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The Christian Chinese Preacher. 
 
LENG TSO, 
 
 THE CHINESE BIBLE -WOMAN. 
 
 A SEQUEL TO 
 
 “THE CHINESE SLAVE-GIRL.” 
 
 BY THE 
 
 Rev. J. A. DAVIS, 
 
 AUTHOR OK 
 
 “ The Chinese Slave-Girl,” “ Choh Lin,” “ Tom Bard,” etc. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA : 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 
 
 No. 1334 CHESTNUT STREET. 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1886, BY 
 
 THE TRUSTEES OF THE 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION. 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 
 
 Westcott & Thomson, 
 Stereotypers and Electrotypers , Philada. 
 
TO 
 
 ®lje Cljiliiren of fcos (tub Pore pars 
 
 WHO BY LETTER, THROUGH FRIENDS AND FACE TO FACE HAVE ASKED 
 THE AUTHOR TO TELL MORE ABOUT 
 
 “THE CHINESE SLAVE-GIRL," 
 
 THIS BOOK 
 
 Is jAffatianatelg JUbicaltb, 
 
 IN THE HOPE THAT THEY, THROUGH INTEREST IN THE SLAVE-GIRL 
 AND THE BIBLE-WOMAN, MAY BE LED TO DO AND TO PRAY 
 FOR THE MANY MILLIONS IN CHINA WHO KNOW 
 NOTHING ABOUT JESUS. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 F EW may agree with the writer that a 
 preface should be at the end rather than 
 at the beginning of a book, but, in point of 
 fact, in the preface the author is supposed to 
 answer the inquiries of his readers after 
 they have read what he has written. For 
 those who may honor the author by read- 
 ing Leng Tso through, he replies to ques- 
 tions which may arise. 
 
 This book has been written at the request 
 of readers of The Chinese Slave- Girl who 
 wish to know more about Leng Tso. Be- 
 lieving that these readers, and others who 
 may peruse this book, are interested in 
 missions in China, the writer has given 
 glimpses of the mission work — not imag- 
 inary, but real. The characters introduced 
 are real persons, though the author has 
 given other than real names to those now 
 living and to several of the more prominent 
 
6 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 places. This has been done because the 
 author deems himself unable to do justice 
 to the men and women of whom he writes. 
 
 If views have been given that might 
 better have remained hidden, and if others 
 which might well have been made more 
 prominent have been placed in the shade 
 or hidden altogether, the author begs the 
 pardon of all who may be unfairly repre- 
 sented. His purpose has been to give, as 
 for as he was able, a truthful and fair view 
 of both the bright side and the dark side of 
 Chinese mission work. He is not conscious 
 of attempting to gloss over defects, nor yet 
 of trying to make too prominent excellences 
 and successes. For fear that he might be 
 led unduly to honor those missionaries for 
 whom he has the deepest admiration, he has 
 tried to tell the story as far as possible with- 
 out presenting them at all. 
 
 In the hope and prayer that this little 
 book may lead all who read it to do and to 
 be, to pray and to expect, more for missions 
 in China, it is sent forth by the author 
 with a prayer to the Master of missions 
 that he may guide and bless it. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Bible-Woman 9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 In Ha Bun 36 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The New Seminary 58 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Toa Aw 84 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Girls’ School 109 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Work in the Girls’ School 138 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The New Religion at Toa Aw 169 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A Journey to Ha Bun 201 
 
 7 
 
8 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 TAGE 
 
 Love in the School 236 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The Anti-Feetbinding Society 272 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Trouble in Thau Pau 287 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Khiau’s Sorrow •••... 300 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Leng Tso’s Sorrow 320 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Persecuted, but Sustained 340 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 A Wife’s Trials 349 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Mission Work by the Chinese 369 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Once More 396 
 
LENG TSO. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE BIBLE-WOMAN. 
 
 “ OOMETHING must be done for the 
 b-J girls and women of our country,” said 
 Leng Tso, the Chinese Bible-woman, as she 
 sat in the little chapel in the village of 
 Thau Pau. “ Men may preach ; they may 
 open chapels and gather churches ; yet, 
 unless they are able to speak more to the 
 women, it will take ten thousand years 
 before the Middle Kingdom becomes the 
 kingdom of Christ.” 
 
 “ But what more can be done ?” asked 
 one of the women, who was listening intently. 
 “ The preachers have done all they can, and 
 the work is slowly gaining ground. It may 
 be that the Lord means the Middle King- 
 
 9 
 
10 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 dom * to take many years to think about 
 the doctrine, and then he will suddenly 
 startle all into accepting the word.” 
 
 “ That may be,” replied the Bible-woman, 
 “ but we must not wait in such a hope : we 
 must do all in our power to bring the whole 
 nation to the truth. The Lord can, and per- 
 haps will, do great things, but he expects us 
 to do all we can first. He completes the 
 work his people have carried on as far as 
 they can, but does not take it out of their 
 hands. The Lord does not like lazy people; 
 he expects all to work, and to work as much 
 as they can.” 
 
 “That is just what our husbands and the 
 teachers are doing,” said Liong So. “ Why 
 should we find cause to complain if they do 
 not bring the whole nation at once to the 
 Saviour ?” 
 
 “ They are doing their part, and doing it 
 well,” responded Kliiau So, the wife of the 
 preacher in the Thau Pan chapel, “ but 
 what are we, the women, doing? We are 
 sitting with folded hands, and all around us 
 our sisters are perishing.” 
 
 * The Chinese name for their country. 
 
THE BIBLE-WOMAN. 
 
 11 
 
 “ That is true,” spoke Liong So, with a 
 sigh, “ but what can we do ?” 
 
 “We can tell them of the Saviour,” said 
 Leng Tso, quietly but decidedly. 
 
 “ Yes, you may,” answered one of the 
 women who had been silent ; “ you have 
 no home-cares to keep you, no husband nor 
 children to see to : we have both. You can 
 go, but we must stay at home to do the 
 work there.” 
 
 “Even if we had no cares nor families, 
 we could not go out among the people in the 
 streets and into the homes of others,” said 
 Liong So, “ while we are yet young women. 
 It is against the custom of the Middle 
 Kingdom.” 
 
 “ So is the worship of the one true God 
 and faith in Jesus as a Saviour against the 
 custom of our country,” replied Khiau So. 
 “ Would you for that reason allow your 
 husband, your children, your friends, to die 
 without knowing about the Saviour and 
 believing on him?’ 
 
 “ Our religion and the customs of the 
 nation are very different,” was the answer. 
 “ It is not unknown, nor even uncommon, 
 
12 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 for men to change their religion, hut for men 
 in the Middle Kingdom to change their 
 customs — can never be. Some worship as 
 Confucius taught ; others, as the Tauists 
 teach ; still others, as the Buddhists teach ; 
 others yet follow the doctrines of the Mo- 
 hammedans. And not a few are becoming 
 Roman Catholics, while a great many fol- 
 low one doctrine or another as best suits 
 them, some taking parts from all. Thus 
 people are changing their religions, but not 
 their customs.” 
 
 “ Did not we change our customs,” asked 
 the Bible-woman, “ when we gave up the 
 worship of our ancestors for the service of 
 the true God? Have we not given up the 
 worship of spirits and of idols? Do we 
 keep the idolatrous feasts any more? Are 
 not we beginning to give up the custom of 
 binding the feet of the girls ? Have we not 
 given up the idolatrous and superstitious 
 parts of our marriage and other cere- 
 monies ?” 
 
 “ Giving up the binding of the girls’ 
 feet?” asked a woman, in surprise, after 
 Leng Tso had finished. “Who has given 
 
THE BIBLE- WOMAN. 
 
 13 
 
 up that custom, and where? I have never 
 heard of it before.” 
 
 “Yes,” replied the Bible-woman ; “the 
 foreign pastors said that in some places the 
 Christian mothers of the Middle Kingdom 
 are not only giving up the practice, but 
 some have torn otf the bandages and are 
 allowing their daughters’ feet to grow large 
 like those of the large-footed women.” 
 
 “ Well, that is news, and strange news 
 too,” cried several. “ What will the man- 
 darins say ? People will no longer be able 
 to tell the difference between a lady and a 
 common woman. That change of custom 
 may bring trouble.” 
 
 “ Following the custom brings more trou- 
 ble,” spoke Khiau So, decidedly. “ It may 
 be a beautiful sign, but it costs too much to 
 carry it. The girls suffer when their feet are 
 bound, and they must always be partly help- 
 less, as I know, and perhaps we all know to 
 our sorrow. A poor woman who has lost her 
 husband and friends and has no property, 
 if she have small feet — and there are many 
 such — must suffer all the rest of her life 
 because her feet unfit her for work. But 
 
14 
 
 I, ENG TSO. 
 
 let us speak more of what Ban Chim* was 
 just now saying.” 
 
 “ Ban Chim can talk,” said Liong So, 
 “ for she has no family ; she has no husband 
 to stop her, and nothing to hinder. I am 
 glad that she can do the work that she likes, 
 but the rest of us cannot do it, and no one 
 will expect it of us.” 
 
 “ No one but He who knows what we 
 can and what we cannot do,” replied the 
 Bible-woman, quietly. “ Some day w T e must 
 meet God ; what if he should ask how 
 much we had done to save the women of 
 our country? Would the Almighty be 
 satisfied if we answered that the customs of 
 the Middle Kingdom prevented ? We, as 
 Christians, are to obey and serve God first, 
 and our country with its customs afterward.” 
 
 “ I do not see why we should be so strict 
 about everything,” spoke up one of the 
 women. “We cannot do all that ought to 
 be done, so we are only to do what we can. 
 
 * Ban Chim was the name by which the Bible-woman was 
 known. Ban was her former husband’s name, she being a 
 widow. Chim is the Chinese term for “ Mrs.” for an elderly 
 woman, and So for a younger married woman. 
 
THE BIBLE- WOMAN. 
 
 15 
 
 As we cannot break through the customs of 
 our country, we must obey them until it is 
 possible to change them.” 
 
 “ What good can we do ?” asked another. 
 “We are unable to read the holy book, and 
 we know so little that we can hardly tell 
 others anything at all about the ‘doctrine,’ ” 
 as the people call the gospel. 
 
 “We all know enough about Jesus to 
 believe in him ourselves,” replied Khiau 
 So, “ and we could tell them as much as we 
 know. If that saves us, it could save them ; 
 and that is what we wish.” 
 
 “ That we are unable to read is not our 
 fault,” said Leng Tso, “ but the fault of those 
 who went before us. If we suffer for what 
 they did, shall we allow those coming after us 
 to suffer on account of our neglect ?” 
 
 “ What do you mean ?” asked several 
 women at once. 
 
 “ Just this,” was the reply : “ because we 
 were not taught to read, shall the girls of 
 the present time be compelled to grow up 
 in ignorance? Because mothers were not 
 taught, shall girls never be allowed to learn 
 to read the Bible?” 
 
16 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “ Girls read !” almost shouted one or two, 
 in amazement. “ Who ever heard of such a 
 thing?” 
 
 “ I was taught to read,” spoke Kliiau So, 
 gently, “ and it was not uncommon for girls, 
 the daughters of rich men in the Foo city, 
 where I was born and lived most of my life, 
 to be taught to read.” 
 
 “Yes,” said Liong So, “but that was be- 
 fore the country was so poor. Few daugh- 
 ters are taught now to read in the Foo city ; 
 their fathers and mothers think themselves 
 fortunate if their girls can be kept alive at 
 home, to speak nothing of educating them. 
 Few have been brought up as Khiau So was. 
 None of us can send our daughters to school 
 at all ; if we can only keep them until old 
 enough to be married, it is all we ask.” 
 
 “ Yet something must be done if we are 
 to tell the women of the true God,” persist- 
 ed Leng Tso. “ If mothers cannot educate 
 their daughters at their homes, and if girls 
 cannot go to schools near, why cannot some 
 live in a school, like the students of the 
 large schools ? Let teachers be prepared 
 for the future.” 
 
THE BIBLE- WOMAN. 
 
 17 
 
 “ What ! women to teach ?” exclaimed 
 two or three of the women at once. “ Who 
 ever heard of such a thing ?” 
 
 “ I have heard of it,” replied the Bible- 
 woman. “ The foreign pastors say that in 
 their country girls are taught to read and 
 write, and even to teach others. If Chris- 
 tian people do so in other lands, why should 
 not we have girls taught in the Middle 
 Kingdom to teach others?” 
 
 “We cannot make this land like outside 
 countries,” was the reply ; “ it was made 
 better, and so it must always be.” 
 
 “ It is a good land,” said Khiau So, “ yet 
 it did not have the true God nor the right 
 doctrine. What we need is some way to 
 make those known to the women in this 
 country.” 
 
 “ Yes, and the women of the Middle 
 Kingdom must do it,” added the Bible- 
 woman. 
 
 “Well, let them, if any are able,” replied 
 Liong So. “ I, for one, am not ; I can 
 neither leave my family nor could I read 
 were I able to go about among the women. 
 Ban Chim can go ; she lias nothing to 
 2 
 
18 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 hinder, and slie can read almost as well as a 
 graduate.” 
 
 “ But she did not learn to read until she 
 was older than some of you,” spoke Kliiau 
 So. 
 
 “ What ! learned to read after she was 
 married ?” asked a young woman, in sur- 
 prise. “ How can that be ?” 
 
 “ If you would like to hear, I will tell you 
 the story of my life,” said the Bible-woman, 
 who was always glad to tell her earlier his- 
 tory. 
 
 “ Yes, tell it,” said several at once. 
 
 “ When I was a very small child,” began 
 Leng Tso,* “ there came a fearful famine to 
 the village where I was born ; no rain fell 
 for a long time, and the water in streams and 
 wells dried up. My parents were poor, and at 
 last, to save my two brothers from starvation, 
 
 * Those who would like to read more of the early life of 
 this Bible-woman will find it in The Chinese Slave-Girl, publish- 
 ed by the Presbyterian Board of Publication. Any who may 
 have read that story will pardon the author for repeating it 
 very briefly here, as some would not understand Leng Tso’s 
 later history without a brief sketch of that which took place 
 earlier. Many in Thau Pau were acquainted with her history, 
 but the younger people knew little regarding the life of the 
 Bible-woman. 
 
THE BIBLE- WOMAN. 
 
 19 
 
 I, the youngest child, was sold to become the 
 slave-girl of Tin Hou Kek, who then lived 
 in this village.” 
 
 “ What ! were you a slave-girl once ? and 
 did you live in this place?” asked two or 
 three of the younger women. 
 
 “Yes,” was the reply; “I was brought 
 here, and lived in Thau Pan until I was a 
 woman. Then I was sold to become the 
 second wife of a man who was an opium- 
 smoker. He was rich, but lost most of his 
 property ; then, with his family, he moved 
 to the great Foo city, where he started busi- 
 ness. There he began gambling, and lost 
 all his property. In the madness of gam- 
 bling, when he had lost all besides, he sold 
 me to get money. I became the property of 
 another man. He was yet young, nor was I 
 old, and he took me as his wife. Children 
 were born to us, but some of them died or 
 were given away ; one was stolen from my 
 husband ; and finally I was left with only 
 one son.” 
 
 “ Is that the son who lives down the coun- 
 try ?” was asked. 
 
 “ No,” replied the Bible-woman ; “ that is 
 
20 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 the one who was stolen from my husband. 
 But I will tell you more about him. When 
 the Tai Ping rebels captured the Foo city, 
 my husband, his mother and our little boy 
 tried at night to escape from the city, but 
 my husband was captured, and I never saw 
 him again. Without doubt he was killed. 
 He was a good man,” added she, in a lower 
 voice ; “ and had he lived, no doubt he would 
 have believed the gospel. But he died with- 
 out knowing anything about it.” 
 
 For a few moments the voice of Leng Tso 
 was still as her hands wiped away tears that 
 were steadily falling. The women around 
 looked pityingly at her as they silently 
 waited for her to speak. 
 
 “ It was an awful time,” spoke one of the 
 older women, as the Bible-womau sat in 
 silence, “ when those rebels were marching 
 through the country ; and when they took 
 the Foo city, it was such a time as I hope 
 none of us will see again. The ruin they 
 caused there remains to this day. The Foo 
 city will never rise from the ruin caused by 
 its capture by those rebels.” 
 
 “ They were not the only ones that caused 
 
THE BIBLE- WOMAN. 
 
 21 
 
 that destruction,” suggested Liong So, quiet- 
 ly ; “ the imperial army completed what the 
 long-haired rebels began.” * 
 
 “Be quiet!” spoke one of the older 
 women ; “ let her tell the rest of her his- 
 tory.” 
 
 “ I do not know what became of him,” 
 continued the Bible-woman. “ The next 
 day my husband’s mother and our little boy 
 disappeared. I left our home for a few min- 
 utes ; and when I returned, they had gone. 
 I never either saw or heard of them again. 
 No doubt they were both killed by rebel 
 soldiers. But I believe I shall see my little 
 boy again in the country where mothers do 
 not long for absent ones ; it may be that the 
 angels told Ko Chin of Jesus as they took 
 his young spirit to heaven. There he met 
 his baby-sister, and there I shall some day 
 meet my children. Oh, it is a blessed 
 gospel, to tell us that our little children who 
 die may be ours for ever ! No religion nor 
 
 * The Tai-Ping rebellion (called also by the Chinese the 
 “ Long-Haired rebellion,” because the rebels wore their hair 
 long instead of shaving the head except the cue) was the most 
 terrible rebellion that the Chinese have had for centuries. 
 
22 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 custom of the Middle Kingdom tells us that. 
 Yes, yes ! it is the doctrine of the true 
 God.” 
 
 “ It is a good religion,” added one of the 
 women, “for it tells us that God loves us 
 all, even the poorest and worst of us.” 
 
 “And he loved me,” broke in the Bible- 
 woman ; “ he loved me so much that he gave 
 his only begotten Son to die for me. Why 
 should not I love him ? There is no one so 
 good, so loving, as our Saviour who died to 
 save us.” 
 
 “ What did you do,” asked one of the 
 young women, “when you were left alone? 
 Did you have friends in the Foo city?” 
 
 “‘Friends’? We had friends nowhere 
 then. None of us knew that we would 
 need friends from one hour to the next. We 
 were in constant fear of being killed. The 
 streets were filled with the dead, and our 
 ears were constantly startled by the shrieks 
 of those who were captured and taken by 
 the soldiers to prison or to death. It was 
 no unusual sound to hear the cry of the 
 dying as they fell beneath a soldier’s stroke. 
 But those times and scenes were too fearful 
 
THE BIBLE-WOMAN. 
 
 23 
 
 to repeat. I only wonder that a merciful 
 God brought me through them all in safety 
 that I might hear the way of life.” 
 
 “ Where did you first hear the doctrine ?” 
 was asked. 
 
 “After my husband and family were lost, 
 I was obliged to live as best I could until 
 the city was captured by the imperial army; 
 then they burned my home, with very many 
 others. After that I was indeed in trouble ; 
 I had not even a home, and was as poor as a 
 beggar. When the rebels were conquered 
 and driven away, and quiet was restored 
 in the city, I found work. One day, while 
 wandering around through the city, looking 
 for work, I came upon the chapel where one 
 of the foreign pastors was conducting wor- 
 ship. I listened and wondered. I went 
 again and again ; at length I found Him 
 who through all these years had been seek- 
 ing for me.” 
 
 “ What ! did you find your husband ?” 
 asked a young woman. “ I thought you 
 said that you never saw him after the rebels 
 took him. Did not they kill him?” 
 
 “ No, Un Sia,” replied Leng Tso ; “ it was 
 
24 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 not my husband I found, but my Saviour. I 
 found him — rather, he found me and showed 
 himself to me as a loving Saviour ; then my 
 heart was glad. I have never been lonely 
 since. There have been longings, but he 
 has partly satisfied them, and I know that I 
 shall be entirely satisfied when I awake in 
 heaven in his likeness. Then, too, I shall 
 meet with the little ones who through those 
 sad years have waited in the good land for 
 me.” 
 
 “ Tell us how you learned to read,” sug- 
 gested Khiau So, as the Bible-woman seem- 
 ed to have finished her story. 
 
 “And you promised to tell us about your 
 son,” added another. 
 
 “Yes, true,” spoke Leng Tso ; “I forgot. 
 When I had become a disciple of Jesus and 
 learned of the Bible and that it was God’s 
 book, I wanted to read it for myself. Al- 
 though I was forty years old, I asked to be 
 allowed to go to school. It was a hard task, 
 and a long one ; but after a while I began to 
 learn one character after another, and to 
 hold them in my mind before they had 
 slipped out of my memory as fish go through 
 
THE BIBLE- WOMAN. 
 
 25 
 
 the water. Often my head ached and it 
 seemed a hopeless task ; but when I found 
 several characters staying in my memory 
 day after day, I took courage. After a long 
 struggle I learned to read the third chapter 
 of John. That I read several times every 
 day until I knew it almost by heart. I used 
 to read it in the homes of my friends so 
 often that it was called Ban Chim’s chapter. 
 Little by little I learned other chapters, and 
 thus have continued, until now I can read 
 much of the New Testament and some in 
 the Old. It is a good book, and my heart 
 rests when my soul is reading it. I wish 
 that every woman in the Middle Kingdom 
 could read it. It would take away much 
 of the trouble and sorrow of women’s lives. 
 Their souls are hungry and at times almost 
 starving for the Bread of life, and yet they 
 have not the key to the closet that holds the 
 precious food.” 
 
 “ You are right,” said Khiau So; “read- 
 ing the holy book is the key to the closet 
 that contains the Bread of life. I wish that 
 more had the key. I know how sweet the 
 Bread is — far sweeter when we take it our- 
 
26 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 selves from the closet than when we take it 
 through the hands of others.” 
 
 The preacher’s wife was educated and 
 could read even better than the Bible- 
 woman. Her parents being among the 
 aristocracy of the Foo city, she had had 
 advantages that few women of China have. 
 When she grew to womanhood, her father 
 died, and by some means his property w T as 
 lost. Kliiau, then a business-man in the 
 Foo city, and rapidly gaining wealth, mar- 
 ried her. When the city was taken by 
 rebels, he and his wife were away, and so 
 escaped death. During this absence they 
 heard the gospel and became Christians. 
 After the rebellion, their property having 
 been almost entirely destroyed, he entered 
 the service of the mission, and in time 
 became, as we now find him, a preacher. 
 
 “You have not yet told us about your 
 son,” suggested one of Leng Tso’s listeners. 
 “ Where is he, and how did you find 
 him ?” 
 
 We will not take the reader’s time to tell 
 the story of the finding of her son as the 
 Bible-woman told it ; suffice it to say that 
 
THE li I TILE- WOMAN. 
 
 27 
 
 after she had learned to read she went about 
 among the women in different places, and in 
 one of the Christian chapels met a young 
 man whom she found to be her long-lost 
 son. He had been sold by those who stole 
 him to a rich man, who adopted him into 
 his family. When the boy Lin grew to 
 manhood, he became a Christian. His 
 “ adopted father,” as the Chinese call it, 
 tried to persuade the young man to give up 
 the worship of the foreign God and return 
 to idols ; this the young man refused to do. 
 The father, at length exasperated at what 
 seemed such obstinate wickedness, struck the 
 youth with a heavy instrument and left him 
 on the ground for dead. Christian friends 
 took care of him, and Lin was restored to 
 health, but was disowned by the man who 
 had adopted him. The reader will learn 
 more of Lin farther on. 
 
 When she had concluded the story of 
 finding her son, Leng Tso returned again to 
 the subject of learning to read. 
 
 “ It is not easy,” said she, “ to learn to 
 read ; but no good thing is easy. It is not 
 easy for us to fight the evil one, and it is 
 
28 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 only by bard struggles that we can conquer ; 
 but by tbe grace of God we shall conquer at 
 last. So it will be with those who try to 
 read : they will learn ; it may be slowly, but 
 they must, if they keep on trying, learn to 
 read after a while ; and when they do learn, 
 the first chapter they are able to read will 
 repay them for all the effort. It is worth a 
 year of study to read such passages as these : 
 
 ‘ For God so loved the world that he gave 
 his only begotten Son, that whosoever be- 
 lieveth in him should not perish, but have 
 everlasting life,’ and ‘ In my Father’s house 
 are many mansions ; if it were not so I 
 would have told you : I go to prepare a place 
 for you ; and if I go and prepare a place for 
 you I will come again and receive you unto 
 myself, that where I am there ye may be 
 also.’ Ah ! it is a book full of food for tbe 
 soul ; it is rich pasture for the flock of God, 
 and far better than tbe dried grass that we 
 must take from the hands of others if unable 
 to read ourselves.” Then, recollecting her- 
 self, she added, “Yet our shepherds, when 
 they read it to us, give of the rich juicy 
 grass that they cut as they go along, but we 
 
THE BIBLE-WOMAN. 
 
 29 
 
 must eat what they cut for us, and not choose 
 for ourselves. To be able to read is to 
 run free in the pastures of the Lord, and 
 that is the way to make the flock strong 
 and healthy.” 
 
 “ What difference does it make, Ban 
 Chim,” asked one of the women, “ if the 
 pastor knows what his flock needs and gives 
 the food as each wants it ?” 
 
 “ Just this,” was her reply : “ we see some 
 animals going off alone to eat the rich grass 
 by some spring ; others like to crop that on 
 the hillside, and others on plains ; each has 
 its own choice, because each knows what it 
 needs and craves. So it is with God’s flock. 
 Some need the strong food, others that which 
 is more mild ; and if each can read, then 
 each can choose what is most needed. If 
 seekers must depend on another, they may 
 often be compelled to take that which they 
 do not like and do not need, or go hungry. 
 Besides, the shepherd cannot always be with 
 the flock, and while he is absent many a one 
 may suffer from hunger ; let each one be free 
 to run in the pasture, and none need suffer.” 
 
 “ Ban Chim is right,” spoke Khiau So, 
 
30 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “ and I hope that before long we shall all 
 learn to read the holy book.” 
 
 “We would gladly learn,” replied one, 
 “ if it did not take so long ; but it requires 
 years of study before one can read even a 
 small portion of the New Testament, and 
 almost a lifetime to be able to read all there 
 is in the holy book.” 
 
 “ Have you heard there is a new way of 
 reading that the foreign pastors have shown ?” 
 asked Leng Tso? 
 
 “ ‘ A new way of reading ’ ?” inquired 
 several, in surprise. “What is it? How 
 can there be any other way than that which 
 the Middle Kingdom has used for so many 
 ages?” 
 
 “ There is, nevertheless, a new way,” said 
 the Bible-woman, decidedly ; “ I saw women 
 learning when I was down to Ha Bun. It 
 is a very easy way, too — so easy that some 
 learn to read in a little more than a month.” 
 “ ‘ A little more than a month’ ?” spoke 
 two or three, half in derision, half in doubt. 
 “ Yes, so do people learn in less than a month 
 to read with our way, but how much can 
 they read ?” 
 
THE B1BLE-W0MAN. 
 
 31 
 
 “ That is just where this new way is so 
 strange,” replied the Bible-woman ; “ when 
 able to read one book, they can read all.’ 
 This statement was greeted with more than 
 doubt. It may not be known to some young 
 readers that the Chinese written language is 
 not spelled or expressed by words made up 
 of single letters ; each word has a sign of its 
 own, and to know how to read every book 
 one must know the meaning and sound of 
 each of the more than twenty thousand 
 different word-sisms. To learn all these re- 
 
 o 
 
 quires not only a marvelous memory, but 
 years of time. It may well be doubted if 
 any one ever learns all the characters in 
 common use in that language, so it may be 
 questioned whether or not any reader is able 
 to read all Chinese books, no matter how 
 learned he may be. He may know nearly all 
 the characters, yet in some book may meet 
 with unknown ones ; all his former knowl- 
 edge of Chinese will not teach him the 
 sound or meaning of those characters : he 
 must learn them as new ones. Each book 
 may have some words, and thus some char- 
 acters, that he has never seen before ; so that 
 
32 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 it is by no means certain that a person who 
 can read one book can read another. Indeed, 
 if he be able to read only one ever so well, 
 it is certain that he cannot read another 
 without learning new characters. 
 
 “ How can they read all books if able to 
 read one?” was asked of the Bible-woman. 
 
 “ The foreign pastors have shown twenty- 
 three small characters,* each one haying a 
 name and sound of its own, and these are 
 put together in a very great many differ- 
 ent ways. Each way has its own sound and 
 meaning ; but when you know the sound of 
 each of those twenty-three small characters, 
 and are able to put their different sounds 
 together and make the one sound that the 
 characters joined together make, you can 
 read every book written with them.” 
 
 The women listened to the description, but 
 did not get the idea that to us is so simple. 
 That any one could learn to read a book in 
 a month or two seemed to them impossible. 
 They did not accuse the Bible-woman of 
 telling an untruth, but they were silent 
 enough to make her see that they did not 
 
 * Letters. 
 
THE BIBLE-WOMAN. 
 
 33 
 
 believe what she said. Nor would they 
 believe the assertion that it was possible to 
 learn to read at all in so short a time, until 
 Leng Tso’s statements were endorsed by 
 Khiau, the preacher. 
 
 To others than Chinese it may seem im- 
 possible that any woman of ordinary ability 
 should learn to read within a month unless 
 she had some knowledge of letters before. 
 The explanation is simple. There are only 
 twenty-four separate sounds in the dialect of 
 the Fokien province; and of that only, and not 
 of the general written language, is the author 
 now writing. These the missionaries express 
 by seventeen letters of our alphabet, together 
 with seven combinations. The letters and 
 combinations are a, b, ch, chh, e, g, h, i,j, k, 
 Jch, l , m, n, ng, o (and o with an added dot), 
 p, ph, s, t, tli, u and an added small n ; with 
 these are used the capital letters as we use 
 them. The language of China is composed 
 of words of one syllable, and most of these 
 words can be written wuth two and three 
 letters; some, however, require four, five, 
 and even six, while a very few need seven 
 to express their sounds. The number of 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 words in the spoken language or dialect of 
 the Fokien province is not large. It will be 
 seen from these facts that to learn to read 
 this — which is called the Romanized collo- 
 quial — -does not require a great deal of study. 
 It is not uncommon for women to learn to 
 read it with some ease in a month. 
 
 Many may ask, Why, then, are not all 
 the Chinese taught to read this colloquial ? 
 
 There are several reasons. This colloquial 
 is spoken by but few comparatively of the 
 people of that country. To give them 
 books in the different dialects would require 
 a great many translations, whereas the reg- 
 ular written language can be read by all 
 who are able to read, no matter what dialect 
 they may speak. Then these dialects are 
 not fixed ; the same word may have in places 
 not far separated very different meanings. 
 The dialects gradually change, and one 
 slowly blends into another. The learned 
 look with disdain upon this manner of 
 printing and reading. It is at best but a 
 temporary method of holding the truth 
 before the eyes of the common people, but 
 it is a method that shows the genius and 
 
THE BIBLE-WOMAN. 
 
 35 
 
 aptness of the missionaries to meet and to 
 conquer difficulties. 
 
 The preacher was believed, but not fully 
 understood ; nor did his own explanations, 
 added to those of his wife and the Bible- 
 woman, make the matter clear to the women. 
 They believed, as many do, in witches and 
 in ghosts without knowing anything about 
 them except what they hear others tell. 
 
 Leng Tso was not well acquainted with 
 this method of reading. She had not learn- 
 ed to read the colloquial, nor did she feel 
 anxious to do so ; the written characters she 
 had learned at a great sacrifice of time and 
 strength, and to have so easy a method 
 made known after she had gained her 
 knowledge by the difficult one was to make 
 her feel less favorable to the new. After 
 she was able to read she began to go about 
 among the women to read the Bible and 
 teach them the way of salvation. At first 
 she was obliged to work to earn her own 
 support ; but when she found her son, he 
 and her brother supported her almost en- 
 tirely, thus allowing her to give most of 
 the time to the work she had chosen. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 IN HA BUN. 
 
 TN the large city of Ha Bun the Bible- 
 woman had an only brother living ; like 
 herself, he was a Christian. When yet a 
 young man, he had come to the city to work 
 at his trade, that of a carpenter. His name 
 was Iau ; as he Avas a carpenter, he was 
 called Iau Sai, or “Iau the mechanic.” Sai 
 is the honorary or distinctive name of any 
 mechanic ; and if it is desired to honor a 
 common workman, Sai is added to his name, 
 much as Ave in common language call a man 
 “ boss.” Iau came to Ha Bun a poor journey- 
 man carpenter, but at this time he was a mas- 
 ter-builder, taking large contracts for building 
 and employing many men. He had become 
 a lumber-dealer as well as a contractor, anti 
 Avas one of the principal business-men in his 
 line in the city. Some time after he moved 
 to Ha Bun he heard the gospel from the 
 
 36 
 
IN HA BUN. 
 
 37 
 
 missionaries and became a follower of tlie 
 Saviour. Iau Sai carried Iris religion into 
 bis business and tried to be all the better 
 carpenter because lie was a Christian. He 
 was not the man to endeavor to make money 
 or to gain power and honor from his religion, 
 but was ready to share with his faith all 
 that he gained. He honored God with his 
 substance and had the promise made true 
 to him, “ Them that honor me I will honor.” 
 
 The missionaries, wishing a dwelling 
 built, employed Iau to do it; the work was 
 done so well that other foreigners came to 
 examine the structure. They asked who 
 the builder was, and soon Iau Sai had other 
 houses to build. Doing all of his work as 
 well as he could, and trying to please, not 
 only his employers, but God, he succeeded 
 in so well pleasing those for whom he worked 
 that he never lacked business. 
 
 A certain foreigner who cared more for 
 himself than for God or man persuaded Iau 
 Sai to undertake to build a house for him. 
 The building was to be completed within a 
 certain time, the shortest possible. Iau, 
 contrary to the advice of the missionaries, 
 
38 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 agreed to build and complete tlie house 
 within the stipulated time or forfeit a large 
 sum of money. When the building was 
 partly finished, the foreigner said that it was 
 not done according to contract, and forced 
 the contractor to tear down and rebuild. 
 He did it, protesting that he was keeping 
 the terms of the contract, but knew that, 
 as the foreigner was a man ot influence and 
 without much principle, it would be useless 
 to refuse. Being a Christian, Iau could 
 hope for little justice, much less sympathy, 
 from the mandarins. It was plain that he 
 could not now complete the building at the 
 time agreed on. The foreigner told him 
 that the forfeit must be paid if the house 
 were not done at the time set, and said that 
 he must work on Sunday. From the time 
 he became a Christian, Iau had refused to 
 work on the Sabbath, and, though he had 
 been obliged to pay his men for seven days 
 each week, though they worked only six, he 
 had steadily refused to labor or to allow 
 those in his employ to work on the Lord s 
 day. The men were very willing to rest one 
 day, as long as they were paid for it, but 
 
IN BA BUN. 
 
 39 
 
 refused to be idle and lose a day’s wages 
 because of the religion of their employer. 
 Iau had soon found that, while he was 
 ridiculed by many for paying such an enor- 
 mous price for his religion — seven days’ 
 wages for six days of work — he was the 
 gainer rather than the loser : his men after 
 a while did more work in six days, and 
 better work too, than others did in seven. 
 His religion was actually beginning to pay. 
 
 When the foreigner told him to work on 
 the Sabbath and thus save the forfeit-money, 
 the carpenter quietly said that he would 
 sooner lose all that money than break God’s 
 law. The house was not done when the 
 time was up, and Iau was forced to lose his 
 money. The foreigner showed him no 
 mercy. He afterward complained that the 
 Chinese were the most obstinate people he 
 had ever met. He probably reported, too, 
 after he had reached his native land, that 
 Chinese converts were all hypocrites. 
 
 More than once was Iau Sai caught in his 
 bargains with scheming foreigners. One of 
 these — a man who pretended to be a Chris- 
 tian and attended church when sober enough 
 
40 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 to be there — made a bargain with Iau, and 
 then deliberately took advantage of the 
 Chinaman’s honesty and ignorance and 
 cheated him out of more than a thousand 
 dollars. 
 
 Notwithstanding such misfortunes, the 
 builder steadily gained wealth and influence, 
 and amid all lived a faithful Christian life. 
 As wealth came more and more rapidly he 
 was more and more liberal in giving his 
 money for the good of others and for the 
 spread of the truth. If a building for the 
 mission work was needed, he was ready to 
 build whether there was money to pay for it 
 or not. He would build and wait for the 
 money ; and if it was not paid, he would 
 feel that it was given to the Lord’s cause 
 and would not complain. Missionaries are 
 not inclined to go forward with their work in 
 such a way ; and if the offers of the liberal 
 man were declined, it was with the warm 
 gratitude of men who believed that he who 
 made the offers would not have complained 
 had they been accepted and he not received 
 a dollar in payment for his work. 
 
 Such a man was Iau Sai, the Christian 
 
IN HA BUN. 
 
 41 
 
 carpenter of the city of Ha Bun, and brother 
 of Leng Tso, the Bible-woman. To his 
 home she made frequent visits, and from 
 his purse she drew not a small amount of 
 her support as she went about doing good. 
 In his home she met Christian women of 
 the city, and with them had many a talk 
 about the welfare of the Church. Those 
 talks were not always the wisest, nor did 
 they always accomplish great good ; but 
 great movements are started by small powers, 
 and by a multitude of small forces are they 
 kept in motion. 
 
 “ I think it is time,’’ said Leng Tso at one 
 of these gatherings in her brother’s home, 
 “to start to unbind the feet. Mothers may 
 be told to bring up their daughters with feet 
 unbound, but who will do so as long as wo- 
 men keep their feet bound '? If people teach, 
 they should show by their practice that 
 they believe the teaching to be good.” 
 
 “ You can talk,” replied one of the 
 women, “ for your feet were never bound ; 
 it is far otherwise with us. It might do for 
 the younger women and girls to unbind their 
 feet, but it is impossible for us who are old. 
 
42 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 It is easy to train a young and growing tree, 
 but the old banian must be let alone.” 
 
 “ We cannot expect the younger ones to do 
 what we say if we are unwilling to try it our- 
 selves,” said the Bible-woman. “ The old 
 eagle must herself fly if she would have 
 her young try their wings.” 
 
 “I do not see why we should unbind our 
 feet,” spoke one of the women ; “it is an old 
 custom that has come to us from our ances- 
 tors. Why should we give up everything?” 
 “We are not to give up everything,” re- 
 plied Leng Tso, “ but those things only that 
 are harmful and sinful. This is both. It 
 harms the feet by deforming them ; it unfits 
 women to do the work God has for them, and 
 thus by neglect they sin against him. And, 
 further, it is rebelling against Him who made 
 the body ; it is saying that he did not know 
 what is the best shape for a woman’s foot, 
 and that we can improve on his work.” 
 
 “ Oh yes, it is easy for her to talk,” spoke 
 one, in an undertone ; “ her feet have never 
 been bound. A fox — so the story is told — 
 once lost his tail, and then called all the foxes 
 together that he might persuade them to cut 
 
Small-footed Girl. Page 42. 
 

 
 
 ' 
 
 
 
 
 
IN HA BUN. 
 
 43 
 
 off their tails. I, for one, do not mean to 
 unbind my feet, nor to unbind the feet of 
 my girls ; all admit that small feet are pretty, 
 and why should we give up beauty that we 
 already possess? If others do not wish to 
 bind the feet of their daughters, that may 
 be well ; but let alone those that are bound.” 
 “ That is what Ban Chim says,” replied 
 one of the women. “ Unless we unbind, 
 others will not ; and unless we do it, others 
 will bind the feet of their daughters. ■ Some 
 one must start, or nothing will be done.” 
 
 “ Some one has started,” came from one of 
 the women. “ The wife of one of the pastors 
 has refused to bind the feet of her little 
 daughter.” 
 
 “ What ! the wife of Pastor Lo ?” 
 
 “ No, of Pastor Jap. She says that she 
 will never compel her daughters to suffer 
 what she has passed through, no matter 
 how homely large feet may appear. When 
 Jap Sian Si Niu* determines to do a thing, 
 she does it.” 
 
 “ But what will the people of our country 
 say about our girls ? They will be called 
 
 * The pastor’s wife. 
 
44 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 large-footed, and will be regarded as of the 
 lower classes. We shall not be able to get 
 them good husbands, and must marry them 
 to poor workingmen.” 
 
 “Workingmen become rich and great 
 sometimes,” suggested an old lady, “ and 
 rich and great become poor and miserable. 
 Better let them be able to help their hus- 
 bands rise than be a burden to keep the 
 husbands down. A wife who hinders rather 
 than helps her husband deserves to be mar- 
 ried to one who cannot rise.” 
 
 “ Cannot we do something to begin un- 
 binding feet ?” asked the Bible-woman. “ I 
 have large feet, and my advice will not help 
 much. They will say that I want all to be 
 as I am. That is true, but not true for the 
 reason they may give. You must be the 
 ones to begin. The free bird knows not of 
 the evils of a cage. If those who are im- 
 prisoned will not escape when the door is 
 open, others will not believe that the cage is 
 an evil.” 
 
 “ It is true as Ban Cliim has said,” spoke 
 one of the older women. “ If we whose feet 
 are bound are unwilling to unbind them, it 
 
IN HA BUN. 
 
 45 
 
 will be of little use to advise parents not to 
 bind the feet of their daughters. I am will- 
 ing, old though I am, to unbind mine. It 
 is what I think the younger women should 
 do. We older ones may find it very diffi- 
 cult to go without bandages, after having 
 worn them for perhaps fifty years.” 
 
 “ I want to think of it longer,” responded 
 one. “ If it be good to do, it is wise to think 
 about it first. He who starts out on a race 
 without thinking is the one who is liable 
 to stop before it is won.” 
 
 “ I agree with Ban Tun,” said one of the 
 younger women. “ We may remove the ban- 
 dages speedily and mourn over our hasty act 
 all the rest of our lives.” 
 
 The women were talking about the matter 
 and talk meant thought ; so the Bible-woman 
 was content to let time and the teachings of 
 the missionaries and native preachers carry 
 on the work. 
 
 She had heard the remark about the fox 
 who had lost his tail. She could see no 
 beauty or excellency in deformed feet ; on 
 the contrary, she knew how much better able 
 she was with her unbound feet to go about 
 
46 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 and work. But not use so much as custom 
 influenced the women about her. For cen- 
 turies it had been the custom ; that w T as a 
 powerful argument for continuing it. Bind- 
 ing the feet is an ancient Chinese practice, 
 and was in existence many centuries before 
 China was conquered by the Mantchu Tartars. 
 Because a Chinese and not a Tartar custom, 
 some of the people regard it with the more 
 favor. The Tartars do not bind the feet ; 
 indeed, the conquerors of China are opposed 
 to small feet, and try to influence the people 
 to give up the habit. On the contrary, the 
 present method of wearing the hair in a cue 
 or braid hanging down the back is a Tartar 
 custom, and was made compulsory when 
 China was conquered by its present rulers. 
 
 It is probably nearly a thousand years since 
 the practice of feet-binding was introduced. 
 How it came about is uncertain. Several 
 causes are given by the people themselves 
 for this cruel practice. The one most 
 commonly told is that about a thousand 
 years ago a woman of the imperial palace — a 
 favorite of the emperor, but not the queen — 
 began binding her feet to add to her supposed 
 
IN HA BUN. 
 
 47 
 
 beauty. In time slie was imitated by others, 
 and gradually the rule became general. 
 Others who trace the custom back much 
 farther say that between two and three thou- 
 sand years ago there was an empress, Tak-ki 
 by name, who was so unfortunate as to have 
 club-feet. She was a proud woman and 
 ashamed of her deformity ; to hide it she 
 compelled her husband, the emperor, to 
 order all the ladies of the palace to have 
 their feet bandaged. All the women were in- 
 duced after a time to imitate the ladies of the 
 palace. The men, however, like to tell the 
 story that in early times the women of China 
 were fearful gossips and constantly going 
 about to visit and talk to their neighbors. 
 To stop this the husbands were forced to 
 bind their wives’ feet, and so compel them to 
 remain at home. If this be the true reason, 
 it may be added that the expedient was not 
 successful. 
 
 A cloth bandage is bound so tightly about 
 the feet of the child that the growth is 
 stopped, the bones are cramped and the 
 shape is changed. The time to begin va- 
 ries. Some parents commence when the girls 
 
48 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 are mere infants ; others begin at the age of 
 two ; still others wait until the child is 
 several years old, and often the girl may he 
 nearly grown before the bandages are applied. 
 Some girls, it is said, whose parents had 
 neglected to bind their feet for various reasons, 
 
 o 
 
 begged to have them bound as they grew up 
 toward womanhood. The reason of this is 
 not far to seek. Women in China are not 
 unlike their sisters in other countries. They 
 wish not only to follow the fashions, but to 
 appear beautiful, refined and ot good family. 
 Small feet are the sign of gentility and 
 good breeding. Nowhere more than in 
 China is it regarded as a desirable accom- 
 plishment for a woman to be able to force 
 a No. 3 foot into a No. 1 shoe. 
 
 Leaving out of consideration the wisdom 
 of having small feet, it is not strange that 
 the women of China cling to this custom. 
 What woman is willing to advertise herself 
 as of questionable character or family ? It 
 through suffering and privation she can be 
 regarded as wealthy and refined, is it strange 
 that she is willing to undergo the pain and 
 privation? If once there be a number of 
 
IN HA BUN. 
 
 49 
 
 the better class of women in any place in 
 China who have large feet, then to do away 
 with the bandages will be comparatively 
 easy. Until that time comes it will require 
 no little resolution to refuse to follow this 
 cruel custom. We may decry and ridicule 
 it, but we cannot easily understand what a 
 woman risks when she takes off the bandages 
 from her feet. It may be said here that the 
 bandages are never permanently removed 
 after the feet have once been bound. 
 
 The Bible-woman was anxious to learn all 
 she could, in order to teach others. While 
 she felt that her work was outside of rather 
 than within the city, she was ready to do what 
 she could there also. In a quiet way she 
 used her influence, but at no place did she 
 more delight to be than at the class of Mrs. 
 Minturn. 
 
 Mrs. Minturn was the wife of a mission- 
 ary, and was herself a born missionary. 
 Gentle, quiet, firm and decided, she was a 
 woman who could control others without 
 seeming to exercise any authority. Not 
 specially gifted nor attractive, she won 
 friends slowly, but held all whom she won, 
 
 4 
 
50 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 whether natives or foreigners. Those who 
 best knew most respected the quiet, cheerful, 
 kind-hearted woman. Mrs. Minturn seldom 
 spoke of what she did, and to learn her 
 failures or her successes one must ask others 
 than herself. In this lay one of her greatest 
 faults. She forgot that she was a mission- 
 ary not only of the Lord Jesus Christ, but 
 of his Church, and that his people wished to 
 know what their representative was doing 
 and what success attended their gifts and 
 prayers. 
 
 Mrs. Minturn had gathered a class of 
 women, nearly all of them married, whom 
 she had taught to read the Romanized collo- 
 quial. She met this class each week to teach 
 them not only to read and study the word of 
 God, but to put into practice what they 
 learned ; in a sentence, to become good 
 Christian wives and mothers. When able 
 to be in the city, the Bible-w T oman was found 
 at this class ; here she could ask all the ques- 
 tions she chose, and have most of them 
 satisfactorily answered. Nor was she afraid 
 to express an opinion. Occasionally the 
 questions led to discussions and brought out 
 
IN HA BUN. 
 
 51 
 
 from the lips of the teacher lessons that 
 might otherwise not have been given. 
 
 “ Do you think, teacher,” asked the Bible- 
 woman, one day, “that the women of the 
 Bible, such as Sarah, Bebekah, Rachel and 
 Miriam, bound their feet?” 
 
 “ ‘ Bound their feet ’ !” said the teacher, 
 in surprise. “ I never thought of it. No ; 
 they probably left their feet as God made 
 them.” 
 
 “Then, if the mothers in Israel did not 
 bind their feet, why should the grand- 
 daughters ? If the women of old did not 
 think it right or wise to bandage and to tor- 
 ture the feet of their daughters, why should 
 the women of the Church now bandage their 
 daughters’ feet ?” 
 
 The women of the class at once saw what 
 the Bible-woinan meant by the question, and 
 they eagerly waited for the reply. It was no 
 secret to the Chinese that the missionaries 
 were opposed to binding feet, though they 
 did not often speak about it. 
 
 “ It is not always safe to follow the ex- 
 ample of those w r ho lived in Bible times,” 
 answered Mrs. Minturn. “ God had not 
 
52 
 
 L ENG TSO. 
 
 so fully made known his will to them as he has 
 to us, and they were more liable to go astray 
 for lack of knowledge than are people who 
 have the whole Bible. Sarah, Rebekah and 
 others did not always do right. Sarah did 
 not believe what the angel said, nor did she 
 treat Hagar kindly ; Rebekah taught her son 
 Jacob to deceive his father and cheat his 
 brother ; Rachel stole the images of her fa- 
 ther, and then told an untruth about them ; 
 so you see that in everything they are not 
 safe guides for us to follow. But God has 
 given us a better guide than such people 
 could be : he has given his laws and the 
 teaching of his holy book. If we follow 
 that book, we can never go wrong.” 
 
 “ Teacher,” asked a woman, “ where does 
 it say in the Bible that we must not bind our 
 feet ?” The look that followed this question 
 showed that the women felt that for once 
 they had an answer for the teacher and 
 the Bible- woman. 
 
 “ Where in the Bible are we told that we 
 must not put bandages on our eyes, and so 
 prevent our seeing ?” asked the teacher. “Yet 
 who feels the need of such a command ? AVe 
 
IN HA BUN. 
 
 53 
 
 must not expect God to treat us as little 
 children who know nothing at all. He has 
 given us judgment and sense, and expects 
 us to use both as wise children, and not as 
 babes. If it be not wise to bind our eyes 
 and thus to compel ourselves to walk in the 
 dark, is there wisdom in binding the feet 
 and thus preventing their use? If one 
 member of the body is to be left unhindered to 
 do. the work for which it was created, why not 
 another member ? Instead of asking where 
 in the Bible we are told not to bind the feet, 
 let me ask where the Bible commands that 
 they be bound ?” 
 
 The look of Leng Tso given to the others 
 seemed to say, “ Now you have more of an 
 answer than you expected.” She, however, 
 was silent. One of the women asked, 
 
 “ Teacher, does the Bible mean that we 
 are to give up our customs that have been 
 established for many generations ? If so, 
 it will make a great deal of trouble.” 
 
 “ Our Saviour said that his coming would 
 make a great deal of trouble, and so it has 1 - 
 proved. It always causes trouble to break 
 off old and evil habits and customs. But 
 
54 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 the Bible does not teach us to give up any 
 customs that are harmless. It would not 
 forbid our eating with chopsticks nor dress- 
 ing as you do, because such things harm no- 
 body ; but binding the feet does harm those 
 whose feet are bound. It causes no little 
 pain, and it unfits women for active work > 
 and, besides, it weakens and deforms the 
 body that God made to be beautiful.” 
 “Cannot we live as good, faithful Chris- 
 tians with our feet bound,” asked one, “ as 
 we could if we had large feet?” 
 
 “ To be a good, faithful, active disciple of 
 Jesus,” answered Mrs. Minturn, “ one must be 
 a happy one and as free as possible from all 
 hindrances in the Lord’s work. Do bound 
 feet aid in making you happy ? Do they 
 not cause much pain and sorrow? Besides, 
 do not they prevent your doing much that 
 you might otherwise do ?” 
 
 “ They may cause pain of body,” was an- 
 swered, “ but they do not cause pain of 
 spirit, as large feet would. We are not 
 ashamed to have our feet seen ; no one will 
 think us large-footed women, but all will 
 suppose us to be of the better class. So they 
 
IN HA BUN. 
 
 55 
 
 will think of our daughters if their feet are 
 bound. It is to prevent shame that we bind 
 our feet.” 
 
 “ Yes, shame because of a useless and 
 foolish custom,” rejoined the Bible- woman. 
 “ But change the custom, and then no one 
 will have cause for shame. Let all be as God 
 made them, and all will feel equally pleased.” 
 “ How can such a change be accomplish- 
 ed ?” was asked. “ If but a few of us change, 
 we shall only be ridiculed. We cannot com- 
 pel others to do as we wish.” 
 
 “ You may not bring about a change at 
 once,” said Mrs. Minturn, “ but in time the 
 change would come. All great and good 
 works started from small beginnings. It 
 was only after a few had given themselves 
 to the work that any progress was made.” 
 “ Oh, women cannot make the change 
 in the Middle Kingdom,” was answered. 
 “Women can do nothing unless all try, and 
 others will not.” 
 
 “ When they try with God’s help and 
 because it is right, even in the Middle King- 
 dom women can do great things,” said the 
 teacher. 
 
56 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “If I thought it would do any good,” said 
 Mrs. Lee, “ I would unbind my feet.” 
 
