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VIRGIL C. HART: 
 MISSIONARY STATESMAN 
 
 E. I. HART, D.D. 
 
DR. HART AXD THE ABBOT OF MT. OMEI 
 
VIRGIL C. HART: 
 
 MISSIONARY STATESMAN 
 
 FOUNDER OF THE AMERICAN AND CANADIAN 
 MISSIONS IN CENTRAL AND WEST CHINA 
 
 BY 
 
 E. L HART, D.D. 
 
 < kg , 
 Ml 
 
 HODDER & STOUGHTON 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 
 
^ 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 191 7, 
 BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 
 
 APR 24 1917 
 
 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
 
 ©CI.A460569 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 Two great missions in China, of which Dr. V. C. 
 Hart was the founder, testify to the comprehensive 
 insight he had of China's needs, his recognition of 
 her potential powers, and his appreciation of the 
 forces which would free her from her age-long stag- 
 nation and lift her into new life and influence. 
 
 With the vision of a seer, the power of practical 
 achievement and the faith of a man of God, Dr. 
 Hart planned not only for the work of pioneer days 
 but for the expansion of the work which is now so 
 great a factor in influencing China to establish new 
 standards and ideals in this her day of adjustment. 
 
 In founding these missions Dr. Hart served three 
 nations and two great Methodist Churches, for he 
 went first as the representative of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church of the United States, and twenty- 
 five years later as the pioneer and founder of the 
 mission of the Methodist Church, Canada, in West 
 China, one of the best organised missions in the 
 
 [v] 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 world, for in founding it Dr. Hart brought his inti- 
 mate knowledge of the Chinese and his ripe experi- 
 ence as a successful superintendent of the great work 
 carried on by the sister Church of the United States. 
 
 The reflex influence of Dr. Hart's work upon the 
 missionary life of the home Church has done much 
 in establishing an adequate home base, providing for 
 the expansion of the work in China. 
 
 We are indebted to his son, Dr. E. I. Hart, Super- 
 intendent of City Missions, Montreal, Canada, for 
 this life of his father whose achievements place him 
 among the world's missionary statesmen. 
 
 To the Canadian Methodists, who this year are 
 celebrating the Silver Jubilee of the founding of 
 the West China Mission, the book brings a special 
 and timely message. One cannot read its pages 
 without being impressed by the life of the man who 
 won many friends among the Chinese and the love 
 and esteem of his fellow- workers. This story of 
 long missionary service begun in 1866 and extend- 
 ing into the twentieth century, takes us through the 
 years of China's awakening and tells of the part a 
 great man had in bringing in China's new day. 
 
 F. C. Stephenson. 
 Wesley Buildings, Toronto, 
 April, 1917. 
 
 [vi] 
 
In the preparation of this biography the writer 
 wishes to acknowledge his special indebtedness to 
 Miss Addie Hart of Watertown, N. Y., and to the 
 Rev. G. W. Woodall, D.D., of Schenectady, N. Y., 
 for several years a co-worker beloved of Dr. Hart 
 in Central China. Their assistance has been invalu- 
 able and greatly appreciated. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I 
 
 The Call . 
 
 13 
 
 II 
 
 "Fellow-Fakers True" . 
 
 23 
 
 III 
 
 Outward Bound . 
 
 31 
 
 IV 
 
 The First Field 
 
 . 43 
 
 V 
 
 Central China 
 
 . 53 
 
 VI 
 
 On Furlough .... 
 
 . 67 
 
 VII 
 
 By River and Lake 
 
 79 
 
 VIII 
 
 A Forward Movement 
 
 . 91 
 
 IX 
 
 I Chi San .... 
 
 , 103 
 
 X 
 
 The Porcelain City 
 
 . Ill 
 
 XI 
 
 A Change but No Rest . 
 
 . 123 
 
 XII 
 
 The Pride of the Yangtse 
 
 , 135 
 
 XIII 
 
 Turned Back .... 
 
 . 149 
 
 XIV 
 
 The Chinese Tartarus . 
 
 . 163 
 
 XV 
 
 "The Seductive Viper!" . 
 
 . 173 
 
 [«: 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 XVI 
 
 The Re-established Mission 
 
 . 181 
 
 XVII 
 
 "One Step from Heaven" 
 
 . 199 
 
 XVIII 
 
 "For Canada!" 
 
 . 215 
 
 XIX 
 
 The First Contingent . 
 
 . 227 
 
 XX 
 
 Beginnings 
 
 . 245 
 
 XXI 
 
 The Work Expanding 
 
 . 255 
 
 XXII 
 
 A Bolt from the Blue . 
 
 . 273 
 
 XXIII 
 
 An Appeal unto Caesar . 
 
 . 287 
 
 XXIV 
 
 The Work Resumed 
 
 . 305 
 
 XXV 
 
 A Visit to an Outstation 
 
 . 319 
 
 XXVI 
 
 Two Eventful Years 
 
 . 331 
 
 XXVII 
 
 "Worn Out" . 
 
 . 341 
 
 [*] 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Dr. Hart and the Abbot of Mt. Omei . Frontispiece ^ 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Old School House Near Watertown Where 
 
 Virgil C. Hart Was Converted . . . 14r^ 
 
 The Stella, in which Dr. Hart and His Family 
 Made Many Trips on the Yangtse and 
 
 Through the Waterways of Central China . 82 ' 
 
 The Hospital Compound from the Yangtse River 106 ' 
 
 Methodist Hospital, Nanking .... 106 "" 
 
 The University of Nanking .... 140 
 
 The Gorges of the Upper Yangtse . . . 156 
 
 Canadian Methodist Hospital at Chengtu . . 258 '' 
 
 Great East Street, Chengtu .... 266 
 
 The Mission Property at Kiating . . . 280 
 
 Dr. and Mrs. Hart and Their Daughter . . 290 
 
 Dr. Hart Operating His Printing-Press — The 
 
 First To Be Used in China West of Hankow 314 
 
 The Press Building at Kiating . . . 314 
 
 Market Day 322 
 
 [xi] 
 
I 
 
 THE CALL 
 
"It is decided with me. The Church calls me to go and 
 I think my Heavenly Father also. I must go. You ask me 
 how long. I go for life." 
 
 Letter to Addie Gilliland, May 26th, 1865, 
 
THE CALL 
 
 IT was a cold and stormy night in the winter of 
 1854. The wind was piling high the snow 
 drifts in the fence corners and quickly filling in the 
 foot-tracks along the road, while a man and a boy, 
 with heads bent low to meet the cutting blast, made 
 their way to the "Jeffers' School House," just a few 
 miles from Watertown in New York State. The 
 man had called at the home of the boy to take him 
 to one of a series of "protracted meetings," as they 
 were then called, which he and a neighbouring farm- 
 er were conducting. 
 
 Upon arriving at the school house they lit the 
 candles, put on a roaring fire in the old box-stove 
 and placed a few hymn books upon the knife dis- 
 figured desks. While they were engaged in these 
 preparations for the service, the door would open 
 and admit some faithful soul whom the storm could 
 not keep away. A loud stamping of the feet at the 
 
 [13] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 entrance, a shaking of the great coat or shawl, a 
 vigorous use of the broom, a few minutes by the red 
 hot stove to warm the numb fingers, and then the 
 newcomer took a seat upon the nearest available 
 form by the fire. 
 
 The attendance was small that night. Scarcely 
 a score were present, but what the meeting lacked 
 in numbers was more than made up in fervour. The 
 hymns went with a swing, the prayers were earnest 
 and importunate, the appeal of Alvin Hart — for he 
 was the leader, came as the voice of God. So im- 
 pressed was the boy with the message that at the 
 close, when the opportunity was offered, he stood up 
 and asked for the prayers of those present. Late 
 that night when the congregation had been dismissed, 
 surrounded by a few anxious friends who had re- 
 mained for further prayer, he came out clearly into 
 the light and gave his first testimony for Christ. 
 
 It is said that Virgil Hart was the only convert 
 brought in by the meetings. The meetings were 
 considered a failure by the people. "Only one lit- 
 tle boy saved!" exclaimed the critics. Little did 
 those critics realise what the conversion of that one 
 little boy would mean to thousands of his race. Not 
 one in that community ever dreamed that he would 
 some day become a great missionary and the founder 
 of large and important missions in far off China. 
 
 Virgil Chittenden Hart was the third son and fifth 
 
 En] 
 
THE OLD SCHOOL HOUSE NEAR WATERTOWN 
 WHERE VIRGIL C. HART WAS CONVERTED 
 
THE CALL 
 
 child of Augustus Hart and his wife, Joanna Horr 
 — a sister of the well-known Methodist minister, 
 Elijah Horr. He was born in Lorraine, New York 
 State, January 2, 1840. In 1847 his father moved 
 to Pinckney in Lewis County and from there he re- 
 moved seven years later to a farm near Watertown. 
 How the little lad loved this farm! Frequently, 
 in his letters home in after years from that strange 
 land beyond the Pacific, he expressed his longings 
 for a nsh in the old brook, or a hunt in the woods 
 for squirrels, or a pocketful of rosy apples from the 
 orchard. No boy was ever more fond of country 
 life than he and until the day of his death the coun- 
 try with its fresh-turned sod, its green fields and 
 waving harvests, had a peculiar charm for his na- 
 ture-loving soul. 
 
 That stormy night in the old school house was 
 more than a spiritual awakening to young Virgil 
 Hart, it was an intellectual awakening as well. He 
 became seized with a passion for study and was 
 determined to secure a good education. Even when 
 following the plough or in the midst of haying he 
 would take an occasional glimpse of his grammar or 
 his Testament, which he kept secreted in one of his 
 pockets. Reading the story of David Livingstone 
 led him to think seriously of a missionary career. 
 He decided to prepare himself for the Christian 
 ministry and much to the disgust of his Unitarian 
 
 [15] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 father he chose to become a Methodist minister. 
 Years passed before his father became fully recon- 
 ciled to his son's choice, and though it was hard to 
 bear his father's displeasure, yet never for a moment 
 did he doubt that he was in the path of duty. His 
 conscience was clear, his mind was made up, and he 
 went forward though to go forward meant a hero- 
 ism seldom required of a boy-candidate for the min- 
 istry. It was his habit as he went about his chores 
 on the farm to commit to memory passages of Scrip- 
 ture or to take a text and outline a sermon. His 
 brother Volney used to point to a stump in the woods 
 on the old homestead where he would stand and 
 preach to the trees for an audience. By picking and 
 selling beechnuts for ten cents a quart he earned 
 enough money to buy his first Greek grammar; by 
 chopping one hundred and eighty cords of wood for 
 a neighbouring farmer, he secured sufficient funds to 
 begin a four years' course in the Gouverneur Wes- 
 leyan Seminary, and by renting an acre of land in 
 Evanston, Illinois, and selling the vegetables which 
 he grew upon it, in addition to taking supply work 
 in churches near the college town, he was enabled to 
 meet all his expenses while attending the Northwest- 
 ern University and later the Garrett Biblical Insti- 
 tute, where he took his theological course, graduating 
 in 1865 with the degree of Bachelor of Divinity. 
 During his struggle to acquire an education Vir- 
 
 [16] 
 
THE CALL 
 
 gil became acquainted with the Honourable Willard 
 Ives of Watertown, for some years a Congressman 
 and a Judge: and a friendship, strong and affec- 
 tionate, began which lasted till the end of life. No 
 father ever took a keener interest in his son or fol- 
 lowed his career with a greater sense of satisfaction 
 than did Judge Ives the career of his ambitious 
 young protege. More than once did this generous- 
 hearted man help the young student over the hard 
 places that lay between him and the accomplishment 
 of his purpose. 
 
 In the summer of 1864, while the American Civil 
 War was in progress Virgil went down south and 
 served with the Christian Commission. Many an 
 interesting story he could tell of his experiences with 
 the army and with the coloured folks in their religious 
 meetings. Often these meetings among the Blacks 
 would get beyond his control. Hardly had he an- 
 nounced his text, sometimes, before the ebony faces 
 upturned towards his would shine with an unnatural 
 light, the eyes would begin to roll and the forms 
 sway like the trees in a forest before the approach- 
 ing storm. Great sobs would shake their frames to 
 be succeeded by great laughter, then a familiar hymn 
 would be started, accompanied by the clapping of 
 hands and the pounding of feet, until the preacher's 
 voice was completely lost in the raging storm of 
 emotion. So ludicrous were some of the scenes wit- 
 
 [17] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 nessed by the young white preacher when the coloured 
 people "got happy" that he was compelled more 
 than once to get down behind the pulpit and give 
 vent to his long-suppressed sense of the ridiculous. 
 
 Towards the close of his theological course, one 
 morning in May, a note from Professor Kidder was 
 handed to him stating that he had received an ear- 
 nest appeal from one of the bishops of the Metho- 
 dist Episcopal Church asking for two young men 
 from the Institute to go that year as missionaries to 
 China. After a conversation with Professor Kidder 
 that day he decided to offer himself as a candidate. 
 India had been in his thoughts for several years, but 
 now the needs of China with its teeming millions 
 seemed more urgent. Just after graduation in June, 
 1865, he received word from the Missionary Secre- 
 taries in New York of his appointment to Foochow, 
 China, and on July the sixteenth following, in 
 Jamestown, N. Y., at the annual meeting of the 
 Erie Conference, he was ordained both Deacon and 
 Elder, under the Missionary Rule, by Bishop Baker. 
 
 Before his appointment to the foreign field efforts 
 were made by some of his friends to keep him in 
 the home work. They urged that it was a great pity 
 to have a man of such parts go and bury himself 
 in a heathen land like China. A little charge in 
 Brickton, near Evanston, to whom he had minis- 
 tered with much acceptance for a year and a half, 
 
 [18] 
 
THE CALL 
 
 pressed him to reconsider his decision to become a 
 missionary and promised to raise his salary to a thou- 
 sand dollars if he would remain with them. A dis- 
 tinguished committee from his Alma Mater waited 
 upon him and offered him a lectureship in Hebrew 
 and Greek — subjects in which he had coached a num- 
 ber of the students during his college course as well 
 as taught in the classes during the absence of the 
 professor. But tempting and flattering though these 
 calls were to remain in the Occident the call of the 
 Orient was stronger. To the Orient he went and 
 never once did the shadow of a doubt cross his mind 
 in regard to the wisdom of his decision. In China 
 he found an opportunity and a reward more ample 
 and more satisfying than anything he would ever 
 have found in the United States. He chose well 
 and God's blessing which maketh rich followed the 
 choice. 
 
 What a specious plea was that which his well- 
 meaning friends advanced that if he went to China 
 his talents would be wasted; that he was too good 
 a man to send to the foreign field. There are many 
 in our churches to-day who cherish a similar opinion; 
 who imagine that anybody will do for mission work 
 in non-Christian lands, and so scores of men who 
 have been or would be failures in the work at home 
 have been sent abroad to minister to the "heathen." 
 Never was there a more fatal mistake. Our work 
 
 [19] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 in foreign lands has too often been handicapped and 
 crippled by weak and inefficient men — men who 
 could never acquire a knowledge of the native tongue 
 so as to compel the respect of the people, and whose 
 mental dullness and incapacity often made them 
 the laughing stock of the subtle and philosophical 
 literati, whom every missionary meets and must 
 reckon with in China, Japan and India. 
 
 Our best and most gifted men are none too good 
 for the awakening East, where everything depends 
 upon the character of present Christian leadership. 
 If we give of our best the "Yellow FeriV will be- 
 come the world's "Golden Hope." 
 
 [20] 
 
II 
 
 "FELLOW-FARERS TRUE' 
 
"Teacher, tender, comrade, wife, 
 A fellow-farer true through life, 
 Heart-whole and soul-free, 
 The august father gave to me." 
 
 R. L. Stevenson. 
 
II 
 
 MOTHER" BARNES, for many years, was 
 one of the most interesting and picturesque 
 characters in the County of Leeds, Ontario. She 
 lived in a little log house a few miles from the vil- 
 lage of Athens. By many she was held in super- 
 stitious awe, for she possessed in a very uncanny 
 degree the gift of prescience. She had the reputa- 
 tion throughout the Eastern Counties of being the 
 most reliable of that most unreliable class of peo- 
 ple — fortune tellers. So great an impression did she 
 make upon the neighbourhood in which she lived 
 that when she died a few years ago one of the large 
 dailies of Toronto gave a column-long story of her 
 life. 
 
 One day in the early "Sixties," two merry-hearted 
 girls still in their 'teens, just for a little fun and in 
 the spirit of bravado, turned in at Mother Barnes' 
 gate and asked to have their fortunes told. The 
 
 [23] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 old lady took them, in turn, into a little room and, 
 having closed the door, an act which by no means 
 helped to put them at ease, began to brew some tea, 
 and from the leaves clinging to their emptied cups, 
 read the future. To the girl with hazel eyes and 
 roguish face she said: "Within a few years you 
 will meet your future husband. He is tall, with 
 dark brown hair and blue eyes. At the present 
 moment he is studying at a table painted blue and 
 about him are many books. You will travel very 
 far and have five children, four of whom will be 
 sons." Incredible though it seems, every detail of 
 that remarkable fortune was later verified and ful- 
 filled. 
 
 Two summers after, while on a visit to her cousin 
 in Watertown, N. Y., Adeline Gilliland, the girl 
 with the hazel eyes — the second daughter of John 
 Gilliland and his wife, Charlotte Mansell, of Athens 
 — met Virgil Hart, just home from college to spend 
 a few days with his sick mother. The meeting of 
 these two young people was a case of love at first 
 sight. It was not many months before they were 
 engaged to be married, and on August 31, 1865, 
 just after Mr. Hart's ordination, the marriage was 
 celebrated in the town of Brockville, the Rev. Wil- 
 liam Henry Poole, D.D., a well-known Wesleyan 
 divine, being the officiating minister. Never was 
 there a happier union than that of this young Ameri- 
 
 [24] 
 
FARERS 
 
 can missionary and his Canadian girl-bride. Their 
 married life was a perpetual honeymoon. No love 
 was more cruelly tried than theirs by the frequent 
 and sometimes long separations inevitable in the 
 lives of foreign missionaries. No husband was ever 
 more indebted to his wife than was he — and he did 
 not fail to tell her, repeatedly, of his indebtedness. 
 She was an helpmeet, indeed, and many of the insti- 
 tutions which he was instrumental in establishing, 
 such as the famous hospital and college in Nankin, 
 owe their first inspiration to her. 
 
