have
alternated with the political difficulties brought
about by international negotiations, to add to
the sense of insecurity inevitably resulting from
the removal of the very central foundation of
governmental stability the " Son of Heaven "
to whom four hundred million subjects bowed in
reverential obedience.
Transition periods are difficult, and China has
been troubled by those who in their enthusiasm
for change have lost the sense of proportion, and
sought to revolutionise much that is dearer than
life itself to many of their countrymen; never-
theless, this great nation, permeated with ideals
so free from sordidity, will surely carve for herself
a future worthy of her past.
ANOTHER PORTRAIT GALLERY
" In tragic life, God wot,
No villain need be ! Passions spin the plot :
We are betrayed by what is false within."
GEORGE MEREDITH.
" Oh Christians, at your Cross of Hope a hopeless hand
was clinging."
E. B. BROWNING.
'' After all what would he have had to sacrifice had he
followed Jesus ? He would have had to give up his house
in Jerusalem. He would have had to renounce society;
but society would soon have forgotten him, for society
has a short memory for people who for any reason have
fallen out of it. That is what he would have lost, and
what would he have gained ? He would have had those
walks with Jesus across the fields, and he would have
heard Him say : '- Consider the lilies.' " MARK RUTHER-
FORD.
CHAPTER XXI
ANOTHER PORTRAIT GALLERY
WHEREIN THE READER is INTRODUCED TO SOME
WHO HAVE FAILED
TO the student of human nature the fact
that man so often fails to respond to
the highest ideals set before him comes with no
shock. In the early Church men who had run
well were easily hindered, and in the greatest
series of biographies we possess, we see portrayed
faithfully the faults and failings of those who
now form the great cloud of witnesses, and are
shown at the same time the possibilities of such
lives when brought into vital touch with the
Divine.
The generous, impulsive David, the man after
God's own heart, was capable of a tragic fall ;
Peter and John, privileged to personal intercourse
with the Lord, in the hour of crisis were amongst
those who forsook Him and fled, and Demas,
" who loves this present world," is ever a dis-
appointment to Evangelist, who hoped that for
him such dangers were over.
For the fact remains that the natural character-
istics of the man are strong forces, and that while
Grace can, and does, make possible the "new
212 ANOTHER PORTRAIT GALLERY
man in Christ Jesus," we remain each in our own
order, and perhaps no point is so vulnerable as
that wherein has taken place greatest change.
The emergence from heathendom is a difficult
process, during which time habits, vices, and
superstitions cling to a man's soul with a tenacity
that would cause us to abandon all hope, were it
not that monuments of grace abound to prove
that the power and dominion of sin has been
shattered.
Sometimes the enemy will entrap a young
Christian when there is illness in the home, and
under pressure he will fly to magic incantations
and heathen practices, in order to get deliverance
from the malignant spirit which he still believes
has power to torment him. Many a convert has
fallen on the occasion of a funeral. It takes
more faith than a Westerner can realise, to defy
the legions of gwei which at that time threaten
your home and its inhabitants with numberless
ills ; and strength of mind is required to resist
heathen relatives who accuse you of slighting the
deceased.
The test is a severe one and may well make a
strong spirit quail, especially when, as so often
happens, several members of one family will
die in rapid succession, quite evidently to us
by reason of the agency of natural laws which
govern physical life, but to the Chinaman, a
clear manifestation of the power enjoyed by
demons whose pleasure it is to torment men.
Even the very dead may rise from the grave to
confront you with horrid vengeance, should the
body not have been buried with full rites as
THE EASY LAPSE 213
required for the laying of the spirit. Most subtly
has the enemy caused many a man's downfall
when his unmarried daughter has died, and he
has found himself confronted with angry relatives
and irate villagers, when he proposed to bury
the body with the deceased of his own family.
By the rule of ancient custom a spirit bridegroom
should be found for this girl, or, as an unattached
spirit, she will inevitably return to her neglectful
relatives and trouble them in numberless ways
in order to bring her pitiful condition to their
remembrance. In one way, and one way only,
can the ghost be pacified. A bridegroom of
suitable age, likewise deceased, must be found,
and all marriage ceremonies be conducted with
due pomp, a memorial tablet being placed in the
scarlet chair in which the bride should have
sat. Clothes, furniture, and presents, all made
of paper, go with the chair to the home of the
deceased bridegroom, and are there received by
living bridal attendants. A feast is spread, and
all make merry until a few hours later when
mourning apparel is donned, and to the sound of
wailing two coffins are placed side by side in the
family tomb. The paper clothes, presents, and
marriage-contract are burned, and thus ascend
in smoke to the spirit world. The bodies may
have been kept for years before a suitable match
could be made, but from the day of the funereal
nuptials the two families regard themselves as, or
even more, intimately related than they would
have been had an actual marriage taken place. 1
1 This remarkable custom is declared by Marco Polo to be
peculiar to North China.
214 ANOTHER PORTRAIT GALLERY
It is easy to say that nothing so frankly heathen
need ever raise a question in the mind of a convert,
but severe persecution and the responsibility of
every misfortune that may occur in his village
will be his, if he defy public opinion and intro-
duce an orphan spirit to the Valhalla where his
ancestors, for countless generations, have never
failed to receive the rites of filial service.
The missionary knows the importance of
keeping ideals high by precept and practice, and
that his best way to help the young believer is
by emphasising the big claim that Christ makes
on a man. That claim once apprehended will
create in the man's heart an everlasting dis-
satisfaction with anything lower.
Sad as is the case of a young believer falling into
sin, how much more tragic that of a man who
abandons Christ after many years of service,
allowing sins, which he had overcome, once more
to have dominion over him. It is an awful
reality of life that the point on which a man
has most conspicuously conquered is likely to
be his weakest, for the enemy plays a waiting game,
" And where we looked for palms to fall,
We find the tug's to come, that's all."
Mr. Nieh came early under the influence of
Pastor Hsi. He was a man of conspicuous ability,
business capacity, and influence. In early days
he, too, had smoked opium, but when he left
that habit, he became a Christian and an earnest
student of the Word of God. Few could speak
with such power as he, and at any conference
MR. NIEH 215
where he was present, eager, interested crowds
would gather to hear him. Many have been led
to Christ by his influence, and he seemed a man
raised up of God to carry on the work of the late
Pastor Hsi. He administered the opium refuges
with great ability, and the work of the Church
for many years prospered in his hands. Every one
turned to him for advice and help, and when
the Boxer troubles broke out, it was to Mr. Nieh
that both Christians and officials looked in their
hour of need. " He was marvellously helped until
he was strong," and then, as to Uzziah of old,
came the decline. Power he loved, and in the
position in which he found himself, holding office
in the Church, was able to exercise it in many
directions.
Only God knows at which period the spiritual
decay set in, which silently, and at first quite
invisibly, began a work which has ended in the
complete downfall of this man on whom the
hopes of so many were set. A desire to increase
the prestige of his name, and love of popularity
led Mr. Nieh, as opportunity occurred, to lend his
influence in law-cases and village disputes on behalf
of unworthy men, with the motive of self -aggrandise-
ment. Slowly but surely the material overcame
the spiritual in his life.
At this hour he is no longer even a member
of the Christian community, having publicly
repudiated his former profession of faith. He
even smokes opium again, and finds his power
and influence to be a thing wholly of the past.