 “ If a small company should agree and 
 begin,” said the Bible-woman, “ they might 
 do a great deal. Did not Gideon with only 
 three hundred men put to flight the Midian- 
 ites ? If such a little company could do so 
 great things, what could not a large number 
 of women do?” 
 
 “ But we are not one-tenth as large a 
 number here as Gideon’s army,” replied 
 one of the women. “ We are only women. 
 If the men would begin, we could follow.” 
 “The men have begun,” said Mrs. Min- 
 turn. “ There are not a few men who will 
 do all they can to stop the custom of bind- 
 ing the feet. You know that all the mis- 
 sionaries wish to see the custom given up ” 
 “ Why must we give up everything ?” 
 murmured a woman, softly. 
 
 “ If feet-binding be wrong,” spoke Mrs. 
 Lee, “ then it is our duty to give it up, no 
 matter what the cost be. We must give up 
 everything for Christ’s sake if it be his will. 
 If Jesus could give his life for us, we should 
 at least give up feet-binding for him.” 
 
IN HA BUN. 
 
 57 
 
 Thus did discussions between the women 
 regarding this custom cause them to think. 
 But, like every reform, the effort to change 
 the custom moved slowly. Nor did the 
 missionaries try to force the matter ; they 
 knew that in the end a forced change would 
 not be so sure nor so rapid as one begun 
 from conviction. The people needed to talk 
 and think for a long time ; and if there be a. 
 country where reforms move slowly, it is 
 China. But the reform that once takes hold 
 of that people will be a permanent and a 
 complete one. The Chinese think and act 
 slowly, but they move effectually. If, as a 
 nation and as individuals, they were free to 
 think and to act out their thoughts, we 
 should see far more of the results of Chinese 
 thought; nor would the results be to the dis- 
 credit of the people. Let the gospel gain 
 control of that nation, let the Chinese 
 become a thoroughly Christian people, and 
 there will be no backward movement. They 
 will never yield their convictions to the 
 demands of a few noisy skeptics. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE NEW SEMINARY. 
 
 “ T HEAR that a new missionary and his 
 
 A wife are coining to preach the doctrine 
 with Pastor Wagner,” said Iau Sai to his sis- 
 ter one day as she was visiting at his home. 
 
 “ So Pastor Wagner is coming back, is 
 he?” was her reply. “ But is he to bring a 
 wife with him?” 
 
 “ I have not heard,” answered her brother ; 
 “ the foreign pastors say little about that. I 
 wish lie would bring a wife, as he seems so 
 lonely.” 
 
 “ Do you think that he is too poor to buy 
 a wife ?” asked the Bible- woman. “ I thought 
 that all foreigners were rich and had all the 
 money they wished.” Then, correcting her- 
 self, she added, “ That is, had all the money 
 we would wish. If they had all they wish, 
 they would not come here to earn more.” 
 
 68 
 
THE NEW SEMINARY. 
 
 59 
 
 “ The foreign pastors do not come here to 
 earn money,” said Iau Sai, “ but to teach the 
 people of a Saviour.” 
 
 “ I did not mean them, but other foreign- 
 ers,” was the reply. “ Do you think that 
 teacher Wagner could not get a wife in his 
 own country? Nearly every other pastor 
 brings one with him?” 
 
 “ Get one ? Why, he could get a hundred 
 if he wanted them,” spoke Iau Sai’s son. 
 “ He doesn’t want a wife. But, aunt, men 
 do not buy wives in the foreign countries. 
 Nor do the fathers and mothers get wives 
 for them ; each selects his own, and yet some 
 make mistakes. Women are more plenty 
 and far more cheap there than here. Why, 
 a wife does not cost a dollar there. People 
 give their girls away — that is, parents do 
 after they are grown up.” 
 
 “ Give them away after they are grown 
 up ?” said Leng Tso, in surprise. “ How 
 strange ! And yet most of the foreigners 
 seem to think more of their wives than if 
 they had cost a hundred dollars. But 
 foreigners are strange people. I sometimes 
 see not only the foreign pastors, but the 
 
60 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 other foreigners, walking out with their 
 wives just as though they were men. Yes, 
 and much of the time the wives hold to 
 their husbands’ arms, as if they were 
 their equals.” 
 
 “ That is what they believe,” replied Iau 
 Sai. “ They think that a woman is as good 
 as a man.” 
 
 “Yes, and will you believe it?” said a 
 woman who was present. “ The foreigners 
 always at table tell the servants to wait on 
 the women first. They are a strange people ; 
 I sometimes wish that I had been born a 
 foreigner.” 
 
 “ So do I,” spoke Leng Tso ; “ and yet we 
 know that the Middle Kingdom has very 
 many things that foreign people do not 
 have.” 
 
 “ They have what we did not have,” 
 answered Iau Sai, “ and that they have 
 brought to us — the gospel. That is worth 
 more to us than all we have got. I only 
 wish that more would come to teach it to 
 our people. I am very glad to know that 
 Pastor Wagner is coming back, and that he 
 is bringing another teacher and wife with 
 
THE NEW SEMINAR Y. 
 
 61 
 
 him. But what we need is more of our own 
 people to preach the gospel to our country- 
 men.” 
 
 “ Who will preach it ?” asked the Bible- 
 woman. “ There are very few able to 
 preach who are not now preaching. We 
 need more men to go out into the country 
 and tell the doctrine there, but where are 
 the men ?” 
 
 “ Pastor Minturn told us a few weeks ago,” 
 said Mrs. Iau Sai, “ that we should educate 
 our children to become preachers. He said 
 that it was not by foreigners, but by our own 
 people, that our country is to learn about 
 the doctrine.” 
 
 “Yes, and he told the students a few days 
 ago,” added Iau Sai’s son, “ that some day 
 they hoped to have a large school for train- 
 ing young men to preach.” 
 
 “‘A large school’?” inquired the Bible- 
 wornan. “ Where will it be ? and when will 
 it be begun ? Will it be for teaching women 
 to go out and tell the doctrine ?” 
 
 “ No, ” replied the youth, “ but for men 
 only. I have heard that the foreign pastors 
 are thinking of a girls’ school too some time, 
 
62 
 
 LEND TSO. 
 
 but not yet. Pastor Minturn said that his 
 home Church had not money for both.” 
 
 “ When are the new pastor and his wife 
 coming ?” asked the Bible-woman. 
 
 “ They may be here at any time,” was the 
 answer. “ They are in the South now, and 
 waiting for an opportunity to come North.” 
 
 A few days later the expected party ar- 
 rived, and was welcomed by Chinese Chris- 
 tians as well as by foreigners. There was a 
 vast deal of talk about the new missionaries. 
 
 “ Why,” said one, “ they are only chil- 
 dren yet. Are all the men and women in 
 their country unwilling to come, that such 
 young people as these are sent? What can 
 they do ? Who will listen to a preacher who 
 is so young as he?” 
 
 “ They act like children, too,” added an- 
 other ; “ they both laughed and talked as if 
 they were only a boy and a girl. Why does 
 not he have whiskers, as the other foreigners 
 have ?” 
 
 “ He is too young,” answered another. “ I 
 think that they have been sent out so young 
 that they may learn with the wise men here 
 how to preach and teach the doctrine.” 
 
THE NEW SEMINARY. 
 
 63 
 
 “ Did you see that she has black eyes, as 
 we have ?” spoke a woman. “ And her face 
 is pretty, too.” 
 
 “ She may be pretty, but her husband is 
 not,” said one who had listened. “ He seems 
 different from the other foreign pastors : he 
 has not a broad, high forehead, as they have, 
 nor does he seem to be learned or wise. I 
 think that the Church in their country sent 
 all its best and wisest men first, and now has 
 sent some of its poorer ones.” 
 
 “ I am afraid that this man will not prove 
 so good as the others,” spoke an old woman, 
 sorrowfully ; “ but we must not expect such 
 men in every teacher as we have in those who 
 came first. Why should not the Church at 
 the home of these men send out its best first, 
 to start the work, and, since it is prosperous, 
 send out the men who are not so wise ? They 
 must do something with the men who know 
 but little, yet wish to do what good they 
 can.” 
 
 The discussion was repeated whenever sev- 
 eral persons met, and usually to the disadvan- 
 tage of the young missionary rather than of 
 his wife. Fortunately, he did not for a while 
 
64 
 
 LF.NG TSO. 
 
 understand the speakers’ words, or he might 
 have been discouraged. When he became 
 able to comprehend their remarks, he had 
 learned as well to discount himself ; and, as for 
 his good looks, he had several times gazed at 
 himself in the glass before China was reached, 
 and never was able to convince himself that 
 Nature had done much for him in the way of 
 beauty. He enjoyed as much as any one the 
 remarks regarding himself when he passed 
 along the streets later and heard the opin- 
 ions of a few regarding what Nature had done 
 for him in the way of beauty. 
 
 With the arrival of new missionaries, the 
 question of a theological seminary was seri- 
 ously discussed in the mission. For years 
 there had been a room set apart in an old 
 mission-house for a schoolroom, and in this 
 were taught the half dozen students prepar- 
 ing for the ministry. But the place was un- 
 fit for the work : it was in the crowded city 
 and far away from the homes of the mission- 
 aries, and, besides, had other disadvantages 
 better appreciated by those who must meet 
 them than by those who may hear about them. 
 
 “ Why do not the pastors build a new house 
 
THE NEW SEMINARY. 
 
 65 
 
 for a school ?” was asked by the Chinese 
 Christians. “ Has not the Church in their 
 country enough money? Did not teacher 
 Wagner bring money with him?” 
 
 “ ‘ Money with him’ !” replied Iau Sai one 
 day. “ No ; they have no money to spare — 
 that is, the society that sends out the pastors. 
 Pastor Wagner told me that the Church in 
 his country is poor. For a time it was uncer- 
 tain whether or not he could be sent back.” 
 “ How, then, could the Church send out 
 another with his wife?” was asked. “ Pastor 
 Wagner is worth two new men, and more if 
 they are like the one who came with him. 
 But his wife is a wise woman ; that may be 
 the reason why he was sent.” 
 
 “ No ; I heard that the new man was not 
 sent out by the society, but by some of his 
 friends,” spoke a listener. 
 
 “ Perhaps they wanted him to go some- 
 where, and thought, with such pastors as had 
 been sent here, he might do,” suggested one. 
 
 “ Oh, you must not think that he does not 
 know anything,” replied Iau Sai. “He is 
 learning our language rapidly. When he 
 came, he at once began to study how to 
 
66 
 
 LEN6 TSO. 
 
 speak ; and how do you suppose he began ? 
 He asked how to ask, ‘ What do you call 
 this ?’ and how to say, ‘ I do not know.’ 
 With those two sentences he started out to 
 learn the language of any whom he might 
 meet. He is not a man who studies books 
 very much, but he studies people and every- 
 thing he sees.” 
 
 “ He always speaks to us when he meets 
 us,” suggested one, kindly, as if to say some- 
 thing in favor of the stranger, “ but we are 
 not always sure what he means. He says 
 things so differently from the way we speak 
 that we cannot understand.” 
 
 “ He is only learning, remember, and will 
 speak better by and by,” spoke Iau Sai. 
 
 “ I heard one of the chair-bearers who took 
 his wife out for a ride — the one walking along- 
 side the chair — tell the others the other day 
 that when they were on the road the new 
 preacher told him to pray. He said, ‘ Come, 
 now we will pray.’ The cliair-bearers did 
 not worship God, so they did not want to 
 pray ; they had been hired only to carry the 
 chair. When they would not pray, then he 
 told them that they would go home. The 
 
THE NEW SEMINARY. 
 
 67 
 
 chair-bearer said he would have waited 
 to let the teacher pray if he wanted to, but 
 would not himself pray.” 
 
 “ Oh,” said Iau Sai, “ the teacher told 
 them, ‘Now we will pray,’* when he meant to 
 say, ‘ Now we will go home.’ f He probably 
 turned the word around, that is all. He 
 would not ask chair-bearers to pray on the 
 road, especially if they were not Christians.” 
 “ Will the pastors build the new school, 
 do you think?” asked the Bible-woman. 
 “ It is needed, especially if we are to have 
 more students ; Mrs. Minturn said the other 
 day that she hoped more would soon deter- 
 mine to give themselves to this work.” 
 
 “ I do not know,” answered Iau Sai, “ but 
 I know that they wish very much to build a 
 good large school for the preaching students. 
 I offered to build one and take my money 
 when the Church at the home of the pastors 
 could pay, but none would allow me. I told 
 them that the Lord would take care of those 
 who care for his cause.” 
 
 “ So he will,” responded Leng Tso, 
 warmly. “ He has taken care of you, 
 
 * Ki-to. f To-khi. 
 
68 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 brother, and he says that he will never leave 
 nor forsake you.” 
 
 “ I know he will not,” spoke Iau Sai ; 
 “but the pastors say that the Lord hath 
 given us wisdom and judgment, and these 
 are to be used as well as faith. We might 
 go on and build schools and chapels every- 
 where through the Middle Kingdom because 
 they are needed, and then say that we will 
 trust the Lord to pay for them. But the men 
 to teach and preach in them are not here ; 
 the Lord has not yet sent them, and we must 
 wait until he does.” 
 
 “ But he has sent the students,” said Leng 
 Tso ; “ they are here. Why not build a 
 school for them ?” 
 
 “Ah!” said the carpenter; “that is what 
 I asked Pastor Minturn, but he told me that 
 he and the other pastors are the servants of 
 the Church in their country, and they can- 
 not do what the Church will not permit.” 
 
 “ Will it not permit them to build the 
 school ?” asked one. 
 
 “ It will not send the money,” was the 
 reply ; “ so they cannot build. We must 
 wait patiently and pray the Lord to send 
 
THE NEW SEMINARY. 
 
 69 
 
 the money, Pastor Minturn said. I wish 
 that they would let me build the school ; it 
 would soon be ready. What if I do not get 
 the money ? I am no longer poor ; I can 
 afford to lose it for the Lord’s cause. I 
 have lost money in working for those who 
 are not the Lord’s people ; why should I 
 fear to work for him and his cause?” 
 
 “ Did you tell Pastor Minturn that ?” 
 asked Mrs. Iau Sai. 
 
 “Yes,” said he, “but he told me that after 
 a while the Church would need for other 
 things all the help and money I can give.” 
 
 Not more anxiously was the question of a 
 new theological seminary discussed by the 
 Chinese Christians than it was by the 
 missionaries. Many a time did the little 
 band stand in the door of the mission home 
 and, looking toward the spot chosen for the 
 future school, try to plan ways and means 
 for building. Letters urgent and earnest 
 were sent to the home Church pleading for 
 the money, but in vain. There was a debt 
 on the mission society, and not a dollar 
 beyond the appropriation could be given 
 to the mission. When these tidings came, 
 
70 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 the missionaries were desponding, but not 
 despairing. They had not forgotten to place 
 the matter at the mercy-seat as well as 
 before the home Church, but prayer was 
 more importunate now that human help had 
 failed. 
 
 The newly-arrived missionary had been 
 entrusted with the correspondence of the 
 mission with the home society. After visit- 
 ing the fields and as well as he could taking 
 a survey of all the work before them, he 
 wrote a full sketch to the home Church 
 and boldly appealed for help and not a little 
 addition to the money already appropriated. 
 Not content with that, the young man wrote 
 letters to pastors of a number of churches 
 telling the needs of the work. The letter to 
 the mission society was published without 
 comment. A reply was sent to it by the 
 secretary, saying kindly but decidedly, “ Not 
 one dollar beyond your appropriation.” 
 
 The reception of that letter did not mark 
 a season of tears — for these missionaries 
 were not of the kind that stopped to weep 
 if they could do something better — but it 
 did mark a season of prayer. That season 
 
THE NEW SEMINARY. 
 
 71 
 
 was not a short one. When they had 
 prayed over the matter until they were 
 drawn near the Lord and nearer to their 
 work than ever, they began to think if they 
 could not do something more themselves. 
 
 “ We must have that building,” said Mr. 
 Minturn. “ The Church will see the necessity 
 of it some day and send the money, but we 
 cannot wait. We are losing time, and we are 
 losing men too. We must have a place not 
 only suitable, but large enough for more men.” 
 
 “But what can we do?” inquired Mr. 
 Wagner. “The Church will not send the 
 money ; we have none in the mission to 
 spare. Every dollar will be needed, and 
 more too, before the year ends, and I see 
 nothing but simply waiting the action of 
 the Church.” 
 
 “ I have some money,” said Mr. Minturn, 
 “ that the foreigners gave me some years ago 
 for the work I did ; it has been kept for my 
 invalid child when it becomes older and 
 needs it more. I am willing to advance 
 that.” 
 
 “ But, Mr. Minturn, what if the Church 
 never sees fit to repay ?” suggested Mr. 
 
72 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 Wagner. “ Your child will need the money 
 some day ; is it right to risk its interests for 
 the sake of the Church ?” 
 
 “ My child will not suffer,” was the quiet 
 response. “ This will only be lent to the 
 Lord, and in due time he will repay it. I 
 can trust him, and I believe that I can trust 
 the Church too. I am ready to hand that 
 money over to the mission at once. Yet 
 that will not be enough.” 
 
 “ If you think it wise, I yield to your 
 judgment,” said Mr. Wagner. “If you are 
 ready to offer your money, I am ready to 
 give mine. I have a little sum that I have 
 saved, and that I am willing to give for the 
 school ; yet even with yours that will not 
 be enough to build a school such as we need. 
 I have thought over this more than I have 
 dared speak, and, had the money sufficient to 
 build been in my hands, it should have been 
 given. I have thought of offering the little 
 sum I have, but knew it would not be enough, 
 so said nothing. But if the mission will take 
 it, the money is at the service of the Church. 
 I am a bachelor and don’t need to care for a 
 family as Mr. Minturn should.” 
 
THE NEW SEMINARY. 
 
 73 
 
 “ I am not rich,” said the young mission- 
 ary, “but I think that if necessary I can 
 furnish in time what will be needed beyond 
 what Mr. Minturn and Mr. Wagner lend. I 
 will raise the money somehow, for we must 
 have the school. It is plain even to me 
 that the work of the mission demands the 
 school, and we, as the representatives of the 
 Church at home, should take the responsibil- 
 ity and build the school. I say let us do it. 
 If you two brethren are willing to lend what 
 you can, I will see that the rest is pro- 
 vided.” 
 
 The wife of the young man gave him a 
 look that was more a question than a 
 reproof, but it was a question that he felt 
 could wait. Some questions are better 
 answered later and when the work is done. 
 
 “How much will the school cost?” asked 
 Mr. Wagner. 
 
 “ I can hardly say,” replied Mr. Minturn. 
 “We must ask Iau Sai to give us an esti- 
 mate.” 
 
 “ Such a school as we should have would 
 in our own country cost a good deal,” sug- 
 gested the young missionary ; “ I doubt if it 
 
74 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 could be built for ten thousand dollars. But 
 I have not the faintest idea wliat it costs to 
 build in China.” 
 
 “‘Ten thousand dollars’!” repeated Mr. 
 Minturn. “ Work and materials are cheap 
 here ; besides, the Chinese students do not 
 need rooms such as you were used to in college 
 and seminary. I don’t believe that it would 
 cost one thousand dollars to build such a house 
 as we require ; we can put up a small building 
 and enlarge it as our wants increase.” 
 
 “We will need a chapel and a lecture- 
 room, as well as a schoolroom for study, 
 on the first floor, and sleeping-rooms on the 
 second, I suppose,” said Mr. Wagner. “ I 
 think, Mr. Minturn, that is what you 
 proposed?” 
 
 “Yes,” said the senior missionary; “we 
 will need two rooms below, besides a kitchen 
 for cooking and eating. Really, there should 
 be two rooms for the work of the young men 
 aside from their study-room and the chapel. 
 I think, by making eight sleeping-rooms on 
 the second story and dividing the first into 
 two larger rooms and one small one, we can 
 make a suitable and useful building. Then 
 
THE NEW SEMINARY. 
 
 75 
 
 we can add a kitchen at the end for cooking. 
 A room for study and lectures to hold twenty 
 students will be large enough.” 
 
 “‘Twenty students ’?” was asked, in sur- 
 prise. “ Why, we have only six now on 
 whom we can count, with a prospect of one, 
 or possibly two, more within a year. Where 
 will the other twelve come from, and how 
 can you put twenty students in eight sleep- 
 ing-rooms ?” 
 
 “ It is probable,” replied Mr. Min turn, 
 “ that we shall have the theological students 
 of one of the other missions to recite and 
 study with ours. It will save the time of 
 teachers and enable one of us to give more 
 time to a certain line of teaching, and another 
 to a different line of instruction. We must 
 lay our plans for a larger institution, and one 
 that will take in the other missions in our 
 vicinity.” 
 
 “ But will they all stay and sleep here ?” 
 
 “No; only study and recite. The other 
 missions have no better accommodations than 
 we for their young men; and if we start this 
 school, it may be the means of drawing us all 
 together in our work.” 
 
76 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “You said three rooms besides a kitchen 
 on the first floor,” spoke the young mission- 
 ary ; “ what would the rooms be for ?” 
 
 “ One for a chapel, another for study and 
 regular schoolroom, and the third for a din- 
 ing-room. We cannot make both chapel and 
 schoolroom serve the same purpose, for the 
 desks used in writing would hinder in chapel 
 service and work. We must have a chapel 
 not only for service with the students, but 
 as a preaching-place to which others can be 
 invited. Our school must be made useful 
 not only for training, but for practical mis- 
 sion work.” 
 
 “ We should make it as comfortable and 
 convenient as possible,” added Mr. Wagner. 
 “ I think that the young men should be 
 taught to live like men, and men who are to 
 become future leaders among their people. 
 Do not make them foreigners in customs or 
 manner of living, but refined Chinese Chris- 
 tian leaders. They are the men who are to 
 form the China of the future in this part of 
 the country. If this country is to become 
 Christian, as I believe it is, then it will become 
 so through the preachers. They, of all men, 
 
THE NEW SEMINARY. 
 
 77 
 
 should be so taught and trained that they 
 may be elevating leaders to the people whom 
 they teach.” 
 
 “ You will find it a difficult task to elevate 
 those born and brought up in heathenism 
 and among the lower classes,” replied Mr. 
 Minturn. “ A Chinaman is a slow-moving 
 body when in the line of progress. Yet I 
 agree with Mr. Wagner, and it is on that 
 principle our mission has acted. But for 
 us to build a theological seminary here after 
 the model of those at home, and then put the 
 young men in with the expectation of mak- 
 ing them like those who graduate from our own 
 seminaries, would be to attempt what would 
 certainly prove a failure. A seminary on 
 the home model may be a thing of the fu- 
 ture, but it is not for the present here.” 
 
 “ How large shall the building be ?” asked 
 the young missionary, who was eager to have 
 the work begin at once. 
 
 “ I have thought over the matter,” replied 
 Mr. Minturn, “ and don’t see how we can 
 make a building do that is less than twenty- 
 four by thirty-six feet inside the walls. The 
 rooms for the young men should be eight 
 
78 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 feet by ten, and there should be a hallway 
 four feet wide, with four rooms on each side. 
 Then a small space will be needed for stair- 
 way. Below, of course, the dining-room will 
 be next the kitchen and have the stair- 
 way in it ; then I think it will be well to 
 have the schoolroom next, and the chapel 
 or worship-room farthest from the dining- 
 room.” 
 
 With some modifications this plan was 
 agreed upon, and Iau Sai was soon informed 
 of the wish of the mission. The good man 
 ■was very glad to give the estimate and take 
 charge of the erection. 
 
 “ Husband,” said the wife of the young 
 missionary when they w T ere in their rooms, 
 “ how can you give money for that school ? 
 Have you money to give ? You know we 
 are living here on a small salary, and, as far 
 as I know, we have nothing else to depend 
 on. We must not only buy what we need, 
 but our wants may be greater before long, as 
 we may not all live in one mission-house as 
 we do now, and in one family.” 
 
 “ Oh, you just wait until my ship comes 
 in,” replied the husband, “and you will see 
 
THE NEW SEMINARY. 
 
 79 
 
 what money I have. We shall be rich then 
 — at least, rich enough to do our part in 
 building this school, or seminary, as I like 
 to call it.” 
 
 “ I have not heard that our ship has set 
 out yet,” replied the wife. “ What if it be 
 wrecked and never come in ? You have 
 heard of wrecks, I suppose?” 
 
 “ Well, yes, I think history records two 
 or three ; but then my ship is all right 
 yet. You wait; we’ll see.” 
 
 “ I would rather we could use the present 
 tense in this case. But seriously, Avon, 
 why did you promise to give money, when 
 you have none to give?” 
 
 “ Winnie, we are living by faith, and I 
 have a supply of that commodity — not a 
 commodity, perhaps, but a possession. What 
 is the use of storing your faith for a rainy 
 day ? Use it now is my motto.” 
 
 “ Oh, Avon, I wish you would speak 
 seriously. I want you to do all you can, 
 but I don’t wish you to promise what you 
 cannot fulfill. That money will be needed 
 when the building is done, and we must 
 pay our share. Where will the money be ?” 
 
80 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “ Now, Winnie, I will talk seriously, but 
 don’t expect me to tell you w T hat a prophet 
 might keep secret because he lacked the in- 
 formation. I see what it costs to live here 
 as we are living now, and we can save some 
 of our salary. Good friends gave us a 
 stock of clothing to last for several years ; 
 besides, they gave us a large supply of other 
 things that we shall need. Now, I propose 
 that, if necessary, we appropriate from our 
 salary what such things would cost for, say, 
 three years, and ask the mission to advance 
 some of our salary for the remainder of 
 the year and appropriate it to the building. 
 Are you willing to go partner with me in 
 this work ?” 
 
 “You need not ask me, Avon; I am 
 ready to do all I can, but am not ready to 
 promise what we cannot fulfill. I see now' 
 that we can do something, but, I fear, not 
 our full share — at least, not when needed.” 
 
 “ It is wise, Winnie, to look ahead, but it is 
 awfully straining to the eyes, and not less so 
 to faith. We can see ahead a few months ; 
 let us rest our eyes a little until a month or 
 two go by. But let me say that I have 
 
THE NEW SEMINARY. 
 
 81 
 
 another resource that has not yet been tried. 
 When I was a student, I wrote occasionally 
 for papers and magazines, and made some 
 money by such contributions. When I 
 came to China, editors asked me to become 
 correspondent for their papers. I declined, 
 as it seemed my duty to give all my time to 
 the mission work ; but if necessary, I will 
 write a letter now and then, and may get 
 a few odd and some even dollars by the 
 correspondence. This will be given to the 
 mission, and so, after all, will be doing- 
 mission work ; besides, it may interest the 
 home people in this godless nation.” 
 
 The young man did not write letters to 
 papers at once ; but when the time came to 
 write the mission letter, he broke the rule of 
 the mission that no letter should be sent to 
 the home society without first being read to 
 the whole mission. He told the story of 
 the proposed building and how the two 
 missionaries had agreed to give what little 
 money they had toward the work. He said 
 nothing of his own purpose, because he 
 thought that might not be carried out. 
 At its close the writer asked if the Church 
 
82 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 would not be able in some way to save 
 the two missionaries giving for this work 
 what little means they possessed. The 
 answer soon came. The society directed 
 that the school be built at once, and credited 
 the mission with an additional appropriation 
 to cover the cost. The building was well 
 on the way to completion when the per- 
 mission to build came ; and when the money 
 was needed, the missionaries were not called 
 on for gifts or loans. 
 
 The building was a humble one, but a 
 fine edifice it appeared to the Chinese. Its 
 plain brick sides and tile roof, as well as the 
 tile floors within, were not attractive, but the 
 building was meant for use rather than for 
 ornament, and well it suited its purpose. 
 Never before had the eight students who 
 occupied its rooms enjoyed such school privi- 
 leges and conveniences. The neatly-plastered 
 walls were decorated with maps and pictures, 
 while the chair, the bed and the table, together 
 with a small shelf of books, made each room 
 seem more than homelike to the occupants. 
 The doors at either end of the lower story, 
 and a window at the end of the hall over each 
 
THE NEW SEMINARY. 
 
 83 
 
 door in the upper story, gave air, while 
 two double windows, one on each side, above 
 and below, gave light as well as air to all the 
 rooms. Proud were the Chinese Christians 
 as they passed through the building, but 
 none felt so satisfied as the missionaries. 
 It had been the hope of years. Yet that 
 building cost less than a thousand dollars, 
 the ground included. They built in faith. 
 It was a tiny seed that they planted ; they 
 have already seen it spring up and bear 
 fruit. It is becoming an institution of 
 which those very men — for they are all alive 
 at the time the author writes — have reason 
 to be proud. The little building has already 
 given place to a larger, and, instead of being 
 the seminary of one, it has become that of 
 all the missions in that vicinity. Already 
 has it sent forth a number of men as pastors 
 of Christian churches in China, and a much 
 larger number as evangelists to preach to 
 those yet in heathen darkness. 
 
CHAPTER IY. 
 
 TO A AW. 
 
 VER the mountain from Thau Pau was 
 
 a small village called Toa Aw. Like 
 Thau Pau, it was built near the mountain, 
 and, like it, was what the Chinese call a lau. 
 It was a large, circular two-story building 
 with all the windows and doors on the inside, 
 except the single door on the ground floor by 
 which the people entered and passed out of 
 the building and the inner court. Within 
 the house — for such is a Chinese lau — there 
 are two sets of rooms, those on the first and 
 those on the second floor, the lower used 
 rather for pigs, buffaloes, poultry and as 
 store-rooms than for dwellings for human 
 beings. A large court or yard, forming a 
 kind of commons, is left inside of the inner 
 wall. This court is, of course, smaller in the 
 lesser laus, but each has this inner court. 
 Here the goats and children play, the men, 
 

 Page 84. 
 
 The Chinese Law. 
 
TO A AW. 
 
 85 
 
 after their work, sit and smoke and talk, and 
 the women meet to gossip. 
 
 Whether or not there be these queer homes 
 in other parts of China the writer does not 
 know, but in that part of the country they 
 are slowly going to decay. No new ones, 
 probably, are built, and the old ones have 
 mostly outlasted their usefulness and pur- 
 pose. They are a relic of past ages — times 
 when the country was less under the control 
 of law than now, and when small commu- 
 nities were forced to depend on themselves 
 for protection from enemies. These laus are 
 fortified villages — the outer wall being a for- 
 tification — and were probably built centuries 
 ago, when clan wars and party feuds were 
 far more common than now. They are very 
 different from the small square forts or watch- 
 towers that one so often meets in some parts 
 of China. The latter usually stand a short 
 distance from a village and are meant to hold 
 a guard or sentinels, who protect the village 
 from enemies or watch for their approach. 
 
 In later years, as the country has become 
 more peaceful and law-observing, and as the 
 room in the laus has been overcrowded by 
 
86 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 the increase of inhabitants, additions outside 
 of the circular building have been made, and 
 people have put up their little cottages near 
 the greater buildings. So, as the old home goes 
 to decay, new and much smaller as well as 
 separate ones are taking its place. 
 
 To protect not only from human, but from 
 other, enemies were these strange homes erect- 
 ed. In the mountains are tigers, their num- 
 ber much larger, probably, in former years, 
 but none too small yet, and to leave buffa- 
 loes, goats and poultry out of doors at night, 
 or even for human beings to sleep unprotect- 
 ed by walls, was, and in some parts of China 
 even now is, to risk an attack by tigers. 
 
 A number of years before our story 
 begins a rebellion broke out in China, 
 known as the Tai Ping rebellion. It came 
 near overthrowing the present dynasty, and 
 would probably have succeeded had not 
 foreigners taken sides with the imperial 
 government and aided in putting down the 
 rebels. 
 
 Those familiar with Chinese history need 
 not be told that the present rulers of that 
 country are not Chinese, but Mantchu Tar- 
 
TO A AW. 
 
 87 
 
 tars, who more than two hundred and 
 fifty years ago conquered the people and 
 have since ruled over them. This rule has 
 not been of the gentlest, and has often 
 brought about rebellions here and there 
 throughout the empire, but probably none 
 so great or so nearly successful as that of 
 the Tai Pings. A large portion of the 
 people sympathized with the rebels and 
 would have been glad had they succeeded. 
 During the war, and even after its close, 
 bands of insurgents went about the coun- 
 try robbing and murdering, but it is to be 
 feared that much of the murder and destruc- 
 tion caused by the rebellion was the work of 
 the soldiers of the government. In many 
 cases they acted as much like robbers and 
 murderers as did any rebel bands, and, as 
 for cruelty, the Tai Pings, with all their 
 barbaric heartlessness toward their enemies, 
 were not guilty of crimes so great as those 
 perpetrated by the imperial troops. 
 
 The people of Toa Aw had been told 
 again and again that the Tai Pings were 
 coming to destroy their village and kill the 
 people, and perhaps as often they had been 
 
88 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 warned that the government soldiers were 
 coming to kill all who sympathized with 
 rebels. A guard was stationed at some 
 distance from the place to watch for the 
 approach of the enemy, whether imperial or 
 rebel soldiers — for all soldiers who came to 
 Toa Aw would be regarded as enemies — and 
 to warn the people of the approach of a 
 hostile force. Arrangements were made to 
 leave the village and hide in the neighboring 
 mountains on the approach of a large body 
 of troops. The people knew that, while they 
 might by closing the gate of the lau suc- 
 cessfully resist a small army, such resistance 
 would but bring a larger force. If captured 
 after resistance, the captives must die. In 
 the end it would be a question between 
 losing property and losing lives, and they 
 decided to save their lives at the risk of 
 home and possessions. 
 
 One day a sentinel rushed into the place 
 shouting, 
 
 “ The rebels are coming ! Run ! Don’t 
 wait ! They are near ! Run for life !” 
 
 The man’s face denoted even more than 
 his words, and the people needed no urging 
 
TO A AW. 
 
 89 
 
 to hasten to prepare for flight. It was the 
 work of but a few minutes for the villagers, 
 men, women and children, to be ready to 
 hurry from the gate of the fortified home. 
 Mothers with their children, fathers with 
 their delicate little ones, old people trembling 
 as they clung to their staves, each carrying, 
 leading, driving away, what in their haste 
 they were able to reach first, — all hurried 
 from the place. Scarcely had they passed 
 out of the gate when a sentinel who had 
 remained to watch the approach of the 
 soldiers came running and shouting: 
 
 “ Run ! Run for life ! The rebels are 
 near — only just out of sight! Soon they 
 will see you, and then it will be too late to 
 escape!” 
 
 Terrified, the fugitives ran with all their 
 might, some soon taking the lead, while the 
 old and the weak came straggling on behind. 
 There were, however, not wanting strong and 
 noble men to stay by those who lagged be- 
 hind ; among these was Soe, or, as he was 
 called, “ Soe Hia.” While generously help- 
 ing others on he in some way cut his foot 
 so badly that he was compelled to be among 
 
90 
 
 LENG 'ISO. 
 
 the last of the flying ones. While all were 
 running rapidly some one called out, 
 
 “ They are coming ! The rebels are coming 
 close behind ! Run ! Run, or they will 
 catch you !” 
 
 Tired and exhausted though some of the 
 weak ones were, they started anew ; fear 
 seemed to lend them strength. They needed 
 not to look hack to prove to themselves that 
 the rebels were in sight, for the shout of 
 the pursuers was heard, though at a long 
 distance behind. After chasing the fugitives 
 for a short time the soldiers turned back to 
 the open gate of the lau, probably thinking 
 that the village had more of value in it than 
 the people were carrying away. They were 
 more intent on plunder than on capturing 
 prisoners or taking life ; indeed, the rebels 
 were careful to spare the lives of all whom 
 they did not think friends of the Tartar 
 government. 
 
 Learning that they were not pursued, the 
 frightened people stopped for a few minutes 
 to take breath and hold a council as to their 
 safety, hut it was only for a few minutes that 
 they waited. 
 
TO A AW. 
 
 91 
 
 “ Tlie rebels will come as soon as they 
 have plundered our village,” said one, “ and 
 then will kill us all, to prevent our telling of 
 their deeds. Let us go on and hide where 
 they cannot find us.” 
 
 This counsel was taken, and as swiftly as 
 possible the whole company hurried to the 
 mountains, where a place of hiding was 
 found. There they made themselves as 
 comfortable as they could, but the comfort 
 was not great. It was enough for them, 
 however, to know, as hour after hour went 
 by, that the rebels had not found them. 
 They could even dare tigers if no worse 
 enemies came. 
 
 That first night was a gloomy one. With- 
 out shelter other than that which the trees 
 and rocks gave, with little to keep off tigers 
 should any attack — they hardly dared build 
 fires lest these betray to the rebels their 
 retreat — with but a small stock of food 
 and not knowing how long they might be 
 compelled to stay away from a supply, and 
 not knowing whether they had anything 
 else in the world than they had brought 
 with them, the poor fugitives waited for 
 
92 
 
 LESG TSO. 
 
 morning. When morning came, it removed 
 to. a great degree their fear of tigers, but 
 brought a fear of being discovered by worse 
 enemies. Many were the prayers offered 
 during that night and the next day by the 
 women and by some of the men to the 
 spirits of the gods and of the dead to 
 preserve them from their enemies. The 
 women lamented that they had no temple to 
 go to nor incense to offer to the gods to pay 
 for taking care of them. Some of the men 
 after a day or two ridiculed this devotion to 
 the idols, but at first said nothing to oppose 
 the worship of those who chose to pray. 
 
 As the day after their first night of exile 
 passed and no rebels were seen, the fugitives 
 began to feel more secure and hoped that 
 their hiding-place would not be discovered. 
 For several days they remained hidden, none 
 daring to leave their retreat lest the rebels 
 should learn, by seeing any who might go, 
 the place where the others were hiding. 
 
 When several days had gone by and there 
 was no sound nor appearance of soldiers, 
 scouts were sent out to look for signs of 
 the enemy. These cautiously and slowly ap- 
 
TO A AW. 
 
 93 
 
 proached their home, but neither heard nor 
 saw anything of rebels until Toa Aw was 
 reached. Very cautiously they entered the 
 lau lest rebels might be hiding in ambush or 
 in the building, ready to capture the first who 
 returned from the hiding-place. No one ap- 
 pearing, the men began to believe that no 
 enemy was hidden. But what a sight met 
 their eyes as they looked around ! If no 
 rebels were there now, there was proof 
 enough that enemies had been there. Part 
 of the wall was broken down, and the whole 
 place was little better than a ruin. As the 
 men went from room to room of the great 
 house they saw what terrible destruction had 
 been made. Walls were broken, doors were 
 torn from their fastenings, furniture was 
 scattered about, broken and crushed beyond 
 repair, while the more valuable articles were 
 altogether missing. Hurriedly they looked 
 around, and then, fearing that the rebels 
 might return, hastened away to their friends 
 in the mountains. The sad news of destruc- 
 tion was not unexpected ; the people were 
 only too glad to know that anything was left 
 of their home. Bitter, however, were the 
 
94 
 
 LENO TSO. 
 
 denunciations of the destroying rebels ; even 
 those favorable to the cause of the Tai Pings 
 were now willing to wish ruin to everything 
 pertaining to the rebellion. 
 
 A council was held to decide what should 
 be done. Some advised returning at once to 
 the village, while others insisted that the 
 enemy was waiting in ambush to capture all 
 when they came back. These said that the 
 rebels, if they had disappeared now, would 
 doubtless be back again soon with a larger 
 force, to carry away what could not be taken 
 the first time. To the villagers the little place 
 and its small amount of property seemed 
 marvelous for wealth, and to them it had 
 been a wonder that the rebels had not long 
 before come to capture such riches. After a 
 Iona: discussion it was determined to send 
 some of the boldest ones back not only to 
 the village, but to search the country around 
 and learn what had become of the rebels. 
 
 The searching band found the village as 
 the first scouts had described it, nor did they 
 see any marks that showed the presence of 
 rebels anywhere near. Growing bolder, 
 they went to the nearest village, and there 
 
TO A AW. 
 
 95 
 
 met men who had seen the band of marau- 
 ders leave Toa Aw several days before. In- 
 deed, it became evident that the rebels had 
 stayed but a few hours in Toa Aw and were 
 now nowhere near the village. They had 
 probably been on some expedition, and, com- 
 ing upon Toa Aw and other villages on the 
 way, had stopped for a while at each to plun- 
 der and destroy, but were not inclined to 
 take much pains to capture or kill the peo- 
 ple; nor would they be likely to harm any 
 who appeared friendly to the cause of the 
 rebellion. Because some in Toa Aw were 
 supposed to be unfriendly to the Tai Pings 
 the village had suffered. 
 
 With the information they had gained, the 
 men returned to their friends in the moun- 
 tains. Some were ready to start at once ; 
 others were not so ready to believe that the 
 rebels had left the neighborhood, and urged 
 delay. They preferred starving in the moun- 
 tains to being killed by enemies in their 
 homes. But the majority of the exiles be- 
 lieved that it was safe to return to the vil- 
 lage, and all were compelled to abide by the 
 decision of the greater number or remain in 
 
96 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 the mountains and starve, as the provisions 
 were about gone. 
 
 Before starting for the lau the women 
 offered earnest prayers to the gods that reb- 
 els might be kept from harming them, and 
 promised to offer sacrifices and other rewards 
 to the idols in their own village home. There 
 were not wanting men to look with scorn on 
 these devout ones, and to ask where the gods 
 were, that the rebels had not been kept from 
 Toa Aw. The very men who were ready to 
 pray most earnestly when the rebels were 
 coming were as willing to ridicule idols since 
 the rebels had left. 
 
 The return was a slower and less fearful 
 journey than the one to the mountains, yet the 
 more timid clung closely together as they 
 marched along, and listened with no little 
 fear to every strange sound they heard. 
 Some who ran the fastest for the mountains 
 were leaders now, since they were convinced 
 that the rebels were away. All the world 
 over may be found those whose bravery is 
 remarkable when danger is at a distance. 
 
 As the fugitives reached their home and 
 saw what ruin had been made there the bit- 
 
TO A AW. 
 
 97 
 
 ter words against the rebels were many, but 
 some were too sad to be bitter. Women could 
 best show their grief in tears as they saw the 
 desolation of their homes and the ruin of 
 their property. Not only had part of the 
 walls of the lau been destroyed, but food 
 and cattle that had been left had been either 
 taken away or rendered worthless. Fortu- 
 nately, the crops in the fields had been left, 
 and the villagers were able to get food from 
 other places not far away. 
 
 But the mauraders had done a deed that 
 to some of the people gave great pain and to 
 others none at all. The idols had all been 
 destroyed, and nothing was left to show what 
 gods w T ere worshiped in Toa Aw. This was 
 in keeping with the course of the Tai Pings : 
 wherever they went, they destroyed all the 
 idol-temples and every indication of idolatry. 
 One of their principles was opposition to the 
 old idolatry of China, 
 
 “ Where are your gods now ?” asked a man 
 of one of the devout women. “Not only 
 could they not help you, but they were unable 
 to help themselves. That is a poor kind of 
 a god to worship.” 
 
 7 
 
98 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “ All !” replied the woman, sorrowfully ; 
 “ the gods were so eager to help us that they 
 forgot to care for themselves, and while they 
 were leading us safely to a place of hiding 
 the rebels destroyed them and their temple.” 
 
 “ Such gods are in need of friends to care 
 for them,” suggested the man. 
 
 “ And we will care for them,” was the re- 
 ply. “ If they think of us more than them- 
 selves, then we should see that they have a 
 new home and a new form in which their 
 spirits shall dwell.” 
 
 “You may build; and when the rebels 
 come again, they will tear down the temple 
 that you set up,” was the remark of one who 
 stood by. 
 
 “No fear of the return of rebels,” said a 
 man noted for his courage after battles were 
 over. “ We will see that they do not trouble 
 us again.” 
 
 “ Why did you not see that they did not 
 trouble us the first time ?” was asked. 
 
 “ We had not time to prepare,” was his 
 answer. “The long-haired thieves* came 
 
 * The term “ long-haired thieves” was given to the Tai 
 Pings on account of their wearing the hair long rather 
 
TO A AW. 
 
 99 
 
 too suddenly, and it was better to try them 
 and see what they would do at their first 
 visit. At their next we will show what we 
 can do.” 
 
 “What will you do?” was asked. 
 
 “ I will show you,” was the answer ; “ and 
 if all will do as I say, you need not fear the 
 rebels. I know about fighting : I was a sol- 
 dier once, and not a rebel, either, but belong- 
 ed to the imperial army. True soldiers never 
 run from the enemy. Unless,” added he, 
 recollecting his own haste in making for the 
 mountain-retreat a few days since — “ unless 
 they have business that calls them away.” 
 
 “ Then you had business calling you to 
 the mountains the time we all ran from 
 Toa Aw ?” suggested one of his listeners. 
 
 “ Yes, I had,” replied he, unblusliingly : 
 “ it was my duty then to find a safe place for 
 the weak and the feeble. I hurried on ahead 
 to select the best and safest spot, and found 
 it, too, or none of you would have been here 
 to-day alive and safe.” 
 
 than the most of it shaven and the rest braided in a cue. The 
 cue is the Mantchu Tartar custom, and not the Chinese before 
 the country was conquered by its present rulers. 
 
100 
 
 L ENG TSO. 
 
 “ Well did you lead us,” said one ; “ only 
 we could hardly keep up with you to know 
 where you meant to take us.” 
 
 The people repaired as best they could the 
 walls of their home, but were unable to make 
 the place as strong as it had been. Sentinels 
 were stationed, as before, to keep watch and 
 to warn the people of the approach of enemies. 
 
 Before many weeks a sentinel came run- 
 ning in and reported that a band of men — 
 rebels, he said — were approaching the place. 
 Boasters were at once wanting, but fugitives 
 were plenty, and the people hurried away to 
 the mountains. But, as there was no pursuit 
 made hy the supposed soldiers, the flying vil- 
 lagers stopped, and some were sent back to 
 see whether the report of the sentinel was 
 true. No enemy was seen in or about the 
 lau, and it was made clear that either the 
 supposed rebels had been seen by the imagi- 
 nation of the sentinel or else they had gone 
 by without disturbing Toa Aw. The people 
 came back to the village, and a few to their 
 boasting. But the man who had promised 
 to do great things had little to say. When he 
 was asked why he did not tell the people 
 
TO A AW. 
 
 101 
 
 what to do, he replied that he had told them 
 and all had obeyed. His purpose was to get 
 the old and the feeble out of the way first, 
 that the strong and the brave might have 
 nothing to hinder when they undertook to 
 punish the rebels as they deserved. 
 
 “ But why not stand and fight for the old 
 and the feeble while they were escaping, in- 
 stead of compelling them to hasten to the 
 mountains first?” was asked. “Why not 
 let them see how brave some of their friends 
 are, and how able to fight for them?” 
 
 “ It is the place of the brave first to care 
 for the weak,” was the answer. “ When that 
 is done, then the soldier can fight with more 
 freedom.” 
 
 “ But why did not you come back the 
 other time after you had led others to a place 
 of safety ? Then you could have fought with 
 freedom.” 
 
 “ Why should I ?” asked he. “ The rebels 
 would have been away ; they remained only 
 a few hours.” 
 
 “ But you might have turned back as soon 
 as you saw that we were approaching a place 
 of safety.” 
 
102 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “ All !” said the man, after a moment’s 
 thought ; “ brave men will not throw away 
 the lives their friends soon may need. My 
 life is the property of those whom I must 
 protect. It may be a pleasure for me to 
 meet and destroy an enemy, but by so doing 
 I might be injured and unable to protect 
 others when most needed. I must care for 
 myself in order to take care of others.” 
 
 The people enjoyed hearing this man 
 talk, and he probably fancied that they be- 
 lieved him. He never proved himself very 
 brave, though he had excellent opportunities, 
 for the village was attacked by rebels more 
 than once. 
 
 At the end of the rebellion, Toa Aw, like 
 many other places in the line taken by rebel 
 or imperial troops, was little better than a ruin. 
 The people, however, escaped capture, if they 
 did lose most of their property. The town 
 was rebuilt in part, but the old lau-form was 
 not completely restored. The people, like 
 most others in China, were glad of peace, 
 caring little on which side victory rested. 
 The Chinese are not, as a rule, loyal to their 
 nation and their government ; nor is this 
 
TO A AW. 
 
 103 
 
 strange : they have not much worth their 
 loyalty. 
 
 The wound Soe received when he with 
 the others first escaped from pursuers did not 
 heal readily. The remedies were not of the 
 best, and the wound was a peculiar one. 
 His foot became permanently lame, and 
 always had, as it still has, a running sore, 
 remindino- him of the time he ran for his 
 
 o 
 
 life from the rebels. 
 
 This Soe, when the rebels attacked Toa Aw, 
 was yet a young man and one of the wealth- 
 iest men in the village. Of a generous nature, 
 he was always doing kindly acts to others, 
 and had won the good-will and love of near- 
 ly, if not quite, all in the place. His very 
 name — Hia, or “ brother ” — given to him by 
 the people, proved the respect and love they 
 had for him. They were willing to listen to 
 his advice and accept his counsel when the 
 advice and counsel of older men were ignored. 
 A noble-hearted man, and as liberal as he was 
 noble, it is not strange that Soe became the 
 leading man of Toa Aw. 
 
 Soe had friends and relatives in the vil- 
 lage of Thau Pau, and a number of years 
 
104 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 after the close of the rebellion, when he was 
 visiting his friends there, he w r as surprised to 
 hear his friend Liong tell of the new foreign 
 religion, of which Liong had learned in the 
 city of Ha Bun. Soe listened to the story, 
 and wondered. That it was a new religion he 
 did not deny, nor did he deny that it was a 
 good one for foreigners, but he was unwilling 
 to accept it as his own. 
 
 Liong told how he and Gan had gone 
 to the city to be healed of disease, and 
 there had heard the new and strange doc- 
 trine. He told, too, of its wonderful effects 
 on men — how it went right to the heart, 
 and how it seemed like medicine to heal 
 and make the heart pure. 
 
 Soe listened, but shook his head. It 
 might be good for foreigners, but hardly for 
 Chinese, who for so many centuries had wor- 
 shiped other gods. How could he give up 
 the worship of his ancestors? How would 
 he dare desert their spirits in the unseen world 
 and leave them to suffer and starve, without 
 an earthly friend to care for their wants? 
 No ; he would not do as Liong had done — 
 give up the religion of his fathers for that 
 
TO A AW. 
 
 105 
 
 of foreigners. In vain did Liong press the 
 truth on him ; Soe determined not to listen 
 — or, at least, not to heed. But those were 
 strange stories about the great God so loving 
 the world as to give his only-begotten Son to 
 die for sinners, and about that Saviour com- 
 ing to the world and living among men that 
 he might teach them and lead them back to 
 God, the true God. But were not the gods 
 of China true gods? He had been taught 
 so. Must he unlearn all the lessons of child- 
 hood? No; he would not. The -old relig- 
 ion that had been good enough for his fa- 
 thers was good enough for him. It is true it 
 had not such evidences of love on the part of 
 the gods to men, but it was the religion of 
 his native land, of his fathers, and he would 
 cling to it. 
 
 Not often did the two meet and have an 
 opportunity to speak of the new religion be- 
 fore persecution began in Thau Pau. The 
 opponents of the new doctrine tried to pre- 
 vent those interested in it from worshiping 
 the foreign God in the village, and com- 
 pelled them to go out into the fields on 
 the Sabbath to hold meetings. Later the 
 
106 
 
 LENG 'ISO. 
 
 hatred to the Christians became so great that 
 they were driven altogether from the village, 
 and were forced to seek safety in the distant 
 Foo city, where there were a number of 
 Christians and a church. 
 
 Soe had tried to prevent the persecution 
 by pleading both with the Christians to give 
 up outward worship of the foreign God and 
 with the persecutors to allow the Christians 
 to believe and obey a doctrine that was harm- 
 less to all but themselves. His efforts with 
 both parties had been in vain ; the Chris- 
 tians became exiles, and their property was 
 taken by those who had driven them away. 
 
 When Soe beheld the sacrifice made by 
 the Christians for their faith, he was moved ; 
 it was a new revelation to him. To see men 
 and women for a new religion — and that a 
 foreign one, too — give up home, friends, all 
 they possessed, and go out penniless, home- 
 less and friendless, was something of which 
 Soe had never heard. He could not under- 
 stand it. Something more than he had ever 
 felt or known impelled them to this sacrifice. 
 He knew that it was not a mere fancy that 
 led Liong to forsake all, whatever might 
 
TO A AW. 
 
 107 
 
 have prompted tlie others. Liong, like him- 
 self, was one of the leading men of his village, 
 was the owner of much of the property in and 
 around Thau Pau, and, more than that, Liong 
 was a man who liked honor and wished to be 
 a leader. He was proud and haughty — far 
 more so than Soe — and for Liong to forsake 
 all and become an exile on account of a new 
 religion was more than Soe could understand. 
 Nor could others understand the obstinacy, 
 as they called it, of the Christians. 
 