 Hard though the lot of the foreign missionary 
 may have been fifty years ago, the lot of the foreign 
 missionary's wife was decidedly harder. Imagine 
 the isolation, the terrible loneliness of a solitary 
 white woman, dwelling for years at a stretch among 
 the multitudes of a large heathen city, and rarely 
 looking upon the face of a woman of the same colour 
 and race. Such was the experience of Mrs. Hart 
 during the early years of their missionary career. 
 Is it any wonder that her parents, when they thought 
 of such a life awaiting their daughter in China, were 
 loath to surrender her to it and almost until the last 
 moment pleaded with her determined husband to 
 change his mind and remain in the work at home! 
 Is it any wonder that this young girl, herself, bright 
 and full of life, happy in her home and with many 
 admirers and friends, hesitated for some days before 
 
 [25] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 giving a definite answer to her ardent lover when he 
 asked her to accompany him to China ! Their letters 
 at this anxious time form one of the most precious 
 bits of Christian romance, revealing on the one hand 
 the absolute candour of the young missionary and the 
 heroic stuff of which he was made, and on the other 
 hand the spirit of self-sacrifice required to give an 
 affirmative answer. "Addie," he writes, as he awaits 
 the belated letter of his betrothed, "I asked if you 
 were willing to go to China. I would take no step 
 of such importance without consulting you. It is 
 decided with me. The Church calls me to go — and 
 I think my Heavenly Father also — I must go. You 
 asked me how long. I go for life. Addie ! you know 
 I love you, but if Christ calls I sacrifice all for Him. 
 You did not give me any decided answer. I sup- 
 pose if you were to go you must be qualified to a cer- 
 tain extent. First and above all, do you love Christ 
 and His cause, and are you willing to fit yourself 
 as far as possible for the missionary work — a life- 
 work? Can you make up your mind to leave your 
 family and willingly sacrifice all for Christ"? These 
 are serious questions. Weigh them and give me a 
 speedy answer if possible. If you do not feel that 
 you can devote yourself to this work let me know. 
 I shall never urge you to go. I know how great a 
 trial it will be for you, much more than for me. I 
 had rather go and labour alone than take you . . . 
 
 [26] 
 
contrary to choice. I guess you think I am plain. 
 I know, Addie, that it is a life business and that it 
 is of as much importance to you as it is to me. I 
 do not wish to take you away from your friends 
 and civilisation. It is hard enough for me to go, I 
 can assure you. If you conclude to accept, this fall 
 will probably be the time to go. Now, I have writ- 
 ten a long letter, and stated plainly all I have to say. 
 Decide not in regard to me merely, but in regard 
 to Christ, duty and life-work. Write soon, for I 
 must render an answer soon to the Missionary 
 Board." 
 
 A few days after this letter he wrote Miss Gilli- 
 land, "How glad I am that you are willing to devote 
 your life, not only to me, but to such a glorious work 
 as is before us. Do not entertain for a moment the 
 thought that it will be a work without its joys — 
 for in many respects it is far beyond the appoint- 
 ments of this country. I had rather have the ap- 
 pointment to China as far as honour is concerned 
 than a first-class appointment in New York City." 
 
 The home-leaving of this nineteen-year-old bride 
 was an unspeakably sad one. The last glimpse the 
 departing daughter had of her darling mother was 
 that of a tearful face and a frail, delicate form 
 standing in the doorway. A wave of the hand — r 
 and they never saw each other again. 
 
Ill 
 
 OUTWARD BOUND 
 
Ill 
 
 OUTWARD BOUND 
 
 AN unexpected postponement of the date of their 
 vessel's departure for China enabled the 
 newly-wedded pair to spend a few weeks in New 
 York City — the guests of Dr. David Terry, one of 
 the Missionary Secretaries. An opportunity was 
 thus afforded them of becoming acquainted with 
 many of the leading Methodists of the city and of 
 interesting some of the larger churches in the field 
 to which they had been assigned. Dr. Durbin, an- 
 other of the Missionary Secretaries and one of the 
 most eloquent of missionary advocates, arranged for 
 a farewell reception to Mr. and Mrs. Hart and to 
 Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Wheeler, who were accompany- 
 ing them to Foochow. Among those present at that 
 reception were Bishops Janes, Harris and Foss, and 
 Dr. Kidder, an old friend and teacher. 
 
 On the morning of December 20, 1865, the little 
 missionary party sailed from New York on the 
 
 [31] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 N. B. Palmer — a fast clipper ship captained by 
 a jolly but profane old tar by the name of Steele. A 
 large company of friends and well-wishers gathered 
 at the wharf to see them off. With waving handker- 
 chiefs and many a fervent prayer, the good ship, 
 with its precious freight, passed out of the harbour, 
 through the Narrows and out upon the broad and 
 swelling bosom of old Father Ocean. 
 
 It was a long voyage — apart from three or four 
 storms, it was a pleasant voyage. The first land 
 that they saw after leaving New York was Brazil. 
 So near to the coast did they come that they were 
 able to watch the natives in their little fishing 
 smacks lowering and raising their nets. Then they 
 struck across the Atlantic, crossing the Equator with 
 the thermometer ranging in the neighbourhood of 
 one hundred degrees. The long, hot days in these 
 southern waters were passed in reading and study 
 in some shady spot upon deck or in an occasional 
 game of shuffle-board or quoits. On Sundays the 
 passengers and crew were gathered together and 
 religious services were conducted by the mission- 
 aries. Spouting whales and tumbling porpoises and 
 flying fish became everyday sights. Now and then 
 they would see a lonely vessel, sometimes they would 
 race with one. Mr. Hart tells in his journal of 
 one exciting race in which a large ship was beaten 
 by fifteen miles in seven hours. Enthusiastically 
 [32] 
 
OUTWARD BOUND 
 
 he adds, "We pass anything that comes in sight." 
 Delayed by long and aggravating calms in which 
 the ship would make scarcely a mile a day, the food 
 supplies became very low and the fresh water so 
 scarce that each passenger and member of the crew 
 were put upon an allowance of a pint a day. Glad 
 were they all to round the Cape of Good Hope and 
 to drop anchor in the harbour of Cape Town, South 
 Africa, February 22, 1866, where fresh supplies were 
 procured for the ship and all were given the chance 
 to touch old Mother Earth again and stretch their 
 sea-weary limbs. 
 
 Their otherwise very pleasant stay in Cape Town 
 was marred by an unfortunate mutiny. The day 
 after their arrival, while the captain and most of 
 the passengers were ashore, several of the crew re- 
 turned to the ship very much the worse for liquor. 
 So crazed and unmanageable did they become that 
 they attacked and seriously injured the second mate, 
 who had, by his martinet methods of discipline on 
 the voyage across the Atlantic, incurred the intense 
 hatred of all of the sailors. The mutineers forced 
 their way into the gun-room and having armed them- 
 selves with various weapons proceeded to take pos- 
 session of the ship. Mr. Hart, as quickly as he 
 could, hid his wife in her stateroom and warned her 
 to be as quiet as possible, then hurrying away he 
 went to the assistance of the first mate, who was 
 
 [33] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 making heroic efforts to restore order. Mrs. Hart, 
 in a letter describing this occurrence, says: "I re- 
 mained in my stateroom as I was told, but you can 
 imagine I was not very quiet in spirit, for I did not 
 know what moment they might burst my door open 
 and kill me. And then the thought of my husband 
 trying to quiet such a mob made the few hours seem 
 like an age." Mr. Hart and the first mate, who 
 were popular with the sailors, were finally successful 
 in persuading the mutineers to give up their weapons 
 and retire to their quarters. They then dressed the 
 wounds of the second mate and put him to bed. 
 Upon the return of the captain the ring-leaders were 
 placed in irons and the next day they and all who 
 figured in the mutiny were taken ashore under a 
 strong guard and put in prison. New men took their 
 places and the voyage was resumed. 
 
 Seven thousand miles of unbroken ocean lay be- 
 tween them and Java Head, where they would ob- 
 tain their next sight of land. After six weeks' con- 
 stant sailing, one glorious day in April, they entered 
 the port of Anger, Java. The spice-laden breezes 
 that came from the island, the rich tropical foliage, 
 the picturesque natives in their queer little boats, 
 urging them to buy fruit, or monkeys, or beautifully - 
 plumaged birds and curios of every description — all 
 were of fascinating interest to these newcomers from 
 the West. Many of the passengers went ashore at 
 
 [34] 
 
OUTWARD BOUND 
 
 Anger to take in the sights. Some of them, alas, 
 took in more than the sights. A few days after leav- 
 ing Anger the ship had become a floating hospital; 
 several of the passengers and crew were down with 
 fever which they had contracted while in port. One 
 of the officers, the second mate, still weak from the 
 injuries received in the Cape Town mutiny, quickly 
 succumbed to the plague and was buried at sea. 
 
 Thousands of islands, little and big, with most 
 luxuriant vegetation, dotted the China Sea, through 
 which the ship took her course. Some of these 
 islands were surrounded by extensive coral reefs or 
 beds. One day when the ship lay becalmed, Mr. 
 Hart, with a few venturesome spirits, rowed nine 
 miles and back to see one of these coral islands — the 
 St. Barbe. Never had they seen such a sight as that 
 which met their eyes as they looked down many 
 fathoms deep into the clear water. Like an en- 
 chanted land they could see the coral beds spread out 
 beneath them, with gorgeous-coloured fish darting 
 hither and thither as though they were playing hide- 
 and-go-seek with one another among the wonderful 
 formations. Mr. Hart, by entering the water, man- 
 aged to secure some fine specimens, but at the price 
 of a pair of good boots and a badly blistered body, 
 due to the action of the sun and the salt water. 
 
 In sailing through the East India Archipelago and 
 off the coast of Southern China, the officers of the 
 
 [35] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 N. B. Palmer kept a sharp lookout for pirates, 
 who in those days infested these waters and were 
 likely at any time to make an attack. The little 
 cannon at the bow and the guns in the armory were 
 kept ready for immediate use, but a kind Providence 
 watched over the ship and brought it in safety to the 
 desired haven. It was May 17, 1866, when our 
 missionaries arrived in Hongkong and bade good- 
 bye to the ship that had been their home for nearly 
 six months. They were not sorry to leave it. The 
 day of their landing at Hongkong, however, was a 
 day never to be forgotten by one of their passenger 
 friends, Miss Adele Field. She had taken the long 
 voyage to marry a Baptist missionary in Siam. He 
 was to meet her at Hongkong, and there the wed- 
 ding ceremony was to be performed upon the arrival 
 of the ship. She was in her stateroom happy as a 
 girl can be in anticipation of the glad event; her 
 bridal dress was ready to be put on, when just as 
 the vessel came to anchor the startling message was 
 brought to her that her lover was dead. He had 
 died of fever in Siam a few days after she had left 
 New York, months before. The tidings nearly 
 broke the poor girl's heart, but with God-given 
 strength she went on to Siam and for several years 
 engaged in mission work. Later she went to China, 
 where she became an accomplished student of the 
 Chinese language, publishing a dictionary for the 
 
 [36] 
 
OUTWARD BOUND 
 
 use of foreigners. In 1892 she returned to the 
 United States, where she won fame through her gifts 
 as a platform speaker and a writer upon many sub- 
 jects. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Hart remained in Hongkong five 
 days waiting for a vessel that would take them north 
 to their field of labour. At last the A zaf, a little 
 English steamer, appeared and embarking upon her 
 they proceeded up the coast towards Foochow. Be- 
 fore reaching their destination they spent a day at 
 Amoy, one of the largest and most important sea- 
 ports in China, where several American missionaries 
 were residing and who, always glad to see some- 
 body just from home, invited them to come ashore 
 and spend a few hours with them. In Amoy, they 
 experienced for the first time the sensations of a 
 ride in a sedan chair through Chinese streets. Never 
 had they witnessed such filth nor inhaled such odours 
 as they did that day. So ill did Mrs. Hart become 
 that she was unable to partake of the dainty lunch 
 which had been prepared for them at the home of 
 one of the missionaries. At Amoy they had the 
 pleasure of meeting Dr. J. V. N. Talmage, a brother 
 of the celebrated Brooklyn divine, who for nearly 
 a half century devoted his life to the uplift of China. 
 
 It was Sunday morning, May 27, when the Azaf 
 arrived at Pagoda Anchorage in the Min River. Rev. 
 Nathan Sites, one of the members of the Methodist 
 
 [37] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 Mission at Foochow, was there to meet them with 
 a houseboat and to conduct them a few miles further 
 up the river to a landing place where sedans were 
 waiting to take them to Foochow. Upon reaching 
 Foochow they were warmly greeted by Dr. R. S. 
 Maclay, the Superintendent of the Mission, and by 
 all the resident missionaries. As they were helpless 
 without some knowledge of the native language 
 they found a home for a few months with Mr. and 
 Mrs. Sites, who generously initiated them into the 
 mysteries of house-keeping in China. The trials of 
 house-keeping were strikingly illustrated on the first 
 anniversary of their marriage. Mrs. Hart thought 
 that she would like to have a ride in the afternoon 
 upon the city walls as one way of celebrating the 
 day. An early lunch was ordered. When the time 
 came for lunch none was in evidence. The cook was 
 found fast asleep in a corner of the kitchen. He 
 was reprimanded and instructed to have the meal 
 ready upon their return at three o'clock. At the hour 
 they returned with ravenous appetites and with high 
 expectations. They entered the dining room, but 
 no cloth was upon the table and no savoury odours 
 greeted them from the direction of the kitchen. They 
 entered the kitchen and to their amazement the cook 
 was discovered again in his corner sweetly and peace- 
 fully oblivious to all his surroundings — he had been 
 asleep ever since they had left. This was too much for 
 
 [38] 
 
OUTWARD BOUND 
 
 flesh and blood — especially of the American variety. 
 What followed was sufficient to keep the drowsy 
 knight of the range awake and busy, at least for the 
 rest of the day. 
 
 Mr. Sites' house was a large half- foreign and half- 
 Chinese building, situated on a hill just outside the 
 walls of the native city. On one side, stretching as 
 far as eye could see, was a cheerful view of thousands 
 of Chinese graves. While occupying this tempo- 
 rary residence that famous Stork, which is at home in 
 all lands, paid our young missionaries a passing visit, 
 bringing to them their first-born — a son. 
 
 [39] 
 
IV 
 THE FIRST FIELD 
 
"Well may the missionary be a miser, so far as time is 
 concerned. The immensity of the work and the meagreness 
 of human agency! But all is of God-time, work and all! 
 How to rightly improve the same is always a question. O, 
 for wisdom! Direct me, Father!" 
 
 Journal, Foochozv, August 7, 1867. 
 
IV 
 
 THE FIRST FIELD 
 
 FOOCHOW, the capital of the Province of 
 Fukien, is one of the largest cities in China, 
 having a population of nearly a million. Like all 
 large cities in that land it is walled. The walls rise 
 thirty feet in height, twelve feet in width and have 
 a circuit of over six miles. This city was one of 
 the five treaty ports to be opened by the Chinese 
 after the "Opium War" of 1842 for purposes of 
 foreign residence and trade. 
 
 No better location could have been selected for 
 the first Methodist mission in China than this old 
 and important commercial centre by the sea. The 
 mission was organised in the year 1847 and had as 
 its founder the Rev. Judson D wight Collins, that 
 man who upon hearing that the Methodist Church 
 had no mission in China, asked one of the bishops to 
 secure a passage for him before the mast on the first 
 vessel sailing, adding, "my own strong arm can pull 
 
 [43] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 me to China and support me after I get there." As- 
 sociated with the Methodist work at Foochow have 
 been such eminent and representative men as Dr. 
 Isaac W. Wiley, afterwards made a bishop; Dr. 
 R. S. Maclay, the founder of Methodist missions in 
 Japan; Dr. Stephen L. Baldwin, who became a 
 Missionary Secretary, and Dr. H. H. Lowrey, the 
 founder of the North China Methodist Mission. 
 
 It is an interesting fact that the Methodist pio- 
 neers in Foochow were the first to introduce white, 
 or "Irish" potatoes, tomatoes and many other vege- 
 tables and fruits, thus permanently enriching the 
 agricultural resources of almost every province in 
 the nation and proving to the world that the mis- 
 sionary is a commercial as well as a religious asset. 
 
 Foochow, at first, was a most difficult field for 
 missionary effort. It required ten years to bring in 
 the first Christian convert, and the six following 
 years to increase the number to one hundred. When 
 Mr. Hart arrived the mission had been established 
 nineteen years and was making gratifying progress 
 with its day and boarding schools, its admirably 
 situated street chapels, its substantial city churches 
 and its multiplying outside appointments. At the 
 annual meeting of the mission, held in 1867, Dr. 
 Maclay, the Superintendent, reported that the total 
 membership at that time was four hundred and fifty- 
 four, being an increase of one hundred and eighty- 
 
 [44] 
 
THE FIRST FIELD 
 
 two over the previous year. To-day the Foochow 
 mission has become the Foochow Conference, and 
 the membership is no longer reckoned in the hun- 
 dreds, but in the thousands. 
 
 Just as soon as Mr. Hart was settled in his new 
 home he began the study of the Chinese language. 
 Every morning at six o'clock found him with his 
 native teacher deeply engrossed in those mysterious 
 characters which have been the despair of many a 
 foreigner. Probably there is no language so hard 
 to master as the Chinese language. It has broken 
 the heart of more than one missionary. A slight 
 change in inflection will make a different word and 
 many a foreign beginner has been put to the blush 
 by his ignorance of these tricks of pronunciation. 
 
 The story is told of a missionary who one da}^ 
 came out into his courtyard and wanted a flag, so 
 he called to his "boy" at the upstair window, 
 "Throw down my flag." The boy made some an- 
 swer, which he did not understand and did not move. 
 Again came the command, "Throw down my flag," 
 and again the boy hesitated. "Do you hear me^"' 
 the man roared. Then the boy in despair turned to 
 the man's wife, who was also in the room, "He tells 
 me to throw you down into the courtyard." The 
 missionary was using the word for wife instead of 
 that for flag. 
 
 To add to its difficulties the Chinese language 
 
 [45] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 has neither alphabet nor grammar. The only thing 
 that corresponds to an alphabet as a foundation to 
 build upon or a system to work by is the Table of 
 Radicals consisting of two hundred and fourteen 
 strokes or combinations of strokes of the pen. One 
 or more of these radicals enters into every character 
 or word of the language and facilitates their arrange- 
 ment into dictionary form. While the letters of 
 our alphabet are the symbols of sounds, the Chinese 
 characters are the symbols of ideas. The language 
 is supposed to contain about fifty thousand charac- 
 ters, but the knowledge of from five to ten thousand 
 constitutes a good working vocabulary. The mem- 
 ory is the chief faculty that is brought into play in 
 the acquirement of the language. The better mem- 
 ory one has, the better success he will usually have 
 as a student. It is astonishing what memories some 
 of the Chinese literati possess. It is said that if 
 the Classics of Confucius or Mencius were de- 
 stroyed there are a million men in the land who can 
 reproduce them from memory. 
 