Extraordinary trials have come to him in family
and personal life, but he remains hardened and
216 ANOTHER PORTRAIT GALLERY
untouched. The light has gone from his face,
for he has ceased to walk in the Light, but as we
look on his dissatisfied appearance, hope revives
that he, having tasted so deep of earthly bitter-
ness, may yet be found amongst the suppliants for
mercy at the throne of God. May it be in the
midst of life, and not only in the hour of death
that he will witness the great confession : " Thou
hast conquered, O Galilean."
There is a failure which is partial success, and
under this, I think, may be placed Yen Keh-
dao, who, when once he was clear of opium himself,
bought up eagerly every opportunity that pre-
sented itself for evangelistic work. He had fallen
so often, and been obliged to return to the Opium
Refuge time after time, until new birth had made
him a new creature. Now at last he seemed firm
where formerly he had been powerless to resist
temptation. When he at his own expense entered
his name for a two years' course of theological
training, we all hoped that a future of consider-
able usefulness lay before him, but before that
period was over, the craving was on him again
and he had fallen into open sin. Another effort,
and he was free once more, and then again he
fell and soon was lying very ill with typhus fever.
Christian men visited him and prayed with him,
and he, for so long as consciousness lasted, prayed
earnestly ; then delirium, and in a few hours
death released his spirit from the body of its
humiliation. According to man's statistics, he
is tabulated a failure " one more devil's triumph
and sorrow for angels " but there are many who
PUPPY'S MOTHER 217
loved him, and who look up in expectation to see
him " pardoned in heaven, the first by the throne."
" Puppy's mother " has lived at the door of
our mission premises since they were first opened.
She, according to the custom of the country, is
only known as the mother of her child, so having
elected to call her daughter " Puppy," she must
needs be " Puppy's mother " throughout the
town. She has known the three generations of
missionaries who have lived here, and has been
dressmaker to them all. No one has been more
deliberate in her choice of heathendom over
Christianity than she, and no one has lent a more
willing ear to the scandalous lies circulated con-
cerning the foreign women, even although she
has seen enough of their intimate life to know
such stories to be fabrications.
She nourishes a secret regard for Mrs. Liang,
in whom she recognises a woman as intelligent
as herself, and a match for her in every respect.
It was to Mrs. Liang she confided one day that
there seemed little inducement to repent and be
saved, if going to heaven would entail associating
with foreigners for all eternity. Until two years
ago she was a healthy, sturdy woman, scarcely
feeling the weight of her seventy years. A slight
dimness of eyesight caused her to raise her charges
for dressmaking on the plea, peculiar to Chinese
logic, that old age made her movements slower
and more uncertain, and whereas three days were
once sufficient to make a garment, and make it
well, now after six days' work it was still far less
well finished off than formerly. So we have sub-
2i8 ANOTHER PORTRAIT GALLERY
mitted to extra charges for inferior work, for old
acquaintance' sake.
Then a long and painful illness laid " Puppy's
mother " low, and for months we did not think
that she could recover. Nevertheless, her excellent
constitution did finally assert itself, and now she
is walking about again, leaning on a stick and
on the shoulder of a small grandchild, one of
Puppy's offspring. She is curiously softened,
and told us once that she had endeavoured to
pray, but could not remember the sentences we
had taught her.
Time, age, and weakness work many transforma-
tions, and we feel as though the veil of flesh were
wearing thinner, and the spirit within feeling its
way out of gross darkness towards the light.
Mrs. Deh had fallen so low through opium, that
it was to save her from positive starvation that
we admitted her to our household once more.
She had been one of the failures of our Women's
Refuge, and had sunk deep into the degradation
which accompanies opium smoking in a woman's
life, pressed as she finds herself to raise the money
necessary for the price of her drug.
For three years she kept herself respectable
under our roof, living amongst Christian women
and joining in their prayers and hymn, night
and morning, but not a trace of the softened,
repentant spirit could one see, and finally a distinct
retrograde movement accompanied with physical
disability forced us to send her home. I despair
of Mrs. Deh except when I look into the face of
her daughter, the good, pure girl whose life's
PUPPY AND HER MOTHER.
To face faff 218.
FLOWER OF LOVE 219
prayer it is that her mother should be saved.
She cannot admit that this one thing she hopes
for on earth should not be granted to her. Her
eyes are always full of tears when she speaks of
her mother, and when I see them I know they
must, with strong entreaty, be pleading the cause
of the poor sinful woman before the Presence of
the Divine Majesty at whose right Hand stands
the Friend of Sinners and the Man who was " ac-
quainted with grief."
" Flower of Love " became one of my pupils
at the age of twelve, and attended school for six
years with unfailing regularity. Bright, happy,
and full of girlish enthusiasm she yielded her
heart to Christ, and with her girl companions
rejoiced in her new-found joy. A horror of great
darkness fell upon her soul when the news was
broken to her that her parents had contracted
for her a marriage with a heathen man, and
yielding to uncontrollable grief, she became seriously
ill. Remembrance of the promises of God, and
the resilience of youth, caused her to arouse
herself ; she returned to school, and begged that
all would pray that the impossible might happen,
and this engagement be broken.
Prayer was answered, and to me was granted the
joy of telling Flower of Love the good news.
" My life shall henceforth be wholly for God," was
her reply. Months passed, and when the Revolu-
tion of 1911 broke out, her parents once more
sought for her a heathen husband, a man whose
wealth was accumulated by wrong-doing, and
before any step could be taken Flower of
220 ANOTHER PORTRAIT GALLERY
Love was his bride. For months she struggled
alone in the city to which she had been taken,
and then his orders were given that intercourse
with foreigners must cease. The fight was too
hard, and weary she yielded and allowed herself
to drift with the tide. To-day, in her husband's
house, where men are too frequent visitors, she
seeks to get from the life she has to lead what
pleasure she can. She is beyond my reach, but
her broken heart will yet, I believe, find a resting-
place upon her Saviour's breast.
PREACHING THE GOSPEL, HEALING
THE SICK
" You make a very great mistake in thinking Chris-
tianity is a religion. It is not a religion, it is a person."
Words of a converted Mohammedan.
" Lord ! how wouldest Thou deal with this sick man in
body, or spirit ? "
S. VINCENT DE PAUL.
" A sick person does so enjoy hearing good news."
FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE.
CHAPTER XXII
PREACHING THE GOSPEL, HEALING
THE SICK
TELLING OF THE DAILY ROUTINE
LIKE the apostle of old, the missionary must
be ready, however heavy the claim upon
his time, to receive all who come.
At any hour of the day, we may hear the clatter
of sticks upon the ground indicating that some of
our neighbours, whose minute feet prevent them
from walking unaided, have found their | way
through the open front door and brought some
friends to see the house of the foreigner.
The Chinese woman is an inveterate sightseer,
but unfortunately the attractions of Hwochow are
not many ; there is no end, however, to the
marvels found within the walls of the Mission
compound.
The leader of the party is frequently our old
friend, Goat's Mother, the members of her clan
being numerous and of an inquisitive nature.