 “ It is strange,” said Soe to some of his 
 friends in Toa Aw one day as he told of the 
 persecution and the exile of the Christians. 
 “ Why they could not let the people who 
 harmed no one but themselves remain and 
 worship whom they would I cannot under- 
 stand. If men desert the worship of the 
 gods, that is a matter for the gods to attend 
 to, and not for men to punish. They who 
 turn away from the gods must expect to lose 
 the gods’ favor, and that should be punish- 
 ment enough, without others of their own 
 kind turning against and robbing those whom 
 the gods have given over to evil.” 
 
 “You must not forget,” said the other, 
 
108 
 
 LEXG TSO. 
 
 “ that the gods may allow evil to come upon 
 those who turn from them, and that that same 
 evil may reach and harm the faithful. True 
 worshipers must let the gods see that they 
 are faithful by allowing no enemies of the 
 idols to remain in the place. No town is 
 safe with an enemy in it. At any time such 
 an enemy may turn the whole place over to 
 those who might ruin it. It was right to 
 drive the enemies of the gods from Thau 
 Pau.” 
 
 “ Perhaps it was,” sighed Soe, “ but I 
 would have let them remain a while to see 
 whether injury came to the place through 
 them. It was cruel to drive from home and 
 rob of all they possessed men who merely 
 worshiped what they believe to be the true 
 God.” 
 
 The exile of his friends and their patience 
 while in exile, their willingness to give up 
 all rather than the new doctrine and the for- 
 eign God, had an effect on Soe not only, but 
 on others as well; and that impression did 
 not pass away. 
 
CHAPTER Y. 
 
 THE GIRLS' SCHOOL. 
 
 W HEN the seminary was completed, there 
 was a thought in the minds of mission- 
 aries as well as of Christian Chinese about a 
 school for girls. The education of girls was 
 anything but a Chinese idea, yet the entrance 
 of the gospel proved it to be a necessity if 
 China is to become a Christian nation. 
 Missionaries soon became convinced of this, 
 and following them in opinion were not a 
 few of the more thoughtful native Christians. 
 The difficulty seemed to be to know how to 
 educate and how best to use such education. 
 Merely to have girls go to school and then 
 marry, not using their education for the 
 good of others, was not what was desired. 
 In China nearly every girl is married or 
 engaged before she is twenty years of age. 
 A single woman on the shady side of 
 twenty-five with no prospects of a, husband 
 
 109 
 
no 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 is almost unknown there. Even widows are 
 not plenty, as they have more chances of 
 marrying than have the same class in 
 America. The simple fact is that in China 
 there are not enough maidens to go round. 
 Bachelors are plenty, old maids almost 
 unknown. For this there are two reasons: 
 many female infants are killed to save the 
 trouble and cost of bringing them up ; boy- 
 babies are never killed for this reason, and 
 many of the wealthier men have more than 
 one wife. Thus a woman who can devote 
 her life to the welfare and training of others 
 is seldom found. 
 
 We may sneer at those whom we call 
 “ old maids,” but we little think what our 
 country would be without them. Nobler 
 women than some of the unmarried ladies 
 of America never blessed a nation. Devoted 
 to the welfare of others rather than of them- 
 selves, they are willing to do the work that 
 others cannot or will not do. In China a 
 woman’s mission is supposed to be that of a 
 wife and mother only ; too often it is the 
 life of a mere slave. Never to have been 
 married would have been a far greater 
 
THE GIRLS’ SCHOOL. 
 
 Ill 
 
 blessing than to have had a husband. But 
 that is something that Americans need not 
 be told. Why teach people lessons from 
 other nations that they may learn at home? 
 
 For a young woman in that land of 
 strange customs to go to school as a teacher 
 might be to disgrace herself. A young lady 
 must not be seen in the streets, nor is it 
 quite respectable for her to engage in any 
 other than household duties, embroidery, 
 and the like. True, she might take a few 
 pupils to her home, if girls ; yet none but 
 small girls, according to custom, are allowed 
 to go on the streets. Nor is this merely a 
 custom : it is a matter of safety. 
 
 Difficulties more than need here be pre- 
 sented are in the way of the education of 
 women in China, but they are difficulties 
 that must be, and in time will be, overcome. 
 To have the wives of preachers educated 
 and able to teach in their homes, their hus- 
 bands receiving salary enough to afford 
 household help, would be an aid ; to have 
 elderly women become teachers and have 
 schools for girls and women would be a 
 still greater aid ; but some must go against 
 
112 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 Chinese custom and opinion : some women 
 must devote their lives to educating their 
 own sex, and go about among the women 
 at their homes to teach them to read and 
 to proclaim to them the gospel. Chinese 
 custom shuts woman within her home; that 
 custom must be broken, or the Christianizing 
 of the people cannot be accomplished. The 
 younger women may not meet together, and 
 are unable to hear the truth from the preacher 
 except in the immediate vicinity of the 
 chapel. Until the wives and mothers are 
 converted the conversion of China must be 
 done over again with each new generation. 
 The husbands may be led to the Saviour as 
 they grow to manhood, yet the heathen 
 mothers will see that the children grow up 
 in idolatry. 
 
 “ What is the use of teaching women to 
 read ?” asked a woman of Leng Tso one day 
 as several of them were gathered in a 
 Christian family in Ha Bun. “ It will not 
 help them to cook their husbands’ food 
 better or take better care of the children. 
 It is only a waste of time.” 
 
 “ Not to teach women makes them little 
 
THE GIRLS' SCHOOL. 
 
 113 
 
 better than buffaloes,” replied the Bible- 
 woman. “We keep those animals fastened 
 by a rope and by a ring in the nose and lead 
 them as we choose. We tie them to a stake 
 where we will or lead them to such water as 
 we choose, and allow them no choice at all 
 as to food or drink. If we neglect them, 
 they must thirst and starve. So it is with 
 those who cannot read the truth itself : they 
 are like tied buffaloes, and are led by the 
 nose where the j^reacher will ; and if he 
 neglect, they must suffer. If he give wrong 
 food, if he teach what is not truth, they can- 
 not tell that it is false, because they cannot 
 go to God’s book and see.” 
 
 “ But we must trust to the preachers who 
 are taught how to teach us. They study 
 the holy book ; and if they do not tell what 
 it teaches, the foreign pastors will find it out 
 and stop them.” 
 
 “ How will the foreign pastors who do not 
 once in a hundred times hear what these 
 teach know unless we tell ? and how shall we 
 know but that it is all truth if we have not 
 read the Bible ?” asked Leng Tso. 
 
 “Our husbands will tell us,” was the 
 
 8 
 
114 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 reply. “ They hear, and many of them can 
 read somewhat.” 
 
 “ Many men cannot read, and very few 
 can read enough to be able to read all the 
 Bible,” said the Bible-woman. “And what 
 are those women to do whose husbands are 
 not believers ? What shall be done for the 
 many thousands of our nation whose hus- 
 bands do not hear the gospel or do not care 
 to believe it ? Shall such be left to perish ? 
 Many of them, if they could hear, no doubt 
 would believe; the doctrine is just what 
 they need. They are sad, and their hearts 
 long for something ; that something is the 
 truth of God’s book. They never come to 
 hear the doctrine because they know nothing 
 about it, and no one goes to tell them. Our 
 Saviour says, ‘ Go ye into all the world and 
 preach the gospel to every creature and 
 here, right at our homes, are the thousands 
 who have never heard one of us say a word 
 about the true God.” 
 
 “ We cannot help that,” answered the 
 woman. “We tell our friends, and cannot 
 go all through the land to tell strangers. 
 God does not expect us to leave our families 
 
THE GIRLS’ SCHOOL. 
 
 115 
 
 to suffer that we may preach the gospel to 
 all. Besides, it would not be wise nor right 
 for a woman — unless one like yourself — to 
 do it.” 
 
 “ That may be,” responded Leng Tso, 
 “ and just such ones as I am should go. Yet 
 where are such ? There are a few women who 
 might, but they have not been taught ; they 
 cannot read, and how could they teach 
 others and read God’s message to them? 
 We must have schools to teach such. Then 
 we need to have the pastors’ wives and the 
 preachers’ wives able to read to the women 
 and teach them.” 
 
 “What! and leave their families,” spoke 
 another woman, in surprise, “ while they 
 went around teaching?” 
 
 “ They need not leave their families,” an- 
 swered the Bible-woman. “ Women often 
 visit the wives of pastors and preachers ; 
 why could not they visit to hear the truth ?” 
 
 “ Who would teach such women ?” was 
 asked. “ It will not do to have men teach, 
 and there are no women who know enough 
 to do so.” 
 
 “ Why not have some old man to teach ?” 
 
116 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 spoke Leng Tso. “ It is indeed a sad fact 
 that we have very few women who are able to 
 teach ; hut fit some women to do it, and then 
 we shall not need men to do the work. We 
 must not think that our customs are perfect. 
 If custom says it is wrong to allow a woman 
 to learn to read when a man is the teacher, 
 let us see if the custom itself be right. 
 When we became Christians, we became 
 the servants of God, not of customs. I serve 
 God rather than custom.” 
 
 “ How can the girls and the women come 
 to school ?” was asked. “ It is not safe for 
 them to go through the streets each day. 
 How can there be such a school ? If custom 
 does not forbid, bad men may hinder.” 
 
 “ I do not know how that can be managed,” 
 replied the Bible-woman, “ but the foreign 
 pastors no doubt will know.” 
 
 “ Where will the school be, if one is open- 
 ed ?” inquired a woman. “ Will a new house 
 like the young men’s school be put up?” 
 
 “ That I cannot tell,” said Leng Tso. “ I 
 have heard Mrs. Minturn speak about it to 
 the women, but she did not say. She asked 
 the wife of one of the pastors if the old 
 
THE GIRLS’ SCHOOL. 
 
 117 
 
 school where the young men studied could 
 not be used for a while.” 
 
 “ What ! that building ?” inquired a young 
 woman. “Why, that is not far from the 
 homes of several girls who might go to 
 school each day without going into the streets 
 at all.” 
 
 “ I do not know where it will be or when 
 it will be opened,” said Leng Tso ; “ but I 
 believe that the foreign pastors mean to be- 
 gin such a school soon. Mrs. Minturn said 
 so a few days ago ; and when she said it, she 
 shut her lips so closely that I knew she meant 
 it,” 
 
 “ That is true,” added one who had quiet- 
 ly listened. “ When Mrs. Minturn speaks 
 in that way, something follows soon after. 
 Mrs. Minturn is not like Middle-Kingdom 
 women : what she says she always means.” 
 
 There was ground for the rumor among 
 the native Christians that a girls’ school was 
 soon to be started, for the mission had already 
 taken measures for opening such a school. 
 
 Few plans on mission ground are carried 
 out before there has been much deliberation. 
 First the missionaries deliberate before they 
 
118 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 ask for the money, and then the society at 
 home takes a full amount of deliberation 
 before the money is granted. Happy is 
 the society, and twice happy the mission, if 
 Christian people have not been so deliberate 
 in giving that the money is wanting when it 
 is decided to grant it. 
 
 It was this lack of money that made the 
 mission in Ha Bun hesitate about beginning a 
 girls’ school. Appeals and arguments many 
 and urgent had been sent to the Church 
 at home, but the dollars needed did not 
 come ; promises of dollars in the future did not 
 come. The home Church may have regard- 
 ed a girls’ school as a fancy of the brain of 
 missionaries with peculiar notions. But the 
 mission was not to be checked in what it 
 deemed a work of almost vital interest. 
 
 “ If we could start the seminary, why can 
 we not start this school ?” asked Mrs. Par- 
 ton, the wife of the young missionary. “ I 
 am sure the society would send on the money 
 in time.” 
 
 “Yes, but when would that time come?” 
 inquired her husband. “ It will not do to 
 wait until the millennium.” 
 
THE GIRLS' SCHOOL. 
 
 119 
 
 “ Oh, you know that I don’t mean after 
 many years, but before many months,” 
 responded the wife. “ I wish I were rich : 
 I would build the school myself.” 
 
 “ 1 wish you were rich, for then we would 
 build it together,” spoke the husband. 
 
 “ What do you mean ?” inquired Mrs. 
 Parton. 
 
 “Are not we one? and would not your 
 riches be mine? Did not you promise to 
 share with me all you are and have ?” asked 
 he. 
 
 “ I am willing to share all ; yes, and I am 
 ready to give you the largest half of the 
 mosquitoes and the roaches. Those, I 
 suppose, are part of my lot here, and to 
 three-fourths of that lot you are welcome. 
 But they seem to let you alone and vent 
 their ill-will on me.” 
 
 “ Perhaps they know that you and I are 
 one, and, as you are the one that suits them, 
 they may regard me a nonentity. But serious- 
 ly, Winnie, it will not do for the mission to 
 undertake building a girls’ school now. The 
 home society is already in debt, and we dare 
 not ask for more money. Cannot you think 
 
120 
 
 LKXG TSO. 
 
 of some plan by which the old seminary 
 building may be of service?” 
 
 “ What ! that wretched old set of rooms 
 and stairways and cuddy-holes? I suppose 
 we might make it do. But we will need 
 money to carry on the work after it is 
 begun. Will the mission allow us that ?” 
 “ I am afraid there is none to spare. 
 Since I have been made treasurer I have 
 tried to see if some money from the appro- 
 priations could not be saved in different 
 ways, but have yet to find where a single 
 dollar can be kept back. If I know noth- 
 ing else, I know about economy ; for I 
 was professor of it during my four years 
 in college and three in seminary. I see no 
 way in which the treasury can let one dollar 
 go for anything new without making some 
 other work suffer.” 
 
 “ What can we do ?” asked the young 
 wife, almost desponding. 
 
 “ I suppose we can whistle,” replied the 
 husband ; “ that is what we boys used to do 
 when we wanted to keep up our courage.” 
 “And we girls prayed,” said the wife, with 
 a twinkle in her eye. 
 
THE GIRLS’ SCHOOL. 
 
 121 
 
 “ You are right, Winnie. We can, and 
 we should, pray more than we have about 
 this school. We prayed about the other, 
 and it came.” 
 
 “ Yes, after all did what they could.” 
 
 “ That is what we will do now. But 
 when the load cannot be lifted, why tug at 
 it?” 
 
 “ Stand by it, and call for help.” 
 
 “ Bight again. We will stand by that 
 girls’ school and — No, I won’t say it. 
 We will stand by it and ask the Lord as we 
 have never prayed before to help us to lift it 
 from the ground by sending along some 
 strong friend to lend a shoulder. I agree 
 with you and Mrs. Minturn — so do the rest 
 of the mission — that the girls’ school must 
 come next, but let us have a little breath- 
 ing-spell before we go at it.” 
 
 “Yet while breathing you can talk and 
 help plan, can you not?” 
 
 “ ‘ Talk ’ ? Why, I am ready for that any 
 time ; it is the work that troubles me. I 
 can talk now almost as easily as a woman.” 
 “ I wish you were able to say as well too.” 
 “ I do not wish to speak of my good qual- 
 
122 
 
 LEXG TSO. 
 
 ities, but expect you to notice them without 
 my speaking of them.” 
 
 “ Because I did not find that good quality, 
 I wished to remind you as gently as possible 
 of its absence. But pardon me : I wish 
 now to lay aside joking and talk seriously. 
 Is there nothing we can do to get money 
 with which to begin the school?” 
 
 “ I can at present think of no way to raise 
 the money. But there is another considera- 
 tion : if we begin, we must go on. To be- 
 gin the school will require a steady outlay. 
 Money to begin it is not enough. Where is 
 the money to come from after we have 
 begun, if the home society does not adopt 
 it?” 
 
 “ Will not they adopt it if we begin and 
 show how necessary it is? But if they will 
 not, I believe we can find the money some 
 way. Only let us start, and I am sure we 
 can continue.” 
 
 “ That is good faith, Winnie, but poor 
 business.” 
 
 “Are not we to work by faith and to use 
 our faith constantly ?” 
 
 “ Yes, but you will fiud that faith fails 
 
THE GIRLS’ SCHOOL. 
 
 123 
 
 when the dollars do not come. Dollars help 
 faith wonderfully even in mission work.” 
 “The dollars will come, I believe, and 
 when we need them.” 
 
 “ I am glad to hear you say so. I think 
 they are needed just now, and as soon as 
 they come, or the first installment comes, I, 
 for one, am ready to say, ‘Let us begin.’” 
 “They will come; see if they do not,” 
 said the wife, with a determined look. “ But 
 let us not forget to pray while we wait.” 
 
 A few days after, the young missionary was 
 disturbed in his study by his wife entering 
 with a paper, which she handed to him : 
 “There! I’ve tried and tried to write a 
 letter about that school, and cannot succeed. 
 If that will do, I mean to send it; if it will 
 not, I don’t know what to do.” 
 
 Mr. Parton, taking the paper, saw that it 
 was a note to a Scotch merchant, and a 
 warm friend of the Partons, living in the 
 place. In the note Mrs. Parton told in a 
 few words her anxiety about a girls’ school 
 and her inability to begin it through lack of 
 means, and then asked the merchant if he 
 would help in any way. 
 
124 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 After reading tlie letter the husband said, 
 “ That sounds all right, but had you not 
 better consult Mrs. Minturn first? Her judg- 
 ment is better than ours — than mine, at least.” 
 “ I have talked with her,” was the reply, 
 “ and she is ready for anything of the kind ; 
 but I don’t wish to show this to her. I am 
 afraid to let her see what I write ; she could 
 do it so much better.” 
 
 “ Then why not let her do it ?” 
 
 “ She told me to try because Mr. Brown 
 is so warm a friend of ours. She said that 
 a note from me would have more effect than 
 if it came from her.” 
 
 “ How humble you ladies are! But don’t 
 send that note yet; take a day or two to 
 think over it.” 
 
 “ Why should I think over what I have 
 decided to do?” 
 
 “ One of the reasons I would suggest is 
 that Mr. Brown is away and will not be back 
 for a week or two. The note will keep as 
 well here as in his office. Some one else 
 might read it there, or, seeing your hand- 
 writing, might say that you are correspond- 
 ing with other gentlemen.” 
 
THE GIRLS’ SCHOOL. 
 
 125 
 
 “Well, what of it? That is what I am 
 doing, after letting you see what I write. 
 I am not ashamed of the object of the note. 
 But excuse me, Avon, for replying harshly : 
 I have bothered my head so over this that it 
 aches and I am tired.” 
 
 “Then just lay away the note for a few 
 days and rest your mind. You have started 
 your part ; you have done what you can thus 
 far. Wait until you can do more.” 
 
 Mrs. Parton did not leave the matter with 
 the note. She had another Scotch friend, 
 also a merchant, whose wife was a very warm 
 and confidential friend of Mrs. Parton. Both 
 had come to the country at the same time, and 
 bath were young, so were specially drawn 
 together. To this friend, Mrs. Campbell, 
 Mrs. Parton told her story, and soon inter- 
 ested the good Scotch lady in the work al- 
 most as much as was the young missionary 
 herself. Both spoke to Mr. Campbell and 
 urged him to aid the enterprise with money. 
 He promised to think of it and, if able, to 
 give something. 
 
 While this anxiety was at its height, but 
 before a dollar had been given, a steamer was 
 
126 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 seen entering the port. Soon after she came 
 to anchor word was sent around to the for- 
 eign community that there was a sick lady 
 on board who would like to come ashore and 
 remain in some home while her husband 
 went farther with the steamer to attend to 
 business. When it was told that this lady 
 was the wife of Mr. Smith, the publisher of 
 one of the most prominent papers in China, 
 no one called on the vessel to invite either 
 him or his wife to share the hospitality of 
 the homes on shore. This man was the 
 most bitter foreign opponent of missions 
 in China. His paper was always open to 
 assaults upon missionaries and ready to pub- 
 lish the most absurd stories about them, but 
 anything in their favor was left out of the 
 paper. Even replies to attacks upon mis- 
 sionaries could with difficulty find a place in 
 its columns. Mr. Smith was disliked for other 
 reasons, and for those reasons none of the 
 foreign community called to invite him and 
 his wife to their homes while the vessel was 
 in the port. Though the steamer remained 
 in the harbor nearly three days, Mr. Smith 
 and his wife stayed on board until the day 
 
THE GIRLS’ SCHOOL. 
 
 127 
 
 before sailing. Then, when it was evident 
 that others did not intend inviting Mrs. 
 Smith ashore, Mr. Minturn proposed that 
 she be invited to share the mission-home. 
 It was just like Mrs. Minturn to prompt 
 such a suggestion, and the mission was ready 
 to have it carried out. 
 
 “ I will give up my room,” said Mr. Wag- 
 ner ; “ it is larger than the spare-room, and 
 will be lighter and more cool and airy.” 
 
 “ If she is half so warm in her hatred of 
 missionaries as is her husband, she will need 
 plenty of cool air,” suggested Mr. Parton. “ I 
 will feel like borrowing a couple of large 
 punkahs * from some of the merchants to 
 keep me cool.” 
 
 “ All wives are not like their husbands,” 
 spoke Mrs. Parton, gently. 
 
 “ As we have personal proof here,” replied 
 her husband as he gave his wife’s arm a sly 
 pinch. 
 
 “ No, they do not pinch. But I wish, if 
 pinching is a necessity to you, that you would 
 by way of variety try your own flesh.” 
 
 * Immense fans suspended from the ceiling and worked by 
 servants. 
 
128 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “ Did not the minister — and he your own 
 pastor, too — say that we are one flesh ? Am 
 I not trying the pinching on my own flesh, 
 then, as you suggest ?” 
 
 “ There are times when one and one make 
 two. I suppose we will hardly dare speak 
 of mission work when Mrs. Smith is here.” 
 “ I shall not trouble her with anything 
 relating to our work,” spoke Mrs. Minturn, 
 “ but will not refrain from speaking about it 
 to any member of the mission. It may do 
 her good to hear about the work.” 
 
 “ Perhaps she will become interested in it, 
 too,” suggested Mr. Wagner. “But it will 
 seem strange to have here in a mission family 
 the wife of the most bitter enemy of missions 
 in China. Who will go to invite Mrs. 
 Smith ? — I think, Mr. Minturn, that you, 
 being the senior member, are the one who 
 should do so.” 
 
 “ I suppose I should go,” replied Mr Min- 
 turn ; “ and I have thought it would be well 
 to ask Mr. Smith to come with his wife. We 
 might invite them to tea, and he will then 
 have an opportunity to see where his wife is 
 and what she is likelv to have to eat.” 
 
THE GIRLS’ SCHOOL. 
 
 129 
 
 “ What if they decline to accept the offer 
 of hospitality ? asked Mr. Parton. “ I 
 would hesitate before accepting an invita- 
 tion to have ray wife stay with those I had 
 steadily abused.” 
 
 “ Perhaps Mr. Smith’s paper is bitter 
 against missions because it pays best to be 
 so,” suggested Mrs. Minturn. “ He may find 
 his paper read mostly by those who hate Chris- 
 tianity, and to keep their patronage opposes 
 missions.” 
 
 “ That is a charitable way of looking at it, 
 but it shows a lack of principle in him, and, 
 more than that, it shows that there are in 
 China a large number of people from Chris- 
 tian countries who are enemies to religion,” 
 said Mr. Parton. 
 
 “ Why is it so, do you suppose ?” asked the 
 young missionary. 
 
 “ I fear it is because such people are angry 
 to find the same truths and the same gospel 
 and the same restraints pressing upon them 
 here as at home. It does seem that some 
 men come here to get free from all religious 
 restraint, and are enraged when they cannot 
 find such freedom.” 
 
130 
 
 LEXG TSO. 
 
 Mr. Minturn went on board the vessel, 
 and his invitation was gladly accepted by both 
 Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The lady was not very 
 ill, but had been suffering from seasickness. 
 
 Both Mr. Smith and his wife accompanied 
 Mr. Minturn, and at once became guests at 
 the mission-home. That the newspaper-man 
 was timid none who knew him would have 
 suspected until he appeared in that mission 
 family. He did not know what to say or 
 to do except sit still. He did that, but he 
 looked around ; and if any object in the 
 room escaped his notice, it was certainly 
 very small. 
 
 When the youngest missionary began 
 talking to the publisher about newspapers, the 
 stranger was at home, but seemed to wonder 
 who that young man w T as and what he did at 
 a mission-house. And when the conversa- 
 tion drifted to science and the young mis- 
 sionary told him of some late discoveries in 
 the scientific world, Mr. Smith began to ob- 
 tain a new revelation ; he had insisted that 
 missionaries knew nothing of science — in- 
 deed, nothing outside of their work. But 
 when Mr. Minturn pointed out the tendency 
 
THE GIRLS’ SCHOOL. 
 
 131 
 
 of certain movements in the political world 
 of China and spoke of the effect of such 
 movements, Mr. Smith admitted that such 
 seemed to be the tendency, though he had 
 not thought of it before. Gradually he be- 
 came talkative, and proved himself a pleas- 
 ant guest. What were his opinions of the 
 missionaries may never be known, but all 
 that afternoon and evening he seemed to be 
 receiving new revelations about them. 
 
 Mrs. Smith proved to be a genial guest. 
 She accompanied the two mission ladies to 
 their work, and seemed to take a real inter- 
 est in all they did. She learned to talk in- 
 telligently and earnestly of their plans. In 
 about two weeks her husband returned, and 
 was again for a few hours a guest at the mis- 
 sion-home. As the steamer left the same day 
 of her entering port, his stay was short, 
 and with its close Mrs. Smith departed. 
 When Mr. Smith’s offer of money to pay 
 for his wife’s entertainment was politely but 
 decidedly refused, the man found a large 
 addition to the revelation concerning mis- 
 sionaries. He had in his paper insisted that 
 they cared for money only, and here they 
 
132 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 had actually refused to accept what was fairly 
 and honestly due them. He was too polite 
 to insist on payment, and left the mission- 
 home saying that he would be glad if he 
 could in any way return the most acceptable 
 and unexpected favors of the missionaries. 
 Soon after his return twenty-five dollars 
 were sent to Mrs. Minturn and Mrs. Parton 
 by Mrs. Smith to use for starting the girls’ 
 school, or for any other work connected with 
 the mission that they might select. Thus 
 the first money had come, but from an un- 
 expected source. 
 
 When Mrs. Parton showed her husband 
 the money and told wdience it came, he was 
 surprised, but said, 
 
 “ So the Lord has begun to hear your 
 prayers ; yet who would have thought that 
 he would get the first twenty-five dollars 
 out of the pocketbook of the worst enemy 
 of missions in China?” 
 
 “ Not the worst enemy now, I am sure,” 
 spoke the wife, “ for I believe that Mrs, 
 Smith is a friend to missions and will influ- 
 ence her husband. But we have the first 
 money, and it has come without our asking, 
 
THE GIRLS’ SCHOOL. 
 
 133 
 
 except from the Lord. Did not I tell you 
 that the dollars would come?” added she, 
 triumphantly. “ Here is the first installment, 
 and you will soon see another.” 
 
 “ Give me a woman’s faith, after all, and a 
 man’s work to back it,” added Mr. Parton. 
 “ I am glad that your faith has begun to 
 reap its reward. You and Mrs. Minturn 
 have believed the money would come, and 
 I did too, only I was all the time afraid it 
 wouldn’t. And now that you have twenty- 
 live dollars, what do you propose doing ?” 
 
 “ Keeping you and the rest of the mission 
 to your word. You, at least, said that as 
 soon as the first money came you would 
 say ‘ Begin.’ Now say it.” 
 
 “ Begin. There ! I’ve said it. Now what 
 next ?” 
 
 “ Oh, but you meant more than that : you 
 meant that you would advise opening the 
 school.” 
 
 “ But see how the matter stands. You 
 have twenty-five dollars. You will need to 
 hire a teacher, furnish rooms, and probably 
 be obliged to board some of the girls. How 
 far will twenty-five dollars go toward that?” 
 
134 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “ Far enough to enable us to start, and that 
 is what we wish.” 
 
 “ Yes, but how long can you keep on ?” 
 
 “ Until another installment comes.” 
 
 “ Faith again. Oh, a man has no answer 
 to a woman’s faith, and he may as well give 
 up or turn the matter over to the mission, as 
 I must do ; for really, Winnie, I cannot give 
 money out of the treasury unless all agree.” 
 “ Wait, Mr. Treasurer, until we call on you 
 for money. The Lord has sent us this twen- 
 ty-five dollars ; and if the mission can’t spare 
 it, he will send us more as we need it.” 
 
 The money of Mrs. Smith surprised the 
 mission and compelled a new discussion of 
 the question of the school. The arguments 
 of the treasurer were regarded as sound by 
 all but the two ladies, and these saw no rea- 
 son why the first steps should not be taken 
 toward opening the girls’ school. Mrs. Min- 
 turn was not as sanguine as Mrs. Parton that 
 money would soon come, but the note had 
 been sent to Mr. Brown and Mr. and Mrs. 
 Campbell had been visited again, with more 
 encouragement. 
 
 Before the mission had decided, a note from 
 
THE GIRLS’ SCHOOL. 
 
 135 
 
 Mr. Brown came to Mrs. Parton, and in it 
 were twenty-five dollars. 
 
 “ There !” said she to her husband as she 
 entered his study holding the money in one 
 hand and the note in the other ; “ here is the 
 second installment, and unless you men de- 
 cide soon the third will be received. We 
 have fifty dollars already ; why not begin ?” 
 “ That does look more like it,” responded 
 Mr. Parton. “ Fifty dollars, with more to 
 come soon, as you believe — and will soon 
 compel me to believe, too — makes me think 
 of saying to you ladies, ‘ Go on.’ ” 
 
 A day or two later a note from Mrs. Camp- 
 bell was received saying that her husband 
 would in a short time give twenty-five dol- 
 lars for the girls’ school, but just at present 
 could not spare the money. 
 
 “ Now we have the third installment,” 
 said Mrs. Parton — “ at least, it is promised, 
 and as good as received. What will you 
 gentlemen say?” 
 
 “ I say, ‘ Begin the school,’ ” spoke Mr. 
 Wagner. “We can begin it on a small scale^ 
 and enlarge as able. You may have my 
 Chinese teacher for a while, as I am going 
 
136 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 away to visit the stations in the country and 
 shall be away a considerable time. So there 
 will be no salary of teacher to pay. Then I 
 will pay for putting up seats and desks in the 
 girls’ schoolroom.” 
 
 “Oh, Mr. Wagner, if you can spare your 
 teacher for a while, it will be exactly what 
 we need,” spoke Mrs. Minturn. “ He is a 
 Christian, and an elderly man and an ex- 
 cellent teacher. But we would like to know 
 if the mission will allow us the use of the 
 old building once used as a boys’ school. 
 I suppose the people who occupy part of 
 it will be willing to give it up, as they have 
 its use only until it is needed.” 
 
 With one consent the building was appro- 
 priated to the purposes of the girls’ school, 
 with all of the furniture that could be found 
 in it belonging to the mission. After no lit- 
 tle consultation, the plans were laid and ar- 
 rangements made for opening the school as 
 soon as the place could be put in order. In 
 due season it was opened with several day- 
 scholars and some boarders who lived too far 
 away to come each day. Thus the school was 
 started, and the first money had been given 
 
THE GIRLS’ SCHOOL. 
 
 137 
 
 by a man who had been for years the most 
 determined and outspoken enemy of mis- 
 sions, perhaps, in the whole of China. 
 
 It may not be amiss to say here that 
 Mr. Smith’s paper experienced a wonderful 
 change after its owner returned with his wife 
 from his business-trip, in the kindly spirit 
 shown to missionaries. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 WORK IN THE GIRLS' SCHOOL. 
 
 HEN the school was started in the old 
 
 building, many of the older women of 
 the city, especially those who were Christians, 
 visited the house to take a look and have a 
 bit of gossip with the matron, and with the 
 girls themselves. All were inquisitive to 
 see what kind of an affair a school for girls 
 was. Among the earlier visitors was, of 
 course, the Bible-woman. She, however, 
 came not so much from curiosity as to see 
 the carrying into reality of the hope and 
 prayer of her heart. As she met the teacher 
 and matron and saw the girls in their room, 
 and saw all there was to see of the school, 
 she was thankful that it had so good a 
 beginning. Many were the kind words the 
 girls received from the warm-hearted woman, 
 and not a few were the bits of advice she 
 
 138 
 
WORK IN THE GIRLS’ SCHOOL. 
 
 139 
 
 gave. The girls were glad to welcome Leng 
 Tso, for she was one who had not forgotten 
 girls’ feelings, who could enter into sym- 
 pathy with all their likes and dislikes, 
 and who was ready to give a word of en- 
 couragement or of caution when needed. 
 
 “ Let me see your sleejDing-room,” said 
 she, on her first visit to the school ; and 
 when she saw the neatly-kept beds and 
 the clean room, she said, “ Ah ! how much 
 nicer this is than it bright be if you had 
 only a ground floor under your feet, and 
 not even a bed on which to lie ! The foreign 
 teachers give you better than very many of 
 our people have in their homes. Learn to 
 keep the beds and the room nice and neat, 
 and thus show that you can take care of 
 what is given to your charge. Let the 
 foreign ladies see, too, that gilds of the 
 Middle Kingdom can keep rooms as clean as 
 they can. But who takes care of the sweep- 
 ing and the beds? Perhaps you do not.” 
 
 “ The matron sweeps most of the time,” 
 was the answer, “ but each of us takes care 
 of her own bed. Mrs. Minturn says some 
 day we are to have a new house for the 
 
140 
 
 LENG 'ISO. 
 
 school and it will be much better than this, 
 
 and every two girls — or, at most, four girls 
 
 — will have a room to themselves. Will 
 
 not that be nice ? She says that then we 
 
 will be expected to take care of our rooms 
 
 altogether. I will be glad to have a room 
 
 to myself or with some friend ; that will 
 
 be like the young men in the large school. 
 
 Have you ever been in their rooms?” 
 
 “ No,” answered the Bible- woman, “though 
 
 I have visited their school. But thev take 
 
 «/ 
 
 care of their rooms themselves, and I am 
 told that some of the young men keep them 
 very neat. You girls must not let the young 
 men prove neater than you.” 
 
 “ I wish I could see their rooms and the 
 school when they are away,” spoke a little 
 miss ; “ I would like to see how the school- 
 room looks.” 
 
 “Who does your cooking?” asked Leng 
 Tso. “ Does the matron do it all ?” 
 
 “ Oh no,” was the reply ; “ we must help 
 her and learn ourselves to cook. Mrs. Min- 
 turn says that part of the work of the school 
 is to learn to take care of a home and show 
 others how to do it. The matron said that 
 
WORK IN THE GIRLS' SCHOOL. 
 
 141 
 
 we may be teachers or wives of teachers and 
 preachers ; then the women would come in to 
 see how well we kept our homes, and would 
 learn from us. But I don’t like to cook ; I 
 would rather study.” 
 
 “ So would I,” spoke up another of the 
 girls. “ I wish the matron would do the 
 cooking and let us do the reading ; she is 
 too old to read much, and we are too young 
 to do much work.” 
 
 “ But you are to learn,” suggested the 
 Bible- woman, “and this is the place in 
 which to learn. The matron is a good cook 
 and knows how to teach you. Some day 
 you will be women and may have homes of 
 your own ; then you will wish to know how 
 to cook well.” 
 
 “ I will get a husband who can cook for 
 himself,” said one of the girls. “ Many 
 men do cooking ; why cannot all ? It would 
 be such an easy thing then to keep house.” 
 
 “And who would work and earn the 
 money ?” asked Leng Tso. 
 
 “Oh, I mean to marry a rich man who 
 will not need to work,” came the answer. 
 
 “What! would you live in idleness all your 
 
142 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 life and do nothing for the good of others?” 
 asked the Bible-woman. “ Is that what you 
 are liere for ?” 
 
 “ What are we here for, I should like to 
 know?” said a quiet young girl. “My 
 mother and father said that, as the foreign 
 teachers want to begin a school for girls, I 
 might go, and so I came ; and that is all I 
 know. I came here because they said so. 
 I study and do the work they tell me to do, 
 but I did not know that I was here for any- 
 thing special.” 
 
 “As you grow older you will learn what 
 is needed, and then will see, I hope, what 
 you can do and what you are here for. Our 
 people need teachers and women to tell them 
 of the doctrine; if women do not do it, no 
 one can, for you know that the foreign 
 teachers cannot visit your homes. Even 
 preachers of the Middle Kingdom cannot 
 go into your homes and tell your mothers 
 and sisters of the doctrine, so we must have 
 women to do it. Besides, we need women to 
 teach the women of our country how to take 
 better care of their homes, and how to cook 
 and sew and make home happier.” 
 
WORK IN THE GIRLS' SCHOOL. 143 
 
 “Are not our homes happy and good?” 
 asked a girl, in amazement. 
 
 “ Not as happy and good as they may be 
 made, and as we hope your homes will be. 
 It is partly for this that you are here. 
 Then, too, you are to learn about the true 
 God, and be able to tell other women whom 
 you meet about him, and try to bring them 
 to Jesus that they may become his disciples.” 
 “ I mean to be his disciple,” said one of 
 the girls, cheerfully ; “ I told my mother so, 
 and she said that I might. I mean to go to 
 the inquiry-meetings soon ; I am waiting 
 until I can answer the questions better. I 
 mean to be a Christian as soon as I know 
 enough to keep the commands and obey the 
 doctrine.” 
 
 “ Well, that is one of the things you are 
 here for,” responded the Bible-woman. “ The 
 teacher will teach you not only to read, but 
 to read the Bible, and he will teach you how 
 to become a disciple of Jesus. Then you 
 are to learn to teach others.” 
 
 “Will you stay to worship to-night?” 
 asked one of the girls as Leng Tso was 
 about leaving them. “ We all sing, and 
 
144 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 those who can read follow what is read ; and 
 then the teacher, or sometimes the pastor of 
 the church, comes in and prays with us. 
 We like the singing, and all the rest too. 
 You will like it if you stay. Teacher Lee 
 is so kind, and prays as if we were all his 
 children. Will you stay ?” 
 
 “ Perhaps so,” replied Leng Tso as she 
 started to have a talk with the matron. 
 
 “ If you do not come to worship, you 
 must come see us again,” said one of the 
 girls ; “ we want to see you and have you 
 talk to us. And will you please ask the 
 matron if she will cook and let us study ?” 
 To this last request Leng Tso made no 
 reply, but she promised to visit them again. 
 
 The matron and Leng Tso were well 
 acquainted, and the Bible-woman was glad 
 to see her friend there. 
 
 “ How many girls have you all together ?” 
 asked she. “ In the school I see only nine. 
 Do not some come and go home each day ?” 
 “ Yes,” replied the matron ; “ there are 
 nine that do not stay here to sleep. We 
 have eighteen in all, and shall probably 
 have two or three more before long. We 
 
WORK IN THE GIRLS' SCHOOL. 145 
 
 cannot take many more, as there is not 
 enough room.” 
 
 “ I wish we had a large building,” spoke 
 the Bible-woman, “ to take all who come. I 
 ( wish we could have a school for a hundred 
 girls.” 
 
 “ ‘A hundred ’ !” cried the matron, drop- 
 ping her work. “ What would we do with 
 them all ? Who would take care of them ? 
 When all eighteen are together, they make 
 noise enough ; I do not know how it would 
 be with a hundred. I could not cook for 
 half that number ; it seems that I have now 
 more than I can do. But I shall get used to 
 it, I suppose, only it does not seem the place 
 for me.” 
 
 “ Not the place for you ? Why, you are 
 the very one to be here. Who will attend 
 to such -work if you and I do not? Here 
 you are teaching the women who a few years 
 later will be teaching many others, and they 
 in turn others still, and thus your work will 
 go on long after you are gone.” 
 
 “ Teaching others — yes ; but what ? I 
 am only teaching them to make beds and 
 to cook and wash and do housework. If I 
 
 10 
 
146 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 were teaching them the doctrine, that would 
 be of some account ; but this is nothing.” 
 
 “ Why, do you think that the gospel is 
 for the soul alone?” asked Leng Tso, in 
 surprise. “ Indeed, it is meant to make the 
 body as well as the soul happier and better. 
 Has it not done that for you and me? And 
 shall we not try to make it have even more 
 effect on others ?” 
 
 “ I did not think of that,” replied the 
 matron ; “ but it does not seem to me that I 
 am doing much. I want to see these girls 
 become disciples of the Lord, but what am I 
 doing ? What can I do to help that ? I 
 am here to teach them to cook and take 
 care of household affairs.” 
 
 “ That is not all : you are here to show 
 them what a Christian woman is and what 
 she should do. You are to be an example 
 for these girls and show them by your life 
 what their lives should be. They will watch 
 and imitate you ; of that you may be certain. 
 None of them are disciples of Christ, are 
 they?” 
 
 “ None yet, though two or three have 
 spoken as if they wish to be. I hope all 
 
WORK IN THE GIRLS’ SCHOOL. 147 
 
 will soon become believers in the Lord. 
 But do you think that they will watch and 
 imitate me?” 
 
 “ Surely they will, and by walking aright 
 you may lead them in the way to the Saviour. 
 Then, too, by speaking a word now and 
 then, you may lead them to think of the 
 Lord.” 
 
 “ That is true, and I have done that, but 
 it is so little to do that it seemed nothing.” 
 “ Remember that Jesus said of the woman, 
 ‘ She hath done what she could and that is 
 all he expects you to do. If you do what 
 you can, you will bring some — it may be 
 all — of these girls to the Lord. What a 
 blessing that will be !” 
 
 “ If I might bring but one, I should be 
 thankful. Yet it is difficult to work so as to 
 please them.” 
 
 “ Better think of making them good and 
 faithful women. It is well not to have their 
 ill-will ; but if you try too hard to please, 
 you may fail. Think rather of pleasing 
 God and working for their good.” 
 
 “ They want me to do all the cooking 
 and sweeping ; they say that they are here to 
 
148 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 study, and I to work. Now, I would gladly 
 do all the work if I could, and I am strong ; 
 but Mrs. Min turn and Mrs. Parton say that 
 the girls must do some of the cooking, and 
 that they must make their own beds and take 
 turns in sweeping the rooms. The girls 
 do not want me to make them do it ; they 
 coax me and promise many things if I will 
 listen. When I tell them what the teachers 
 have said, they say that the teachers will not 
 know unless I tell them, and that I must not 
 tell. Now, what should I do? I wish to do 
 what will please all, and I wish to do right.” 
 “ Do right,” said Leng Tso, decidedly. “ Do 
 what Mrs. Minturn says. She wishes the 
 girls to become fitted to take care of their 
 own homes. No matter what they may ask 
 and promise, you are to do what Mrs. Min- 
 turn says. What would she think if she 
 should come in unexpectedly and find that 
 you not only take charge of the work, but 
 do it all? You could not tell her a lie.” 
 “ That is what I have thought. I do not 
 wish to deceive her, and yet I do not wish to 
 displease the girls. No, I will not tell a lie, 
 for I have not forgotten what the pastor told 
 
WORK IN THE GIRLS’ SCHOOL. 
 
 149 
 
 us about Ananias and Sapphira. I do not 
 want to drop down dead.” 
 
 “ But it is not from fear that we are to do 
 our duty ; instead, we are to do it because we 
 love God. Don’t forget to teach the girls 
 how wicked it would be for you to deceive 
 Mrs. Minturn. Tell them that God would 
 see and know, and some day would ask you 
 to give an account of your deceiving Mrs- 
 Minturn.” 
 
 “We must teach them constantly, and 
 hope to see them improve slowly. I have 
 been with the girls only a short time, yet 
 have seen an improvement in them.” 
 
 “ Are not all of them from Christian fam- 
 ilies ?” 
 
 “ No ; though the parents of nearly all of 
 them go to the worship in the chapels, yet 
 some go only occasionally and are far from 
 being followers of Christ. Some have only 
 for a few months heard the doctrine, and 
 such can have given their children little 
 instruction. Some of the girls have no 
 parents, and one of them has been taken 
 by friends and placed here because she had 
 no home.” 
 
150 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “ Who pays for the food and clothing of 
 such ?” 
 
 “ The foreign pastors. There are several 
 others whose parents cannot afford to give 
 them food here ; such the foreign teachers 
 support. Of course those who live at home 
 are here only part of the day, and those who 
 can pay for their dinner here. They do not 
 bring their food along, but all take dinner 
 together, that all may' seem alike.” 
 
 “ Do those who stay only part of the 
 day help at the housework and cooking ?” 
 “ Yes ; all are taught the same lessons, and 
 they must do the same kind of work. The 
 girls are to learn to become good housekeep- 
 ers as well as teachers, and all are taught 
 what will best help fit them for such work.” 
 “ Who teaches them to sew, and such kind 
 of work ?” 
 
 “ Mrs. Minturn and Mrs. Parton come in 
 the afternoon and teach what I cannot show 
 them. Mrs. May, who has just returned, will 
 teach them also.” 
 
 “ But do not they teach other things ?” 
 
 “ Oh yes, many other things. They teach 
 them to read books made by foreign teachers 
 
WORK IN THE GIRLS’ SCHOOL. 
 
 151 
 
 which use their own characters and our 
 words. Those books are very easy ; I can 
 read in them.” 
 
 “ I would rather read our own writing,” 
 said Leng Tso, quietly. “But do not you 
 teach the girls to sew and do other things 
 besides cooking and housework ?” 
 
 “ Yes, I help teach them to sew ; though, 
 as I said, the foreign teachers teach them. 
 But they also teach the girls to write the 
 foreign characters and to learn the things 
 taught in foreign schools. Then they teach 
 them from the holy book and teach them to 
 sing. Some of the girls are pretty singers.” 
 
 While the two were talking the gong 
 sounded for evening worship, and the women 
 went to the schoolroom, where the girls had 
 already gathered. Hardly had they seated 
 themselves when the old teacher entered. He 
 was a venerable, fatherly man with a face that 
 made each one like him at first sight. 
 
 A brief description of the old teacher may 
 not be amiss here. 
 
 Hap Liong was one of the old preachers 
 of the mission. When the school was de- 
 cided on, it was thought best to get a teacher 
 
152 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 who could give the most of his time to 
 the school. This it was certain Mr. Wag- 
 ner’s teacher could not do ; for when the mis- 
 sionary returned, he would need his teacher 
 again, so it was deemed best to select at once 
 the man who should remain. None appear- 
 ed so suited to the position as the old preach- 
 er. He was a man of fair education and able 
 to read quite well ; besides, he w T as a man of 
 noble character and principle. He had been 
 a Christian for many years — indeed, was one 
 of the earliest converts of that part of China. 
 Soon after he became a Christian he show- 
 ed his earnestness by giving all the time he 
 could spare from business to preaching. He 
 was anxious to learn more about the truth, 
 and was a careful student of the Bible and 
 a close observer of the missionaries. This 
 old man had now become too feeble from 
 age and hard work to spend much of his 
 time in going about preaching. To let him 
 feel that he was doing something for the 
 cause he loved, the missionaries had given 
 him the work of holding a daily preaching 
 service in the city, near his home. When the 
 girls’ school was opened and the old man 
 
WORK IN THE GIRLS’ SCHOOL. 
 
 153 
 
 placed there as teacher-in-cliief, he was hap- 
 py. He could yet preach, and in addition to 
 that work might help train the girls for fu- 
 ture work in the great cause. More than 
 that, he would to a certain extent be their 
 pastor. It raised the school in the estima- 
 tion of many to have this venerable man as 
 teacher. In China age is always respected ; 
 nowhere is it more so than in the teacher and 
 the guide of youth. 
 
 When all were seated and each had a 
 hymn-book, the old man arose and said, 
 
 “ Now, great family, let us praise God by 
 singing.” 
 
 Then the hymn was read. After the read- 
 ing he sat down, and Hap Liong’s voice 
 broke forth in song. The voice was weak 
 and had lost its steadiness, but the other 
 voices soon hid its defects, and a grand 
 chorus of song swelled in the air and went 
 out into the street. Some of the voices 
 were sweet and pure, and some were other- 
 wise ; some sang as the tune was, and others 
 as they supposed it might be. All sang. 
 In a Chinese audience of Christians all 
 sing. That all sing the same tune cannot 
 
154 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 be asserted, but all love to sing, and sing as 
 well as they can. If they do not all sing 
 on the same key, if some are a half octave 
 too high and others as much too low, most 
 of them seem to care very little for such 
 variety, and enjoy the hymn. 
 
 With the close of the son^ the teacher 
 read a portion of Scripture, and then, in a 
 prayer that seemed like a father’s committing 
 his children to God for the night, the old man 
 presented the needs of all at the mercy-seat. 
 
 When worship — which often did not 
 close without an additional song or two — 
 was over, the girls, at their leisure, started 
 for their room, and the work for the day 
 was ended. 
 
 After breakfast the duties of the day were 
 begun with worship. After a time of work 
 to clean the rooms and part of the building 
 used for the school, all but one of the girls 
 began to study in the schoolroom. One re- 
 mained away ; it was her duty for the week 
 to aid in the tasks about the house and in 
 cooking. Thus each took a week of work 
 instead of giving time entirely to study. 
 To the girls this week of household duty 
 
Chinese School-Room. Rage 155. 
 

 
WORK IN THE GIRLS’ SCHOOL. 
 
 155 
 
 was dreaded, and she who could escape 
 deemed herself fortunate. 
 
 With this gdimpse within the school, we 
 take the reader to the mission-home again. 
 Now that the school was so successfully 
 begun, half the anxiety of the ladies was 
 over ; but it would be doing them an in- 
 justice to say that they gave no thought 
 about the money needed for the future. 
 While they were carefully devising plans 
 and attempting new measures for making 
 the school more useful they gave the money- 
 question no little thought. When the neces- 
 sary furniture for schoolroom and household 
 use had been paid for, there was yet some- 
 thing left of the seventy -five dollars for 
 paying the current expenses. But what 
 were a few dollars for carrying on a board- 
 ing-school with nine boarders and as many 
 more day-pupils who were partial boarders ? 
 
 “ Now that the school is started, how do 
 you propose keeping it running ?” asked 
 Mr. Parton of his wife. “ It is not a per- 
 petual-motion machine, I suppose, that when 
 once started will run of itself until worn 
 out.” 
 
156 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “ I do not know how we shall get money,” 
 was the answer ; “ I know we must have it, 
 and before long too. If we pay out all 
 before more comes in, will you lend us for 
 a while from the treasury until we can get 
 money to repay ?” 
 
 “ What security can you give? This firm 
 does not loan money to every business that 
 may ask for the favor.” 
 
 “ The security is the best possible — the 
 Lord who says, ‘Ask, and ye shall receive.’ ” 
 “ Well, then, why not apply to your 
 security direct?” 
 
 “We have done that, and the money will 
 come, but may not be here on time. I am 
 sure that we shall get it.” 
 
 “ What is your reason for such assurance ?” 
 “ I have told you : we have prayed for it. 
 That is what we did for the money with 
 which to start. It came, did it not?” 
 
 “ Yes, but, as my memory goes, you did 
 two kinds of asking. First you interested 
 Mrs. Smith in your work, and then declined 
 to take pay for her stay here ; then you 
 asked Mr. Campbell, and wrote to Mr. 
 Brown before the money came. In other 
 
WORK IN THE GIRLS’ SCHOOL. 
 
 157 
 
 words, you used all the methods you could, 
 and asked the Lord to bless them.” 
 
 “ Well, as we have done what we could 
 and got the first three installments, we are 
 waiting for the next three.” 
 
 “From whom?” 
 
 “ I don’t know. The Lord will show.” 
 
 “ But I think that you should do more 
 than you have done.” 
 
 “ What can we do further ?” 
 
 “ Write to the Church at home.” 
 
 “ Who ?” 
 
 “ You or Mrs. Minturn.” 
 
 “What! I write to the Church? I could 
 not. How must it be done ?” 
 
 “ If you say you cannot do it before you 
 know how, that is reasonable ; but bow will 
 it do to learn, and then try to do it?” 
 
 “ What can I do ? I have done all I can.” 
 “ You have not written to the Church at 
 home and to the papers, stating your case, 
 telling the story and asking help. That, I 
 believe, will be the way the Lord will 
 answer your prayers : he will direct people 
 to send the money after they know where 
 and for what it is needed.” 
 
158 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “ What ! I write for the papers ? Never ! 
 I have never done such a thing in my life. 
 How would it look to see my name in 
 print ?” 
 
 “ When I asked you to come to China 
 with me, the same objection might have 
 been offered — your name would get in print 
 and people would talk about you, and all 
 that kind of thing; but you did not hes- 
 itate when you saw it to be a duty.” 
 
 “ Oh, that was different ; I meant to go 
 where you did. I did not think of the 
 papers then.” 
 
 “ So you were willing to do and endure 
 all for the sake of a homely, harum-scarum 
 scamp like myself, and are not you willing 
 to do this for the sake of this school on 
 which you have set your heart, and for the 
 people for whom you are so anxious? Yes,” 
 and the voice was soft and tender — “and for 
 Jesus, who for your sake and mine was will- 
 ing to be mocked and killed ? Winnie, it 
 will be hard to do it, but remember it is for 
 the cause to which we have given our lives 
 and for Him who gave his life for us. You 
 can do it, I know.” 
 