 Mr. Hart was a born linguist. He applied him- 
 self with such assiduity to the study of the language 
 and made such progress in it that in less than nine 
 months after his arrival in Foochow he was able to 
 conduct the prayers in the Boys' School, and in one 
 year he was able to preach to the people without 
 making many, if any, very serious breaks. In fact, 
 
 [46] 
 
THE FIRST FIELD 
 
 he had become so proficient in the use of the native 
 tongue that the Superintendent of the mission put 
 him in charge of a small suburban church. In his 
 diary of September 5, 1867, he writes, "Chinese is 
 becoming a great pleasure to me." 
 
 Like all foreign missionaries who are ambitious 
 to become scholars in the Chinese language and thus 
 exert a greater influence among the educated classes, 
 Mr. Hart, for many years — indeed even to his last 
 year in China, never dispensed with the aid of the 
 most able teacher that he could procure. A certain 
 part of each day when at home, and sometimes when 
 on a long journey by boat, was religiously reserved 
 for study with his teacher. In this way he was en- 
 abled in his long missionary career to accomplish 
 much in translating English works into Chinese. 
 For more than ten years a cultured Chinaman by 
 the name of Tai was his tutor, a man whom the 
 missionary had the satisfaction of leading to Christ 
 and baptising. Perhaps no native was better loved 
 by Mr. Hart than this tall, courteous, dignified 
 scholar. The regard was mutual, and between the 
 two there existed the tenderest ties of friendship. In 
 after years when the venerable Tai was dying, it 
 was his old missionary friend that he longed to see. 
 His wish, though it meant many miles of travel, was 
 gratified, and Mr. Hart was able to afford the lonely 
 
 [47] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 old man comfort and strength as he went down into 
 the Valley of the Shadow of Death. 
 
 But to return again to those early days in Foo- 
 chow. Little did the young missionary realise that 
 during his short residence of a little over a year in 
 that place when he was applying himself so indus- 
 triously to the study of the language, he was pre- 
 paring himself, in the providence of God, for a larger 
 field of service. 
 
 For some time the Missionary authorities in 
 America had been contemplating opening up work in 
 Central China, particularly in the great and wealthy 
 Province of Kiangsi, and though Mr. Hart was 
 only twenty-seven years of age and one of the more 
 recent arrivals, yet he was considered by the Mis- 
 sion as the right man to superintend this responsible 
 undertaking. On the twelfth of November, 1867, 
 we find these words in his journal, "A few days 
 change one's plans and prospects considerably. We 
 expect to leave shortly for Shanghai on our way to 
 KiuKiang. A new era in our life! New responsi- 
 bilities! New hopes! New avenues for thought! 
 New objects for prayer! Oh, for faith, unyielding 
 faith! My soul longs for close alliance with God!" 
 
 The story of the Central China Mission is the 
 story of the answer to this fervent outburst. God 
 gave His servant faith and wisdom. Each step in 
 the new undertaking was made cautiously; each bit 
 
 [48] 
 
THE FIRST FIELD 
 
 of work was done thoroughly; prayer breathed 
 through it all. So well were the foundations of the 
 new mission laid that Dr. Daniel Curry, at the an- 
 nual meeting of the Missionary Board in New York, 
 in 1882, when the appropriations for Central China 
 were under consideration, and some members of the 
 Board had demurred at granting such a large sum, 
 declared that the whole appropriation should be 
 granted because he believed that the work was the 
 best founded of any of our China missions. 
 
 [49] 
 
V 
 CENTRAL CHINA 
 
CENTRAL CHINA 
 
 CENTRAL CHINA, which Mr. Hart was asked 
 to open for the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 to use his own words, was "the greatest, most popu- 
 lous and richest field ever offered to a church." 
 
 It was a field two hundred and fifty miles wide 
 and seven hundred miles long, situated in the most 
 fertile valley to be found on the globe and support- 
 ing a population of nearly a hundred millions. From 
 west to east it is intersected by the mighty Yangtse 
 River and from north to south by the Grand Im- 
 perial Canal, the longest canal in the world. It 
 embraces the whole Province of Kiangsi and large 
 portions of the Provinces of Kiangsu, Ngan Hwei 
 and Hupeh. Three great provincial capitals and 
 hundreds of cities, large and small, invite the con- 
 secrated effort of the Christian missionary. The 
 language of the whole district is Mandarin — the 
 official language of China, which is no unimportant 
 
 [53] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 consideration to the missionary, for he can go from 
 one extremity of the field to the other and be 
 equally well understood. Six large cities in Cen- 
 tral China present themselves to the Christian states- 
 man as possessing exceptional strategic value as cen- 
 tres for missionary operations. They are Chinkiang, 
 Nanking, Wuhu, KiuKiang, Nan Chang Foo and 
 Hankow. All of these cities, save one, it was Mr. 
 Hart's good fortune to see opened under his super- 
 intendency, with a strong mission established in each. 
 
 KiuKiang was the first of these strategic points 
 to be entered. It is a city of over one hundred 
 thousand people, five hundred miles up the Yangtse 
 from Shanghai, near the mouth of the Poyang Lake, 
 one of the largest lakes in the country. It has been 
 a treaty port ever since the last war with England in 
 i860. 
 
 Some are of the opinion that it would have been 
 better had Mr. Hart gone one hundred and fifty 
 miles further up the river and commenced work at 
 Hankow, which is to-day, with its more than a mil- 
 lion of population and its great and multiplying in- 
 dustries, fast becoming the Chicago of the East. 
 But Mr. Hart could not foresee fifty years ago the 
 future growth and importance of Hankow, besides 
 KiuKiang is undoubtedly more convenient than 
 Hankow as a mission centre, for it commands a bet- 
 ter access to the vast interior districts of China. 
 
 [54] 
 
CENTRAL CHINA 
 
 In coming to KiuKiang the young superintendent 
 found a small community of about thirty English 
 and Americans, chieny connected with the Consular 
 and Customs service, who were occupying a conces- 
 sion of land facing the river, just outside the west- 
 ern walls of the city. These foreigners had built a 
 beautiful little church which they called "St. 
 Paul's." They were quite proud of their church, 
 but they were not quite so proud of their rector, who 
 was a young Englishman more interested in spirits 
 than in souls. Of late he had disappointed his con- 
 gregation several times on Sundays by reason of his 
 excesses on Saturdays. Much to the surprise of the 
 newly arrived Methodist missionary, he was invited 
 to conduct the services in St. Paul's, a duty which 
 he discharged with great acceptance for nearly twen- 
 ty years. He was glad of the opportunity afforded 
 him, not only to serve the foreign community in 
 spiritual things, but to keep up his pulpit work in 
 English. 
 
 Mr. Hart was the first Protestant missionary to 
 reside in KiuKiang. He found upon his arrival 
 three Christian Chinese whom he requested to meet 
 him in his room the next Sunday afternoon when 
 he read the Scriptures with them and had prayer. 
 These three men constituted the nucleus of his new 
 mission. Shortly after, a place was rented where 
 
 [55~\ 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 their growing numbers could worship and where a 
 Sunday School could be conducted. 
 
 Our missionary ever realised the necessity of em-- 
 phasising the educational work in the evangelisation 
 of the Chinese, and particularly in those neighbour- 
 hoods where the anti-foreign sentiment was strong. 
 One of the first things that he did in coming to the 
 new field was to organise a day school. He had 
 seven pupils at the opening, which number was in- 
 creased in a few days to fourteen. This he consid- 
 ered a very fair beginning. But the school was not 
 allowed to proceed without opposition. "Some evil 
 men," he writes, "tried hard to break up the school; 
 told the parents that we would whip the children, 
 cut out their eyes, etc. Then the people raised ob- 
 jections to my visiting the school so often, and the 
 native teacher, himself, proposed to me that I leave 
 off going there for at least a week. My reply was, 
 'I will go the more. You shall see me and know me, 
 then I trust you will not fear me.' And this I have 
 done with good effect. The idea of a missionary 
 hiring a house and employing a teacher and not be 
 permitted to visit the place ! A missionary is obliged 
 to contest every foot of ground in China. Not an 
 advance without a contest." 
 
 One day an intelligent-looking young Chinaman, 
 dusty and footsore with travel, appeared at the mis- 
 sionary's door. Upon being invited to enter he told 
 
 [56] 
 
CENTRAL CHINA 
 
 a most interesting story. He said that he had just 
 come from a large city in the neighbouring Province 
 of Hupeh, the city of Kwangtsi, many miles away. 
 Yonder in that city were a hundred men who were 
 anxious to learn the Christian doctrine. A year 
 or so before, two copies of the New Testament and 
 four or five other Christian books had come into 
 their hands. Some of their number journeyed to 
 Hankow on business and while there heard about 
 "the doctrines." So interested were they in what 
 they had heard that they were anxious to have a 
 missionary come and teach their people. They had 
 heard of the foreign teacher in KiuKiang, so he was 
 sent to ask him to come. Would he come ? Would 
 he come? No man with the love of souls in his 
 breast could refuse such a request, however long and 
 hard the journey might be. As it was near the end 
 of the week the young messenger was asked to stay 
 in the missionary's home until Monday, when he 
 would return with him to his people. In the mean- 
 time the visitor profited by the Sabbath services. 
 Early on Monday morning Mr. Hart, with the young 
 man as a guide, started on his first country trip 
 in China. At every stopping place on the way he 
 improved the time by conversations, preaching and 
 distributing books and tracts. It was sundown on 
 the third day before they reached their destination. 
 They passed the night in a large Buddhist temple, 
 
 [57] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 and what a night it was ! As they entered the sacred 
 precincts of the temple, a number of the priests 
 advanced to meet them and falling upon their knees 
 proceeded to worship the missionary. He rebuked 
 them for their idolatry and told them to worship 
 the God of all men. While partaking of his supper 
 in the temple, large crowds, who had heard of his 
 arrival, gathered to see him. They spoke of him 
 to one another with the greatest respect and ad- 
 dressed him as "Mu Si" or Great Foreign Teacher! 
 After the supper he held a sort of religious levee 
 and to all who wished to hear he explained the car- 
 dinal truths of Christianity. Mr. Hart discovered 
 that the head priest of the temple had given up the 
 worship of idols and was trying in weakness and in 
 much darkness to worship the true God. It was a 
 memorable night. His heart was full of joy at what 
 he had seen and heard, and promising to return with- 
 in a few weeks and rent a place in the city for Chris- 
 tian services, the next day he said good-bye and 
 started for home. He was accompanied by three 
 men who thirsted to know more of the truth. They 
 spent the Sabbath in the mission at KiuKiang and 
 returned to their homes the following Monday, eager 
 to bring their fellow-citizens into the larger light 
 that had dawned upon them. 
 
 During his first year in Central China Mr. Hart 
 made five long journeys from KiuKiang into the 
 
 [58] 
 
CENTRAL CHINA 
 
 farther interior, preaching and disposing of religious 
 books, exploring the territory, opening up little 
 chapels or preaching places. Sometimes in these 
 journeys he was accompanied by Rev. E. S. Todd, 
 who had recently arrived from the United States 
 to become his associate — a reenforcement which he 
 gladly welcomed, for the work of the mission was 
 already beyond the strength of one man. These trips 
 into the interior were by no means holiday jaunts, 
 for travelling in China and travelling in America 
 or Europe are two different propositions. Sometimes 
 the missionary goes by sedan chair, which soon be- 
 comes tiresome to an active man; sometimes by na- 
 tive boat, which is more comfortable, and sometimes 
 — when he cannot help it — by wheel-barrow, which 
 is the quintessence of discomfort. Often the mis- 
 sionary prefers to walk to any of the already de- 
 scribed modes of transportation. Accompanying him 
 is a coolie or two to carry his stock of food and bed- 
 ding and supplies of books. No hotel worthy of the 
 name awaits him when night approaches. If he 
 be doomed to such a resort as a Chinese inn he prays 
 that his sleep may be deep and sound so that he may 
 be completely oblivious to the filth, the vermin, the 
 restless rodents, the street noises, the incessant chat- 
 ter of the people in the inn and the inquisitive crowd 
 who peek through the cracks in the door or in the 
 partition to catch a glimpse of the "foreign devil." 
 
 [59] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 In writing of one of his experiences in a Chinese 
 hotel, Mr. Hart says : "It is bad enough to have the 
 front of a room border upon the drains and the 
 coolies' restaurant while the sides open into opium 
 dens filled with naked smokers, but to have a huge 
 pig-sty at the back and be separated from a score 
 of pigs merely by a gaping board partition of half 
 an inch thickness, and then have one's bed close 
 against aforesaid partition, is enough to make a 
 strong-minded man quail at the nocturnal prospect. 
 Even the best rooms in the first-class hotel are often 
 none the worse for a little cleansing. In one of these 
 the proprietor was sent for in haste. He came, 
 bowed and placed himself in an attitude to receive 
 our commands. You may imagine his consterna- 
 tion when asked to bring a load of mud, and plaster 
 up the star-shaped holes all around the reception 
 hall, and a load of lime to sprinkle over the floors 
 and central courtyard. A young man came and filled 
 up the holes; the lime was brought and we made it 
 the serious business of an hour to see that every 
 inch of the courtyard was sprinkled. The mud floor 
 of the great hall was so damp that it readily absorbed 
 several siftings. As a last resort mats were secured 
 for the worst spots that remained — mats new and 
 old, inhabited with colonies of living and dead fleas 
 and unmentionable vermin — and feeling uncertain 
 
 [60] 
 
CENTRAL CHINA 
 
 about their sanitary condition we liberally saturated 
 them with lime." 
 
 But the trials of an itinerant missionary are not 
 confined to a native inn at night. He has his 
 troubles in the daytime as he passes through the vari- 
 ous towns and cities, particularly those in which 
 there is no love for the foreigner. Boys and men 
 will shout insulting epithets; roughs will jostle him 
 upon the street or try to pick a quarrel with his 
 coolies. Now and then when he is addressing a 
 crowd on the highway or seeking to distribute some 
 literature in the market place, some one will raise 
 the cry, "Whip the foreigner!" or "Kill the foreign 
 devil!" The cry acts upon the crowd like tinder 
 upon matchwood and soon the whole throng is trans- 
 formed into a wild, shrieking, gesticulating mob; 
 stones and sticks begin to fly, and the missionary 
 and his helpers are truly thankful if they come out 
 of it all with only a few bruises or hard knocks. 
 Only once did Mr. Hart suffer very seriously from 
 a mob and that was one day, when on horse-back, 
 he was leaving a village where he had been trying 
 to interest the people, and was about to cross a long 
 bridge when men on either side, who had been hid- 
 den, suddenly rose up and let fly a shower of stones. 
 Some of these stones so injured his leg and ankle 
 that he was obliged to seek the first inn and remain 
 there for several days before he could resume his 
 
 [61] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 journey. He seldom, if ever, ran away from a mob. 
 More than once he faced it and endeavoured to 
 reason with the leaders or to turn the laugh upon 
 them, which is a most effective weapon with a Chi- 
 nese crowd, for a Chinaman, though many may doubt 
 it, has really a sense of humour. He has been known 
 with his cane to keep an excited mob at bay, while 
 he backed down a narrow side street and by piece- 
 meal retreats reached the safety of his boat. Often 
 when the excitement has subsided and the crowd has 
 scattered he has returned to the spot where the 
 trouble began just to show the people that he was 
 not afraid of them and that he could not be easily 
 driven from the field. Courage is admired in every 
 land and many a city in China has been won by 
 the display of that Apostolic spirit of boldness which 
 our missionary possessed in no small degree. 
 
 As a result of Mr. Hart's trips into the outlying 
 districts near KiuKiang, several stations were estab- 
 lished, such as Kwangtsi, Tsau Kia Ho, Sin Ki 
 Cheng, Kung Lung, Ta Ku Tang and Wu Hsie, 
 where David Hill, the great Wesleyan missionary, 
 afterwards laboured with such marked success. In 
 all these places during the early years of the Central 
 China mission, though the number of church mem- 
 bers received was not large, the number of inquir- 
 ers mounted up into the hundreds. Mr. Hart was 
 very careful about baptising and receiving into mem- 
 
 [62] 
 
CENTRAL CHINA 
 
 bership every one who professed to be converted and 
 applied for membership. He insisted upon a strict 
 probation, extending for six months or a year and, in 
 some cases, still longer. Even then with this close 
 watch at the door of the church, men would slip 
 in who afterwards brought discredit upon the cause. 
 In his journal of February 21, 1873, ne writes: 
 "Yesterday it became my painful duty to expel 
 Tsai Sin Tou for committing so many offences that 
 it would endanger our society to keep him longer." 
 As the work in KiuKiang was growing and the 
 number of outlying stations increasing, the need of 
 a larger staff of missionaries was imperative. In 
 response to an earnest appeal by the Superintendent 
 to the Home Church, the Rev. John Ing and the 
 Rev. H. H. Hall were sent in 1870. The mission 
 was further strengthened a little later by the com- 
 ing of the Rev. Andrew Stritmatter, Rev. Albert J. 
 Cook and the Rev. John R. Hykes. Messrs. Strit- 
 matter and Cook did not stay long in China. After 
 a few years' service ill-health compelled them to re- 
 turn to America. Mr. Hykes, however, continued 
 at his post for many years and proved a most re- 
 sourceful companion of Mr. Hart in many an im- 
 portant missionary tour. Few men possess greater 
 presence of mind than does Dr. Hykes, as he is now 
 called. The story is told that on one occasion when 
 passing through a strange city he was attacked by a 
 
 [63] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 mob. There seemed no way of escape. As a last 
 resort to save his life, he decided to try and play 
 upon the fears and superstitions of his persecutors 
 — most, if not all of whom, had never seen a for- 
 eigner until that day. "You call me devil," he 
 said to them; "I will show you that I am a devil." 
 Coolly he stood before them and proceeded to take 
 out his false teeth, and lifting them up, he exhibited 
 them to the astonished multitude. Scores fell back 
 aghast at the act. Some terribly frightened ran 
 away screaming. "Now," he continued, "I will put 
 the teeth which I have taken out in your presence 
 back again into my head." More people took to 
 their heels. "I see," said he, "that some of you still 
 need further proof of my peculiar powers. I will 
 proceed now to unscrew my head." That was 
 enough. Not a single soul waited to witness the 
 third act. And while the mob was vanishing in 
 every direction, the missionary went on his way in 
 peace. 
 
 [64] 
 
VI 
 ON FURLOUGH 
 
VI 
 
 ON FURLOUGH 
 
 THERE is no climate in the world that appa- 
 rently is more trying to foreign women than 
 the climate of China. "It either kills or cures" is 
 a common saying among foreign communities in 
 that land. For more than a year the health of Mrs. 
 Hart had been very much impaired, and a change 
 of climate and scene was deemed absolutely neces- 
 sary by her medical advisers or her illness would 
 prove fatal. In June, 1871, Mr. Hart left for 
 America with his wife and three little sons, Evans- 
 ton, Edgerton and Ross. For a few months the fam- 
 ily occupied a house in Watertown, N. Y., but later 
 they went to Ingersoll, Ontario, where Mrs. Hart 
 could be near her relatives, who had recently re- 
 moved from Athens. 
 
