HW i W l Ml l i ll 
 

 tyatntll UttiueraitH ffiihratg 
 
 atljara, Km» $m:fe 
 
 CHARLES WILLIAM WASON 
 COLLECTION 
 
 CHINA AND THE CHINESE 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 CHARLES WILLIAM WASON 
 
 CLASS OF 1876 
 
 1918 
 

Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023221462 
 
THE DAYS OF JUNE 
 
The Days of June 
 
 The Life Story of 
 June Nicholson 
 
 By 
 MARY CULLER WHITE 
 
 Special Edition 
 For the Orient 
 
 New York 
 Fleming H. Revell Company 
 
 Shanghai 
 Methodist Publishing House 
 
"K^ 
 
 Copyright, 1909, by 
 FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 
 
 N k4.W5Y 
 
 V ^ 
 
 New York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
 Chicago: 80 Wabash Avenue 
 Toronto: 25 Richmond Street, W. 
 London: 21 Paternoster Square 
 Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street 
 
To all who loved "June 
 
And what is so rare as a day in June ? 
 
 Then, if ever, come perfect days ; 
 The heaven tries the earth if it be in tune, 
 
 And over it softly her warm ear lays ; 
 Whether we look, or whether we listen, 
 We hear life murmur, or see it glisten ; 
 Every clod feels a stir of might, 
 
 An instinct within it that reaches and towers, 
 And, grasping blindly above it for light, 
 
 Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers ; 
 The flush of life may well be seen 
 
 Thrilling back over hills and valleys ; 
 The cowslip startles in meadows green, 
 
 The buttercup catches the sun in its chalice, 
 And there's never a leaf or a blade too mean 
 
 To be some happy creature's palace. 
 
 —Lowell. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 WHEN the manuscript of this little 
 book was sent for examination to 
 me, as book editor, much work 
 was ahead of it, I was very busy, and I laid it 
 aside to await its turn. So busy was I that a 
 special letter with a personal appeal from the 
 author was not enough to persuade me that 
 I ought to take it up out of its order. Shortly 
 afterwards she came in person to my office 
 and begged that, as she was soon to return 
 to China, I would examine the manuscript 
 and give my decision before she left America. 
 I consented to take it up at once. I did so 
 under pressure without and protest from 
 within. But I had not read very far before 
 the inward protest was swept away before 
 the tide of emotions that were stirred within 
 me ; and I forgot all about the pressure of 
 outward and other deferred work in my 
 eagerness to continue and finish this increas- 
 J 
 
8 DTTEODUCTION 
 
 ingly fascinating story of the brave South 
 Carolina maiden-martyr, "June" Nicholson, 
 who is its subject. 
 
 As a story, it is, barring the irresistible 
 humour of that fetching sketch, the equal of 
 " the Lady of the Decoration," and in com- 
 pelling moral power, it is superior to it. I 
 have read several books on missionary 
 topics ; but I never read a book that makes 
 you see and feel both the conditions that 
 exist among the heathen and the actual 
 every-day experiences of missionary life as 
 does this modest but vivid delineation. It 
 ought to be scattered everywhere, North, 
 South, East, West. Thousands of copies 
 ought to be sold and I believe will be sold. I 
 know of nothing that would so get into 
 people's hearts and create there a real long- 
 ing to have a part in the work that so 
 absorbed and consumed the beautiful life of 
 beautiful "June" Nicholson. 
 
 Gross Alexander, 
 
 Book Editor, and Editor 
 " Methodist Review" 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 TO make a book as attractive as its 
 subject — this has been the author's 
 ideal. To win people into real 
 friendship with a real character, just as she 
 won them in life — this has been the author's 
 hope. 
 
 It might have been done differently — it 
 might have been done better, but in every 
 line of character delineated here, and in 
 every glint of colour, the author has been 
 true to the subject and the setting just as she 
 knew them. 
 
 The stories and incidents are told as June 
 Nicholson loved to tell them and much of 
 the information was culled from her letters. 
 
 The material in the sketch called "The 
 Chinese Subscription Book" was taken from 
 an article prepared by Miss Nicholson for 
 publication and the graduating essay of 
 Chapter XVI is taken verbatim from a mis- 
 sionary magazine. 
 
 9 
 
10 FOBEWOED 
 
 All of the sketches are true, and nothing is 
 changed except the names of a few minor 
 characters. If you care to travel so far, you 
 can find McTyeire School at 4 Thibet Road, 
 Shanghai, China, or if you wish evidence 
 nearer home, there is a simple gravestone 
 in South Carolina bearing the inscription, 
 
 "Jennie Hughes Nicholson 
 Lovingly called June. 
 Born February 15th, 18 JO. 
 Died February nth, igoy. 
 Was sent to China by the W. B. F. M. 
 September 12th, 1901. 
 Returned to America broken in Health 
 February 4th, 1006. 
 Realizing her condition she sent 
 
 back this message : — 
 ' As always, so now also Christ shall be 
 magnified in my body, whether it be by life, 
 or by death. Philipp. 1 : 20' " 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 I. 
 
 The First June Sunshine . 
 
 13 
 
 II. 
 
 A FORECLEAM .... 
 
 '4 
 
 III. 
 
 Beyond the Garden Spot . 
 
 . 16 
 
 IV. 
 
 Clouds Dispelled 
 
 21 
 
 V. 
 
 Senior Snap-Shots 
 
 26 
 
 VI. 
 
 Waiting ..... 
 
 33 
 
 VII. 
 
 " Westward Ho ! " . 
 
 38 
 
 VIII. 
 
 A Side-Light .... 
 
 4i 
 
 IX. 
 
 Introduced to the Orient 
 
 5' 
 
 X. 
 
 Light and Shade in Soochow 
 
 56 
 
 XI. 
 
 Clear Shining at McTyeire 
 
 59 
 
 XII. 
 
 The Language .... 
 
 62 
 
 XIII. 
 
 A Transfer of Work 
 
 64 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Principal of McTyeire 
 
 6$ 
 
 XV. 
 
 The Revival .... 
 
 7i 
 
 XVI. 
 
 The Light of Learning 
 
 75 
 
 XVII. 
 
 The Chinese Subscription Book . 
 
 83 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 " Though the Outward Man Perish ' 
 
 9° 
 
 XIX. 
 
 A Missionary Sensation 
 
 95 
 
 XX. 
 
 The Riot .... 
 
 97 
 
 XXI. 
 
 The Unquiet Dragon . „ 
 ii 
 
 99 
 
12 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 
 XXII. 
 
 The Collapse . . . • 
 
 IOI 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 The Departure . . . • 
 
 105 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 The Readjustment . . . 
 
 109 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Winter Sunshine at Yokohama . 
 
 112 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Back in the Garden Spot . . 
 
 114 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 Homesickness at Home . • 
 
 118 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Gathering Clouds . . . 
 
 , IZO 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 " Sunset and Evening Star " . 
 
 , 122 
 
 XXX. 
 
 The Afterglow ... 
 
 . 126 
 
The Days of June 
 
 i 
 
 THE FIRST JUNE SUNSHINE 
 
 THE day after Valentine's day a new 
 baby came to the plantation home. 
 It was only six years after the great 
 war had closed, and everything about the 
 old place spoke of the ease and dignity of 
 the past merged into the struggle of the pres- 
 ent. They gave the baby a dignified name 
 to accord with her surroundings and she was 
 launched into life as Jane Hughes Nicholson. 
 But the cold gray days of February gave 
 place to the laughing days of June, and the 
 baby kicked and cooed and grew ; and 
 somehow the name they had given her did 
 not fit. Jane was soon softened to Jennie 
 and for euphony they added June, but noth- 
 ing stuck until, by an inspiration, they dis- 
 carded the Jennie, saying, "She is our sun- 
 shine. We will call her June.''" 
 *3 
 
II 
 
 A FOREGLEAM 
 
 ONE day little June sat in the back 
 room rocking the baby — for other 
 babies had come to the home and 
 there was always a baby for willing June to 
 rock. 
 
 In the front room sat June's Ma, which 
 word all the children pronounced in the de- 
 lightful South Carolina way — Ma. She was 
 entertaining a caller and June could hear the 
 guest giving the news of the day. 
 
 " Governor Blank is dead," he said. 
 
 " Is he ? " said Ma, and June caught a note 
 of sadness and of pity. 
 
 " Yes," said the caller, " a bad man gone." 
 
 " And I know why he was bad," quickly 
 responded Ma. "When he was young he 
 was called to preach and he would not yield 
 to the call. That is why he plunged into 
 wickedness of which this is the end." 
 H 
 
A FOEEGLEAM 15 
 
 The little girl in the back room felt her 
 heart stand still. A chill of dread crept over 
 her. What an awful thing, she thought, to 
 be a man and have to face such questions. 
 The next thought was more comforting. She 
 was not a man and could not be called to 
 preach. But in the midst of this comfort, the 
 Holy Spirit came and said, " You are not a 
 man and you cannot preach, but you can be 
 a foreign missionary." 
 
 Further conversation in the front room was 
 lost on her ears. She still rocked the baby, 
 but the struggle of her life had begun. 
 
in 
 
 BEYOND THE GARDEN SPOT 
 
 FIFTEEN years and more sped by. 
 June Nicholson, a little past twenty- 
 five, was seated on a train pulling into 
 Atlanta. Her battle had been fought — she 
 thought it had been won. Upon the death 
 of her father, the family had removed to 
 Cedar Grove, as they called the homestead 
 on the maternal side of the family ; and here, 
 under the instruction of capable governesses, 
 she had received her education. Following 
 this, she had turned teacher to the younger 
 members of the family and had prepared her 
 brothers for college. But all responsibility 
 had been lightened by youth and joy. The 
 halls and porches of the fine old place had 
 been merry with her laughter and bright with 
 her wit. The stately house had seemed to live 
 again in the glory of ante-bellum days, as the 
 
 new generation of young people grew to man- 
 16 
 
BEYOND THE GAEDEN SPOT 17 
 
 hood and womanhood there ; for the brothers 
 and sisters numbered nine, besides cousins 
 living with them, and just across the creek 
 at Aunt Sallie*s there were nine others — 
 also Nicholsons — and double first cousins to 
 the nine at Cedar Grove. Eighteen young 
 Nicholsons were on these adjoining planta- 
 tions and other cousins and aunts and uncles 
 and in-laws scattered over the country for 
 miles around. 
 
 These country homes were favourite resorts 
 for the young people of Edgefield, the county 
 seat, and many were the house parties, the 
 military picnics, the walks, the drives, and 
 the glad free canters along the country roads. 
 And in it all, the life and soul of the joy and 
 sunshine, had been June — the dependence 
 of her mother, the pride of her brothers and 
 sisters, and the joy of almost unnumbered 
 friends. There was not a foot of ground on 
 the plantation which she did not know and 
 love, not a negro who did not delight to 
 serve her, and not an animal that did not 
 know her voice and touch. Was ever lot 
 
18 THE DATS OF JUNE 
 
 more fair or life more sweet ? And yet she 
 was turning her back on it all — on Edgefield 
 County, South Carolina — the garden spot of 
 her universe, and was starting for Kansas 
 City to attend the Scarritt Bible and Training 
 School for missionaries and other Christian 
 workers. As she sat on the train it all came 
 rushing over her again — the dear, dear home 
 and the loved ones there. She had left them 
 before for visits, but this was different. She 
 was going now to take a two years' course 
 in a far-away school and she saw that it was 
 but the beginning of a wider separation to 
 come by and by. Dear Cedar Grove — how 
 could she leave it ? How could there be 
 people who were really worth loving and 
 living among, outside of the charming circle 
 there ? 
 
 Thus she was thinking when the train 
 stopped in Atlanta, where the journey de- 
 manded a change of cars. Here she was to 
 say good-bye to her last relative, and to go 
 on alone. The cords that bound her to 
 Edgefield were tightening as she sought to 
 
BEYOND THE GAEDEN SPOT 19 
 
 break them, and everything within her 
 seemed to rise up and say she could not do 
 it. She hurriedly left the train, sold her 
 ticket to Kansas City and prepared to return 
 home. But her trunk had to be got off 
 the train, and for this she went to the bag- 
 gage-master. 
 
 " My trunk is checked to Kansas City," 
 she said ; " but I am not going, and I want 
 to get it off." 
 
 " Surrender your ticket," was the busi- 
 nesslike reply, "and you can get your 
 trunk." 
 
 " I can't," she said, " for I have sold it. 
 But I must have my trunk. Won't you 
 please get it off?" Unwittingly the depth 
 of her feeling was showing itself in her 
 voice. 
 
 "Why aren't you going where you 
 started?" said the man, evidently touched. 
 
 " Because I am homesick," she blurted 
 out. 
 
 " Well," said the man, " if that is the case 
 I guess I will have to let you have your 
 
20 THE DATS OF JUNE 
 
 trunk. It's against the rules and I ought 
 not to do it, but if you are homesick — that's 
 a different matter." 
 
 But he knew not with whom he was 
 dealing. The would-be missionary had re- 
 covered herself. 
 
 " No you won't," she said. " I'll not let 
 you do for me anything you ought not to 
 do. I'll go and buy back my ticket and go 
 on to Kansas City." 
 
 And she did. 
 
IV 
 CLOUDS DISPELLED 
 
 THE big city — the busy school — the 
 regulation — the routine — she was 
 plunged into the midst of it all. 
 And the homesickness ? Yes, she had it — a 
 bad case — just as bad as she had thought 
 it would be, and her imagination had been 
 lively. 
 
 The teachers were kind, the students 
 sympathetic, and the course of study en- 
 grossing ; but it was not home, and the very 
 screens in the windows gave her a feeling 
 of suffocation. Accustomed to a whole plan- 
 tation to breathe in, she felt she would die if 
 she could not knock those screens out. 
 
 A year later, she was looking around 
 among the new students for somebody, as 
 she said, "as miserable as I was a year 
 ago." She wanted to comfort her. But 
 
 21 
 
22 THE DATS OP JTJlirE 
 
 according to her own account, the search 
 was vain. 
 
 For three months after her arrival there 
 was no abatement of her misery. Home- 
 sickness did its worst; but at the end of 
 that time the new environment began to 
 work a cure for the disease it had wrought. 
 
 The house was full of busy women, each 
 sustained by a high purpose. The faculty 
 lived to develop the students, and the 
 students lived to take advantage of the op- 
 portunities and prepare for trained service. 
 Some of them were volunteers for the 
 foreign field, some were training for home 
 mission work, and some simply for self- 
 improvement; but all were earnestly and 
 happily working at the studies assigned 
 them. 
 