WORK IN THE GIRLS' SCHOOL. 
 
 159 
 
 “ Oh clear ! I cannot. What will my old 
 friends say ?” 
 
 “ Can’t say, I am sure. We will put cot- 
 ton in our ears if they speak loud enough 
 to be heard across the ocean. I hardly 
 imagine we shall need the cotton.” 
 
 After thinking for a long time Airs. Par- 
 ton came to her husband’s study, whither he 
 had gone to his work, and, wiping away the 
 tears that were yet coming, she said, 
 
 “I will try it; but oh, if you knew how 
 hard it is, you would do it for me. How 
 shall I begin ?” 
 
 “Tell the story as if to friends whom you 
 would move to think as you do ; imagine 
 that you are writing to people who do noth- 
 ing because they know nothing about that 
 which interests you. Write simply to give 
 them facts as clearly and briefly as possible, 
 and ask them to aid in the Lord’s work.” 
 “Oh, how can Ido all that? I don’t 
 know how to begin, nor how to write after I 
 have begun, nor how to finish. I wish so 
 much that you would only for this once 
 write the letter.” 
 
 “ It will be useless if I do, for the Church 
 
160 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 will not listen. You received the money from 
 Mr. Campbell and from Mr. Brown ; what 
 would I have gotten had I written? Not 
 one cash. That will be the way at home.” 
 “ But your letter brought the money for 
 the seminary.” 
 
 “ No, but Mr. Minturn and Mr. Wagner 
 pledging their savings for it did the work.” 
 
 “ Why not do the same now ?” 
 
 “ It will not do to go begging on too many 
 errands with the same infant in one’s arms, 
 Winnie. The Church would say after a 
 while, ‘ There is that little-savings story 
 carried around again.’ No, that will not do. 
 I can think of no other way to get money 
 than for you or Mrs. Minturn to write to the 
 secretary, and through him appeal to the 
 Church direct. You can do it, and the 
 money will come ; see if it does not. My 
 faith is rising now ; and when your letter is 
 published, my faith will be up to the high- 
 water mark.” 
 
 Mrs. Parton went to her room, and after 
 hours of thought and tears, writing mean- 
 while, she returned with a long letter, which 
 she showed to her husband. 
 
WORK IN THE GIRLS’ SCHOOL. 
 
 161 
 
 “ There !” said she ; “ I cannot do better. 
 My head aches so now that I can’t think 
 nor write another word.” 
 
 “ Then don’t. Put the paper here and let 
 us go out for a walk ; it will do us both good. 
 And let not a word be said about the letter 
 or the girls’ school until to-morrow.” 
 
 “Why not?” 
 
 “ Because you have done enough for one 
 day and are tired.” 
 
 “ But I want you to correct and put the 
 letter in shape.” 
 
 “All right; I will help. But it is past 
 my study-hour now, and I need rest and air; 
 so do you. Come, put on your hat and let 
 us go out.” 
 
 The two started for a walk ; but if Mr. 
 Parton expected that nothing would be said 
 about the girls’ school, he missed his expec- 
 tation. The talk and the fresh air agreed 
 better together than he thought ; and when 
 he met a little China boy and asked him grave- 
 ly if he thought it likely that he would be em- 
 peror some day if he went to school each 
 day and studied as hard as possible, the 
 little fellow replied that he did not want to 
 n 
 
162 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 be an emperor, but wished a kite like his big- 
 brother’s. 
 
 Then Mrs. Parton forgot all about the 
 school. 
 
 “ What did you ask him such a question 
 for ?” inquired she. “ I am glad that he gave 
 you such an answer.” 
 
 “ Why, I thought he ought to be treated 
 about as I was when a boy. People used to 
 tell me to study hard and go to school regu- 
 larly every day, so that some time I might 
 become President.” 
 
 “ Well, did you study harder for it?” 
 
 “ No ; why should I? What I wanted was 
 a boat with a sail ; that was worth more 
 to me than to be all the Presidents, from 
 George Washington down. I didn’t want 
 to be President, for then I would have to 
 stand stiff and starched up like a stick, with 
 lots of people looking on to see how still I 
 could stand or sit ; that is what I thought a 
 President was for. But to have a boat — that 
 I knew was worth having, for I could take 
 off shoes and stockings and wade into the 
 water to sail it. There was fun in that.” 
 Mrs. Parton almost forgot the school before 
 
WORK IN THE GIRLS’ SCHOOL. 
 
 163 
 
 the walk was half over, and came back rest- 
 ed and willing to wait with the letter for a 
 whole night. The next morning she urged 
 her husband to look over it and correct it. 
 This was done, and in due season the letter 
 was copied ready for the mail. And so it was 
 sent on its way. 
 
 The prayers that went with that letter are 
 not recorded on earth, but earnest and anx- 
 ious were the petitions presented at the throne 
 of grace that the letter, or something, might 
 bring the needed money. 
 
 With the next mail came an order for Mr. 
 Parton to draw on the mission for fifty dol- 
 lars that had been paid into the treasury by 
 one of his friends at home, to be used — so 
 the secretary stated — to buy butter with. 
 
 “Well, of all things!” said Mrs. Parton. 
 “ What does this mean ?” 
 
 For a moment the husband thought, and 
 then began laughing as he explained to his 
 wife and the mission ; for the arrival of the 
 home mail was a time of gathering of all the 
 members together : 
 
 “ I wrote to good Mr. Wayland, my dear 
 old friend — But here is a letter from him ; 
 
164 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 I will read and see if it adds to tlie explana- 
 tion.” 
 
 The letter was read, and the young man 
 continued : 
 
 “ Yes, it is as I supposed. I wrote to Mr. 
 Wayland that the Chinese did not make but- 
 ter and all the butter we could buy was at a dol- 
 lar a pound, and then it was not at all dear — 
 indeed, sometimes had a dollar and a half 
 worth of strength in it. Mrs. Wayland, who 
 is as kind and good as her husband, sends 
 this fifty dollars that we may have good 
 butter to eat.” 
 
 “ But where will you get the good butter 
 in China?” inquired Mr. Wagner. 
 
 “ I don’t know,” was the reply, “ but the 
 fifty dollars have been sent, and are to my 
 credit, the secretary says. I suppose I will 
 have to buy a churn and milk-pans and then 
 get a cow for Mrs. Parton to make butter 
 from.” 
 
 “ You will milk the cow, of course ?” spoke 
 Mrs. Parton. 
 
 “ Oh no,” was her husband’s reply. “ I 
 will furnish the stock and let you run it for 
 the half. That is the way farmers do, only 
 
WORK IN THE GIRLS’ SCHOOL. 
 
 165 
 
 I make a little better offer than many give. 
 But we don’t need that money, and it has 
 been given to the mission ; for if it went for 
 butter, Mrs. Way land would never forgive 
 us if we did not share it with all. So we 
 may think at our leisure what to do with it.” 
 “ You will not need much leisure to think,” 
 quickly spoke Mrs. Parton, “ as long as the 
 girls’ school needs money. I believe that is 
 the fourth installment, Avon. It is double 
 the first three because the school has begun.” 
 “No,” said Mrs. Minturn, “that money 
 was given to you, and.it would not be fair to 
 your kind friend to hand it over to the mis- 
 sion, even for the school.” 
 
 “ If it be ours, then I suppose we may do 
 what we choose with it,” said Mr. Parton, with 
 a twinkle in his eye. 
 
 “ Certainly,” replied both Mr. Minturn and 
 Mr. Wagner. 
 
 “ Very well. Then, for the sake of peace, 
 I will hand it over to Mrs. Minturn and Mrs. 
 Parton for the girls’ school. I may as well 
 do it first as last, or my slumbers will be 
 disturbed by other than dreams.” 
 
 “ I don’t care what you say,” responded 
 
166 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 Mrs. Parton, “ if we get the fifty dollars for 
 the school. I know that you want it to go 
 there as much as we do.” 
 
 So the fifty dollars were given for the use 
 of the school, and a letter of thanks was 
 sent to Mrs. Way land, with an explanation 
 of the use to which the money was put. 
 And as soon as a reply could come from her 
 another fifty dollars for the school was sent. 
 
 Meanwhile, Mrs. Parton’s letter reached 
 home and had a different effect from what 
 similar requests from the male members of 
 the mission had had.. The letter was pub- 
 lished with warm commendation from the 
 secretary. The fact that for less than twen- 
 ty dollars a girl could be supported and ed- 
 ucated in China startled many, and the ques- 
 tion was asked by not a few who had now 
 and then a score of dollars a year to give 
 to a good cause, “ Why cannot I pay for the 
 support of a girl in China?” Classes in Sab- 
 bath-schools considered the matter, and won- 
 dered whether or not they could singly or 
 two or three together support a girl in the 
 school in China. Before the letter had been 
 published many days the secretary received 
 
WORK IN THE GIRLS’ SCHOOL. 
 
 167 
 
 letters from various places enclosing money 
 to support a girl or two girls, or even more, 
 in the Chinese school. Letters were sent to 
 the mission requesting that girls be selected 
 for Sabbath-schools and classes to support. 
 The society at once adopted the school, and 
 ordered the mission to pay a certain amount 
 each year for its support. 
 
 When all this news reached the mission in 
 China, there was rejoicing, and none was more 
 thankful than Mrs. Parton. But she was 
 even more surprised than thankful. The 
 fact that her letter, so insignificant as it 
 appeared to her, should have such an effect 
 was beyond her understanding. She little 
 thought, perhaps, that it was not the letter, 
 but the necessities, as the facts showed them, 
 that brought such a response to her appeal. 
 The letter was a simple statement in plain 
 language of the matter, and made so earnest- 
 ly, yet so modestly, that every one reading it 
 could see that it was written by one who 
 knew of what she was writing and was 
 prompted by one purpose — to elevate and 
 save the people among whom she lived. 
 
 “Well, you’ve done it now,” was her hus- 
 
168 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 band’s remark as the two were alone in their 
 room. “After all, does it not seem that the 
 Lord wanted you to let his people know 
 what he had for them to do where you are ?” 
 
 “ Yes, that seems to be so,” she replied ; 
 “ but I had no idea that the money would 
 come so easily. Who would have thought 
 that a letter — and a letter of mine — would do 
 so much ? I am now glad that I wrote it ; but 
 had you known what that letter cost me, you 
 would not have insisted on my writing it. 
 I felt as if I would be willing to do anything 
 almost rather than write a letter for publica- 
 tion.” 
 
 “ No doubt of it. But so would many of 
 the timid martyrs rather have done almost 
 anything to save themselves from publicly 
 confessing Christ ; yet it was their duty, and 
 they did it. Do you think one of them, when 
 it was all over, regretted that confession ?” 
 
 “ Why, do you think my writing that let- 
 ter was like confessions of the martyrs ?” 
 
 “ No, it was not martyrdom, nor such con- 
 fession, but it was doing what you could for 
 Christ; and he has honored your work.” 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE NEW RELIGION AT TO A AW. 
 
 W E must go back in our story again to 
 the time of the persecution of the 
 Thau Pau Christians. For several months 
 they remained in exile at the Foo city, but 
 then were allowed to return to their native 
 village, and even to worship God within 
 the place. The people, though bitter against 
 them and their religion, were compelled by 
 the government to allow them to remain in 
 peace in their homes. The property stolen 
 from them was partly returned. 
 
 For a while the Christians were very 
 quiet, keeping the Sabbath, however, and 
 worshiping God in their homes, but so as to 
 make little noise. Each Sabbath they met 
 at the home of Liong to hold a quiet religious 
 meeting. As the enemies of the returned 
 exiles saw that the government, if com- 
 pelled by the foreigners, would punish per- 
 
 169 
 
170 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 secution, they vented their hatred in words 
 rather than in acts. Even these words be- 
 came fewer and less hateful, as the Christians 
 proved themselves kind and meek of spirit. 
 It was not long before regular service was 
 held each Sabbath in Liong’s home, and 
 at length the Christians grew bold enough 
 to hold it with open doors. 
 
 “We must have a teacher,” soon became 
 the spoken desire of the people ; and their 
 friend Khiau, whom at the beginning of 
 this story we have seen as the preacher, 
 was sent to remain a part of the time as 
 the preacher in charge. 
 
 A preacher made a chapel necessary, for 
 it was not best to hold the service in the 
 home of Liong : there was likely to be too 
 much disturbance; nor was it, for other 
 reasons, a convenient place. But where 
 should a chapel be found ? Outside of the 
 circular lau were several small houses, and 
 to these others were added as dwellings 
 when the old lau became too small. But 
 these buildings either were unfit for the 
 purpose or were owned by enemies of the 
 gospel. Standing on the edge of a dirty 
 
THE NEW RELIGION AT TO A AW. 171 
 
 pond — really, partly in it — was a small low 
 building with mud walls and a couple of 
 square holes for windows. This belonged 
 to Liong. He had no special use for it, and 
 said that if the mission wished he would let 
 them have it for a chapel. Since no other 
 building could be obtained, this was taken 
 and fitted up. A partition divided it into two 
 rooms, one to be used as a place of worship 
 and the other for the preacher, or for the 
 missionaries should they visit Thau Pau. 
 Humble and poor though it was, the little 
 chapel was thankfully set apart by the 
 people for the worship of God. Rarely has 
 the gospel started in a humbler place or with 
 less attractive surroundings. But a few dec- 
 ades hence, when those who were young then 
 are old and have seen what the gospel has 
 done and the progress it has made since the 
 first regular service was held in that little 
 low, dark chapel, they may well say, “ What 
 hath God wrought !” 
 
 The missionaries were not anxious to have 
 a large or fine chapel at Thau Pau, for the 
 place was too far out of the way to be a 
 centre of work. They hoped as soon as 
 
172 
 
 LENG 'ISO. 
 
 possible to reach the town of Sio Ke, a num- 
 ber of miles to the north-west, where, if a 
 foothold could be gained, the work of the 
 gospel would have a central position from 
 which to branch out in all directions. Toa 
 Aw was on the road to that large and im- 
 portant place. Had the missionaries chosen, 
 they would have selected Thau Pau as about 
 the last place in that section of the country in 
 which to start the mission work, and Toa Aw 
 would not have been chosen much sooner, ex- 
 cept that it lay nearer Sio Ke. But God’s 
 ways are not as man’s. By a sudden leap, 
 without the knowledge, much less the plan 
 and effort, of men, the gospel had stepped 
 over large towns and villages and taken a 
 foothold in this little out-of-the-way village 
 at the foot of the mountains. 
 
 Some time after the chapel had been 
 opened, Liong invited Soe to attend the ser- 
 vices there. The invitation was accepted, and 
 Soe spent his first Sabbath in a Christian 
 assembly. He professed to do so only as a 
 token of friendship to Liong, but in his 
 heart was a longing to know more of this 
 new religion. He could not get from his 
 
THE NEW RELIGION AT TO A AW. 173 
 
 mind the things that Liong had told about 
 this God and his sending his Son into the 
 world to die for men. No more careful hear- 
 er than Soe was in the little chapel that day. 
 He listened and watched, and watched and 
 listened, until the very close, when he had 
 many questions to ask of his friend and of 
 the preacher. 
 
 “ If this be all true,” said he, after a 
 while, “ how happens it that foreigners — 
 who, as you say, have known these doctrines 
 for many hundred years — did not come to 
 the Middle Kingdom before to tell the 
 people about this God? If the religion 
 be true, why has the world not known it 
 before ? Hid the people of foreign countries 
 want all the good themselves, and want the 
 Middle Kingdom people to have all the evil?” 
 
 Kliiau could give no satisfactory answers 
 to many of Soe’s inquiries, and excused him- 
 self by saying that he was but a disciple 
 himself, learning all he could, while he 
 taught what little he knew that he might 
 save as many as possible. 
 
 “ But,” said he, “ I know that this is 
 truth : ‘ God so loved the world that he gave 
 
174 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 his only begotten Son, that whosoever be- 
 lievetli in him should not perish, but have 
 everlasting life.’ I believe in him and have 
 everlasting life.” 
 
 “ What ! will you never die ?” asked Soe. 
 “ Does this new religion do that for you ? 
 Don’t the people of foreign lands die, either, 
 if they become disciples ?” 
 
 “Oh yes, they die,” replied Khiau, “and 
 so will I ; but there is another death after that, 
 and it is of this I spoke. The second death 
 is the awful one, because it never stops.” 
 
 “ ‘Second death ’ ?” asked the man. “ What 
 is that? How many deaths can any one 
 die? When men die, do not their spirits go 
 into the world of spirits ?” 
 
 “Yes,” replied the preacher, “and there 
 the spirit begins to die ; but it cannot die 
 entirely : it continues to die for ever and 
 ever. That death is like the sky. You can 
 look up into it and see a great way ; but if 
 you were to go into the sky, you would find 
 that you could see just as far after you had 
 gone a long distance as you could at first, 
 and so you might go on, and yet never find 
 an end.” 
 
THE NEW RELIGION AT TOA AW. 175 
 
 Soe shook his head and was unable to 
 understand, so for a moment was silent. 
 Then he asked, 
 
 “ How do you get this life ? How do you 
 escape from this death that you speak of?” 
 
 Khiau replied, 
 
 “ You must pray the great and true God 
 to give you this life, and must trust him to 
 do it. He has said that he will, and he will 
 keep his word.” 
 
 “ How must I believe ?” asked the man. 
 
 “ The holy book tells about it. We believe 
 the books of the Middle Kingdom, so must 
 we believe this book.” 
 
 “ But we don’t believe all the books of the 
 Middle Kingdom,” persisted Soe ; “ some of 
 them are not true, and how do we know that 
 this is?” 
 
 “ If you were sick, and a physician should 
 give you medicine after you had tried all 
 other physicians in vain, and his medicine 
 cured you, would you not say that his was 
 the medicine for your disease ?” 
 
 “ Yes, that I would,” replied Soe. 
 
 “ Then, if you found others sick as you 
 were, and you gave them the same medicine 
 
176 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 and it cured them and all to whom you gave 
 it, would not you think it was meant for such 
 
 disease ?” 
 
 “ Yes, and I would tell everybody about 
 it,” spoke the man, eagerly. “ That was the 
 way with Liong when he and Gan came back 
 from the foreign hospital. I wish the for- 
 eign doctors there could cure my sore foot. 
 Do you think they could ?” 
 
 “ I am not sure,” replied Khiau, “ but 
 they would be willing to try. You might 
 go down and see ; they will not charge you 
 anything. But let me go on. What such 
 medicine would be for the body the doctrine 
 is for the soul that is sick.” 
 
 “ How do you know that the soul is sick ?” 
 asked Soe, doubtingly. 
 
 “ How do you know that people have a 
 fever ?” asked Khiau. “ By seeing how they 
 look and what they do. But many men who 
 have a fever say they are well and wish to go 
 to work, yet they are too sick to know what 
 they need or what they are.” 
 
 “ That is so,” responded the man. 
 
 “ When one has had the fever and has 
 been made well, he knows about it,” con- 
 
THE NEW RELIGION AT TO A AW. 177 
 
 tinued Kliiau ; “ he knows that he has been 
 cured. That is the way with the soul. 
 Every one’s soul is sick ; we are born so. 
 Now, the only medicine that will make 
 the soul well is the new religion. I know 
 that it will make people well, for I have 
 tried it. I saw that I was sick after I had 
 taken some of the medicine, for that is what 
 it does at first : it shows people how sick 
 they are, and then it makes them better if 
 they will continue taking it.” 
 
 “ Is that the way ?” asked Soe, with much 
 deeper interest than he had yet shown. “ I 
 begin to see how it is.” 
 
 “ The soul has sickness as the body has,” 
 continued Kliiau, “ only the soul cannot die 
 of its disease ; it keeps growing more and 
 more ill all the time. There is no medicine 
 but what the true God gives, who made the 
 soul and knows all about it.” 
 
 “ What is the medicine ?” asked Soe. 
 ‘‘How do you take it? I want to know 
 more about it.” 
 
 “ The medicine is what this holy book 
 teaches. It tells us to believe in the true 
 God and make him ours; it tells that he 
 12 
 
178 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 gave his Son to die for us — that, since we 
 were sinners, we would all have perished 
 if God’s Son, Jesus, had not died to make 
 an atonement ; that is, to pay the price for us. 
 He so loved us that he was willing to come 
 to the world and die for us. Now, it tells 
 us to take all this and believe it and act on 
 it. Since Jesus has died for our sins, we are 
 to believe that he is our Saviour and take him 
 as such. We are to give our whole souls to 
 his care and believe that he will save us from 
 this eternal death because he says he will, 
 and because we trust him to do it. We must 
 believe that he does this, not because we are 
 good or worthy, but because he loves us. 
 Then, when we have done all this, we must 
 serve him. No, we must begin to do his 
 will, to try to obey and please him, at once, 
 as soon as we become his servants.” 
 
 Through all this explanation Soe listened 
 attentively, and then said, 
 
 “ It is well ; I will think of it and learn 
 more.” 
 
 The time for afternoon service soon came, 
 and Soe remained an attentive listener to the 
 close, when he went home. 
 
THE NEW RELIGION AT TO A AW. 179 
 
 Soe said nothing about the new religion in 
 Toa Aw except to his family ; he remember- 
 ed the disturbance the enemies of the gos- 
 pel had created at Thau Pau, and he wanted 
 nothing of the kind in his own village. He 
 thought, though, that he would not allow any 
 who might choose to become Christians in 
 Toa Aw to suffer as had the Christians of 
 Thau Pau. He knew wliat course he would 
 pursue, and, being the one who owned most 
 of the property there, he knew that his word 
 would have effect. Perhaps he wished that 
 some of his own village would become Chris- 
 tians, but none of them knew much about 
 the new doctrine ; not one of them was half 
 as much interested in it as he. He was not 
 ready to accept the new God as his ; he was 
 only ready to defend any one who should 
 accept him. Just there Soe stood as he 
 reached home that night. He was very 
 silent, and answered the questions of others 
 in the fewest words possible. He said that 
 Liong and his friends were, as far as he 
 knew, getting on quietly with the rest of 
 the people and he hoped there would be 
 no difficulty. 
 
180 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 Soe was unusually thoughtful that week. 
 It was a matter of concern to many, for 
 all liked the good-hearted man, and each 
 took an interest in his welfare and comfort. 
 When asked if he was sick, he several times 
 said yes, that his soul was sick, but corrected 
 himself at once and said that he was not 
 much ill, nor had he much trouble ; he was 
 only thinking. The next Sabbath he had 
 an excuse to go over to Thau Pau, and went 
 early. He did not come back again until 
 near night — even later than the previous 
 week. Again he questioned the preacher 
 and the other Christians as to how this new 
 doctrine made a man feel and what there was 
 in it that would make the heart light. They 
 seemed light-hearted, and he felt sad. His 
 heart was as heavy as a stone, he told Liong 
 when the two were alone, and he wondered 
 what could have made it so. He was not 
 accustomed to be so gloomy. Perhaps it 
 was because he thought so much of what a 
 sinner he must be, to make the Son of God 
 come from heaven to die for him — if, he 
 added, this religion of which Ivhiau said so 
 much was true. 
 
THE NEW RELIGION AT TO A AW. 181 
 
 “ If it be not true,” replied his friend, 
 “ it is strange that it should trouble your 
 heart. Shadows do not strike us so that 
 we feel them.” 
 
 “ I feel this,” spoke Soe, “ and it hits me 
 hard ; it has made me sore, and the sores are 
 like the one on my foot — a running sore. 
 Will they be like that, always running, 
 always sore? Is there nothing to heal?” 
 
 “Yes, there is,” said Liong, joyfully; 
 “ the great Physician will heal. Ask him 
 to send the medicine to your heart and 
 make you well.” 
 
 “You know him better than I,” replied 
 Soe ; “ will you tell him ? I will go with 
 you, for I want him to see that I am the 
 one, and that I mean what you say.” 
 
 “Yes, I will,” said Liong; “and then 
 you ask too.” 
 
 “ Don’t do it out here, nor in your home, 
 where all will hear,” spoke Soe. “ Let us 
 go to the woods, where no one will hear. I 
 do not want the people of Toa Aw to know 
 about this yet.” 
 
 The two went to the woods after the 
 morning service, as if for a walk, and there, 
 
182 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 away from men, they kneeled in prayer. 
 To Soe it was a time of sad and gloomy 
 foreboding. He was thinking of the second 
 death and his sins that made him worthy 
 of such a punishment. Instead of Liong’s 
 prayer giving relief, it seemed to add to the 
 trouble of the afflicted Soe. For a time he 
 was too much in fear and doubt to pray, 
 but, encouraged by the words of his friend, 
 he added a few petitions, and then the two 
 returned to the chapel and to the afternoon 
 service. Soe’s face revealed his feelings very 
 plainly, and Khiau saw that the man was in 
 trouble. The words of the speaker were 
 directed to give relief to the poor penitent, 
 and were not without effect. 
 
 At the close of the service Soe asked the 
 preacher, 
 
 “ Did you say that the blood of Jesus 
 Christ cleanses from all sin ? Does that 
 mean mine?” 
 
 “ Yes, all,” responded the preacher. 
 
 “ But will it do so to all who come, no 
 matter how many and for how long?” 
 
 “For all, and for all time,” answered 
 Khiau. 
 
THE NEW RELIGION AT TO A AW. 183 
 
 “Then it will last always. How can it?” 
 “ Off in the mountain,” replied the 
 preacher, “ there is a fountain that long 
 before you and I and our fathers were horn 
 sent out its cool water for men and beasts to 
 drink. It has been running ever since, and 
 to-day is as full, as clear and as good as it 
 was hundreds of years ago. That is the 
 way with the blood of Jesus. It is a foun- 
 tain, and it is opened for sin and all un- 
 cleanness. It will cleanse you as it has 
 many thousands before you were born.” 
 
 “A fountain ?” said Soe to himself — “ a 
 fountain that never ceases to flow? Yes, 
 that is what I want — a fountain that will 
 carry away my sins far from me, and will 
 yet be running pure and clear for others. 
 Yes, that is the fountain for me. — And may 
 all who will be cleansed by this fountain ?” 
 asked he of the preacher. 
 
 “Yes, all,” was the response; “and you 
 may be cleansed to-day if you only will. 
 Jesus says ‘whosoever will,’ and that means 
 you.” 
 
 “ True, true,” replied Soe ; “ and I will — 
 I will !” 
 
184 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 With a little more questioning Soe left for 
 his home. He went with a lighter heart, 
 but not with perfect satisfaction. He was 
 like the blind man who saw men as trees 
 walking, but the dimness of sight was pass- 
 ing away, and he began to see clearly. It 
 was not a sudden light, nor startling ; and 
 when the full sight was given, he wondered 
 why he had not seen before. It was so 
 simple to believe and let Jesus do the rest 
 that he could not understand why he had 
 failed sooner to understand. 
 
 Soe was not so quiet after the second 
 Sabbath as he had been after his first at- 
 tendance at Christian worship, but he was not 
 sure what he ought to do as to telling others 
 about it. He wanted no trouble in Toa Aw, 
 and yet he wanted all to know what he did. 
 After thinking for a time he decided to wait 
 and have a talk with the preacher the next 
 Sabbath and learn more clearly his duty. 
 He was ready to do it, but wished to know 
 surely what it was, lest by haste he might 
 cause disturbance. He had always felt that 
 better management at Thau Pau would have 
 prevented the persecution. He did not 
 
THE NEW RELIGION AT TO A AW. 185 
 
 remember that the people in the two places 
 were unlike, and, more than that, that Liong 
 and himself were very unlike. Both were 
 leading men, but Liong was more willful 
 and overbearing, more outspoken, though 
 not more decided, but less ready to give 
 others the benefit of their opinions. While 
 Liong was a leader, he was one to arouse 
 more enmity and make far more enemies 
 than Soe ; so when the people at Thau Pau 
 had an opportunity to repay Liong and 
 show their power, they were quick to do it. 
 
 The next Sabbath, Soe started for Thau 
 Pau again, but not alone : he took with him 
 two of his friends and on the way told them 
 where he was going. Out of curiosity they 
 readily yielded to his request, and went 
 with him to the chapel. There, Soe, after 
 asking the preacher between services his 
 duty, confessed, in the hearing of his friends 
 and all present at the inquiry-meeting before 
 the afternoon service, that he had determined 
 to give up the worship of idols and the 
 spirits of the dead and become a worshiper 
 of the true God. The confession surprised 
 his friends, though it did not make them 
 
186 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 angry. They saw that he was in earnest, 
 and felt a curiosity to know more about the 
 religion that he had just confessed. 
 
 When the service was over and the party 
 were on the way to Toa Aw, Soe told his 
 friends more fully of his change of religion 
 and change of heart. They listened respect- 
 fully, and said that they were ready to learn 
 more about the new doctrine. 
 
 “ I mean to bring it into Toa Aw,” said 
 he. “ If it is good for me, it is good for 
 my family and my friends, and for all whom 
 I know. Will you join with me?” 
 
 The men tried to excuse themselves on the 
 ground that they knew too little yet to decide, 
 and said that they would wait to learn more. 
 They were afraid of trouble, and were not 
 enough interested to make any sacrifice for 
 the new religion. But they thought, too, that 
 with Soe, the chief man in the place, as a 
 friend not only, but a leader, in the new re- 
 ligion, there was not likely to be much out- 
 ward opposition. They knew that he was 
 too much beloved by all to be persecuted, 
 especially as he owned most of the property 
 in Toa Aw. 
 
THE NEW RELIGION AT TO A AW. 187 
 
 When Soe reached home that night, he 
 called his family together and told them what 
 he had learned and what the new doctrine 
 was to be and why he believed it true. 
 
 “ Now,” said he, “ I mean to serve this 
 God. I will not compel any of you to fol- 
 low me, but you must not expect me to wor- 
 ship the idols any more, nor will I offer any- 
 thing at the ancestral tablets. I mean to 
 give my whole heart to the true God, and 
 not the smallest part to the false ones. And 
 he is to be the God of my home. If, after 
 you have learned all you can about him, you 
 do not wish to serve him, then you may do 
 as you like ; but you must not ask me to 
 help in any of the old worship to which I 
 gave time and money. I do not mean to 
 pay for any idolatrous feasts, nor even for 
 the worship of ancestors.” 
 
 This confession of Soe was not unexpected 
 to his family ; but when the news was made 
 known to the villagers, they were surprised. 
 In a quiet way he gave his reasons for chang- 
 ing his religion. People listened with re- 
 spect and had not much to say in opposition. 
 Chinese rarely at first oppose Christianity ; not 
 
188 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 until they have taken time to let their super- 
 stitious fears work, and not until some fanat- 
 ic has aroused them to hate it, do they say 
 much against the gospel. Nor are they, as a 
 rule, willing to oppose it at all if there be no 
 reason to think that the gods or the spirits of 
 the dead will be angry and punish all for the 
 sin of the few. 
 
 For a few days Soe’s change of faith was 
 a subject of talk in Toa Aw, and then the 
 people let the matter rest, as if they cared 
 very little about it. But the talk did not 
 entirely end, though it might have died out 
 had there not been some — as is usually the 
 case — to turn every misfortune into a visitation 
 of the gods as punishment for the change of 
 religion. These soon found an opportunity 
 to say “ I told you so,” and to arouse the 
 people against Soe and the religion he was 
 trying to bring to the village. 
 
 A death occurred, and at once these oppos- 
 ers said the gods were angry because a for- 
 eign God was worshiped in the place. They 
 hinted that this would be followed by other 
 and greater calamities, the end to which it 
 was impossible to see. Some spoke to Soe 
 
THE NEW RELIGION AT TO A AW. 189 
 
 and warned him of the danger, and said it 
 would be his own fault if others suffered. 
 They declared that the gods were angry and 
 would soon punish severely the people who 
 dared to desert them for a foreign worship. 
 
 “Well may the gods be angry,” said Soe, 
 “ when I, who have done so much for them, 
 refuse to do any more ; but it is a strange 
 way of showing their anger to punish their 
 friends for what an enemy has done. Why 
 do they not chastise me, who have offended, 
 rather than those who faithfully serve them ? 
 If that is the way the gods treat those who 
 are faithful to their service, then I am glad 
 that I have turned from them. It seems 
 that I shall be safe now. If what you say 
 be true, then the sooner you become the ene- 
 my of the gods, the sooner will you escape 
 their anger. They seem afraid of enemies, 
 and punish friends for what their enemies 
 do.” 
 
 “ They are merely showing to their friends 
 what they can do to enemies. If such 
 things are suffered by friends, let the ene- 
 mies beware,” replied one, significantly. 
 
 “ It is a strange kind of showing,” said 
 
190 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 Soe, “ to cause the faithful to suffer that the 
 unfaithful may learn. The lesson I take is 
 that if gods killed that man, then they are 
 not to be trusted ; they would sooner slay 
 friends than enemies. To teach an enemy 
 a lesson they will kill a friend.” 
 
 “ You may talk now,” was the answer, “ but 
 after a while you will w T eep. Some day the 
 gods will hurt you worse than the running 
 sore does.” 
 
 “ Perhaps so,” replied Soe, coolly ; “ but if 
 I remember aright, the sore was given me 
 when a faithful servant of the gods. They 
 did not protect me then ; it will not be strange 
 if they try to harm me now. Yet I have a 
 greater God than they for my friend.” 
 
 “ He may be a great God in the foreigners’ 
 country, but the Middle Kingdom is not his 
 land.” 
 
 “ That is true,” replied Soe, “ but some day 
 I hope it will become his, and that you will 
 live to be one of his servants.” 
 
 “ Do you suppose that we will desert the 
 gods of our fathers and neglect the spirits 
 of our ancestors? No, indeed! Shall we 
 leave those w T e love to suffer and starve 
 
THE NEW RELIGION AT TO A AW. 191 
 
 in the spirit- world ? What will not our 
 children then do to us when we are in the 
 land of the dead ? And what shall we say 
 to the dead when we meet them ?” 
 
 “ Better ask, What shall we do when the 
 spirits punish us for our neglect?” spoke one. 
 
 “ How will they punish you ?” asked Soe. 
 
 “ That we cannot tell,” was the reply ; “ we 
 know soon enough when the punishment 
 comes. But we do not intend that it shall 
 come ; we do not wish the spirits to come to 
 earth to punish us, and will care for them all 
 we can.” 
 
 “And so they come to earth to punish?” 
 said Soe. “ If they do that, why not stop 
 and get something to eat and drink, and 
 thus save their friends the trouble of car- 
 rying it?” 
 
 “ Do not speak thus of the noble spirits 
 of the dead,” almost whispered one of the 
 bystanders ; “ they may be listening. Do 
 not let us suffer for your evil words. Our 
 village may be visited by enemies whom 
 they send to punish us for what you say.” 
 
 “ They will but be doing, then, what they 
 did when we were all friends of gods and 
 
192 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 spirits — I as much as any of you. What 
 are gods for if not to protect their friends, 
 I would like to know?” asked Soe. “But 
 they did not protect us from the Tai Pings ; 
 here we see yet marks of the ruin the rebels 
 brought to our village. We left it for gods 
 and spirits to take care of, and they allowed 
 our enemies almost to destroy the place.” 
 
 “ That was to warn us not to forsake the 
 religion of our fathers,” replied a man. “ If 
 we forsake, they may, and probably will, send 
 far worse enemies.” 
 
 “ I do not see how they can send much 
 worse ones,” spoke Soe, quietly. 
 
 “ They may send some who will destroy 
 life and kill you.” 
 
 “That will not be so much worse,” an- 
 swered Soe. “ They will only remove me 
 from the place where enemies trouble, and 
 where gods and spirits are constantly grow- 
 ing angry and punishing their best friends, 
 to a place where no angry gods or revenge- 
 ful spirits can come, but where there is a 
 merciful, great and loving God who pities, 
 forgives and saves ; and that is what gods 
 of the Middle Kingdom cannot do.” 
 
THE NEW RELIGION AT TO A AW. 193 
 
 Talks like these set some people thinking 
 and made others more bitter against Soe 
 and the religion he had accepted. Even 
 this feeling might have passed away had 
 not several others shown decided sympathy 
 with the .new religion, and even been seen 
 going to the house of Soe at times of even- 
 ing worship. After he had made known 
 his purpose to his family he had begun to 
 worship the true God in his home, and 
 asked all of his family who would to join 
 him. At first his wife objected, but, as he 
 allowed her to do as she chose, she soon be- 
 came a silent worshiper with the rest. He 
 invited neighbors who were at all interest- 
 ed in the gospel to unite with his family in 
 this service, and thus night after night quite 
 a little company gathered in his house. These 
 meetings made the friends of the gods and of 
 spirit-worship angry. Nor was this anger 
 lessened when Soe took with him Sabbath 
 after Sabbath to the village over the moun- 
 tain several to spend the day there in wor- 
 ship of the foreign God. 
 
 One stormy Sabbath the little company, 
 instead of going to Thau Pau to worship, 
 
194 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 remained at home and held worship in Soe’s 
 house. This was more than some who had 
 gradually become exasperated and waited for 
 an opportunity would endure. They met 
 the same day to talk the matter over and 
 decide what to do. That something must 
 be done all admitted. Sabbath worship, 
 they supposed, meant the opening of a 
 chapel, and that would be the signal for 
 gods and spirits to visit the place with most 
 awful calamities. 
 
 Soe led the worship and tried to preach 
 or explain the gospel. His own knowledge 
 was not great, but what he knew he knew 
 well, and his explanations as Avell as his 
 arguments against idolatry were understood 
 by his hearers. Those who were wavering 
 were established more firmly, and all went 
 from that first Sabbath service more deter- 
 mined to become servants of the true God 
 than when they entered. 
 
 So, also, from the meeting to consider 
 what should be done to oppose the gospel 
 all present went away determined to do all 
 in their power to drive out the new religion. 
 The next day they began by a cautious talk 
 
THE NEW RELIGION AT TO A AW. 195 
 
 to warn Soe to keep the worship of the 
 foreign God from the village. His replies 
 soon made them forget their proposed cau- 
 tion, and they began to threaten. 
 
 “ Who owns the larger part of the lau 
 and of the village property ?” asked Soe. 
 
 “You,” was the reply; “but we who live 
 here have rights too, and we mean to keep 
 them.” 
 
 “ So you shall,” answered Soe, “ and I 
 will be one to see that you are not disturbed. 
 As you have rights, so have I and all who 
 live here. As for stopping the worship of 
 the true God, it may as well be said first as 
 last that I do not mean to compel any of you 
 to worship him. I mean only to worship 
 him in my own house, and not one of you 
 need enter that, nor come near the door, nor 
 within sound of our voices. Indeed, if the 
 worship disturbs you, it will be well for you, 
 during such worship, to go out into the fields 
 until it is over. It will not last very long — 
 not half as long as the worship of idols ; and 
 when that troubles me and my friends, we 
 will say nothing, but go the fields while you 
 are enjoying it.” 
 
196 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 Arguments as well as threats were useless, 
 and the people, becoming excited, declared 
 that they would drive Soe and his friends 
 from the village as Liong and his friends 
 had been driven from Thau Pau. 
 
 “ That might be done in Thau Pau,” re- 
 marked Soe, calmly, “but that village is not 
 Toa Aw, nor is Liong Soe. I own property 
 here ; and when you undertake to drive me 
 from it, you undertake to fight the manda- 
 rins. I shall stay here and worship the God 
 I know to be true ; that is not against the 
 laws of the Middle Kingdom. And, more 
 than that, the mandarins will take care that 
 I be allowed to worship whom I please. If 
 the people did drive Liong and his friends 
 from Thau Pau, remember that the manda- 
 rins made them invite all back and compelled 
 the people to restore the property, too, that 
 had been taken away.” 
 
 The people knew that what Soe said was 
 true, and that they would be bringing trouble 
 on themselves if they undertook to drive him 
 from the place ; they knew, too, that, while 
 very peaceful, he was firm in maintaining 
 liis rights, and that to attack him would 
 
THE NEW RELIGION AT TO A AW. 197 
 
 probably be to get themselves into great 
 trouble. The lesson learned by the enemies 
 of the gospel at Thau Pau had not been with- 
 out its effect on the Toa Aw people. Though 
 very unwilling, they finally decided to profit 
 by it when they saw how decided Soe was, 
 and that he would do what he said. In their 
 hearts they really liked him, for he was a 
 noble, kind-hearted man. 
 
 Though there was no outbreak against the 
 gospel, the feeling against the Christians con- 
 tinued, and not a few were the indications 
 that acts of violence would have followed 
 had the people dared. Gradually, however, 
 they submitted to the presence of foreign 
 worship, as they called it, and, as no special 
 evil followed, they cared less about oppos- 
 ing it. 
 
 Soe continued to have worship on weekday 
 evenings and on stormy Sabbaths, and now 
 and again on Sabbaths that were not stormy. 
 At first the people who were interested in 
 the gospel and able to go went on Sabbath to 
 Thau Pau, but often there was no preacher 
 at the chapel there, because Khiau was sent 
 to some other place for weeks. 
 
198 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 Liong usually led the service at Thau Pau, 
 as he could read, but his teachings were not 
 always wise. One day, when reading the 
 tenth chapter of John, he compared Khiau 
 to the hireling who deserted the sheep ; this 
 left a very unfortunate impression on the 
 minds of the people regarding their absent 
 preacher. Perhaps Liong did not intend his 
 words to mean what the hearers took from 
 them, yet even so early he showed that he 
 was not over-favorable to the preacher who 
 had been sent to them. 
 
 Soe and his friends felt after a while that 
 the services at the chapel were not much bet- 
 ter, if no preacher was present, than those 
 which they held in the house at Toa Aw. 
 It became quite common for them, when 
 there was no preacher at Thau Pau, to re- 
 main at home and hold service. In the end 
 this proved a great advantage not only to the 
 people of the little village, but to the coun- 
 try beyond. 
 
 Leng Tso while at Thau Pau met the peo- 
 ple of Toa Aw and became greatly interest- 
 ed in them. 
 
 “ I knew,” said she, “ that God would 
 
THE NEW RELIGION AT TO A AW. 199 
 
 hear the prayers of his children. The mis- 
 sionaries have longed so much to preach to 
 the people and places beyond Toa Aw ; it 
 may be now that the Lord is preparing the 
 way for them to reach those places. Cannot 
 you tell the people — those living beyond — 
 what you have heard and know to be true ? 
 If there could but be a chapel at the large 
 town of Sio Ke, and a preacher there, who 
 knows what good it would do?” 
 
 The Christians of Thau Pau were glad to 
 welcome Soe and his companions to their 
 chapel, and showed a true brotherly feeling 
 to them. The talk between services was often 
 about the opposition against them in Toa Aw; 
 and when Soe told what he had replied to 
 the would-be persecutors, he was asked, 
 
 “ But does not the holy book say that ‘ if 
 any man will sue thee at the law and take 
 away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also ’ ?” 
 “ Yes,” was the reply, “ but they did not 
 mean to sue me at the law : they meant to 
 take all my property and drive us all from 
 the place, contrary to the law. Because they 
 would do what was against the law I deter- 
 mined to resist them.” 
 
200 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “ But is it not best to submit to the op- 
 position of enemies ?” was asked. “ If one 
 smite us on the right cheek, are we not to 
 turn the other also?” 
 
 “So the Lord bids us,” answered Soe, “but 
 he does not tell us to submit that we may 
 bring our enemies into the greater trouble. 
 Had we submitted, the people would have 
 driven us away ; then we would have appeal- 
 ed to the mandarins, who would have com- 
 pelled those opposed to us in Toa Aw to 
 bring us back and return us our property. 
 This would have given us as well as all 
 others great trouble.” 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A JOURNEY TO HA BUN. 
 
 TZ HIAU of late was so often ordered away 
 from Thau Pau that his wife no longer 
 made her home there, but stayed in the Foo 
 city. Yet she visited the little village among 
 the mountains, and remained there for weeks 
 at a time when her husband was there. She 
 was rather pleased to be away from the vil- 
 lage and in the larger city, as there had ap- 
 peared on the part of Liong a feeling not 
 unlike jealousy toward her husband. To 
 her Khiau was almost perfect, and she could 
 not endure hearing others speak slightingly 
 of him. Liong was an ambitious man and 
 liked honor. For a time after he became a 
 Christian this feeling seemed to have gone, 
 and he appeared to be as humble as the 
 humblest; but with the return of himself 
 and his party to the village under the pro- 
 tection of the mandarins he showed a lively 
 
 201 
 
202 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 sense of liis own importance ; lie took the 
 lead of the band of Christians and became 
 their head. With the presence of Khiau as 
 preacher appointed by the foreign teachers, 
 Liong saw that he was second. He bore 
 this in silence for a time, but after a while 
 began to manifest a desire for supremacy. 
 
 While Khiau and his wife were at Thau 
 Pau a message came from the missionaries 
 requesting him to go farther inland to a 
 place many miles north-west ; the people 
 had learned of the gospel, and wished a 
 teacher. Khiau was proud of the honor 
 and responsibility, and was soon ready to 
 start. Of course his wife could not go along, 
 and she was glad to return to the Foo city. 
 As she was preparing to go Leng Tso reached 
 the village. She had come for a stay of a 
 day or two only, and the two agreed to go 
 together to the Foo city. The Bible-woman 
 intended going farther and proposed a trip 
 to Ha Bun, stopping at the various places 
 on the way to carry on her work, as well as 
 to visit old friends. She persuaded Khiau 
 So to accompany her. 
 
 The two started one morning early with 
 
A JOURNEY TO HA BUN. 
 
 203 
 
 several friends from the village. It was a 
 long, tedious walk before they reached the 
 small river where they might take a boat. 
 Neither of them felt able to afford to ride in 
 a sedan-chair, the only means of carriage 
 except by boat in their part of the country. 
 There are no horses there, and few cattle. 
 These last are not used in parts of Southern 
 China as beasts of burden, nor yet to draw 
 wagons, their only work being to pull the 
 plough or harrow; so those who cannot walk 
 must ride in a sedan-chair or stay at home, 
 unless near enough to a river to use a boat. 
 The Bible- woman had long ago learned to 
 walk, and the wife of the preacher had been 
 obliged to learn later. Though a sedan- 
 chair, with the two bearers, may be hired 
 for perhaps forty cents a day, yet the ques- 
 tion often is about the forty cents. Khiau’s 
 salary at this time was only six dollars a 
 month, and from that he must board and 
 clothe himself and his wife. As that was 
 nearly twice as much as an ordinary day- 
 laborer earns, they were satisfied ; but it 
 was far from what Khiau So had been ac- 
 customed to in earlier days. 
 
204 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 None in the party were more thankful 
 than our two friends when the path ended 
 on the bank of a small stream. This was 
 little more than a narrow and shallow brook, 
 being wide and deep enough to float a light 
 flat-bottomed boat that lay at the head of 
 navigation, waiting for the party. 
 
 “You cannot all go,” said the head-boat- 
 man ; “ the water is too low. The boat will 
 run aground if you all come aboard with 
 your baggage.” 
 
 It was agreed that if the boat could carry 
 the burdens the men should walk until they 
 came to deeper water. 
 
 With some walking along the bank and 
 others sitting in the little vessel, the party 
 started down stream. It was easy to keep 
 up with the boatmen as they pushed the craft 
 along, now moving to this and then to that 
 side, to keep from running aground. But 
 deeper water and a wider surface came 
 farther down, and more burdens could be 
 carried. 
 
 About noon the party reached the mouth 
 of the creek, where the smaller boat was 
 exchanged for a larger river-craft. These 
 
A JOURNEY TO HA BUN. 
 
 205 
 
 vessels are constantly passing up and down 
 the river, which, at the place where our 
 party reached it, is a stream of considerable 
 breadth, but so shallow that boats drawing 
 only two feet of water are at times unable to 
 sail in some places. Changing rifts of sand 
 and gravel lie like bars across the channel, 
 and to pass them boatmen are compelled to 
 get into the water to scoop away the rifts 
 or make a channel through them. 
 
 The water in the river was low when the 
 party took the larger boat, and the progress 
 down-stream was slow, but, as the sailing 
 was pleasant, they cared little about speed. 
 Chinese learn, as travelers, the lesson of 
 patience. To sail on a river-boat, to be run 
 on sand-rifts and compelled to wait idly for 
 an hour or two while the men dig a channel, 
 or slowly to push one’s way against a swift 
 current by means of poles, is tedious travel- 
 ing, but it is more trying yet to lie becalmed 
 on a sailing-boat, where there is too much 
 depth of water for poling and the boat is 
 too large for oars to propel her rapidly. 
 But then Chinese are rarely in a hurry ; to- 
 morrow will do, if to-day is not sufficient. 
 
206 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 The passengers eat and drink — nothing 
 stronger than tea and river- water, as a rule 
 — they talk and laugh, they sleep and snore, 
 and not least of their pastimes is gambling. 
 
 These river-boats in Southern China are 
 usually flat-bottomed, but rounded upward 
 at stem and stern as well as at the sides. 
 Rather narrow, and light of build, these 
 vessels are made for light and easy sailing, 
 yet they are capable of carrying large loads. 
 The load of freight is regulated by the depth 
 of water in the fiver. Some of these crafts 
 are rather pretty, but many have lost what 
 beauty they ever had, and, as for comfort, 
 few have a supply. Many of them have 
 little cabin except a piece of matting stretch- 
 ed over bent poles ; this, unless needed to keep 
 off sun and rain, is rolled up and laid on 
 the side of the deck. Occasionally one of 
 these vessels large enough to have a crew of 
 several men is seen, but often the crew con- 
 sists of two, a man and a woman, the hus- 
 band acting as captain and the wife as mate. 
 When children come to these parents, they 
 are free passengers for the first few years, 
 but must soon learn to work their passage. 
 
A JOURNEY TO HA BUN. 
 
 207 
 
 On one of these river-boats our two 
 friends took passage. It was during a time 
 of low water, and they knew that the 
 voyage might be a long one. The length, 
 however, depended on the number of rifts 
 their boat encountered and the speed with 
 which the men dug a channel through them. 
 
 While the passengers were congratulating 
 themselves on the speed of the craft there 
 came to their ears the sound schrush-schrush- 
 ush-ush-sh-sh, and then the water went on 
 without them. They were fast aground, and 
 might enjoy the scenery without change. 
 The boatmen were soon at work, now silently 
 digging a channel, and now as noisily talk- 
 ing in angry words and vile language — no 
 oaths were used : the Chinese tongue has no 
 words in it for oaths ; the vileness makes up, 
 however, for all such lack — because the sand 
 and gravel refused to be removed as quickly 
 as they wished. The passengers took the 
 stop coolly. They had paid their fare, or 
 intended to pay it, and what difference did it 
 make to them how long the voyage lasted ? 
 If their provisions held out — passengers 
 usually take their provisions along — it 
 
208 
 
 LEXG TSO. 
 
 mattered little to them. No extra charge 
 for stoppages ; and the longer the voyage, 
 the more time had each one for rest and to 
 play the gentleman or the lady. It need 
 hardly be said that such delays, and es- 
 pecially the language used by the boatmen, 
 were anything but pleasant to our two 
 friends. 
 
 By close watching in the daytime the 
 rifts could be partly avoided, though it was 
 often a question whether or not the vessel 
 could pass over shallow places, and some 
 places that seemed deep enough proved just 
 deep enough to form a good stopping-place. 
 Traveling at night was so liable to detentions 
 that the boat was fastened as darkness came on, 
 and the crew took a well-earned rest. That 
 the passengers enjoyed their rest it would 
 be hardly safe to say, nor might it please 
 delicate ears to tell why they did not. It is 
 often asked, “ What are some of the greatest 
 trials the missionary in China must meet?” 
 Header, pardon the statement here : some 
 of the smaller trials — small only in point 
 of size — are the insects on those river-boats. 
 They may not trouble Chinese as they do 
 
A JOURNEY TO HA BUN. 
 
 209 
 
 foreigners, but many a missionary would 
 understand torture in China to mean travel- 
 ing and sleeping a few nights on one of 
 those river-boats. 
 
 Not until the close of the second day did 
 i the boat reach the Foo city. There Leng 
 Tso and her companion found a warm wel- 
 come from their old friends, and there the 
 preacher’s wife was at home. To her house 
 did the Bible-woman go, and with Khiau So 
 she made her home most of the time when 
 in the Foo city. This place had a never- 
 ceasing interest to the two. In it had been 
 passed some of the most pleasant years in 
 the lives of the women, and there had Leng 
 Tso passed through the most terrible trials 
 of her sad and trying life. 
 