 The year of furlough was largely devoted by Mr. 
 Hart to addressing missionary gatherings in differ- 
 ent parts of the United States. He was in great de- 
 
 [67] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 mand and met with large and interested audiences 
 wherever he went. In a letter to his wife, he says, 
 "The people are carried away with China." In one 
 city in the West, on the day after his address, he was 
 kept busy from morning until night at the parson- 
 age, entertaining callers who were anxious to hear 
 more about the wonderful country of which they 
 had been told the night previous. At one place, 
 where a returned missionary was a sight of sights, 
 he was obliged to sit three times for his picture. 
 The photos were to be sold among the citizens by 
 the enterprising church which had brought him and 
 thus help to swell the missionary treasury. At Evans- 
 ton, his old college town, he met with a magnificent 
 reception from the faculty and the students and 
 had the opportunity of addressing them at two dif- 
 ferent gatherings. It was his privilege to attend the 
 General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, held in Brooklyn in May, 1872. Here he 
 met missionaries from the far-flung battle lines in 
 India, Japan, Africa, as well as from China. He was 
 particularly impressed with the delegation from the 
 Canadian Methodist Church, composed of such no- 
 table worthies as Doctors Punshon, Sanderson and 
 Sutherland — all princes of the pulpit and platform. 
 This was his first glimpse of Dr. Alexander Suther- 
 land, the great Missionary Secretary with whom in 
 [68] 
 
ON FURLOUGH 
 
 after years he was to have such long and intimate 
 relations in the opening of West China. 
 
 As Mrs. Hart's health had been fully restored, 
 Mr. Hart returned to China in the fall of 1872. 
 Six years had made marvellous changes in the prob- 
 lem of transportation. In 1865, the American 
 traveller, bound for China or Japan, had no rail- 
 road to take him across the continent. There was 
 then no Suez or Panama Canal. It meant a long and 
 dangerous voyage of nearly six months around the 
 Cape of Good Hope. During Mr. Hart's absence 
 in the Orient a long line of steel had been laid con- 
 necting New York and Chicago with San Francisco. 
 Over this new line he travelled on his second journey 
 to China, reaching his destination with a saving of 
 sixteen weeks over his first journey. 
 
 Before taking steamer at San Francisco he had 
 time to take a side trip into Southern California to 
 visit an uncle who had come West during the old 
 gold-fever days. His account of this little excursion 
 is quite interesting and gives one a glimpse of life 
 in the Far West in those early pioneer days. One 
 hundred and thirty miles by train brought him to 
 Oaklands. From Oaklands he was obliged to "stage 
 it" for forty miles. The fare asked was four dol- 
 lars. The stage was an antiquated and dilapidated 
 affair drawn by four horses. There were four pas- 
 sengers besides himself. Number One was an old 
 
 [69] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 Northerner, who had come West in 1849 and was 
 now a comfortable vine-grower with five thousand 
 vines in his vineyard besides possessing large orchard 
 lands. He was a "Greeley" in politics and did not 
 care who knew it. Number Two was a Southerner 
 — a Kentuckian by birth, and Deputy Sheriff of the 
 County. He could drink any amount of raw whiskey 
 and always kept a sufficient supply concealed about 
 his person. He danced three nights out of every 
 seven and was ever ready to take a hand in any 
 friendly game of cards, and still look after the im- 
 portant interests of the county. Almost every sen- 
 tence was punctuated with an oath. "Good day !" 
 with him was "So long!" A "short time" was 
 "quicker than you can say God with your mouth 
 open." He was a most edifying companion. Num- 
 ber Three was a dark, half-breed Mexican with a 
 red woollen shirt, top-boots and a cigarette. Num- 
 ber Four was the Mexican's wife, a full-blooded 
 "Digger" — said to be the lowest type of Indian in 
 the West. A Dolly Varden shawl covered her head 
 and shoulders, a dirty linen duster her body, and 
 many rings her fingers. In such company as this our 
 missionary found himself on that September after- 
 noon. Never did he ride over so rough a road. It 
 became worse as they ascended the Sierra Nevadas. 
 "We went," he says, "to the side of the coach and 
 back again. First the forepiece of my cap would be 
 
 [70] 
 
ON FURLOUGH 
 
 in front, then behind, one side up and then nearly 
 off. The squaw would go plump against the Mexi- 
 can and scowl, and off would come the Dolly Var- 
 den shawl. I braced myself by putting my foot 
 against the Indian woman's seat, which brought 
 from her another angry scowl. Fine white dust rose 
 in clouds and almost suffocated us. The driver 
 showed no mercy, but drove at a furious rate, espe- 
 cially down hills. I have ridden upon cars and carts ; 
 upon wheelbarrows and in bad sedans, but never 
 did I get such a jolting as I got that day. By the 
 time the forty miles had been "staged" — and it took 
 seven hours to do it — the motley little party of five 
 were completely done out, with feelings as sore and 
 as bruised as their poor bodies. Hardly able to crawl 
 they got out at Sonora, that notorious mining camp 
 of which Mark Twain speaks in his stories of West- 
 ern life. 
 
 On the last day of October, in company with sev- 
 eral new missionaries for China, Mr. Hart sailed 
 from San Francisco on the steamship The Great 
 Republic. Twenty-five days were taken in making 
 the voyage to Japan, a voyage that now can be 
 made in half that time. Three days were pleasantly 
 passed in sight-seeing in Yokohama and its vicinity. 
 The sight which most impressed Mr. Hart was the 
 great bronze image of Dibutz, twenty miles from 
 Yokohama, seated upon its huge pedestal under the 
 
 [71] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 shadow of the majestic, snow-crowned Fuji, the 
 sacred mountain of Japan. As one approaches the 
 image, almost hidden by beautiful foliage, a solem- 
 nity seems to pervade the whole place, for this fa- 
 mous old idol, the largest and grandest in the world, 
 has stood there an object of veneration and worship 
 for over six hundred years to myriads of faithful 
 Buddhists. The image is fifty feet high and thirty-six 
 feet broad. Inside of it is a miniature temple with 
 altar and incense urns. Climbing up the folds of 
 the god's garments which were worn smooth as glass 
 by the constant stream of devotees, Mr. Hart and 
 his party reached one of the great thumbs and each 
 took their turn in sitting upon the thumb nail. 
 
 On the sixth of November, after a delightful sail 
 through the enchanting Japan Inland Sea, whose 
 islands in beauty and number rival those of our own 
 St. Lawrence, Mr. Hart arrived in Shanghai. "To- 
 day," he writes, "my heart has been greatly drawn 
 out in prayer that God will fit me for the work and 
 grant me a blessing as my feet again touch these 
 shores." One week later he was in KiuKiang sit- 
 ting by his lonely fireside. The old home was very 
 desolate. "It is not like home," he says in a letter 
 to his wife that night, "because you, dear one, are 
 not here to share it with me and I miss the little 
 ones so much. Oh, that I could hear their little 
 feet and kiss their roguish faces !" This was the first 
 
 [72] 
 
ON FURLOUGH 
 
 of many such separations in his long missionary 
 career, every one of which entered like a dagger 
 into his home-loving soul. It was a year before Mrs. 
 Hart was able to join him. When she came she 
 brought with her another son, who had been born 
 in Canada and who was named Maynard Mansell. 
 
 In the little missionary party which accompanied 
 Mr. Hart back to China were two representatives of 
 the Women's Foreign Missionary Society — Misses 
 Gertrude Howe and Lucy Hoag. These two elect 
 ladies inaugurated an educational work in KiuKiang, 
 which has resulted in untold good to the women of 
 Central China. Miss Hoag has since gone to her 
 heavenly reward, but Miss Howe still toils on in 
 the Yangtse valley, the best known and the best 
 loved of all missionary ladies in the land. By 
 many of her admirers she has been called "The Prin- 
 cess Missionary of the Yangtse." 
 
 Shortly after the arrival of these ladies in Kiu- 
 Kiang they adopted two little Chinese girls, whom 
 they named Ida Kahn and Mary Stone. Mary Stone 
 was the daughter of one of Mr. Hart's first con- 
 verts. These two girls received a most careful 
 mothering by the missionaries and later were sent 
 to the University of Michigan, where they in due 
 time graduated in medicine after a most successful 
 course. Upon their return to their native land they 
 opened up medical work in KiuKiang and Nan 
 
 [73] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 Chang Foo, the capital city of the Province of 
 Kiangsi. These two young ladies, through their 
 great work at these important centres, have become 
 the two most famous Chinese ladies in the world. 
 Their skilful and consecrated hands have opened 
 doors long closed to the foreign missionary. 
 
 We cannot speak of Doctor Mary Stone without 
 associating with her name that of her sister, Anna, 
 from whom she received the greatest spiritual im- 
 pulse of her life. Anna was one of the most beau- 
 ful of Christian girls. God gave her the gift of song 
 and faithfully and well did she use that gift in His 
 service. There are thousands of people in the 
 United States and Canada who can recall the spell 
 that this little Chinese maid cast over them at some 
 missionary gathering. She was one of the most in- 
 teresting figures at the Student Volunteer Conven- 
 tion in Toronto in 1902, and attracted marked at- 
 tention. On Sunday night during the convention 
 week, she accompanied Dr. Hart to the Dunn Ave- 
 nue Methodist Church and sang a solo during the 
 service. She sang that hymn which then was new, 
 the refrain of which is : 
 
 "And I shall see Him face to face, 
 And tell the story — saved by grace." 
 
 So sweetly and so sympathetically did she sing 
 this hymn that there was hardly a dry eye in the 
 
 [74] 
 
ON FURLOUGH 
 
 great congregation. A prominent member of the 
 church turned to a friend in the next seat when she 
 had concluded, and with emotion said: "That one 
 song has repaid me for all that I have done for for- 
 eign missions," — and he had done much. Here 
 before him was a concrete example of what the grace 
 of God could do for heathen womanhood. Three 
 years later Anna Stone graduated from an American 
 College and returned to China as an evangelist, but 
 her term of active service was very short. She over- 
 taxed her strength and God called her to Himself. 
 She now sees Him of whom she sang so sweetly that 
 night in the Toronto church, "face to face." 
 
 Bishop Bashford, in his little book, "China and 
 Methodism," says, "How little Dr. Hart, when 
 winning the Hupeh Chinaman, and Miss Howe, 
 when putting her money and influence into the train- 
 ing of these Chinese girls, dreamed of the outreach- 
 ing influence of that family in the second generation ! 
 How little men and women at home whose sacri- 
 fices are supporting workers in this great empire to- 
 day foresee the splendid results which coming gen- 
 erations will witness as the outcome of their hero- 
 ism and self-sacrifice." 
 
 [75] 
 
VII 
 BY RIVER AND LAKE 
 
VII 
 
 BY RIVER AND LAKE 
 
 THE missionary in Central China is obliged to 
 travel much by boat, for the country is one 
 vast network of rivers and lakes. To travel by na- 
 tive junks is both tedious and unsanitary, so Mr. 
 Hart was early impressed with the idea of having 
 a mission boat of foreign build. He seized the first 
 opportunity of securing such a craft. One day in 
 the middle "Seventies" he learned that an unlucky 
 sportsman in Shanghai was anxious to liquidate his 
 debts by the sale of his racing yacht, "The Mad 
 Cap." Upon receipt of the news Mr. Hart at once 
 went to Shanghai and, satisfied with the appear- 
 ance of the boat, purchased it. The yacht was forty 
 feet long with a beam of nine feet and could ac- 
 commodate comfortably about six passengers besides 
 a crew of four. It was rechristened the Stella, after 
 his youngest child and only daughter. For several 
 years this swift and beautiful little vessel did vali- 
 
 [79] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 ant service, materially augmenting the usefulness of 
 the missionary. 
 
 Many a long and interesting trip was made in the 
 Stella by our missionary, on the Yangtse, up the 
 Poyang and other lakes and upon their navigable 
 tributaries. Sometimes he was accompanied by his 
 wife and family, to whom such a trip usually was 
 a most welcome break to the humdrum life at a 
 river port. Perhaps the longest and most mem- 
 orable of all of these trips was the one to the first 
 Missionary Conference held in Shanghai in May, 
 1877. Every missionary in the empire was anxious 
 to attend this great union gathering, for all felt that 
 it was to be the beginning of a great forward move- 
 ment in the evangelisation of China. Every Prot- 
 estant denomination in the land was to be repre- 
 sented. There would be present some of the most 
 notable missionaries in the world. Men of such ex- 
 perience and ability as Dr. J. Edkins, Dr. A. Wil- 
 liamson, Dr. Nelson, Dr. Griffith John, Dr. W. A. 
 P. Martin, Dr. Yates, J. Hudson Taylor, Dr. S. L. 
 Baldwin, Dr. Lambuth and David Hill were to con- 
 tribute to the programme. With such an array of 
 consecrated talent it is no wonder that there was a 
 strong pull at the heart strings in the direction of 
 Shanghai. The Hart family in KiuKiang felt the 
 pull and all wanted to go, but how? To go by 
 steamer would be too great a strain upon the family 
 
 [80] 
 
BY RIVER AND LAKE 
 
 purse. A bright idea came to one of the members — 
 "take the Stella!" It was five hundred miles down 
 and five hundred miles back on a wide and rushing 
 river, and the trip would consume many weeks, but 
 all voted to run the risk, and at noon on the second 
 of May every member was snugly stowed away on 
 board, the larder was filled with sufficient provi- 
 sions, the anchor was lifted, the sail was hoisted 
 and down the river the little ship sped. For two 
 days the weather was fine and the wind propitious, 
 but the morning of the third day broke dark and 
 ominous with a strong head wind — but let Mr. Hart 
 describe that day. 
 
 "At eight o'clock in the morning we sought shelter 
 in a snug little creek for breakfast, hoping that the 
 wind would cease or change to some more welcome 
 quarter. When at anchor in a harbour one is apt to 
 be greatly deceived as to the strength of the wind 
 without. It was so with us at this time, for no 
 sooner were we well out in the river when we wished 
 ourselves back again. We had gained the centre of 
 the river, which is two or three miles wide at this 
 point, and were turning our boat for the north bank, 
 when to our horror the tall mast of Oregon pine 
 broke near the base and fell crashing towards the 
 stern. In a moment the huge sail, already thor- 
 oughly saturated with the rain, which was coming 
 down in torrents, fell to the right into the river, 
 
 [81] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 pulling the mast in that direction and consequently 
 turning our boat upon its side. What was to be 
 done? No other boats in sight — in the centre of 
 a swift and treacherous current — and the wind fast 
 assuming the proportions of a gale! We tried to 
 make use of awnings to give the boat direction, but 
 to no purpose. The crew, Chinese-like, lay prone 
 upon the deck, moaning and clinging to what they 
 could, paralysed with fear. My children were in the 
 cabin — the older ones praying; my brave wife stood 
 by the tiller, while I, leaping upon the cabin roof, 
 ordered the crew to loose the sail from the mast and 
 make it secure. We found that this helped to right 
 the boat. As the storm increased the rudder became 
 unmanageable and we were driven at the mercy of 
 wind and wave. Imagine our delight to espy far 
 down the river, approaching us, foreign cut sails and 
 a black hull. We now knew that help would soon 
 be within reach for those foreign-cut sails meant a 
 foreign captain aboard. On she came up the river. 
 We waved the Stars and Stripes and shouted, but 
 there was no indication that she saw us. She came 
 opposite us, sailed past us, and just as our hopes 
 of attracting her attention were about gone we 
 saw her prow turn and her sails drop. Now we 
 knew that we were safe. Once she encircled us, but 
 not near enough to throw a rope. Again she tried, 
 this time with success. In a few minutes the rope 
 
 [82] 
 
THE Stella IN WHICH DR. HART AND HIS FAMILY MADE MANY TRIPS ON 
 THE YANGTSE AND THROUGH THE WATERWAYS OF CENTRAL CHINA 
 
BY RIVER AND LAKE 
 
 was made fast and we were following in her wake. 
 Our rescuer dropped us at the mouth of a little creek 
 into which we poled. Our first duty was to ascertain 
 the extent of our injuries and then to see if we were 
 within reach of means with which the boat could be 
 put into sailing condition again. Fortunately we 
 found a cargo of camphor logs near by with a car- 
 penter in charge. In two days we were ready to 
 resume our journey down the river." 
 
 Many great cities, some of which we shall describe 
 in succeeding chapters, were passed in this trip to 
 the Conference — such as Wuhu, Nanking, Chinkiang 
 and Soochow. At all important points and at every 
 stopping place for shelter or supplies, when at all 
 possible, the missionary went ashore and preached 
 to the people who would gather to hear him, or dis- 
 posed of religious literature. His method of distrib- 
 uting the Word in the small towns and villages that 
 he might stop at is thus described: "I started for 
 the street with a bundle of Commandments with 
 comments — a sheet that I prepared some time ago. 
 I commenced work at the first house giving each 
 family a tract and a little talk with the request that 
 they should paste up the tract in the house. The 
 following day I took the main street and with the 
 aid of a helper visited about two hundred shops and 
 had considerable success. Only one man refused to 
 
 [83] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 receive a tract and he finally took it after much 
 talk." 
 
 Owing to the accident to their boat Mr. Hart and 
 his family were late in arriving at the Conference. 
 Upon reaching Shanghai a furnished house, over- 
 looking the Soochow Creek, was secured for a few 
 weeks. As there were no such things as water- works 
 or wells in private yards in those days, the foreign- 
 ers as well as the natives were obliged to depend 
 upon water being brought to them at regular inter- 
 vals from some distant well, outside the city limits. 
 The water was carried by coolies in buckets which 
 were suspended from poles placed upon their shoul- 
 ders and was emptied into large jars or tanks at the 
 back of the house or in the courtyard. Mr. Hart 
 stipulated with some coolies to bring the supply for 
 his family from the famous Bubbling Well, a 
 mile or so away, a most popular spring with the 
 foreign community of Shanghai. But these water- 
 carriers were not as honest as they tried to look when 
 the bargain was being made, and it was discovered 
 after some days that in order to save themselves a 
 few steps on those hot days in May, they were get- 
 ting no inconsiderable amount of water from the 
 Soochow Creek, into which flowed the drainage of 
 thousands of houses and hundreds of filthy streets 
 and alleyways, and the refuse from miles of ship- 
 ping. The thought of it all makes one weak! As 
 
 [84] 
 
BY RIVER AND LAKE 
 
 a result of drinking this polluted water Mr. Hart 
 and two members of his family were smitten with 
 malaria. For weeks and weeks they suffered, alter- 
 nately shaking with chills and burning with fever. 
 Though Mr. Hart for a time seemed to be cured of 
 the dread disease it returned to him in later years 
 and in more virulent form, to sap his vitality and to 
 shorten his days. 
 