The well-favoured Goat, aged five years, wears
a brilliant yellow cotton jacket, on which are
sketched in bold brush work every species of
venomous insect. On his left shoulder is a
scorpion, while centipedes, beetles, and other
224 PREACHING THE GOSPEL
forms of poisonous insect life cover his back and
chest. To his right shoulder is stitched a diminu-
tive pair of red-and-green trousers. The yellow
coat is his protection from stings and bites, the
tiny trousers from measles, and longevity is
secured by a heavy silver padlock, which hangs
from his neck by a silver chain.
With much assistance from the Bible-women
the whole party climb the few steps leading to the
verandah, and exhausted by the effort, gratefully
accept our invitation to be seated in the guest-
room.
Tea is offered, but we know better than to press
them to partake of any refreshment, for these
women have been warned on no account to let
food or drink pass their lips while under our roof,
lest by a magic spell they find themselves com-
pelled to become Christians.
The room is furnished in conventional Chinese
style a square table with scarlet embroidered
table-skirt, and backed by an ornate arrange-
ment of banner, scrolls, vases, and teacups, with
stiff chairs on either side. Our guests' first
observation is to remark upon the surprising
cleanliness of the apartment, the next is to ask
where we sleep, and the third is to comment freely
upon our personal appearance.
" Have you turned sixty yet ? " I am asked,
and much surprise is expressed at the information
supplied by Goat's Mother that I have not yet
seen my fortieth birthday. "It is the white hair
that makes her look so old," is the comment
offered in explanation of my fair complexion.
Goat's Mother has brought her relations on a.
BIBLE LESSONS FOR VISITORS 225
promise that they shall see the foreigner's bed-
room and "little iron tailor," 1 hear the musical
box, and be allowed to inspect the enormous
saucepan in which the school food is made, ending
up with a visit to the rooms where the women read
the Bible.
Before, however, these favours can be granted,
as she well knows, the party must be prepared
to give its attention to the one topic upon which
the missionaries never fail to speak. This proves
to be more interesting than they had anticipated,
for one wall of our guest-room is decorated with
pictures which illustrate interesting stories, the
application of which throws light upon that
problem which confronts every human heart :
" How can the burden of sin be removed ? "
The time passes quickly and most of the
wonders have been seen, when a piercing yell
from the young Goat indicates that the limit of
his patience has been reached. The orders of this
small autocrat allow of no question, and further
intercourse is impossible, for his shrieks will not
cease until his wishes have been complied with.
The whole party rises, and we follow them, urging
them to " walk slowly " and to come again on
Sunday. " We will come, we will come," several
answer, but others are deep in a discussion as to
what provision is possible for our old age, seeing
that we have neither husband nor son.
As they disappear through the street door, they
meet a fresh group entering who are in turn re-
ceived by the Bible-women. Thus, from day to
day, the Word is preached and cast as bread upon
1 Sewing-machine.
15
226 HEALING THE SICK
the waters. Sometimes a woman will return in a
few days to hear more, and sometimes, years later,
in a remote mountain hamlet a woman will greet
us with a smile, surprised that we do not remember
her visit to our house, when, as she reminds us, we
told her about Jesus, the Son of God.
With those women who come as patients to the
dispensary, we enter upon a more intimate relation-
ship. The payment of their fee entitles them to
three visits, of which they take full advantage
and often come under our care for a much longer
course of treatment.
They are an interesting crowd with their varied
complaints. A child whose arm has been badly
scalded months before, and who has received no
treatment during that period but an application
of rat oil and charred matting, is in a revolting
condition, a pitiful sight indeed. A young woman
who has lost her eyesight attributes her affliction
to a fit of violent temper, when for a whole day
she worked herself into a frenzy, and cried until
the power of sight was gone. The victims of
tubercular disease, the scourge of North China,
never fail to appear, some evidently having fallen
a prey to that form known as the " hundred days'
illness," which will carry off an apparently healthy
subject in three months.
At stated periods, children may be brought for
vaccination. The method of inoculation for the
prevention of smallpox is said to have been intro-
duced into China by a philosopher of Szechwan,
and has been practised since the year 1014.
Vaccination is now freely practised by the Chinese
DISPENSARY PATIENTS 227
doctors whose fees are generally 50 per cent,
higher for boys than for girls, the lives of the
former being of so much greater value.
The extraction of teeth is a popular diversion,
and the tooth is carefully preserved by the patient,
in order that with the other earthly remains it may
be laid in the coffin on the day of her death.
Amongst the number are some whose diseases
are hard to find, as in the case of one family
whose several members persistently reappeared
with such infinitesimal ailments that we felt com-
pelled to tell them that no further treatment was
necessary. The answer we received was, that the
head of the house having become interested in
Christianity had signified to his wife his desire
that she should be under treatment for a whole
year, in order that she might receive continued
instruction in the Scriptures. They thought the
dispensary would serve as the best face-saving
subterfuge, therefore she said : "If there be
nothing more serious, will you wash my ears ! "
Broadly speaking, the patients only recognise
two categories of illness one described as " fire,"
and the other as " chill." Their chief desire is for
a diagnosis which shall clearly state under which
heading their particular ailment should be classi-
fied, and we often receive a message to the effect
that " inward fire " is causing trouble, and the
sufferer would like medicine such as was given
to her on the tenth day of the third moon, three
years previously, which had wonderful fire-ex-
tinguishing properties.
Having been accustomed to the Chinese doctor
and his methods, our patients, begging that the
228 HEALING THE SICK
best may be done for them, assure the helpers that
merit will be accumulated by those who work
towards this end. All are surprised to find that
a uniform fee is charged and that there is
no opportunity for bargaining, as the regular
physician writes prescriptions for first, second, or
third-rate medicine, according to the purse.
The male and female principle in nature, by which
all things are produced and which has been called
the " warp and woof of Chinese thought," forms
the basis of Chinese medical science, and every line
of treatment must be in accordance with the laws
laid down by this dualistic principle.
Unfortunately, many of the more nutritive
articles of diet, such as the fowl and the egg, are
frequently denied to the sick woman as falling
under that principle which makes them unsuited
to many of her illnesses, and while it is admitted
that sleep is essential to a sick man, the female
patient must not be allowed to indulge in it except
at night. Milk is renowned for its heating pro-
perties, and is most unwillingly consumed by the
tubercular patient, who believes her disease to fall
under the heading of " fire " and knows that any-
thing so heating will only feed the flame. Had
pears, cooked or uncooked, been ordered she would
fully have appreciated the wisdom which pre-
scribed them.
All these startling innovations are carefully and
intelligently explained by the dispensary helpers
and normal students who take the practical side
of their course in First Aid, Home Nursing, and
Invalid Cookery, in the dispensary. Their labours
have not been in vain, and the presence of the
THE TEACHING STAFF.
(See page 233.)
To face page 228.
TRAINING IN FIRST AID 229
Great Physician has often been manifest in the
midst, as weary, heart-sick women whose ills
were beyond our help have found healing and,
touching the hem of His garment, been made
perfectly whole.
As the patients scatter, the students impress
afresh upon their memory how, and in what
quantity, the medicine should be taken. Only too
often the printed directions are entirely disobeyed,
and the week's supply swallowed in one dose, on
the strength of that unanswerable argument with
which we wrestled in the days of childhood :
If one dose = improvement,
Twenty doses = x, i.e. complete cure.
A CASKET OF JEWELS
231
"Happy is she who hath believed that there shall be a
perfecting of the things which have been spoken to her from
the Lord 1 " The Gospel according to Luke.