 And the farther June advanced in the 
 studies the more interesting they became. 
 The research demanded by a thorough course 
 in the English Bible, the mysteries of medical 
 lectures, the practical points of bookkeeping 
 and the theory and practice of methods of 
 
CLOUDS DISPELLED 23 
 
 Christian work, were sufficient to absorb her 
 every thought. Besides the regular duties 
 of study, there was another heavy claim on 
 her time in that she elected not to accept 
 a scholarship, but to work her way through 
 school by answering the door-bell. This 
 would leave her free from obligation when 
 she was graduated, and she could then decide, 
 finally, her great life question — the foreign 
 field or America ? She thought it would be 
 the foreign field, and she wanted to be of the 
 highest use when she got there, so she added 
 music to her already heavy course. 
 
 Faithfully she worked, even while she was 
 homesick, and application and determination 
 effected a cure. Long before her junior 
 year was over she was a happy member of 
 the Training School family, loving and be- 
 loved. And she was doing well with her 
 studies. The music and the door-bell were 
 heavy extras, but her mind was clear and 
 active, her memory good, and her common 
 sense unfailing. 
 
 Once her duties on the door-bell got her into 
 
24 THE DAYS OF JUNE 
 
 trouble. It was one night when she answered 
 the summons and admitted the medical 
 lecturer for the evening. She took him to 
 the principal's office to register. There on 
 the desk lay the open register in which were 
 the names of all the lecturers since the time 
 the school began. The book was neatly 
 kept, for the principal was neat and de- 
 manded neatness. On this night the doctor 
 signed as usual and Miss Nicholson looked 
 round for the blotter which was always in 
 the book. It was not there ! But the book 
 must be closed and the doctor taken to the 
 lecture room where the class, of which Miss 
 Nicholson was a member, was already 
 assembled. She looked at the signature. 
 The ink was wet. She could not wait — 
 the principal was prompt and demanded 
 promptness. Ah, the gas jet ! She would 
 just hold the book near it a moment and 
 the ink would dry. Quickly the thought 
 was carried out, but eager haste took the 
 book too near and the page caught fire. 
 She had it out in an instant, but there was 
 
CLOUDS DISPELLED 25 
 
 the scorched and blackened page on the 
 hitherto perfect register. She laid it down 
 and went to the lecture, very little of which 
 she heard. At her first free moment she 
 took the book to that kindliest of souls, 
 dear Miss J., the sister of the principal. 
 
 "What shall I do with it?" she asked in 
 real distress. And then from the depths of 
 her tender heart Miss J. concocted a plan 
 as nearly wicked as anything Miss J. ever 
 planned or did. " You might just cut out 
 the leaf," she said, " and copy those signa- 
 tures on the following page. Then you 
 needn't say anything to anybody about it." 
 
 But the next day courage found a better 
 way. The marred book was taken, just as 
 it was, to the principal herself, and courage 
 met its own reward in that the incident was 
 passed over — the accident pardoned. 
 
V 
 
 SENIOR SNAP-SHOTS 
 
 MISS NICHOLSON arrived a few 
 days late at the beginning of her 
 senior year. No Atlanta episode 
 this time, but the illness of her mother, had 
 kept her. So the students, new and old, had 
 arrived and the school had begun before she 
 could get back. 
 
 Among the new students was the one who 
 was to be Miss Nicholson's junior " on the 
 door-bell," and the two were assigned a 
 room together and seats at the same table 
 so that together they might watch the bell 
 and answer its every call. 
 
 The bedroom assigned was known as 
 
 Centenary — a large pleasant room with a 
 
 view of a near-by ravine and the distant 
 
 river. Two others were to be in this room 
 
 also, Miss Godbey, a sub-senior and a singer, 
 26 
 
SENIOR SNAP-SHOTS 27 
 
 and Miss Harbaugh, a senior of wide practi- 
 cal experience and the private secretary of 
 the principal. 
 
 From the time the new Junior arrived some 
 of the students began to congratulate her on 
 the prospect of rooming with Miss Nichol- 
 son, and in a few days she decided that this 
 unknown young woman must be a very de- 
 lightful person. 
 
 One evening at twilight most of the stu- 
 dents were on the veranda, when somebody 
 was seen coming up the walk from the car 
 line. There was a cry — a commotion ; the 
 newcomer was surrounded and escorted into 
 the house amid glad cries, " June Nicholson 
 — June Nicholson." There was a hospital 
 on the third floor of the school and all noise 
 or loud talking in the halls was strictly 
 prohibited. But that welcoming procession 
 ascended the stairs and went through the 
 halls, breaking every rule that obstructed its 
 line of march. 
 
 It brought up at Centenary and trium- 
 phantly introduced Miss Nicholson to her 
 
28 THE DAYS OF JUNE 
 
 new quarters. But the new roommate was 
 not there. From the veranda she had been 
 a silent witness of the whole scene. When 
 the procession had swept by, she was left 
 alone in the twilight — the sole occupant of 
 the porch. 
 
 By and by she went up to Centenary and 
 was introduced. She noted the tall form — 
 the somewhat accentuated thinness, the 
 graceful carriage, the stylish clothes, the re- 
 fined face, and kindly manner. No, it was 
 not going to be hard to know Miss Nichol- 
 son. And unconsciously to them both that 
 day marked the beginning of a friendship 
 that was to stretch to the ends of the earth 
 and to go on to the bounds of time. 
 
 Happy days followed — days of hard study 
 for everybody. The seniors talked learnedly 
 of the "courses of thought" of the Pauline 
 Epistles and spoke familiarly of Dr. George 
 C. Fisher, walking around with his weighty 
 volume of Church History under their arms. 
 
 These lofty thoughts were interspersed 
 with days of district visiting and hours of 
 
SENIOR SNAP-SHOTS 29 
 
 housework. Everywhere in the institution 
 there was order, system, neatness. In Cente- 
 nary the quartette had become fast friends 
 and they decided to apply the system of 
 general housework to the care of their own 
 room — only with this awful penalty added — 
 if any one left any part of her work undone 
 or failed to put in its proper place any article 
 of her personal belongings, she was con- 
 demned to clean the entire room alone on 
 the morning succeeding such negligence. 
 The only sympathy she received in the time- 
 consuming task was that occasionally one of 
 her loving roommates would look up from a 
 text-book to say, "I'm sorry for you, dear ; I 
 know you need this time on your lessons, but 
 you really must learn to be more careful." 
 Suffice it to say that Centenary stayed in 
 order. 
 
 Another tie that bound the four together 
 was their merriment over the necessary 
 economies. Those who, in mature life, have 
 worked their way through any course of 
 study, will understand. One of the Cente- 
 
30 THE DAYS OF JUNE 
 
 nary group made a record of two years on 
 twenty-five dollars for clothes and incidentals, 
 and has thereby gone down into history; 
 while almost any of the others could have 
 written an able treatise on " Having Nothing, 
 and How to Live on It." They named them- 
 selves " The Ruggles Family," saying there 
 were not enough good clothes to go around, 
 and so all four could never go out at once. 
 
 One good brother who attended the near- 
 by church, heard the jokes and failed to 
 understand. It was whispered around that 
 he was talking about the Training School 
 students being destitute. Hearing this Miss 
 Nicholson and the Junior took a nickel to 
 Sunday-school and asked this brother to 
 change it, telling him that several of them 
 wanted to contribute to the collection. He 
 had the wit to refuse, and the next Sunday 
 he retaliated by bringing a penny to the same 
 young ladies to be changed. 
 
 Miss Nicholson's friends at the Training 
 School were gradually introduced by long- 
 distance connection to the family at Cedar 
 
SENIOE SNAP-SHOTS 31 
 
 Grove. The wire over which this acquaint- 
 ance proceeded was Miss Nicholson's love 
 and loyalty. She had found that she could 
 be happy away from home, but she never for- 
 got that it was to home she belonged. Her 
 dearest themes of conversation were " Ma," 
 "Uncle Robert," "Aunt Jennie," the brothers 
 and sisters, aunts, cousins, and uncles. She 
 kept up with home politics, too, reporting at 
 one time seven candidates for governor from 
 the political hot-bed of her home county. A 
 true child of the soil that had produced fight- 
 ing Ben Tillman, Senator Butler, Governor 
 Pickens, and the other Edgefield notables, she 
 could wax hot in protestation or eloquent in 
 defense. One of her fellow students, having 
 dared to differ with her, retired, remarking, 
 "You had better keep the blue blood of 
 South Carolina cool." 
 
 The senior year was drawing to a close. 
 Together with the other missionary candi- 
 dates, Miss Nicholson had sent in her appli- 
 cation to the Woman's Board of Foreign 
 Missions and had been accepted. If all went 
 
32 THE DAYS OF JUNE 
 
 well she would sail for China in the Fall. If 
 all did not go well — if the family still opposed 
 — ah, there was the rub. She knew not what 
 she could do. No longer for self did she 
 want to stay, but there were those who were 
 dearer than self, and obedience to God meant 
 opposition to them. She did not know how 
 it would come out. She only knew that out- 
 side the Golden Gate that shut in America 
 and the loved ones, was a land whose need 
 was calling her, and that her face was turned 
 westward in answer to that call. 
 
VI 
 
 WAITING 
 
 FOLLOWING graduation came the 
 Board meeting and appointments ; 
 Miss Nicholson for China — Miss Har- 
 baugh for Korea. But almost before their 
 preparations for departure were begun, the 
 sword, the stake, the headsman's axe had 
 been turned loose on the missionaries already 
 in China. Chapels were in flames and sta- 
 tions devastated. It was true that the Boxer 
 uprising was anti-foreign, not strictly anti- 
 missionary, the German ambassador being 
 killed with the rest. And it was also true 
 that nearly all the trouble was in North 
 China — not in Shanghai, where Miss Nichol- 
 son was expected to go. But all the East 
 was in a state of upheaval. Missionaries 
 were called in from the interior by their con- 
 suls, and all work suspended. It was a most 
 fortunate time for furloughs for all those 
 33 
 
34 THE DAYS OF JUNE 
 
 whose Boards could afford to send them 
 home. Clearly it was not a time to send 
 new workers to the field. 
 
 And in the South Carolina home another 
 storm was raging. They understood the 
 daughter's decision, and they understood 
 that the delay was only temporary. Their 
 love claimed June as their own. How could 
 they give her up to go out into the distance 
 and the danger ? But they were Christians I 
 The courage with which June was now op- 
 posing them had come to her through lessons 
 in the Christian life imparted from their own 
 lips. Yes, it was hard, but they could have 
 done it, had it not been for a secret fear — 
 June was frail. Her energy kept her from 
 knowing it, and she managed, after repeated 
 examinations, to get a full health certificate 
 from the somewhat dubious doctors. What 
 if, in that trying climate, June should lose 
 her health or her life, and the sacrifice prove 
 vain ? No ! They were opposed to it ! She 
 ought not to try it. The risk was too great 
 
 Under the strain the mother grew ill, and 
 
WAITING 35 
 
 all that year it was not the Boxer troubles so 
 much as the mother's condition that kept 
 June at home. At times Ma was better, the 
 very thought of China for her darling was 
 enough to make her ill again. 
 
 But winter passed and spring came. It 
 was June again and Board meeting time. 
 The Junior, left behind at the Training 
 School — the one fragment from the Cen- 
 tenary group — had seen Miss Harbaugh 
 depart in midwinter for Korea, and had 
 listened to a final exhortation from her friend 
 to the effect that she, too, should settle the 
 question of life-work and apply to be sent out 
 as a missionary. Their hands had touched in 
 good-bye, as the half-willing Junior gave the 
 laconic reply, " If I do I hope I shall," — and 
 then the street-car had borne the traveller 
 away. Later, this ex-Junior made the de- 
 cision, signed the volunteer card, and in 
 June she met Miss Nicholson at the Board 
 meeting. 
 
 Order had been restored in China now, 
 and new workers could be sent out. Miss 
 
36 THE DAYS OP JUNE 
 
 Nicholson was again assigned to China, and 
 with her, the Junior and Miss A., another new 
 worker. 
 
 Juniors are not juniors after they graduate, 
 but this one ever considered herself Miss 
 Nicholson's junior friend and missionary and 
 counted herself happy to start out on her life- 
 work in such company. 
 
 But how could June go ? How could she 
 leave home any more than she could leave 
 the year before ? What would be the effect 
 on the delicate health of the mother? She 
 did not know. Sadly she said, " If Ma were 
 not a Christian it would not be hard to 
 oppose her. But she is such a strong Chris- 
 tian, it breaks my heart to have to go 
 against her." One day she said, " I feel as 
 if all eighteen young Nicholsons were pull- 
 ing on me to hold me back." And again, 
 " If I could only start now, while I am away 
 from home, — if I could go without the good- 
 byes ! I do not know how I will ever get 
 away if I have to go back home and say 
 farewell formally." 
 
WAITING 37 
 
 But God, who had assuredly called her, 
 and in whom she put her trust, came and 
 spoke calmness and courage through the 
 verse, " Ye shall not go out by haste, nor go 
 by flight; for the Lord will go before you 
 and the God of Israel will be your reward." 
 In the strength of this she turned her face 
 homeward for the last preparations and the 
 final good-bye. 
 
 And God was faithful. It was all easier 
 than she had thought. Ma rallied, and gath- 
 ering together all she could of strength and 
 courage, opposed no longer, but even did 
 what her strength permitted in helping for- 
 ward the preparations. 
 
 At last it was over and Miss Nicholson 
 had started. What that good-bye cost on 
 both sides is written only in the records of 
 God. 
 
VII 
 
 "WESTWARD HO!" 
 
 THE steamer China of the Pacific 
 Mail Company lay in dock at 
 San Francisco. At the Occidental 
 Hotel a great missionary party was gather- 
 ing. Men and women, with long years of 
 noble service behind them, were turning 
 glad faces to the sea, eager to get back to 
 their work. Young men and young women 
 were there — raw recruits, eager to be of use, 
 and yet so ignorant of what awaited them. 
 
 Other travellers too were gathering. The 
 representatives of army and navy — the wife 
 and daughter of a consul — the cultured 
 tourist and the professional globe-trotter — 
 the commercial traveller and the man to sell 
 liquor in the Philippines. 
 
 All was bustle and preparation. Miss 
 Nicholson and the Junior went down to the 
 steamer office to perfect arrangements, and 
 38 
 
" WESTWAED HO ! " 39 
 
 while they waited, they had their first good 
 view of the Chinamen. The Pacific steamers 
 carry hundreds in their Asiatic steerage and 
 the Chinamen were coming to buy their 
 tickets. They wore coats and trousers of 
 Chinese cut, and as they came in Miss 
 Nicholson exclaimed, " Look there 1 Look 
 there! Do you suppose they all look like 
 that ? Look at that man's queue trailing on 
 the floor, and see the other one with his 
 queue tucked into his pocket." And half 
 amused, half fearful, she gazed at them. If 
 they were all like that, could she love them 
 and could she teach them? 
 