 About five or six years after the purchase of the 
 Stella, a movement was inaugurated by friends in 
 the Rock River Conference of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church in the United States, led by Mr. W. E. 
 Blackstone of Oak Park, Illinois, to provide the Cen- 
 tral China mission with a steam yacht, the cost of 
 which would be about six thousand dollars. The 
 appeal met with such general favour that subscrip- 
 tions came pouring in from all quarters, and in a 
 few weeks the purchase price of the yacht was se- 
 cured. The yacht was built in England and sent 
 out to Shanghai on the deck of an ocean liner. With 
 such a vessel as the Glad Tidings — for that was 
 the name given her — the missionaries were looking 
 forward with happy expectations to greatly extend 
 their work. But alas! diplomatic difficulties arose 
 and the Chinese Government notified the American 
 Consul that the little steamer would not be per- 
 mitted to navigate the inland waters. The reason 
 advanced was that if permission were given to the 
 
 [85] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 missionaries to use steam yachts, the foreign mer- 
 chants, and then later the native merchants — so 
 much given to smuggling and cheating the customs — 
 would press their claims. With multiplying steam- 
 boats in different parts of the country the Govern- 
 ment then would be compelled to replace their anti- 
 quated police junks by vessels equally as good as 
 those in the service of the missionaries and the mer- 
 chants. This would naturally involve great expense. 
 It was an argument, however, that did not convince 
 nor satisfy the missionaries and they commenced to 
 protest. For four years the Glad Tidings lay in- 
 terned at the port of Chinkiang, only allowed to be 
 used on official occasions by the American Consul. 
 
 Hopeless of ever changing the mind of the 
 Chinese authorities and realising that the little boat 
 was gradually depreciating in value, Mr. Hart ad- 
 vised her sale and with the proceeds build three com- 
 fortable sailboats, each fifty feet long with a twelve- 
 foot beam, fully rigged and with saloon and cabin 
 accommodation for two missionaries and their wives. 
 The suggestion appealed to the mission and was as 
 soon as possible carried out. The Glad Tidings 
 was sold and her name was given to each of three 
 new vessels coupled with the names of the ports 
 at which they were stationed. For more than a 
 score of years these three sailing boats have been 
 plying the waters of the Yangtse and its larger 
 [86] 
 
BY RIVER AND LAKE 
 
 tributaries. Can one imagine any more interesting 
 story than that which their logs could tell in the 
 thousands of miles that have been traversed in car- 
 rying the Gospel message to the teeming millions of 
 Central China. 
 
 [87] 
 
VIII 
 A FORWARD MOVEMENT 
 
VIII 
 
 A FORWARD MOVEMENT 
 
 IN an article in the Northern Christian Advocate 
 of 1874, Mr. Hart says, "I frequently ascend 
 hills and mountains for inspiration and to get a 
 wide sweep of the broad, rich fields God in His 
 providence has given us to cultivate. I go back to 
 the dirty, noisy streets refreshed and encouraged to 
 plod along at our daily preaching and instructing 
 the dark, sin-fallen sons of Japheth. I ask, 'When 
 shall our blessed work spread over these fair fields 
 and humble chapels take the place of dark, loath- 
 some temples, and bright, smiling messengers of 
 Christ greet us where now long, grey-robed, opium- 
 smoking, licentious priests drag their lazy forms to 
 ask us to drink tea? When shall railroads and car- 
 riage roads wind through these broad valleys carry- 
 ing the riches of this great State to and from its 
 metropolis? Will it be in my day?' My judgment 
 says no, but my faith pierces to a higher flight and 
 
 [91] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 says it shall be and then my heart beats quicker and 
 tears stand in my eyes for China. God can do great 
 things for us. Prayer, the mighty instrument given 
 to us by our Divine Master sends its electric influ- 
 ences before our feet and prepares our way." 
 
 Before many years had passed our missionary was 
 permitted to see the deep longing of his heart, as 
 expressed in that passage, for a great work of expan- 
 sion in Central China was in some measure realised. 
 
 Mr. Hart was peculiarly a man of prayer. Every 
 day, when at home, it was his custom to rise early 
 and spend an hour in his study, alone, in communion 
 with God. The door was locked, there must be no 
 interruption. There could be heard, if one were 
 anxious enough to stop and listen at the door, an 
 earnest voice within, pleading for China's salvation, 
 for the Divine blessing upon the workers in the field 
 and upon the Home Church that it might feel more 
 deeply the obligation to provide more men and 
 money for foreign missions. Every week it was the 
 custom of the missionaries in KiuKiang to meet 
 with the Superintendent in his study-sanctuary and 
 repeat the same petitions. These prayeis, made in 
 the secret-place and in concert, were supplemented 
 by burning appeals to the Missionary Secretaries in 
 New York and through the larger organs of the 
 church to the great body of Methodists in the United 
 States, for evangelists, teachers, physicians and 
 
 [92] 
 
A FORWARD MOVEMENT 
 
 nurses; for dispensaries, hospitals, schools and col- 
 leges. Especially did Mr. Hart plead for medical 
 missionaries. In one of his appeals he exclaims, 
 "Experience has taught us some valuable lessons, 
 and one is that to open new stations in China and 
 prosecute vigorous work there is no influence so pow- 
 erful as that of the healing art. Who has not while 
 preaching and teaching longed for the gift to heal 
 diseases that the message might be more effectual? 
 The missionary doctor is welcomed where the 
 preacher and teacher are scarcely tolerated. To 
 allay prejudice, to inspire confidence, to produce 
 gratitude, there is nothing to compare with the heal- 
 ing art. No wonder the great Moffat said, 'The 
 medical missionary is a missionary and a half.' " 
 
 In time — a long, long time it seemed to the anxious 
 workers in KiuKiang, the ear of the Church in Amer- 
 ica was gained, and one day the message came 
 from the Mission Rooms in New York that a large 
 appropriation had been granted for Central China, 
 reinforcements would soon be on the way, and the 
 long-desired and long-prayed-for forward movement 
 might at once begin. 
 
 The first place to be occupied in connection with 
 the proposed plan of expansion was Chinkiang, a 
 city of four hundred thousand at the junction of the 
 Yangtse and the Grand Imperial Canal. This city 
 holds a most strategic position which gives it direct 
 
 [93l 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 communication with the principal cities of most of 
 the provinces of China. Fifteen miles to the north 
 is the wealthy city of Yangchow, with a population 
 of more than half a million. Chinkiang is one hun- 
 dred and fifty miles west of Shanghai and is the 
 first port at which the up-river steamers touch. Once 
 it was the most strongly fortified city in the empire, 
 but a few hours of shelling by some British gun- 
 boats in the war of 1842 levelled its forts — an act 
 which the Chinese have been very slow to forget 
 and which has militated for many years against suc- 
 cessful missionary work. Not long after the British 
 bombardment the city suffered severely from the 
 Taiping Rebellion, so severely that its population 
 was reduced from half a million to twenty-five thou- 
 sand. But, Phcenix-like, Chinkiang speedily rose 
 from its ashes to become one of the most important 
 commercial centres in the land. It is a treaty port 
 and has a foreign concession with about a hundred 
 resident foreigners. Two beautiful islands — Golden 
 and Silver Islands — lie off the city covered with 
 ancient temples and monasteries. One of the most 
 interesting antiquities of the place is an iron pagoda 
 of unique workmanship which was cast and erected 
 over nineteen hundred years ago. A stick or a twig 
 placed against the sides of the pagoda, it is believed 
 by the credulous, will insure complete immunity 
 from the back-ache — a form of affliction to which 
 
 [94] 
 
FORWARD MOVEMENT 
 
 the Chinkiangnese are peculiarly subject if one is to 
 judge by the number of sticks to be found around 
 the pagoda. 
 
 When Mr. Hart visited Chinkiang in 1880 with 
 a view to opening a mission, he found the field occu- 
 pied by a lone medical missionary and his wife by 
 the name of White. Dr. Robert White had been 
 labouring here at his own expense for five years and 
 was at this time upon the point of leaving for Europe 
 better to fit himself for further work in China. This 
 devoted man had established a little dispensary, and 
 his wife a day school. These were transferred later 
 to the care of the Methodist Mission. Rev. Marcus 
 L. Taft was the first Methodist missionary to be 
 stationed at Chinkiang. He was followed shortly 
 afterwards by the Rev. G. W. Woodall and the 
 Rev. W. C. Longden. 
 
 Two very fine properties were purchased by the 
 Superintendent for the new mission. One was upon 
 Taku Hill, overlooking the city and the broad river, 
 on which were erected two bungalows and later a 
 three-storied building which has been used as an 
 orphanage with accommodation for nearly one hun- 
 dred boys. This orphanage was made possible by 
 the generosity of the Christian Herald of New York 
 and from year to year it has provided the necessary 
 means for its maintenance. The second property 
 purchased was located on the main street in the very 
 
 [95] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 heart of the native city. It had been used as an 
 opium hong "dispensing stupour, misery and death 
 to the people. Now it was transformed into a 
 chapel, a dispenser of joy, happiness and life." In 
 this converted building services were conducted both 
 for the English and the Chinese. One of the first 
 to occupy the pulpit was the celebrated George 
 Miiller, the founder of the great orphanage in Bris- 
 tol, England ; the man who during his lifetime raised 
 six millions of dollars for benevolences without ask- 
 ing a single person for a dollar. "All our monies," 
 he used to say, "come through prayer." Mr. and 
 Mrs. Miiller visited Chinkiang and other cities on 
 the Yangtse in connection with their tour of the 
 world. It was Mr. Hart's privilege to entertain 
 them and to show them something of the work that 
 was being done by our missionaries. In his journal 
 he makes this reference to this remarkable man of 
 God: "He is a happy old man. While together he 
 related some of his wonderful experiences in Russia 
 and India. When he went to St. Petersburg as he 
 was alighting from the railway carriage with his 
 wife, a person called out, Is Mr. Miiller here?' 
 A lady came up and invited them to her home, but 
 they declined as they always stop at hotels when 
 travelling so as to secure quiet which they cannot 
 have at private houses. The next day the lady vis- 
 ited them and again made known her wish and at 
 
 [96] 
 
A FORWARD MOVEMENT 
 
 the same time told who she was — the Princess Leven 
 — but again they declined. After preaching that 
 evening, the pastor of the church in which he was 
 speaking told him that the Princess was in great 
 distress because he would not go to her palace, and 
 felt that she had grieved the Lord in some way 
 because he would not accept her invitation. He 
 said that she had gone to considerable expense to fit 
 up apartments for them. Upon hearing this they 
 concluded to go. Mr. Miiller held seventy meetings 
 in her palace for the nobility and stayed eleven 
 weeks. The short visit of Mr. Miiller to the Central 
 China Mission was a time of great refreshing to for- 
 eign and native workers and remains until this day 
 a green spot in the memories of the surviving 
 veterans." 
 
 The story of the founding of the Chinkiang Mis- 
 sion would be incomplete if no reference were made 
 to the important part which Superintendent Hart 
 had in establishing the work of the Woman's For- 
 eign Missionary Society. The purchasing of prop- 
 erty from the Chinese was always a difficult matter 
 in those days but particularly was it so if the nego- 
 tiations were to be carried on by foreign ladies which 
 was contrary to Chinese etiquette. Mr. Hart was 
 therefore called upon by the representatives of the 
 Woman's Missionary Society for help and was able 
 to render them invaluable services in protecting them 
 
 [97] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 against extortion and fraud and in negotiating for 
 land and in making contracts for buildings. In 
 Chinkiang the splendid site upon which to-day 
 stands the Girls' Boarding School and the Women's 
 Hospital is an eloquent witness of his foresight and 
 good judgment. 
 
 Miss M. C. Robinson, who has won a lasting 
 place among the educators of her sex in the East, 
 through her work in Chinkiang, in a letter of reminis- 
 cences written just before her death, thus speaks of 
 Mr. Hart: "Never could one have taken a more 
 lively interest than he did in the setting up of our 
 school housekeeping. It was his unselfish prompt- 
 ness that secured for us the present site of the W. F. 
 M. S. When the opportunity came to buy Tine 
 Tree Hollow Hill' the purchase was made in the 
 nick of time — the Roman Catholics have regretted 
 to this day that they were not awake enough to se- 
 cure it as soon as it came into the market. At the 
 call of the telegram he came at once and bargained 
 for this site of all sites for a Girls' School. Our 
 beautiful property is a memorial of his efficiency 
 as a superintendent and of the whole-hearted inter- 
 est he ever took in the W. F. M. S. part of his work. 
 At the opening dedicatory exercises of the school a 
 year later, Dr. Hart was again on hand to conduct 
 them in his own happy way. The old Tartar gen- 
 eral was asked to make a speech. Overcome with 
 
 [98] 
 
A FORWARD MOVEMENT 
 
 the honour, the war veteran threw himself upon Dr. 
 Hart's neck and whispered in his ear what he wished 
 to say to us. An awkward predicament for most 
 persons to be in before foreign and native dignita- 
 ries, but the Doctor knew how to turn it to good 
 account. Returning the embrace in true Eastern 
 style, the scene, though amusing, was yet a prophecy 
 of the time when the Occident and the Orient will 
 be as united in heart as were those two representa- 
 tives in person. Our Chinese school girls whom he 
 never failed to visit when in Chinkiang were always 
 delighted to see him and were more responsive in 
 his presence than they usually were with other vis- 
 itors, for he seemed to know how to make them 
 forget themselves. He loved to impart information. 
 It was he who called their attention to the boot- 
 like shape of Italy and its apparent attempt to give 
 poor little Sicily a 'toeing off' — a fancy which has 
 so fixed itself in the school-mind as to be used to 
 this day by the girls of that time to their pupils of 
 this time." 
 
 [99] 
 
IX 
 I CHI SAN— "PHEASANT HILL" 
 
IX 
 
 I CHI SAN- 
 
 THREE hundred miles from the sea coast, just 
 where the Yangtse Kiang bends westward in 
 a broad, graceful curve, nestling in a fertile valley 
 of farm lands, lies the city of Wuhu, one of the 
 chief rice exporting centres of China. The massive 
 walls which surround it and the weather-worn pa- 
 goda facing the anchorage were erected some fifteen 
 centuries ago. For many years this now peaceful 
 city was distinguished as the home of a notorious 
 band of assassins called the "Koo Soo Whai" whose 
 crimes have plunged more than one English and 
 American home into mourning. Until recently there 
 were few places in China where the anti-foreign 
 sentiment was as pronounced and bitter as it was in 
 Wuhu. So hostile was the attitude of the citizens, 
 it is said, that life insurance companies refused to 
 accept risks on foreigners who resided there. 
 Though Wuhu was made an open port in 1877 
 
 [103] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 it was not until 1881 that any missionary society 
 seriously considered it as a field for aggressive work. 
 In company with the Rev. M. L. Taft of Chinkiang 
 Mr. Hart visited the city that year and made a 
 careful investigation of conditions. He was very 
 much impressed with the possibilities of the place 
 and decided to recommend its immediate opening 
 as a mission and the appointment of a man. A 
 Chinese house on one of the principal thoroughfares 
 was rented and the Rev. James Jackson and his 
 wife were sent to occupy it. Mr. Hart in his letters 
 often refers to the faithful work of this devoted 
 couple in their lonely and most difficult field. 
 "Brother Jackson," he writes, "is a steam engine to 
 work. I wish we had more men like him." 
 
 Two years after the opening of the mission at 
 Wuhu an exceptionally choice site was secured just 
 one mile below the steamer-landing on a high, 
 wooded hill, jutting boldly out into the water, lo- 
 cally known as "I Chi San" which being translated 
 means "Pheasant Hill." This name was given to 
 the hill because of the abundance of this particular 
 variety of game in its vicinity. The country for 
 miles surrounding Wuhu is known far and wide in 
 the Yangtse valley as a sportsman's paradise. For- 
 eigners, in the season, gather from different parts of 
 the river and explore the hills and streams about the 
 the city for fowl and deer and wild boar. Mr. 
 [104] 
 
I CHI SAN 
 
 Hart, in speaking of his first visit to Wuhu, says, 
 "This plain is a perfect paradise for pheasant. We 
 counted nine at once and have seen during this 
 afternoon too many to enumerate. I could have shot 
 them from the boat if I had had a gun with me." 
 
 I Chi San is a landmark to be seen for many miles. 
 For beauty and healthfulness of situation it is not 
 to be surpassed on the Yangtse. "Pure breezes cool 
 its heights in the summer and porpoises play in 
 sportive gambol at its rocky feet," is the poetic 
 description given of it by an enthusiastic visiting 
 journalist. After the negotiations for the site had 
 been closed it became known that the British consul 
 had had his eye upon it for a long time and had 
 been working through Chinese officials to secure it 
 for the British Government as a consulate — but he 
 was too late. The quick movements of our alert 
 superintendent, though he was entirely ignorant of 
 the consul's intentions, were too much for the red 
 tape of officialism. Occupying the crest of the hill 
 is now a large hospital and below it are grouped a 
 Girls' Boarding School and the homes of the staff. 
 Travellers, as they pass up and down the river when 
 they look upon I Chi San, exclaim, "What a magnifi- 
 cent property! Who lives there?" And when told 
 that it belongs to the American missionaries usually 
 reply in tones of surprise, "Why ! these missionaries 
 live like princes." And yet not one of these critical 
 
 [105] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 globe-trotters could be persuaded to break his jour- 
 ney and take the place of one of these "princely- 
 living" missionaries and spend twenty days, let alone 
 twenty years, upon that solitary rock working for 
 the physical and spiritual weal of the surrounding 
 heathen. 
 
 The hospital at I Chi San was the first one to be 
 established in the whole of the Province of Anhui 
 and it ministers to-day to a constituency of at least 
 ten millions of souls. 
 
 The names of three physicians, beloved by the 
 people of Wuhu, will forever be associated with the 
 hospital at I Chi San. The first is the name of Dr. 
 George A. Stuart, who was in charge of the medical 
 work of the mission when the hospital was built 
 and who afterwards became the successful head of 
 the now great university at Nanking. The second 
 is the name of Dr. Chung, a native physician, who 
 though he was offered by the Chinese Government 
 a salary five times as large as that which he was 
 receiving from the mission, to go elsewhere, refused 
 that he might continue to serve the church that had 
 saved him from paganism and made him what he 
 was. The third is the name of Edgerton Haskell 
 Hart, the second son of the Superintendent of the 
 Central China Mission. 
 