"There is nothing more divine than the education of
children." PLATO.
" The fate of empires depends upon the education of
children. ' ' ARISTOTLE.
" Take heed that ye despise not offend not forbid
not one of these little ones." The Commandment of
Christ.
CHAPTER XXIII
A CASKET OF JEWELS
BEING AN ACCOUNT or THE GIRLS' SCHOOL
MRS. HSI has never replaced the ornaments
she sold thirty years ago. Had she
heard the story told of Cornelia, mother of the
Gracchi, I fancy her thoughts would have found
expression, when she lately visited us and saw
the many courtyards occupied by women and
girls, in the famous words of the Roman matron :
" These are my jewels." The interest on that first
small gift is incalculable, and can never be tabu-
lated in human statistics. An attempt to record
the many activities of the Hwochow Mission station
as it now stands, would be incomplete without
some detailed account of the Girls' School and
Normal Training College.
The schools occupy four courts, and the ages
of the pupils assembled range from the smallest,
who is only five, to young women of over twenty.
The Teaching Staff consists entirely of women,
all of whom have been trained here, and we shall
perhaps get our best view of them at the Teachers'
Meeting held weekly in the Principal's room. A
glance will reveal the strong individualities here
represented, and these twelve young women cover
33
234 A CASKET OF JEWELS
as many varieties of temperament. Here all
matters connected with the school are mentioned,
and it is striking to see the various view-points
taken. The loving nature which would lead, but
never drive, a rebellious child ; the puritan, who
will smile at no infringement of the law, and whose
stern eye has been even known to call the Principal
to order ; the quick glance of the woman whose
type reveals an inevitable leader, the stern dis-
ciplinarian, and the easy-going, good-natured
woman all are here, their diversity of gifts
revealing the unity of the One Spirit. Ling Ai
and I alone know how much we have to thank
God for the friendliness of their mutual relation-
ships. As to myself, the loyalty, love, and unity
of my band of fellow- workers is my joy and crown.
Thrice already has the staff been increased by
graduates qualifying from the Normal Training
Class, and our students have included some from
the borders of Mongolia a journey of twenty
days from Shensi, Honan, and Chihli provinces,
in addition to those from all the China Inland
Mission schools in Central Shansi.
The education given in the school is arranged
to cover the double course required by Chinese
and Western standards. The capacity for memor-
ising possessed by the Chinese is well known. A
Chinese classical scholar's memory is so trained
for retentiveness that one who became a Christian
was able, with ease, to commit to memory five
chapters of the New Testament each day. Were
it not for this capacity the mastery of Chinese
would be an impossibility, for a small child of ten
years old, in addition to ordinary general subjects
CHINESE CAPACITY 235
as taught in an English school, is required in a term
of three months to learn to write and recognise
five hundred new Chinese characters, and by the
time she has completed her course can repeat by
heart the greater part of the New Testament,
Psalms, and the classical works of Confucius
and Mencius.
The Chinese are extraordinarily observant, and
it is difficult to mention anything which has
escaped their notice. Nevertheless, the classifica-
tion of their observations in a scientific form of
nature study is an entirely new method to them,
though this gift, once developed, should cause
China ultimately to rank high in the world of
science. The girls' restricted surroundings have
yielded new joys since they learned the delight of an
observation beehive, the ramifications of an ant-
hill, and the notes and habits of the birds which
visit us. A thorough knowledge of the Scriptures
is considered of primary importance, and only
girls who by Christian character give promise
when trained of being missionaries to their own
people, are accepted as Normal Students. During
the course outlines of Old and New Testament
are studied, with detailed work of selected books.
The students are required to prepare their own
analyses of various books, following the system of
Dr. Campbell Morgan's Analysed Bible.
The many classes which constitute the
Elementary and Secondary schools form the
training-ground for the necessary practice in
teaching, which aims at being very thorough.
The first lesson, given in the presence of a critical
audience, is no small ordeal to the student who
236 A CASKET OF JEWELS
after elaborate preparation with diagram, black-
board, plasticine, or sand-tray, will realise when
the moment of free criticism comes, that in her
nervousness she has omitted to make any use of
that on which she had bestowed so much labour.
Gradually, however, a new class emerges from utter
helplessness into an encouraging self-confidence and
resourcefulness.
A visitor to the school could see ten or twelve
classes at various stages on the high road of learn-
ing, each under the control of a capable young
Chinese woman, before the Kindergarten room is
reached.
Here, with merry shouts, the sixteen babies
are all keen to display the glories of the dolls'
house, and all anxious to sing their action songs,
show their plasticine modelling, paper-plaiting,
and fancy drill ; still possessing the child's heart,
and therefore fearless of criticism. Each one
covets the r61e of spokesman to relate the travel-
ling adventures of the doll, which spends but little
time in the house and is constantly undertaking
long and difficult journeys. From this intrepid
traveller they have obtained most of their geo-
graphical information.
Long hours of work are the order of the day in
a Chinese school, the terms being short owing to
the exigencies of the extreme climate. The wheat
harvest falls in June, and it is necessary that wives
and daughters should fulfil their obligations to the
home during this busy season.
The month of September brings the eagerly
looked-for day when by cart, donkey, litter, or
even on foot, from north, south, east, and west,
SOME KINDERGARTEN SCHOLARS.
To face page 236.
THE DAY OF OPENING 237
the small travellers wend their way to Hwochow.
The babies of the Kindergarten not infrequently
sit in the panniers, slung across a donkey's back,
or in baskets which a man will carry balanced
on his shoulder. Each party on arrival passes
through the room where Mr. Gwo, a capable
deacon, sits at the receipt of custom, and thence
to the guest-room where a respectful bow is made
to the missionaries and head teacher.
The next visit is to the dispensary where
Fragrant Incense, my head assistant in this de-
partment, conducts a strict inquiry into personal,
family, and village health, and where newcomers
are being vaccinated.
" I hear that your uncle has smallpox," may be
the alarming accusation.
"It is not worth speaking of," answers Snow-
flake.
" Have you been to the house ? "
" A few times," says the puzzled scholar, quite
unable to trace the connection between her uncle's
attack of " heavenly blossoms " and our un-
willingness to admit her to the school court.
Once a girl has entered the school premises it
is not to leave them again for the period of the
term, and all that is necessary to fulfil the condi-
tions of her life is supplied in this little world.
One of her first visits will be to the bank where
an account is opened in her name, it being one of
the school rules, in order to avoid loss, that no girl
may keep her own money ; any found on her
person or in her box being forfeited. Every
Saturday afternoon eager young depositors can
be seen drawing sums varying from one to fifty
238 A CASKET OF JEWELS
cash for shopping purposes, or with a view to the
Sunday service collection. At the same hour the
school shop is open, under the care of a teacher
with a senior pupil as assistant.
" What do you stock ? " a newcomer will ask
the young saleswoman. " Everything," is the
bold answer, and indeed the few necessities of a
Chinese schoolgirl may all be supplied. Materials
needed for shoemaking, hemp for making string
which is required in attaching soles to uppers,
pretty silks for embroidery, thimbles, needles,
hah* ornaments, safety-pins, bright-coloured cord
with which the Chinese girl holds every hair
in place at the top of a long thick plait, which
is her mode of head-dress ; chalk, with which to
whiten her calico socks, and the acacia pod, the
bean of which serves as soap. All the requisites
in stationery can be purchased, and it is amusing
to see the Chinese brush-pen being carefully
tested by minute prospective buyers. A new-
comer will try in vain to get goods on credit,
relying upon her father's generosity at an early
date. " No," is the answer ; " come again when
you have the cash."