 Shortly after reaching their old home the 
 two spent part of a day in revisiting the 
 places that once had been their homes and 
 in telling of the lives lived within them. 
 When Leng Tso told of the awful scenes 
 during the rebellion, the two wept together. 
 She pointed out to her friend the places 
 where she had hidden to escape the soldiers, 
 and the streets through which she had run 
 
 14 
 
210 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 with her husband and family to find, if pos- 
 sible, a way out of the city on the night 
 of its capture by rebels.* There remained 
 the same bare walls and roofless dwellings 
 that had been left after the imperial army 
 passed out of the place at the close of the 
 war. Street after street was deserted, and 
 ruin was everywhere. The rubbish of de- 
 stroyed dwellings lay in huge piles in the 
 streets as the soldiers had left all years ago. 
 Some houses that stood then were now de- 
 serted and going to decay. Ruin was slowly 
 creeping over the city. More than three- 
 fourths of the once large place — it having 
 had nearly one million inhabitants — lay in 
 crumbling ruins. Less than two hundred 
 thousand would now comprise the whole 
 number of the inhabitants. 
 
 Wearied and sad, the two at length turn- 
 ed their feet from the place of desolation to 
 a spot where they were certain of finding 
 friends and life and comfort. In the large 
 chapel they were among the first to assemble 
 for evening worship. At these gatherings 
 
 * See Chinese Slave- Girl. Presbyterian Board of Publica- 
 tion. 
 
A JOURNEY TO HA BUN. 211 
 
 larger and larger numbers came each time the 
 two visited the place. It was almost the 
 only spot in the great city where there 
 appeared to be life and hope. For a while 
 they remained at the Foo city, Leng Tso 
 spending much of her time in visiting the 
 women and reading the Bible to them. 
 Khiau So longed to engage in the same 
 work, but felt timid. 
 
 “ My lips seem tied,” said she, “ when I 
 try to speak to the women, unless to Chris- 
 tians.” 
 
 “Why not, then, talk to Christians?” 
 asked the Bible-woman. 
 
 “ I do, in Thau Pau,” replied Khiau So, 
 “but here a fear overcomes me. I cannot 
 say how or why it is. I can talk about other 
 things, but not about the one important thing. 
 True, I can speak to Christians, but the 
 teacher * says we must try to bring all the 
 souls we can to the truth.” 
 
 “ God’s people need more of the truth ; 
 they are not taught as they should be,” sug- 
 gested the Bible-woman. “ They are most 
 of them only children in the truth. Teach 
 
 * The husband of Khiau So. 
 
212 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 them, and through them you may reach 
 many other souls.” 
 
 “ The teacher says when we love people 
 we love to speak of them to others. This 
 has troubled me a great deal, for I love the 
 Lord, and I did love to speak of him before 
 we went to Thau Pau — that is, before Liong 
 became unfriendly to the teacher. That has 
 made me feel badly. I wish the foreign 
 pastors would not ask him to go back to 
 Thau Pau ; a more learned man should be 
 sent there, and one who never lived in the 
 place. Liong thinks himself as learned as 
 the teacher.” 
 
 “ It may be that he will be sent to the new 
 place where he has gone now ; there he will 
 be a stranger, and you will be able to talk 
 to others again. You will be glad to do it 
 when the people come to you to know the 
 truth,” suggested Leng Tso. 
 
 “ I hope he will not be sent so far away. I 
 would so like to come here to live ; it is such 
 a pleasant church, and all are so kind here. 
 Then, too, we shall need to learn a new lan- 
 guage if we go where he has gone. It seems 
 to me that younger preachers should go 
 
A JOURNEY TO HA BUN. 
 
 213 
 
 there. Yet I would rather go there and do 
 that than return to Thau Pau. Liong is 
 very trying to the teacher.” 
 
 “ He is trying to others too,” replied the 
 Bible-woman. “ I think that others do not 
 like to hear what Liong says. He was al- 
 ways trying to rule the rest. Yet he is 
 very different from what he was as a boy or 
 young man. Had you seen him then, you 
 would have said that it would take more than 
 man to make him humble. He is not very 
 humble yet, but very much better than he 
 was then.” 
 
 “ He must have been bad if he is so much 
 better now. I sometimes have asked the 
 teacher if Liong is really a child of God.” 
 
 “ What did he say ?” inquired Leng Tso, 
 eagerly. 
 
 “ He said that a man who would do and 
 suffer as Liong has suffered for the doctrine 
 could hardly have done it had not God’s 
 grace helped him. He says that he thinks 
 the evil one is tempting Liong through his 
 love of power and honor. More than that, he 
 says it may be that Liong will fall some day, 
 but after that will rise a humble and penitent 
 
214 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 man and faithful to the truth as well as 
 ready to obey it in everything.” 
 
 After a brief stay in the Foo city the 
 friends started down the river, stopping at 
 two or three places to visit and to carry on 
 the work of the Bible-woman, who was well 
 known and much loved by those she visited. 
 To hear “ Ban Chim lai ” spoken would 
 bring many a one to the door to welcome the 
 woman whose coming was thus announced. 
 
 Khiau So was surprised as well as pleased 
 at the warm welcome given to her friend. 
 She was not less surprised to see the interest 
 which those visited took in the reading and in 
 the talks of the Bible-woman. These talks, 
 like the woman herself, were plain and unpre- 
 tending, but practical. She did not preach, but 
 talked, and explained the gospel to those 
 who had an opportunity to ask about the 
 things not understood by them. Even the 
 children could learn much from the simple 
 language and plainly-put truths. 
 
 In one place, as Leng Tso, after reading 
 her favorite chapter — the third of John — 
 commented on the words “ for God so loved 
 the world,” she said : 
 
A JOURNEY TO HA RUN. 
 
 215 
 
 “ ‘ God so loved the world.’ We never 
 hear men in the Middle Kingdom speak of 
 the gods of this country loving the world. 
 They hardly love their own friends, and will 
 soon enough desert them if friends neglect to 
 provide for their wants. The gods of the 
 Middle Kingdom do not love; they hate. 
 It is the great and the true God who loves. 
 He loves everybody ; he is always watching 
 to do good. Even when people hate or op- 
 pose him, he still pities them and is merciful 
 to them. He waits for them to think better 
 of their lives, and, instead of wasting them, to 
 give them to him, that he may give to them 
 eternal life. He is like a father watching for 
 his bad children to come back. He is always 
 sending them some good thing, some mes- 
 sage of love, some word of invitation, al- 
 ways pleading with them to come back. 
 Even when he punishes, it is to make them 
 think — to make them see what helpless be- 
 ings they would be without him. But all 
 this tells only that God loves, and not how 
 he loves. ‘ He so loved the world,’ the Lord 
 says. Do you know how? He gave his 
 only begotten Son. He had one Son, and 
 
216 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 him God loved as only God can love. You 
 know how much fathers and mothers love 
 their boys, and how much if they have only 
 one. But who would give that only son for 
 the sake of some dear friend? All might 
 love the friend very dearly, yet they would 
 say, ‘ I love my son more ; I cannot give him 
 to save even so dear a friend. It is the only 
 son ; if I had several or only two, one might 
 be given ; but this one — No, no, no ! I 
 cannot spare him ; he cannot die.’ 
 
 “ But God did not say so. He looked 
 down and saw that not his dearest friend 
 — not even a friend at all, but one who did 
 not love him, did not care for him ; yes, his 
 enemy, and a bitter enemy, too — was in 
 trouble. God did not say, ‘ Let him suffer ; 
 he deserves it.’ No ; he looked and pitied. 
 He saw that no one was willing or able to 
 help man, no one cared for him. Man was 
 not only in trouble, but Satan had taken him 
 and was leading him captive to the awful pit. 
 God could not let man go ; he looked if there 
 was any one to deliver, and there was no one. 
 God did not then say, ‘ He is my enemy, 
 and it is right that he perish.’ No ; God 
 
A JOURNEY TO HA BUN. 
 
 217 
 
 looked, and there was no one to save. No 
 one loved man enough to do anything to 
 save him, Then God said, ‘ I love man ; I 
 love him too much to let him perish. Some- 
 thing must be done. If no one else will, I 
 will do something; yes, I will do much: I 
 will do all that I can.’ Then he knew that 
 there was only one thing he could do to save 
 man, and that was to give his Son. 
 
 “Would he do it, do you think? What! 
 his own Son to save his enemies? Yes, 
 men were his enemies. And yet God loved 
 them. He loved them very much — so much 
 that Jesus himself could not tell how much, 
 except to tell what he did to prove that love. 
 He loved men so much that he gave — 
 Whom ? Listen. I will read : ‘ He gave 
 his only begotten Son.’ Yes, God gave 
 him. It was all the Son God had, yet he 
 gave that only one to save men. He so 
 loved the world. Yes, so as only God can 
 love. If he loves us so much, what should 
 we do ? Is it right, is it reasonable, to wor- 
 ship these gods that never did, and never 
 can, love as God does? What have they 
 ever done for us ? What can they do ? What 
 
218 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 are they ? Men and women pray to them, 
 but what good does it do ? People say that 
 if we give things to the gods they will show 
 us favors, but God showed us the greatest pos- 
 sible favor when he gave his Son. If, as the 
 people say, the gods should return favors for 
 the presents made, ought not we to do some- 
 thing to show that we love God ?” 
 
 In this plain way did Leng Tso present 
 the truth to the little bands that gathered 
 about her in the homes. Some, no doubt, 
 were glad to listen because it gave them 
 something new, something to talk of to 
 others ; but there were those who listened 
 with deeper interest each time the Bible- 
 woman talked to them. Through her they 
 were gradually coming into the light or 
 walking in the brighter and brighter light 
 as they went on their way as Christians. 
 
 “ I want to visit my son,” said Leng Tso 
 one day as they were about to leave a village 
 where they had spent a day or two. 
 
 “ Where does he live ?” was asked. 
 
 “ In the large city down the river on the 
 way.” 
 
 “ What ! in Chang Bay ?” 
 
A JOURNEY TO HA BUN. 
 
 219 
 
 “ Yes ; he is in business there.” 
 
 “ I would like to see him not only, but to 
 visit that place and see the church and its 
 people. The teacher has often spoken of 
 that church as one where the j>eople are 
 more warm of heart and active in work 
 than in any other of all the churches in this 
 part of the Middle Kingdom. He has told 
 me of E Ju, the elder there, and of his 
 wife. I would like to meet them. From 
 what I have heard, they are very faithful to 
 the Lord.” 
 
 “ Yes, they are ; and much of the pros- 
 perity of that church is owing to E Ju and 
 his wife. They are wise and faithful. You 
 will like them, though they are not like 
 people of the Middle Kingdom. They do 
 not talk and talk to hide their meaning 
 until they know your mind, but tell what 
 they mean and wish, and leave it to you to 
 say what you wish. They are like foreign- 
 ers.” 
 
 Khiau So was introduced to Lin, the son 
 of the Bible-woman, and to his wife, at their 
 home, where the two stayed part of the 
 time while in Chang Bay. Lin was yet a 
 
220 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 young man, and rather a quiet one, but a 
 man who thought and was ready to give a 
 reason for his opinions and acts. 
 
 “ Why is it,” asked Khiau So in the 
 evening of the day of their arrival, “ that 
 you, who are a Christian and the son of a 
 woman who has given all her later life to 
 the work of teaching the doctrine, should 
 give your time to business rather than to 
 preaching the gospel?” 
 
 “ If all Christians became preachers,” 
 replied Lin, “ who would take care of the 
 Church ? Who would make money to 
 carry on its work ? We cannot expect the 
 foreign Church to support our preachers : 
 we must do it some time; and the sooner 
 we begin, the better will it be. Then, too, 
 we must send the doctrine to others, and 
 not expect the people of God outside of 
 the Middle Kingdom to do all the work.” 
 “ That is true,” spoke Khiau So ; “ yet 
 the greatest need just now is for men to 
 preach the gospel. If you are able, why 
 should not you do it ?” 
 
 “ I am not as able to preach as I am to 
 help support the preachers,” was his reply. 
 
A JOURNEY TO HA BUN. 
 
 221 
 
 “ My mother is teaching, and I help sup- 
 port her ; and my cousin, Uncle Iau’s son, is 
 preaching, and my uncle is helping support 
 him.” Then, recollecting himself, he said, 
 “ No, not supporting him, for the foreign 
 pastors do that ; but my uncle gives of his 
 money to help the mission, which is nearly 
 the same. So two are making money to aid 
 the work, while two are teaching.” 
 
 “ But would not your work be of more 
 value to the cause,” asked Khiau So, “ than 
 the money you can earn?” 
 
 “ Perhaps so — that is, it would be so now ; 
 but I hope to increase my business and after 
 a few years make a great deal more money.” 
 “Yet by preaching now you might turn 
 to righteousness many who after a while 
 would give much money to the Lord’s cause,” 
 was suggested by the preacher’s wife. 
 
 “ That may be,” said Lin ; “ but there is 
 another reason why I am not a preacher : I 
 do not think myself suited for the work. 
 God has plans for all his children, and he 
 fits each for a part or a share in that plan. 
 I am fitted for business rather than for 
 preaching. I am slow of speech.” 
 
222 
 
 LENQ TSO. 
 
 “ I hope you are not in business because 
 it is easier?” suggested Khiau So. 
 
 “I am willing to do what the Lord 
 requires of me,” responded Lin, quietly. 
 “I did not become a Christian to have an 
 easy life, but because I love the Lord. It 
 cost me more to become a follower of Jesus 
 than it has cost many others.” 
 
 “ What has it cost you ?” inquired the 
 preacher’s wife. “ You have a comfortable 
 home and, as you say, a good business, and 
 you are making money. I would like to 
 know something more about the cost. I 
 remember now, though, that your mother 
 told me part of the story of your earlier 
 life, but it has been partly forgotten.” 
 
 “ It is a short story, and not unlike what 
 many have suffered ; yet had I not been 
 willing to serve the Lord, I would not have 
 been here to tell this story. My mother 
 has no doubt told you that I was stolen from 
 my father when I was a child. I was sold 
 to become the adopted son of a rich man 
 who intended to give me all his property, 
 for he had no children of his own. He and 
 his wife were very kind to me, and treated 
 
A JOURNEY TO HA BUN. 
 
 223 
 
 me as a real son ; I could ask for no more 
 comforts. But I heard the doctrine, and 
 after a while became a Christian. My 
 adopted father heard of it, and commanded 
 me to cease worshiping the foreigners’ God. 
 I refused as politely as I could, but he con- 
 tinued his demand that I return to the 
 worship of the idols of the Middle King- 
 dom. One day, as we were working in the 
 field — for he was a farmer and owned much 
 land — he so strongly urged me to turn back 
 from the true God that I told him I neither 
 could nor would turn back, and that even if 
 he drove me from his home I would not 
 give up the new religion. He was so angry 
 that he struck me with a heavy hoe, and I 
 fell senseless to the ground. He turned 
 away and left me to die. He never came to 
 see whether I was dead or alive, and no 
 doubt I should have died had not Christian 
 friends found and cared for me. From that 
 time until I made a home for myself I was 
 an outcast, except as Christians cared for 
 and provided me with a home. To become 
 a follower of the Lord I gave up all and 
 nearly lost my life ; so you see that it did 
 
224 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 cost me something. And yet, if all had to 
 be passed through again, I would do as I did 
 and give up all for Christ.” 
 
 “ It is hard, though,” interposed Lin’s 
 wife, “ to lose a fortune ; but it is all right, 
 I suppose.” 
 
 “ It would hardly make any difference to 
 you,” said Lin, half jokingly ; “ for had I 
 stayed with him as his son, another would 
 have been my wife. If I lost a fortune, I 
 gained a good wife by it.” 
 
 “ I did not think of that,” replied the 
 wife of Lin. “ What we lose in one way 
 for the doctrine we gain in another, so it 
 will be all right in the end.” 
 
 “ Even in this life,” suggested Leng Tso. 
 “Yet with the promise of the life that is 
 eternal our Lord says that those who give 
 up all for him in this life shall even here 
 receive a great deal to compensate ; and the 
 comfort and the happiness we receive pay a 
 hundred times over for any loss we may 
 endure for the sake of the doctrine.” 
 
 Ivhiau So was anxious to meet E Ju. 
 It was not according to custom for her to 
 call upon him, and surely not to call first ; 
 
A JOURNEY TO HA BUN. 
 
 225 
 
 but E Ju was the chapel-keeper of Chang- 
 Bay church, and it was easy and proper to 
 go to the chapel and stay after evening wor- 
 ship, or go early and meet the chapel-keeper 
 then. The first night the two women spent 
 in the city they were weary and did not at- 
 tend chapel service, but were there early the 
 next evening, when Kliiau So was intro- 
 duced to E Ju. He was rather a strange- 
 appearing man for a Chinaman. His eyes 
 were not as much of an almond-shape as 
 are most of the eyes of Chinese, but re- 
 minded one of the look of a foreigner. He 
 usually wore large Chinese spectacles, being 
 near-sighted ; these added to the peculiar, yet 
 pleasing, appearance of his face. To see 
 that face one would not soon forget it. 
 It showed an openness that told of an hon- 
 est man and a quickness of movement that 
 spoke of an active body and a not less active 
 mind. His eyes seemed to look through the 
 glasses right into the eyes of any one speak- 
 ing to him, and to pierce to one’s very 
 thoughts. There were in his voice a full- 
 ness and a roundness of tone that were 
 very pleasing, yet in that sound was a 
 
 15 
 
226 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 something which said that the man did not 
 live to please as much as to work, and to 
 work well. 
 
 E Ju was a thorough Chinaman, but had 
 few of the bad qualities, though nearly every 
 good quality, of his race. He was a man of 
 decided character, and as fearless as decided. 
 What he believed, he said without fear or 
 favor ; yet he was a man who knew when to 
 speak and when to be silent. He had true 
 politeness, but was unwilling to sacrifice 
 truth to ceremony. He was so plain and 
 outspoken that many of his countrymen 
 disliked him, or, rather, his plain-speaking. 
 Every one respected and trusted him, and there 
 was probably not another Chinese Christian 
 in that part of the country so respected and 
 trusted by the missionaries as E Ju. Not 
 only would he tell his countrymen their 
 faults, but he would do the same judiciously 
 and kindly, yet frankly, to the missionaries. 
 He did not seem to know how to deceive. 
 
 E Ju was glad to meet his old friend Leng 
 Tso, and as glad to welcome to the chapel 
 the wife of his friend Kliiau the preacher. 
 He took the two around through the church- 
 
A JOURNEY TO HA BUN. 
 
 227 
 
 building and the schoolroom, and showed them 
 everything belonging to the establishment. 
 Chang Bay chapel and all connected with it 
 indicated taste and wisdom. The city itself, 
 being an important one at the head of navi- 
 gation for large river-boats, was regarded by 
 the missionaries as worthy of good and large 
 buildings, and time has proved their wisdom. 
 The Christians, and especially the chapel- 
 keeper, were proud of their chapel and of 
 the rooms connected with it. 
 
 Kliiau So was surprised at first, and not 
 very well pleased, at E Ju’s bluntness and 
 frank way of speaking. After showing the 
 two around he told them about the prospects 
 of the church. 
 
 “ But,” said he, “ it will not prosper as it 
 should until a pastor is settled here. All is 
 now really left in my charge, though the 
 preacher, who is a good man, lives near the 
 city, and should have more care of every- 
 thing about the place; but he is easy and 
 ready to let others take all the work they 
 will. I am not a preacher, only a business- 
 man ; and, while able to take care of the 
 chapel, it is not right that I should be so 
 
228 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 often left to attend to the evening services. 
 If we are to do the Lord’s work, we must 
 do it with all our strength, and not with 
 half of it, leaving to others the work we 
 might do. I am not speaking about the 
 preacher, but of us all.” 
 
 “ Yet, if chapel-keeper, why should not 
 you, who are surely able to do the Avork so 
 well, take charge of the service?” asked 
 Khiau So. 
 
 “ I may do it fairly well,” responded he, 
 “ but Ave need here the best service possible 
 to be had. This must become a very large 
 and strong church to carry the gospel to the 
 country around, and to have it soon become 
 such a church, everything possible should be 
 done each day. Ten years later it will feel 
 sadly what is but a slight neglect now. This 
 must not be a child for the doctrine, but a 
 mother. That is what the foreign pastors 
 understand ; it is their wish, but it is not so 
 easy to teach our people that each one’s help 
 is needed to make this such a church as it 
 ought to be.” 
 
 “ Then here is a chance for you to do a 
 great work,” suggested Khiau So. “ Why 
 
A JOURNEY TO HA BUN. 
 
 229 
 
 are you not a regular preacher instead of 
 a chapel-keeper? I have often heard the 
 teacher, my husband, speak of Brother E Ju, 
 and I am sure that he thinks the church 
 would be greatly profited that had you as 
 preacher.” 
 
 “ I am not fitted for the work,” said the 
 man. “ God made me, and he knew what I 
 could do. He has given me that work ; and 
 if I try to preach, I will be doing what he 
 lias not called or made me for. True,” 
 added he, by way of apologizing, “I am 
 ready to tell all whom I meet of the doc- 
 trine, and will continue to do so ; but I have 
 not the gifts for a preacher. Then I cannot 
 say enough pleasant things to the people ; I 
 say the truth as others do, but not in a way 
 that is acceptable. No ; I was made for 
 business, and in that I can best serve God.” 
 
 “Yet,” persisted she, “there is such a 
 need of faithful men to preach that it seems 
 if any one is able to tell the doctrine he 
 should give his time and his life to that 
 work.” 
 
 “ It is true that the Lord needs preachers,” 
 said E Ju, “ but he needs other workers as 
 
230 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 well. He has called some to preach, oth- 
 ers to different work : the different work is 
 mine. I have not come to this opinion 
 without careful thought, and I know that 
 my work is not to preach. It is useless to 
 speak to me about it; all was settled long 
 ago. I began to preach once.” 
 
 “ Indeed ? How was that, and when ?” 
 asked Leng Tso. 
 
 “You know more of my life than the wife 
 of the teacher does,” replied E Ju, “so I 
 suppose that you will not care to hear it 
 told over again.” 
 
 “ That does not matter,” spoke the Bible- 
 woman ; “ I will be glad to hear it repeat- 
 ed, and she will be equally glad to listen, I 
 know.” 
 
 “Yes,” responded Khiau So; “though 
 the teacher has told me part, I would like 
 to hear it all from you.” 
 
 “It is not wonderful,” began E Ju, “but 
 the Lord was directing me to the work he 
 had for me. My work is not great, like 
 that of the preachers ; I am but a door- 
 keeper in the house of my God, but I would 
 rather serve here than rule in the tents of 
 
A JOURNEY TO HA BUN. 
 
 231 
 
 sin. I was born many miles away from 
 bere, over on the other river. That was 
 before the gospel had reached the Middle 
 Kingdom. When a man, I became a cook, 
 and my business was to prepare feasts for 
 idolatrous celebrations. I was a faithful 
 servant of the gods and worshiped the 
 spirits with all my heart. After I had been 
 in that business for some years teacher 
 Burns — a foreigner, but dressed as one of 
 our own people — came to the village where I 
 lived. I heard of the ‘ foreign native,’ as he 
 was called, and went to see him. I heard 
 him tell of Jesus, and after a while my ears 
 were pleased with the sound. I heard again 
 and again about this Jesus and the love of 
 God, as teacher Burns came time after time 
 to the place or remained for days to preach. 
 Others ridiculed him for trying to appear a 
 Chinaman, but I became too much interested 
 in the truth to ridicule him. At length I 
 believed what he said, and became a follower 
 of Jesus. Then I could no longer continue 
 my business. True, I might provide for 
 other feasts, but who would hire me ? Be- 
 sides, nearly every feast had something of 
 
232 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 idolatry in it. I had saved some money — for 
 my business had been good — yet the money 
 would not last all my life, and I must look 
 for other work. This was not easy, because 
 all were ready to turn against me, since I 
 had turned against the gods and the religion 
 of my country. Of course many tried to per- 
 suade me to return to the worship of idols, 
 but how could I, when they were false and 
 the great God of the foreigners was the true 
 God ? There seemed but little for me to 
 do at my home, yet there were soon very 
 many like myself who were ready to give 
 up, or had already given up, the idolatry of 
 the country. Multitudes came to hear the 
 word, and many believed and obeyed it. This 
 made it only the more difficult for the Chris- 
 tians to get something to do. I determined 
 to go to another place, and came here to see 
 if I could earn a living. I might have done 
 so at once had I left the new doctrine behind, 
 but I saw so many who knew nothing of the 
 Saviour that my heart would not let me be 
 still. How could I, who was enjoying a rich 
 feast, see others starve, when I knew where 
 there was enough, and to spare, and all of 
 
A JOURNEY TO HA BUN. 
 
 233 
 
 it free to tlie poorest and most needy as well 
 as to the rich and the great? I began tell- 
 ing what I had found, and many listened 
 and believed. While much time was spent 
 in telling others of the Saviour, it seemed 
 my duty to try also to earn a living. I 
 started in business, and would have made 
 much money here, it is almost certain, if I had 
 prepared food for idolatrous feasts. That I 
 would not do, but was ready for anything 
 that would help me earn my living and 
 yet serve God. He whom I served did not 
 let me suffer. I continued preaching and 
 working at my business, and did the very 
 best I could to please ; but the people did 
 not wish me to speak against their idolatry 
 when they asked me to provide for their 
 feasts. How could I help doing my duty ? 
 The foreign pastors saw that 1 was ready to 
 do the Lord’s work, and asked me to take 
 charge of the chapel while I was still at my 
 business. It did not seem to me that the two 
 could be carried on at the same time, because 
 one would interfere with the other. I was 
 glad to work for the Lord, yet had begun to 
 see that my work was not to preach: I spoke 
 
234 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 too plainly for the people. Many listened, but 
 others would not hear such hard things said ; 
 they would not hear the truth as I told it. 
 Then I said to myself, ‘You may be a 
 chapel-keeper, but not a preacher — be the 
 door-keeper, but not the leader, of God’s 
 house.’ But the people are coming,” said E 
 Ju. “I will ask Lin to ring the gong, and 
 then will tell the rest in a few words.” 
 
 Lin, who had just come in, was asked to 
 ring the gong, and soon the measured tones 
 of this ctill to worship were heard, and the 
 people rapidly assembled. E Ju saw that 
 he had no time to go on with his story, so, 
 excusing himself, he went to the platform as 
 the two women walked to the woman’s en- 
 closure, behind the speaker’s place. 
 
 As the preacher was not there, E Ju took 
 charge of the service. Every one liked to 
 have him lead, as he was so prompt and in- 
 teresting, though his decided way and unhes- 
 itating rebukes, if deserved, were not relish- 
 ed. These, however, seldom came during 
 evening worship. 
 
 After the close of the service the chapel- 
 keeper continued his story : 
 
A JOURNEY TO HA BUN. 
 
 235 
 
 “ The foreign pastors at first urged me to 
 continue preaching and offered to support me, 
 but I said it would not do ; I was not fitted 
 for the work. I was learning that study was 
 too trying for a man who had all his life been 
 active. I think that was one reason why I 
 could not speak more pleasantly. I did not go 
 out into the open air enough, for I was read- 
 ing and studying so much that my appetite 
 was lost, and I became irritable. I told them 
 that I must have some business to aid in my 
 support and enable me to be outside in the air 
 more than a student and preacher could be. 
 So I became the chapel-keeper. This is my 
 story. Is it of little account? Indeed, it is; 
 but it is the story of a sinner saved by the 
 mercy of God. My life belongs to Him 
 who saved me. If it be not given to the 
 kind of work that his people think it should 
 be, it is given as I think the Lord would have 
 me spend it.” 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 LOVE IN THE SCHOOL. 
 
 ENG TSO took her friend to Ha Bun to 
 
 see the churches and the schools — not the 
 least of them the girls’ school. Expecting 
 to surprise the wife of the preacher, the 
 Bible-woman had said little about it beyond 
 telling her that such a school was in success- 
 ful operation. But it was a sad surprise 
 that awaited not only Khiau So, but the 
 Bible-woman herself. 
 
 When the two reached the home of Iau, 
 Leng Tso speedily asked about the girls’ 
 school. 
 
 “ Well may you ask,” was the reply of 
 her sister-in-law. “Ah ! it is too bad that 
 we should have women and girls go to 
 school. I feared it would be so. They 
 were not made to be educated — at least, not 
 to go to school where young men are, and 
 
LOVE IN THE SCHOOL. 
 
 237 
 
 where they teach. It was a pity — such a 
 pity ! I am sure it was the work of that 
 young foreign pastor. Why did they let 
 him have charge of anything ? He is too 
 young to attend to such work. He means 
 well, but he does not know much. He is 
 not like the other foreign pastors.” 
 
 “ Why, what is the matter ?” asked Leng 
 Tso, in surprise. “ What has the pastor 
 done ? What has happened to the school ? 
 Who is the young teacher ? I have heard 
 nothing ; tell me.” 
 
 Iau, who had come in just as his wife 
 began to tell his sister about the school, 
 replied : 
 
 “ It may not have been the young pastor, 
 or he may not have intended causing trouble, 
 but much has been caused. He does not 
 know enough about such work ; he knows 
 enough about carpenter-work, though, for 
 he can handle a saw and a plane like a 
 mechanic. Some days ago he talked to me 
 about the work of building houses in his 
 country as if he had done it. He told me 
 many things I did not know about tools, 
 and showed me a lot of them he brought 
 
238 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 with him. He may be a good carpenter, 
 but he is not a good man to manage such 
 work as he came here to do.” 
 
 “ What was it that Kin Liong said about 
 the new preacher?” asked lau Chim, Iau’s 
 wife. “ He said that the young pastor knew 
 how to make boats too, did he not?” 
 
 “Yes,” replied lau ; “he has made two or 
 three toy sail-boats for the boys, and they 
 were out sailing them the other day when 
 we came across the harbor. The young 
 pastor and two or three of the officers of 
 the foreign war-vessel were watching the 
 boats sail. The sailors said that the man 
 who could make such boats knew how to 
 build vessels, but he does not know how to 
 take care of a school,” added lau, shaking 
 his head doubtfully. 
 
 “ I would like to know what is the trouble 
 with the girls’ school,” spoke Leng Tso, a 
 little tartly. “ The young pastor may be a 
 good or a poor boat-builder and carpenter, 
 but what has that to do with the school? 
 Has anything happened to the girls’ school ?” 
 
 “Yes, a great deal,” answered lau Chim. 
 “ It is all bad — very bad.” 
 
LOVE IN THE SCHOOL. 
 
 239 
 
 “ It is not so much with that as with the 
 boys’ school near,” suggested Iau ; “ the 
 trouble began there.” 
 
 “ But what is it ?” inquired the Bible- 
 worn an again. 
 
 “ You had better go to the school and ask,” 
 was the reply ; “ we may not have heard all, 
 and what we have heard may not be true. 
 I hope it is not. To think that such things 
 should happen in that school so soon ! But 
 we might have known it would be so, with 
 such a young man as teacher and girls going 
 to school so near.” So said Iau Chim. 
 
 After further inquiry, but getting little 
 better or more full information, Leng Tso 
 asked Iau if he would tell in as few words 
 as possible what the difficulty was. 
 
 “ I cannot tell you in a few words ; I 
 have already heard so much that it is im- 
 possible to tell half if a day be taken for 
 it. There is trouble with the two schools. It 
 was bad to have the two so near, and it was 
 bad for the new pastor to put a man so 
 young in the school as teacher.” 
 
 “ How do you know that the young pastor 
 did it ?” asked she. 
 
240 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “ Every one says so,” was the reply. 
 
 “Are you sure it was the young pastor who 
 did it? You were at the school of the boys 
 when the young teacher was placed in charge, 
 were you not?” asked Leng Tso of her 
 brother. 
 
 “ Yes, I was there,” he answered. 
 
 “ Were not the other foreign pastors there ? 
 and did not they conduct the exercises and 
 speak as if they were willing that Won Leng, 
 the young teacher, should have charge?” 
 She was beginning now to understand that 
 there was difficulty between Won Leng, the 
 young teacher of the boys’ school, and the 
 school for girls. The two schools were near 
 together, and the pupils, though separated, 
 might see each other ; from a second-story 
 piazza the boys and their teacher could look 
 down into the yard through which the girls 
 occasionally took walks, though it was not 
 the yard belonging to their school. 
 
 “ Yes,” said Iau ; “all the pastors seemed 
 to agree with what the young pastor said.” 
 
 “ But did he say anything?” asked she. 
 
 For a moment the man stopped to think, 
 and then replied : 
 
LOVE IN THE SCHOOL. 
 
 241 
 
 “ I am not sure what he said, if he said 
 anything.” 
 
 “ He did not say much,” spoke Iau Chim, 
 “ for he had only just come and did not 
 know our language.” 
 
 “ True ! true !” chimed in Iau. “ He had 
 but just reached Ha Bun, and could have 
 said nothing. But he is the one who has 
 made so many changes, every one says.” 
 
 “ Did he start the seminary for the older 
 students or the girls’ school ?” inquired Leng 
 Tso. “ If he did, it was a good work.” 
 
 “No; the pastors had thought of the 
 large school long before the young pastor 
 came,” echoed Iau Chim; “so thev had 
 talked of the girls’ school ; but, after all, it 
 was not he who began those, but Mrs. Min- 
 turn and the young pastor’s wife who began 
 the girls’ school.” 
 
 “ So I think you will find that the young 
 pastor did not do all the bad, either,” sug- 
 gested the Bible- woman. “ He is not so 
 bad ; he may, like all young people, make 
 mistakes, but he will learn yet. He is 
 doing some work that is good.” 
 
 “Yes, he may do some things well,” 
 16 
 
242 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 added Iau, “ but be is not equal to the older 
 pastors. They know exactly what to do and 
 make no mistakes. Pastor Minturn knows 
 everything, and Pastor Wagner knows every- 
 thing. But the young man will learn. He 
 knows about tools and building, though.” 
 
 Leng Tso noticed that her brother did not 
 talk as quietly nor as sensibly as he used to 
 speak, and, though she said nothing, she 
 watched him closely. At first she thought 
 it was excitement about the trouble of which 
 he and his wife had spoken, but after a while 
 she saw that he spoke somewhat strangely 
 about other things. 
 
 Thinking it best to wait until she could 
 see others, Leng Tso asked nothing more 
 about the school, and as soon as able the 
 next day took her friend to visit it. There 
 was little change to be noticed except the 
 addition of two or three girls and the ab- 
 sence of one of the old pupils. Asking the 
 matron where this one was, the answer came 
 in the form of the question, 
 
 “ What ! have not you heard of the scan- 
 dal ? How can that be ?” 
 
 Without telling what she had heard, the 
 
LOVE IN THE SCHOOL. 
 
 243 
 
 Bible-woman asked what was meant and re- 
 quested the matron to tell her where the 
 girl was. 
 
 “ Oh, she has been taken from the school,” 
 was the reply. “We felt that she should 
 not be here ; she is a very wicked girl, and 
 Won Leng, the teacher, is a very wicked man. 
 I am afraid that the young pastor will cause 
 us a great deal of trouble before he grows 
 old enough to learn how to work aright.” 
 
 “ No matter about him,” said Leng Tso — 
 “ I think he is too much blamed — but tell me 
 what Chui and the teacher have done that is 
 so bad.” 
 
 “ They have written notes to each other, 
 and he gave her a present of a fan and she 
 made an embroidered piece of work for him. 
 And they were not even engaged to be mar- 
 ried yet ! Only to think ! Who ever heard 
 of such a thing in the Middle Kingdom? 
 We have all felt very bad about it, and the 
 whole school has been troubled ; even the 
 church has been in great sorrow.” 
 
 “ Have any of the notes written been 
 found?” asked Khiau So, who was as much 
 interested in this unheard-of affair as any. 
 
244 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “Yes; that is the way we came to know 
 about it. Had it not been for finding one 
 of the notes the girl had written, we might 
 never have known of all this evil.” 
 
 “ What was in the note ?” asked the Bible- 
 woman. 
 
 “ That is the worst part of it,” replied the 
 matron. “ She told him that she had received 
 his note and was so glad to know that he 
 cared for her, a schoolgirl, and that she loved 
 — yes, that is the word : loved — him. Only 
 think of that, and they not married, nor even 
 engaged ! Oh, it is fearful ! Her friends 
 did not know about it at all, nor did his. 
 No one had asked her mother if she would 
 give her daughter for the teacher’s wife, nor 
 had her mother asked any one to talk to 
 his friends about it. To think that he and 
 she, without any one even advising, should 
 have begun to form an engagement ! It is 
 too bad — too unheard of to be true.” 
 
 “ And she wrote that she loved him ?” 
 asked Khiau So. 
 
 “Yes,” replied the matron ; “ she said loved; 
 I am sure of that word. We all heard the 
 letter read.” 
 
LOVE IN THE SCHOOL. 
 
 245 
 
 But liow could she send the note or re- 
 ceive any note from the teacher ?” asked Khi- 
 au So. 
 
 “ That was the mystery for a while,” an- 
 swered the matron, “ until her little brother 
 told that the teacher had given him a little 
 paper to give his sister Cliui and she had 
 given him one for the teacher ; and then the 
 boy said he took to his sister from the teacher 
 a fan which Won Leng said belonged to her. 
 He had carried the present to Won Leng, too, 
 but did not know it was a present. I was so 
 glad when she was taken from the school that 
 I could hardly feel thankful enough. But — 
 will you believe it ? — Won Leng still teaches 
 the school. The young pastor, they say, will 
 not let the others put the teacher out of the 
 school. He lias been talked to about it, but 
 says that it is not so great a sin ; if it were, the 
 Bible would have spoken about it. But the 
 church has punished the teacher and Chui’s 
 mother, for she is guilty too. She said that 
 she did not know about Cliui giving a present 
 to the teacher, and it was proved that she told 
 her daughter how to make the embroidery.” 
 
 “ Was it proved that she knew what it was 
 
246 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 for?” asked the Bible-woraan, who was show- 
 ing rather a strange interest in the affair. 
 
 Proved ’?” repeated the matron. “Would 
 not she ask ? Do you think that Chui would 
 tell an untruth to her mother ?” 
 
 “ What did they do with Chui’s mother 
 and the teacher ?” asked Leng Tso. 
 
 “ The church suspended them from the 
 communion. They both were members, you 
 know, but Chui is not, or she would have 
 been suspended too. It was right and just. 
 But Won Leng should be turned out of the 
 school. A man who will write a note to a 
 woman before he is married, or even en- 
 gaged, to her is not fit to teach a school.” 
 More of this conversation need not be 
 given. It is enough to say that this affair 
 had created a great deal of excitement 
 among the Chinese Christians, and feeling 
 had been shown toward the missionaries, 
 though Mr. Parton was especially selected 
 as the one largely to blame for such an 
 unheard-of affair. As he was the newest 
 comer, and as such a thing had almost never 
 been heard of among the people, it was nat- 
 urally thought that he must be the cause. 
 
LOVE IN THE SCHOOL. 
 
 247 
 
 He learned of this opinion, and was amused 
 until the teacher and the mother of Chui 
 were suspended, and then, with the other 
 missionaries, he began to think. When ask- 
 ed to remove the teacher for wliat had been 
 done, he quietly, but as decidedly, refused, 
 and said that he could not see that Won 
 Leng had been guilty of so great a sin in writ- 
 ing notes to a girl whom he loved, nor yet 
 was it so sinful to make or receive presents 
 from her. Little was said to him about 
 the deception practiced by the teacher, 
 which was really the charge brought against 
 the young man when summoned before the 
 church. There it was shown that both the 
 teacher and Cliui’s mother had told what 
 was untrue in the affair, and for such false- 
 hood they were suspended ; but it is prob- 
 able that neither would have been suspend- 
 ed had the young couple allowed others to 
 make the match and bring about an engage- 
 ment, instead of taking the love-making into 
 their own hands. 
 
 Love-marriages are not unknown, but are 
 rather rare, in China, and are regarded by 
 the people as very improper. The opinion 
 
248 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 of most of the people is that a couple should 
 not meet, nor even know much of each other 
 except by and through others, until after the 
 marriage. It is needless to say that married 
 life in China is often wretched. A woman 
 united to a man whom she has never met 
 until she has been married to him often learns 
 that she has been cruelly deceived ; nor is the 
 husband likely to know much more of his 
 wife. Coming together thus as strangers, is it 
 a wonder that the couple learn to dislike, and 
 even to hate, each other ? The two lives are 
 miserable ; the man neglects his wife, and she 
 fears and keeps away from him and looks 
 upon her life as a wretched existence that 
 cannot end too soon. Not unfrequently 
 does she end it by suicide. 
 
 The whole story of this love-making has 
 not been told. Before the girls’ school was 
 opened, Chui, who was thought a little girl 
 then, attended the boys’ school with some 
 other girls. When Won Leng was placed 
 in charge, Chui’s mother, anxious to have 
 her girl educated, allowed her to remain in 
 the school, and the mission, never thinking 
 of evil or that such a thing as a real love- 
 
LOVE IN THE SCHOOL. 
 
 249 
 
 affair would take place in that school, were 
 glad to have the girls remain. When the 
 girls’ school was opened, Chui was placed 
 in that. 
 
 When the note was discovered, it was at 
 once handed to the matron, and then to the 
 teacher, and so to the pastor, and an investi- 
 gation was made — not by the church, how- 
 ever, until after it became evident that there 
 had been falsehoods uttered. The pastor, 
 though a genuine Chinaman, was too sen- 
 sible a man to discipline members because 
 they wrote love-notes. Friends at once 
 proposed an engagement between the two — 
 for, as it fortunately proved, neither was yet 
 engaged — and as soon as possible the marriage 
 bargain was concluded ; but poor Chui was 
 at once taken from school and kept closely 
 at home. Being an affianced bride, it was 
 her duty, according to Chinese custom, to 
 keep secluded ; her education must at once 
 stop. The poor girl was under a cloud ; she 
 was regarded by many as guilty of a great 
 wrong against society and the customs of 
 the country, and most of her friends shunned 
 her. To be suddenly taken from school and 
 
250 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 treated as a criminal because she had in- 
 nocently and almost unconsciously learned to 
 love the bright, active and rather handsome 
 young teacher passed the understanding of 
 the pure and worthy young girl. That 
 she had done wrong all told her, but no one 
 showed her that she had sinned against God 
 in trying to hide and deceive. The great 
 sin ever held before her was that she had 
 done contrary to all Chinese custom. 
 
 Cliui was compelled for two reasons to 
 remain secluded from society — first, because 
 she had so sadly broken the rules of society ; 
 second, because that now, being betrothed, 
 she must remain hidden until the wedding- 
 day, which had already been set. Sad and 
 very lonely, with little company except her 
 mother, the young girl spent the days of se- 
 clusion. While she longed for company, she 
 was afraid to have callers lest they should re- 
 peat the words of rebuke she had so often 
 already heard. When the Bible-woman 
 called, Cliui was glad, yet troubled ; she 
 liked the kind-hearted woman, but expect- 
 ed that she too would speak of her error. 
 Timidly the girl greeted Leng Tso, and then 
 
LOVE IN THE SCHOOL. 
 
 251 
 
 meekly waited to receive the reproof she 
 feared. Though it did not come at once, 
 Clnii felt sure that it would come before 
 her caller left. 
 
 After Leng Tso had spoken of a number 
 of matters of little interest she said, 
 
 “ I am sorry that you were compelled to 
 stop school. You were not tired, were 
 you ?” 
 
 “ £ Tired ’ ?” asked the girl, in surprise. 
 “ Why should I be tired ? I was happy at 
 school, and only wish I could have remained 
 to learn more.” 
 
 “ So do I,” spoke the Bible- woman. “ You 
 should have stayed for two years, that you 
 might learn a great deal and then be able 
 to teach other women when you are mar- 
 ried and live where the women do not 
 know about the truth.” 
 
 Chui looked at her in surprise ; such an 
 idea was unexpected. For her to continue 
 at school after falling in love with a teach- 
 er, after being engaged to him too, and after 
 such an amount of talk and trouble as had 
 been caused ! The girl had never thought 
 of it, and surely did not expect to hear 
 
252 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 another suggest it. Then she thought that, 
 as Leng Tso had been away from Ha Bun 
 for some time, she had not heard the story. 
 It was strange, too, for Chui knew that the 
 women of China — and the men are not 
 better — were always ready to tell unpleas- 
 ant news. 
 
 Looking timidly in the face of Leng Tso, 
 the girl asked, 
 
 “ Did not any one tell you why I left 
 school ?” 
 
 “ Yes ; I was told,” was the answer. “ But 
 that is not reason enough to make you at 
 once give up school.” 
 
 “ But they said I must at once leave the 
 school,” replied Chui ; “ they said that I 
 was not fit to be with good girls. Oh, they 
 called me bad names and — But it may be 
 that I did wrong, only I did not mean to. 
 I did not know it was wrong ; no one told 
 me so, and no one ever said it was wrong. 
 I never heard the preachers say so ; the 
 catechism did not say anything about it, and 
 I never read in the holy book that it was 
 wrong to love a man before becoming en- 
 gaged to be married to him. Is it wrong? 
 
LOVE IN THE SCHOOL. 
 
 253 
 
 I do not wish to do what is evil. No, no ! 
 I desire to do right and to please God. But 
 they say that I am wicked and the young 
 girl began to sob. “ It is so hard to have 
 people say what they do about me and to 
 me. Am I so bad ? If it is so wrong, why 
 was I not taught about it before ?” 
 
 Leng Tso was troubled, especially by the 
 last question, but she replied as well as she 
 was able : 
 
 “ You must not expect to be told of all 
 the evils there are in the world ; to be told 
 of them may make you long for them. 
 That is the reason why older people often 
 are silent. But I fear that they have treated 
 you too harshly.” 
 
 “ And it is not a sin to love him ?” eager- 
 ly asked the girl, as she tried to draw hope 
 from Leng Tso. “ I could not help it, he 
 was so kind and good. Others would have 
 done as I did had they been placed as I was. 
 But I did not wish to care for him. He was 
 the teacher and I a pupil, and it seemed that 
 he was great and wise — so wise that he 
 would never think of a schoolgirl like me. 
 I did not know that I would ever like him 
 
254 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 more than others ; I did not know anything 
 about it until I knew that he liked me very 
 much, and then it seemed I liked him even 
 more. Was it wrong?” 
 
 Without directly answering, the Bible-wo- 
 man asked, 
 
 “ Will you tell me all about, it? I cannot 
 answer until I know, and from you, the 
 whole story. Can you trust me enough to 
 tell me all?” 
 
 Chui hesitated. She was approaching 
 womanhood in age, and not less so in feel- 
 ing; she had learned caution, yet longed for 
 sympathy and for a friend to whom she 
 could tell all. If there was one whom she 
 could trust, the girl knew it was Leng Tso ; 
 and the kindly face and unreproving words 
 of the woman almost convinced Chui that 
 she could tell her all. Yet uncertain, the 
 girl replied, 
 
 “ I have told all again and again ; every 
 one knows the whole story, and that is the 
 reason all speak so harshly. If I had not 
 told it, they might have found less fault.” 
 
 “ You have not told all to me,” persisted 
 the Bible-woman. “ Tell me, and I will 
 
Types of Chinese Women. Page 2f>4. 
 

 
 *• 
 
 
 
 
 
 
LOVE IN THE SCHOOL. 
 
 255 
 
 then say whether or not you have done 
 wrong, and will try to show you where the 
 wrong is, if wrong there be.” 
 
 The manner rather than the words of the 
 woman convinced the girl that she could 
 safely tell all to Leng Tso. She began : 
 
 “ I will tell you all, but it is not different 
 from what others know, only I told as little 
 as I could. When I was in the school of 
 the boys and the teacher came, I liked him, 
 and so did all the others, he was so kind and 
 pleasant. He tried to help us in our studies 
 and seldom scolded. He wished to do all he 
 could to help each one. I could not under- 
 stand some things, and he sat down and 
 tried to make everything plain. This he 
 did to others as well as to me, and no one 
 thought about it. Then, at worship, he 
 prayed that we all might have the Lord’s 
 help in our studies, and he talked to us 
 about asking help from God. I did that ; 
 so did others. I was sorry when the girls’ 
 school began and I must go there, for the 
 teacher had helped me so much in my 
 studies. I told him so one day, and he said 
 that he would be willing to help me even 
 
256 
 
 Lh,^i(jr TSO. 
 
 there if he knew how to do it. But it was 
 not right for him to go to the girls’ school, 
 nor to interfere in any way. After I had 
 been in that school a few days I felt bad 
 because I did not have him to help me, 
 and because the old teacher did not help 
 me as Won Leng had done. Then there 
 was something that I could not learn, and 
 the old teacher did not help me ; so I wrote 
 a note to Won Leng, telling him what I 
 wanted to know and asking if he would 
 please tell me. I gave the note to my little 
 brother to take to him. I said that I missed 
 him, but did not say that I loved him ; I did 
 not think of saying such a tiling. I would 
 not have dared to write had I known that I 
 thought of him as anything but a kind 
 teacher. He sent back with my brother 
 a note telling what I wanted to know, and 
 said that he missed me in the school and 
 that he would be glad to help me in any 
 part of my studies. Some time afterward 
 I wanted help again, and sent him another 
 note, and he sent an answer ; in that way 
 we each wrote three or four notes. Then 
 he wrote one telling how he missed me, and 
 
LOVE IN THE SCHOOL. 
 
 257 
 
 how much he had learned to love the little 
 schoolgirl. I did not know what to think 
 or do. I kept that note, and read it again and 
 again. Then I thought that I was not en- 
 gaged to be married, and I wished that my 
 mother would try to have me become his 
 wife ; but I did not dare say a word to her 
 or to any one about it. It seemed unwise 
 for me to wish that I might become the 
 wife of a teacher, and one who might be a 
 preacher. What was I? But the oftener 
 I read the note, the more I thought and 
 longed to see him. I asked my little brother 
 about him, and was so glad to hear him talk 
 about the teacher, but did not dare to let any 
 one know how I felt. I waited some days 
 to write a reply to the teacher’s note, for I 
 did not know what to say. I was so happy 
 to believe that he cared for me that I wished 
 to tell everybody, yet dared not say a word, 
 for he wrote in his note that I must not read 
 it to any one or say a word about it ; so I 
 kept it all to myself. At last I wrote a note 
 in reply ; I told him how glad I was to know 
 that he did not forget me, and said that I 
 would never forget him, and that I thought 
 17 
 
258 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 more of him than of all my friends. After it 
 was written I was afraid to send it to him or 
 to give it to my brother, so kept it with me ; 
 and in some way it was lost, and was found 
 by others. Had I known it was so wrong 
 to write such a note to him, I would never 
 have done it.” 
 
 “ And is that all ?” asked Leng Tso, when 
 Chui stopped. 
 
 “ Yes, all, except about the presents. They 
 say that I did very wrong to give him that 
 piece of embroidery and to receive a present 
 from him. I gave it only because one day 
 when I was in his school he asked if I could 
 embroider ; so, after I learned how, I sent 
 him a piece of my work as a present and to 
 show that I had learned. Did I do wrong?” 
 
 “ Is that all you did ?” asked Leng Tso, not 
 noticing her question. 
 
 “ Yes, that is all that I can remember,” 
 was the answer. 
 
 “Were you ever alone with the teacher?” 
 asked the woman. 
 
 “ Alone with him !” exclaimed Chui, in 
 amazement. “ No ; why should I be ? 
 There was nothing he wanted to tell me 
 
LOVE IN THE SCHOOL. 
 
 259 
 
 or I him that we could not say when others 
 were by. And I have not seen him since I 
 went into the girls’ school except at meetings 
 or as he went by on the street.” 
 
 “ What did you do with the notes he sent 
 you ?” 
 
 “ I kept them all — I liked to read them 
 and see how he wrote and what he said — 
 until that note was found and so much 
 was said ; then all were burned.” 
 
 “ And have you never seen him to speak 
 to him since you left his school ?” 
 
 “ Not once ; I have not spoken to him 
 since the day I left his school. How could 
 I speak? He did not come where I was, 
 and it was not right for me to go where 
 he was. Now I have told you all ; did I 
 do so very wickedly ?” 
 
 Leng Tso felt that the girl had told her 
 all the truth, and replied quietly : 
 
 “ You should have told your mother about 
 it all — indeed, should not have written the 
 first note without asking her.” 
 
 “ I did not think about that,” replied the 
 girl ; “ but I did tell her about the fan, and 
 she knew about my sending him the embroi- 
 
260 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 dered work. And I think my brother told 
 her that I sent the notes : she did not object. 
 I suppose that she thought me only a child, 
 and that I was making a present to my 
 teacher, as is often done by pupils. I wish, 
 though, that she had not denied that she 
 knew anything about it. Then he should 
 not have said that some one else gave him 
 the present and that he had not sent the fan 
 to me ; I know that was not right. Will 
 you please tell me, now that you know all, 
 what else I did that was so wicked ?” 
 
 “ I do not think that you have been so 
 wicked,” replied Leng Tso, decidedly. “ You 
 should not have written those notes, and 
 surely not the last one, without asking your 
 mother after showing his to her. Then you 
 should have told your mother, if you liked 
 him so well.” 
 
 “And was it not wrong to like him before 
 being engaged ?” 
 
 “ No, it was not,” replied Leng Tso, again 
 decidedly. “ The holy book says nothing 
 against loving the man who is to be your 
 husband, but commands wives and husbands 
 to love each other.” 
 
