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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Fulfilment of a Dream of Pastor Hsi's, by 
+A. Mildred Cable
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Fulfilment of a Dream of Pastor Hsi's
+       The Story of the Work in Hwochow
+
+Author: A. Mildred Cable
+
+Release Date: November 12, 2008 [EBook #27243]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DREAM OF PASTOR HSI'S ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Free Elf, University of Hong Kong Library,
+audreyii, Emmy and the Online Distributed Proofreading
+Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE FULFILMENT OF A DREAM OF PASTOR HSI'S
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: MRS. HSI.
+
+_Frontispiece._]
+
+
+
+
+
+THE FULFILMENT OF A DREAM OF PASTOR HSI'S
+
+THE STORY OF THE WORK IN HWOCHOW
+
+BY A. MILDRED CABLE
+
+          _Of the China Inland Mission_
+
+          "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 & SCOTT LTD.
+          12, PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS, E.C.
+          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
+fulfilment 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 forward
+"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
+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 unknown to me.
+
+As I have said, this is by no means the supreme value of the book. That
+rather consists in something 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
+transforming 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. 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 compiling 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-yüan becomes Taiyüanfu, P'ing-yang
+becomes Pingyangfu, etc.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                     PAGE
+
+  PROLOGUE                                            xix
+
+
+  CHAPTER I
+
+  MRS. HSI'S GIFT, BEING AN ACCOUNT OF THE
+    OPENING 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
+    EXPERIENCE IN THE BOXER OUTBREAK                   27
+
+
+  CHAPTER V
+
+  LIFE IN THE VILLAGES, AN INTRODUCTION TO
+    CHINESE HOME LIFE                                  37
+
+
+  CHAPTER VI
+
+  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
+    ENCOMPASSED 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
+
+
+  CHAPTER XIV
+
+  A VISIT TO THE BASE, FROM WHENCE WE ARE AGAIN
+    SENT FORTH WITH FRESH SUPPLIES                    141
+
+
+  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 WESTMINSTER
+    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, RECORDING
+    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
+    UNDERSTAND IT                                     199
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXI
+
+  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. Constrained by His
+love the souls of men were sought and won; led by His Spirit, churches
+were established 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!
+          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 husband 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 certainly
+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 inmate in the foreigner's
+household. His clothing had been carefully searched for traces of the
+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! 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 compelled her on each occasion of a visit from her husband to fly
+into an uncontrollable rage at the sight of him, and this despite her
+most determined resolution to the contrary. To her husband it was most
+distressing to see so gentle a woman thus transformed. As his own
+spiritual experience 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 themselves 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 conviction 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, 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 household constantly prayed together that 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 important 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
+preaching, during which large numbers had joined their household from
+more or less distant villages. According to their custom, they had spent
+the day fasting; it was Pastor Hsi's habit to refer to the 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 cupboards 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_[2] Mrs. Hsi unlocked the cupboards and spent the rest of that
+night in sorting their contents. 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 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?"
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Heavenly Invitation Office ("Pastor Hsi's" translation).
+
+[2] The raised brick or mud platform, heated by a fire, used as a bed in
+North China.
+
+
+
+
+THE BIG ROAD
+
+          "Allons! 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 Analects._
+
+
+
+
+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
+Taiyüanfu with Sianfu, the direct route from Peking to the northwestern
+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
+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 countryside!
+
+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 growing 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 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 disappeared 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 comparatively 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, contemplation, and wayside intercourse.
+
+The journey from Taiyüanfu 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 to think of a plan whereby the deadlock may be
+overcome. How they manage to extricate themselves, one never knows! 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 business," 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.
+
+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 Hwochow 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 impossibility 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[3]. His
+suggestion was that single 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
+independent 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
+extraordinary 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, 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 misunderstanding, 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 refrained 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
+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 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
+determination 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 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, faithfully 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 appointments 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.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[3] It was on the occasion of this visit that Mr. Hsi was ordained
+pastor.
+
+
+
+
+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 Taiyüanfu 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
+Church were received by them only under the most formal restrictions.
+Finding it impossible to eat Chinese food, a simple, but foreign
+_ménage_, took the place of the hitherto free-and-easy conditions.
+
+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 aloofness,
+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 misunderstood 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
+visit them. To Taiyüanfu 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_.[4]
+
+"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
+Taiyüanfu. 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 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."[5]
+
+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 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 recantation 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 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 Sï, 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 themselves. 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 missionaries
+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 the death of her brother-in-law, Elder Sï, 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 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
+indemnity for property destroyed. The situation, moreover, was changed;
+foreigner and Christian alike were now in the ascendancy. Compensation
+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 exemplification 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, 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 month to
+speak, that it was impossible to understand 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!