In another room the lending library is attract-
ing large numbers. Here again a teacher, helped
by a pupil, is changing or renewing books. With
surprising skill any blot, stain, or torn page is
discovered, and for years the books will pass from
hand to hand with but little damage done.
The range of literature is fairly comprehensive,
extending from world-wide favourites such as
Little Lord Fauntleroy, Christie's Old Organ, Just
So Stones, and the Wide Wide World, which are
THE SCHOOL ROUTINE 239
eagerly passed from hand to hand for every one
reads them several times to such works as The
History of the Dutch Republic, Biographies of Great
Men, Works on Social Economy, and many books
of reference. For the translation of these, and
many other works into the Chinese language, we
are indebted to the Christian Literature Society.
At the sound of the head teacher's gong, all business
ceases, and the girls proceed to the playground,
where all enjoy swings, seesaw, and games.
Sunday opens with the delight of an extra hour
in bed, and the wearing of best clothes. Sunday
school and Public Service are enjoyed even by the
smallest, and precede the happy hour when
parents and near relatives may see the scholars.
At its conclusion all are hungry for the dinner,
which, though later than usual, proves well worth
waiting for, consisting as it does of the popular
white bread and vegetables. The afternoon closes
with a service of praise.
Three times a day the children assemble in the
large dining-hall for meals. Over one thousand
pounds of flour are used each week, and about
one hundred pounds of vegetables, in the prepara-
tion of the food. The bread is steamed and eaten
hot, and the midday meal generally consists of
flour and water, made into a paste, rolled out
very thin, and cut into long strips which are boiled
for a few minutes, and when cooked resemble
macaroni. If a man's greatness consists in the
small number of his needs, the Chinaman must
rank high. A bowl and pair of chop-sticks is the
sum total of the table requirements of each girl ;
a cotton wadded quilt and a small, bran-stuffed
240 A CASKET OF JEWELS
pillow comprise her bedding, and a cotton hand-
kerchief will hold her neatly folded wardrobe.
A child usually owns no toy, and many have never
thought of an organised youthful festivity until
they spend their first Christmas Day in school.
With bated breath they hear "from their elders
of the joys in store, and watch secret preparations
for presents to class teachers and missionaries.
Excitement reaches its highest point when, with
silent footstep, they creep into our courtyard in
the winter dawn to sing Christmas carols, and in
place of the temple gongs and weird music of
heathen rites, the air rings with joyful strains as
class after class takes up the refrain : " Oh come,
let us adore Him, Christ the Lord ! " The reputa-
tion of the evening illumination and Christmas-
tree is so widespread, that two small newcomers
were heard encouraging each other, eight months
before this event, to endure with patience in hopes
of ^seeing the glorious sight, and becoming the
possessors of a threepenny doll.
Nearly five hundred girls have already passed
through the school, and every few years we have
made an attempt to gather them together for an
informal conference ; unfortunately, the distances
are so great, and family claims so many, that only
a very small proportion have been able to attend,
and we have supplemented these by instituting
an Old Girls' Guild which includes a prayer union
whose members receive a quarterly circular letter.
The postal system does not reach most of the
villages, so the letters must be entrusted to reliable
messengers who may be going that way, and who
are requested by words on the envelope : "Be
MISSIONARY ENTHUSIASM 241
so kind as to trouble yourself with this letter
and deliver it into the hand of the Mother of
Heavenly Bundle." The young woman whose
identity is thus hinted at is but one of perhaps
twenty, whose offspring bear this name in the
one village. Below are the mystic words : " The
name is presented inside." On the left side of
the envelope is the urgent command : " Quick
as fire ! Quick as fire ! " Thus nothing is omitted
but the name of the addressee.
From early days an effort has been made to
impress upon the students that a Christian com-
munity is only justified in so far as it partakes
of the nature of a centrifugal force, extending its
influence in every direction. The interests of
students have been much enlarged by the residence
in their midst of girls from other provinces, who
are followed with prayerful interest when they
leave us to enter their varied spheres of work.
Beyond this, the scholar's widened sympathies
find their expression in the zeal with which they
follow missionary activity in other lands. Most
earnest thought is given to the choice of destina-
tion of the sums reported in hand by the mis-
sionary treasurer. The Evangelical Union of
South America, British and Foreign Bible Society,
Pandita Ramabai, and Dr. Zwemer in Cairo
have all received contributions, and latterly
money has been sent to supply Testaments for
the soldiers on active service. Nevertheless, the
consensus of general opinion is, that the Moslem
situation is at present so critical that all available
funds must go to meet that need. Small indeed
the sums may appear on a subscription list, but
16
242 A CASKET OF JEWELS
few gifts are, I think, more thoughtfully given
and more prayerfully followed.
The money is contributed in various ways, the
two most important being the school working
party and the takings of the Debating Society,
where debates and lectures are always sure of a
full house.
The instinct for personal aggressive Christian
work finds an outlet in the following ways : The
annual fairs and idol processions held in the town
bring large crowds of women visitors, and afford
a great opportunity for the senior scholars to
take their part in preaching, as also the evangelistic
service held each week for Dispensary patients.
The Sunday School classes of small children are
taught by elder girls, and the annual Summer
Campaign has provided scope for all those who
have a will to work. At the close of the spring
term, every girl who so desires is entrusted with
a printed Course of Study, suitable for the ele-
mentary instruction of village women. At Sunday
and weekday classes these are taught by the elder
scholars of the village, even the younger children
being able to take their part in helping the women
to memorise a verse.
In order to secure the highest spiritual and
mental efficiency amongst those who, by the
nature of their calling, are constantly responding
to the claims made upon them, we have instituted
a Teachers' Summer School, to which are invited
all former students now holding posts as teachers
in Mission Schools. The month of August is
devoted to this delightful gathering when, on the
THE SUMMER SCHOOL 243
footing of fellow-workers, free from the restric-
tions attendant on school discipline, we meet for
Bible and secular study. The curriculum of the
coming term is discussed, difficulties considered,
some new educational subject is studied, and an
invaluable atmosphere is created.
In the silence of the moments of spiritual com-
munion, lives are dedicated afresh to the service
of God ; by contemplation of the Word, fresh
ideals are apprehended and more of the wisdom
that winneth souls is learned, by which a band
of workers is equipped anew for any manner of
service, wholly at His command. The various
activities recorded above each contribute a part
to the upbuilding of character and the training
of those who will be the future missionaries,
mothers, and teachers of their people.
We desire that, rejoicing in the abundance of
life which Christ came to bestow, they may by
sacrificial service gather around them many who
will say : " Happy the people whose God is the
Lord!"
THE TREASURE HOUSE
" Who ranks higher than others in the Kingdom of the
Heavens ? "
" In solemn truth I tell you that unless you turn and
become like little children you will in no case be admitted
into the Kingdom of the Heavens."
" Whoever shall occasion the fall of one of these little
ones who believe in me, it would be better for him to have
a millstone hung round his neck and be drowned in the
depths of the sea."
" Their angels in heaven have continual access to my
Father in heaven."