 The day for sailing came and the hour for 
 embarkation. The others of the immediate 
 party were leaving the hotel when Miss 
 Nicholson touched the Junior and turning 
 to an alcove said, " Come, Little Family, let 
 us have a last prayer." Quietly they knelt 
 and poured out their hearts before God. 
 With a catch in their voices they committed 
 to His care the loved ones left behind, and 
 then claimed His strength for the untried 
 
40 THE DAYS OP JUliTB 
 
 field before them. Then they arose full of 
 divine strength and hope. 
 
 Thronging friends crowded the dock and, 
 as the steamer loosed her cables, they waved a 
 good-bye to the friends on board. Miss 
 Nicholson and the Junior had no friends west 
 of the Missouri River and the faces of the 
 crowd were lost on them ; but it was 
 America they were leaving — America that 
 held the loved ones, and every moment 
 the water between them and the shore 
 was widening — widening. A graphophone, 
 brought on deck by the commercial trav- 
 eller, struck up 
 
 " Good-bye, Dolly, I must leave you, 
 There's no use to ask me why." 
 
 But even amid this discord of thought, 
 hearts kept their sacrament and knew they 
 were going " in remembrance of Him." 
 
VIII 
 
 A SIDE-LIGHT 
 
 THE China was crowded. Every 
 cabin had its three berths taken. 
 Some of the sub-ofhcers even va- 
 cated their rooms and turned them over to 
 the passengers "for a consideration." 
 
 The steamer wasn't very big, as boats go, 
 but she was the biggest, fastest boat on her 
 line, and on this trip she carried one hun- 
 dred and twenty first-class passengers. 
 
 Nearly a month on board, and in that 
 close contact which steamer life exacts! 
 There was plenty of time to get acquainted, 
 and on this trip all classes mixed well. The 
 missionaries tipped the scale at a little more 
 than half the total of passengers, since they 
 numbered sixty-five. It was an unusual 
 number, but this was almost the first ship-load 
 after the Boxer troubles, and many, like Miss 
 Nicholson, had been waiting nearly a year. 
 
 The life on board naturally centred 
 41 
 
42 THE DATS OP JUNE 
 
 around a few strong personalities. One of 
 these was Captain Park, who had been one 
 of the victorious leaders of our volunteer army 
 in the Philippines. He was now returning 
 to the Islands, still in the service of the 
 government. It was reported on board that 
 he disliked missionaries — thought they had 
 " horns " or something of the kind. Any- 
 way, they were " thoroughly objectionable 
 people and strictly to be let alone." 
 
 He was pointed out to the group of young 
 women of which Miss Nicholson and the 
 Junior formed a part. They saw a tall man 
 of about forty, with military figure, white hair, 
 and clear,, piercing blue eyes — eyes to look 
 straight through you. Clearly this was no 
 ordinary man. They would be glad to meet 
 him. Perhaps they could help disabuse his 
 mind about the horns. 
 
 One day the Junior fell into conversation 
 with him and it was not long until the talk 
 had drifted to subjects on which they dis- 
 agreed — the world — the Church — missions 
 and missionaries. Then they just couldn't 
 
A SIDE-LIGHT 43 
 
 help it ! They fell to and fought — with keen 
 delight in the argument. But it was a " horn- 
 less " combat and they came off such friends 
 that they wanted to renew the war as soon as 
 convenient. 
 
 Watching this interesting character, the 
 young women saw that he was making a 
 number of friends among the missionaries. 
 He took his exercise by pacing the deck 
 with two other men — one of whom looked 
 like a western miner, and the other, like a 
 bishop ought to look. After a week or so of 
 sailing the smaller groups of friends were 
 merged into larger ones, and Captain Park 
 became the centre of the group to which the 
 young missionaries belonged. He enlivened 
 four o'clock tea and nine o'clock ginger-snaps 
 with stories never told by land or sea — 
 stories of the struggles in the Philippines, 
 and the brave lads who never came home — 
 stories of camp life — stories of his own boy- 
 hood, and dear, tender stories of the wife 
 back in the States. Somewhere about mid- 
 ocean he told the best story of all. He had 
 
U THE DATS OF JUNE 
 
 round him an appreciative audience of mis- 
 sionaries, and near him sat the " should-be 
 bishop." The story ran like this : — 
 
 When he got to San Francisco he found 
 that the steamer was crowded and the best 
 he could do was to take a cabin with two 
 other men. He came down to the dock 
 not knowing who these men were, but in 
 great fear lest they should be missionaries. 
 He looked over the crowd and approached 
 the first harmless looking man he saw. 
 (He knew he was harmless because he 
 was smoking.) He eagerly asked this man 
 if he was sailing on the China and if he 
 knew his cabin mates. But when the reply 
 gave him no help as to his own roommates, 
 he turned away, and searched again until 
 he found a second harmless looking man — 
 also smoking. 
 
 This one he accosted in the same way and 
 found that he was to be in stateroom No. 10, 
 
 " Good I " the captain ejaculated, " that's 
 my stateroom too. We'll go together." 
 And then he added, "They tell me there 
 
A SIDE-LIGHT 45 
 
 are a lot of missionaries on this boat, but 
 the best two out of three we're all right 
 now. Let's go down and look at the 
 cabin." 
 
 When they reached No. 10 they saw in 
 it trunks marked " Appenzeller," and a deck 
 of cards on the shelf. " Appenzeller," said 
 the smoker meditatively, "Appenzeller, I 
 guess that's Dutch, ain't it ? " 
 
 " I guess so. And see the cards 1 I 
 think we're all right." But just at that mo- 
 ment a man appeared in the cabin door and 
 the captain looked him over. Now the cap- 
 tain had been about the world some, and he 
 had seen men. But somehow, that name, 
 and that deck of cards, and that face didn't 
 go together. But the stranger stood there 
 smiling and said pleasantly, "Gentlemen, 
 is this your cabin ? Well, it is mine too. I 
 guess we had better get acquainted. We'll 
 just tell each other who we are. My name 
 is Appenzeller, and I am a missionary. My 
 business is to send men to heaven." 
 
 "My name is Park," said the captain. 
 
46 THE DAYS OF JUNE 
 
 " I'm a soldier. My business is to send 
 them to the other place." 
 
 " My name," said the third, " is Gallagher 
 — Mike Gallagher, and I'm a miner. My 
 business is to furnish them with the 
 money to go to either place they want to." 
 
 Mr. Appenzeller put out a Korean Bible, 
 saying, " Gentlemen, help yourselves. Read 
 this whenever you want to." 
 
 Captain Park got out a box of Manila 
 cigars, saying, " Help yourselves. Smoke 
 these whenever you want to." 
 
 Mr. Gallagher took out a bottle, saying, 
 "Gentlemen, help yourselves. Drink this 
 whenever you want to." 
 
 From that moment, in the language of 
 Mr. Gallagher, the three men were " Pards." 
 The deck of cards left by a former passenger 
 disappeared and nothing occurred to mar the 
 freedom of the intercourse in Cabin No. 10. 
 
 On the first Sunday out Mr. Appenzeller, 
 tor twenty years a leader of mission work in 
 Korea, was put up to preach. Mr. Gallagher 
 came gravely to Captain Park, saying, " What 
 
A SIDE-LIGHT 47 
 
 be we going to do ? " "I don't know," said 
 the captain, " I suppose we must go." " We 
 can't go back on our ' Pard,' " said Mr. Gal- 
 lagher decidedly. And so it transpired that 
 these two were in the congregation and there 
 they made acquaintances among other mis- 
 sionaries. They knew they liked Mr. Appen- 
 zeller and they gradually found that they 
 liked some of the rest ; and before the voy- 
 age was over the purser mistook Captain 
 Park for a missionary and moved him to a 
 table being made up of missionaries only. 
 To the missionaries the captain protested 
 that the other people — the card players, etc., 
 were " his crowd," but he never showed it by 
 staying with them, and he was keenly amused 
 at the purser's mistake, being careful not to 
 correct it. 
 
 After Yokohama had been passed the cap- 
 tain told another story. " Back in my State," 
 he said, "and out in the country, lives a 
 cousin of mine — Sol Somebody. Sol makes 
 nine hundred dollars a year, and he and his 
 wife live on four hundred dollars and send 
 
48 THE DAYS OF JUNE 
 
 the other five hundred over here to Japan to 
 support a missionary. The missionary is a 
 young fellow who works in the interior. The 
 head of their mission, Dr. Obese, lives in one 
 of the ports and when I was out here before, 
 I went to see him. But I did not get in. I 
 know he was asleep, and I don't believe he 
 is doing anything anyhow. The young fel- 
 low off in the country may be ; I rather think 
 he is. But a missionary job in a port means 
 a good house and a good time. So when I 
 went home I said, ' Look here, Sol, you're 
 wasting your money. I have been over 
 yonder and I know. I've seen a good deal 
 of this missionary business. You can save 
 your money and keep it at home.' That was 
 the way it stood when I left him. But," con- 
 tinued the captain with a wave of his hand at 
 the port just passed, " when we were in Yoko- 
 hama I sent back a letter and said, ' Sol, I am 
 crossing the Pacific with the largest body of 
 missionaries that ever sailed for the East. 
 Some of them are nice and some of them are 
 not. But I guess you can just send out your 
 
A SIDE-LIGHT 49 
 
 money this year, Sol, and I will look into 
 this thing more carefully and let you know.' " 
 
 At the next port, Kobe, the first break 
 came. It was here that the passengers for 
 Korea would leave the others and go on in 
 such a boat as they could get. " Number 10 " 
 was robbed of two of its occupants and the 
 whole party hung over the rail and waved a 
 good-bye as Mr. Appenzeller and Mr. Gal- 
 lagher got into a sampan and were rowed 
 out of sight. 
 
 At Shanghai another break was to come, 
 and the captain spent the remaining time 
 with the party which would leave the vessel 
 there. Miss Nicholson had opportunity for 
 a last quiet talk, and full of appreciation of 
 his nobility of soul, she made an earnest ap- 
 peal for the Christian life. His words pro- 
 tested in answer, but his eyes gave assent 
 that she was right. He promised nothing, 
 but he could not forget. 
 
 And so the trio in No. 10 was broken up — 
 as remarkable a trio as ever crossed the 
 ocean. And one of the three still digs gold 
 
60 THE DATS OF JUNE 
 
 — shining yellow gold — in the American 
 mines of North Korea. 
 
 And the second — the one who went for that 
 better Korean gold, lies in an unknown spot 
 at the bottom of the sea, off the coast of the 
 gold-field he loved. After his return on the 
 China, there was only one short season of 
 digging, and then as he started to another 
 section of the work on a little coasting boat, 
 there came a fog and a collision, and he 
 ceased digging forever, for the Master had 
 called and taken him home. 
 
 And the third — did he make good ? Ah, 
 the third is standing for the American gov- 
 ernment to a whole province in the Philip- 
 pine Islands. With keen insight and an im- 
 partial hand he has been meting out judg- 
 ment and justice, and unmindful of the diffi- 
 culties, has been lifting and leading the simple 
 natives under his care. To the missionaries 
 in his province he has been a friend and ad- 
 viser. And who shall say that he, too, is not 
 digging gold, not only gold for the govern- 
 ment, but gold for the Master as well. And 
 the end is not yet. 
 
IX 
 
 INTRODUCED TO THE ORIENT 
 
 A ROLLING sea and mud-red water 
 gave notice of the ship's approach 
 to China. At sunset the Saddle 
 Islands were sighted and all the returning 
 missionaries, even the seasick ones, bright- 
 ened up at the sight They were unaffectedly 
 glad to get back to their work, and they 
 spoke of their stations in China as " home." 
 Not so the new ones. To them the voy- 
 age had been a blessed interim between the 
 parting from home and the taking up of the 
 new life. They could not tell how it was go- 
 ing to be with a new language, new prob- 
 lems, and a new people. Could they have 
 just sailed on and on, they would have been 
 glad. But the anchor was cast on nearing 
 Woosung and the passengers notified that a 
 steam launch would take them up the river 
 5i 
 
52 THE DAYS OF JUNE 
 
 to Shanghai the next morning. When day- 
 light came, they found themselves in the 
 mouth of the Whangpoo River with the 
 shore of China stretching away in low, flat 
 lines of mud. 
 
 The gay breezes of autumn swept over the 
 river the next day as the steam launch, or 
 " tender," took the party and their baggage 
 on the fifteen-mile run up the river. The 
 nearer they approached Shanghai the more 
 foreign buildings they saw — most of them 
 trade-marks of British capital. At last the 
 city itself came into view, with its broad 
 Bund, its public garden, and its mixture of 
 Chinese and foreign architecture. A large 
 group of people marked the jetty where the 
 tender was to stop. The people on shore 
 were gaily waving at the incoming boat and 
 the passengers waved in return. The new 
 recruits turned away. There could be no- 
 body in that crowd to welcome them. They 
 waited as long as possible and then gripped 
 themselves hard and landed — not, as they 
 thought, amid people who knew not nor 
 
INTRODUCED TO THE ORIENT 53 
 
 cared, but landed in the arms, so to speak, 
 of their mission ; Miss R., Miss A., Miss P., 
 and so on and so on to the full extent of 
 every member of the mission who lived in 
 Shanghai or could possibly get there. 
 
 And then came the greetings of the 
 natives, the Bible women, the preachers who 
 were down to welcome their co-labourers, 
 the returning missionaries. The new re- 
 cruits were pulled this way and that in intro- 
 ductions and welcomes and hand-shakes. 
 They knew it was not all for them, but they 
 were glad to be in it anyway ; and they be- 
 gan to realize what reinforcement meant to 
 the struggling workers on the field. "We 
 have heard about you," said some one to 
 Miss Nicholson, " and have been waiting for 
 you three years or more." 
 
 After the hubbub of introductions had sub- 
 sided, the newcomers were told to identify 
 their baggage and give it to the wheelbar- 
 row men who were pushing into the crowd. 
 A polylingual hullabulloo followed over a 
 free-for-all fight for the unchecked baggage. 
 
54 THE DAYS OF JUNE 
 
 But at last the great pile of trunks was dis- 
 sected, even the coolies satisfied and nobody 
 killed. Then Miss Nicholson, Miss A., and 
 the Junior were taken in charge and each 
 put into a jinrikisha. They felt awkward 
 and out of place — like grown up children 
 riding in so many baby carriages; but the 
 order was given for the mission home, the 
 human steeds seized the shafts and the party 
 dashed off, single file, up the Nanking 
 Road. 
 