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[4] _Yamen_=law courts or Mansion House.
+
+[5] From _Fire and Sword in Shansi_, by Dr. E. H. Edwards.
+
+
+
+
+LIFE IN THE VILLAGES
+
+          "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 workmen. We therefore decided to delay the unpacking of our boxes,
+and to spend several months in visiting the homes of the Christians
+throughout the four counties for which we were then responsible. 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 handkerchiefs 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 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 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 answering 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 enjoyment 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 independent 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
+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
+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 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 stillness, the
+high-pitched voice, intoning the magic incantations whereby some young
+woman yielded herself to be the medium of communication between 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 prepared the millstones for grinding on the
+morrow. 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
+
+          "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 Analects._
+
+          "The Master said: A man should say, I am not
+          concerned 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, education, 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 civilisation. 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.
+
+The fact that you have come several thousands of miles in order to
+preach the Gospel, is not sufficient 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 untranslatable 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
+sympathetic 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 circumstances, 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 Harmony, where there are only heathen and not a
+Christian to receive them." "I," complained 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 examinations 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 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 satisfactory 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 spreading the news of the Gospel far and wide
+amongst the heathen. It was at this point of the conversation that the
+first traces of that terror-striking expression began to flit across his
+features, and 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 regulated 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 without a shepherd, left as 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, "untaught 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
+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 exceptions, awakened more fully to their responsibilities.
+
+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!"
+
+
+
+
+A PORTRAIT GALLERY
+
+          "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 characteristics,
+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 Heavenward 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, preaching 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 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 Garden 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 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 conscious 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 untrammelled by the
+words and requirements of men, Mr. Fu met with his God; but still
+questioning, he reached home to find that his wife was dangerously ill.
+He went at once to a neighbouring 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 persuasion 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 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! 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 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 lives 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 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 understood 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 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 approval. "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 endeavouring 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 Scripture 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
+repute. 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 perfect 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 demarcation 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. 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 confronting 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 Father
+cares for them; and I come to the conclusion 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.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+WORK DEVELOPMENT
+
+RELATING HOW WE SOUGHT TO ENCOMPASS THE WORK, AND THE WORK ENCOMPASSED
+US
+
+
+THE events of 1900 resulted in an extraordinary 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
+opportunities 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.
+
+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 contribute 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 establishment 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 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, understanding 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
+institutional 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 classifying them
+according to ability and previous knowledge. The teaching was graded
+from the first elements of Christian doctrine to fairly advanced New
+Testament classes. From amongst the first 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 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 immediately
+replaced by other eager inquirers.
+
+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 accommodation 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
+increasing in a similar proportion. Mr. Wang, who was in charge when we
+arrived at Hwochow, was now appointed Deacon of the Church, and
+afterwards Elder. We soon recognised in him a man of no ordinary
+influence. Like Barnabas, he 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 development 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
+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
+
+          "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 OF 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 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 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 unfortunate 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
+unregenerate heathen, and what should have been protection took the form
+of persecution.
+
+Elder Sï, 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
+connection 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 Sï.
+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 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
+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 missionaries 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 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.
+
+[Illustration: A WOMAN OPIUM SMOKER.
+
+_To face page 82._]
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF AN OPIUM SMOKER
+
+          "I 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.
+
+At the close of three weeks' treatment in the Refuge, Fan returned home
+a new creature, restored 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 suffering, pronounced himself willing to try the experiment; 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 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 pronounced Jewish type. Not easily led, and impossible to
+drive, she flew into such a passion when her husband ventured to tell
+her that two lady missionaries had arrived, and were prepared 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 effectually, 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 discovery 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.
+
+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
+leaving 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 welcomed 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 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 condition 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 determination 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 procured, and the three little ones were soon free of
+compressing bandages, each wearing a pair of calico socks and little
+red-and-yellow shoes, ornamented 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-fé_ 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 ordering 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 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 knowledge 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 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 education 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
+unreconciled 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 Taiyüanfu, 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 there was some hitch which prevented the
+engagement 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
+conversion.
+
+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. 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 régime
+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 manhood; 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, 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 appearance 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 undesirable person, and her
+mother-in-law is not even going to see her until the next day;
+moreover, 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, laughing 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.
+One will whisper that she is married to an irresponsible 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 unmixed 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 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 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 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
+schoolgirls 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 deliverance. 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
+presenting 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."
+
+We 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 companion 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 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
+
+          "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.