The words of the Lord Jesus Christ.
" The hope of the glory of God includes the responsi-
bility of rejoicing. If we really have the anointed vision
which sees through the travail to the triumph, and is
perfectly assured of the ultimate triumph of God, it is our
duty in the midst of the travail to rejoice evermore, to
cheer the battle by song, and shorten the marches by
music." Dr. G. CAMPBELL MORGAN.
CHAPTER XXIV
THE TREASURE HOUSE
WHERE THE READER is SHOWN THE LAPIDARY
AT WORK
MY study is perhaps to me the most sacred
spot of the entire compound. Situated
in the midst of the school court, it is accessible
to teachers and scholars alike. For more than
a decade this room has been sanctified by number-
less confidences, many too sacred to record.
At any hour of the day, or after dark when it
is easier for the girl to knock unseen at my door,
I may hear the words, sometimes timidly whispered :
" Has the Teacher time to let me speak to her ? "
A welcome being extended my young guest will
usually begin to talk upon general topics, and
after a considerable time will gently hint that
there is also one small matter in particular of
which she wishes to speak. On receiving en-
couragement she proceeds to unfold the matter,
which may vary in gravity from a message con-
veying a request that employment should be
found for a neighbour of hers, to a tearful pleading
that I will use all my influence to prevent her
parents from engaging her to a heathen bride-
groom ; it has even been to tell me of a brother
248 THE TREASURE HOUSE
who, having entered a College in the provincial
capital, is now in jail and likely to lose his life
for revolutionary tendencies.
It is during the hour when the schoolgirls are
at play, or in the evening when they are in bed,
that the teacher will come to me who desires to
be certain of no interruption. One whose father
was formerly a deacon, but having relapsed into
opium smoking has lost his office and Church
membership, comes with her sad story. " How
can I hope to influence my scholars when this
sin is in my own home ? " she asks me ; and goes
on to tell of the downward steps taken, and of
the good mother who, with herself, has done all
that love could suggest to save the father from
public disgrace. A letter from her distant home
will sometimes bring her when the work of the
day is done, that together we may share its con-
tents. How plain it is to me, that this scorching
furnace of shame which seals her lips and makes
her blush before her own pupils, is the very test
she requires for her perfecting. I know that this
is a spiritual crisis when in the thick darkness
she will either meet with God, or losing the
hope whereby we are saved will grow cold and
indifferent.
It is always a personal refreshment when
Fragrant Clouds or Pearl Drops comes to see me.
A warm friendship exists between these two senior
Normal Students, strong, robust young women,
prospering in body as in soul. Pearl Drops,
keenly humorous, is a famous mimic and I once
had the delight of, unnoticed, joining an audience
which she was fascinating by her mimicry of an
TALKS IN THE STUDY 249
old man well known to us all. Fragrant Clouds
is a more serious type, and entered the High School
here in answer to her prayers to God for many
months, at a time when innumerable obstacles
barred her way. She has proved " barriers " to be
" for those who cannot fly," and possesses that
quiet dignity and confidence which tells of character
formed by difficulties overcome. She knows the "All
great " to be the "All loving too," and is strong.
Little Goodness is the boldest girl in the school.
She is only five years old, but will any moment
that she can run away from the Kindergarten
Court unseen push open my door, and show me
with great delight and most disconcerting self-
assurance some treasure she has found a grub,
or maybe some one else's new handkerchief. The
frown I summon to my aid when the offence is
repeated more than once a day, is rather a failure,
but poor Goodness has had to learn by sterner
methods that the teacher's word is law. It is not
easy to be stern with her for she is a most fascina-
ting little creature, and yet her parents wanted
her so little that she was found, as a wee babe,
buried alive. With difficulty her life was saved
by the missionary to whom she was taken, who
has cared for her ever since. Her most serious
offence in this school, and a cause of scandal to
the whole Kindergarten, was the helping of herself
to five cash from the collection plate when it was
handed to her in the Sunday service.
When a new graduate who has been faced for
the first time by her class appears at my door, I
know before she begins to speak that her errand
is to inform me she has found herself to have
250 THE TREASURE HOUSE
accepted a burden and responsibility which she
is utterly incapable of bearing. I make no great
effort to hide my amusement, and call to her re-
membrance the complete assurance with which
she was prepared to enter upon her career during
her last term as a Normal Student. I also tell her
I have been expecting this interview and, needless
to say, from the humorous side we naturally turn
to the serious.
Teachers are constantly coming to me for
advice as to the best method of dealing with those
symptoms of original sin which cause small children
to bewilder their elders by the utter depravity
of their moral nature. What, for example, could
I say to Kingfisher who was heard, when praying
audibly, to petition heaven that Rosebud with
whom she had quarrelled might lose all her good
marks ?
The weeping Butterfly was peremptorily ushered
into my presence, accused of using bad language.
I could see by the expression on the teacher's
face that it was no trifling matter. She had said :
" Chrysanthemum, when you walk it is like the
hopping of a frog." She had thus compared a
fellow-scholar to an animal, a form of speech which
in Chinese, as I well knew, amounts to a curse.
Peach Blossom, ever since the first day she
came to me has been a care and responsibility.
Conscious of her good looks and of her capacity
to secure a following of devotees, she has conducted
her small court with increasing joy to herself,
and annoyance to me and my Staff. It was
impossible to ignore her presence, and while she
was scrupulously within the rules and regulations
A MOTHER'S PART 251
of school discipline she somehow managed to sail
so near, and yet avoid, the point of defiance
that we were baffled.
I am sometimes called upon to fulfil the vocation
of motherhood in a very real sense, as when I have
to announce to some child who has no mother
that the arrangements for her engagement are
about to be completed, but that her father, who
feels he could not expect her to speak of such a
matter, has asked me to find out her desires re-
garding the proposed bridegroom. After an in-
evitable tear, shed at the suggestion that she must
some day leave her father's home, she asks me if I
am satisfied with the plan ; on my answering in
the affirmative her face brightens, though she
conventionally begs me to use my influence to
dissuade her father from any such intention. I,
seeing that no difficulty presents itself, change the
subject and bring her a few days later the gifts
and silver ornaments which indicate that all is
settled. She, having no mother to do the necessary
grumbling at the inferior quality of the bride-
groom's presents, comes to my room later on, and
says : "I have been examining these, and perceive
that the silver used is not pure in quality." Having
shown that she, though motherless, is not easily
taken in, she accepts my exhortation to be a good
child and to be thankful for what she has, and
without further ado begins her preparations for the
day when she will " change her home."
The more modern parent is sometimes desir-
ous that his daughter, who has reached years of
discretion, should from time to time correspond
with her fiance. The letters all being sent to the
252 THE TREASURE HOUSE
girl's father, he forwards them to me, and the
fear lest any fellow-student should know of so
immodest a proceeding always leads the girl to
read them in my room, and place them in my hand
for safe keeping. It was enlightening to receive
a request on one occasion that I would, at the
close of term, return " those letters which are of
no possible use." I knew to what she referred,
arid mentally noted that the "useless " paper found
a very safe place in the recesses of her luggage !
Tragedy is interwoven with the life of almost
every woman in this land. Disappointment at
her birth finds its only consolation in the recogni-
tion of her value in the home as family drudge.