 Oh, shades of the Champs Elysees ! Oh, 
 proud avenue of the Parisians ! Orientalize 
 yourself and you become the Nanking Road. 
 Turn your ever flying automobile into a 
 jinrikisha, your motor busses into lumber- 
 ing wheelbarrows ; let your carriages re- 
 main as they are, only let the driving be 
 more furious and the livery more gay ; let 
 your bicycles roll on and your occasional 
 waggon be turned into a half-ashamed Sedan 
 chair; add passengers and pedestrians of 
 every nationality, and turn all this into a 
 double procession hurrying in both directions 
 
DTTKODTJCED TO THE OEIENT 55 
 
 through the most wonderful Anglo-Chinese 
 street in the world, and then, oh, Paris I you 
 are outdone ! You have lost in colour more 
 than you have gained in speed. 
 
 The newcomers looked around in astonish- 
 ment. Could this be China? They were 
 lost in bewilderment until a sudden turn 
 brought them into Thibet Road and their 
 'rikshas were dumped down at a gate marked 
 "McTyeire Home." Inside, there was a 
 pleasant yard with a long two-storied build- 
 ing of red and gray brick. Across the lawn 
 was a church, made picturesque by clinging 
 vines, and the whole was surrounded by a 
 substantial brick wall. At their approach, the 
 door of the long building flew open and Miss 
 Richardson, the head of the establishment, 
 said, "Welcome to McTyeire 1" Together 
 with some of the returning missionaries, they 
 were ushered into the pleasant parlour. 
 Somebody started the doxology, then two 
 somebodies led in prayer, and their welcome 
 was complete. 
 
X 
 
 LIGHT AND SHADE IN SOOCHOW 
 
 THE next two weeks were packed with 
 novel experiences for June Nicholson. 
 There was the house-boat trip to Soo- 
 chow on which she and her companions took 
 with them bedding and food and drinking 
 water, and even a face basin, to use on the boat, 
 which, they were assured by the initiated, was 
 bare, but not uninhabited. How small and 
 clumsy the little craft seemed; how stolid 
 looking the Chinese oarsmen ! Everybody 
 laughed when Miss A. smilingly asked the 
 privilege of talking with the " ship's officers." 
 How eagerly the newcomers listened as their 
 chaperones told them of " slow-boat trips " to 
 Soochow before steam got into China, and 
 how glad they felt when a lively little launch 
 took their boat in tow ! Long into the night 
 they gazed at the weird sight of other boat- 
 trains swinging past them along the serpen- 
 tine curves of the canal. Great monsters they 
 seemed, with fiery heads and jointed bodies. 
 56 
 
LIGHT AND SHADE IH SOOCHOW 57 
 
 How strange was Soochow itself when its 
 battlemented wall, two thousand years old, 
 came into view. Oh, the narrow, dirty streets, 
 and the thousands upon thousands of teem- 
 ing people. How squalid the city seemed in 
 those first glances when June could not tell 
 poverty from dirt. An excursion through the 
 city sent her back overwhelmed. So many 
 blind people — so many lame 1 So much suf- 
 fering uncovered to the public gaze 1 The 
 memory of the streets haunted her. 
 
 She was told there was another side to 
 Soochow life, and was asked if she would like 
 to go to a feast in the home of a wealthy 
 lady. Of course she would, and the others 
 too. Accordingly, the invitation was secured 
 and the party set out well-coached by a 
 couple of older missionaries. They found their 
 little hostess gowned in silk and resplendent 
 with pearls. They sat down to the table and 
 the coaching continued in English asides 
 while the table talk proceeded in Chinese. 
 But alas for the newcomers' efforts ! Who 
 could appear at ease? No table-cloth, no 
 napkins, no plates, no knives and forks, no 
 bread, no water 1 But hours upon hours of 
 
58 THE DAYS OF JUNE 
 
 eating — bird-nest soup, sharks' fins, ducks' 
 tongues, doves' eggs, sea-slugs, and twenty 
 odd courses of other dainties, partaken of 
 amid frantic struggles with the chop-sticks 
 and fruitless efforts to get away 1 The Junior 
 ate the watermelon seed, shell and all, being 
 determined to do her whole duty. They were 
 glad it did not happen every day ; and glad 
 indeed that the missionaries ate American 
 food. 
 
 Then Conference itself was a unique expe- 
 rience; the familiar hymns with the unfa- 
 miliar words ; and hours upon hours of sit- 
 ting on hard benches in a cold church in the 
 bare hope of absorbing something ; and then 
 the pay for it all in the sight of the Christian 
 Chinese reverently going forward to receive 
 the sacrament. Here was something June 
 could understand — here a bond of union with 
 even the ragged sexton who tottered forward 
 with the rest. It was worth while to see those 
 awful streets, if Christ could change the na- 
 tives into such a crowd as this. 
 
 Then appointments, and good-bye to the 
 Junior, and Miss Nicholson and Miss A. were 
 off to Shanghai to McTyeire again. 
 
XI 
 
 CLEAR SHINING AT McTYEIRE 
 
 McTYEIRE — an Anglo-Chinese 
 boarding school for high-class 
 girls — an institution nine years 
 old, and the pioneer school in the Empire 
 for the higher education of women. Located 
 in Shanghai, the commercial centre of the 
 Orient, its seventy or more pupils came from 
 all over the Empire. High officials and in- 
 fluential men, liberal enough to believe in 
 the education of women, were seizing the 
 opportunity and sending their daughters. 
 With joy Miss Nicholson looked into the 
 bright faces of the students and realized that 
 within the walls of the school she could touch 
 for God the best life of the nation. 
 
 She visited the English classes and found 
 the work of high order ; and when she ex- 
 amined her music pupils she found they had 
 been well taught and were worthy of her best. 
 One end of the building was set apart for 
 59 
 
60 THE DAYS OF JOTTE 
 
 a home for the missionaries and here she 
 settled down to her first year's work — half 
 the day teaching music — half the day study- 
 ing the language — and every day and all 
 day working, working at her new psycho- 
 logical problem, the Chinese. 
 
 Homesick ? No ! She was immune after 
 that spell at the Training School ; and be- 
 sides, there were the dear home letters that 
 came by every steamer, telling how all were 
 well at Cedar Grove, and Ma was better and 
 willing she should be in China. 
 
 Afraid of the Chinese? No. She found 
 them a peaceful and peace-loving race. On 
 all sides were the signs of reaction from the 
 anti-foreign frenzy of the preceding year. 
 China had been sharply awakened by the 
 treatment received at the hands of the allies. 
 She no longer thought all foreigners bar- 
 barians, but was turning to her erstwhile 
 enemies saying, " Teach me." 
 
 June Nicholson knew there had never been 
 such a time of opportunity in China and her 
 heart was happy and unafraid. She re- 
 membered how timid she had often been 
 at home — how her brother had rallied the 
 
CLEAE SHINING AT McTYEIEB 61 
 
 would-be missionary because she was afraid 
 of thunder and lightning. But she seemed 
 to have left all these things behind. The 
 typhoons raged, but they held no terror. 
 Out of weakness she was being made 
 strong. 
 
 And was she afraid of the other danger — 
 that of spiritual retrogression ? Ah, nobody 
 in America had asked about this; but no 
 sooner had she arrived on the field than 
 some one intimated that it was impossible 
 to keep one's spiritual life up to the level 
 reached at home — there was too much giv- 
 ing out, too little taking in, etc., etc. But 
 June Nicholson rose up in brave denial and 
 almost walked the floor in indignation as she 
 said, "The idea of God's sending you where 
 He wouldn't keep you ! " 
 
 And so it came to pass that from the very 
 first her days were days of victory. Her 
 battles were fought out on her knees, and 
 none but the Father ever knew. Those 
 nearest to her in the home saw only the 
 strength and sweetness of a heart that had 
 conquered itself. 
 
XII 
 
 THE LANGUAGE 
 
 TSZ, zz, tsih, kyoen, zeh, sz, siang, 
 tsang, hyeng — these were the Eng- 
 lish approximates of some of the 
 sounds Miss Nicholson found she must make 
 in her study of the language. But her work 
 was to be done, not from such Romanization, 
 but from books written in the Chinese char- 
 acter itself. These she must read and trans- 
 late and several hundred of the characters 
 she must learn to write from memory. 
 
 An examination was coming at the end of 
 the year and the whole of the New Testa- 
 ment in Shanghai colloquial was but one 
 item of the course assigned. She hired the 
 time of a personal teacher and she and the 
 teacher sat down in her study and looked at 
 each other. She did not know where to be- 
 gin but that did not matter. For there was 
 no beginning. The language had no alpha- 
 bet and it had no grammar. It was like a 
 moving sidewalk — you got on anywhere and 
 the thing never stopped. 
 6a 
 
THE LANGUAGE 63 
 
 Miss Nicholson stepped on at the genealogy 
 in Matthew. The teacher called off the sounds 
 in the first verse and Miss Nicholson did her 
 best to make friends with the characters and 
 call them what the teacher did. Thus they 
 moved laboriously down the long list of 
 names. She would stop occasionally and 
 glance at her English Bible to see where she 
 was. But if she counted off the words to see 
 whether it was Esrom or Aram she was 
 struggling with, the totals would not tally 
 and she got hopelessly lost. 
 
 But there was no other way. She must 
 plod on in the dark. The dawn of under- 
 standing was like all things Chinese : it 
 would come by and by. Conversation would 
 have helped her if she could have conversed. 
 But Shanghai was too foreign and the 
 McTyeire pupils too ambitious to allow free 
 use of her broken Chinese. Think of pick- 
 ing up Chinese from a people whose one 
 idea was to pick up English from you ! 
 
 In the Interior it was different ; there, one 
 could absorb the language through the 
 pores of the skin. But even with this handi- 
 cap she was glad to be at McTyeire. 
 
XIII 
 
 A TRANSFER OF WORK 
 
 ONE year gone and McTyeire was re- 
 inforced by Miss Mitchell, a spe- 
 cialist who was to give all her time 
 to the music. How glad Miss Nicholson 
 was 1 Glad for the girls, glad for herself. 
 How much it would mean to the pupils of 
 McTyeire 1 And more too, for she soon 
 found that to herself it meant the beginning 
 of another of those friendships by which she 
 was taking root in China. 
 
 They talked a little of sending her to 
 Soochow, and the Junior knew who would be 
 happy if this was carried out ; but before the 
 plan matured they found they could not 
 spare her. She had become indispens- 
 able at McTyeire. The girls loved her and 
 respected her. Her influence over her pupils 
 was wholesome ; while with her fellow-mis- 
 sionaries she helped to create an atmosphere 
 which changed an institution into a home. 
 
 So they just transferred her to the literary 
 department and held on to what they had. 
 64 
 
XIV 
 
 PRINCIPAL OF McTYEIRE 
 
 JUNE NICHOLSON, principal of Mc- 
 Tyeire School — it sounded oddly enough, 
 but it had come about naturally. Miss 
 Richardson, head of the district, treasurer 
 of the mission and principal of McTyeire, 
 was needed in America. If she could be 
 spared from the school she would go. 
 Bravely her three young assistants said 
 that they would do the best they could. 
 She must go. 
 
 So Miss Richardson's offices and honours 
 were divided out. Miss A. was made mis- 
 sion treasurer and Miss Nicholson the prin- 
 cipal of McTyeire. The latter said with a 
 laugh, that she would expect soon to be 
 head of the district if she were not disqualified 
 by not being/at. 
 
 But honours are costly. It was no small 
 thing to become responsible for the school 
 65 
 
66 THE DATS OP JUNE 
 
 that held the daughters of China's statesmen 
 and scholars. Her two and a half years in 
 China were but a fragment of the experience 
 she was sure she would need. Well for her 
 that Miss Richardson had already brought 
 her into the councils of the work, and well 
 for her that there was a splendid corps of 
 Chinese teachers to back her up. They were 
 Christians — every one of them — and all ready 
 to advise and help her in places where 
 American judgment could not fathom 
 Chinese thought. 
 
 This would all be a help. But with this 
 help alone she would never have tried it 
 Her real dependence was in God. It was in 
 His strength that she took up the new work, 
 and she wrote to the Junior, " His grace is 
 sufficient." 
 
 Her test was to come shortly. 
 
 Before Miss Richardson decided to go 
 away they had talked over some changes in 
 the school, and Miss Nicholson had suggested 
 that they require all students to be present at 
 church services on Sunday. When the 
 
PRINCIPAL OP MoTYEIEB 67 
 
 school had been started, its projectors 
 thought best to leave the students free from 
 Saturday until Monday. The result was that 
 about a third of the girls came to church on 
 Sunday. Some who did not come would 
 have been glad to have done so, but were 
 deterred by relatives who were opposed to 
 Christianity. Others used Sunday as a holi- 
 day and were glad not to come. 
 
 Miss Nicholson said, "We can't make 
 them be Christians, but we can put them 
 in surroundings that will lead them to be- 
 lieve. If we bring them to church on Sun- 
 days, their conversion is that much more 
 likely. It is due them and due those who 
 contribute to missions that we require them 
 to come." 
 
 And so it was decreed. But then came 
 Miss Richardson's somewhat sudden depar- 
 ture for America and Miss Nicholson was 
 left, not only as principal, but as the en- 
 forcer of a new and perhaps unpopular rule. 
 Think of China for forty centuries with her 
 face to the changeless past ! No wonder she 
 
68 THE DAYS OF JUNE 
 
 has bred in her children a dislike of all 
 change. No wonder they think an argu- 
 ment finished when they say politely, "It 
 has not been our custom to do as you 
 suggest We will do according to our 
 custom." Against such a wall as this Miss 
 Nicholson found she had flung herself. But 
 she, too, had determination, and she meant 
 to enforce that rule. It was given out that 
 the roll would be called at church time on 
 Sundays and any girl who failed to come 
 could not go out in town the next Saturday. 
 An irate mother was the first who came 
 to protest. She had kept her two little girls 
 out on Sunday and Miss Nicholson told them 
 they could not go home the next Saturday. 
 Their mother was indignant and came to see 
 the " foreign woman " who dared interfere 
 with her children. Those who have never 
 heard a Chinese woman, " ten points mad," 
 do justice to her native tongue, have no idea 
 of what followed either in voice key or man- 
 ner. Miss Nicholson heard her through, and 
 at the close of the tirade, said quietly in 
 
pein6ipal OF MoTYEIEE 69 
 
 Chinese, "Your daughters have broken a 
 rule. They cannot come home next Satur- 
 day — nor any Saturday unless they attend 
 on Sundays." "Then I will take them out 
 of school. / will take them out of school! " 
 she stormed. 
 
 " Very well," said Miss Nicholson, " you 
 can take them out of school, but if they re- 
 main here as pupils, they will not come home 
 next Saturday." 
 