+
+
+
+
+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 aged, venerable beings, short of stature,
+with white beards. Country, town, and human habitations 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_,[6] 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 _émanations
+de la nature personnifiées_, 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 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
+characteristics 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 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
+committed suicide." From that moment terror has 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 examination 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 undertakes 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 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 visitations 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 practising 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 movement
+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
+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 reweighed 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 observation, 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 to
+emancipate himself by omitting the prescribed rites. Night after night,
+at the medium's command 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.
+
+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
+influence, known as _demon possession_. Remarkable 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 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
+completely 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
+communication, 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 overworked, and when
+at last she gave birth to a son we all expected she would receive more
+consideration. 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, 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 opportunity 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 indifference. 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 constituted 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 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
+distinguishing 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 join us in repeating the
+sentence, "Lord Jesus, save me."
+
+After considerable effort she succeeded in pronouncing these words, and
+when she had done so we commanded the demon to leave her, whereupon 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, unconsciously again prepare the empty house to receive
+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 seemingly 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 amusement, 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_.
+
+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 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 doubtless 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 unfamiliar 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 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 resistance, 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."
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[6] _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 pronounced therein.
+
+
+
+
+THE LIFE STORY OF PASTOR WANG
+
+          "Happy the meek;
+           For they shall inherit the earth."
+
+
+          "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.
+
+
+
+
+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, winning 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 childhood 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 man to his
+home, he realised that Christ's command 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 forgiveness 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 outnumbered 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 courtyard, 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 performed 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 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 Hsü, the longed-for rain fell and
+hope revived.
+
+At this time also a stranger came to the village 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 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 unshaven, 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 remains
+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
+mysterious realms whither she had passed.
+
+For the next few years he worked as a silversmith 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 accumulating 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 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 neighbour 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 conscientiously 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.
+
+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.
+Nevertheless, 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 a cause of friction and difficulty 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 established 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 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 himself a debtor, and his object in securing
+payments 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 endure. 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 committed the matter to God. At sunset,
+a sound of rushing wind was heard and a violent thunderstorm 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 completely carried away by the course
+of the waters, and the Boxers never came.
+
+[Illustration: PASTOR WANG.
+
+_To face page 136._]
+
+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, longsuffering, 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 subsequently 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. This I did, but matters only got worse, and I
+returned 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
+
+          "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
+
+FROM WHENCE WE ARE AGAIN SENT FORTH WITH FRESH SUPPLIES
+
+
+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
+economical 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 months 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 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 temperament.
+
+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 surround 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 carvings 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 magnificent conception! The
+mind of man could scarcely rise higher in ethics of worship, as in
+solemn splendour the beasts are slain, and the prostrate Emperor under
+the starlit sky calls upon the unknown god. Confucius seemed to realise
+the unbridgeable 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 acceptable 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 peddlers shouting,
+yelling, and calling on every passer-by to purchase their goods.
+Beggars, scarcely recognisable as human beings, knocked their foreheads
+on the ground, beseeching us to give them some cash. The moral support
+of a policeman is inadequate 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 horseback, coalheavers, foreign women on
+bicycles, shining motor-cars, and glass-panelled, silk-upholstered
+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 cobblestones, and for this you call down blessings on civilisation,
+the rubber tyres 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 Taiyüanfu? 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 coincidence
+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
+Taiyüanfu 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 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_,[7] 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 expenditure 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 passed 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 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.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[7] Vermicelli--cut with a knife.
+
+
+
+
+THE BUILDERS
+
+          "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.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE BUILDERS
+
+RELATING HOW THE SUPPLIES WERE USED
+
+
+IN an incredibly short space of time our 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 the Shansi man cannot thrive upon it; to the Honan
+man it is the staff of life, and in consequence their rate of wage is
+lower.
+
+A race of giants they were, handsome, magnificently 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 foundations, or the lifting of a great beam, was
+accompanied 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 constantly 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 workman had caught a tramp, red-handed, in the act of
+stealing his tools. Our informant described him as aged, starved, and
+infirm, "truly pitiable," 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 interceding 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 responsibility 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 litter 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. 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 expense 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 to middlemen who decided in our favour; nevertheless, 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 dynasties) 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_[8] 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.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[8] The space between two beams in a Chinese building.
+
+
+
+
+WOMEN'S BIBLE TRAINING SCHOOL
+
+          "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.
+
+
+
+
+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 Westminster 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 the students
+into three groups: Firstly, those attending a ten days' course, who
+served as training-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 evangelists.
+Thirdly, a picked few who, having received 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 produced 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 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.
+
+[Illustration: WOMEN'S BIBLE SCHOOL.
+
+Mrs. Hsi on the left, sharing a book with Miss French. Mrs. Liang on the
+right, sitting at Miss Cable's left.