 When Mr. Hart and his family were on their way 
 to the first Missionary Conference at Shanghai, in 
 
 [106] 
 
THE HOSPITAL COMPOUND FROM THE YANGTSE RIVER 
 
 METHODIST HOSPITAL, NANKING 
 
I CHI SAN 
 
 the yacht Stella, in 1877, the boat stopped for a 
 short time at the Wuhu landing. Mr. Hart went 
 ashore and began to talk to the people that gathered 
 about him and sold them some religious books. His 
 two eldest sons felt that they too would like to do a 
 little missionary work. They stood at the bow of 
 the Stella, as it touched the bank, and soon attracted 
 a larger and more curious crowd than their father. 
 The little fellows talked to the people in their boy- 
 ish way and disposed of quite a quantity of litera- 
 ture. It is interesting to think that in less than 
 twenty years after this little incident by the water- 
 side at Wuhu, the younger of those two boys came 
 to this city as a medical missionary, and that within 
 a few minutes' walk of the spot where the Stella was 
 anchored that day, he carried on a hospital work 
 that made his name known throughout the empire 
 as one of China's most successful and best-loved 
 surgeons. 
 
 A correspondent of the China Gazette thus speaks 
 of him: "The work this man does is marvellous, yet 
 he is the picture of health. He is up with the lark 
 at sunrise, attends to a large Chinese hospital at 
 I Chi San, going his rounds with a kind word for 
 each man or woman who is sick, attends a number 
 of out patients, and away to the various mission 
 stations scattered over hills near by; then down into 
 Wuhu where he has the whole Customs' staff, be- 
 
 [107] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 sides the hongs and all the various ocean steamers' 
 crews to attend, then a look in at the library or off 
 on an errand of mercy somewhere else, perhaps miles 
 away, then back again to his hospital and out to 
 more homes. No one knows where he gets his meals 
 as no one has ever seen him eat any food." 
 
 Here at I Chi San Dr. Hart laboured for seven- 
 teen years and here he died in 1913 of typhus fever 
 contracted while administering relief to the thou- 
 sands of famine and flood sufferers in the province. 
 The little foreign cemetery by the river's edge holds 
 the precious body over which has been placed a 
 beautiful memorial stone, the gift of his many friends 
 in Central China. On the stone are inscribed these 
 words: "A Lover of Mankind." 
 
 Father and son were very dear to each other in 
 life. They had much in common — in disposition, in 
 vision, and in service. Together now, we believe, 
 they are serving their Lord in still more fruitful 
 fields of toil. 
 
 [108] 
 
X 
 
 'THE PORCELAIN CITY" 
 
"the porcelain city" 
 
 THE Province of Kiangsi ranks fifth in popu- 
 lation among the provinces of China and sec- 
 ond, if not first, in point of wealth and natural re- 
 sources. It is said that it is so independent of the 
 rest of China that it could be entirely cut off from 
 it with little resultant suffering to the people. Five 
 times as much rice is raised as is necessary to feed 
 its population. It is the largest lumber mart in the 
 country; grows and exports more tea than any other 
 province, and is the only province in all China that 
 manufactures porcelain. 
 
 In the very centre of this central province, one 
 hundred miles to the south of the Yangtse, lies the 
 capital city of Nanchang, with more than a million 
 inhabitants. For more than a thousand years it has 
 been famous for its porcelain ware. Those who 
 have travelled widely in China declare that it is its 
 finest city. The streets are wider and better kept; 
 
 Cm] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 the houses are more substantial and comfortable — 
 chiefly made of brick — the shops are bigger and more 
 attractive than those which are found in other cities 
 of the land. No city in the Orient has as many 
 splendid residences. The houses of the gentry are 
 fascinating with their sunlit rooms gathered around 
 courts made beautiful with magnolias, chrysanthe- 
 mums, rockeries and tiny lakes. 
 
 It is not to be wondered at that Superintendent 
 Hart early cast covetous eyes towards this great cap- 
 ital city. In the yacht Stella he paid it several vis- 
 its, preached in its streets and market-places and 
 had conferences with some of the resident provin- 
 cial mandarins. Not always did he receive a gra- 
 cious welcome in coming to this city. Once a huge 
 cable was placed across the little river which flows 
 through the place to prevent his further progress, 
 and while the boat was halted in mid-stream the peo- 
 ple on either bank stoned the missionary, crying, 
 "Kill the foreign devil!" Mr. Hart was probably 
 the first Protestant missionary to enter Nanchang 
 and to speak to its citizens. The Franciscans at- 
 tempted, some years before, to establish a cause but 
 were driven out by an angry crowd. Though our 
 Superintendent received more or less gentle hints to 
 stay away from Nanchang he boldly continued to 
 come until the people came to the conclusion that 
 the best way to deal with such a persistent soul was 
 
 [112] 
 
PORCELAIN 
 
 to let him have his own way. One day in 1881, he 
 sent this message to the Mission Rooms in New 
 York : "We have been able to rent a building at Nan- 
 chang Foo. This we look upon as the great victory 
 of the year. We have reached a centre from which 
 we can operate in every direction throughout the 
 province. This proud city now has a Methodist 
 house and a faithful native preacher." 
 
 In making the estimates for the Central China 
 Mission for the year 1882, the Superintendent and 
 his co-workers petitioned the Missionary Society for 
 several men to be sent to this point. "Would to 
 God," exclaims the Superintendent, "we had four 
 good men for Nanchang — and one a doctor." It 
 was many years before the Methodist Church could 
 send such a force as the Superintendent plead for — 
 and the first doctor who did come was not a man, 
 as had been desired, but that gentle, little Chinese 
 lady from KiuKiang, Dr. Ida Kahn, the adopted 
 daughter of Miss Gertrude Howe and one of the 
 first children whom Mr. Hart baptised in Central 
 China. To-day, after a decade of phenomenal serv- 
 ice among the people of Nanchang, this missionary 
 lady has become the pervading, dominating person- 
 ality of this great city. 
 
 Mr. Fletcher S. Brockman, the General Secretary 
 of the National Young Men's Christian Association 
 of China, in speaking of a recent visit to Nanchang 
 
 [113] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 says: "I was walking through the city with a 
 Chinese friend who had been educated in America. 
 We were pressing past the crowd — such a crowd! 
 Coolies carrying bales of paper and tea, wheelbar- 
 rows crowded with passengers, jinrikishas jolting 
 over the uneven flag-stones, sedan chairs, for which 
 way must be made because an important person 
 within lent authority to the insolent bearers, mem- 
 bers of the literati walking leisurely in the midst of 
 the common rush, modern students from the nearby 
 government colleges with books and pens, beggars 
 repellant with filth and disease, cooks hastening on 
 with chickens and vegetables under their arms — 
 what a medley of high and low, an impression of 
 infinite numbers ! 'There is not one of this crowd,' 
 said my friend as the conversation reverted to Dr. 
 Kahn, 'who does not know her name.' " 
 
 The story of Dr. Kahn's life and of her coming 
 to Nanchang reads like a romance. Miss Howe, 
 who now makes her home with her, thus tells the 
 story: "Dr. Hoag, another young woman, and I 
 started a school for girls at KiuKiang forty years 
 ago. The Chinese misunderstood our purpose. They 
 supposed that we were trying to get children into 
 the school to take their eyes out for telescope lenses, 
 and their hearts out for medicine. We could get a 
 few girls for the day school, but none for the board- 
 ing school. As Dr. Hoag and I used to go out on 
 
 ["4] 
 
PORCELAIN 
 
 the street and see little children playing, my heart 
 would go out to them and I would long to break 
 down this cruel prejudice and get some of the little 
 girls into our school. A foreigner living in the city 
 was anxious to put a girl into our school, and actu- 
 ally sent a servant out on the street to buy a girl. 
 There were at that time plenty of girls for sale, 
 but no one was mean enough to sell a girl to have 
 her heart and eyes taken out." 
 
 "After some months one of us jokingly inquired of 
 our language teacher whether he could not give us a 
 girl. He replied, 'My next door neighbour has a 
 little girl two months old. This is the sixth girl. 
 She has never had a son, and the five girls have been 
 sent out to mothers-in-law. She says she cannot 
 bear to send this one to a mother-in-law. I suc- 
 ceeded in getting her a betrothal in a good home, 
 but when I took the cards to a fortune teller he said 
 that the stars clashed, the children were not born 
 favourably, and the mother must not proceed.' 
 That day he saw the mother, who decided to risk us 
 rather than the cruel treatment of a mother-in-law 
 for her daughter. The family was a good one, 
 named Con, or, as it is pronounced in this dialect, 
 Kahn, direct descendants of Confucius. One must 
 appreciate what are the conditions of life for a little 
 girl in China to understand how the mother would 
 
 [115] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 be willing in this way to turn over her daughter so 
 completely to a stranger." 
 
 The girlhood and youth of Dr. Kahn is replete 
 with heroism and devotion of both adopted mother 
 and daughter. Ida Kahn and her adopted sister, 
 Mary Shi (Stone), were prepared to enter the Med- 
 ical Department of the University of Michigan by 
 Miss Howe, who snatched the time from her busy 
 life as the head of a mission school to give the spe- 
 cial training to them in everything but physics and 
 chemistry. This was supplied by a friend in Kiu- 
 Kiang. After graduating from the University Dr. 
 Kahn went to Chicago for post-graduate work and 
 later to the Tropical School of Medicine in London. 
 Not satisfied with her medical degree alone, Dr. 
 Kahn later returned to America for her Arts Course. 
 The sacrifice, the efforts to make ends meet, the 
 poverty suffered by mother and daughters, make a 
 story of thrilling interest. 
 
 In speaking of the coming of Dr. Kahn to Nan- 
 chang, Miss Howe says : "It dates back to the visit 
 of two reformers to my school in KiuKiang. Mr. 
 Wen, a Nanchang man, who was formerly a tutor 
 in the Imperial family but was dismissed by the 
 Dowager Empress because of his strong sympathy 
 with reform measures, and Mr. Tseo, another mem- 
 ber of the Nanchang gentry. They called at my 
 school to say that they wished to see my daughters 
 
 [n6] 
 
PORCELAIN 
 
 who had then just returned from America, young 
 girls about twenty-three years of age. They were 
 not accustomed to meeting Chinese men and de- 
 clined to see them, but I finally induced them to 
 see these reformers. When my daughters came in 
 Mr. Wen was greatly astonished, and said it could 
 not be true that such young girls had graduated in 
 America and done all the wonderful things that he 
 had heard of. I took the University Calendar and 
 showed him their pictures and their names and 
 finally convinced him. Mr. Wen and Mr. Tseo 
 were then on their way to Nanking to a meeting of 
 reformers. They asked that I let them have my 
 daughters' diplomas, as they wanted to show them 
 to the other reformers and prove what it was pos- 
 sible for the Chinese women to accomplish. The 
 diplomas were hung in the meeting-hall and through 
 the inspiration of these diplomas an anti-foot-bind- 
 ing society was organised, in which all the members 
 agreed that they would not bind the feet of their 
 daughters and would marry their sons only to women 
 with unbound feet. When Mr. Tseo reached Shang- 
 hai he had word that his wife was ill in Nanchang, 
 and telegraphed asking Dr. Kahn to go to Nan- 
 chang to see his wife. She found Mrs. Tseo to be 
 suffering with a nervous collapse and supposed to 
 be insane. She brought Mrs. Tseo to KiuKiang. 
 We had no hospital, but treated her in our home. 
 
 [117] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 She recovered. This was the beginning of Dr. 
 Kahn's reputation in Nanchang, and nothing would 
 satisfy the gentry of the city but to have her move 
 to Nanchang." 
 
 The spacious compound in which Dr. Kahn's hos- 
 pital is situated is the gift of the Nanchang gentry. 
 It is a beautiful spot not far from the government 
 colleges, from which comes the fragrance of thou- 
 sands of roses and chrysanthemums, for Dr. Kahn is 
 a florist and a farmer as well as a physician. The 
 grounds are filled with trees which she has collected 
 from America, Australia, Europe and all parts of 
 China. Shortly after her arrival in Nanchang a 
 deputation from the gentry and literati waited upon 
 her, stating that they wished to support her work 
 entirely, and asking for her to withdraw from any 
 connection with the church. "It is really no credit 
 to you," they said, "to belong to the church. The 
 people who belong to the church are rather of the 
 lower class and their object in joining the church is 
 to get some pecuniary good." She answered, "You 
 have the impression that the Chinese who believe in 
 Christ are not in earnest. I would like to tell you 
 a story or two." Then she told them the story of one 
 girl after another in Northern China who had suf- 
 fered in the Boxer Uprising to the point of death for 
 the sake of her faith, finally ending with one who 
 had been burned alive. These recitals made such a 
 
 [n8] 
 
PORCELAIN 
 
 deep impression upon these men that never again 
 did they repeat their request for her to disassociate 
 herself from those who had made her beautiful and 
 useful womanhood a possibility. 
 
 It is many years since Mr. Hart first visited Nan- 
 chang. He was not permitted to see the fruitage of 
 his seed-sowing. The development of the work 
 which he started is one of the marvels of Christian 
 missions in China. The one little rented chapel in 
 the heart of Kiangsi has become a hundred with 
 an enrollment of thousands of members and in- 
 quirers. 
 
 [119] 
 
XI 
 A CHANGE— BUT NO REST 
 
XI 
 
 A CHANGE BUT NO REST 
 
 IN the winter of 1881 Mr. Hart, whose health 
 had been considerably broken by frequent attacks 
 of malaria, decided to return to America and join 
 his wife and family, who had preceded him earlier 
 in the year and who at this time were residing in 
 Ingersoll, Ontario. Nine very busy years had passed 
 since he had pressed his native soil, and he was 
 anxious not only to secure the physical benefit that 
 might accrue to him by the change, but to use the 
 opportunity to deepen the interest of the somewhat 
 apathetic church at home in his great mission field. 
 He returned to America by way of Europe, visit- 
 ing en route his old field in Foochow where he spent 
 several pleasant days at the annual meeting, renew- 
 ing the friendships formed fifteen years before. 
 While in London, through the good offices of Dr. 
 Grattan Guinness, he got into touch with a number 
 of ship-building firms and obtained estimates from 
 
 [123] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 them for the new steam yacht, the Glad Tidings, the 
 cost of which was to be defrayed by his generous 
 friends of the Rock River Conference. Two weeks 
 later he was with his family in Canada. As it was 
 decided that his wife should not return with him to 
 China, in the interests of the children, a home was 
 purchased in Parkdale, a suburb of Toronto, where 
 they could enjoy the best of educational advan- 
 tages. 
 
 During his furlough he took little or no rest 
 though no one was ever more in need of it. He 
 possessed a nature that chafed at inactivity and 
 though at times he was scarcely able even to stagger 
 because of malaria, yet he persisted in his attempts 
 to speak and solicit funds for his work. Engage- 
 ments were made for Sundays and almost every 
 week night to preach and to lecture. On some Sun- 
 days he spoke four times. After one such full day 
 he wrote his wife, "My strength held out remark- 
 ably. The iron is doing me good. Last Thursday 
 I had a slight chill but took quinine regularly. I 
 feel well to-day and not as much fatigued as usual 
 after such a hard day. To-night I speak on the 
 women of China." 
 
 His chief anxiety while in America was to provide 
 for the opening of a fourth mission upon the Yang- 
 tse. Nanking, the greatest of all the cities on the river, 
 a city that had lifted its proud head in defiance to 
 
 t 12 4] 
 
A CHANGE BUT NO REST 
 
 the missionary for many years, must be entered. In 
 an article descriptive of Nanking which he wrote 
 for the Missionary Advocate of New York, he says, 
 "It is strange that so important a city should have 
 been neglected by the great missionary bodies of 
 China. Chinese officials employ several foreigners 
 in Nanking to manufacture arms and ammunition, 
 but missionary societies have erected no arsenal of 
 truth to send pure doctrines to the homes and hearts 
 of the people. Shall our church be represented in 
 this city? It is midway from KiuKiang to the sea, 
 easy of access, as all river steamers receive and land 
 passengers there. It is a city that at times has con- 
 trolled the interests of the vast Empire of China; 
 that has led in literature; that has sent its satin to 
 all parts of the land ; that has produced the only silk 
 velvet of the country; that in its better days kept 
 nearly one hundred thousand of its population weav- 
 ing at twenty thousand looms ; whose merchants have 
 journeyed far and near to dispose of its industries; 
 a city that may become by its geographical position 
 the future capital of a rejuvenated people. Shall 
 this city which has risen so many times from its 
 ashes be left to grope in pagan darkness?" 
 
 In referring to a conversation which he had with 
 Mr. W. E. Blackstone of Oak Park, Illinois, and 
 who was largely responsible for the gift of the new 
 steam yacht, he says, "I told him I should not rest 
 
 [125] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 until Nanking is open. My trust is in God. The 
 way will open and the work will be done." He went 
 to New York and addressed the Missionary Com- 
 mittee at its annual meeting, and nearly took their 
 breath away by the audacious proposal that the 
 Methodist Church enter Nanking with a great hos- 
 pital and university. Ten thousand dollars, he told 
 them, would build and equip the hospital. His 
 earnest and impassioned appeal, while it did not 
 result in a special grant for either the hospital or 
 the university, resulted in a very marked increase in 
 the appropriation that year for the general work 
 of the mission. But faith and works finally had 
 their reward, and just as his furlough was coming 
 to an end, he received the following cheering mes- 
 sage from Mr. Blackstone anent the Nanking Hos- 
 pital : 
 
 "I have forwarded to Dr. Fowler (then Mission- 
 ary Secretary) the proposition to furnish the $10,000 
 for the medical mission, and have requested him to 
 write you at San Francisco. It is now in the hands 
 of the Lord. May He direct for the best results to 
 the Chinese and for His glory. The Lord bless you, 
 my dear brother." 
 
 The Nanking Hospital was now assured and a 
 great burden was lifted from the Superintendent's 
 heart. 
 
 [126] 
 
A CHANGE BUT NO REST 
 
 About the middle of August in 1883 Mr. Hart 
 said good-bye to his family in Toronto and com- 
 menced his return journey to China. In crossing 
 the continent he stopped off at such important points 
 as Chicago, Omaha and Salt Lake City to preach and 
 lecture. He never forgot his experience in the Mor- 
 mon City, for within a stone's throw of his hotel a 
 double tragedy occurred and for several hours the 
 city was seething with excitement. Marshall Burt, 
 the Chief of Police, who also was a bishop of the 
 Mormon Church, was shot dead while attempting 
 to arrest a negro, and another officer was seriously 
 wounded. In less than ten minutes the negro was 
 lynched and his dead body dragged through the 
 streets of the city, being kicked and pounded by the 
 angry mob. It was a swift and gruesome dispensa- 
 tion of Western justice. Mr. Hart spent several 
 days in Salt Lake City and between addresses was 
 enabled to see something of Mormon institutions. 
 "No transient visitor," he writes, "can measure the 
 effects of an evil upon the lives of a people. There 
 must be some redeeming quality in the institution 
 or it would die. I said to a Gentile citizen, Tt is 
 strange women will be content to live under such 
 conditions!' 'Not at all,' he replied, 'they are 
 mostly young women from Norway and Sweden, 
 soft as squash, and are led like calves to the slaugh- 
 ter. The young girls and women born in Mormon 
 
 [127] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 families don't like it at all.' " Mr. Hart attended a 
 service in the old tabernacle which was crowded to 
 the doors, and witnessed the ceremony of the break- 
 ing of bread to the faithful, and heard a loud-voiced 
 elder preach upon the fundamentals of Mormonism. 
 "The sermon," he says, "from beginning to end, was 
 a piece of bombast and little sense. He said one 
 good thing, however, that it was certain that all 
 people were the descendants of the generations be- 
 fore and those to come after us would be our de- 
 scendants. Bread and water were passed while the 
 sermon was being preached. Even the preacher was 
 stopped in the midst of his discourse to eat and 
 drink." 
 