 The angry woman took her leave — but she 
 did not take the children out, and they did 
 keep the rule. 
 
 Yet another experience was with the father 
 of one of the older girls. He was a culti- 
 vated gentleman, had been educated abroad, 
 wore foreign clothes, and spoke faultless 
 English. He was ushered into the office 
 and immediately began : — 
 
 " I have come to inquire what you mean 
 by changing the rules of this school without 
 consulting the patrons. We pay for our 
 daughters to come here and you have no 
 right to make such changes. What do you 
 
70 THE DAYS OP JUNE 
 
 mean by demanding that my daughter shall 
 attend church on Sunday? Why have you 
 done it?" 
 
 " Simply in the hope, Sir," she said, " that 
 your daughter may become a Christian." 
 And when he had recovered enough to 
 listen further she continued : " Every dollar 
 that went into this building, every cent that 
 goes into the salaries of the missionaries who 
 teach here, is given in that hope. And we 
 are bound to do all we can to get every stu- 
 dent to be a Christian." 
 
 The man was completely silenced. He 
 said good-bye as speedily as possible and 
 took his leave. Miss Nicholson expected 
 to lose the girl, but she came on without 
 a break. 
 
 And so the Sunday rule went into effect 
 The new Principal was mistress of the situa- 
 tion and the school was moving on. 
 
XV 
 
 THE REVIVAL 
 
 THE spiritual atmosphere at McTyeire 
 was wholesome. There was a strong 
 nucleus of Christian girls. Some 
 were the daughters of native Christians who 
 were working their way through school and 
 fitting themselves to be teachers by and by. 
 Others were the second generation of Chris- 
 tians in homes where they could afford to pay 
 their own way ; and still others were a kind 
 of first-fruits for Christ from out their heathen 
 homes. The students' prayer-meeting was 
 held in the chapel once a week and the Chris- 
 tian students took turns with the teachers in 
 leading. Then there was a Sunday-school 
 lesson, the daily studies in the Bible, the 
 morning prayer circles, and the times when 
 teacher and pupil came face to face and heart 
 to heart in somebody's study. All these had 
 their influence in winning students to Christ. 
 7i 
 
72 THE DATS OF JUNE 
 
 But the fact remained that by far more than 
 half the pupils were apparently no nearer an 
 open profession of Christianity than when 
 they came into the school. Miss Nicholson 
 thought it all over — took it where she took 
 her other burdens, and the longing in her 
 heart became more confirmed. They must 
 have a revival in McTyeire. But how? 
 Such a thing had never been attempted. 
 Methods successfully used in America might 
 accomplish nothing here. But she kept talk- 
 ing to the Father about it, and she resolved to 
 make the attempt. It was arranged to hold 
 a special service in the chapel every evening 
 for a week. Mrs. Fitch, white of face, and 
 heart and life, came and made one or two 
 earnest, spiritual talks. But most of the 
 services were led by the person who was Miss 
 Nicholson's guide and stay in her every plan 
 for McTyeire. She went to Dr. Allen with 
 this, as she went to him with everything. 
 And who was so fitted to give her advice as 
 he? Was not McTyeire School born in his 
 brain ? Was not he the seer who with Mc- 
 
THE EEVTVAL 73 
 
 Tyeire's first Principal, Miss Haygood, had 
 caught the vision which was giving to China 
 the educated women now in sudden demand 
 as teachers for China's schools ? 
 
 Yes, Dr. Allen would come and help. So 
 night after night he came, and his venerable 
 appearance added weight to his words. The 
 last night he spoke of his own conversion. 
 The great man told the story as simply as a 
 child ; and as he told of the weight of sin 
 God took from his heart away back in his 
 boyhood, the tears coursed down his cheeks. 
 The girls were touched. For the first time 
 he made a proposition. Would all who 
 wished to decide for Christ come forward to 
 the front pew ? And they got up and came 
 — seventeen of them, from the first families 
 of the Chinese Empire — girls born and bred 
 amid heathen surroundings, and girls who 
 would have to meet opposition and persecu- 
 tion in their allegiance to their new faith. 
 They knew not what it would mean, but they 
 saw Christ as their Saviour, and they took 
 the first step. 
 
74 THE DAYS OF JUNE 
 
 At the communion service over in the 
 church not long afterwards, eight of the sev- 
 enteen were baptized and received into the 
 church. And the remainder wanted to be ; 
 but some were taken out of school by angry 
 parents, some were persecuted, some were 
 threatened by the suicide of a parent, and all 
 so dealt with that they felt they must wait. 
 They had given themselves to Christ, and 
 they could trust Him and wait. 
 
 And over all the seventeen, June Nichol- 
 son's heart was singing its doxology. The 
 revival had come to McTyeire. The students' 
 prayer-meeting took on new life — more per- 
 sonal work was done by the girls, and the 
 whole spirit of the school showed that the re- 
 vival had come to stay. 
 
XVI 
 
 THE LIGHT OF LEARNING 
 
 SHANGHAI is a city of many tourists. 
 Every few days brings a fresh steamer 
 load. And as they sit diffidently in 
 the jinrikishas, walk the streets, or gaze into 
 the shops, they are easily distinguished by 
 their eagerness of eye and energy of stride, 
 as well as by the streaming chiffon veils and 
 the well-setting clothes on which no Asiatic 
 tailor has laid his unfeeling hand. 
 
 With the more serious minded of these 
 tourists, McTyeire School is included in the 
 list of things which constitute the " doing " 
 of Shanghai ; and thus it transpired that 
 McTyeire had many visitors, the number 
 being supplemented by the passing mission- 
 aries, to many of whom Shanghai is the port 
 of entry for their stations in the more or less 
 remote interior. 
 
 Miss Nicholson and her fellow-workers 
 shared in the duty of showing these guests 
 over the Institution and, with true propri- 
 75 
 
76 THE DATS OF JUNE 
 
 etary instinct, they were always interested in 
 the comments elicited. As the pupils were 
 called upon to play, or to show specimens of 
 their English work, one expression more 
 often than any other fell from the lips of the 
 visitors, "Why, that is wonderful— -for the 
 Chinese / " 
 
 One day when this well worn comment 
 had followed the rendering of a classical 
 piano solo, Miss Mitchell said with indigna- 
 tion, " Why can't they say the girls play 
 well, and let it go at that ? I don't want my 
 pupils to play ' well for the Chinese,' I want 
 them to play well— for anybody I " 
 
 And if those same " well for the Chinese " 
 visitors had been privileged to attend Mc- 
 Tyeire commencement in the spring follow- 
 ing the revival they would probably have 
 been willing to say " well for anybody." 
 
 The school was only thirteen years old and 
 the required course was twelve full years of 
 heavy bi-lingual work ; but on this occasion 
 there were two graduates, one of whom also 
 received a diploma in music. 
 
 The program itself was inspiring. The 
 first chorus, " Trust in the Lord," by Handel- 
 
THE LIGHT OF LEAENING 77 
 
 Jaeger ; the first essay, an English one, by 
 Miss Shih Feng Chu— " The Tree of Knowl- 
 edge." This was immediately followed by a 
 Chinese essay from the other graduate, Miss 
 Lok Hsui Cheng, her subject being, " Lib- 
 erty, Equality, Fraternity." Miss Shih then 
 added her musical contribution, Beethoven's 
 Sonata, Opus 27, No. 2, and Miss Lok fol- 
 lowed with an English essay, " What is the 
 Standpoint of Man." 
 
 As the soul of Miss Shih found its truest 
 expression in the music which she had made 
 her own and which she brilliantly interpreted, 
 so the heart of Miss Lok cried out through her 
 two essays for the liberty she felt to be the 
 heritage of every human soul, and for the 
 proper adjustment of the individual to the 
 universe which would save that liberty from 
 degenerating into license. 
 
 When the latter's essay on " What is the 
 Standpoint of Man " had first been brought 
 to Miss Nicholson for correction, that lady 
 had been almost overwhelmed with the big- 
 ness of the theme and the daring which had 
 attempted it. The English employed was, 
 for the most part, good, and well chosen to 
 
78 THE DAYS OF JUNE 
 
 match its lofty theme, but sometimes both 
 theme and language soared out of sight in 
 the mazes of freshly coined idiom, and Miss 
 Nicholson was left to dimly guess what the 
 aspiring young graduate meant. These pas- 
 sages she corrected, substituting, where she 
 could in no way find out the intended mean- 
 ing. But the young lady, in much distress, 
 brought the simplified essay back. " Miss 
 Nicholson," she said, " I did not mean this as 
 you have made it read, I meant what I said." 
 " But, Hsui Cheng," said the teacher, " what 
 you said doesn't mean anything at all." 
 " Oh, yes it does," she said, " it means what 
 / meant." 
 
 And so the struggle began, involving, ere 
 it was finished, not only Miss Nicholson, but 
 others of the teachers, all of them working 
 hard to tether the fabled Pegasus somewhere 
 on this mundane sphere. It was a difficult 
 task for teachers and for pupil, but finally 
 when the great day had arrived, and the as- 
 sembled guests had caught the inspiration of 
 the essay as rendered, they were all rewarded, 
 and the far-seeing, statesman-like Dr. Allen, 
 was made jubilant by what the hour por- 
 
THE LIGHT OF LEAENDfG 79 
 
 tended of the help to come to China, through 
 an educated and regenerated womanhood. 
 Here is the essay as it was read : 
 
 What Is the Standpoint of Man ? 
 
 Students of astronomy are told that the sun is the centre of 
 the solar system, and that our colossal world is but an insig- 
 nificant planet revolving around it. Instead of the sun, we are 
 naturally apt to assume the earth as the centre, the standpoint 
 for watching the sun, the moon, and other planets, whose mo- 
 tions would be unconsciously accepted to be real had not wise 
 men by the most complicated mathematical processes proved 
 them only apparent. Let us imagine ourselves standing at the 
 sun, the right standpoint, and observing the planets rapidly 
 whirling around it. We would ascertain their true movements 
 without the least effort. 
 
 The failure to recognize the true standpoint in life is as 
 chaotic in its effects as the failure to recognize the sun as the 
 centre of the solar system is in the realm of nature. 
 
 There are three standpoints which may be considered : The 
 body, the lowest ; the mind, the middle ; the spirit, the highest 
 of all. Classified according to which he considers as the high- 
 est part of his nature, man may be divided into three entirely 
 distinct classes — corporeal man, psychical man, and spiritual 
 man. The perceptible body is suited to the material things of 
 this world — things visible, audible, palatable, and tangible ; ■ the 
 imperceptible mind in the body corresponds to the laws of 
 bodies — laws invisible, inaudible, impalpable, and intangible ; 
 the mysterious spirit is in accord with the law of laws, the 
 source of all mysteries. 
 
 The first to be considered is the corporeal man. ^.s man, 
 living in this world and looking out into the universe, naturally 
 adopts the earth as a standpoint, so, as the imperceptible mind 
 and spirit are in the perceptible body, we naturally consider 
 the body as the standpoint. The greater percentage of the hu- 
 man race is comprised in this class. They are but a little 
 higher than the cleverest beasts, since they employ their mind 
 energy in developing and improving the liquids they drink, the 
 food they eat, the houses they live in. They ascribe all phe- 
 nomena of nature to most unreasonable superstitions, all of 
 which the psychical man despises. 
 
 Since the corporeal man only appreciates things sensual and 
 
80 THE DAYS OF JUNE 
 
 material, and since the mind is undeveloped, the worshipping 
 instinct of the spirit gives birth to idolatry. As worship is the 
 highest instinct of man's nature, he endeavours to satisfy this 
 instinct by making idols of precious stones, gold and silver 
 graven by art and the device of man and adorned with jewels. 
 " Great is Diana of the Ephesians," " whom all Asia and the 
 world worshippeth." The people of God cried to Aaron, " Up, 
 make us gods ; " then Aaron received the gold at their hands, 
 made it into a molten calf, and said : " These be thy gods, O 
 Israel." In truth, what were these gods ? 
 
 But yesterday they were rings and bracelets worn as adorn- 
 ment. Mystery of mysteries I Man, the image of God, wor- 
 shipping the work of his own hands, made of insensible matter. 
 Millions and millions of souls for ages and ages have wasted 
 their lives in endeavouring thus to satisfy the highest demands 
 of their nature. An effort as fruitful in producing perplexities 
 as the Ptolemaic system in the world of astronomy, both wrong 
 because of the error of the standpoint. Is not this the " vanity 
 of vanities " spoken of in Ecclesiastes ? 
 
 Let us now consider the second class, the psychical man, who 
 comprises a smaller portion of the human race. As the cor- 
 poreal man deals with corporal objects, so the psychical man 
 deals with things psychical. The corporeal man is styled 
 " savage," " barbarian ; " but the psychical man strives for the 
 coveted name of artist, musician, physician, mathematician, 
 geologist, naturalist, astronomer, and philosopher. 
 
 By the energy of mind the psychical man's eyesight is in- 
 creased as to distance and magnitude ; the sense of hearing is 
 intensified a hundredfold, and space and distance have been 
 annihilated. 
 
 By the energy of mind our common view is reversed ; 
 through the microscope the minute particle of water on the tip 
 of a needle presents a new world of innumerable microscopic 
 animalcules, each perfect in itself. What was acknowledged so 
 vast a world is now accepted as but an atom in the universe of 
 worlds. 
 
 By the energy of mind the immense varieties of rocks, plants, 
 and animals are reduced into but seventy simple elements. By 
 the energy of mind the entire exterior view is altered, the in- 
 terior view is revealed, laws are discovered, and we find that 
 out of the old world a new is made. 
 
 The psychical man dealing with law is drawn closer to the 
 higher one than the corporeal man is. Just as the corporeal 
 man embodies his conceptions in a visible form, so the psychical 
 man recognizes God as an unknown law. Trying to explain 
 
THE LIGHT OF LEAENING 81 
 
 God by words and the powerful imagination of mind, he fails 
 at last, and concludes in despair that nature is God. Herbert 
 Spencer felt sure of the existence of something beyond law, 
 something which baffles the reasoning power of man. Unable 
 to fathom the mysterious, he honestly acknowledged it " Un- 
 knowable." Laotsze, our great Chinese philosopher, called 
 this " Unknowable " " Yoen Bing," and he explained it thus : 
 " The innominate is the beginning of the universe, and the 
 nominate is the mother of nature. These two, though under 
 different names, are still identical and receive the common 
 name ' Yoen.' ' Bing ' means hollow, and so is capable of con- 
 taining. ' Yoen Bing ' is the root of all matter and, possessing 
 all, is inexhaustible." 
 