LOVE IN THE SCHOOL. 
 
 261 
 
 “ Bat he was not, nor is he yet, my hus- 
 band,” interposed Chui ; “ we were not even 
 engaged to be married.” 
 
 “ I see no sin even in that,” replied Leng 
 Tso, “ especially as neither of you w T as en- 
 gaged to another and could choose whom 
 you would.” 
 
 “ What ! I choose ?” asked the girl, in as- 
 tonishment. “ Is it not the duty of parents 
 and the go-between to choose ?” 
 
 “ That is the custom in the Middle King- 
 dom, but not of other countries ; and the 
 holy book says nothing to command or to 
 forbid it, so far as I know.” 
 
 “ Then I did not sin against God ?” said 
 Chui, with a great sigh of relief. “ That is 
 what troubled me greatly. I knew that I 
 wished to serve him, and I was trying to be 
 his disciple and hoped soon to become a 
 member of the church ; but this came so 
 suddenly and so terribly against me, as if 
 to destroy me. Then some said that I was 
 not fit to be a member of the church, and 
 that I was not fit to be with Christians. It 
 seemed so terrible. All was so bright and 
 I was so happy before. It appeared as 
 
262 
 
 LEXG TSO. 
 
 if a typhoon had suddenly come in the most 
 beautiful calm day and was tearing down 
 and uprooting all I had. But” — and she 
 asked the question with hesitation — “ after 
 we are married will I still love him ?” 
 
 “ Why not?” asked the Bible-woman. 
 
 “ Some women told me that it would be a 
 just punishment to me if I hated him after 
 we were married. They said that those who 
 love before they are engaged cannot exjiect 
 to love after marriage.” 
 
 “ Why should that be ? If a woman 
 loves really and gives her heart entirely to a 
 man, she will not take it back, if she be a 
 true woman and he a man worthy her love.” 
 “And will God forgive me? Will I dare 
 go to the inquiry-meeting again ?” 
 
 “ Certainly ; God says he will forgive the 
 sins of all who come to him trusting in the 
 Saviour. But be careful that you ask it for 
 Jesus’ sake. The inquiry-meeting is just 
 the place for you. You must not think that 
 because you have not done according to the 
 customs of the Middle Kingdom you have 
 not done according to the law of God ; our 
 customs and his law may be very different. 
 
LOVE IN THE SCHOOL. 
 
 263 
 
 If you have not broken his law, you have 
 not sinned against him. His law forbids 
 only such customs as are sinful, and the 
 holy book leaves many of the customs of a 
 people to itself.” 
 
 “ Now I see,” spoke the girl ; “ I have not 
 sinned against God, but against the customs 
 of the Middle Kingdom, and the Middle- 
 Kingdom people are punishing me for it. 
 And that is the reason why the new foreign 
 pastor — and, I think, the others too — say so 
 little about it. Our own pastor did not say I 
 had done wrong, except that we had all de- 
 ceived, and that I and the teacher had been 
 very unwise in acting as we had to cause so 
 much talk and trouble. But he is such a 
 kind and loving pastor ! Have you heard what 
 the teacher says and how he is treated and how 
 he feels ? I am so sorry that he must suffer 
 because of me. If you see him, will you tell 
 him that I am sorry to have given him pain ?” 
 
 Leng Tso was willing to promise, for she 
 felt as few could a deep sympathy for the 
 girl, and more than once during this call 
 had been more than half tempted to tell 
 her own story. 
 
264 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 After a few minutes of talk on other sub- 
 jects Cliui asked, 
 
 “Am I so much worse than others in 
 loving one to whom I am not engaged?” 
 
 “ Is it wrong to love that which is good 
 and noble? No; we cannot help loving 
 such beings when we are constantly with 
 them. That, I think, is the reason why our 
 ancestors so arranged society in the Middle 
 Kingdom : they knew that women would 
 love the good men and hate the bad, so 
 that the bad would be left without wives. 
 For the sake of the bad men the custom 
 was made.” 
 
 “Do you think so?” asked the girl, in 
 wonder. 
 
 “ I think so, but do not know it to be the 
 fact,” was the reply. 
 
 “ If I could only know that some one 
 who was not bad had done as I have done, I 
 would not feel so badly about it,” said Chui, 
 half to herself. 
 
 Leng Tso looked for a while at Chui, and 
 then asked, 
 
 “ Would you like to hear about one who 
 loved a young man as you do ?” 
 
LOVE IN THE SCHOOL. 
 
 265 
 
 “ Yes, I would,” was the eager answer. 
 “Was it in the Middle Kingdom?” 
 
 “ Yes, and not far from this city. You 
 know the woman, though you may not know 
 the man.” 
 
 “ Do I know her ?” asked the girl, anxious- 
 ly. “ Who is she ? Who is the man, too ? 
 But I wish to know who the woman is.” 
 
 “ Listen and I will tell her story, and you 
 may then ask, if you wish to know ;” and 
 then the Bible-woman began to tell her own 
 story. As part of it is already known to 
 the reader, and all of it to those who have 
 read the Chinese Slave- Girl, the story will 
 not be told here in full as told by Leng Tso. 
 In brief, it was this : 
 
 “A small child was sold in time of great 
 drought to save her life and to gain a little 
 money to keep the rest of the family from 
 starving-. The man who bought her took her 
 to a village where he lived and made her his 
 slave. He was unkind to the child ; an old 
 woman in the village took pity on the little 
 stranger and treated her kindly, and almost 
 made the little one her own child. This 
 woman, who was quite old, had a grandson 
 
266 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 — a noble boy — a few years older than the 
 slave-girl. He saw how the child was abused 
 by her master, and when able gave her all 
 the help he could. He treated her as if she 
 had been his sister. The two were together 
 with the other children of the village when- 
 ever they could be, this boy always taking 
 the side of the slave-girl and defending her 
 against all enemies. The girl, as she grew 
 older, loved the brave boy and looked on 
 him as a hero ; she learned that he cared as 
 much for her as she did for him. As they 
 grew older he told her that he meant to buy 
 her from her master and make her his wife. 
 For years they lived in this way — she as 
 happy as a slave-girl could be with such a 
 master, and he happy in the belief that 
 when he was a man he would buy her to 
 become his wife. The master took a great 
 dislike to the youth. When the boy’s 
 father tried to buy the girl, the master 
 charged such a high price that no bargain 
 could be made. After a time the boy — now 
 almost a man — told his friends and the 
 slave-girl his purpose, and started from 
 home to earn money more rapidly, that he 
 
LOVE IN THE SCHOOL. 
 
 267 
 
 might buy the girl. He remained away for 
 several years. In the mean time, the girl’s 
 master sold her to become the second wife 
 of an opium-smoker. He became a gambler, 
 and when in a gambling-shop one day after 
 he had lost all his property offered his 
 second wife for sale to any one who would 
 give him money with which to gamble. In 
 this way she became the property of another 
 man, who made her his wife. This man 
 was killed in the destruction of the Foo 
 city, and his property was destroyed ; after 
 that the w T ife was free. Some time after 
 she w T as sold to become the second w T ife 
 of the man to whom her master sold her, the 
 young man returned to his native village 
 with money enough to buy the slave-girl. 
 Finding that she had been already sold, he 
 turned away in despair and moved to the 
 Foo city, where he started in business and 
 became wealthy. After some years, while 
 passing along the street, he saw the former 
 slave-girl, now the wife of the man who had 
 bought her from the gambler. He knew 
 her, and she him. As they met the old 
 love revealed itself, but, according to the 
 
LENG TSO. 
 
 268 
 
 rules of society, they could not meet except 
 with the husband’s permission and in his 
 presence. The man, through others, tried 
 to buy from her husband this woman, but 
 he was unwilling to part with a wife whom 
 he loved ; she knew nothing of the proposed 
 offer. In time the man who loved her was 
 persuaded to marry another woman— one far 
 better educated and of a more aristocratic 
 family — yet neither he nor she could forget 
 the one loved in childhood. When the Foo 
 city was captured, this man and his wife 
 were away, and so were saved, but their prop- 
 erty was destroyed. Years after, all three of 
 these — the man and his wife and the former 
 slave-girl, now a widow — became Christians 
 and met. He was a preacher and the 
 widow was a Bible-woman.” 
 
 “ Was that woman yourself?” asked Chui 
 suddenly interrupting. 
 
 “ Yes,” replied Leng Tso ; “ it was I.” 
 “And is the man yet living? and is his 
 wife alive?” 
 
 “ Yes, both are alive.” 
 
 “ Who is the man ?” 
 
 This was asked with so much hesitation 
 
LOVE IN THE SCHOOL. 
 
 269 
 
 that the Bible-woman had little difficulty in 
 saying, 
 
 “ I can tell only the woman’s name, but 
 must say nothing more about the man.” 
 
 “ Do you love him yet ?” asked the girl, 
 with a strange earnestness in look and tone. 
 
 “Yes,” replied the woman, with deep feel- 
 ing ; “ I love him yet.” 
 
 “ And you loved as I do, and love yet ! 
 How strange ! Is his wife living ?” 
 
 “ Yes, both are living,” said Leng Tso, not 
 noticing that she had been asked and had an- 
 swered that question before. 
 
 “ Does she know you ? and does she know 
 that you love him ?” 
 
 “Yes; he told her all, for she has talked 
 to me about it. I know her well ; she is as 
 true and noble as he is, and I love her as a 
 sister, because she is so good, so kind to him 
 and so true to me. She is not to blame that 
 he did not buy me back. It is not her fault, 
 and why should she feel troubled ? There ! I 
 have said all there is to be told. Now let 
 me ask, ‘ Do you think you are the only one 
 in the Middle Kingdom who ever loved a man 
 to whom she was not already engaged ’ ?” 
 
270 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “ But he meant to marry you,” said Chui, 
 “ and went to get the money to buy you for 
 his wife. The bargain seemed almost made ; 
 nothing but the money was needed.” 
 
 “ True,” replied the woman ; “ but I too 
 have often asked myself if I was not sin- 
 ning by holding hidden in my heart this 
 love for a man who is the husband of an- 
 other. I too have prayed God to forgive 
 me and to help me to conquer the love.” 
 
 “ Have you conquered ?” 
 
 “ Yes, in one way. I can pray that God 
 will make the lives of him and his wife hap- 
 py and spare them to each other, and I have 
 long since learned to say, ‘ Thy will be done.’ 
 I think had it been otherwise I might not 
 have known about the gospel, and might 
 never have been able to tell others of it.” 
 The visit of the Bible-woman gave Chui 
 great comfort, and Leng Tso became deeply 
 interested in the young girl. There was a 
 bond of sympathy that drew them closely 
 together, and the Bible-woman’s kindly 
 words to others for the girl had no little 
 influence in turning the sympathy of oth- 
 ers toward Chui. 
 
LOVE IN THE SCHOOL. 
 
 271 
 
 Won Leng continued to teach in the boys’ 
 school, but was transferred to another place 
 after a time, and thither he took with him 
 his young bride, Chui. After the wedding 
 all the talk ceased, and she was regarded 
 with the same feelings as other wives. 
 
 It is often said that love before marriage 
 — rather, before engagement — in China is 
 unknown. As a rule, that statement will 
 hold true, but it has exceptions ; the most 
 noted instance of which the author knew 
 while in that country is the one he has 
 just related. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE A N TI- FE E TBINDING SOCIETY. 
 URING the stay at Ha Bun of the two 
 
 women from up the country there was no 
 little discussion about unbinding the feet of 
 women and girls. So much had been said 
 that the people were thinking, and thinking 
 wisely, about this strange and foolish custom. 
 Of course the thinking and the talking were 
 mostly among the Christians and those who 
 mingled with them, yet people outside of the 
 church heard the talk and had their thoughts 
 as well. That such thoughts were always in 
 favor of binding the feet of women and girls 
 need not be supposed: China has sensible 
 people. Yet the vast majority looked at any 
 effort toward unbinding the feet as un-Chi- 
 nese and foreign not only, but as a part of 
 the foreign religion. To meet the sneers of 
 these and hear them say that the foreigners 
 
 272 
 
THE ANTI-FEETBINDING SOCIETY. 273 
 
 were controlling the minds of the people was 
 not easy for the Christians. It needed no 
 little urging as well as instruction to per- 
 suade the Christians to take any forward 
 movement. They could not see why this 
 custom should be given up, especially as the 
 Bible said nothing against it, and the most 
 of them quietly settled down to let the whole 
 matter alone. But it was impossible to si- 
 lence the missionaries or the Chinese pastors 
 and preachers, who would persist in telling 
 their hearers that it was unnatural, and even 
 sinful, to deform the body for the sake of a 
 fancied beauty. At length some were con- 
 vinced that something must be done, if for 
 no other reason than to quiet the voice of 
 conscience and of the preachers ; but there 
 were a few who from earnest conviction were 
 ready to do all in their power to stop the 
 binding of feet. Such proved their sincer- 
 ity by acts. Especially was this the case 
 with the family of one of the native pastors. 
 His wife unbound the feet of her eldest 
 daughters and left the feet of the younger 
 ones unbound. 
 
 “ What had better be done ?” asked one of 
 18 
 
274 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 the preachers of another. “ We may con- 
 tinue to talk, but unless we act the talk will 
 be wasted. We must show that we mean to 
 do something and are ready to do it.” 
 
 “ So I think,” added the other. “ But 
 ‘ What?’ and ‘How?’ are questions all can 
 ask. Who will answer? The foreign pas- 
 tors say we should meet together and talk 
 of the matter in a public gathering, and learn 
 what others are ready to do or to propose.” 
 
 “ True,” spoke the first one. “ It is use- 
 less to try to keep a fire with a single stick ; 
 bring many dry ones together, and there will 
 be heat if only a small flame be applied.” 
 
 A meeting was called in a church in the 
 city, and all interested in binding or in un- 
 binding feet were invited ; the meeting was 
 held on a weekday afternoon. It was thought 
 best that the first meeting should be for women 
 only. About seventy women were present ; 
 three missionaries and two native pastors 
 were on the platform, and thus with about 
 seventy-five in the first gathering an anti- 
 feetbinding society began a work that is like- 
 ly to become in China not very unlike that 
 of the total-abstinence societies of America. 
 
THE ANTI-FEETBINDING SOCIETY. 275 
 
 The meeting was conducted by the preach- 
 ers, native as well as foreign. Addresses were 
 made showing the injury and wrong of bind- 
 ing the feet of girls and women and appeal- 
 ing to those present to make a start in break- 
 ing down the evil custom. Many of those 
 present were ready to begin if some would 
 but lead the way. The speakers had decided 
 on the way : this was to sign a pledge not to 
 bind the feet of their young daughters, and 
 to remove the bandages from those already 
 bound. When such a pledge was suggested, 
 many a woman closed her lips firmly and 
 shook her head, as if to let it be known that 
 she would not sign it ; others were willing 
 and ready. There was a low buzzing among 
 the women, some appealing to others to sign 
 and others inspiring their friends to refuse. 
 The pledge was offered to each woman, and, 
 to the surprise of all, forty signed it. Among 
 these was the wife of one of the pastors, and 
 her mother, who was more than seventy 
 years old. It seemed absurd for this old 
 lady to sign such a pledge, her children all 
 being grown and married ; but it was soon 
 seen that old Mrs. Lee — for that was her 
 
276 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 name — did not sign as a mere form. She 
 afterward told her daughter and others, 
 
 “ I do not mean to ask others to do what 
 I am not willing to do myself. It will not 
 do for a Christian to say ‘ Go,’ but ‘ Come.’ ” 
 
 “ Why, mother,” spoke the daughter, “ do 
 you mean to unbind your feet?” 
 
 “Surely I do,” was the reply. 
 
 In vain friends told Mrs. Lee that for one 
 so old there was an excuse, and that she need 
 not unbind her feet ; it was not expected of 
 her. 
 
 “ No matter what is expected,” replied 
 she. “ What will he the effect of my ex- 
 ample? I must let my light shine before 
 the world. How can I do it but by unbind- 
 ing my feet?” 
 
 This anti-feetbinding society made quite a 
 stir in the city, especially among Christians. 
 Some were as decidedly in its favor as others 
 were against it. 
 
 Few supposed that any but young women 
 and girls would be expected to unbind their 
 feet. But when the wife of one of the 
 pastors unbound her own feet, and her aged 
 mother did the same, other women began to 
 
THE A NTI-FEETBINDING SOCIETY. 277 
 
 ask themselves whether they were expected 
 to follow the example. Not a few were re- 
 lieved to learn that old Mrs. Lee was unable 
 to walk with the bandages removed, and was 
 compelled to restore them. 
 
 “It might be the same with us,” suggested 
 several, “and why should we cripple ourselves 
 so as to be unable to walk at all? We can 
 walk now, and better walk poorly than be 
 helpless.” 
 
 Some, however, unbound their feet for a 
 while and then rebound them, to become 
 accustomed to the change gradually. Mrs. 
 Lee felt disappointed when she saw that to 
 keep the pledge as she understood it she 
 made herself a cripple and a captive. 
 
 “ I have been chained,” said she, “ for life, 
 and must wear the chains, but better wear 
 them with a little liberty than exchange 
 them for a prison.” 
 
 The first meeting created no little talk. 
 Men took part in it as well as women, but 
 the male portion were more in favor of the 
 movement than were those who suffered 
 most from the evil. They were anxious to 
 attend a meeting themselves if another was 
 
278 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 held. When the people were anxious for it 
 and the excitement had become great, another 
 gathering was called, in the largest church, 
 and men as well as women were invited. 
 The house was full. People came from 
 churches out of the city. Preachers from 
 other places, as well as from Ha Bun, were 
 there. Women filled the places for the 
 female part of the congregation, and men 
 the body of the church. Addresses were 
 delivered by one and another after the object 
 of the gathering had been stated, but that 
 which gave the most interest to the meeting 
 was a paper read by one of the young 
 preachers, Lee Choli Lin. As this paper, 
 written by a Chinaman, gives, as far as the 
 author has ever seen, the best description of 
 the evils of feet-binding, a translation of 
 the main portion of the essay is given : 
 
 “ As to binding the feet, the custom is piti- 
 able and to be abominated, because it greatly 
 injures people and is extremely distressing. 
 Some bind until the flesh is rotten and vile; 
 some, until the bones are broken and the calf 
 of the leg withers away. Some become so 
 weak that they cannot hold their chopsticks 
 
THE ANTI-FEETBINDING SOCIETY. 279 
 
 to take their food, and some grow pale and 
 emaciated and end their lives in consump- 
 tion. 
 
 “When the feet are bound at first, some 
 cry continually ; they even cry aloud as they 
 weep, and call with a loud and mournful 
 voice for help. Their fear becomes so great 
 that feet and hands tremble and from the 
 whole body flows a cold sweat. 
 
 “ After the feet have become of proper 
 shape and size there is always more or less 
 pain and trouble, caused by the pressure of 
 the nails into the flesh. In some cases the 
 foot becomes rotten ; then they sprinkle on 
 alum or plaster with salt vegetables. When 
 in pain and distress, they call out, saying, 
 ‘ For what purpose is this binding of my 
 feet?’ Some curse and revile their lives, 
 saying, ‘ Binding my feet ! Oh, that some one 
 would kill me !’ They groan over and de- 
 plore their cruel fate, because the large is turn- 
 ed into the small, the straight into the crook- 
 ed, and the five members are bound into one. 
 They have less strength, more suffering and 
 are less able to walk than those Avhose feet 
 are unbound. In ascending hills, descend- 
 
280 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 ing steeps, crossing difficult places, and in 
 everything, there is more inconvenience and 
 more misery. To speak of all the particu- 
 lars of this evil a whole day would not be 
 sufficient. 
 
 “This custom is not only injurious to hu- 
 manity, but is plainly sinning against God. 
 Such private torture is far worse than that 
 received in punishment by law ; for there, in 
 many cases, by paying money one can be re- 
 leased, but in the case of feet-binding the tor- 
 ture lasts a lifetime. Can this be without sin ? 
 We must remember that God is all-wise and 
 made our bodies and all our members, each 
 member being perfect. Man must be very 
 brave to dare to use this cruel method and 
 violently change what God has made. Can 
 such a person be without sin? I think not. 
 Any one willing to think carefully will know 
 that this custom is far from right. It cer- 
 tainly does not profit, and only injures. In 
 the first place, it injures one’s self ; in the sec- 
 ond place, it injures others ; thirdly, it is not 
 in accordance with the will of God. Thus 
 it is plain that the feet should not be bound. 
 
 “ What a pity to see so many of the chil- 
 
THE ANTI-FEETBINDING SOCIETY. 281 
 
 dren of the church with bound feet! We 
 should mourn over this. It is a great mis- 
 take of the parents. They do not think 
 deeply, but obstinately follow the customs 
 of the world. They have always heard their 
 parents say, ‘ Not bound, not pretty ; not 
 bound, not fit to behold.’ Now, I think that 
 bound feet are not pretty, because the foot that 
 God has made has five toes, long and short, in 
 proper proportion and very pretty. When 
 a foot is bound, this pattern is destroyed ; 
 for all are made into one bundle. Nor is 
 the pattern always the same, for some 
 bind in one shape, and some in another. 
 
 “ When a woman wishes to unbind her 
 feet for an airing, she always does it in a 
 concealed place. If a man should come, she 
 would run or cover her feet, because she is 
 ashamed of them. That shame is proof that 
 her feet are not fit to be seen. What a pity 
 that people will follow the customs of the 
 world more faithfully than they do the doc- 
 trines of God ! 
 
 “ Some excuse themselves by saying that 
 unbound feet are not honorable, and that 
 such as have them are not fit to associate 
 
282 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 with respectable people, and that they will 
 he looked upon as slaves. But if we look 
 at this carefully, we will see that bound feet 
 are not honorable, because binding makes 
 them vile. Surely that is not honorable? 
 If seen and touched by a clean person, he 
 must wash his hands before he touches a rice- 
 bowl, takes hold of chopsticks or puts food to 
 his mouth. Men are so conformed to this 
 world that they call dishonorable things hon- 
 orable, and thus turn everything around. 
 
 “ If all the women would leave their feet un- 
 bound, like women in other countries, whose 
 feet are pretty and honorable, it w T ould be 
 far better. What is made pretty is pretty, 
 and what is made ugly is ugly. Our em- 
 press, for example, although she does not 
 bind her feet, is considered honorable.* 
 Now, among the bound-footed women, who 
 can compare with the empress in honor? 
 Who can associate with her even as an 
 equal? Who dares, because her feet are 
 not bound, call her a slave ? Thus you 
 
 * The Mantchu Tartars— and that includes the emperor’s 
 family — do not bind the feet of women and girls, but allow 
 them to grow as nature made those members. 
 
THE ANTI-FEETB TNDING SOCIETY. 283 
 
 may know that those whose lot it is to be 
 honorable will be honorable, and those whose 
 place it is to be lowly will be lowly. Though 
 you bind your feet small enough to put them 
 in a rice-measure, yet, if you are of the 
 lowly, you will remain lowly still. If you 
 are not pretty, will binding your feet make 
 you so ? For instance, if you have a crook- 
 ed nose, can you make it straight by binding 
 your feet? If your face be black, will bind- 
 ing your feet make it fair ? Certainly not. 
 So you may know that there is no profit in 
 binding the feet, but injury only. 
 
 “ Shall not all of us who are Christians 
 exert ourselves to have this custom removed 
 from our churches ? The holy book bids us 
 not to be conformed to this world. There 
 are daughters of Jezebel constantly whis- 
 pering in your ears, saying, ‘ Do bind ! Do 
 bind! You must not unbind! You must 
 not unbind !’ But do not listen ; rather, 
 learn of Sarah, whose daughters you are, 
 and thus glorify God.” 
 
 The address of young Mr. Lee was lis- 
 tened to with interest and made a lasting 
 impression. The young man was popular, and 
 
284 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 anything from him would have effect. All 
 knew that what he said was true, yet on the 
 other hand remained the fact that large-foot- 
 ed women w T ere looked upon as poor, degrad- 
 ed, and even slaves, while those having small 
 feet were counted among the better class. 
 
 “ It is all true,” said one man to his 
 neighbor ; “ but if we allow our girls to un- 
 bind their feet, we cannot marry them to 
 respectable wealthy men and cannot get a 
 good price for them.” 
 
 “ True,” was the answer ; “ and we cannot 
 afford to bring up daughters to marry men 
 below their own station, and then receive a 
 price that does not pay for one-fourth of the 
 trouble and cost we have had. Foot-binding 
 is evil, but to escape that we meet another 
 that may be far greater.” 
 
 The meeting did not break up when the 
 addresses closed ; then began the real busi- 
 ness of the gathering. The people willing 
 to engage in the new movement organized 
 themselves into a society whose object was to 
 change the custom of binding the feet of the 
 girls and women of China. 
 
 “ But we must do more,” said a man, 
 
THE A NT l- FEET I) IN DING SOCIETY. 285 
 
 before the meeting adjourned. “This is not 
 a work for the women alone : the men — 
 especially the young men — can help a great 
 deal in this.” 
 
 After a minute or two of silence the 
 speaker continued : 
 
 “ Let the young men sign a pledge that 
 they will not marry girls whose feet are 
 bound. Instead of making small feet a 
 prize, let them be regarded as the mark of 
 weakness. Then every girl will wish to 
 have her feet left the natural size.” 
 
 This last address made more of an impres- 
 sion than anything that had been said. 
 
 “ We must have a pledge for the young 
 men,” said one. “ Let them agree not to 
 marry women with small feet, and then the 
 bandages will speedily disappear.” 
 
 No one opposed the motion, though some 
 of the young men yet unmarried and not 
 engaged wished that some one would say a 
 word or two against such a pledge. They 
 might be willing enough to marry large- 
 footed women, but how would they feel to 
 have the world speak of their wives as of 
 the lowest class ? 
 
286 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 None was more elated than the Bible- 
 woman at the result of this meeting. That 
 for which she had so long looked had begun. 
 Justice to Leng Tso suggests that, while 
 she was a large-footed woman, it was not 
 that she might have company among the 
 people of the church, but that the women 
 might with her enjoy a blessing that she 
 could fully appreciate, that made her long to 
 see every woman and every girl remove the 
 bandages from her feet. 
 
 These meetings of the anti-feetbinding 
 society were held each quarter, and were 
 attended by large numbers. While the ex- 
 citement caused by the movement soon 
 lessened, the interest continued, and the 
 society grew in members and in strength. 
 It is living and working quietly but decided- 
 ly yet, and will probably never die until the 
 last bound foot in China is laid in the grave. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 TROUBLE IN THAU PAU. 
 
 T HE differences between Kliiau and Liong 
 had arisen slowly, but they came to stay. 
 Before he became a Christian, Liong had 
 been one of the leaders of the village, and 
 he could not get rid of the desire to regain 
 his old position. He had received very 
 little religious instruction, and his wayward- 
 ness was more the result of ignorance than 
 of wickedness. Kliiau was a little inclined 
 to be overbearing, so that it was diffi- 
 cult to say which was the more to blame. 
 The feeling between the two men did not 
 take the form of quarrels. 
 
 Liong showed his feeling rather in a dis- 
 satisfied manner and an unwillingness to do 
 what the preacher requested. One day he 
 surprised Khiau with a request that the mis- 
 sionaries be informed that he had need of 
 the building used as a chapel and would be 
 glad if they would give it back to him. 
 
 287 
 
288 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “ But wliat shall we do for a house in 
 which to worship ? There is no other that 
 we can get.” 
 
 “ I cannot say,” replied Liong. “ You are 
 the leader here, and it will be your work to 
 find another place.” 
 
 Khiau sent the message to the missionaries 
 and sadly told them that no other building 
 suitable for a chapel could be had in the 
 place ; if service was to be continued, a new 
 chapel must be built. 
 
 It was a time of great scarcity of money 
 in the mission, but the necessity was plain, 
 and it was decided to build a new chapel at 
 Thau Pau as soon as possible. Word was 
 sent that the mission would help, but the peo- 
 ple must do all they could. This was good 
 news to all. Even Liong was glad to have a 
 new chapel in the village, and the rest of the 
 people were thankful, for the old building was 
 anything but comfortable. 
 
 They busied themselves with trying to col- 
 lect money for the new chapel, but money was 
 far from plenty, and many of the villagers 
 w T ould far rather have given money to keep 
 a chapel away than to build one near them. 
 
TROUBLE IN THAU PAU. 
 
 289 
 
 After great effort twenty-seven dollars was 
 collected, and the mission agreed to add fifty 
 to this amount. It was found that more 
 money would be needed to complete the 
 building, and three dollars additional were 
 collected in the village, and the mission add- 
 ed twenty ; so that the chapel cost about one 
 hundred dollars, a little less than one-third 
 of which was given by the people. This 
 sum appears very small to us, but thirty dol- 
 lars was an immense sum for the poor people 
 of Thau Pan to give. It was fully equal to 
 four hundred dollars with us, as far as the 
 actual purchasing power is concerned ; and 
 when it is remembered that the people in vil- 
 lages away from the coast and the large cities 
 have very little money, it will be seen that 
 thirty dollars was not a small sum for the 
 Christians of Thau Pau to give. 
 
 When the money had been raised and the 
 place for the site obtained, the people opposed 
 to building a chapel showed their opposition 
 by threats ; but when warned that they 
 might offend the mandarins if they under- 
 took to prevent the erection of the chapel, 
 they sullenly allowed the work to begin. 
 
 19 
 
290 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 No great amount of material was need- 
 ed ; no bricks were brought nor stone car- 
 ried from a distance ; no great pile of lumber 
 lay near the site of the chapel. No one, to 
 have seen the preparations, would have sus- 
 pected that a chapel was to be built there. 
 After a little digging for the walls the 
 masons set on edge two boards united by 
 two cross-pieces about a foot in length, and 
 into this box the men began to shovel the 
 earth they had dug. A small portion of 
 lime was put into the box with the earth, and 
 then, with blunt sticks, the men pounded and 
 stamped the earth and lime until the whole 
 became almost as hard as stone. More ground 
 and more lime were put into the box until 
 it was full and all had been pounded solid; 
 then the box was moved along to add to this 
 first and lower part of the wall. When one 
 side had been begun in this way, the next 
 end or side was begun in the same manner; 
 and thus the wall all around was started. 
 The first course completed, the box was 
 raised, and on top of the lower course the 
 masons continued to build, adding thus 
 until the whole was high enough. 
 
TROUBLE IN THAU PAU. 
 
 291 
 
 Before the building was completed a child 
 in the village became very ill ; at once the en- 
 emies of the gospel said that this was caused 
 by the chapel, and that the work must be 
 stopped. This was sad news to the people 
 of God. In vain did they urge that the 
 chapel had nothing to do with the child’s 
 illness ; the superstitious people would not 
 be convinced, and insisted that the building 
 should stop at once or all in the village 
 would be made ill, and perhaps killed. 
 
 A still greater trouble was in store for the 
 faithful ones. Liong began to show his 
 hostility more openly. He neglected the 
 chapel service on the Sabbath, and it was 
 said that he had even been seen to work in 
 the field on the Lord’s day. Gan, who was 
 under Liong’s influence, actually did work 
 on the Sabbath. Liong was constantly tell- 
 ing the others that it was useless to go to the 
 chapel, where they would hear little more than 
 they knew themselves. It was a severe 
 blow to the others to have both the men 
 who brought the gospel to the village fall 
 away, and the faith of some was shaken. 
 
 It was a sad meeting that was held one 
 
292 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 day in the old chapel, to which were invited 
 all the Christians of Thau Pau and neigh- 
 boring places. Two of the missionaries were 
 there. They had learned much of the 
 sad story of Liong’s wandering and Gan’s 
 sin. Earnestly and tenderly they warned 
 the people of the danger of accepting doc- 
 trines that were contrary to the Bible. As 
 a father would plead with his children, so 
 they pleaded with these uneducated Chris- 
 tians, and taught them more clearly the way 
 of life and duty. 
 
 The visit and the counsels of the mission- 
 aries had a great effect on the Christians, 
 who were made stronger in their faith and 
 more willing to endure trial for the Lord’s 
 sake. 
 
 Yet another trial came to the Christians 
 of Thau Pau. One morning early, as a girl 
 about fourteen years old was working near 
 her home, she gave a fearful shriek that 
 startled the whole village. She uttered a 
 single word, but it was one that made the 
 blood of all who heard it almost stop : 
 
 “Haw!” * 
 
 Tiger. 
 
TROUBLE IN THAU PAU. 
 
 293 
 
 Every one knew the meaning of that aw- 
 ful word ; and when uttered with such a fear- 
 ful shriek, all who heard the sound knew 
 that the dreadful beast was near. Those 
 who were in their homes hastily shut the 
 doors and locked themselves in, while others 
 outside ran to the nearest place of safety. 
 
 For a few moments only were the people 
 hidden. From the home of the young girl 
 whose scream had been heard there came the 
 agonizing cries of her mother. The first im- 
 pulse of the family within, when hearing the 
 cry of “Haw /” had been to shut and bolt 
 the door, but the mother had caught in the 
 shriek the sound of her daughter’s voice. 
 A mother’s love overcame all fear, and the 
 door was carefully opened as the mother 
 looked out to see where the daughter was. 
 The girl had disappeared, nor was the sound 
 of her voice heard. The awful stillness was 
 too sure a harbinger for the mother to mis- 
 take. Looking out from her home, the par- 
 ent saw a huge tiger disappearing in the edge 
 of the woods, carrying in its mouth the limp 
 body of the young girl ; it was then that the 
 scream of the mother made known to the af- 
 
294 
 
 LENG 'ISO. 
 
 frighted people that the tiger had done its 
 work. Some men, impelled by a desperate 
 courage, burst open their doors and hurried 
 out to see what they could do to save the 
 life of whoever might be attacked by the 
 beast. It was but a sentence from the moth- 
 er’s lips that told the story, but the men knew 
 all. 
 
 Had the girl been a heathen, there might 
 have been more general sympathy for the 
 parents and more decided efforts made to 
 pursue the beast. In vain, for a time, did the 
 mother appeal to the men to save her child ; 
 the father himself was almost dumb with 
 fright. At length, when many precious 
 moments had passed, some started to fright- 
 en the tiger and make him drop the body. 
 The beast had so much the start, and fear 
 had so much effect on the pursuers, that they 
 failed even to find the tiger. It was a sad 
 return for the pursuing party, but far more 
 sad to the bereaved mother when she saw 
 them slowly enter the village without her 
 daughter. 
 
 The visit of the tiger and the capture of the 
 child of one of the Christian families were 
 
TROUBLE IN THAU PAU. 
 
 295 
 
 regarded by the heathen as certain proofs 
 that the gods were angry at the building of 
 the Christian chapel. They did not hesitate 
 to tell the bereaved parents and the other 
 followers of the Saviour that this was a just 
 punishment for turning away from the re- 
 ligion of their fathers. They declared that 
 this was but the beginning of calamities. 
 The gods had waited long to give people 
 time to return to the faith of their ancestors, 
 but, since all opportunities had been rejected, 
 the punishments would now come. 
 
 Perhaps the best human visitor who could 
 have come to the village was the Bible- 
 woman. She had heard of the calamity 
 and knew too well the feelings of a bereaved 
 mother; so to her it seemed a duty to go at 
 once to Thau Pan to comfort the mourners 
 and do what she could to prevent the rising 
 of superstitious fears on the part of Chris- 
 tians. Leng Tso had heard of the trouble 
 about the chapel and the growing feeling on 
 the part of Liong against the preacher, and 
 then against the whole band of Christians. 
 She was not vain enough to suppose that she 
 could restore peace and harmony, but did 
 
296 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 think that she might prevent the trouble 
 growing, and that through the wives she 
 might influence the husbands. 
 
 It was not as cheerful a welcome as the 
 Bible-woman was accustomed to receive that 
 greeted her when she reached her old home. 
 A feeling of sadness seemed to be on every- 
 thing relating to the Christians of the vil- 
 lage. The unfinished chapel was the first 
 thing to greet the eye ; and when she met 
 her old friends of the church, they gave her 
 a half-hearted welcome, as if they were un- 
 certain whether or not she were a friend. 
 The idolaters were polite, but nothing more. 
 They felt that they could afford to leave 
 matters to the gods who had begun to work, 
 and were willing to escape trouble them- 
 selves. • 
 
 Visiting the bereaved family, Leng Tso 
 tried to comfort and cheer them with the 
 assurance that the heathen gods had nothing 
 to do with the carrying away of the young 
 girl. 
 
 “ If it were the gods,” said she, “ who 
 was it that carried away my mistress, Hou 
 So, long before the doctrine came to Thau 
 
TROUBLE IN THAU PAU. 
 
 297 
 
 Pau ? Who was it that carried away from 
 several of the villages during the past few 
 months not only girls and women, but strong 
 men ? Tigers did it. If the gods did it, 
 would they take away half a score of their 
 own faithful ones first, and then last of all 
 come here and take away one of the Lord’s 
 people? Why, it would be proof that the 
 Lord’s people are far more safe than are 
 those who worship the gods. As far as I 
 have heard, your child is the only one in all 
 this part of the Middle Kingdom who has 
 been carried from a Christian family by a 
 tiger.” 
 
 The words of the Bible-woman were not 
 without effect ; and as she spoke of the 
 better life and gave them hope of seeing 
 their loved one again where no evil comes, 
 the bereaved friends listened and were com- 
 forted. To them it was so unlike the teach- 
 ing of the superstitious heathen to hear of 
 again meeting their lost one, even though a 
 tiger had made her its victim, that they 
 could but accept the comforting words of 
 the woman as she spoke and read to them 
 from the Bible. 
 
298 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 After the first fright at the tiger’s work 
 had passed away, the Christians became more 
 calm and hopeful. They still continued to 
 worship in the house of Liong, and the hea- 
 then, seeing that the new chapel was left to 
 go to ruin and that the people were discour- 
 aged, gave them but little trouble. 
 
 But there was a cause for sorrow that did 
 not appear openly. Liong, as has been said, 
 was wandering away and secretly teaching 
 the people to doubt the doctrines taught by 
 the preacher. He was also promoting trou- 
 ble among the people and trying to turn all 
 against the chapel service and the preacher. 
 
 As we shall not have much more to say 
 about Liong, the rest of his story may be 
 added here. He was, after kindly admoni- 
 tion, suspended, and finally, with Gan, ex- 
 communicated from the church. But at the 
 last accounts Liong is again attending the 
 Sabbath services. No doubt a war is going 
 on in the heart of the self-willed man be- 
 tween his own ambition and his desire to 
 be a faithful disciple of Christ. The author 
 believes that the spirit of Liong will yet 
 yield to the power of God’s Spirit, and that 
 
TROUBLE IN THAU PAU. 
 
 299 
 
 the proud man will come back to the 
 Saviour. 
 
 When the chapel had remained in its un- 
 finished state for some time, the missionaries 
 determined to complete it. The ground on 
 which it was built was theirs, and their need 
 of it for the purpose of teaching and preach- 
 ing — which are allowed by law in China — 
 was great, and they could safely appeal to 
 the government for protection as they went 
 on with their work. When the repairing of 
 the damages done by the weather was begun, 
 there was a stir in Thau Pau. Many were 
 the threats made that the building should 
 not be completed; but when the people saw 
 that the missionaries not only meant to go 
 on with the work in spite of all threats, but 
 had the authority of the Chinese govern- 
 ment to sustain them, they allowed the op- 
 erations to proceed, taking consolation in the 
 hope that the gods would destroy the work. 
 Put the gods did nothing of the kind ; the 
 chapel was at last completed and opened 
 for service. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 KHIAU’S SORROW. 
 
 AI7H go back in our story to the time when 
 ' * Khiau was sent to the village of stran- 
 gers to preach the gospel to them. He was 
 delighted with his visit and would gladly 
 have returned to the strangers as their 
 preacher, for his stay in Thau Pau was be- 
 coming trying to him. The missionaries, 
 who knew how uncomfortable Liong’s jeal- 
 ousy made Khiau, would gladly have sent 
 to Thau Pau a man better suited to the field, 
 but they had none to spare. To make the 
 work less trying to Khiau — rather, to give 
 him relief and to supply needy stations — 
 he was sent, as has been seen, to preach for 
 a while at other places. This pleased him 
 better than to be put in charge of a large 
 established station. Occasionally he was 
 stationed at the Foo city for several weeks 
 at a time as assistant to the preacher in 
 
 300 
 
KHIAU’S SORROW. 
 
 301 
 
 charge. The church in that place had 
 grown so large that the work of preaching 
 to the audiences gathering daily became 
 more than the regular preacher could well 
 attend to. Kliiau regarded the Foo city as 
 his home, since he was so often sent to oth- 
 er places than Thau Pau, and there his wife 
 spent the most of her time. One day Kliiau 
 received a message from the missionaries in- 
 structing him to visit Thau Pau and then go 
 to a more distant station for a few weeks. 
 After spending two weeks in his native vil- 
 lage, as directed, he went on to the farther 
 station. One morning, after her husband 
 had been away about three weeks and a 
 half, Khiau So said to her friend Leng Tso, 
 “ I am feeling very ill to-day. I wish the 
 teacher were here, but he is so far away that 
 it would be folly to send for him. Yet I fear 
 that this illness will not soon pass away.” 
 
 “ I would not send for him until I was 
 quite sure that the illness is likely to last 
 some time,” suggested Leng Tso. “ It would 
 take two or three days for him to get the 
 message, and almost as long for him to reach 
 here, and by that time you might be well.” 
 
302 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “ It is true,” replied the preacher’s wife, 
 “ and for that reason I will not have any one 
 send word to him.” 
 
 “ I hope you will not be very ill,” spoke 
 Leng Tso, in a hopeful tone ; “ but remem- 
 ber that one of your best friends is with 
 you. I will take care of the household 
 affairs and do the cooking. But you must 
 have a doctor ; for whom shall I send ?” 
 
 “ I do not know,” replied the preacher’s 
 wife. “ I wish one of the foreign doctors 
 of Ha Bun could come, hut he would not 
 unless paid for it with so large a sum that it 
 would take half of my husband’s salary to 
 pay for one visit. If the doctor who is a 
 disciple himself* were in Ha Bun, he would 
 come, I am sure. How the doctrine softens 
 men’s hearts toward the poor !” 
 
 “ I am sorry that no foreign teacher- 
 doctor is in Ha Bun now; we must call in 
 one of the Middle Kingdom. Whom will 
 you have ?” 
 
 “ Do you know Un Toan? He was once 
 a student in the hospital at Ha Bun, and 
 has now an apothecary-shop here.” 
 
 * The missionary physician. 
 
KHIAU’S SORROW. 
 
 303 
 
 “Yes, I know him,” replied Leng Tso ; 
 “ 1 know where his shop is, and will call 
 him. Now, you lie down and keep very 
 quiet while I attend to the work, and then 
 I will go to get Un Toan. His shop will 
 hardly be open so early as this.” 
 
 Khiau So was very ill — far worse than 
 her friend supposed — and was glad to lie 
 down and leave all matters in charge of 
 Leng Tso. Quietly but quickly the work 
 was done, and the Bible-woman hurried to 
 find Un Toan. His shop was still closed, 
 and a person in the shop adjoining told her 
 that the “ foreign Chinese doctor ” would not 
 be in yet for half an hour, but if she wished 
 to have medicine he would speak to the 
 doctor and have it sent around in an hour. 
 
 “ I want him to come at once to see a 
 woman who is very ill,” said Leng Tso. 
 
 “ I will tell him,” replied the man, kindly. 
 Giving the man the address, Leng Tso re- 
 turned to the home of her friend. Enter- 
 ing the room of the sick woman very quietly, 
 she looked at her and supposed Khiau So to 
 be asleep, but she heard the sick woman ask 
 in a low voice, 
 
304 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “Is he here ?” 
 
 Going to the bed, Leng Tso said that he 
 was not in his office, but would, no doubt, 
 soon be there. 
 
 “ I wish he were here now ; my head 
 aches fearfully. I am afraid that I have a 
 great fever that will not end soon. For 
 some weeks I have not felt well, but said 
 nothing, hoping I should soon feel better. 
 Yet,” added she, hopefully, “ the Lord 
 knows best, and it may be that I needed to 
 become ill for some wise purpose. Yet I 
 would so much like to see the preacher here. 
 But it would be wrong to send for him yet. 
 If I grow worse, do not send for him unless 
 you think” — and here her voice faltered and 
 a tear came — unless you think I shall go 
 home.” 
 
 “ Oh, do not talk of that,” replied the 
 Bible-woman, with more feeling than she 
 cared to show. “ You have been ill only 
 a few hours ; many are ill for weeks, and 
 recover. Do not think of the shadows un- 
 til the sun is going down.” 
 
 “ There is a cloud hiding the sun now, 
 and I cannot see the light.” 
 
KHIAU'S SORROW. 
 
 305 
 
 “Jesus says that lie will light us,” replied 
 Leng Tso ; “ so fear not. He will never 
 leave you nor forsake you.” 
 
 “ It was not that,” spoke the sick woman, 
 faintly ; “ I have tried Jesus too long and 
 proved him too many times to doubt his love 
 now. No, it is only an earthly shadow that 
 I see. It seems to me that I cannot tell 
 whether I must go forward to the better 
 life or stay a while longer in this life.” 
 
 “ Ho not think of such things now ; leave 
 all to the Lord. There is much work for 
 you and me to do yet. I will go now and 
 make you a pot of tea, and then you may 
 sleep.” 
 
 “Let it be cool, for I am so hot!” mur- 
 mured Khiau So as her friend left the 
 room. 
 
 The tea was brought, and, though warm, 
 was eagerly swallowed, as the sick woman 
 said, 
 
 “I am so thirsty; and if I dared, I would 
 drink cold water. But that will not do if I 
 have a fever — at least, that is what Middle- 
 Kingdom doctors say.” 
 
 As the doctor did not come, Leng Tso 
 20 
 
306 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 went to the shop again ; he was in his office 
 quietly smoking. To her request that he 
 should come at once he replied : 
 
 “ It is too early to make calls yet, but I 
 will soon be there.” 
 
 “ It is not too early to be ill and to die,” 
 spoke the Bible- woman, with no little indig- 
 nation. “ When people are ill, they need a 
 doctor at once, no matter how early or how 
 late it is.” 
 
 “ That may be the way of Middle-King- 
 dom doctors,” replied Un Toan, “ but I am 
 a foreign doctor. They never go out early.” 
 “ That may be the case with those who care 
 for money only,” answered she, “ but I know 
 it is not so with those who come to the Middle 
 Kingdom to teach the doctrine as well as to 
 heal disease. It is not so with Dr. Bun, and 
 it was not so with Dr. Ing.” 
 
 “That may be so,” spoke Un Toan, “but 
 I am not doctoring as they did ; I am doing 
 it to make my living.” 
 
 “ Shall I tell you why they do not give 
 medicine late in the day?” asked Leng Tso, 
 with no little contempt in her manner. “ My 
 brother told me : they drink so much sam- 
 
KHIAU’ S SORROW. 
 
 307 
 
 shu* that in the afternoon they are not 
 sober enough to trust themselves with medi- 
 cines.” 
 
 “ That may be,” replied the doctor, “ and it 
 shows that they are very careful what they do.” 
 “ I did not come here to talk,” said Leng 
 Tso, sharply. “ Will you come to see Khiau 
 So at once? She is very sick, and should 
 have medicine without delay.” 
 
 “ I will come in a few minutes,” was his 
 reply as he began his preparations to go. 
 
 The doctor soon came to the sick woman. 
 Carefully he examined his patient, asking 
 questions, meanwhile, of her and her attend- 
 ant. He knew enough of disease to see that 
 Khiau So was a very sick woman, but, as he 
 did not think her dangerously ill, he left for 
 her some medicines, and in the afternoon 
 he called again, to find the woman in a 
 very high fever and delirious. Acting on 
 the practical teaching he had received from 
 the foreign physicians at Ha Bun, he refused 
 to give any other medicines until the next 
 morning. Then Khiau So was more ra- 
 tional, but the fever remained. She was 
 
 * Chinese for “liquor.” 
 
308 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 frequently calling for cold water, and begged 
 lier friend to give her one drink — only one. 
 
 “ Shall I give it?” asked Leng Tso. 
 
 For a while Un Toan stood and thought. 
 He had forgotten what the foreign physi- 
 cians would do under such circumstances, but 
 did remember that the Chinese refuse water 
 — especially cold water — to fever patients ; so 
 he said that she must not have anything cold, 
 as it might increase the fever by compelling 
 it to fight all the harder to gain the mastery. 
 Leng Tso obeyed, and the poor fever patient 
 was compelled to thirst or to drink warm 
 drinks. Her piteous appeals for water the 
 Bible-woman regarded as the ravings of one 
 delirious, and did not heed them. She asked 
 the doctor again what he thought about his 
 patient. 
 
 “ Oh, she will soon be up,” he replied as 
 he passed out of the door. 
 
 But there came no change for the better ; 
 the fever continued to rage, as though to burn 
 the very life out of the patient. Kliiau So 
 seldom spoke except during the times of 
 delirium ; then her words were wild, and her 
 mind seemed at times with her husband, and 
 
KHIAU'S SORROW. 
 
 309 
 
 again back in her old home of luxury and 
 wealth. Once, in a moment of half con- 
 sciousness, she said, 
 
 “ Oh, the preacher has come, and he was 
 so far away ! I thought you would not send 
 for him, I thought that you wished to keep 
 him for yourself; but you have let him come. 
 You are good to forget your own heart and 
 remember mine. It is hungry for him, and 
 here he comes.” 
 
 Leng Tso was startled and looked toward 
 the door, thinking that Khiau might really 
 be coming ; but no sound of footstep was 
 heard, and she knew that it was but the imagi- 
 nation of the delirious woman. 
 
 “ Shall I send for Khiau ?” asked Leug Tso. 
 
 “ For whom ?” asked the sick woman, in a 
 dull, indifferent voice. 
 
 “ For the preacher,” was the answer. 
 
 “ I do not know,” replied Khiau So, in a 
 half stupor. 
 
 Leng Tso did not try to get an answer ; 
 she had heard enough already from the pa- 
 tient, when partly conscious, to know that 
 Khiau So was anxious to see her husband, 
 and, though yet believing that the sick woman 
 
310 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 would recover, Leng Tso determined to send 
 at once for Khiau. Going to an acquaint- 
 ance, she had a messenger called, to whom 
 was told the errand on which she wished 
 him to go : 
 
 “ Tell Ivhiau to hasten back, and not to 
 stay for anything, for she may not recover.” 
 This was added more to hurry the preacher 
 than because she really believed that Khiau 
 So was likely to die. 
 
 “ How much will you pay me for going?” 
 asked the man. 
 
 “ Whatever is right,” replied she ; “ only 
 hurry and bring him back.” 
 
 “ But I want some of the money before I 
 start,” persisted the man. “ I will need it to 
 buy food on the way. How do I know that 
 you will be here when I return ? I must be 
 sure that my pay will be given.” 
 
 “ How can I be sure that you will go,” 
 asked she, “ until I find you have brought 
 him hack ?” 
 
 The bargain was made, however, and sat- 
 isfactorily to both, the principal object of the 
 woman being to hasten the man on his way. 
 Glad was she to see him start on a trot to- 
 
KHIAU’S SORROW. 
 
 311 
 
 ward the city gate, eager to show that he 
 meant to do as she demanded. 
 
 When the doctor came, Leng Tso told 
 him what she had done, and asked if he 
 thought Khiau So would be much better by 
 the time her husband came. 
 
 “ When will he be here ?” was asked. 
 
 “ In about four days — that is, if the man 
 makes great haste ; for the teacher will come 
 at once, I am sure.” 
 
 “ She may be better,” said the doctor ; and 
 then, hesitating, he added, “And she may be 
 worse. The medicine is not doing what I 
 expected. The fever is gaining rather than 
 losing. I have never seen one who had such 
 a fever, and I hope I may never see another. 
 Medicine takes no hold, but the disease 
 throws it off as if it were water on oil. I 
 have tried every foreign medicine I know of 
 for fever, and now I must try medicines of 
 the Middle Kingdom. If those fail, there 
 is no remedy ; she must die.” 
 
 Before leaving the house the man said to 
 Leng Tso, 
 
 “ You had better pray to the foreign God 
 to save her life.” 
 
312 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “ Do you think that she will die ?” asked 
 Leng Tso, anxiously. 
 
 “ It is not for me to say,” replied he, 
 “ but she needs all the help she can get.” 
 When the messenger had been absent 
 about two days, the sick woman opened her 
 eyes and asked, 
 
 “Will you send for him? I want to see 
 the preacher before I go.” 
 
 Thinking, perhaps, that her friend was 
 delirious, the Bible-woman asked, 
 
 “ Where are you going ?” 
 
 “ I am going home,” was the answer. 
 “ The Lord is coming for me soon. He 
 sent the messenger to tell me to be ready, 
 and I said that I would be ready as soon as 
 the teacher came. Will you send for him 
 soon ? or the Lord may come first.” 
 