+
+_To face page 160._]
+
+Intercourse with Miss Jacobsen was soon established, and under Mr.
+Cheng's influence her husband 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, 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
+permission 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
+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 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 presentation 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 supposed, 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-hearted acceptance of the Gospel,
+and the foolishness 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 wonderfully 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!" 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 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
+interpreted.
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+
+
+
+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 Christ 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 committed to his care. The doctor, exercising his
+gift, succeeds where others have failed in establishing 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 conversion.
+Nevertheless, every missionary has ever to guard against a most subtle
+and deadening influence which may be likened to poisonous 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 complacency 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 fullness of their vocation as
+evangelists, emboldened us to move in what was then a somewhat 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 schoolgirls in
+several stations, upon which the blessing of God manifestly rested. From
+that time plans were being matured in the minds of the missionaries 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 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 schoolgirls, 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
+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 crêche so successfully that we were
+undisturbed 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 evangelistic, 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 congregation 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 observances which had constituted their religious life.
+
+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
+homeland. 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 suggested 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 counties of Hungtung, Chaocheng, 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 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.
+
+
+
+
+LIFE AMONGST THE UPPER TEN THOUSAND
+
+  "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.
+
+
+
+
+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, addressed 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
+interference in law cases where Christians are concerned, it has been of
+a purely social character.
+
+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
+requested to make preparations for an extraction, and was informed that
+if it suited my convenience I should be fetched that same afternoon.
+Accordingly, 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
+proclamation 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 for destroyed goods is claimed. With
+ever-increasing 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 comparatively
+smooth ground, and rolled along a broad, high, paved path leading to the
+second great archway where our conveyance came to a standstill, 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_[9] 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. Everything 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 respectfully 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 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 "venerable 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 compliments 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 which, 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 sense of
+those far deeper ills which they so little realised, finding once more
+that in following the method of Christ a sense of 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!
+
+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 alternated 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 consistency 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 own mistress. We were,
+therefore, thrown back upon our slender resources, and decided that an
+English dinner-party was the only possible solution of the problem. Here
+at least we were treading 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 _pièce montée_, 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 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 purposes of concealment or as an aid to
+the eyesight?" 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 proclamation recently issued
+which forbade the binding of children's feet: "Alas, the people of China
+are not so easily governed as those of your honourable 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
+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 circumstances 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 establishment
+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 enclosure the guard fired the first night watch. "Except
+the Lord keep the city the watchman watcheth but in vain." That night
+the Revolution 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 Taiyüanfu, and did not return.
+He was one of the old school, and faithful to the traditions of the
+Manchus whose court he had accompanied to Sianfu in the flight of 1900.
+It was still far from certain which party would gain the 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 Taiyüanfu 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
+bodyguard 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.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[9] The polite term for the wife of an official.
+
+
+
+
+THE REVOLUTION OF 1911
+
+          "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 disturbance 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
+Taiyüanfu 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 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 uncertain 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. 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 community 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 tem_, 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.
+
+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
+platform. 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 departure, 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 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 understood 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 Taiyüanfu, carrying a terrible tale. "Had we stayed longer we
+should have been dead men; the bullets 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. 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 Taiyüanfu. 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 wreckage 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
+
+          "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.
+
+
+
+
+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 provinces are represented by
+the red line, Manchuria by the yellow, Mongolia by the blue, Ili,
+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 their posts until the puffing monster
+was out of sight. At Taiyüanfu 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 appendage 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 schoolgirl, 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 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 likewise being
+revolutionised, and skirts were extraordinary. 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
+landscape. We discovered that with the introduction of the Republic,
+sumptuary laws were being enforced which commanded the exclusive use of
+earth-coloured garments for the men, and forbade the wearing of silver
+ornaments to women. Proclamations followed one another in rapid
+succession, 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 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," complicated 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 symbolic 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 fire was in the ascendancy might cause a conflagration,
+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 adjustment 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 insistent. 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 subsequent festivals date from that, the
+greatest. 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 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 régime revealed some of the
+many changes which had taken place during the last year. No longer were
+we escorted by outriders, but hired for ourselves 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 exquisitely 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
+residence," 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 sickness 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 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; nevertheless, 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 RUTHERFORD.
+
+
+
+
+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 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 disappointment to
+Evangelist, who hoped that for him such dangers were over.
+
+For the fact remains that the natural characteristics of the man are
+strong forces, and that while Grace can, and does, make possible the
+"new 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 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.[10]
+
+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 introduce 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
+dissatisfaction 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 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-aggrandisement. 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 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 bitterness, 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 presented 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 considerable 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 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
+concerning 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
+submitted 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 transformations, 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.