 Grand and most mysterious are the highways of law by 
 which mind wanders into the minutest atoms, by which it pene- 
 trates outward and upward to the shining luminaries, from 
 planet to planet, from sun to sun, or down it plunges and back 
 to the Archaean era, from which it swings up to the Psychozoic, 
 and from thence henceforth it goes on its career and forever. 
 Mind loses itself in trying to imagine eternity or in inquiring 
 into the nature of law, rather the law of nature. We would 
 know more, but the boundaries are reached and we hear the 
 mandate : " Hitherto shalt thou come, but no farther." 
 
 Now we come to the highest, the noblest, and the most ma- 
 jestic class, the spiritual man. Psychical man, on account of 
 the failure to understand it, denies the presence of spirit; 
 many, however, do acknowledge its existence. Confucius, the 
 interpreter of the book " Da Yok," has made one of the pro- 
 foundest statements concerning the spirit of man. He named 
 it " Ming Tuh," and explained it as " immaterial, imponder- 
 able, and dauntless, the gift which heaven bestows on man. 
 It is sometimes obscured by the body, the mind, and the pas- 
 sion, but is itself unstainable." Thus we see that beyond the 
 extreme exertion of the energy of mind there exists the open 
 spirit hidden from view. This we can never deny, although 
 we do not understand. 
 
 It is a disputed point whether mind and spirit are identical. 
 In helping to solve the problem let us examine the two. But 
 to help in the examination let us first contrast body and spirit, 
 the body a part of the created universe and the uncreated spirit 
 entirely apart from the body. We find a wide chasm lying be- 
 tween the two — visible and invisible, tangible and intangible, 
 material and immaterial. 
 
 Man in regard to his body is the culminating species in the 
 kingdom of animals ; man in regard to his spirit is but " a little 
 
82 THE DATS OP JUNE 
 
 lower than the angels." As body is body and spirit is spirit, 
 they have not the slightest relation to each other unless a con- 
 nection exists. This connection is mind, and by this highway 
 thought ascends up and up from the realm of the visible and 
 tangible until it reaches the place along the highway where it 
 sees a mist and can see no farther, and so what lies beyond un- 
 explored is " Yoen Bing," or " Unknowable." As in taking an 
 ocean voyage there is a point where the steamship can go no 
 farther, which point is called land, and to continue the voyage 
 on land the train must take the place of the steamship, so must 
 the spirit take the place of mind. When the mind reaches its 
 limit, then the spirit by wings of faith takes up the way into 
 the " Unknowable," and thereafter the mind and the five senses 
 have absolutely nothing to do with the investigation. Paul was 
 caught up even to the third heaven, but he was not allowed to 
 reveal what he saw. If a revelation had been permitted, it 
 would doubtless have been useless. John has written his 
 vision, but who that reads understands those passages concern- 
 ing heavenly objects ? Milton's angel said : " And what sur- 
 mounts the reach of human sense I shall delineate so by lik'n- 
 ing spiritual to corporal forms as may express them best." 
 
 In trying to explain spirit the mind fails in its power to 
 imagine or to picture. It is more imponderable than mind, and 
 who can explain mind, electricity, gravity, law ? Who dares 
 to deny their presence ? And who, if true to himself, is not 
 conscious of his spirit — the worshipping instinct ? 
 
 In several points what is true, of mind is equally true of 
 spirit. Ever since the creation laws have existed, so ever since 
 the creation of man mind has been present. As soon as mind 
 discovers law law reveals mind, and the more mind discovers 
 law the more law reveals mind, so the time the spirit discovers 
 the Creator the Creator manifests the spirit, the more the man 
 knows his Creator the more dignity and strength of power man 
 receives from above. The mind expands through experimental 
 knowledge of law, so the spirit grows by communion with him 
 from whom it came. 
 
 Until the dawn of the era which gave the world Bacon with 
 his new system of philosophy the corporeal man may be said to 
 have held dominion. Mind, gradually emerging free from su- 
 perstition, has gained the ascendency, till now the psychical 
 man rules the world and is making all things new. Obeying 
 the laws of evolution, the spiritual man will surely one day be- 
 come dominant and rule the world with peace and love and 
 turn the new world into a paradise. 
 
 What is the standpoint of man ? 
 
XVII 
 THE CHINESE SUBSCRIPTION BOOK 
 
 ONE day Miss Nicholson looked 
 critically around McTyeire. The 
 varnished floors were scratched and 
 worn, the walls defaced and the blackboards 
 peeling off. The schoolroom did not present 
 the object-lesson of cleanliness and beauty 
 which seemed to her a very real part of the 
 teaching needed in a land long indifferent to 
 dirt. Clearly, the school needed repairs. 
 From her survey of the house she turned to 
 the grounds. There was a grassy lawn sur- 
 rounded by a high brick wall. The com- 
 pound seemed safe enough if the heavy 
 wooded gate could be kept fastened. But 
 how could such a public gate be kept 
 fastened without a gatekeeper to watch it 
 night and day? And how could a gate- 
 keeper watch it without a gate lodge to live 
 in? 
 
 »3 
 
84 THE DAYS OF JUNE 
 
 If the lodge had only been there, she 
 thought, and a gatekeeper on hand, they 
 might have escaped that scene with the 
 drunken Russian soldier who got in and 
 frightened the girls. The teachers might 
 leave the compound with more peace of 
 mind, and sometimes, perhaps — a thing that 
 never had happened — the foreign ladies might 
 all go out at once. 
 
 But all this brought her back to the ques- 
 tion of ways and means. How could the 
 school be repaired and a gate lodge be built ? 
 Where was the money to come from ? Mc- 
 Tyeire was proudly called a self-supporting 
 school, but the tuition fees only paid the run- 
 ning expenses and the salaries of the native 
 teachers. There was nothing left over for 
 repairs. 
 
 The Church at home might respond, if 
 called on, but the treasury was already drained 
 and it ought not to be taxed if there was any 
 other way. 
 
 A bright thought came — would the school- 
 girls help ? They had responded generously 
 
THE CHINESE SUBSCRIPTION BOOK 85 
 
 to various calls for charities and many of 
 them came from homes of wealth. If the 
 need of the school was presented, they might 
 take up the matter and collect the money 
 themselves. Anyway, she would give them 
 a chance. How splendid, she thought, to do 
 it before Miss Richardson returned, and pre- 
 sent the money to her as a surprise. But 
 better judgment said wait, and wait she did 
 with prayer and thought still active. When 
 Miss Richardson came, they counselled to- 
 gether and decided to lay the matter before 
 the girls. So the oldest students were in- 
 vited into the study. A statement of the 
 needs of the school was made and a consul- 
 tation held as to ways and means of raising 
 the necessary two thousand Mexican dollars 
 The girls took up the subject eagerly, asked 
 to have a subscription book, and said they 
 believed they could guarantee success. 
 
 Miss Nicholson afterwards enjoyed telling 
 how, with the unwisdom of a new mission- 
 ary, she thought the first step towards as- 
 sured success had been made, when an ordi- 
 
86 THE DAYS OP JUNE 
 
 nary white blank book had been secured and 
 a few lines in English written on the first page 
 — a simple statement of the purpose for which 
 the money was asked. The matron of the 
 school, on being shown the book, looked 
 amazed and said, " You will never get a cent 
 from the Chinese with that book ; you must 
 have a regular Chinese Subscription book, 
 according to our custom, and the appeal 
 must be written in classical Wenli." Past 
 experience had taught the wisdom of using 
 Chinese methods in dealing with Chinese, so 
 the matron was commissioned to buy the 
 book. It came — a blue linen back with 
 leaves of yellow paper having vertical red 
 lines. The cost was $1.50 (Mexican). 
 
 The teacher of Chinese classics was asked 
 to translate the English preface into deep 
 and elegant Wenli. When he saw the pro- 
 posed book he came at once and, out of the 
 depths of his wisdom, kindly showed them 
 the impossibility of getting large subscriptions 
 in a book of that sort. He said it must be a 
 large book with heavy wooden backs and gold 
 
THE CHINESE SUBSCEIPTION BOOK 87 
 
 paper on the outside if they wished large sub- 
 scriptions, " for no man could write a large 
 sum in a book of that kind." Miss Nicholson 
 wondered what the end would be, and mildly 
 inquired the cost of the book he desired — 
 $7.50 (Mexican). With a not very full treasury 
 and no subscriptions assured, except by faith, 
 she felt some misgiving ; but she remem- 
 bered the promises fulfilled in the past and 
 gave the order to get the book. 
 
 The next morning it came, looking very 
 handsome with its classical Chinese introduc- 
 tion and its strips of red paper pasted loosely 
 on the leaves. These were for the names of 
 the subscribers and the amounts promised. 
 
 The first subscription proved the wisdom 
 of the teacher's advice. The father of one of 
 the girls gave $150 (Mexican) and interested 
 himself in securing subscriptions from his 
 friends, which altogether amounted to $400 
 (Mexican). Miss Nicholson's heart was big 
 with hope and gratitude, as she received the 
 curious rolls of brown paper filled with silver 
 dollars. An expectant Taotai, the father of 
 
88 THE DAYS OF JUNE 
 
 one of the girls, telegraphed from Tientsin 
 that he wished to subscribe two hundred taels 
 (about $270 Mexican). 
 
 A little girl about thirteen years old, the 
 daughter of one of the wealthiest families in 
 Shanghai, came into the study one morning 
 and said, " I have told my father that I don't 
 want him to give any ' little money,' " and 
 several days afterwards, when she returned to 
 school, she came into the study, her face shin- 
 ing with joy, and having something in her 
 hand so heavy she could scarcely carry it. 
 Being asked what she had, she said, " Oh, it 
 is money," and it was three hundred silver 
 dollars tied up in a bandana handkerchief 1 
 Three families together gave one thousand 
 Mexican dollars. The remainder came in 
 smaller sums — one hundred, fifty, thirty, and 
 twenty dollars. 
 
 By the time school closed for the summer 
 there was enough in hand to embolden Miss 
 Nicholson to give out the contract for the 
 work, and before they reopened, the build- 
 ing was in perfect repair, the grounds in 
 
THE CHINESE SUBSCEIPTION BOOK 89 
 
 order and the gate lodge up. Miss Nichol- 
 son wrote a bright account of it home, clos- 
 ing with the motto, " Attempt great things 
 for God. Expect great things from God." 
 She said, " If you think it not fitting to in- 
 troduce Carey's motto when recording so 
 small a thing as two thousand dollars col- 
 lected for a girls' school in China, it is be- 
 cause you have not the right perspective. 
 When the conditions are known it is a great 
 thing. It is the first time such a subscription 
 has ever been asked ; the work was largely 
 done by the girls of the school, and the 
 American boycott was just being violently 
 agitated. The ready response is an evidence 
 of the value the Chinese place upon Mc- 
 Tyeire School." 
 
XVIII 
 
 « THOUGH THE OUTWARD MAN PERISH " 
 
 BUT amid all this building up of 
 McTyeire, June Nicholson was wear- 
 ing down. Not her spirit — that was 
 dauntless through her faith in her God — but 
 her body. Six months after she got to China 
 she felt something strange in her throat and 
 was amazed to find it was blood. She went 
 to the doctor who thumped her all over and 
 pronounced her lungs sound. " It is the 
 dampness of the climate," he said, " affecting 
 your bronchial tubes. You may not have it 
 after you get used to this air." But each re- 
 turning spring had brought it again. " Just 
 my throat bleeding," she would say and pass 
 the matter off. 
 
 And as the eminent British doctor could 
 find nothing more, her friends tried to feel 
 easy, and she wrote nothing home. But she 
 had a queer little cough and year by year 
 
 she grew thinner, till she said with a smUe t 
 90 
 
u TH0 ' THE OUTWARD MAN PERISH" 91 
 
 " If I don't stop falling off, you will have to 
 locate me by sound." 
 
 In the summer vacation when McTyeire 
 was undergoing repairs she needed rest and 
 change ; but she would not go away until 
 the promised money had been paid and the 
 work well begun. Humid days of stifling 
 heat — China heat — took away her appetite, 
 but she stuck by the school. It had been her 
 project to repair it, and she must see it 
 through. Late in July she got off — blessed 
 rest in the cool and beauty of a bamboo- 
 covered mountain where the mission had 
 a home. 
 
 But she could not rest long. She must 
 get ready to open school, and this time it 
 was not to be McTyeire. She would have 
 asked nothing better than to work on there 
 with Miss Richardson once more at the helm, 
 but Miss Waters must have a furlough, and 
 Miss Waters' school for girls in the city of 
 Sung-kong, must be turned over to some- 
 body — the mission said to her. 
 
 It cost her a great deal to be willing to go. 
 She did not mind the interior, but she did 
 mind leaving McTyeire. Her tender, loving 
 
92 THE DATS OF JUKE 
 
 nature had again struck its roots deep in the 
 soil. She did not want to pull up and go. 
 But she could go — and she would. What- 
 ever was best for the work she was willing 
 to do. Her faith was in God and He had 
 grace for Sung-kong. 
 
 Once her mind was made up she turned 
 with eager planning towards the new place 
 which she had visited often. She wanted by 
 some means to get the school out of the 
 tottering Chinese house, which was only 
 saved from falling by the use of seventeen 
 poles. She laughed and said that she 
 must leave the mountain early as she had 
 dengue fever every Fall, and she wanted to 
 get the spell over and be ready for work. 
 
 Opening day found her in Sung-kong. 
 Five days of work she gave the schools, and 
 then she fell ill — thirty miles from a doctor, 
 and those thirty miles to be travelled by slow 
 boat over a canal. Twelve hours of hard 
 rowing at best — and that rowing possible 
 only when the tide served. To send for the 
 doctor was out of the question. She must 
 be taken to him. 
 
 Sadly the white-haired missionary, who 
 
" THO' THE OUTWAED MAN PEKISH" 93 
 
 was almost the only other American woman 
 in Sung-kong, packed up the belongings so 
 lately unpacked for the year. Anxiously and 
 lovingly this friend made ready the little boat 
 that was to take them to Shanghai. Some- 
 how they made the journey, their progress 
 being two and a half miles an hour. 
 
 Thus after one week's absence, June Nich- 
 olson returned to McTyeire. She felt humil- 
 iated over her breakdown. Sung-kong was 
 a very desirable place now, and her only 
 compensation for being ill was that the love 
 and care at McTyeire made her feel as though 
 she had indeed come " home." By means of 
 doses and threats the doctor had her free of 
 fever in a week, but on one point he was 
 obdurate — there would be no more Sung- 
 kong. 
 
 Weak, but recuperating, she went to Con- 
 ference at Soochow. She had filled four po- 
 sitions during the year and must give four 
 reports. She stood as she read the first, but 
 when she began on the second, a helpless 
 glance around told of her weakness, and she 
 was made to sit down. It was whispered 
 around that the doctor had said, " America." 
 