 “You may get better now ; the fever is pass- 
 ing away. Soon you will be well again.” 
 “Yes, very soon,” was her reply, “and 
 never to be sick any more. And I shall 
 drink from the river of life, and none will 
 refuse me its waters, for He has said that 
 we may drink freely. But will you send 
 for the teacher ?” 
 
Kill A U ’.S' SORROW. 
 
 313 
 
 “ I have sent for him,” replied Leng Tso, 
 “ two days ago, and urged the man to hurry 
 and tell him to come as quickly as he 
 could.” 
 
 “ I knew it ! I knew it !” said the woman, 
 with a stronger voice. “ I knew that you 
 were faithful to your friend. Yes, you have 
 been more than a sister to me ; no sister 
 would have done what you have done. It 
 was wrong for me to doubt you for a 
 moment. The Lord will know how faithful, 
 you have been, and how you have loved and 
 cared for me; he will reward you as I can- 
 not. You will forgive me for thinking evil 
 of you, will you not ?” 
 
 “ You have always been a sister to me,” 
 replied Leng Tso, “ and I have nothing to 
 forgive. Now you must be quiet and rest, 
 that you may be better when the teacher 
 comes.” 
 
 “ I shall never be better here,” said the 
 sick woman, with a strange calmness ; “ this 
 sickness is unto death. It is all plain to me 
 now, and it is well. Only I wish so much 
 to see him before I go. Will he come to- 
 day, do you think ?” 
 
314 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “ I fear not ; it will take the messenger 
 nearly two days to reach him, and then not 
 far from two days for him to reach home. 
 I think he will be here to-morrow.” 
 
 “ Mast I wait until to-morrow ?” sighed 
 Khiau So. “ The Lord may come before 
 that.” 
 
 For a few minutes both were still, and 
 then, looking at her friend with a pleasant 
 smile, the sick woman said, 
 
 “ It will be well. If I go before he comes, 
 I will see the Lord all the sooner, and I may 
 see the teacher by and by. And there it 
 will be for ever ; he need not go away to 
 preach to far-off places then, for the holy 
 book says, ‘ They shall go no more out.’ 
 Always there, and at rest! There you will 
 come, and we shall all three be there and 
 with the Lord. Oh, to live in that land for 
 ever and to be able to drink from the river 
 of life, with none to forbid ! That will be 
 heaven.” 
 
 As the two were talking a footstep was 
 heard approaching the house; it stopped at 
 the door. In a moment the face of the sick 
 woman lit up with joy as she said, 
 
KHIAU’S SORROW. 
 
 315 
 
 “ He comes ! lie comes ! The teacher 
 comes ! the teacher comes !” 
 
 With a quick tread a man’s step entered 
 the room, and as the Bible-woman looked to 
 see who it was she saw the form of Kliiau. 
 He seemed exhausted by fatigue, yet so 
 anxious that he did not realize his condition. 
 
 “ I knew you would come ; I was looking 
 for you,” said the wife as she reached out 
 her thin hands to him. “ But I feared that 
 you would not come before the Lord called 
 me. Now it is all well.” 
 
 Tender was the greeting between the man 
 and his wife, and Leng Tso, after a word or 
 two of welcome, left the room. When the 
 Bible-woman entered the room again, Khiau 
 was sitting with his head in his hands, and 
 his wife lay quiet and exhausted, each seem- 
 ingly lost in thought. 
 
 “ How is it that you came home so quick- 
 ly ?” asked Leng Tso. “ Had you started 
 before the man reached you?” 
 
 “ No,” said he, “ but I came soon after he 
 arrived. You had given him such urgent 
 orders that he traveled day and night, and 
 came where I was yesterday afternoon.” 
 
316 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “ How was it possible for you to come so 
 soon?” asked she. 
 
 “ I did as the messenger had done — hired 
 men to travel with me at night to carry 
 torches to keep off tigers. He said that 
 you had promised him much larger pay if 
 he brought me back within three days, and 
 he urged me to hasten to get here within 
 two days, saying that you would then pay 
 him even a larger amount of money. I 
 cannot thank you as I would like to do for 
 all you have done, and for this last proof of 
 your kindness; but it shall never be for- 
 gotten. I paid him all he asked, and will 
 pay you back what you advanced. But now 
 I do not feel like talking of money. She 
 says that she is going home, and I fear it is 
 so. If it be the Lord’s will, what shall I 
 say to prevent ? God knows best. He 
 gave her to me, and spared her so long to 
 be a faithful wife ; why should I complain ? 
 Yet, the longer we are together, the more 
 sad is the parting.” 
 
 “ Only for a little while,” whispered the 
 preacher’s wife as she opened her eyes and 
 smiled “ Only a little while, and He will 
 
KHIAU’ S SORROW. 
 
 317 
 
 come for each of you, and we shall be to- 
 gether and for ever with the Lord.” 
 
 Khiau So was rapidly growing weaker, 
 and it was plain that death was not far away. 
 Now and again in a low voice she spoke a 
 word of cheer to her sorrowing husband and 
 the mourning; friend sitting; bv her side. 
 After a while the dying woman asked, 
 
 “ Is it growing dark so soon ? Have I 
 slept, or is night coming earlier than before 
 I was ill? It is growing dark — very dark. 
 I cannot see you. Teacher, come near. I 
 cannot hear your voice. Take my hand. 
 Are you there?” 
 
 These words were spoken in a low tone, 
 and then for a minute or two she was silent 
 as her husband bent over her, taking her 
 hand and trying to speak ; but he and Leng 
 Tso were weeping and unable to utter a word. 
 
 “ Come here,” said the dying wOman, in a 
 louder voice, to Leng Tso. 
 
 The woman walked to the opposite side 
 from that where the husband stood. Then, 
 Khiau So, reaching out her own hand, 
 caught hold of that of the Bible-woman, 
 and, drawing it down upon her own breast, 
 
318 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 she held it there as she drew the hand of her 
 husband and laid them side by side on her 
 own bosom. 
 
 “ I want to feel that you are both with me,” 
 said she, “ for I cannot see you, it is so dark.” 
 Then, as if a sudden change had come, she 
 spoke in a louder voice : “ No ! the dark- 
 ness has gone; it is light now — all light! 
 Brighter! Brighter! How beautiful ! Oh, 
 it is his face ! He is coming ! I see him ! 
 Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! Jesus !” 
 
 The voice grew softer and weaker as the 
 speaker repeated the name of the One dear- 
 er to her than all besides, until the last time, 
 when it seemed spoken in a whisper, as of 
 a child falling asleep. Her voice was still ; 
 her hands moved not. Holding the two side 
 by side on her own bosom, and clasping the 
 hands of the two who kneeled beside her, the 
 woman seemed to feel the last pressure of the 
 hands of the earthly ones she loved most, 
 while her eyes were beholding Him whom 
 she loved best and her lips were repeating 
 his name. When her husband and friend 
 looked at the face after they had waited in 
 vain to hear her voice, they saw a sweet 
 
KHIAU'S SORROW. 
 
 319 
 
 smile there, and a look that told that Kliiau 
 So had thought of other scenes than those 
 of earth before her spirit had taken wings 
 to meet the Lord. 
 
 “ She has gone home,” said the bereaved 
 husband as he saw that his wife was dead. 
 “The Lord has taken her. Yet a little 
 while—” 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 LENG TSO’S SORROW. 
 
 ITH few words of parting Leng Tso 
 
 and Khiau separated the day after the 
 funeral, he going to his station, and she pass- 
 ing some distance down the river to spend a 
 few days with her son. It would have been 
 strange if neither of the bereaved ones 
 thought of the past of long years ago, but 
 neither spoke a word of that after the death 
 of Khiau So. Of her they conversed, and 
 her memory seemed the only bond that 
 joined the two. 
 
 Leng Tso was greeted with a warm wel- 
 come by her son, and as soon as the words 
 of welcome were over Lin said, 
 
 “ At last we are to have a pastor in our 
 church here.” 
 
 “ ‘ A pastor ’ ? Who is he ?” asked the 
 Bible-woman. “ I knew that you wanted to 
 
 320 
 
LENG TSO’S SORROW. 
 
 321 
 
 get one, but did not know that the church 
 was able to support a preacher.” 
 
 “ Lay Jin Su is the man we have chosen,” 
 was the answer. “ He is a student, but will 
 come as soon as his studies are completed.” 
 
 “ ‘ Lay Jin Su ’ !” repeated Leng Tso, in 
 surprise. “ Why, this is his home, is it not ? 
 Why not select a man — especially since it is 
 to be a young man — from another place ?” 
 
 “ E Ju and I thought we should choose 
 another,” spoke Lin, “ but the others said 
 that they knew Jin Su,*and had known him 
 from a child. I fear that it will prove a mis- 
 take, but we must trust in the Lord and do 
 our best, not looking for trouble. He may 
 prove the very man we need. Even if he 
 be not all we wish, he surely will be better 
 than no pastor.” 
 
 “ I hope so,” answered Leng Tso. “ I 
 know Jin Su ; he is said to be one of the 
 best scholars in the school.” 
 
 At evening worship E Ju spoke to the 
 Bible-woman of the expected pastor, and, 
 though his words were cheerful, there was 
 in their tone a sadness that she knew would 
 
 21 
 
 * “ Lay ” is a surname. 
 
322 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 soon be explained. When all but his wife 
 and Lin’s family, together with Leng Tso, 
 had left, E Ju spoke more fully. 
 
 “ Jin Su was not my choice,” said he, “ but 
 he was the choice of nearly all the others, 
 and they may be right. We know him to 
 be a good young man, but a little vain, and 
 this will exalt him still more, I fear. Then 
 it does not seem well to promote a youth to 
 become the spiritual teacher and leader of 
 those who have known all his earlier fol- 
 lies. He has, no doubt, repented of them 
 all, but we find it hard to forget them.” 
 
 “ Will he come?” asked Leng Tso. 
 
 ‘‘ Oh yes ; we knew that he was willing 
 before we chose him. His relatives ar- 
 ranged all that beforehand,” responded E Ju. 
 “ I am sorry that family influences had any- 
 thing to do with this choice, but it will be 
 such a comfort to have the same pastor each 
 Sabbath, and to know that he is ours and not 
 to be sent to some other place. Then, too, 
 it will be such a comfort to the sick and be- 
 reaved to have one who has been long with 
 them to come in and sit beside them and talk 
 with them. I often feel that T wish one to 
 
LENG TSO’S SORROW. 
 
 323 
 
 whom I can go and tell the sorrows and 
 trials of my own soul.” 
 
 “Have you heard how Uncle Iau is?” 
 asked Lin, when they were all home again 
 after worship. “ I heard a day or two ago 
 that he is much worse, and that his mind is 
 almost gone ; he cannot do any business.” 
 
 “ What ! my brother Iau ?” inquired Leng 
 Tso, in surprise and sorrow. “ I have not 
 heard from him for some time. When last I 
 saw him, he was not as he used to be, but I 
 hoped he would be well again after a few 
 weeks of rest.” 
 
 “ But he would not take the rest,” spoke 
 Lin. “ He would go to his business. He 
 seems wild in his wishes to build for the 
 mission ; he would go to work putting up 
 chapels and schools all over the country. 
 Teacher Minturn must keep watching and 
 holding him back constantly.” 
 
 The Bible-woman listened with great pain 
 to this news, but the thoughts of all of Lin’s 
 family were speedily turned from a trouble 
 that was distant to one that was near. Lin’s 
 oldest child, a bright little girl, became sud- 
 denly ill, and grew worse all through the 
 
324 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 night ; when the morning came, the anxious 
 watchers saw no change for the better. The 
 Chinese doctor tried all the remedies he 
 knew, but could not stay the disease. 
 Through the second night father, mother 
 and grandmother watched by the little suf- 
 ferer. With morning the pain passed away, 
 and the child looked at her parents and then 
 at her grandmother and smiled. Leng Tso 
 stooped down to kiss the little one, when she 
 raised her arms, as if to be taken. 
 
 “ Shall grandma take her ?” asked Leng Tso. 
 
 “ No, grandma ; there is coming a beauti- 
 ful one to take me, like one of the angels you 
 told me about. He is coming now, and I am 
 going with him. — Papa, the good angel has 
 come — the one you said would take little 
 girls to Jesus when they were tired. And 
 I am so tired ! — Mamma, I am going. — Good- 
 bye, papa, mamma, grandma and baby, and 
 little brother. I am going to sleep in the 
 angel’s arms. Good-night !” 
 
 It seemed indeed as if an angel had come 
 and taken away the soul of the little girl. So 
 sudden had been the departure that none of 
 those who were watching could realize that 
 
LENG 'ISO’S SORROW. 
 
 325 
 
 the child was dead. Slowly the truth came 
 to the minds of the parents, and the mother 
 began to moan and cry for her child, and 
 almost unconsciously to mourn in a loud 
 voice as the heathen Chinese do. Gently 
 the father stooped at the side of his wife 
 and in a low voice said, 
 
 “ Shall we receive good at the hands of the 
 Lord, and shall we not receive evil? But 
 this is not evil ; the angels came and took 
 her. We have not lost her; the Lord has 
 saved her for us. We have one of our family 
 in heaven.” 
 
 The words soothed the mother, and not less 
 did they comfort the grandmother. She 
 said nothing, but steadily were her eyes 
 fixed on the smiling face before them. The 
 child was a great favorite with the grand- 
 mother, and from her had learned many a 
 truth of the better world. The two had of- 
 ten talked of the home in which they should 
 live for ever, where grandmother and grand- 
 daughter, parents and children, would not 
 say “ Good-bye ” nor wait for absent ones. 
 
 After some time of silence Leng Tso said 
 with a sigh, 
 
326 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “And the angel did come and take her. 
 She is waiting for us, but it will not be long. 
 Yet a little while, and only a little while. 
 One more in heaven to draw us thither — 
 one less on earth to keep us here. Heaven 
 is swiftly becoming the home-land, because it 
 has so many we love.” 
 
 In the same street, and not far from the 
 home of Lin, another family missed a little 
 daughter. The two families had been quite 
 intimate — as much so as Christian and 
 heathen families ever become in China — 
 and the two little girls had become friendly, 
 so as to visit and play together. The two 
 children died the same day, but the mourn- 
 ing in the two homes was very unlike. 
 Neither family knew of the other’s loss ; 
 and when the news of the death of the 
 playmate of Lin’s daughter reached his 
 home, the sorrowing father went to olfer a 
 word of sympathy. Already were friends 
 preparing to bury the child. But there was 
 no outward mourning, w T ith w T eeping women 
 and hired mourners. No great preparations 
 for a funeral were going on, but speedily 
 and quietly a few friends were making the 
 
LENG TSO’S SORROW. 
 
 327 
 
 little form ready to carry it away. Lin said 
 little : he knew what this hasty preparation 
 meant ; and after some words of sympathy, 
 in which he told of his own loss, he left his 
 friend. Soon after he had reached his 
 home the body of his daughter’s playmate 
 was carried out of her home and away from 
 the city. No funeral procession accom- 
 panied the corpse ; the body was contained 
 in no coffin ; no ceremonies preceded the 
 burial, nor followed. No grave had been 
 selected by men appointed for the purpose, 
 but in a hole hastily dug in an out-of-the- 
 way place the little body was hurriedly laid 
 and as quickly covered. The few who had 
 charge of the burial, as soon as it was over, 
 hurried away as though they had been guilty 
 of some crime. 
 
 The next day was held the funeral of 
 Lin’s child. Friends gathered, and at the 
 time appointed the preacher entered the 
 home and began the funeral service. A 
 portion of Scripture was read ; he offered 
 prayer and then made an address, after 
 which a hymn was sung and again a prayer 
 was offered, and then, Avith another hymn, the 
 
328 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 service at the house was closed. Quietly 
 the friends arranged the funeral procession, 
 and then, while two men bore the coffin 
 fastened to a long pole that rested at its ends 
 on their shoulders, the relatives formed in 
 the procession behind the body, while in 
 front walked the preacher, the officers of 
 the church and another man, who carried a 
 banner on which was the name of Jesus. 
 Musicians now appeared, to lead the pro- 
 cession. When all were ready, these began 
 their peculiar funeral music, and the pro- 
 cession started from the city to the place of 
 burial. People looked on as the mourners 
 passed by, wondering that such a procession 
 should follow so small a coffin. At the 
 grave there were no ceremonies such as 
 the heathen practice, but the body was quiet- 
 ly lowered to its resting-place; the relatives 
 gathered closely about the tomb and then be- 
 gan singing a hymn. The voices trembled 
 and many a note might have been sung 
 more correctly, but the simple tune and the 
 words so full of trust and hope carried with 
 them the hearts of the mourning singers. 
 A few words were spoken by the preacher, 
 
LENG ISO’S SORROW. 
 
 329 
 
 a prayer was offered, another hymn, and the 
 funeral service was ended. The grave was 
 closed, and the bereaved ones returned to 
 their homes. They went sorrowing, but not 
 as those who have no hope. The words of 
 the speaker, his prayer, the hymns, all told 
 that they had laid away the child only for a 
 little while. That they would see and meet 
 her again they believed, for they were Chris- 
 tians. It was a Christian burial, and the 
 sting of death was not felt ; for to the 
 mourners the little one was not dead, but 
 asleep in Jesus. 
 
 In the other burial there was nothing of 
 Christ and nothing of heaven, nothing of 
 immortality and nothing of a resurrection. 
 The body of the child was buried as if it 
 had been a dog’s ; the mother and the father 
 did not go to see where their child was laid, 
 nor did they follow its form from the city. 
 And yet those parents loved their child as 
 truly as Lin and his wife loved their little 
 daughter. The difference between the two 
 families in their sorrow was the difference 
 between heathenism and Christianity. The 
 first believed — at least, were taught by the 
 
330 
 
 LENO TSO. 
 
 superstition of the country — that the spirit 
 of an enemy had entered the body of their 
 child, or, as some teach, that an enemy had 
 come to their family and been born in the 
 form of their daughter. After they had 
 learned to love her and their hearts had 
 become wrapped up in the child, then the 
 enemy had killed her to be revenged on 
 them. To have a funeral and make any 
 sign of grief would be gratification to the 
 enemy. To give the body even a decent bur- 
 ial would prove to such enemy that they 
 cared for the child, even though they did 
 not mourn. So, to make the unseen and 
 unknown enemy suppose that he had failed 
 of his revenge, the parents treated the body 
 of their child as though it had been that of 
 a brute. But this is the superstition of 
 heathenism. 
 
 In the quiet after the funeral Leng Tso 
 felt the loss of her grandchild, and could 
 hardly endure this new bereavement so 
 soon after the loss of Khiau So. Fortunate- 
 ly, she was called to forget her own grief in 
 comforting her daughter-in-law. The mother, 
 not long a Christian, could not understand 
 
LENG TSO’S SORROW. 
 
 331 
 
 why her child should be taken, when so 
 many other parents had theirs spared. The 
 patient words and ways of the Bible-woman 
 soothed and comforted Lin So, and the firm 
 faith of the father helped the mother to look 
 hopefully forward to the time when the 
 child should be hers for ever. 
 
 Not long could Leug Tso remain with her 
 son, for a message came asking her to go to 
 Ha Bun to see her brother Iau, who was very 
 ill; and she hastened to him. When she saw 
 Iau, she hardly recognized in the poor wasted 
 skeleton the brother she had left in com- 
 parative health not many months before. 
 Iau did not notice her ; his mind had utterly 
 failed, and for a while he had been madly 
 insane. Nature had at last become exhaust- 
 ed, and now his dying was a question of only 
 a few days. 
 
 Looking on the face of her brother for a 
 few moments, Leng Tso stepped to his bed- 
 side and asked, 
 
 “ Brother Iau, do you know me ?” 
 
 He opened his eyes with a vacant stare 
 and looked at her for a moment or two, 
 and then the eyes closed again. 
 
332 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “ Don’t you know me, your sister Leng 
 Tso, Bun Cliim ?” asked she, again, in a 
 louder voice. “ I am your sister, once the lit- 
 tle girl Leng Tso. Do not you know me ?” 
 Again he opened his eyes and looked, and 
 then, with an effort, said, 
 
 “ Do not know.” 
 
 “ Do you know Jesus your Saviour ?” 
 asked she. 
 
 A look came over the sick man’s face 
 showing that he understood, and his lips 
 murmured, 
 
 “ Yes, I have known him many years. 
 He knows me, too ; I belong to him.” 
 After speaking a few words about the Sav- 
 iour the Bible-womau asked, 
 
 “ Do not you remember your little sister 
 Leng Tso who lived with you in the village 
 along the water, under the old banian tree? 
 She was sold to buy food for you and Seng 
 and father and mother.” 
 
 Iau murmured something that she took to 
 mean that he did remember, but it was long 
 ago. 
 
 “ I am that little sister,” added she. “ I 
 have come to talk with you of Jesus.” 
 
LENG ISO’S SO RIO [V. 
 
 333 
 
 “ Yes, yes !” replied he, after a minute or 
 two of effort to bring out the words ; “ I know 
 him. It is he who saves me. He loves me, 
 and I am a sinner, too ; but it is like him to 
 love those who have no one else to love 
 them.” 
 
 Iau sank slowly, but surely. He remain- 
 ed most of the time in a quiet, unconscious 
 state, but as the end approached there came 
 times when he seemed more like himself. 
 He appeared to recognize his family, espe- 
 cially his son, the preacher. One day, after 
 gazing intently at this son, the father spoke 
 to him and said, 
 
 “Preach the doctrine! Preach the doc- 
 trine! It is true; it saves. Nothing else 
 will. The Middle Kingdom is sick — sick 
 unto death — but the doctrine will save it. 
 It is the only medicine to save the Mid- 
 dle Kingdom.” 
 
 The end came unexpectedly. Only Leng 
 Tso was with the sick man when he opened 
 his eyes and asked, 
 
 “ Have they come yet ?” 
 
 “ Who ?” inquired his sister. 
 
 “ The messengers,” replied he. “ The 
 
334 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 Lord promised to send messengers for me, 
 and I have been waiting for them. Tell 
 them, when they come to the door, that I 
 am ready. I am not fit to go with them to 
 meet the Lord, but he knows all about it 
 and will send the wedding-garment. I have 
 been washed, and am clean and ready to go. 
 The blood of Jesus has washed out the very 
 stains of my sins. Jesus has done it all ; he 
 wanted me, and I want him so much ! He 
 will overlook, because he so loves me, every- 
 thing that is not as it should be. Yes, I am 
 ready — all ready.” 
 
 “ I hope you will not go yet,” spoke the 
 sister ; “ there is work for you on earth. 
 You are not so old a man; many years 
 may be yours to live and work here for 
 the Lord.” 
 
 “No; my days are ended. I wanted to 
 stay and work longer, but now I wish to go. 
 Life has been short, but sad and evil. I 
 have had troubles of which none know. 
 Come near, and I will tell my sister ; she 
 can understand. I am weak, and cannot say 
 much nor speak loud. Listen. Do not call 
 others ; you can tell what they should know. 
 
LENG TSO’S SORROW. 
 
 335 
 
 When I built that house for the foreign pas- 
 tors and received orders to build others be- 
 cause that was so well built, I was happy and 
 became proud. I thought too much of my- 
 self. I might have forgotten God, but he let 
 me suffer for my pride. I would not listen. 
 Teacher Minturn and teacher Wagner warn- 
 ed me ; so did teacher May before he went 
 home the last time to his native country. 
 But I said it would be well. I took the 
 work of the foreign doctor, and meant to 
 do it well, but he determined to cheat me. 
 He threatened and was very harsh. He said 
 fearful things, and I thought that he could 
 do all he said. No, no ! I must not think 
 of him. I have forgiven him — yes, I have 
 prayed for him, and hope that God will for- 
 give him. All said that I was overworking 
 and would kill myself. No ; it was not that. 
 I worked so to keep evil thoughts out of my 
 mind. I was afraid that the foreign doctor 
 would kill me ; I thought that he would 
 give me poison medicine. No, no ! I must 
 not think of that ; for I am going where all 
 will know that I meant to do right. I did 
 not cheat.” 
 
336 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “ No one thinks that you did,” spoke 
 Leng Tso, gently. “ Do not let that trouble 
 you. That foreign doctor has not learned to 
 be like Jesus ; he is not one of the Lord’s 
 disciples.” 
 
 “ I know it,” said the sick man, “ but did 
 not know that at first. lie goes to the foreign 
 chapel — that is, when he is not too drunk 
 — and the chapel-keeper says that he bows 
 his head when others pray ; and whenever 
 the name of Jesus is spoken by the preacher, 
 he bows his head. That made me think that 
 the doctor was a disciple too. I thought if he 
 was one, then — But no ; I will not tell even 
 you all I thought, it was so bad. It is all 
 gone now. I learned the truth, hut Satan 
 tempted me to think that all were wicked 
 at heart.” 
 
 “ You are too weak to talk now,” said 
 Leng Tso, when her brother stopped to rest. 
 
 “ I am weak, but I am almost through ; 
 let me speak a few words more. The more 
 I thought and talked with the foreign 
 teachers, the better I felt. Satan then told 
 me that I was too wicked to be saved, and 
 that God would not have a man who so long 
 
LENG TSO’S SORROW. 
 
 337 
 
 had worshiped idols. He kept- telling me 
 of my sins, and made me feel that I was the 
 'worst man in the world. But even that 
 temptation did not last. I told the evil one 
 what the holy book says, and said that I 
 believed and meant to trust that; then he 
 grew tired. After that it was easier for me, 
 but he soon became rested, and tried again ; 
 yet the Lord was my help, and I knew that 
 he would not leave me. My soul became 
 peaceful and happy. Then I wanted to do 
 more yet to show that I and all I had 
 belonged to the Lord. I tried to do all I 
 could for him, and to let Satan see that I 
 knew that Jesus loved me and I him. But 
 I cannot tell what happened since I became 
 sick. All is gone except it seemed to me 
 that the Lord said it is time that I rested 
 from the work. Then I heard his voice say 
 that he would send messengers to take me 
 . where I might rest. I have been very tired, 
 and as I lay with my eyes closed I tried to 
 hear the messengers’ footsteps. Do you 
 think they will come soon?” 
 
 A change in the countenance of her 
 brother told Leng Tso that the messengers 
 22 
 
338 
 
 LENQ TSO. 
 
 were near. Hastily she called Iau’s wife 
 and family, and then returned to the side of 
 the dying man. Hardly had those in the 
 house reached the bedside when Iau lifted 
 up his hands and spoke in a clear though 
 low voice : 
 
 “ Here I am. I am waiting, and all 
 ready. I have nothing of my own to wear ; 
 have you the wedding-garment ?” Then, as 
 if he saw it, he said joyfully, ‘‘ Yes, they 
 have it. Yes, Jesus has sent them for me. 
 They are coming this way, and for me. Oh, 
 for me — a poor worthless sinner, but a sinner 
 whom God so loved ! A sinner for whom 
 Jesus died ! I am too weak to walk ; will 
 you carry me ? They have wings ; they are 
 angels. I am going.” 
 
 Iau’s face was lit up with a smile that was 
 so beautiful, so unlike anything the others 
 had ever seen on that careworn face, that 
 each one looked on it with silent wonder. 
 The hands had fallen by his side, the eyes 
 were closed ; the bosom heaved slowly and 
 fell once or twice, and then was still. The 
 messengers had taken him, and the weary 
 Iau was at rest. Soon the smile passed from 
 
LENG TSO’S SOB ROW. 
 
 339 
 
 the features and they wore their old pinched, 
 sad, sunken look, but those who had seen the 
 smile remembered it and thought of Iau’s end 
 of earth in the light of that smile rather 
 than from the old careworn look, that so 
 soon came back. The family of the dead 
 man thought of him now, not as the insane 
 father and husband that had been, but of 
 what he was before his mind left its throne 
 — of the loving, gentle, kind husband and 
 father of the years before. 
 
 Thus do we sometimes stand by our dying 
 and see the weak, suffering invalids, the 
 feeble-minded, the wasted remnants of what 
 were once beings of whom we were proud, 
 suddenly transformed into glorified ones. 
 
CHAPTER XI Y. 
 
 PERSECUTED, BUT SUSTAINED. 
 
 rpHE Bible-woman had been visiting in 
 the country around Thau Pau, the Foo 
 city and Chang Bay, but after the death of 
 Khiau’s wife she seemed to feel that she 
 should turn to another field than that in 
 which her old friend was working. Some 
 time after the death of her brother she 
 decided to visit the country north of Ha 
 Bun, and to spend some time among the 
 women there. She longed to go back to the 
 Foo city, and would very gladly have spent 
 some time at Thau Pau, but her own heart 
 told her that it would be to see her friend 
 Kliiau. 
 
 The Bible-woman visited the church at 
 Ang Tung Thau, and later that of Tang 
 Wan, as a stranger, but not long did she 
 remain a stranger to the Christians there. 
 
 340 
 
PERSECUTED, BUT SUSTAINED. 341 
 
 She was acquainted with the preachers, and 
 by them was gladly introduced to the people. 
 Soon her visits to a home were as welcome 
 in that region as if they had been made near 
 her old home. One day, as she entered the 
 home of a Christian family in a village not 
 far from the city, she was surprised to see 
 the look of sorrow on the faces of all and 
 the mother in tears. 
 
 “ What is the matter ? Why do you 
 weep?” asked the Bible-woman. 
 
 “ W e must leave our home,” replied the 
 woman, “ and be driven from the village as 
 beggars. The men who came to warn us 
 have just gone away. Oh, what shall we 
 do? Will the Lord allow his servants to 
 suffer thus? Must we give up all for his 
 sake? What shall we do for food and 
 shelter ? What shall I do with the little 
 ones ?” 
 
 Leng Tso could not gain from the weep- 
 ing woman a satisfactory answer, so she 
 turned to the husband. 
 
 “ It is so,” said he ; “ the village elders 
 say we must leave the place. They were 
 here this morning. They say that they will 
 
342 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 not allow any in the village who worship 
 foreign gods. The trouble began some time 
 ago. When the crops ripened and we were 
 getting ready to gather our share — that is, 
 my brother and myself — the people forbade 
 us, and said that our share on the family- 
 field must go for the support of the temple- 
 worship and for providing paper and food 
 and other things for the worship of the 
 spirits of the ancestors.* They said that, as 
 we had deserted the religion of our fathers, 
 we had no right to anything, and all the 
 crops we had raised were forfeited and must 
 be given for the worship.” 
 
 “ But if each family works a share of the 
 property,” said Leng Tso, “ you surely have 
 a right to do as you will with your own 
 share. If you do not wish to use it for the 
 temples or feasts of the spirits, they cannot 
 compel you to do so.” 
 
 * In many villages in China there is ground worked in 
 common, or by turns, by the different families. The village in 
 such cases is usually settled by relatives who have held the 
 land as a common possession since the death of the founder of 
 the family. Part of the proceeds of crops on such fields is 
 used for keeping up idolatrous worship. Sometimes, as in the 
 case here, each individual family works a part of the common 
 property, and each pays a share toward the idolatrous feasts. 
 
PERSECUTED, BUT SUSTAINED. 343 
 
 “ They will compel us or drive us from 
 the village,” replied the man, sadly. “ They 
 would not let us have our crops, but kept 
 them, as they say, for the worship of the 
 gods and the dead. We have thus little to 
 show for our work except what we raised on 
 our own private fields. Even that we could 
 endure, but they have told us that we shall 
 not stay in the village at all. They mean to 
 drive us out, and will take all our property. 
 If we remain, they will cause a disturbance, 
 and then tell the mandarins that we were to 
 blame. The mandarins would believe them, 
 for enough would be willing to testify against 
 us for the sake of getting our property and 
 removing Christians from the place.” 
 
 “ Have you told the foreign teachers ?” 
 asked Leng Tso. 
 
 “ Yes, we sent word to them some time 
 ago ; but the people around here say that 
 they will kill the foreigners if they come 
 here. We do not wish to have them killed.” 
 “ They will not be killed,” replied the Bi- 
 ble-woman. “They will not need to come 
 here, but will have the mandarins attend to 
 the matter.” 
 
344 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 The missionaries received the message, 
 and advised the preachers near Tang Wan 
 to visit the village and try to arrange to 
 have a peaceable division of the property. 
 Two men went to the village, and while 
 pleasantly talking with some of the leading 
 villagers a mob set upon them with spears 
 and guns and drove the two preachers from 
 the village, threatening to kill them if they 
 remained a moment or returned. The mob 
 then turned to the two families of Christians 
 and ordered them to give up Christianity 
 or leave the place. The heads of the fright- 
 ened families begged for time to consider, but 
 no time was allowed. The order was to de- 
 cide at once. 
 
 “ We will leave the village,” said the two 
 men, “ as soon as we sell what property we 
 own here.” 
 
 “ You must go at once,” was the reply. 
 “ You own no property here. You have 
 turned against the gods and the spirits of 
 your ancestors. You are traitors, and the 
 property is no longer yours. By turning 
 from the Middle Kingdom you have turned 
 from all you owned.” 
 
PERSECUTED, BUT SUSTAINED. 345 
 
 In vain they pleaded for a few days, and 
 then for a few hours. Not an hour was 
 given. The Christians were hurried out of 
 the place at the point of spears and the 
 muzzles of guns. Carrying what little 
 property they could gather, the faithful 
 ones became exiles and outcasts. To be 
 turned from the door of one’s home, to be 
 driven out as a homeless wanderer, is a 
 sad lot for any one in America, but far worse 
 in China. Had it not been for Christian 
 friends, the outcasts might have been left to 
 perish, but at the chapel in the city of Tang 
 Wan and among the families of Christians 
 in the city they found shelter and food. 
 
 As soon as the two families left their homes 
 their property was taken and divided among 
 the men who drove them out. This was so 
 plain a case of illegal persecution that the 
 foreign consul protested against it to the man- 
 darins. The chief mandarin of the city, 
 under whose charge the village was, dared 
 not act. He found the village-people not 
 only, but many of the wealthy and power- 
 ful ones in Tang Wan itself, were secretly 
 aiding the enemies of Christianity. The 
 
346 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 mandarin was in sympathy with the opposition 
 to Christianity, and would do no more than 
 he could help. After mild measures had 
 failed the consul sent an urgent despatch to 
 the mandarin, demanding that the case of 
 the Christians be attended to, and that they 
 be allowed to return to their homes and to 
 their property. An examination was ordered. 
 After a very hasty one the mandarin directed 
 the Christians to return to their village and 
 behave themselves, and he would see whether 
 their property had been taken. He gave no 
 further decision and no order regarding the 
 persecutors, who saw at once that they had 
 little cause for fear. To go home would have 
 been easy enough had the Christians had a 
 home to go to, but the enemies had robbed 
 them of homes as well as of property. An 
 investigation was made, but the robbers were 
 careful to fee the officers, so that themselves 
 not only escaped punishment, but were not 
 even compelled to give up their ill-gotten 
 property. The lower officers found that they 
 had a chance to earn a little money on their 
 own responsibility. These men knew that 
 when foreigners took a matter in hand they 
 
PERSECUTED , BUT SUSTAINED. 347 
 
 usually kept at it until justice was given. 
 Nor were the officials wrong : the consul did 
 not stop until the people who had been driv- 
 en from home and robbed were brought back 
 and allowed to hold their possessions again. 
 Meanwhile, the lower officials took occasion 
 to demand money from the enemies again 
 and again to keep them from the hands of jus- 
 tice. In time this cost so much that the ene- 
 mies of Christianity saw that they had better 
 make peace with the Christians than with the 
 lower officials. They found that it cost more 
 even in China to be robbers than to be hon- 
 est; so at last an agreement was made by 
 which the two families were allowed to take 
 possession of most of their property. 
 
 Shortly after the exiles were permitted 
 to return, the Bible-woman visited the vil- 
 lage to spend a few days in reading and 
 teaching in the homes of those willing to 
 receive her. 
 
 “ So the Lord did not allow you to lose 
 all,” said Leng Tso, “ though he suffered you 
 to be severely tried.” 
 
 “ No,” replied the woman to whom she 
 spoke ; “ we have most of our property back, 
 
348 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 but could not get all, nor any part of the 
 crops raised during the past year. Yet we 
 are thankful to be allowed to come back 
 and have anything. We showed that we were 
 willing to give up all for the Lord, and he has 
 let us take much of it back. I do not wish 
 to complain, but we still suffer from the ha- 
 tred of our enemies.” 
 
 “ The Lord knows all ; and when he has al- 
 lowed them to do as much as he sees is for 
 your good, he will stop them. The Lord 
 suffers us to endure great trials, but brings 
 us safely through if we but trust him and re- 
 main faithful. You know that the holy book 
 says of the righteous who were clothed in 
 white at last that ‘ these came out of great 
 tribulation.’ Let us all be patient, for de- 
 liverance will come.” 
 
Chinese City Life. 
 
 Page 340. 
 

 
 - 
 
 ' 
 
 ' 
 
 
 
 
CHAPTER XY. 
 
 A WIFE’S TRIALS. 
 
 GAIN the reader is asked to go back to 
 
 a home in tlie city of Ha Bun and to a 
 period more than forty years ago. A Mrs. 
 Poh — Poll So, as the Chinese then called 
 her ; later she was known as Poh Chim, 
 and so may be known here — had lost her 
 husband and was left with a small family to 
 feed and clothe. For a while she struggled 
 on, working and earning as well as she could 
 enough to feed and to clothe all. Like all 
 around her, Poh Chim was an idolater and 
 faithful to the worship of her ancestors. 
 When one of her children — a girl — was 
 nine years old, Poh Chim gave her to a 
 family to become the future wife of a boy in 
 that family. The two children thus became 
 playmates as well as acquaintances, though, 
 as Lian, the girl, grew older, the two were 
 
350 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 not allowed to be as intimate as in earlier 
 days ; yet they were not kept ignorant of 
 the fact that they were to be married when 
 grown up. 
 
 It may be said here that it is not an un- 
 common custom in China for parents to take 
 girls into their families to become the future 
 wives of their boys. Such girls are regard- 
 ed as daughters, though compelled to work. 
 One taken in this way cannot be made a 
 slave. 
 
 Some years after the daughter had become 
 a member of this family, Poh Chim heard 
 the gospel and became a Christian. She 
 now wished to have her daughter back, that 
 she might be taught the truth ; but Lian’s 
 future husband and the whole family re- 
 mained idolaters. Lian did not cease to 
 visit her own mother. The feeling of 
 mother and daughter had not been lost, for 
 the child had been permitted to visit her 
 mother occasionally ever since she was 
 betrothed. After her marriage the young 
 wife visited her old home as much as ever; 
 the two places were so near that this could 
 readily be done. During these visits the 
 
A WIFE’S TRIALS. 
 
 351 
 
 mother tried to teach her daughter the truths 
 of the gospel. Lian at first listened with 
 respect, but soon grew tired of the new 
 religion. Poll Chim would not give up, but 
 each time her daughter came home urged 
 her to think about the truth, and tried in 
 every way possible to persuade Lian to go 
 to the mission-chapel to hear the gospel. 
 Sometimes the daughter refused to listen 
 to the pleadings of the mother, and was 
 ready to leave the house if anything were 
 said about the foreign religion. But the 
 pleadings eventually had their effect. In- 
 stead of refusing to visit her old home, the 
 young woman came oftener to see her mother 
 and to hear the truth. One day she asked, 
 
 “ Mother, how is it that I, who ivas so 
 unwilling to listen, now wish to hear more? 
 It was not myself who brought about this 
 change, and you could not do it ; how did it 
 happen ?” 
 
 “ God did it,” readied the mother. “ I 
 have prayed for you, and did not cease 
 hoping that you would after a while listen 
 to the doctrine. I knew it to be the truth, 
 and knew what it had done for me, so washed 
 
352 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 my daughter to know it too ; for that reason 
 I prayed.” 
 
 “ Is it because God answered your prayer 
 that I wish to hear now? If so, will he 
 hear your prayer that I may know more?” 
 “ Certainly,” replied the mother ; “ and 
 if you pray, he will send his Holy Spirit to 
 open your heart that you may understand 
 the truth and have your sins forgiven.” 
 
 “ Will he forgive my sins too? I did not 
 believe that what you told me about my 
 being a sinner was true ; it seemed so strange 
 that I should have sinned against a foreign 
 God. If you had said that I had sinned 
 against the gods of the Middle Kingdom, I 
 might have believed it, but did not think it 
 possible that I could have sinned enough to 
 have made it necessary for God to send his 
 Son into the world to die that I might be 
 saved. Did he die for me? How did he 
 know about me?” 
 
 “Yes,” replied the mother, “Jesus knows 
 all about sinners, and knows every one. 
 More than that, he loves every one, and 
 would save every one.” 
 
 “ Mother, will he save me ? Why does 
 
.4 WIFE ’S TRIALS. 
 
 353 
 
 he want such a poor, worthless woman as 
 I am? I cannot do anything for him. I 
 have been very wicked, and cannot under- 
 stand how he can care for me.” 
 
 “ Lian, we cannot understand much that 
 God does. When you were a little child, 
 you could not understand much of what I 
 did, so you were obliged to believe it was 
 right ; and as you grew older you learned 
 that many things were right, did you not?” 
 “ Yes, mother — all but your letting my 
 husband’s family take me from home.” 
 
 “ Even that I was forced to do because we 
 were so poor then.” 
 
 “ I wish that I was at home again with 
 you. I do not wish to offer incense to idols 
 and bow to the tablets of my husband’s 
 ancestors. What shall I do? I do not 
 believe the idols or spirits can help me. I 
 want to worship the true God. The gods 
 of the Middle Kingdom do not love people 
 as the true God does. What shall I do?” 
 “I can hardly answer,” said Poll Chim. 
 “ I will ask the foreign pastors on the Sab- 
 bath-day, if I can speak to them. But why 
 cannot you go with me to the chapel and 
 
 23 
 
354 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 attend the inquiry-meeting? There you 
 can ask the foreign teacher yourself.” 
 
 “ I do wish to go to the service, but am 
 afraid to ask the teacher anything ; my 
 husband might find fault. I think he will 
 let me go to worship.” 
 
 Lian went to the cliapel-service the next 
 Sabbath, and was at the inquiry-meeting. 
 Her mother asked the missionary what her 
 daughter should do about worshiping idols 
 and the spirits of her husband’s ancestors. 
 
 The missionary replied by repeating the 
 first and second commandments. 
 
 “ God says that ; so, if we are to take him 
 as our God, we must do as he commands. 
 We should in all cases obey God rather than 
 man.” 
 
 Lian listened to the answer, and asked, 
 
 “ What if they command me to worship ?” 
 “ Have you determined to serve the true 
 God ?” asked the missionary. 
 
 “ I have,” was the reply. 
 
 “ Then do as he says rather than as 
 others say. Obey husband and others as 
 long as you can do so without disobeying 
 Gorl, but God first.” 
 
A WIFE ’S TRIALS. 
 
 355 
 
 Lian said no more, but quietly thought 
 that she would obey God. She tried to hope 
 that she might escape being requested to cel- 
 ebrate the worship. She had little trouble 
 about idol-worship for some time ; the moth- 
 er-in-law attended to that rather than allow 
 the young woman to take charge of it. 
 
 Though escaping difficulty here, the young 
 wife came into greater difficulty elsewhere ; 
 she was more easily convinced as to her 
 duty than as to how she should accept the 
 Saviour. 
 
 “ How is it, mother,” asked she one day, 
 “ that I cannot find the way ? Jesus says that 
 he is the way, but it is dark to me. I look 
 and look, but see not a footstep to tell me 
 that I am near the path. I pray and wait 
 for God to show me, but the light does not 
 come. Will it always be dark ?” 
 
 “ No, my child ; Jesus says they that seek 
 shall find. The Saviour knows that you 
 wish to find him, and will not let you seek 
 in vain. Perhaps there is something in the 
 way. He says, ‘ Behold, I stand at the door 
 and knock.’ Is the door of your heart open 
 to welcome him in ?” 
 
356 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “ I do not know, but I wish to have it 
 stand open all the time. I have asked him 
 to come in, but it appears as if he did not 
 hear. Do you pray for me?” 
 
 “ Yes ; I have not ceased to pray for you 
 since first I trusted Jesus. Perhaps there is 
 something shutting the door of your heart, 
 so that the Lord cannot push it open. Have 
 you given up all envy, passion and hate, 
 and do you try to live aright? Do you 
 try to do all that God commands?” 
 
 “ Wait, mother ; I do not do all. I do not 
 try to please my mother-in-law ; she is so 
 harsh and unkind that I hate her. Must I 
 love her ? How can I ?” 
 
 “ I do not think that we are to love all 
 alike or to love the evil in others, but to be 
 willing to do all we can for their good and 
 to be willing to make sacrifices to give them 
 happiness.” 
 
 “ I have not done that with her. I have 
 wished her evil, and yet I do not wish to 
 harm her myself.” 
 
 “ I am afraid that your ill-feeling toward 
 her is like a bar across the door of your 
 heart, keeping the Saviour from coming in.” 
 
A WIFE ’S TRIALS. 
 
 357 
 
 “What shall I do? I cannot love her.” 
 “ Pray the Holy Spirit to help you treat 
 her kindly and lead you into all truth and 
 teach yon of Jesus.” 
 
 At another time Lian asked, 
 
 “ How am I to know that Jesus will save 
 me?” 
 
 “ You must believe that he will. He says 
 that he will, and you must have faith that 
 he will keep his word. Then give yourself, 
 your life and all that you have to him, to be 
 his for ever. Leave it all to him, believing 
 that he will do for you all that you need.” 
 
 “ But, mother, what will become of my 
 sins ? They are on my soul ; I feel them 
 there — a great heavy burden that presses 
 me down. Often I feel that I cannot carry 
 it any more.” 
 
 “ Why should you, when Jesus says, 
 ‘ Come unto me, all ye that labor and are 
 heavy laden, and I will give you rest ’ ? Go 
 to him and tell him that you have come as 
 he has called you, to get the rest he has 
 promised.” 
 
 “ Is that the way ?” 
 
 “ Yes.” 
 
358 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “Now I begin to see : tlie darkness is less 
 than I thought it was.” 
 
 Lian went to the Saviour, and found the 
 rest he promised. When she was about nine- 
 teen years old she was baptized and admitted 
 to the church as a member. Now began the 
 woman’s real trials. Her husband’s mother 
 had allowed her to go to church, but now that 
 she was accepted by the Christians as one of 
 their number the family awakened to see that 
 she had given up idolatry not only, but every- 
 thing that belonged to the worship of China. 
 It must not be supposed that they said noth- 
 ing against Lian’s becoming a Christian, but 
 now that she had publicly renounced the gods 
 and the spirit- worship of China her husband 
 and also her mother-in-law determined to show 
 their will and their power. They forbade her 
 going to church and having anything to do 
 with the foreign religion ; they tried to com- 
 pel her to renounce her faith in the Saviour. 
 But in vain ; quietly but decidedly she con- 
 tinued to worship the true God. They tried 
 to prevent her going to her mother’s home, 
 but it was impossible to keep her entirely shut 
 in, and at rare intervals she visited her moth- 
 
.4 WIFE’S TRIALS. 
 
 359 
 
 er and was by her counseled to remain firm 
 in the faith, but to be careful not to arouse 
 the auger of any. As her little boy began 
 to learn Lian taught him of Jesus and to 
 pray. This angered the father and the 
 grandmother very much. The husband for- 
 bade his wife teaching their child to pray to 
 the foreign God, and told her that if she con- 
 tinued to pray to God he would whip her. 
 One day he came into her room as she was 
 kneeling in prayer. In a moment of pas- 
 sion the man whipped her severely, and 
 threatened to do even worse if she again 
 disobe}’ed him. 
 
 When her mother’s relatives heard of the 
 abuse Lian received from her husband, they 
 were indignant ; but they were almost pow- 
 erless. China has little law to control the 
 husband’s treatment of his wife. But rela- 
 tives of the wife sometimes take the law into 
 their own hands. When Lian’s relatives 
 heard how she was abused, they offered to 
 buy her. Lim, the husband, would perhaps 
 have sold his wife, but his family refused. 
 All efforts to purchase Lian were vain, and 
 she was left to the cruelties of her husband 
 
360 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 and his relatives. She was not allowed a 
 room, nor even a bed, in which to sleep, but 
 was obliged to lie down at night with any of 
 the female members of the family who would 
 allow her a place to rest. Her property and 
 the presents she had received were taken 
 away, and she was treated as a worthless 
 being only suffered to stay in the home of 
 her husband’s family, but for whom no one 
 cared and whom none respected. 
 
 For nearly four years Lian endured such 
 abuse and insult, until her brother, watching 
 his opportunity, secretly took her away to 
 the home of her mother ; there she remained 
 for a while, hidden like a fugitive from her 
 husband’s family. It was soon known where 
 she was, yet she was allowed to remain at her 
 old home for several years — perhaps as much 
 because Lim’s family feared to meet his wife’s 
 relatives as from any unwillingness on the 
 part of Lim’s relatives to bring her back. 
 After some years the husband visited his 
 wife and asked her to return and live with 
 him, promising to treat her better. She was 
 finally persuaded to accompany him, but his 
 promise was not long kept ; he soon became 
 
A WIFE’S TRIALS. 
 
 361 
 
 the same cruel man he had formerly been. 
 She was forbidden to read the Bible, to pray, 
 to attend church or to have anything what- 
 ever to do with Christians. Though she 
 meekly submitted as far as goiug to church 
 and meeting other Christians were concerned, 
 she would not give up prayer or reading the 
 Bible, though careful to do neither in the 
 presence of her husband’s family. Lim now 
 became more than ever embittered against 
 his wife, and refused to provide food for her 
 or for the child. He insisted that she should 
 work and earn money for the food and cloth- 
 ing of herself and her son. Thus was her 
 life made worse than that of a slave. She 
 was insulted, abused, and would have been 
 starved and left to die as a brute had she 
 not been able to earn some money to feed 
 and clothe herself and her boy. 
 
 During all this time the poor woman bore 
 her sufferings as meekly as possible, refusing 
 to return to her mother’s home and leave her 
 child to be trained as an idolater, and trying 
 to do her duty to her child and to her hus- 
 band. It was a terrible trial, and the won- 
 der was that she was willing to submit ; but 
 
362 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 Lian was a Christian, and she had learned 
 that Christians are not to take revenge, but 
 must be meek and pray for their persecutors. 
 She did pray constantly that her trials might 
 come to an end and she be permitted to go 
 to the chapel and enjoy the services of God’s 
 house and the company of Christians. 
 
 The worst seemed to be reached about the 
 time the Bible-woman came to Ha Bun, for 
 the husband had allowed his wife to visit her 
 mother again. While on one of these short 
 visits she met Leng Tso, who was calling on * 
 Poll Chim. The Bible-woman had heard 
 the sorrowful story of the persecuted wife, 
 and was glad to speak a word of sympathy 
 to her ; but when she heard the whole story, 
 Leng Tso felt like saying that Lian was bet- 
 ter able to tell her to be patient than to re- 
 ceive such counsel from her. 
 
 “ I thought I had passed through trial,” 
 said the Bible-woman, “ but what is mine 
 compared with what you are enduring ? I 
 have lost friends, but they have gone before 
 me to the better land ; I have many comforts 
 here, and many to care for and to love me, 
 but what have you ?” 
 
.4 WIFE'S TRIALS. 
 
 363 
 
 “ Not much,” replied Lian, “ and some- 
 times I feel like saying that I have nothing. 
 Were it not for my child, I would gladly die; 
 but for me to die would be to lose him for 
 ever, I fear.” 
 
 “ Do you forget the promise that God will 
 be a God to us, and to our children after 
 us ?” asked Leng Tso. 
 
 “ I sometimes forget everything,” was the 
 reply. “ I pray and pray that my trials may 
 come to an end and that I may have peace, 
 but there seems no end for me. Why must 
 I suffer so ? Is it because I have been so 
 wicked that God allows me to pass through 
 such sorrow ?” 
 
 “ No, it cannot be that,” spoke the Bible- 
 woman. “ Job was not wicked, and yet he 
 w r as afflicted even more than you have been, 
 for he lost all his children as well as his prop- 
 erty. And then, too, he was sick through much 
 of his trial ; you have health, and you have 
 your son.” 
 
 “ But will God not hear my prayer and let 
 me have peace and rest? He allowed Job 
 to have peace and rest, and gave him greater 
 prosperity than he had before.” 
 
364 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “ So God may mean to do with you. 
 Has lie not already begun to hear your 
 prayer? You are permitted to visit your 
 mother again ; is not that something ?” 
 
 “ True,” replied the woman ; “ and there 
 is something more that I had not thought to 
 tell. My son’s father gives rice enough now 
 for both of us to eat ; we need not go hungry 
 any more. Besides, he furnishes me with 
 wood to cook the rice, though I must con- 
 tinue to work for money to buy clothing. 
 We are not treated so unkindly as we were 
 some time ago.” 
 
 “ Is not that the beginning of an answer 
 to your prayer? It may be that the trial is 
 near its end, and that your sorrows will be 
 less and less and your joys begin after a 
 while.” 
 