Only as mother of her son does she enter on an
inheritance of sufficient consideration to make her
well worth the clothes she wears and the food she
consumes.
How pathetic it is to see the efforts put forth
by a child whose school life has been interrupted
to endeavour to find some means of paying the
necessary fees ! One girl of thirteen, by making
hair-sieves during the summer months renders it
possible for her father to send her to school ; and
many weave during the holidays all the cloth
necessary for their own clothes. One little girl
who had no other means of helping herself, gleaned
so industriously that she gathered sufficient for
her first month's expenses, only to find one day
that her little hoard had been used by her opium-
smoking father for his own indulgence.
Even the high ethics of Confucianism can
recognise no higher position for woman than one
of obedient dependence throughout life. In youth
LING Al HER CHILDREN, AND HER MOTHER, MRS. LIANG.
To face f age 252.
A NEW ERA FOR CHINESE GIRLHOOD 253
she must be subject to her father, in middle age
to her husband, and in old age to her son. The
revolutionary power of Christianity has established
a new order, and in the Christian community we
see her welcomed in babyhood, cared for in child-
hood, and receiving the honour due to her woman-
hood when she becomes a bride. I have been
amazed at the sacrifices I have seen made by parents
for their daughters. I have known a father, too poor
to afford the hire of a donkey, carry his little girl
nearly thirty miles to school. I have known the
only bedcovering in the home to be spared for the
use of the little daughter during term, and a man
to endure the winter cold with the scantiest cloth-
ing that his child might be warmly clad.
One class, a small one, has outstripped me in the
race, and graduated to a higher school to render
service more needed there than here. I can think
of each one with joy as in the Great Teacher's
Hand, learning lessons which as yet are beyond me.
The one it seemed I could least spare was needed
by Him, and since most of this book was written
my beloved Ling Ai went to serve, face to face, the
Lord she loves.
The intimate sympathy required to enter into
the joys and sorrows of so many lives is perhaps
the heaviest strain laid upon the missionary, and
the mental discipline necessary to hold all in right
proportion can only be exercised where there is
true adjustment of spiritual vision, whereby we
see "through the travail to the triumph, perfectly
assured of the ultimate victory of God," and rejoice,
" cheering the battle by song and shortening the
marches by music."
CONCLUSION
! ' That Church controls the future which can demand of
her members the greatest sacrifices." Dr. JOHN HUTTON.
'- When earth's last picture is painted, and the tubes are
twisted and dried,
When the oldest colours have faded, and the youngest
critic has died
We shall rest, and faith, we shall need it lie down for
an aeon or two,
Till the Master of all good workmen shall put us to work
anew.
And only the Master shall praise us, and only the Master
shall blame ;
And no one shall work for money, and no one shall
work for fame ;
But each for the joy of the working, and each, in his
separate star,
Shall draw the Thing as he sees It for the God of Things
as They are."
RUDYARD KIPLING.
CHAPTER XXV
CONCLUSION
BEING A REVIEW OF THE PRESENT SITUATION
IT is now thirty years since foreigners came to
reside in Hwochow, during which time three
generations of women missionaries have succeeded
each other. The period has been divided accur-
ately at the fifteenth year by the Boxer riots
and massacres. The many who have helped in
varied ways to make this work possible may
rightly ask : " Is not this period sufficient to
establish a self-propagating Church independent
of foreigners ? "
It would be hard to over-emphasise the need of
the wisdom required at the stage immediately
preceding the final lapse of total responsibility
upon the shoulders of the native Church, that
the move should not be made too hastily or at
an inopportune moment ; even more emphatically,
that the Church should not be driven to establish
on a factional basis a so-called independent sect
in opposition to the foreigner, in order to secure
the freedom and control for which it was ripe.
Faith, hope, and courage, without which the
pioneer missionary's work must inevitably fail,
find their counterpart in the spirit of wisdom and
17
258 CONCLUSION
understanding required for the proper adjustment
of the new relationship, whereby the Chinese
Christian, not in word, but in deed and in truth,
may take precedence. It is easy to gain ready
acquiescence to this theory of equality, but as
was immediately evidenced when the strong and
independent Pastor Hsi arose, the situation in its
practical bearing is not easily handled.
A word to the intending missionary : Be ready
to lay aside your preconceived ideas as to how
the Gospel should be preached, how Church
matters should be handled, discipline enforced,
and your own position in the Church.
Come as a learner, and men who were Christians
before you emerged from childhood will give
you the benefit of a ripe experience, and if you
prove worthy of it, admit you to fellowship in
service.
In view of the preceding chapters, few words
will serve to review on general lines the situation
as it has developed during these thirty years in
Hwochow.
The first fifteen called for unremitting effort in
breaking up new ground, broadcast sowing of
the seed, and establishing between Chinese and
foreigner some measure of confidence. The second
period has been one of reaping from the very
commencement. Extraordinarily rapid develop-
ment on every hand brought about new conditions
which in turn necessitated new methods, so that
the missionary is no longer the main instigator of
Church activities, but takes Ms place in a large and
far-reaching organisation.
The work of evangelisation and all elementary
THE PLACE OF THE MISSIONARY 259
teaching require no foreign help, but we^ still
seem to be necessary for the organisation which
is giving training and advanced teaching to the
men and women whom we hope to see equipped
in every respect as well, and better, than we
ourselves have been.
All non-institutional work amongst men is
already in Chinese hands. Pastor Wang and
eight deacons take entire oversight of the Church of
nearly four hundred members, the examining and
accepting of candidates for baptism, as well as
arrangements for Sunday services in each of the
eight out-stations, where the local Christians have,
at their own expense, supplied a building for
public worship where daily service is held. In
addition to this, the entire evangelistic organisa-
tion, Elementary Boys' School and Opium Refuge,
form part of their responsibility.
The more aggressive work includes a Chinese
Evangelistic Society entirely free from foreign
money and control, the object of which is to open
up new districts, preach at fairs, and widely
distribute Gospels and tracts.
In the busiest thoroughfare of the city, a preach-
ing hall is daily opened which is freely frequented
by merchants and travellers.
The systematic instruction of men, both Church
members and inquirers, is supplied by means of
short station classes held at convenient times by
the Pastor, or by some foreign missionary whom
he may invite.
With the exception of the Elementary Boys'
School just mentioned, the men's institutional
work is carried on in the neighbouring city of
260 CONCLUSION
Hungtung, where, under the presidency of the
Rev. F. Dreyer, a Bible Training Institute for
men has been established. The students are drawn
not only from our own, but other provinces, and
during the two years' course a careful and thorough
training is given in theoretical and practical work.
A long preaching list is served by these men
in conjunction with a large band of local preachers.
To Mr. Dreyer's influence amongst these men we,
as many other stations, owe some of our best
helpers. The Hungtung institutional work is
supplemented by a Higher Grade School for boys,
the pupils of which are largely drawn from the
fourteen Elementary Schools scattered throughout
the district. Mr. E. J. Cooper, assisted by Chinese
graduates of Weihsien University, is responsible
for this department. Many former pupils are in
charge of village schools, the examining and
superintendence of which is conducted from the
centre. It is thus possible for the sons of Church
members to obtain a thorough and Christian
education in their immediate neighbourhood.