94 THE DATS OF JUNE 
 
 But no word escaped June Nicholson's lips. 
 Her one thought was her work. 
 
 And so it transpired that she was sent back 
 to McTyeire. Miss Richardson would have 
 made her principal and gone herself to Sung- 
 kong, but June's fine sense of the fitness of 
 things refused to entertain the idea. Mc- 
 Tyeire was their best. With Miss Richard- 
 son in China she would not be its head. 
 
 And so they arranged it between them. 
 June would stand ready to do all Miss Rich- 
 ardson's teaching in addition to her own. 
 Miss Richardson would divide herself out and 
 try to be in two places at once. She would 
 be head at McTyeire, but would stay in Sung- 
 kong as much as possible ; for help must be 
 given somehow to the entirely new worker 
 who was now trying to fill in there. 
 
 Thus with double work and half strength 
 began June Nicholson's fifth year in the for- 
 eign field. 
 
XIX 
 
 A MISSIONARY SENSATION 
 
 THAT was the year that Miss A. sur- 
 prised the mission — not that they 
 thought she couldn't — but they 
 didn't expect it so soon. Invalided home for 
 a summer in Oregon, she had met — her fate ; 
 and when her friends stood on the pier with 
 handkerchiefs waving to welcome her back, 
 nothing came but a letter, saying she would 
 return the next year, but not as Miss A. Hum 
 — buzz — how the mission talked 1 Gone from 
 the Woman's Board 1 But what a feat she 
 had performed 1 Actually married a man 
 " into her mission " and ready to bring 
 him back the next year. No monotony on 
 the mission field with the possibility of a sen- 
 sation like this. Up in Soochow the Junior 
 spent an awful two hours between the time 
 she heard that Miss A. was married and the 
 95 
 
96 THE DAYS OF JUNE 
 
 time she could find out to whom. At Mc- 
 Tyeire they pulled themselves together to re- 
 adjust the work. To do without Miss A. per- 
 manendy meant added classes for the rest. 
 But Miss Nicholson said blithely that she did 
 not blame Miss A. She had never promised 
 that she would not do it herself. 
 
XX 
 
 THE RIOT 
 
 THAT was the year, too, of the riot in 
 Shanghai. It came on the eight- 
 eenth of December. Slash ! Bang ! 
 and the riot was on in the heart of the Brit- 
 ish concession. 
 
 The smouldering race prejudice had burst 
 into a flame over a decision in the inter- 
 national court. The mob would have re- 
 venge. They would burn and kill until they 
 could get charge of the light-plant and water- 
 works and then, — good-bye to Shanghai. 
 
 The tide of lawless hate surged up the 
 Nanking Road and eddied round the corner 
 to McTyeire. Where the streets intersected 
 a large hotel was soon in flames. The ladies 
 at McTyeire knew not what to expect, as 
 volley after volley fell on their ears, and the 
 angry crowd in the streets grew more threat- 
 ening. It seemed every moment that the 
 rioters would rush over the wall into the 
 school yard. But the teachers reported to 
 97 
 
98 THE DAYS OF JUNE 
 
 their regular classes and the girls, though 
 frightened, behaved beautifully, 
 
 When the firing was at its height, Miss 
 Nicholson was teaching her most advanced 
 class. Seeing the white looks of the girls, 
 she took occasion to exhort them to peace 
 and trust, assuring them that if their com- 
 mon belief in God was good for any time, 
 now was the time. As she finished her ex- 
 hortation she looked down at her hands and 
 the book she was holding was shaking like a 
 leaf. Writing of it to the Junior, she said, 
 " I was covered with shame, — but there was 
 peace in my heart — and courage. My knees 
 shook but my heart didn't." 
 
 In the meantime, on the outside, the 
 Shanghai volunteers, a company of Brit- 
 ishers, were being joined by the Marines 
 hastily landed from the war-ships in the har- 
 bour. The disciplined troops were getting 
 control of the undisciplined mob. The shots 
 grew less frequent — the fires were put out ; 
 and by and by Shanghai got ready to sing 
 her Christmas anthem of " peace on earth " 
 while soldiers with bayonets stood guard in 
 her streets. 
 
XXI 
 THE UNQUIET DRAGON 
 
 THE New Year, after that Christmas, 
 opened gloomily. The rowdy ele- 
 ment was sullen with disappointed 
 hate. The commercial element, aided by a 
 patriotism, newly born in the schools, was 
 still agitating the boycott against American 
 goods; while among Chinese Christians a 
 new cry was heard — a cry for independence 
 — " China for the Chinese." 
 
 Miss Nicholson felt the gravity of the sit- 
 uation but she said, " I believe that through 
 it all God is working mightily for the up- 
 building of this old land." And to one of 
 her students she added, " No nation ever 
 passed through a crisis with more people on 
 their knees for it than are on their knees for 
 China to-day. The world is watching what 
 is happening here." 
 Thus her days were full of cheer and hope, 
 99 
 
100 THE DAYS OP JUNE 
 
 but sometimes at night the weariness from 
 the work would almost overpower her. It 
 was just at this period that she wrote to the 
 Junior, " I feel so desolate to-night ; I wonder 
 if you ever feel desolate." 
 
XXII 
 THE COLLAPSE 
 
 ON a Saturday early in January Miss 
 Richardson came in from Sung- 
 kong. Her home letters lay in the 
 office and she sat down to read. " Strange," 
 she thought as she seated herself, " that Miss 
 Nicholson isn't somewhere about." She 
 read one letter through and glanced up — no 
 Miss Nicholson — took up another and read 
 that through — still no Miss Nicholson. As 
 she began on the third, the Chinese matron 
 came in saying, " Isn't it awful about Miss 
 Nicholson ? " 
 
 " What about Miss Nicholson? " demanded 
 Miss Richardson. 
 
 "Such bleeding from the throat," she 
 began, but Miss Richardson was gone — 
 through the long hall and up the steps to 
 the bedroom where June lay, weak and 
 helpless. The doctor had come and gone. 
 He had given his final verdict — it was what 
 
102 THE DATS OF JUNE 
 
 they had all feared. Her only chance was 
 America. 
 
 She had insisted upon knowing and now 
 that she knew it seemed more than she could 
 bear. Her life-work I China! How could 
 she give them up ? How could she be will- 
 ing to watch the slow end come? Miss 
 Richardson found her thus, and together 
 they faced it out. The wise friend said, 
 "Three weeks ago we all expected to be 
 dead in thirty minutes, and you were will- 
 ing. If this is God's way instead of that, 
 you can be as willing now as then." And 
 as they spoke with each other and with God, 
 courage came — courage that never left her. 
 
 The Junior got the news on Sunday, and 
 on Monday she left for Shanghai. How 
 long seemed the hours on the boat — how 
 dreary the coming years in China without 
 June. She found her friend lying with two 
 glowing spots on her cheeks and two thin 
 lines of crimson for her lips. She had never 
 seemed so beautiful, and she had never been 
 more calm. " What are you doing here ? " 
 
THE COLLAPSE 103 
 
 she demanded smiling. " I am all right and 
 I wrote you a letter yesterday to keep you 
 from coming." 
 
 They sat together during the hours of that 
 day and tried to look into the future. June 
 couldn't talk much ; it was a menace to her 
 throat. And, though she rallied the Junior 
 on having the long-coveted chance to do all 
 the talking, the Junior couldn't manage it. 
 Something was the matter with her throat, 
 and her glib tongue was tied. 
 
 June was in doubt as to how to proceed. 
 She soon got a little better and then she 
 wanted to stay. She knew how hard it had 
 been to arrange the work even when she 
 taught the whole day. What would they do 
 if she stopped now and went home? She 
 would like to stay if she could only lift the 
 little burdens off the rest of them — and she 
 was willing to take the risk. 
 
 So she crept down-stairs and held her own 
 examinations as school was closing for the 
 China New Year. And then she began to plan 
 and to plead — if she could stay six months, 
 
104 THE DATS OF JUNE 
 
 they could get help from home — and she could 
 finish her course in Chinese — Ma could be 
 told gradually, so that she need not be 
 alarmed— and she would be so careful. She 
 would go to Kuling, where somebody had 
 been cured. She would go anywhere — and 
 they must give her a chance. 
 
 Her friends knew they could trust her. 
 When she saw it was right to go, she would 
 go. And so they made no effort to force her, 
 but waited quietly and prayed. 
 
 Gradually she discovered how weak she 
 was — too weak for even the simple duties of 
 one vacation day. A steamer was to sail 
 before school opened. Dr. Allen and Miss 
 Leveritt were going. Here was the chance 
 her friends thought she should take. Almost 
 indignantly she rejected the idea. The sail- 
 ing of the Dakota was nothing to her. It 
 was not until Sunday before the sailing date 
 on Thursday that, humble and submissive, 
 she said she would go. With tear-dimmed 
 eyes she said, " It is the hardest thing I ever 
 did, except to come to China." 
 
XXIII 
 
 THE DEPARTURE 
 
 FOUR days in which to get ready to go 
 to America ! But they were enough. 
 Miss Nicholson had spurred a slow 
 pupil once by telling her it could be done in 
 one. 
 
 She did not set her affairs in order. She 
 had kept them so. She rather set her friends 
 in order, with a last loving thought and help- 
 ful word for each. And then she was ready. 
 
 Miss Mitchell had undertaken the planning 
 of her clothes and the packing of her trunk. 
 June looked dubious over the clothes, espe- 
 cially the fur-lined coat which the winter voy- 
 age demanded. " I am afraid they are un- 
 missionary," she said. "Some people in 
 America will not approve." 
 
 However, when her trunk was brought in, 
 the amount of clothing seemed inadequate 
 to its size and she rallied Miss Mitchell over 
 
 having nothing with which to fill it up. Her 
 
 105 
 
106 THE DATS OF JUNE 
 
 household goods she refused to have touched. 
 They were to be left against her return. But 
 just then the good-bye presents began to 
 come in from the members of the mission, 
 and such Chinese friends as heard of her 
 sudden going. Bundle after bundle came — 
 linen, embroideries, silver souvenirs and vari- 
 ous curios, until at last the trunk was full. 
 
 One of the McTyeire girls, not satisfied 
 with bringing a present, haunted Miss Nichol- 
 son's study and followed her up-stairs and 
 down. She was one of the seventeen con- 
 verts and was teaching a Sunday-school class, 
 but had not yet been allowed by her parents 
 to unite with the church. 
 
 When everything was ready, the Dakota 
 gave three days of grace, putting back her 
 sailing date from Thursday to Sunday. It 
 was February now and cold and bleak. 
 Saturday night Miss Nicholson gave her last 
 testimony to the mission which was assem- 
 bled in the McTyeire parlour at prayer-meet- 
 ing: '"To live is Christ,'" she said, "'to 
 die is gain ! ' I have nothing to fear." Be- 
 fore she lay down to sleep that night she 
 called the Junior, just as she had done in San 
 
THE DEPAETUEE 107 
 
 Francisco, to have a last prayer ; and when 
 they knelt her voice was the braver of the two. 
 Sunday morning the usual routine was 
 followed. Prayers in English before break* 
 fast, the hymn used being "Blest be the 
 tie that binds." Miss Nicholson had been 
 warned not to use her throat, but at the last 
 verse she sang : — 
 
 " When we asunder part, 
 It gives us inward pain, 
 But we shall still be joined in heart, 
 And hope to meet again." 
 
 After breakfast, prayers in Chinese for the 
 servants, with whom some of her most faith- 
 ful work had been done. Again her voice 
 joined with the others in the Chinese words 
 of that grand old hymn, " How firm a founda- 
 tion." 
 
 " In every condition, in sickness, in health, 
 In poverty's vale or abounding in wealth ; 
 At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea, 
 As thy days may demand shall thy strength ever be." 
 
 Later in the morning came Chinese church. 
 This June attended wrapped in the fur-lined 
 coat and carrying a steamer rug to protect 
 her from the cold of the unheated church. 
 
108 THE DAYS OF JUSTE 
 
 Immediately after tiffin the party started for 
 the boat. Again the procession of jinriki- 
 shas down the Nanking Road, but this time 
 it was headed away from McTyeire. A little 
 knot of friends gathered on the jetty to see 
 the travellers off. 
 
 Dr. Allen and Miss Leveritt came on board. 
 Miss Nicholson forcibly kept up her spirits as 
 long as she could. She would hear of noth- 
 ing but that she was coming back, and with 
 an amused reference to her friend, Miss A., 
 she said : " There is no knowing what might 
 happen." But when most of the good-byes 
 had been said, and the time came for her to 
 part from the ladies of McTyeire, then it was 
 that she broke down and her last view of 
 their faces was dimmed by her tears. 
 
 Thus the Dakota bore her away. Among 
 the passengers on board were the Chinese 
 viceroys and dukes, being sent abroad as a 
 commission to examine into constitutional 
 governments. But of all that great company 
 not one heart in the ship beat with more loyal 
 love for China than the heart of June Nichol- 
 son — four years and a half missionary to 
 Shanghai. 
 
XXIV 
 
 THE READJUSTMENT 
 
 THE ladies went back to McTyeire. 
 The house seemed desolate. Its 
 sunshine had departed. But they 
 hushed their hearts into silence and Monday 
 morning they plunged into the work. Doing 
 double duty before, it must be twice doubled 
 now, The workers might fall, but the work 
 must go on. 
 
 The girls returned at the opening of school 
 and were stricken with sorrow to find their 
 friend gonel She had never touched their 
 lives except on the upward grade. One of 
 the native teachers voiced the feelings of all 
 when he said — " If she only had a body to 
 match her spirit." 
 
 The Junior returned to Soochow to go on 
 
 with her work, but China with its millions 
 
 seemed an empty place now. She tried to 
 
 be faithful as she studied and taught, but 
 109 
 
110 THE DAYS OF JUNE 
 
 her heart was on the Pacific making the long 
 journey home. One night she dreamed that 
 she, too, was starting for America. Without 
 ticket, without money, without permission 
 from the Mission Board — she was following 
 her friend. She got to Shanghai too late for 
 the tender, but hailing a sampan she set off 
 down the stream, taking with her the secre- 
 tary of the Soochow district whom somehow 
 she inveigled into attempting the trip. Two 
 boats were to leave Woosung for America 
 that day. Since they had no tickets it mat- 
 tered not which they caught. At last Woo- 
 sung was sighted. Yes, there was the Korea 
 just ready to sail. Her gangway indeed had 
 been taken up, but the Junior was so frantic 
 that some pitying person threw a rope over- 
 board and told her to take hold. True to 
 character, even in her dream, she gripped the 
 rope and was hauled on board. Then they 
 threw the rope over for the secretary, and, 
 just as true to character, she refused to take 
 hold. If she had to go that way, she would 
 not go at all. At that moment the engines 
 
THE EEADJUSTMENT 111 
 
 started, the Junior waved a good-bye and sat 
 down on deck. She saw the shores of China 
 receding and then her conscience began to 
 hurt What was this she was doing — running 
 away from her work ? And then she awoke, 
 and all that she knew was that she was still 
 in China and that her friend was gone. 
 