 “ I hope so,” responded Lian. “ My 
 heart is nearly worn out. It seemed as 
 though my prayer never rose higher than 
 the roof of the house. I kept on praying 
 because my mother told me that I must not 
 grow weary, for in due season I should reap 
 if I did not faint.” 
 
 Lim did grow kinder, and his mother less 
 
A WIFE’S TRIALS. 
 
 365 
 
 harsh and severe. Lian was allowed to go 
 oftener to her mother’s, and after a time she 
 was even permitted to attend the meetings at 
 the chapel on Sabbaths. This was an unex- 
 pected delight to the humble Christian, and 
 few were more thankful than she that first 
 Sunday when she went with her mother to 
 church. But the unkindness did not cease : 
 harsh words were often spoken and blows 
 were not spared ; yet as months went by a 
 change for the better could be noticed in 
 both Lim and his mother. 
 
 When Leng Tso returned from her second 
 visit to Tang Wan, she again met Lian at 
 the home of Poh Chim. 
 
 “ How far now has the Lord heard your 
 prayer ?” asked the Bible-woman. 
 
 “ He has heard it partly,” replied Lian, 
 “ but far from what I asked. I am yet 
 treated as if unworthy the home of my 
 husband, but his mother has lost part of 
 her bitterness and he part of his severity. 
 He says little about my worshiping other 
 than the gods of the Middle Kingdom, and 
 he seldom speaks about my teaching our 
 child.” 
 
366 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “ It will all be well some clay,” said Leng 
 Tso, “ and then, when you have come forth 
 out of the fire of affliction, you will come 
 forth purified and made beautiful for the 
 Master’s glory, and your own good too.” 
 
 “ I wish that time were near,” replied 
 Lian, “ for my heart is sick of such trials as 
 I must pass through ; I do not grow used to 
 them. When the heart is sore, the least 
 wound pains, and it becomes less able to 
 endure than at first.” 
 
 “ It is true,” said the Bible-woman, “ that 
 the heart that has long borne a burden feels 
 the least thing added to the load. I too 
 have carried sorrows on my heart, and they 
 have lain heavily there. Each additional 
 one seems very heavy.” 
 
 “ But you have never suffered at the 
 hands of one you had learned to love,” 
 spoke Lian. “ You have never known what 
 it is to love, and yet to be hated by the one 
 you loved.” 
 
 The author does not know, beyond the 
 fact that Lim and his family became less 
 and less cruel to Lian, that they became 
 Christians. To judge from similar instances, 
 
A WIFE’S TRIALS. 
 
 367 
 
 one has reason to believe that Lian’s patient 
 faithfulness will have the effect of turning 
 the determined persecutors to accept the 
 Saviour whom they so bitterly hate. 
 
 Leng Tso could not help comparing her 
 own life with that of Lian. She knew what 
 it was to long for one whom she had regard- 
 ed as lost, and when she saw him again to 
 find that he belonged to another. She knew 
 what it was to be lonely in the world, and to 
 look in vain for one who never came to her. 
 Now, since Khiau So had died, that old long- 
 ing had come back. She could not keep it 
 away ; she could not help thinking of the 
 preacher, far off among the mountains, and 
 wishing that she might see him, hear his 
 voice, receive only a word from him — a 
 single message saying that he was well, 
 that he had not forgotten her, that he would 
 like to see her again. 
 
 “Why is it,” she asked herself, “that I 
 cannot keep my old friend from my mind ? 
 He is, no doubt, well and working hard. 
 Yet he must be lonely, now that his wife 
 is dead. He has no one to speak of her 
 to him, no one to talk to him of old times. 
 
368 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 There is no one to care for him when he is 
 weary, and he is growing old. But why do 
 I think of all this ? Khiau mourns for his 
 dead wife ; why should he think of me ? 
 It is so many years ago since we were chil- 
 dren in Thau Pau ! But my heart is young 
 yet. No, no ! I will not think of this any 
 more. We are growing old ; we must both 
 give the few years of life to our work.” 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 MISSION WORK B Y THE CHINESE. 
 
 “ rPHE people will be compelled to attend 
 to mission work soon,” suggested Mr. 
 May, “ and the sooner they begin, the better. 
 Never carry a child if it be able to walk: 
 it will always remain a baby. Let us urge 
 the Christians to undertake some work on 
 their own responsibility. Mr. Parton, you 
 are bishop of the preachers ; cannot you 
 start them off?” 
 
 “ Yes,” answered the younger man ; “ I 
 have already urged the men to inspire their 
 people to undertake some work, even though 
 ever so small, and some have begun. The 
 jchurch at Ang Tung Thau has started, and 
 untends to support one of its own men as its 
 missionary in the country beyond, and some of 
 the people up the river have already sent out 
 their men ; so the beginning has been made. 
 It may be like the snowball of the boys — 
 
 24 369 
 
370 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 either gaining by every move or breaking 
 and going all to pieces.” 
 
 “ There is power greater than that of man 
 to keep it moving and from breaking,” said 
 Mr. Minturn. 
 
 “ I am glad that the effort has already 
 begun,” spoke Mr. Wagner; “but we must 
 insist on each church supporting its own 
 work as soon as able. To be a missionary 
 church, and yet to neglect the home work, 
 will be to grow abroad while death takes 
 place at home.” 
 
 “ I have thought of the Hakkas,” suggest- 
 ed Mr. May ; “ it would be a good thing to 
 have the native church start a mission among 
 those. Let them form a society and send 
 out one of their number as missionary and 
 take the full charge of the field. What do 
 you think, brethren ?” 
 
 “ A capital idea,” said Mr. Minturn. 
 
 “Will they do it?” asked Mr. Wagner. 
 “ I am ready to see them try.” 
 
 “ The fact that the Hakka language will 
 have to be learned will be a difficulty,” said 
 Mrs. Parton, “but it is not very unlike the 
 Chinese, I think. Mr. Wagner can tell us.” 
 
MISSION WORK BY THE CHINESE. 371 
 
 “ I am not sure,” responded Mr. Wagner, 
 “ but I think that the Hakkas are Chinese 
 from the northern part of the empire, and 
 that their language is much like that spoken 
 at the North. The people around them do 
 not appear to be able to talk with them, yet 
 Mr. Parton will remember that Khiau was 
 able, without a great deal of difficulty, to 
 make them understand him. By the way, 
 Khiau said that these Hakkas had sent a 
 request to him to visit them again, and that 
 he is ready to go whenever you say the 
 word.” 
 
 Before telling the reader about the Chinese 
 commencing a mission among the Hakkas, it 
 may be well to relate how the Hakkas first 
 came to be known to the mission. 
 
 A considerable time before this part of 
 the story two men from the Hakka country 
 — which is a long distance north-west of 
 Thau Pau — visited a port to the south of 
 Ha Bun to receive medical treatment in the 
 mission hospital there. Both were restored 
 to health, and also were taught about the 
 true God. They became Christians, and 
 returned to their home resolved to serve the 
 
372 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 true God. One of them, Nui, opened his 
 house, and the two conducted Christian 
 worship there for some time, the people of 
 the village attending and several of them 
 becoming interested in the truth. Wau, 
 the other convert, after a while left his home 
 and moved to the Foo city, where he followed 
 his trade of tailor. He soon learned of a 
 Christian chapel in the place, and attended 
 its service. He told the native preacher of 
 his own conversion, and of the meetings 
 that his friend Nui was still holding in their 
 native town. Wau joined the church at the 
 Foo city, and proved himself an earnest 
 follower of the Saviour. The missionaries 
 soon heard of this man, and, visiting him in 
 the city, learned of the religious interest 
 among the Hakkas. 
 
 Not long after this there appeared at the 
 hospital in Ha Bun a number of Hakkas 
 from the same place — among them, Nui, 
 who had brought some of his suffering 
 friends to be healed by the foreigners. But 
 the man had another errand, and this was 
 speedily made known to the missionaries. 
 He had come to learn more of the gospel, 
 
MISSION WORK BY THE CHINESE. 373 
 
 and to obtain a teacher to go back with him 
 to his home. It was at this time that Khiau 
 was first sent to visit these strangers. His 
 stay was short because of other calls, but 
 Khiau had been hoping that he would be 
 sent there again for a longer time, and 
 perhaps permanently. The mission, how- 
 ever, was too much in need of men to be 
 able to send any ODe permanently to the 
 Hakka country ; it was only after long 
 intervals that a preacher could be sent for 
 a short time to teach these strangers. Nor 
 could every man go ; very few of the 
 preachers besides Khiau knew enough of 
 the Hakka language to preach to the peo- 
 ple, and even he was far from being famil- 
 iar with it. 
 
 Khiau was glad to receive a message, a 
 week or two after the foregoing conversation, 
 telling him to go to the Hakkas for a stay 
 of several weeks — perhaps months. He was 
 still at the distant station, and gladly did he 
 start for the place farther on. He would 
 not go back to Thau Pau, nor did he care to 
 return to the Foo city. What was there for 
 him at that place ? He had lost his all when 
 
374 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 Khiau So died ; so he tried to convince 
 himself, and so he said, but deep down in 
 the preacher’s heart was the thought that he 
 had not lost every earthly friend. He knew 
 that Leng Tso had been a friend to him, nor 
 did he forget that past. Yet when thoughts 
 of it came — and he could not keep them away 
 — he tried to force them to leave by saying 
 that Leng Tso was nothing to him. She had 
 never shown that she cared more for him than 
 for any other dear friend since that one time 
 when first they met after the long separation. 
 Khiau forgot that as a true woman Leng 
 Tso was unwilling to force herself upon his 
 notice, and that he had not treated her even 
 as a friend of his wife should be treated. 
 He had acted as if he wished their friend- 
 ship to end. The woman who of all others 
 had been a most faithful friend to his dead 
 wife, and who of all others would now prove 
 a faithful friend to himself, he had turned 
 away from with hardly a word that told how 
 much he appreciated her kindness. Among 
 the Hakkas he could not help thinking of 
 his early life among the people at Anam, 
 whither he had gone to earn money to buy 
 
MISSION WORK BY THE CHINESE. 375 
 
 Leng Tso’s freedom. As the girl ever came 
 to his mind then, so now would the woman 
 come back — then to be always welcome, now 
 to be driven away by a half-hearted effort. 
 
 “ Why is it,” asked he of himself one 
 evening when alone, “ that I am ever think- 
 ing of Leng Tso ? She has, no doubt, for- 
 gotten me. I have not seen her, nor have 
 I sent a message to her or received one 
 from her. And yet she will come back 
 to my mind. She never comes to Thau Pau 
 to visit the women ; if she did come, I would 
 be pleased to go there to spend one more 
 Sabbath in the chapel. No ; such thoughts 
 must have no place in my mind. I am 
 here for work, and to that all my strength 
 and thought must be given. I must not — I 
 will not — think of the Bible-woman again. 
 She is doing a noble work, and I am thank- 
 ful.” 
 
 For several months Khiau remained 
 among the Hakkas, doing good service ; 
 meanwhile, the plan proposed by Mr. May 
 was considered. The native churches had 
 formed themselves into what may be called 
 a presbytery, and at the autumn meeting, 
 
S76 
 
 LEXG ISO. 
 
 held at the old home-village of E Ju, Mr. 
 May proposed the formation of the society. 
 There was a large gathering of Chinese 
 pastors, preachers, elders and Christians. 
 After all other business had been transact- 
 ed, Mr. May arose and in a few words told 
 about the Hakkas, and then asked the 
 native pastors, preachers, elders and the 
 others to remain to talk over the matter 
 of sending a regular preacher to them. 
 
 All looked eagerly at the missionary, and 
 wondered what he would next propose and 
 what he expected them now to do. They 
 remained after the presbytery closed, and 
 were called to order by Mr. May. A pres- 
 ident was then chosen, and another meet- 
 ing, of a more informal character, was begun 
 Mr. May urged the people to begin mission- 
 ary work themselves, and to start with the 
 Hakkas. The idea was favorably received, 
 but there were not wanting those who feared 
 that the plan could not be carried out. The 
 churches were too poor yet, and too little ac- 
 quainted with such work ; they were already 
 doing missionary work at home, and to 
 support their own efforts required a great 
 
MISSION WORK BY THE CHINESE. 377 
 
 deal of sacrifice. Yet they were willing to 
 think further of the matter. 
 
 “We must not make too much haste,” 
 remarked Mr. May, “ but must look at the 
 ground before we decide. Let us try an 
 experiment for half a year, until the next 
 meeting of the presbytery. W e can safely de- 
 termine to support a man for six months ; 
 the amount of money needed will not be 
 great. If at the end of that time you feel 
 that you are unable to carry on the enter- 
 prise, then you will be compelled to give it 
 up ; but I believe you will be glad that you 
 have begun, and that the Lord will bless you 
 in the work.” 
 
 After a short time spent in talking over 
 the matter it was decided to start the society, 
 and to continue work for six months at least 
 among the Hakkas. A president and the 
 other officers usual to such societies were 
 elected ; a committee was appointed to collect 
 the money needed, and one of the young men 
 of the mission was chosen to act for six 
 months as missionary. 
 
 The people could now think and speak of 
 but little besides the new society. They were 
 
378 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 aware of the responsibility they had taken 
 upon themselves, and they felt willing to 
 bear it ; but it was something new for the 
 Chinese to undertake such work alone. All 
 the officers of the society and all connected 
 with it were, or were to be, native Chinese. 
 
 Young Tek Ko was willing to accept the 
 proposition, and in a few days he started for 
 his field of labor. He was a modest young 
 man and made no boasts of what he would 
 do; nor yet was he too timid to undertake 
 his work. Not often has a young missionary 
 more hearty sympathy as he goes to his field 
 than had Tek Ko. The whole Church was 
 interested in him ; soon hardly a Christian or 
 an inquirer but knew as much about Tek Ko 
 as about any preacher in the mission. What 
 each knew of the young missionary became 
 the property of all, for he belonged to all. 
 
 Though several of the churches and the 
 stations not yet formed into churches had 
 lately in part or altogether supported men 
 preaching the gospel in neighboring towns, 
 Tek Ko was the first missionary of the 
 combined churches ; more than that, he was 
 their first foreign missionary. He was not 
 
MISSION WORK BY THE CHINESE. 379 
 
 going to a people whose language he knew, 
 but to a people of a strange tongue. 
 
 The Bible-woman was often questioned 
 about the missionary and the country to 
 which he had gone, many supposing that, 
 as she came from that direction, she should 
 know all about the place. 
 
 “ I do not know about the people,” said 
 she, “ nor do I know their language ; it is 
 very different from ours, though the people 
 are not so unlike us. They are kind and 
 polite, I have heard, and will not treat the 
 missionary unkindly. I never heard much 
 about the Hakkas even in Thau Pau. They 
 are separated by mountains from the Thau 
 Pau village, and are very many lee * away.” 
 “Will you ever go there to read and to 
 teach the women ?” 
 
 “ No ; it is too far away for me,” spoke the 
 Bible-woman, “ and I do not know the lan- 
 guage. Younger women must go to teach 
 and to read to the Hakkas — those who are 
 not too old to learn their language.” 
 
 “ What ! women of our country go off as 
 foreign missionaries ?” 
 
 * A lee is about three miles. 
 
380 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “Certainly; why not? Foreign women 
 come here with pastors from other coun- 
 tries to teach us, and why should not the 
 Middle Kingdom send women to teach these 
 Hakkas, and others, too, who may need to be 
 taught ?” 
 
 “ I believe that the foreign pastors will 
 make us do everything strange and unlike 
 the customs of the Middle Kingdom after 
 a while. Who would have thought twenty 
 years ago that we would send one of our 
 number — and pay him a salary too — to teach 
 strangers the doctrines brought from a for- 
 eign country ?” 
 
 “ It is because the Lord has opened our 
 eyes and warmed our hearts,” said Leng 
 Tso. 
 
 “ Will the church continue to support Tek 
 Ko after the six months are past, do you 
 think?” 
 
 “ Surely it will. This is only the begin- 
 ing ; no one but God can tell the end. The 
 people of God are doing now what our sol- 
 diers do when there is a rebellion. The em- 
 peror sends orders that soldiers shall go to 
 put down the rebellion, and as soon as an 
 
MISSION WORK BY THE CHINESE. 381 
 
 array can be gathered the soldiers start, and 
 more go from time to time until the rebel- 
 lion is conquered.” 
 
 “ It seems to me to be more like sending 
 out a spy to see the enemy’s country,” said 
 a listener. 
 
 “ It is somewhat like that, and Tek Ko is 
 our spy and our soldier, gone out to look at 
 the country and to begin to bring it to the 
 Lord.” 
 
 Tek Ko carried with him the request from 
 the mission to Khiau to return from the 
 Hakka country and stay for a day or two at 
 the large town of Sio Ke on his way to Thau 
 Pau and visit a number of inquirers there, 
 and at the same time to try to find out 
 whether there was any hope of renting a 
 place for a chapel in the town. This was 
 good news to the preacher. He longed to 
 return to his old friends, though he would 
 not admit to himself the real reason. He 
 had been several months in the Hakka 
 country, and it was but natural that he 
 should wish to see old friends again. 
 
 Ever since Toa Aw had received the gos- 
 pel the mission had been anxious to open a 
 
382 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 chapel in Sio Ive, but had tried in vain to 
 hire a building or to buy ground on which 
 to put up a chapel. Soon after Soe began to 
 hold services in his own house some of these 
 Sio Ke people came to see what was going 
 on ; they became interested in the truth, 
 and a number had become inquirers and 
 Christians. These had often expressed a 
 wish to have a teacher and a house of wor- 
 ship at Sio Ke. 
 
 At Sio Ke, Khiau was gladly welcomed 
 by several who knew him. A little band of 
 Christians and inquirers had gathered in the 
 home of one of the number. When all 
 who had been expected were present, the 
 preacher said, 
 
 “ Let us spend some time in worship, and 
 then we will talk about a chapel. We need 
 God’s help and wisdom rather than man’s in 
 the work we hope to accomplish. It will be 
 useless to try the methods of the Middle 
 Kingdom. Men more scheming than we 
 will be ready to defeat us ; men with more 
 power at the office of the mandarins than we 
 have will prevent us, unless we can call to 
 our help a higher power than any in the 
 
MISSION WORK BY THE CHINESE. 383 
 
 empire. Our help must come from God ; 
 he alone can defeat the foes of the truth 
 and bring to nothing the counsels of the 
 idolaters.” 
 
 After a season of prayer, Scripture-reading 
 and instruction by the preacher, Khiau said, 
 
 “ Let us now talk about the chapel. I 
 have been away for some months, and do 
 not know what has been done in that time. 
 Have any of the foreign pastors been here 
 lately ?” 
 
 “ Not very lately,” was the reply. “ They 
 think it best for foreigners not to come, lest 
 it prevent our getting a house.” 
 
 “Have they tried to hire a house?” asked 
 Khiau. 
 
 “ They sent preachers several times to 
 inquire about buildings to rent, but the peo- 
 ple here knew, as soon as the preachers came, 
 that it was to try to bring the doctrine here ; 
 so there was not a house in the place to 
 rent.” 
 
 “ Cannot we hire some house here ? Does 
 any one own a house, or have you rented one 
 that you would let us have if we paid a lit- 
 tle more than you gave ?” 
 
384 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 To these questions Khiau received the 
 reply that none had such a house as would 
 be at all satisfactory ; the men were afraid to 
 do anything lest they should be persecuted. 
 
 “ We are watched so closely,” said one, 
 “ that we cannot hire a house without first 
 promising most faithfully that it shall not be 
 used for worship. The people say that Thau 
 Pau and Toa Aw have yielded because they 
 were small and because Liong and Soe were 
 leading men, but here, in this large place, 
 with all the wealthy and powerful men 
 against the doctrine, they will show that it 
 cannot come. They are very determined. 
 So long as we are quiet they will not disturb 
 us, but they threaten to draw great trouble 
 upon all we have if we do anything to bring 
 the truth here.” 
 
 “ They do not know our God,” replied 
 Khiau, quietly. “ Others have resisted him, 
 but in the end each one has been overcome ; 
 so must they yield. Our time will come ; 
 be not discouraged.” 
 
 “ I can tell you what may be done,” sug- 
 gested one, “ but even that is not sure, for 
 the people are so watchful. You might send 
 
MISSION WORK BY THE CHINESE. 385 
 
 up a stranger who did not preach and cared 
 nothing for the truth to rent a house for 
 you.” 
 
 “ If he cared not for the truth, he would 
 be likely to care more for what is not true, 
 and to serve that rather than us,” replied 
 Khiau. “ Besides, it will hardly do to try 
 hidden ways ; they are not the ways of the 
 truth. Satan and the wicked deceive ; God’s 
 people must not.” 
 
 “ Unless you are as wise as the others, you 
 will not get the building,” remarked one who 
 had strong faith in Chinese methods. “ They 
 use shrewd schemes, and why should not 
 we ?” 
 
 “ Because we have something better,” re- 
 plied Khiau. “ They have only human 
 wisdom and Satan’s power ; we have the 
 wisdom and the power of God to aid us. 
 Can any of you tell me where there are 
 good places that may be hired if the peo- 
 ple become willing ? I mean to try to- 
 morrow to get a place.” 
 
 “No one is willing,” spoke more than one, 
 decidedly. 
 
 “ We will leave the willingness to God,” 
 
386 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 answered Khiau, “ and do our part by trying 
 to learn of suitable places. He will make the 
 people willing in the day of his power.” 
 
 The people gave Khiau the names of 
 several men who had places that would be 
 suitable for a chapel, if such houses could 
 only be rented ; so the next morning the 
 preacher went to see the men. Each one 
 was willing to rent ; but when it was learned 
 for what purpose the building was to be used, 
 not one would make a bargain. In vain did 
 the preacher urge that a chapel would bring, 
 not evil, but good, and that missionaries had 
 no object but the spiritual and the temporal 
 welfare of the people ; he could not persuade 
 one to listen to any proposition whatever, so 
 long as the building was to be used for wor- 
 shiping the foreign God. 
 
 Though defeated in his efforts, Khiau was 
 not discouraged ; he had gained several facts 
 that might prove of use in future bargain- 
 ing. Finding that he could do no more, and 
 thinking that he should as soon as possible 
 make a report to the mission, he started for 
 Thau Pau, and after a Sabbath spent there 
 set out for the Foo city and Ha Bun. Before 
 
MISSION WORK BY THE CHINESE. 387 
 
 he was ready to start, however, from the 
 Foo city, two of the missionaries reached 
 that place, and there was no necessity for 
 Kliiau to go farther. He gave to them a 
 report of his stay among the Hakkas and his 
 visit to Sio Ive, as well as of the work done 
 before he had gone to the Hakkas. 
 
 “What do you think about Sio Ke?” asked 
 one of the missionaries. “ Can we get a 
 chapel ?” 
 
 “ I do not see how,” replied Khiau. 
 “ There are suitable buildings that might 
 be had, but the owners will not rent them. 
 Perhaps, if a large price were offered, some 
 one could be found who loves money more 
 than he fears the wrath of the people. I 
 thought that possibly one man would be 
 willing to risk it if he could receive enough 
 money to pay him for all the evil thoughts 
 and words spoken, and for his building if 
 destroyed.” 
 
 “ We have not money to spare to give 
 a large price,” said the missionary ; “ yet 
 if able to get a suitable building, we will 
 pay more than it is worth. After we have 
 once gained a footing and the first anger 
 
388 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 of the people has spent itself, it will be 
 much easier to get a house at a cheaper rate. 
 If you think that you can get a place, we 
 will send you back to try again as soon as 
 you are ready to go.” 
 
 This was not quite what Khiau wished, 
 but he could not say that he had any busi- 
 ness at Ha Bun, nor yet at Chang Bay ; so 
 he agreed to try again at Sio Ke. 
 
 In due time Khiau reached the town, and 
 after a great deal of talk and bargaining 
 induced a man to agree to let him have a 
 house. The man demanded an unusual price, 
 but at last the bargain was made, as far as 
 Khiau could make it. Pleased with his 
 success, the preacher returned to the Foo 
 city ; but the missionaries had gone to Ha 
 Bun, leaving word for Khiau to come to 
 that city if he had met with any success. 
 Learning that Leng Tso was not at the Foo 
 city, nor yet at Chang Bay, he took passage 
 on the river for Ha Bun. The missionaries 
 were glad to learn of his success, and at 
 once agreed to carry out the bargain he 
 had made. He was instructed to return with 
 another preacher and make the bargain sure. 
 
MISSION WORK BY THE CHINESE. 389 
 
 Before returning Khiau learned that the 
 Bible-woman had been at Ha Bun for some 
 time, but only a day or two before bad gone 
 to the North on a missionary journey among 
 the stations there. 
 
 “ She does not care to meet me,” thought 
 Khiau. “ She has gone to escape me.” 
 
 The house-owner had kept his bargain se- 
 cret, and took the money to bind it. At last 
 the mission had a chapel in Sio Ke. So all 
 thought, but there are uncertainties even in 
 the certainties of mission work. 
 
 Not long after, the missionaries were sur- 
 prised to have a visit from the owner of the 
 Sio Ke property ; he begged them to take 
 back the money and release him from his 
 bargain. He besought them to take pity on 
 him, and not to suffer the people to destroy 
 his property, and perhaps kill him. As soon 
 as it had become known in the town that a 
 house had been leased for a chapel in which 
 to worship the foreign God, the people were 
 furious. They went to the owner, demanded 
 that he at once compel the missionaries to re- 
 lease him from the bargain, and threatened 
 him with every kind of punishment if he 
 
390 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 did not at once obtain a release. The mis- 
 sionaries, knowing that to hold the poor 
 man to the agreement would be to bring 
 upon him great suffering and loss, and pos- 
 sibly death, and that they would be unable 
 to occupy the building amid so much oppo- 
 sition, released the man and received back 
 the bargain-money. 
 
 For some time after this little effort was 
 made to gain a foothold in Sio Ke, but the 
 missionaries were not discouraged. They 
 only waited until the excitement subsided, 
 then began bargaining for another chapel. 
 This building was rented, but the people 
 were aroused to fury and tried to persuade 
 the man owning it to break the bargain. 
 He refused, and said that the building had 
 been rented, but was not being used as a 
 chapel, and until it was there was no need 
 of making so much ado. Though this pre- 
 vented people destroying his house, they 
 threatened him with awful punishment if 
 he allowed it to be used for the worship of 
 the foreign God. Not content with that, 
 four large clans formed a league to keep the 
 gospel out of Sio Ke and the villages around. 
 
MISSION WORK BY THE CHINESE. 391 
 
 They put up printed posters on the walls, 
 warning every one against renting any 
 property to the foreigners, and threatening 
 to pull down every house that should be 
 used for worshiping the gods of other 
 nations. The posters further called upon 
 the people to tear down any building used 
 as a chapel, and promised protection from 
 prosecution by the government. 
 
 The missionaries, knowing that to attempt 
 now to open the chapel would be to have it 
 destroyed, and probably to cause a riot in 
 which lives would be sacrificed, all-owed the 
 building to remain unused. They, however, 
 appealed to the mandarin of the place for 
 protection. He admitted that they had a 
 right, according to treaty and law, to worship 
 their God in the chapel, but said that he was 
 powerless to prevent the strong clans destroy- 
 ing the house. 
 
 If missionaries rarely force the officials to 
 do their duty, they nevertheless by quiet 
 persistency compel the mandarins to yield 
 in the end. It was so in this case. After 
 waiting a long time and politely presenting 
 their case to the officials, the missionaries 
 
392 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 left the matter in the hands of the American 
 consul. He carried the affair to the higher 
 officers of government, and was politely- 
 answered ; but investigation was delayed. 
 Quietly but persistently the case was pressed 
 on the attention of the authorities, until they 
 became wearied, as did even the people 
 of Sio Ke by being compelled to watch 
 against the expected attempts of Christians 
 to take possession of the chapel. 
 
 After exhausting all their threats and 
 finding no cause for executing them, the 
 people of Sio Ke were suddenly aroused by 
 seeing the door of the house standing open 
 and a missionary within, as a number of peo- 
 ple gathered about him. So quietly had 
 preparations been made that none were 
 ready, when the Christians gathered to wor- 
 ship for the first time in that chapel, to carry 
 out the threats so often repeated. A crowd 
 gathered about the door and pushed within 
 until the entire space for standing was occu- 
 pied. The people looked on in wonder, but 
 not a hand was raised nor an effort made to 
 carry out the oft-repeated threat. Through 
 the whole service the crowd swayed about the 
 
MISS JON WORK BY THE CHINESE. 393 
 
 door and pressed upon those within, but not 
 an act of violence was undertaken. During 
 that whole day the crowds came and went ; 
 they filled the chapel to overflowing con- 
 stantly ; they listened, and they went away 
 quietly ; and when night came, the chapel 
 stood unharmed. Nor was one of the 
 threats carried out ; from that day to this 
 the worship of the God of the Bible has 
 been kept up in Sio Ive. Though but a few 
 years have passed since the chapel was first 
 opened, the church is one of the largest and 
 most prosperous in that part of China. It 
 has its large house of worship well filled on 
 the Sabbath, its comfortable parsonage oc- 
 cupied by a pastor whom it has called and 
 is supporting liberally, and is a centre from 
 which already are going forth influences for 
 good that will soon be felt far away. 
 
 Before closing the chapter we will turn to 
 Tek Ko and the Hakkas. At the end of six 
 months the young man came back from his 
 mission and reported to the presbytery. 
 His was a modest story, but so full of facts, 
 and each one so laden with encouragement, 
 that all listened with delight to the very end. 
 
394 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 He was the first foreign missionary whom 
 they had a right to claim as their own. 
 Tek Ko was their man : they had sent him 
 out; they had helped support him; and now 
 he was telling what they through him had 
 done. It was not wonderful that many eyes 
 should brighten and many an old man and 
 woman should lean eagerly forward to catch 
 each word of the young speaker. It was not 
 strange that some voung men felt their 
 hearts swell with desire to become foreign 
 missionaries too. It was not remarkable 
 that the missionaries looked with confidence 
 and gratitude at the eager faces and thought 
 of the evidence before them of the success 
 of their work. The Chinese had reached 
 the highest stage of progress in church life 
 and work : they had learned, or were rapidly 
 learning, the delights of mission work. 
 
 Tek Ko told of the difficulties met in 
 learning a new language and using it to 
 teach the truths of the gospel ; he told, too, 
 of the eagerness of the people for the word 
 of life and how its effects were seen in their 
 lives ; he told of their gratitude to those who 
 had sent him to tell them of a Saviour ; and 
 
MISSION WORK BY THE CHINESE. 395 
 
 then, ill a closing appeal, lie urged them not 
 to stop, but to determine to make this only 
 the beginning of their work for the Lord. 
 
 It needed no urging to make that mis- 
 sionary society permanent ; the person to 
 propose stopping with the six months’ ex- 
 periment could not have been found in that 
 audience. The society was continued, and 
 Tek Ko was sent back to the Hakkas. The 
 society lives and prospers to this time, and 
 Tek Ko remains its faithful, successful mis- 
 sionary. Instead of the single small sta- 
 tion that he left when he made his first re- 
 port to the presbytery, there is now a large 
 church that has become too great for the 
 care of one man, and before this reaches 
 the reader’s eye two churches will probably 
 be where only a few years ago Tek Ko began 
 his mission work.* 
 
 * From a paper of August, 1886, the following is clipped: 
 “The report of Amoy Presbytery shows that there are now 
 54 congregations under its care. They have 8 native ministers, 
 73 elders, 76 deacons and 1569 members. The money raised 
 during the year by the native Church for the support of the 
 ministry, for the Ilakka mission and for congregational objects 
 amounted to $3635, at the rate of nearly 2 per member, where 
 the daily wage of a skilled workman is 16 to 20 cents, un- 
 skilled labor receiving 10 to 16 cents.” 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 ONCE MORE. 
 
 I N this closing chapter we take a farewell 
 look upon several of the scenes and some 
 of the friends encountered in the course of 
 the story. 
 
 Chang Bay church met with trial. The 
 young pastor settled there did not prove all 
 the people wished. He became too proud at 
 his elevation, and, like Rehoboam, was un- 
 willing to take the advice of older men, but 
 chose the young men as his counselors. 
 Some of the people were his warm friends, 
 while others became his enemies. He was 
 unwise in his course and gave cause for 
 many complaints. E Ju was called to Ha 
 Bun to take charge of the girls’ school, so 
 that the church at Chang Bay lost its wisest 
 counselor. After he left still greater trou- 
 bles came to the people and to the minister. 
 
 396 
 
ONCE MORE. 
 
 397 
 
 Some of the preacher’s friends remained 
 firm to him, while others drew farther and 
 farther away ; but Jin Su seemed to forget 
 that he was pastor of all, and gave his 
 attention to his friends rather than to those 
 who were opposed to him. The people asked 
 the missionaries to make peace, and some 
 demanded that Jin Su be removed to some 
 other station. 
 
 “ He is your pastor,” replied the mission- 
 aries, “ and we have no authority over him. 
 If he commits sin, you must bring the 
 matter to the attention of the presbytery. 
 We have charge only of the stations not 
 able to support a pastor.” 
 
 This was a new lesson for the church to 
 learn, and it learned it, and so did other 
 churches ; nor will they soon forget that 
 the church takes a great responsibility when 
 it calls a pastor. It was as well that the 
 Chang Bay church should learn this lesson 
 so thoroughly that it would not be forgotten. 
 
 The presbytery finally took up the mat- 
 ter for consideration. It was proved that the 
 young pastor associated with the mandarins, 
 and was, as nearly as a minister could be in 
 
398 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 China, a politician. Jin Su became what 
 may be called a “ fast ” young man, and 
 his acts, as brought before the presbytery, 
 proved him to be unfit to remain as pastor. 
 He was tenderly warned of his dangerous 
 course, then removed from his pastoral office 
 and suspended from the ministry. To the 
 other pastors and preachers this was a shock 
 such as they had never before felt, yet they 
 not only sanctioned the suspension, but felt 
 that it was the best thing to do. Chang 
 Bay church was astonished, yet most of 
 the people said it was right and just ; nor 
 could others, even though warm friends of Jin 
 Su, say that the presbytery had done wrong. 
 The people were in great trouble when their 
 pastor was taken away, and feared the church 
 too might in the end disappear ; but it did 
 not. Another preacher was sent, so that the 
 people had the services of a pastor again. 
 From that time the church began to improve, 
 and is now regaining its old prosperity. 
 
 E Ju came back to Chang Bay, as the 
 confinement of the school was too severe. 
 He came back to recover, as he hoped, his 
 lost health ; but the good man’s work was 
 
ONCE MORE. 
 
 399 
 
 done, and slowly he passed down to the 
 border-land of life. He reached the line 
 where this joins the unseen country, and the 
 faithful servant of the Church and of the 
 gospel passed over the line with a firm faith 
 that he was entering heaven. His wife still 
 lives. She was anxious to do more work for 
 the gospel after her husband’s death than 
 before, and became a Bible-woman. For a 
 while she went around to the different places, 
 reading and talking to the women, but she 
 felt unable to continue. She then went to 
 the missionaries and told them that she 
 could not do that work, but wished one to 
 do it for her and her dead husband ; so she 
 put into his hand the amount of money 
 needed to support a Bible-woman for a year, 
 and told him that as long as she was able 
 to give that amount each year the mission 
 should have it to carry on the work. She 
 has thus far kept her word. 
 
 Lin remains at Chang Bay, a faithful 
 man, modest and quiet, but doing what he 
 can for the cause to which his mother’s life 
 is given. Since the death of his uncle Iau 
 he has supported his mother. 
 
400 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 Jin Su’s life has undergone a great change. 
 He removed from Chang Bay to Ha Bun to 
 be out of evil associations, and began anew 
 to live the life of a true Christian. His 
 discipline has proved a blessing — not more 
 to others than to himself. He meekly 
 received the sentence of suspension, and 
 showed by every act that he felt its justice 
 and meant to reform. He is now a teacher 
 and living at Ha Bun, a worthy Christian. 
 
 At Toa Aw the gospel work is steadily 
 gaining, though the place has never had a 
 regular preacher, nor even a chapel other 
 than the house of Soe. The people, many 
 of them having become Christians, attend 
 the Sio Ke church and are members there. 
 They, however, hold an evening service in 
 their own village, and may at some future 
 time be able to build a church of their own. 
 
 Thau Pau seems to have given its strength 
 to others. Some of its members have died, 
 others have moved away, and some have 
 wandered from the truth. Liong has not 
 yet repented of his evil ways, but is seem- 
 ingly coming gradually to the path of re- 
 pentance. He is coming again and again to 
 
ONCE MORE. 
 
 401 
 
 the chapel when there is service held. 
 Though the mission work at Thau Pau has 
 not prospered of late, yet the movement 
 that began at that little mountain-village 
 has spread until now there are at least six 
 stations and churches not very far away that 
 received the gospel from that village chapel. 
 
 Why Thau Pan has not gained and Toa 
 Aw has gone steadily forward may be a ques- 
 tion in the minds of many. More preaching 
 and more care have been given to the former 
 than to the latter place, yet the secret does 
 not lie there. In the time of need Thau 
 Pau did not receive the attention it should 
 have had, and Liong, the leader of the peo- 
 ple, was worse than no leader ; while Toa 
 Aw had the wisdom of the faithful Soe to 
 guide and restrain the people. He was 
 almost a pastor, and like a father cared for 
 the people under his care. He could read 
 the Bible, and the people of Thau Pau, 
 after Liong turned away, could neither read 
 nor had they one to read for them, except 
 when the preacher was there. A simple ex- 
 planation appears to meet the difficulty, and 
 it is from the Bible : “ My people are de- 
 26 
 
402 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 stroved for lack of knowledge.” The places 
 around Thau Pau will some day bring back 
 the truth to the little village and show how 
 much they value it by teaching the people 
 there of the true God. 
 
 The girls’ school at Ha Bun has increased 
 in numbers, but, more than that, has now a 
 fine large building and is doing the work for 
 which it was intended. Already from it 
 have gone forth many young women to be 
 the wives of teachers, preachers and prom- 
 inent workers for the gospel, and these are 
 beginning to make their influence felt in the 
 places where their husbands are settled. 
 
 The anti-footbinding society still lives and 
 adds to its numbers ; slowly is its power being- 
 felt farther and farther away from Ha Bun. 
 Some of the best Christian families have 
 brought up, or are bringing up, their daugh- 
 ters as large-footed women. 
 
 Once more we look for Kliiau and Leng 
 Tso, and go back to the time when the 
 preacher, after his bargain for a chapel at 
 Sio Ke, went to preach at a distant station. 
 
 Kliiau grew restless ; he was lonely. To 
 him it seemed that he was left alone in the 
 
ONCE MORE. 
 
 403 
 
 world, and that no one cared for him. 
 When he heard that the missionaries had 
 rented a chapel at Sio Ke, he hoped that he 
 should be sent there. The Foo city and 
 Chang Bay having pastors — for the former 
 place had just settled its first pastor— there- 
 fore he could not expect to be stationed at 
 either of those places. But no order came 
 for him to change. The mission was not so 
 much in need of money now, and was able 
 to add to the number of preachers, so needed 
 not to change them often in order that each 
 station might have — at least, part of the time 
 — a preacher. Khiau learned that Leng Tso 
 never came to Thau Pau any more, and 
 scarcely ever visited the Foo city, but made 
 most of her visits north of Ha Bun or in 
 the vicinity of Chang Bay. Because she 
 remained away from her old homes, near 
 which he was usually stationed, Khiau sup- 
 posed that she kept away to escape him. 
 
 “ She does not wish to meet me,” was his 
 thought, “ and I will not compel her to see 
 me ; she shall enjoy her work without hav- 
 ing me to interfere. Yet I would like to see 
 her again and talk of the past. We could 
 
404 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 meet as friends. And why should we not ? 
 We are both growing old now, and many of 
 our friends are among the dead ; we are both 
 lonely. True, she has her son and his fam- 
 ily and her brother’s family, but I have al- 
 most no friends. I am so lonely ! Why can- 
 not she take pity on her childhood’s friend 
 and allow him to meet her once more?” 
 
 Khiau’s wife had now been dead a con- 
 siderable time, and the sharpness of the pain 
 of bereavement had gone ; yet Khiau missed 
 her at times as much as at first, and so often 
 he longed for one who knew her with whom 
 he might speak of the dead. To those liv- 
 ing where he was now stationed she had 
 been a stranger, and this made his sense 
 of loneliness all the more trying. 
 
 Leng Tso little thought that the absent 
 preacher would have been glad to meet her. 
 Bhe supposed that he had forgotten her ; it 
 seemed so. He never came where she was 
 — indeed, seemed to keep away from every 
 place in which she happened to be until after 
 she left ; then, when she had gone only a day 
 or two, he appeared. Was there not reason 
 to believe that her old friend cared not to 
 
ONCE MORE. 
 
 405 
 
 meet her ? She said not a word to any one 
 of her feelings. 
 
 “ What will it matter to me,” said she to 
 herself one day, “ if he never comes to see 
 me here ? He will meet me in heaven, 
 where Khiau So is, and there he will know 
 that I wished to see him, and that I remain- 
 ed a faithful friend to him. I do not ask 
 that he marry me ; it is not of that I think 
 — we are both growing old, and I am well 
 cared for by my son — but I do so long to 
 have one of my old friends to talk to, and 
 with whom I can talk of the times in Thau 
 Pau, and one who will care for the feelings 
 of an old woman. Lin is all that a son 
 should be, and his wife is kind and loving, 
 while the children are the best of children ; 
 but that is not all I want. They are all 
 younger than I and have lived different 
 lives from what I have, and they cannot 
 quite understand me. If I might but see 
 Khiau for a few minutes, it would be like 
 cool water to a thirsty soul. But he does not 
 come, and to me it seems that he wishes to 
 stay away from the place in which I am.” 
 
 Was it strange that Khiau and Leng Tso 
 
406 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 did not meet ? But it was not natural that 
 two such friends should remain as strangers 
 when each longed to meet the other. How 
 long they might have misunderstood each 
 other’s feelings cannot be told, but Khiau was 
 called unexpectedly to Ha Bun, and not by 
 the missionaries : he met with an accident 
 that compelled him to visit the hospit- 
 al there, and was obliged to remain in the 
 city for some weeks. At evening worship 
 and on the Sabbath he attended service in 
 one of the churches. As the women in 
 Chinese churches are separated from the 
 men by a partition, Khiau could not see who 
 were in the woman’s part of the church, nor 
 could Leng Tso, had she been at church, have 
 seen Khiau unless he had occupied the 
 preacher’s platform ; this he preferred not 
 to do, as he was unable to preach. But 
 Leng Tso was not in the audience, nor was 
 she in the city : she had gone up to Chang 
 Bay the same day Khiau reached Ha Bun. 
 
 The preacher asked one of the native 
 pastors whether the Bible-woman that used 
 to visit the Foo city and formerly lived there 
 still visited among the women. 
 
ONCE MORE. 
 
 407 
 
 “ Oh yes,” replied the pastor ; “ she went 
 up to Chang Bay some time ago to make 
 visits among the villages.” 
 
 “When did she go?” asked the preacher, 
 after other questions had been asked and 
 answered. 
 
 “ Who go ?” inquired the pastor. 
 
 “ The Bible-woman,” answered Khiau. 
 “ When did she go to Chang Bay ?” 
 
 When the reply was given, Khiau knew 
 that she had gone up the very day he reach- 
 ed the city, and only a few hours afterward. 
 He asked few questions after that, and soon 
 left the home of the pastor. 
 
 “ Can it be,” said he to himself, “ that she 
 knew that I was in the city and at once de- 
 parted ? She must be afraid to meet me. 
 Why should she be ? What have I ever done 
 to make her dislike or fear to meet her old 
 friend ? Now, when I return, I cannot stop 
 at Chang Bay, and yet I would like to see the 
 brethren there, and to visit the church too. 
 But I may meet her ; her son is an elder there 
 now, and certainly she will be at the church 
 on the Sabbath, if I should stay there over the 
 Lord’s day, and I wished to spend one Sab- 
 
408 
 
 LEXG TSO. 
 
 bath there. Yet now it will not be well, if 
 she wishes not to see me.” 
 
 When Khiau was able to return to his 
 work, he visited the mission-house to receive 
 orders for the future. 
 
 “ I am glad that you have recovered so 
 soon,” said the missionary, when the preach- 
 er told the object of his visit, “ and glad, too, 
 that you can go to-day, for I was at loss 
 whom to send to Chang Bay. The pastor 
 is ill, and has asked that we help him by al- 
 lowing either a student or some other preach- 
 er to go there for a few days — it may be 
 weeks — until he is able to take charge of 
 his work. You are just the man, as you are 
 ready for work, having had a time of rest ; 
 and, besides, you have had nothing to do 
 with the trouble there. I wish you would 
 go and remain there as long as you are 
 needed.” 
 
 Khiau was surprised that he should be 
 sent to Chang Bay. But another feeling 
 took possession of his heart ; it need not 
 be described here. He went to Chang Bay, 
 and at night conducted the evening worship. 
 That Khiau looked into the woman’s part of 
 
ONCE MORE. 
 
 409 
 
 the church for the face of the Bible-woman 
 the reader will know without being told, but 
 he did not see there the face of Leng Tso. 
 
 Leng Tso was iu Chang Bay, though not 
 at evening worship. She had just returned 
 from her visits among the villages, and was 
 too tired to attend service that night. When 
 Lin came home, after the worship in the 
 church, his mother asked who led the ser- 
 vice and who would preach on the morrow. 
 
 “ It is Khiau, the preacher who has been 
 so long at the stations up the country, and 
 was at the Hakka station before Tek Ko 
 went.” 
 
 “ What ! Khiau, my old friend whose wife 
 died just before I came down here to be with 
 our little one before the angels took her?” 
 
 “ It was the same,” replied Lin. “ He has 
 been down to Ha Bun for some weeks, in the 
 hospital. He was hurt by an accident, he 
 told me, and went there to be healed. He 
 is well now, and is to remain here until the 
 preacher has recovered.” 
 
 “ He down at Ha Bun for several weeks,” 
 said Leng Tso, “and in the hospital! Was 
 he sick? Who cared for him?” 
 
410 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 “ I do not think he was ill,” replied Lin. 
 “ He did not say what the accident was, but 
 from what he said — we had only a few mo- 
 ments to speak — I think it was nothing very 
 serious.” 
 
 “ I am glad that he is well again,” said 
 Leng Tso. “ Will he preach to-morrow ? 
 How long did you say he will stay ?” 
 
 “ He will preach to-morrow, but how long 
 he will stay I cannot tell. He may stay 
 several weeks — at least, until the preacher 
 here recovers.” 
 
 “ Did he ask if I were here ?” asked Leng 
 Tso. “ We, as you remember, lived, when 
 children, in the village of Thau Pau, and 
 were very warm friends.” 
 
 “He had only a few moments to speak,” 
 answered Lin, “and perhaps he had not time 
 to speak about you, for he did not ask. He 
 may have forgotten that I was your son. He 
 never knew me well, as we did not often meet, 
 and I have not seen him for a long time un- 
 til to-night. He appears much older and 
 careworn.” 
 
 “ No doubt of it, since the loss of his wife, 
 for she was a good woman and thought very 
 
ONCE MORE. 
 
 411 
 
 much of him. He was worthy of her love, 
 for he is a noble man.” 
 
 Lin looked at the earnest face of his 
 mother as she spoke so favorably of the 
 preacher, but he said nothing in reply. 
 
 The next morning Khiau turned his eyes 
 to the woman’s part of the room as soon as 
 he took his seat on the platform, and there 
 sat his old friend Leng Tso. Their eyes 
 met, but not a nod of recognition, not a 
 sign, showed that they were old acquaintances. 
 Each looked steadily in the face of the other, 
 as if to study whether they were to meet as 
 strangers, acquaintances or dear friends. 
 
 The gong sounded for service, and the 
 preacher’s thoughts were called back to his 
 duty. During all the sermon his eyes were 
 directed to the men in front, hardly a glance 
 being given to the women. At the close of 
 the service he was greeted by the men, and 
 as he was about leaving the house the Bible- 
 woman, who had waited for others to speak, 
 addressed him. It was the old welcome of 
 years ago that she gave, and in a moment all 
 Khiau’s misgivings were over. He needed 
 no explanation, and asked for none. Her 
 
412 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 greeting told him that, whatever he might 
 be to her, she was the same warm-hearted 
 friend she had ever been. It was no place 
 to talk of the past, and no time to ask for or 
 to receive explanations. As the two parted 
 at the church door two light hearts were 
 carried thence ; each knew and trusted the 
 other. 
 
 Khiau called to see his old friend the next 
 day, and the whole story of the past was 
 told. It was a long story that each had for 
 the other’s ear, and neither was in haste to 
 close. Lin was at his business, his wife at 
 her household duties, and the children were 
 either at school or at play ; so that the two 
 old friends had time and opportunity to talk 
 of the past without fear or limit. The reader 
 can guess the result of that call, and will not 
 be likely to guess wrong. 
 
 Khiau remained till Lin came from his 
 business, and then the two men had a pri- 
 vate talk. Later, Lin said to his mother, 
 
 “ I am glad that you and the preacher 
 have not waited for a long time of bargain- 
 ing and to call in some middle-woman to 
 make the agreement between you. But, 
 
ONCE MORE. 
 
 413 
 
 mother, you need not marry the preacher 
 for the sake of a home in your old age : my 
 home is yours, and all I have belongs to my 
 mother. Yet I know that you often feel 
 lonely, and I am glad that you and your old 
 friend will be able to drive away each other’s 
 loneliness. I hope that when you are 
 married you will not give up your work 
 while able to continue it. We need more 
 like you to teach the women.” 
 
 “ I will never give up my work,” spoke 
 Leng Tso, “ until old age or death compels. 
 Marrying the preacher will not hinder, but 
 help, me in that work. I can teach the 
 women in the places where he is stationed, 
 and as he is not well enough trained to 
 become a settled preacher, and certainly 
 never can be a pastor, he will no doubt be 
 sent from one place to another after a stay 
 in each for some months. So I will be able 
 to stay longer at a place, yet go from one to 
 another, and perhaps do more good in that 
 way than if settled at one station.” 
 
 “ Well, mother, marry the preacher, and 
 go on with your work together as long as 
 you are able. When too weak and feeble to 
 
414 
 
 LEXG TSO. 
 
 work, then come to my home, both of you, 
 and share in all that your son has. Part of 
 my work will be to take care of those teach- 
 ing the truth, and it matters not whether I 
 take care of those who are at work or who 
 are resting after their work is done.” 
 
 “ It is settled about the marriage,” said 
 Leng Tso to her son one day, “ and, as the 
 preacher may soon be sent to some distant 
 station, we think it best to have the wedding 
 at once, that I may go with him. He has 
 been so lonely while at those distant places, 
 so I will go along to make it more pleasant 
 for him.” 
 
 “ I am willing, as soon as both of }'ou 
 think best, to prepare the wedding-feast,” 
 replied Lin. “You need not wait until he 
 comes back ; I too think it well that you 
 marry at once and go with him. Not that 
 I wish my mother to leave my home, but I 
 wish her to do as she thinks best.” 
 
 “ Make no wedding-feast,” spoke the 
 Bible-woman ; “ we are too old for a great 
 wedding, and wish as little ceremony as 
 possible. We wish to honor the Church 
 and the preachers, so would like to be 
 
ONCE MORE. 
 
 415 
 
 married in the church by one of the pastors, 
 but more than that we do not wish. Make 
 no feast and be at no expense-; use the 
 money for the Lord’s work, rather.” 
 
 Lin urged that he should have the priv- 
 ilege of providing a feast at his mother’s 
 wedding, thus showing that he cared for 
 her and the man she had chosen. After 
 continued persuasion he succeeded in con- 
 vincing her that he should have his way, 
 since she meant to have hers and take up 
 her home away from under his roof. 
 
 After the wedding the missionaries told 
 Khiau that it was not fair to send a man to 
 his field of work as soon as he was married, 
 so he was allowed some weeks of vacation. 
 Khiau deserved this vacation. He had been 
 faithful to go and do as he was told, never 
 asking for time to rest ; and when the mission 
 was in great need of men, none were more 
 willing than the old preacher to take the 
 most difficult and distant fields. When the 
 vacation was over, the two started for their 
 field of work ; and there we leave Khiau 
 and Leng Tso, united at last and happy in 
 their work. 
 
416 
 
 LENG TSO. 
 
 In that work of teaching the men — and 
 the women — of China to trust in and love 
 the true -God and Jesus Christ, whom he 
 has sent, there is need of many more men 
 and women. Work for the women of China, 
 reader — the women ! Convert the women 
 of that land, and all the missionaries may 
 return home and the work be left to the 
 native Christians there ; but send out men 
 alone to preach, and, though they be the 
 means of converting every man in China, 
 in half a century that nation, if the wo- 
 men remain idolaters, might again become 
 a heathen people. 
 
 THE END.