+
+[Illustration: "PUPPY" AND HER MOTHER.
+
+_To face page 218._]
+
+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 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 "acquainted 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 Revolution 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 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.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[10] This remarkable custom is declared by Marco Polo to be peculiar to
+North China.
+
+
+
+
+PREACHING THE GOSPEL, HEALING THE SICK
+
+          "You make a very great mistake in thinking
+          Christianity 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 forms of poisonous insect life cover his back and
+chest. To his right shoulder is stitched a diminutive 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 compelled to become Christians.
+
+The room is furnished in conventional Chinese style--a square table with
+scarlet embroidered table-skirt, and backed by an ornate arrangement 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 promise that they shall
+see the foreigner's bedroom and "little iron tailor,"[11] 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 received by the Bible-women. Thus, from day to
+day, the Word is preached and cast as bread upon 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 relationship. 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
+introduced into China by a philosopher of Szechwan, and has been
+practised since the year 1014. Vaccination is now freely practised by
+the Chinese 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 compelled 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 classified, 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-extinguishing properties.
+
+Having been accustomed to the Chinese doctor and his methods, our
+patients, begging that the 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.
+
+[Illustration: THE TEACHING STAFF.
+
+(_See page 233._)
+
+_To face page 228._]
+
+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 properties, and is most unwillingly
+consumed by the tubercular patient, who believes her disease to fall
+under the heading of "fire" and knows that anything so heating will only
+feed the flame. Had pears, cooked or uncooked, been ordered she would
+fully have appreciated the wisdom which prescribed 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 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.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[11] Sewing-machine.
+
+
+
+
+A CASKET OF JEWELS
+
+          "Happy is she who hath believed that there shall
+          be a perfecting of the things which have been
+          spoken to her from the Lord!"--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 OF 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 tabulated 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 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 disciplinarian, 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 relationships. 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 memorising
+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 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
+classification 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 anthill, 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 after
+elaborate preparation with diagram, blackboard, 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.
+
+[Illustration: SOME KINDERGARTEN SCHOLARS.
+
+_To face page 236._]
+
+A visitor to the school could see ten or twelve classes at various
+stages on the high road of learning, 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 rôle of spokesman to relate the travelling 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 geographical 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,
+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 department, 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 Snowflake.
+
+"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
+unwillingness 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 conditions 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 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, hair 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
+newcomer 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 attracting 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 Stories_, and the _Wide Wide World_, which are 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 preparation 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 pillow comprise her bedding, and a
+cotton handkerchief 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
+reputation 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 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 community 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 destination
+of the sums reported in hand by the missionary 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 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
+elementary 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 footing of fellow-workers, free from the
+restrictions 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 communion, 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
+          responsibility 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 numberless 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 encouragement she proceeds to unfold the matter, which may
+vary in gravity from a message conveying 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 bridegroom; it has even been to tell me of a brother 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 contents. 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 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 fascinating 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 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 remembrance 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 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 regarding
+the proposed bridegroom. After an inevitable 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 bridegroom'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 desirous that his daughter, who has
+reached years of discretion, should from time to time correspond with
+her fiancé. The letters all being sent to the 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, and mentally noted that the "useless" paper found a very safe
+place in the recesses of her luggage!
+
+[Illustration: LING AI, HER CHILDREN, AND HER MOTHER, MRS. LIANG.
+
+_To face page 252._]
+
+Tragedy is interwoven with the life of almost every woman in this land.
+Disappointment at her birth finds its only consolation in the
+recognition 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
+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 childhood, and receiving the honour
+due to her womanhood 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 clothing 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 æon 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 accurately 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 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 development
+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 his place in a large and far-reaching
+organisation.
+
+The work of evangelisation and all elementary 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 organisation,
+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 preaching 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
+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 Hungtung and Hwochow. United with these to form a General
+Allied Council to secure unity of action in all far-reaching
+enterprises, and to avoid multiplication 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.
+
+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!
+
+
+
+
+          "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.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+CONTAINING
+
+BIBLE TRAINING SCHOOL COURSE OF STUDY
+
+AND
+
+SPECIMEN QUESTIONS OF THE NORMAL TRAINING COLLEGE FINAL EXAMINATION
+PAPERS
+
+(_INSERTED BY REQUEST_)
+
+
+
+
+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 necessary 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.
+
+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 questions?--"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 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 Medulla
+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"?
+
+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 characteristics of a "Base."
+
+Two compounds were found to have the following compositions: = 43.64 per
+cent. 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.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Fulfilment of a Dream of Pastor
+Hsi's, by A. Mildred Cable
+
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