 On the morning of September the fourth, Mr. 
 Hart embarked at San Francisco, upon the steamer, 
 The City of Peking. There were over six hundred 
 Chinamen at the wharf pressing aboard with their 
 beds and baggage. Like sheep they were driven into 
 the steerage quarters. The accommodations were so 
 taxed that at least a hundred of the poor fellows 
 could not find sleeping places on the voyage. Every 
 man had not only to show his steamship ticket as 
 he came on board, but his poll-tax ticket. Although 
 the people of California were apparently very 
 anxious to get rid of the Chinese in those days, yet 
 when he wished to return to his native land they 
 taxed him for going — an inconsistency that is hard 
 
 [128] 
 
CHANGE BUT NO REST 
 
 to explain. Poor, long-suffering John Chinaman! 
 Some day he may be in a position to retaliate and 
 get his revenge for the indignities that have been 
 heaped upon him by the political and commercial 
 representatives of our much-vaunted Western civili- 
 sations. What a hue and cry would be raised in 
 Canada and the United States if our citizens were 
 subjected upon their entrance into China to the 
 same humiliations that we impose upon the incom- 
 ing Chinese! In the day of his power may John 
 Chinaman remember us in mercy. 
 
 As Mr. Hart entered his stateroom on The City of 
 Peking he found it decorated with roses and other 
 flowers — the gifts of Mr. and Mrs. Smith of Daven- 
 port, Iowa, who had been his travelling companions 
 across the continent. It is interesting to note that 
 Mr. Smith was the son of the author of "My Coun- 
 try, 'Tis of Thee," and the brother of the author of 
 "The Morning Light Is Breaking." Before parting 
 with these delightful friends he was introduced by 
 them to Mr. E. P. Waters, the proprietor and pub- 
 lisher of the Boston Advertiser, who with his tal- 
 ented wife, well-known in art circles as Clara 
 Erskine Clement, were making a tour of the world. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Waters were fine Christian people, 
 and though they did not belong to the same denomi- 
 nation as the missionary, became deeply interested 
 in him and his plans for Central China. Some weeks 
 
 [129] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 later they visited him at Chinkiang and spent a 
 number of days in the study of missions at this and 
 other points on the Yangtse. This friendship, begun 
 upon shipboard, and renewed again on the mission 
 field, lasted until death, and resulted not only in 
 large personal contributions to the work, but in a 
 fruitful appeal upon their return to America to the 
 New England public. 
 
 Some very amusing incidents occur on every long 
 voyage at sea, and this trip across the Pacific was 
 by no means one of the exceptions. There were 
 twenty missionaries on board, two of whom — a 
 physician and his wife — had such a horror of sea- 
 sickness that a day or two before the ship sailed they 
 took large doses of sodium bromide. The effect was 
 something more than they ever anticipated. For 
 twenty hours out of the twenty-four they were fast 
 asleep and during the remaining four they went 
 about in a dazed condition, subject to double sight 
 and all kinds of delusions. Poor couple! they 
 looked, after they had been on the ship a day or 
 two, as though they had been drinking for a week, 
 and naturally excited considerable attention. They 
 appeared at the chief officer's table in the saloon with 
 matted hair, swollen lips, eyes almost closed and 
 clothes half put on. Hardly had they sat down 
 when they began to nod. The husband made a 
 brave effort to keep awake and tried to feed his help- 
 
 [130] 
 
A CHANGE BUT NO REST 
 
 less wife. The scene became so ridiculous that the 
 officer ordered that a special table should be pro- 
 vided for them in the coiner of the saloon, where, 
 out of the limelight, they might nod to and feed 
 each other as much as they liked without disturbing 
 the equilibrium of the other passengers. It would 
 have made a dog laugh to see the attentive husband 
 lead his wife up on deck to one of those long chairs, 
 seat her upon the foot-rest, wrap her around with a 
 rug and then in all seriousness ask, "Are you com- 
 fortable, now, dear'?" One day this good doctor 
 staggered up to one of the passengers and said, "I 
 tell you bromide is good for sea-sickness. I haven't 
 been a bit home-sick yet." Mr. Hart closes his 
 description of this sodium bromide fiasco with these 
 words : "I conclude a man can afford to be sea-sick 
 a month rather than be an idiot for a week." 
 
 After a few days in Japan, visiting the American 
 and Canadian Methodist Missions at Yokohama and 
 Tokio, Mr. Hart took steamer to Shanghai and from 
 thence immediately to KiuKiang where the annual 
 meeting of the Central China Mission was being 
 held, with Bishop Merrill, that presiding officer par 
 excellence, in the chair. He met with a warm wel- 
 come from his brother missionaries, foreign and na- 
 tive, but no one was more glad to see him than his 
 old friend and tutor, Tai Sien Sen, who gave a feast 
 in his honour. It was a memorable affair. To most 
 
 [131] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 foreigners a Chinese feast is a dreaded ordeal for it 
 has anywhere from fifteen to fifty courses and the 
 guest must taste of everything placed before him for 
 fear of offending the host. On this particular occa- 
 sion there was a duck apiece, then chicken soup, fish 
 and mushrooms, boiled eggs, rice, chickens and 
 mushrooms, bread, rock candy, dates, oranges, per- 
 simmons, tea, etc., etc. The honoured guest of the 
 evening says that before he got halfway through he 
 was almost in a state of collapse. The feast lasted 
 several hours and when he and the other foreigners 
 present returned homewards they were as stiff as 
 anacondas after a gorge of buffalo — but who could 
 refuse dear old Tai who had gone to so much ex- 
 pense and trouble to show his affection and respect 
 for his missionary friend? 
 
 The months that followed his return to the mis- 
 sion were very busy months to the Superintendent. 
 He made his home upon the Stella, and later upon 
 the Glad Tidings, going up and down the river, now 
 at Wuhu, now at Chinkiang, now at Yangchau, 
 examining possible sites, purchasing land, making 
 contracts and superintending the erection of new 
 buildings. It was the most critical and the most 
 fruitful period of his life in Central China. 
 
 [132] 
 
XII 
 THE PRIDE OF THE YANGTSE 
 
XII 
 
 THE PRIDE OF THE YANGTSE 
 
 "TTERE, Virgil! You should establish a hos- 
 X A pital." To these words the great Metho- 
 dist Episcopal Mission in Nanking, with its 
 hospital and university and theological college and 
 other important institutions, owes its first inspira- 
 tion. These words were addressed by Mrs. Hart to 
 her husband as they were standing upon the deck 
 of a down-river steamer at the Nanking landing one 
 spring day in 1881. The more Mr. Hart thought 
 upon the suggestion of his wife the more convinced 
 he became of the fact that Nanking possessed pos- 
 sibilities for Christian work which no other city in 
 China could offer. So strongly did it appeal to him 
 that it finally became the crowning ambition and 
 work of his superintendency in Central China. The 
 realisation of his ambition, however, was not accom- 
 plished without much travail of soul. His journals 
 and letters for two years abound with references to 
 
 [135] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 the difficulties which he experienced in dealing with 
 the wily Chinese officials who had declared that not 
 a single foot of land in their city should be sold to a 
 foreigner. 
 
 Nanking was in those days the most conservative 
 of Chinese cities — and the proudest — for was not 
 Nanking once the largest and most cultured city in 
 the empire and for eight generations the national 
 capital? Was it not the site of numerous magnifi- 
 cent temples and palaces and, above all, the site of 
 the famous "Porcelain Pagoda" — the pride of the 
 Yangtse and the glory of the nation, with its nine 
 shining stories, four hundred and more feet high 
 and costing three millions and a half dollars — the 
 world's first skyscraper? What could the citizens of 
 Nanking learn from the representatives of nations 
 that were born but yesterday? What right had 
 these people with no great past to come and meddle 
 with their affairs and stir up the motionless pool 
 of hoary customs and traditions? A curse upon the 
 impudent and unsettling foreigner! No, he must 
 not be allowed to get a foothold in their city. Let 
 the citizen who for personal gain would part with 
 his property to the "foreign devil" be considered a 
 traitor and a criminal. Such was the attitude of 
 Nanking's little world of officials and literati when 
 Mr. Hart sought to buy a piece of land for his mis- 
 sion within the sacred precincts of their city. He 
 
 [136] 
 
THE PRIDE OF THE YANGTSE 
 
 knew that he was within treaty rights to buy land 
 anywhere in Nanking and upon those rights he de- 
 termined to stand and fight it out if it took the rest 
 of his natural life. 
 
 He suggested to his teacher — a native of Nan- 
 king — one morning when they were at study in the 
 cabin of the Stella that he act as a go-between in the 
 purchase of some property near the South Gate. 
 The teacher became terrified at the proposition and 
 said that to undertake such a task would be as much 
 as his life was worth. Two native Christians came 
 to him secretly by night and told him of land that 
 might be purchased. Two nights later he looked 
 over the property and concluded to send for his 
 friend Tai in KiuKiang and put him upon the track 
 of the owners. After four months of quiet nego- 
 tiation Tai handed the Superintendent the deeds of 
 a small but valuable property on the road between 
 the Arsenal and the Powder Mills. As soon as Tai 
 finished his work he hurried back to KiuKiang as 
 fast as he could for reasons of personal safety. Some 
 months later a second and larger piece of land was 
 bought near the North Gate. But the battle had 
 only begun. The purchase of the land and the 
 transfer of the deeds were not alone sufficient. 
 These deeds must be registered and stamped by the 
 Viceroy of the province and they must be presented 
 to the Viceroy by the proper official. Who that 
 
 [137] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 proper official was required months to determine. 
 Some said it was the Taotai of Chinkiang; others 
 said it was the Taotai of Nanking. When this 
 matter was cleared up then it took months to get 
 the Taotai to act. A long contest of wits followed. 
 There were conferences innumerable and delays, in- 
 timidations and arrest of the poor fellows who sold 
 the property and their incarceration in jail; officials 
 feigned illness sometimes when Mr. Hart called, or 
 deliberately refused to see him. But every time the 
 missionary was thus insulted he demanded and se- 
 cured through the Viceroy an apology, until finally 
 it began to dawn upon these mulish officials that 
 they were dealing with a man who could not be 
 deceived by their tricks, and who would not be 
 turned aside from his purpose. At last they sur- 
 rendered and were ready for serious business. At 
 the suggestion of the Viceroy a compromise site was 
 agreed upon which was more than acceptable to the 
 Superintendent. 
 
 In a letter to Mrs. Smith — the mother-in-law of 
 Mr. Blackstone and the widow of Philander Smith 
 of whom the hospital was to be a memorial — he 
 writes under date of June l, 1885: 
 
 "Praise God ! To-day the magistrates came" as 
 per appointment and the land boundaries were de- 
 termined and all matters connected therewith amica- 
 bly settled. We get more than twice as much land 
 
 [138] 
 
THE PRIDE OF THE YANGTSE 
 
 by the exchange. It is three hundred and fifty feet 
 long and from one hundred and thirty to two hun- 
 dred feet deep; roads on three sides and not one- 
 fourth of a mile from a Confucian temple — the 
 finest structure of its kind in China. The place is 
 central and well adapted to our work. I have con- 
 tracted for bricks, tiles, lime, stone, etc., have en- 
 gaged two boss carpenters and masons and commence 
 work this week. I hope, if all goes well, to turn 
 ovei for the use of Dr. Beebe and associate by No- 
 vember first the finest hospital in China. I can- 
 not begin to tell you what a load has fallen from 
 my shoulders. You cannot put yourself in my place 
 and realise as I do the conflict endured to accom- 
 plish this much. I feel grateful to God that no bit- 
 terness has been the result. Officials and people 
 speak well of me personally and now praise the 
 work. ... I am going to give my summer to the 
 building of the hospital, if God gives me health, and 
 thereby save two thousand dollars, which, if an inex- 
 perienced missionary had to superintend the work, 
 would have to be given to a contractor. I am giving 
 out tenders and by so doing save all that would go 
 into the pockets of the contractor and of middlemen. 
 By my knowledge of the language and by my experi- 
 ence in building I can save in every direction. By the 
 drawing I send you, you will see what a fine, sub- 
 stantial building we propose to have. The architect 
 
 [139] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 said that such a building could not be built in Shang- 
 hai for less than ten thousand taels — equivalent to 
 thirteen thousand five hundred dollars. I propose 
 to see it built in Nanking for nine thousand dollars. 
 I sent Dr. Beebe a telegram to-night stating that 
 the matter was settled and for him to come next 
 week and help me lay out the foundation. The 
 whole mission will be joyful at the victory. Old 
 Nanking, the devil's stronghold, shall yield; Christ's 
 kingdom shall march on." 
 
 But Mr. Hart's difficulties were by no means over 
 when the hospital site was secured and the deeds 
 stamped by the Viceroy. If ever a man was har- 
 ried and tried in the erection of a building he was. 
 First there was trouble with the workmen — nearly 
 a hundred in all. Some of them were natives of 
 another province and to the employment of these 
 aliens the jealous artisans of Nanking strenuously 
 objected. A fight started one day and for two or 
 three hours bedlam was let loose in the vicinity of 
 the hospital. Each man seized the other by the hair 
 of the head ; pig-tails were pulled and twisted ; faces 
 were badly disfigured and everybody was screaming 
 at the top of his voice to everybody else, and at the 
 same time. Hearing the uproar one of the mission- 
 aries ran among them and endeavoured to restore 
 order but he himself was set upon by some of the 
 local carpenters, badly beaten and then dragged 
 [140] 
 
THE UNIVERSITY OF NANKING 
 
THE PRIDE OF THE YANGTSE 
 
 through the streets of the city. Soldiers finally came 
 to his rescue and quelled the riot. Mr. Hart, who 
 at the time was at Chinkiang, was sent for and upon 
 reaching the scene of the troubles immediately be- 
 gan an investigation. He visited the officials of the 
 city and asked for the instant punishment of the 
 ringleaders of the affair and for the payment of dam- 
 ages to the injured missionary. A day or so later he 
 again visited the Yamen to ascertain if his demands 
 had been carried out. The official in charge sol- 
 emnly assured him that they had been. He said that 
 the head-carpenter and one or two others had been 
 punished; in fact he himself had sat up nearly the 
 whole night before and watched his soldiers admin- 
 ister two hundred stripes to each man. Upon hear- 
 ing this Mr. Hart asked the official to send the head- 
 carpenter to his place as soon as possible and he 
 would pay him whatever wages were due him. That 
 night, at seven o'clock, the man was brought to the 
 Superintendent's residence, borne on a stretcher by 
 several soldiers with a petty officer in charge. The 
 man's head was bandaged and he was groaning as 
 though in great agony. The soldiers tenderly lifted 
 him from the stretcher and tried to seat him — but 
 he could not sit down. He fell helplessly upon his 
 knees and then lay limp over a chair emitting the 
 most pitiful cries and groans. After reckoning up 
 the man's account and paying him, Mr. Hart said 
 
 [ho 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 to the petty officer: "This man, you tell me, has 
 received two hundred blows. He must be dread- 
 fully hurt." "Oh, yes," replied the officer, "he is 
 terribly hurt." "I am a merciful man," continued 
 Mr. Hart. "I cannot see him suffer like this with- 
 out doing something for his relief. Now here with 
 me is a foreign physician. I shall ask him to examine 
 this poor fellow." But the doctor hesitated. He 
 was new to China and its ways, and feared further 
 trouble if he interfered in any way. "Come," said 
 Mr. Hart, "I know something of medicine myself. 
 I will examine him." "But," protested the officer, 
 "this man is very badly injured. He is so sore and 
 bruised that he can scarcely be touched." "I shall 
 be very careful not to hurt him," answered the mis- 
 sionary. He ordered the carpenter to untie his 
 girdle. "Oh, I cannot," he cried, "I cannot; I am so 
 hurt !" "I will untie it for you," said Mr. Hart. In 
 a moment the girdle was off and then the man's 
 clothes — not a scar — not a scratch — not a bruise — 
 not the slightest indication of a blow was found 
 upon his body. It was a masterly piece of stage- 
 acting and official humbug. 
 
 But Mr. Hart's trials in connection with the super- 
 vision of the hospital building did not end with the 
 workmen. Men higher up gave trouble, and graft in 
 a subtle and most aggravating form appeared. Even 
 his native teacher whom he had so implicitly trusted 
 [142] 
 
THE PRIDE OF THE YANGTSE 
 
 was discovered in a conspiracy and had to be dis- 
 missed. The teacher had taken advantage of his 
 position to systematically "squeeze" every one who 
 had anything to do in supplying materials for the 
 building. The man who furnished the brick had to 
 pay him eighty dollars; the man who supplied the 
 timber, twenty dollars; the mason eleven dollars; 
 the plasterer seven dollars; the carpenter two dol- 
 lars ; the man who sold the land five dollars and even 
 the tattered beggar who asked alms at the entrance 
 to the compound had to pay for the privilege to 
 this Chinese Shylock. The Tammany Braves of 
 New York in their halcyon days were but children 
 in comparison with these Nanking grafters. 
 
 Friday, May 28, 1886, was the red-letter day in 
 the early history of the Nanking Methodist Mission. 
 On that day the hospital was opened. Thirteen high 
 Chinese Mandarins graced the occasion by their 
 august presence. Other notable guests were the 
 Honourable Colonel Charles Denby, the United 
 States Minister to China; Mr. E. S. Smithers, the 
 Consular-General of the United States at Shanghai 
 and the Commander and officers of the Marion, an 
 American warship. All these dignitaries came in 
 uniform and were attended by the Marion's brass 
 band. The opening exercises were very simple. An 
 address was given by the Superintendent in Chinese 
 and in English, followed by addresses from the 
 
 [143] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 American Minister and the Consular-General. Then 
 came the banquet. It was probably the first time 
 that any of these Chinese mandarins had ever been 
 seated at a foreign table and their attempts to con- 
 form to Western customs — especially in the use of 
 knives and forks — were most amusing. Imagine 
 their surprise when, contrary to Chinese etiquette, 
 they were placed at the table with ladies — educated 
 and accomplished American ladies, on either side of 
 them. It was an object lesson that could not fail 
 to leave its impression, revealing the possible attain- 
 ments of which their own wives and daughters were 
 being deprived as well as displaying the benefits 
 which their young womanhood might receive by at- 
 tending the mission schools. 
 