The necessary demands for institutional work
for the several counties mentioned throughout
this book, are thus met by the two stations of Hung-
tung and Hwochow. United with these to form a
General Allied Council to secure unity of action
in all far-reaching enterprises, and to avoid multi-
plication of work (though each local church remains
independent and self-governing), are the stations
situated in the cities of Chaocheng, and Yoyang,
now severally in charge of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest
Taylor and Mr. and Mrs. F. Briscoe, whose time is
occupied with pastoral and evangelistic work.
THE CHURCH IN HWOCHOW 261
Mrs. Hsi still remains in Chaocheng, and carries
on her work amongst the women of that city. She,
in company with Mrs. Liang and three others,
has been chosen by the Church to be set apart to
the office of deaconess. She is now sixty-four
years of age, and her physical strength is visibly
failing.
Mrs. Hsi's life and example is one of the treasures
of the Shansi Church. She has served faithfully
and long in active Christian work, and she recently
told me that she is now giving herself to prayer
and fasting more than was possible during the most
active period of her life.
For this effectual share in the present conflict,
for her love and friendship, and for her continued
presence amongst us, we give thanks unto God.
Thus we believe the Church has been rooted
and established, no longer propagated by any
external energy, but whose seed is in itself.
The dream is so far fulfilled. More than thirty
years ago Mr. and Mrs. Hsi, in faith, brought
their small offering as a child once offered his
barley loaves and laid them in the Master's Hand,
Who gave thanks and blessed.
In these pages the story is recorded of the sower,
the waterer, and the reaper, who laboured in
tears and in joy.
Of the increase which God alone can give, no
human record can tell, but told it shall be in the
day when those from every nation, kindred, and
tribe shall unite to ascribe honour and glory unto
Him who liveth and reigneth for ever and ever 1
" So have I dreamed ! Oh may the dream be
true!
That praying souls are purged from mortal
hue . . .
And grow as pure as He to Whom they pray."
HARTLEY COLERIDGE.
261
APPENDIX
CONTAINING
BIBLE TRAINING SCHOOL COURSE OF
STUDY
AND
SPECIMEN QUESTIONS OF THE NORMAL
TRAINING COLLEGE
FINAL EXAMINATION PAPERS
(INSERTED BY BEQUEST)
HWOCHOW WOMEN'S BIBLE TRAINING
SCHOOL
COURSE OF STUDY
FIRST TERM
Book of Genesis.
Gospel according to St. Luke or St. Mark.
Acts of the Apostles, chapters i. to ix.
" A Synopsis of the Central Themes of the Holy Bible."
Reading Lessons, with necessaiy Explanation and Writing
of Chinese Character.
Arithmetic.
Singing and Memorisation of Hymns.
SECOND TERM
Book of Exodus, Numbers, and 1 Samuel i. to xvi.
The Gospel according to St. John.
The Epistle of St. James.
" A Synopsis of the Central Themes of the Holy Bible "
(continued).
Reading Lessons, with necessary Explanation and Writing
of Chinese Character.
Arithmetic.
Singing and Memorisation of Hymns.
PRACTICAL WORK. Assist in conducting Elementary Classes
for Women.
THIRD TERM
Book of Leviticus, Joshua, and 1 Samuel xvii. to xxxi. ;
Ezra and Nehemiah.
The Gospel according to St. Matthew.
265
266 HWOCHOW WOMEN'S BIBLE SCHOOL
The Epistle to the Hebrews.
" A Synopsis of the Central Themes of the Holy Bible "
(conclusion).
Studies in Christian Doctrine.
Reading Lessons, with necessary Explanation and Writing
of Chinese Character.
Arithmetic.
Singing and Memorisation of Hymns.
Memorisation of Psalms.
Pilgrim's Progress.
PRACTICAL WORK. Conduct Elementary Classes for
Women, Teach under Criticism, City and Village
Visiting.
FOURTH TERM
Book of Judges, Ruth, Esther, and 2 Samuel.
Life of Elijah and Elisha.
Acts of the Apostles, chapters x. to xxviii.
Studies in Christian Doctrine.
Arithmetic.
Singing and Memorisation of Hymns.
Memorisation of Psalms.
Pilgrim's Progress, Part II.
PRACTICAL WORK. As Term III.
CHINA INLAND MISSION NORMAL
TRAINING COLLEGE, HWOCHOW, SHANSI
SPECIMEN QUESTIONS
(Drawn from Final Examination Papers, 1915)
SCRIPTURE
What answer did Christ give to the following ques-
tions ? " What must we do that we may work the works
of God ? " " How can this man give us His flesh to eat ? "
" Hast thou seen Abraham ? " " How can a man be born
when he is old ? "
Name five incidents in the Gospel according to St. John
CHINA INLAND MISSION COLLEGE 267
which illustrate the statement: "He knew what was in
man."
Name some of the abuses in the Corinthian Church, and
briefly state how Paul dealt with each.
What period of human history is covered by the Book
of Genesis ?
Briefly trace the degeneration of the Individual, the
Home, and the Nation, as recorded in the Book of
Genesis.
Give an outline of the Book of Ezra.
State briefly the teaching of Christ on the following
subjects : Fasting, Riches, Rewards, and the Forgiveness
of Sin.
The establishment of the Church by Constantine proved
to be its spiritual loss. Quote five verses from Scripture
to show this might have been anticipated.
Mention four reasons which conduced to the spread of
the Gospel in the days of the Early Church.
HISTORY
State clearly the advantages and disadvantages of
Feudalism.
What do you know of the Spartan methods of treating
children ?
What do you know of the following : Chaucer, Rienzi,
Savonarola, Simon de Montfort, Gladstone, Li Hung-
chang, Bruce ?
What do you understand by the term " Ostracism " ?
Who were the combatants in the following battles :
Crecy, Hastings, Marathon, Bannockburn, Waterloo?
Give an account of the causes which resulted in the
Crusades, or in the French Revolution.
PHYSIOLOGY
What are the various uses of the Cerebrum, Cerebellum,
and Med ulla Oblongata ?
Explain the process of "Hearing." Illustrate with
diagrams.
What do you know of the Crystalline Lens of the Eye ?
What is meant by " Long Sight " and " Short Sight " ?
268 HWOCHOW WOMEN'S BIBLE SCHOOL
What is the cause of each, and how may each be
remedied ?
Give a list of the Cranial Nerves.
ZOOLOGY
Draw a diagram of the Blood Vessels of a Fish.
State clearly the main divisions of Zoology, and in detail
those of the Bird Family.
Give a detailed account of the Ant and its habits ;
illustrate with diagrams.
Describe the Fauna of the Arctic Regions.
CHEMISTRY
What weight of each of the following compounds is
necessary to prepare 50 litres of Oxygen? Water,
Mercuric Oxide, Potassium Chlorate.
Explain the principle of the Dewar bulb.
Define the term "Acid." Enumerate the character-
istics of a " Base."
Two compounds were found to have the following
compositions: = 43-64 percent, phosphorus = 56-36 per
cent, oxygen = 56'35 per cent, phosphorus = 43 '65 per
cent. Show that the Law of Multiple proportion holds
in this case.
CLASSICAL ESSAY SUBJECTS. "The Path may not be
left for an instant ; if it could be left it would not be
the Path. On this account the superior man does not
wait until he see things to be cautious, nor see things to
be apprehensive." CONFUCIUS.
MORGAN AND SCOTT LTD., 12 PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS, LONDON, E.C.
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