XXV 
 
 WINTER SUNSHINE AT YOKOHAMA 
 
 A FREEZING cold day at Yokohama 
 — the pale winter sunlight shining 
 over the water in the harbour — June 
 Nicholson wrapped in furs and seated on 
 the deck of the Dakota. 
 
 She had felt stunned for the first few days 
 of the voyage — as if some part of her was 
 dead. She could only lie on deck and try 
 not to think of the future. But now she was 
 better. She felt really well. She took up a 
 pen and addressing a letter to the Junior, 
 wrote : " I feel as well as I ever did in my 
 life, have no complaints to write about. I 
 sleep and eat well and have no trouble with 
 my throat. I want you to read the first 
 chapter of Philippians carefully and take that 
 as my farewell to you — my letter. I enjoyed 
 it so much yesterday. It is my prayer that 
 Christ shall be magnified in my body, 
 
 112 
 
WINTEE SUNSHINE AT YOKOHAMA 113 
 
 whether by life or death. Yesterday was a 
 blessed day when God seemed very con- 
 sciously near, and I seemed to have put all 
 things under my feet ; and I feel that in His 
 strength I shall be able to give no more 
 thought to the condition of my body than is 
 necessary to care for it. I shall not dwell 
 upon it or be anxious. 
 
 " We sail this afternoon. Good-bye, and 
 may our Father bless you. Love to the 
 others in Soochow. A long good-bye 1 " 
 
XXVI 
 
 BACK IN THE GARDEN SPOT 
 
 THE friends in China were more hope- 
 ful after the letters from Japan. 
 Given a good trip home, there was 
 no knowing what the air of America might 
 do. But the news of the latter part of the 
 journey was alarming. A desperate trip 
 across the Rockies — a stop-over enforced by 
 illness in Kansas City — and an arrival at 
 home in a condition too weak to permit of 
 more than one member of the family meeting 
 her at the train — this was the home-coming 
 of Edgefield's first foreign missionary. 
 
 But once back in the genial atmosphere of 
 home she began to improve. She was soon 
 strong enough to receive some of the many 
 callers. How eager everybody was to see 
 her ! How much she had to tell ! A new 
 motive inspired all her contact with friends. 
 
 She would gather up every gleam of the 
 114 
 
BACK IN THE GAEDEN SPOT 115 
 
 interest in herself and use it for the Master's 
 glory. 
 
 How she would like to have spoken in 
 the church. When she had first gone to 
 the field she had dreaded her furlough be- 
 cause of this very thing. They would expect 
 her to speak. But now she wanted to, and 
 couldn't. One morning just before she left 
 Shanghai she got up and said to the Junior, 
 " I dreamed last night that I was in America 
 and was making a speech. It was a good 
 speech, Junior — there were four volunteers." 
 Now here she was actually in America with 
 the opportunity of making the speech of her 
 dream, but for her throat's sake she must 
 wait 
 
 She got well enough, however, to insist on 
 going to the session of the Woman's Board 
 in Alabama, and while there she was allowed 
 to use her voice for three minutes in a plea 
 for a building at Sung-kong — a building that 
 could stand alone and let the mission dis- 
 pense with props. 
 
 Those three minutes were all, but Miss 
 
116 THE DAYS OF JUNE 
 
 Waters from Sung-kong was also on hand, 
 and Miss Nicholson found also that there 
 was something making an eloquent speech 
 for her — she had with her letters from her 
 pupils at McTyeire, written in English, and 
 wherever she showed them somebody was 
 surprised. 
 
 " Did a Chinese girl write that ? " "Who 
 taught her ? " " What English ! I wish our 
 girls would do as well." " How long has 
 she been studying?" "May I copy the 
 letter?" 
 
 So the McTyeire girls were speaking for 
 her and since there were some new ap- 
 pointees for China, she started back to Edge- 
 field feeling well repaid for coming. For a 
 part of the journey, she travelled with Miss 
 Waters. In Atlanta their ways diverged, 
 but both had a long wait before they could 
 get their trains. Miss Nicholson was tired 
 after the strain of the meeting. It had cost 
 her more than she thought. She daringly 
 proposed that they should go to the Kimball 
 and get a room " no matter what it cost." 
 
BACK IN THE GAEDBN SPOT 117 
 
 They went — got as far as the desk — inquired 
 the price of a room — and retired to the 
 parlour. They had the money, oh, yes, but 
 it seemed such a lot to waste on their com- 
 fort for the fraction of a day. 
 
 The parlour grew monotonous after a time, 
 A ride on the trolley would be the very thing. 
 This they knew they could afford. So all 
 over Atlanta they went and by and by Miss 
 Nicholson grew chilly. She had not brought 
 a wrap and Miss Waters insisted that she 
 put on hers. Now Miss Nicholson was tall 
 and thin — very thin, and Miss Waters was 
 short and stout — very stout ; but Miss 
 Nicholson put on the coat, saying, "Miss 
 Waters, I have been as faithful to the friends 
 in China as I knew how. I have written 
 back every detail of the proceedings of the 
 Board. But this you must write. Don't 
 fail to let them know how I looked in your 
 coat." 
 
XXVII 
 
 HOMESICKNESS AT HOME 
 
 IN spite of the fatigue of the Board Meet- 
 ing trip, Cedar Grove and Ma's care 
 and the horseback rides began to work 
 wonders. But the stronger June became the 
 harder it was for her to refuse the invitations 
 which now besieged hen Would Miss 
 Nicholson please come to such and such 
 a missionary meeting — she need not even 
 speak if she did not feel able, but she could 
 give them the inspiration of her presence? 
 She thought of how the Junior loved these 
 things as she wrote, " I don't believe even 
 you would find it much harder to sit quietly 
 by resting with the fields here so white to 
 the harvest." 
 
 But June was willing to rest and to refuse 
 invitations, or do anything else whereby she 
 could strengthen her chance of getting well 
 
 enough to return to China. 
 118 
 
HOMESICKNESS AT HOME 119 
 
 One day she was talking over the prospect 
 with a friend who spoke of how ill she had 
 been and said, " If I were you, Miss Nichol- 
 son, I would never return to China." June 
 was almost indignant. " I would return to 
 China," she replied, " if I knew it would only 
 be one year's service and then the end. But 
 I do not mean I will go until I am well 
 enough to be of some use." 
 
 Every missionary starting for the Orient 
 set her longing afresh to return. She was 
 even planning to escort the bishop and to 
 the Junior she wrote : " You do not know 
 how I miss you all and my loved work, even 
 in the midst of all the love and joy of home. 
 God knows why, and I try not to question, 
 or to think much about the future. I am 
 sure it is safe in His hands. You know, I 
 believe, how much. I love the work in 
 China — how surely I believe that God called 
 me there, and kept me there ; and I feel just 
 as strongly now as I ever did, that my place 
 is there." 
 
XXVIII 
 GATHERING CLOUDS 
 
 WHEN summer came the watchful 
 family had to acknowledge that 
 June was not improving as she 
 had been. In July a low fever set in. The 
 doctor came and pronounced it malaria — 
 some of the China malaria she had brought 
 over with her. June was so disappointed. 
 It seemed hard for this to come after she 
 had been doing so well. While the fever 
 was on her she wrote a letter to China. 
 Then she re-read it — it was nothing but a 
 wail. Her better judgment said it was un- 
 worthy any child of God. She took it up, 
 but not to mail. Her slender fingers tore it 
 into bits and threw it back into the desk. 
 She would wait until she could write some- 
 thing different. 
 Through the long Fall the fever came and 
 
 went. When she was ill she was quietly 
 1 20 
 
GATHEEING CLOUDS 121 
 
 patient and when she was better she was 
 eager with hope. Sick or well there were 
 two things, she said, which she could do — 
 she could write and she could pray. Per- 
 haps she could make McTyeire richer 
 through both. 
 
 One day in November she was feeling 
 much better. There was a missionary meet- 
 ing in Edgefield and she was sure she could 
 go. At last the family decided to let her try 
 it; but on reaching the church she only 
 stayed a few minutes. Her appeal for China 
 was again left unmade. The subject was 
 too near her heart. It took away her 
 strength. 
 
XXIX 
 
 " SUNSET AND EVENING STAR " 
 
 IT was February again at dear Cedar 
 Grove, three days before Valentine's 
 day and June's birthday fast coming 
 on. But the old trees about the place 
 moaned in the winter wind, and in the house 
 all the family were gathered with hushed 
 voices in June's room. The down-stairs was 
 deserted. The black cook and house girl 
 were in tears. Thirteen weeks of unbroken 
 fever 1 Through the weary days she had 
 lain — often too weak to move or speak ; but 
 when she could talk she was always cheerful. 
 "I am so fortunate," she would say, "in 
 never being more ill, and so blessed in hav- 
 ing so many comforts and so many to love 
 and wait on me." Once after a painful, rest- 
 less night she said, " I fear I do not bear my 
 
 sufferings as I should, but no matter how it 
 12a 
 
"SUNSET AND EVENING STAB" 123 
 
 may appear, I have that great peace that 
 passeth all understanding, and, whatever 
 happens, all is well." 
 
 And during all these weeks Cedar Grove 
 had done its best to nurse her back to health. 
 From dairy and orchard it had sent up its 
 offerings with the polished silver and delicate 
 china June instinctively loved. 
 
 But even love had failed to make her bet- 
 ter and they noted no change until February. 
 Then the fever had left her. They could see 
 no improvement, but they believed it would 
 come. Under her pillow were her letters from 
 China, treasured there to be read sentence 
 by sentence as her strength would permit 
 
 Sister and Ma had done her writing for her. 
 They had sent the news of her illness to the 
 anxious friends across the sea, and now 
 June directed that the good news must 
 go. "Take two postals," she said, " and 
 write them to China. Send one to McTyeire 
 and the other to the Junior. Tell them I am 
 better, and that I send my love." 
 
 But ere those postals had travelled across 
 
124 THE DAYS OP JUNE 
 
 America another change had come. Days 
 of pain were followed by days when she 
 seemed only half-conscious. One night while 
 she was in this state her sister was watching 
 beside her ; and as she looked at the face on 
 the pillow it seemed almost transformed by 
 its beautiful, peaceful expression, and the 
 clear, conscious look in the eyes. As she lay 
 thus she began to speak of what she saw, and 
 to those eyes everything had become white 
 and shining. After telling how white and 
 beautiful everything was she said, "Sister, 
 Christians do not half realize that the blood 
 of Christ washes them, and makes them as 
 white as snow." 
 
 After that night the family had little hope, 
 and on that sad February day they were gath- 
 ered in her room, watching and fearing. 
 Again she opened her eyes and the tired 
 lips moved — "Oh, the glory, the glory," 
 she said, and then she was quiet. By and 
 by they could see that she was speaking once 
 more, and eagerly they bent to catch what 
 she said. Slowly the words fell, and then 
 
"SUNSET AND EVENING STAR" 125 
 
 again the same words over and over. They 
 judged from the form that it was a hymn or 
 a prayer. But not one syllable could they 
 understand. She was speaking in Chinese. 
 The voice lapsed, the sound of the strange 
 words died away, the loved form grew still ; 
 she would never speak again. 
 
 In their sorrow the family were not con- 
 scious of the flight of time, but as they turned 
 and looked out of the window, it was even- 
 tide, and the sun had set. 
 
XXX 
 
 THE AFTERGLOW 
 
 THEY laid the tired body in the fam- 
 ily burying-ground out beneath the 
 pines. Her heart was already buried 
 on the compound at McTyeire, and her soul 
 they could not bury anywhere. That had 
 gone to live with God. 
 
 And the family — how did they bear it? 
 As the family of June Nicholson should. And 
 they were not deceived. They knew the 
 climate had done it ; knew she died for China 
 as surely as if the mob had killed her and her 
 body had filled an alien grave. But they knew 
 she felt that China was worth it. And they 
 believed in the China that she believed in — 
 the China that was to come. They caught 
 gleams of it in the letters from her pupils, and 
 read of it in the papers, with the coming of 
 the reforms for which she had prayed. While 
 all the way from Canada to Mexico, from the 
 Atlantic seaboard to the Philippine Islands 
 126 
 
THE APTEEGLOW 127 
 
 came letters to say June Nicholson had not 
 lived her short life in vain. 
 
 The family bowed their heads in submis- 
 sion, and though their hearts were aching, 
 not a murmur escaped their lips. Their June 
 had given her life for the Kingdom and they 
 prayed " Thy Kingdom come." 
 
 And that other far-away circle, how was it 
 when the news reached them ? Their Feb- 
 ruary had come and gone as usual. The let- 
 ters — a month old when they reached them — 
 had brought news of June's fever — that was 
 all. On March tenth the cannon boomed 
 with the announcement that the American 
 mail was in. A messenger was sent to bring 
 it. A letter from June's sister — here was 
 news ! And then they opened it and they 
 saw that she was dead — had been dead a 
 whole month and they had not known. 
 They thought of their loss and of her longing 
 to come back. The gloom of a gray twi- 
 light deepening into night, was stealing 
 over them ; but suddenly the clouds rifted as 
 they thought of her gain, and a gentle ra- 
 diance was shed over all McTyeire in the 
 light of which they saw her life going on and 
 on down the years and continuing as long as 
 her pupils and their influence should endure. 
 
128 THE DAYS OF JUNE 
 
 One more day and they got the news to 
 the Junior. She opened the letter and read 
 what she had feared. But God had prepared 
 her. Her victory had come. She bowed her 
 head, saying, " If God will let me I will carry 
 on her life-work for her — I will find her vol- 
 unteers." 
 
 Over in Korea Miss Harbaugh got the 
 news and she counted back to the time of 
 June's going. The eleventh of February — 
 yes, that was the day when she was in Hono- 
 lulu on her return trip to Korea — a wonderful 
 day in that land of rainbows — a day when the 
 glory of sea and land reached up and joined 
 the glory of the sky — when the cold of Feb- 
 ruary was forgotten in the genial warmth of 
 the tropical islands. 
 
 And as her thoughts dwelt on the colour 
 and beauty of that radiant day her heart 
 again saw the rainbow and she knew that it 
 was arching over the life that was gone — 
 knew that because of June Nicholson's life, 
 the dreary February of many hearts had been 
 changed into summer, and that through her 
 they had found a way to turn every February 
 into radiant June. 
 
■'':-Y"lW 
 
 WHam