 The banquet was followed by a general inspection 
 of the building and grounds. When all was over 
 Colonel Denby said to the Superintendent, "You 
 must be a happy man to have accomplished so 
 much." The Superintendent modestly replied, "I 
 am glad to see what I had undertaken brought to a 
 close." 
 
 Two days after the opening of the hospital, Dr. 
 Beebe, the physician in charge, was called to the 
 home of one of the mandarins who had been present 
 at the ceremony. Two of his wives, after a bitter 
 quarrel, had attempted suicide by taking large quan- 
 [144] 
 
THE PRIDE OF THE YANGTSE 
 
 tities of opium. Without the medical missionary's 
 aid they certainly would have died. Thus the new 
 hospital early began to fulfill its great and holy 
 mission, and those who most opposed it at first were 
 the first to benefit by its gentle ministries. 
 
 [145] 
 
XIII 
 "TURNED BACK' 
 
'Oft when of God we ask 
 For fuller, happier life 
 
 He gives us some new task 
 Involving care and strife." 
 
XIII 
 
 IN the spring of 1887, after four years' absence 
 from his wife and family, Mr. Hart was granted 
 a well-earned furlough by the Missionary Board. 
 In twenty-one years he had only been in America 
 twice. After a farewell dinner and a generous testi- 
 monial given by his fellow-missionaries in Chinki- 
 ang, which greatly touched him, he proceeded to 
 Shanghai. He purchased a ticket for San Francisco, 
 had his baggage put on board, when just as the vessel 
 was about to leave and he was looking forward with 
 boyish glee to seeing his dear ones soon, a message 
 came from Bishop C. H. Fowler informing him of 
 his appointment to the superintendency of the West 
 China Mission, and asking him to go at once to 
 Chungking and re-establish the work which had been 
 so tragically brought to a close recently by anti- 
 foreign riots. For awhile a hard struggle went on 
 within him between his longing to go home and his 
 
 [149] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 sense of duty to the Church, but after a few mo- 
 ments upon his knees the matter was settled, his 
 baggage was taken ashore, his passage-ticket was 
 cancelled, and he immediately began to make prepa- 
 rations for the tedious and perilous journey to 
 Chungking. 
 
 Mr. Hart was accompanied in his journey up the 
 river by three congenial fellow-travellers, the Rev. 
 Ernest Faber, F. R. A. S., an eminent scholar and 
 naturalist and for many years a member of the Rhen- 
 ish Mission of Canton ; Dr. Arthur Morley, a young 
 English physician, and Rev. H. Olin Cady, a newly- 
 appointed Methodist missionary to West China. 
 
 At Hankow, six hundred and fifty miles from 
 the sea, the travellers changed steamers and were 
 enabled to spend a day or two with those distin- 
 guished missionary veterans, Dr. Griffith John and 
 David Hill. 
 
 The steamer on which they embarked at Hankow 
 was the Kiangtung, an antiquated craft that was at 
 great disadvantage in contending with the swift cur- 
 rent of the Upper Yangtse. It was very much like 
 the decrepit Mississippi steamer of which Mark 
 Twain used to speak that stopped every time it blew 
 its whistle. The old boat was a source of consid- 
 erable amusement or irritation according to the 
 changing moods of the passengers. The distance 
 from Hankow to Ichang — the last port of call for 
 
 [150] 
 
steamers on the Yangtse — is one hundred and sixty 
 miles as the crow flies, but on account of the great 
 bends in the river it is three hundred and sixty miles. 
 c The captain told us," says Mr. Hart, "that the 
 trip would take from five to ten days — all depending 
 upon the quantity of water and the frequency of the 
 fogs. Never a word about the good or bad qualities 
 of his worn-out tub. After breakfast I noticed that 
 although the engine wheezed and the hull quaked 
 as if the boat were doing its best, the peasants walk- 
 ing on the bank easily outstripped us; and I began 
 to doubt if ten days could bring us to Ichang. At 
 this moment the engineer came on the front deck 
 and I asked him our present rate of speed and if we 
 had the prospect of continuing it. In my innocence 
 I had fired a bomb and was somewhat startled by 
 the pyrotechnic explosion which followed. He gave 
 me a cynical look, and turned his eyes to the shore 
 as if to see which way we might be going, and try- 
 ing to smile, he said : 'She is doing well, — quite four 
 knots. Why, last year, when the water was high 
 and I had crowded her all I could I found her fall- 
 ing astern when I came on deck. 5 As the engineer 
 was a frank man, I could but believe him, and soon 
 went to my room in disgust, drew the curtains, shut 
 the door, and tried to lose myself in sleep. There is 
 a story that on one occasion when the water was high 
 and the Kiangtung was hugging the shore, she was 
 
 [151] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 found to be falling astern. All hands were called 
 and ordered to grasp the long grass which fringed 
 the shore, and thus pull the boat along; by this 
 means a point was rounded." 
 
 The scenery above Hankow for many miles is 
 most uninteresting. Here and there a green hill to 
 the south rises above the plain to break the dead 
 monotony. Cities and market-towns follow in quick 
 succession, indicating the denseness of the population 
 and the wonderful fertility of the rich alluvial lands 
 behind. Fleets of heavily laden junks, in motion 
 and at anchor, give an appearance of thrift rarely 
 to be seen anywhere else upon the river. Especially 
 is this noticeable near the mouth of the Tungting 
 Lake, the largest lake in China and the centre of a 
 most extensive timber traffic. Four-wheeled wagons 
 drawn by water buffaloes, with wheels made of 
 heavy planks, pegged together and bound by rough 
 circles of iron, creak and groan dismally over roads 
 that no English word can sufficiently describe. 
 
 Forty miles below Ichang the scenery begins to 
 change. Beautiful wooded hills slope to the river 
 while lofty mountains tower in the dim distance. 
 A little further on the hills altogether disappear and 
 give place to the mountains. Not another large 
 valley can be seen until the Chentu plain is reached, 
 seven hundred miles to the west. It is nothing but 
 mountains, mountains, small and large, with now 
 
 [152] 
 
and then a white temple or pagoda or a mud farm- 
 house in a narrow ravine to relieve the eye. 
 
 Mr. Hart and his friends arrived in Ichang on a 
 feast night. The shore was alive with shouting 
 people, firing off loud-reporting fire-crackers. The 
 river for miles was studded with red lights. Illumi- 
 nated sanpans swept past the little steamer, bobbing 
 up and down with the waves and circling round and 
 round in the current in their efforts to light some 
 poor drowned soul out of the darkness of Tartarus. 
 
 Ichang since 1877 has been an open port. It is a 
 small city of less than an hundred thousand, having 
 a foreign settlement of about fifty of which number 
 a dozen at least are missionaries, representing three 
 or four different societies. 
 
 Several days were passed in Ichang by Mr. Hart 
 in the nerve-racking business of searching for a suit- 
 able native boat to take the party up the river to 
 Chungking. After much haggling as to price a 
 fairly good boat was secured. It was about seventy 
 feet long, eleven feet wide, flat-bottomed with four 
 feet draught and thirty tons capacity, low and flat 
 at the bow, high and most grotesquely carved at the 
 stern. The aft half of the boat was enclosed and 
 divided into two compartments, one of which was 
 occupied by the "Loubon" or captain and his family, 
 and the other by the foreign passengers. The bow 
 half of the boat was entirely open through the day 
 
 [153] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 but at night it was covered by bamboo matting under 
 which the crew of some thirty sailors slept, wrapped 
 in their cotton quilts. At the bow was a huge coil 
 of bamboo rope to be used in pulling the boat over 
 the rapids. On each side of the boat was an immense 
 oar or yiulo, requiring from six to eight men to op- 
 erate it. Then projecting over the bow about 
 twenty-five feet or more was a round piece of tim- 
 ber, the purpose of which was to give direction to 
 the boat in negotiating the treacherous rapids — a 
 sort of front rudder. 
 
 In this strange craft our missionaries were to be 
 cooped up for at least a month. When passengers 
 and baggage were aboard the captain went carefully 
 over the boat, examining the mast, the sails, the 
 ropes, the oars and the rice-bins. Everything being 
 in readiness, a chicken was killed as an offering to 
 the river gods and its blood and feathers were 
 smeared upon the bow, sticks of incense were burned, 
 gongs were beaten, the sail was hoisted and the little 
 boat moved out from the anchorage to face the un- 
 certainties of eighty-five rapids. 
 
 The glories of the Upper Yangtse are its gorges. 
 The perils are its rapids. There are at least seven 
 notable gorges ranging in length from four to twenty 
 miles, with walls rising from fifteen hundred to three 
 thousand feet and fashioned by Nature's great Ar- 
 chitect into all kinds of fantastic shapes at the top. 
 
 [154] 
 
The grandeur of these Yangtse gorges cannot be 
 depicted with word or brush. Their precipitous 
 heights are filled with geologic wonders, while from 
 their thin covering of soil a myriad species of trees, 
 shrubs and plants spring forth. 
 
 The upper end of Bellow's Gorge is noted for the 
 remains of works of defence and offence, made 
 eighteen hundred years ago in the war between the 
 Provinces of Szechwan and Hupeh. The people 
 of the latter province invaded the territory of the 
 former but their progress was arrested by huge iron 
 cables stretched across the gorge. The iron posts 
 to which they were fixed may be seen to-day. Noth- 
 ing daunted by this obstruction, Menliang, the Hu- 
 peh commander, drilled holes zigzag up the per- 
 pendicular height seven hundred feet, in which he 
 inserted wooden beams and thus made a ladder by 
 which his men scaled the precipice and surprised and 
 routed their enemies. These holes remain exactly as 
 when drilled, six inches square and fourteen inches 
 deep. Thus Wolfe at Quebec was anticipated and 
 surpassed long centuries before. 
 
 The ascent of the rapids is an experience never 
 to be forgotten. It is more or less invested with 
 risk and is therefore always exciting. The boat veers 
 from side to side, and pitches back and forward, 
 while a man sits by the cabin door beating a small 
 drum as though his very life depended upon it. An- 
 
 [155] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 other man stands at the bow and by signs and shouts 
 gives directions to those on board and ashore. Half- 
 naked men along the shore pull like mules on a 
 rope, sometimes a thousand feet in length. They 
 jump from rock to rock with the agility of squirrels. 
 They creep along narrow ledges hundreds of feet 
 above the water with all the skill of mountain goats. 
 A man called the "whipper" follows the team of 
 trackers. It is his duty at all difficult places to urge 
 the men on. He carries a split bamboo stick and 
 applies it to the rope at the proper time, never or 
 seldom striking a man. He sometimes rushes ahead, 
 kneels down and "kotows" to the team, beats the 
 ground with his stick, runs back and flies along the 
 line like a howling Dervisher as though he would 
 flog every man, but his frantic movements end only 
 in a few blows upon the taut rope and several shrill 
 yells which are caught up by the team. Some of 
 our college football coaches might take lessons from 
 these Chinese whippers. 
 
 There is no labour that is more arduous than 
 tracking and there is no labourer in all the world that 
 is worse paid than the Chinese tracker. From dawn 
 to dusk these poor fellows row or pull, receiving as 
 their reward enough rice to eat, a place upon the 
 hard boat-floor to sleep and two dollrrs at the end 
 of the trip — and yet they are the happiest of men, 
 ever singing as they work. Rudyard Kipling was 
 
 [156] 
 
THE GORGES OF THE UPPER YANGTSE 
 
TURNED 
 
 right when he said that "the yellow clay out of 
 which God made the Chinaman has much iron in it." 
 
 A wreck on the Upper Yangtse is almost an every- 
 day occurrence. Accidents are continually happen- 
 ing among the long lines of slowly ascending and 
 swiftly descending junks. Hundreds of lives is the 
 annual toll of these treacherous waters. It is no 
 uncommon thing to see a boat hanging for an hour 
 in a most perilous position in the rapids. The 
 trackers with swelling veins and set faces tug with 
 every ounce of strength that they possess upon the 
 rope to which the boat is suspended — and yet ap- 
 parently in vain. Let the rope break, or a seam in 
 the boat open, or a sharp, hidden rock pierce the 
 bottom — and another disaster would be added to 
 the long record. It is no wonder that the ignorant, 
 superstitious boatman imagines that these turbulent 
 waters are infested with demons, eager to drag him 
 and his boat down into the deep dark abysses of the 
 river. Believing this it is not surprising then to see 
 him either endeavouring to frighten away these 
 demons of the deep with unearthly yells, the beat- 
 ing of gongs and the firing of guns and crackers, or 
 attempting to propitiate them with offerings of rice 
 and paper cash. 
 
 At dangerous points along the Yangtse the 
 Chinese Government has placed agents of the "Life 
 Saving Association." Their boats patrol the waters 
 
 [157] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 and at their stations are to be found all such neces- 
 saries as clothing, bedding, medicines and coffins. 
 
 Only once in the long ascent of the river did Mr. 
 Hart's party come near having an accident. On 
 nearing Tungling Point, the skipper made a blunder. 
 The swift current caught the vessel and turned it 
 broadside, almost keel over, to the most dangerous 
 part of the rapid. The water came pouring in 
 through doors and windows. The shock was so se- 
 vere that the cargo shifted to one side and every- 
 things was thrown into confusion. Over went ta- 
 bles, chairs, boxes, trunks, crockery and provisions. 
 Doors were broken and bottles smashed. Mr. Hart's 
 teacher and some of the Chinese aboard were par- 
 taking of their breakfast at the time, and when 
 extricated from dishes of rice and cabbage and hot 
 tea they were a sight to remember. The cook-house 
 was the despair of the worthy individual who pre- 
 sided over it. The oven was shattered beyond all 
 repair, ashes, charcoal and flour were hopelessly 
 mixed. The rudder-room was nearly demolished and 
 the old gilded god belonging to the captain was cast 
 from his shelf of honour and was now dangling in a 
 most undignified manner from the side of the boat. 
 Apart from a few sprains and cuts the passengers 
 and crew escaped most marvellously. 
 
 Every three or four miles along the river our mis- 
 sionaries were surprised to see white towers erected 
 
 [158] 
 
in conspicuous places, called "yien-tong," which 
 means "smoke towers." They were signal stations 
 built six centuries before Christ. In those long ago 
 days these little buildings were used for the trans- 
 mission of news. In times of war signals were made 
 by kindling fires in them of wolf ordure, the smoke 
 of which, according to tradition, rose straight into 
 the heavens. These ancient towers are religiously 
 kept in repair and strange to stay still serve the Sze- 
 chwanese as transmitters of news, for attached to 
 them is the modern telegraph wire. 
 
 Almost every day on this long river trip when 
 their boat was waiting its turn to ascend a rapid, 
 Mr. Hart and some of his friends would take walks 
 along the shore or climb the steep paths of the over- 
 hanging mountains. Occasionally they would de- 
 part from the beaten path to botanise or study the 
 geological formations. Many an interesting experi- 
 ence did they have on these little excursions. 
 
 One day they spied a lonely house on a distant 
 ridge and decided to pay it a visit. Upon reaching 
 the place they found two men and a boy scratching 
 about among a handful of stunted vegetables and 
 buckwheat. "They were so much startled at sight 
 of us," says Mr. Hart, "as though beings from the 
 moon had fallen before them ; but a word in Chinese 
 allayed their fear, and they gradually came near to 
 us. My silver watch chain excited their curiosity 
 
 [159] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 and they inquired as to its use. When they caught 
 sight of the watch their wonder exceeded all bounds 
 and they decided that by its aid I could see one 
 thousand li — three hundred miles. When I explained 
 to them that it was a watch, and in motion, they 
 were most incredulous, and gave me a look that 
 plainly said, 'You cannot fool us so easily.' After 
 some persuasion the younger man allowed me to 
 place it at his ear. It was well worth our climb to 
 see the broad grin that broke over his sunburnt face 
 when he heard the tick. Then the old man of sev- 
 enty came up, and finally the small grandson who 
 naturally listened more than once. They followed 
 us as we descended the opposite side of the mountain 
 and directed us to a cold spring flowing from a rock. 
 When the lad observed our awkward mode of drink- 
 ing, he ran to an oil tree and plucked a couple of 
 large leaves from which he deftly fashioned cups. I 
 then tried to shape some cups myself but with no 
 success. At this the little fellow laughed and no 
 doubt congratulated himself that in some things he 
 could excel the man with the 'living clock.' " 
 
 [160] 
 
XIV 
 THE CHINESE TARTARUS 
 
XIV 
 
 THE CHINESE TARTARUS 
 
 WHERE the Upper Yangtse widens, and the 
 perilous rapids are past, and the mountains 
 begin to recede from the shore, is situated one of 
 China's most interesting cities — the City of Fungteu, 
 a place of great historical romance. The picturesque 
 little mount just outside the city walls is literally 
 covered with large and venerable temples, and next 
 to Mount Omei in central Szechwan, is perhaps the 
 greatest religious retreat in the land. A broad, foot- 
 worn, sandstone road, built over a thousand years 
 ago, leads by easy stages from temple to temple. In 
 one temple Mr. Hart saw nine huge serpents, coiled 
 to beams and dangling their heads over the wor- 
 shippers. These serpents were objects of special 
 homage and veneration. But the chief object of 
 worship in Fungteu is Yen lo Wang, the king of the 
 infernal regions, who holds in his power the destiny 
 of every mortal. Before his image all kinds of offer- 
 
 [163] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 ings are placed, such as eyes and arms and feet — all 
 thank offerings for miraculous cures upon such as had 
 besought his aid. In the temple which crowns the 
 brow of this sacred mount is to be found something 
 the like of which is to be seen nowhere else in the 
 world, the permanent incarnation of a goddess — the 
 wife of Yen lo Wang. Accompanied by a ragged 
 troop of Taoist priests, Mr. Hart visited this unique 
 shrine and heard from the lips of his garrulous 
 guides the wonderful story of the goddess. 
 
 Twelve hundred years ago in the glorious days of 
 the Tang, when Buddhism was at its zenith, a fair 
 maiden came to the city of Fungteu from Chungking, 
 to pay her vows to the King of Tartarus. While in 
 the act of worship she lost one of her beautiful ear- 
 rings, exquisitely wrought in fine gold with pearls, 
 emblematic at once of the maiden's purity and of 
 the wealth which could purchase such ornaments. 
 Her distress at this loss was great. Aided by the 
 aged priest who was in attendance at the temple, she 
 carefully searched for the earring but without suc- 
 cess. After the maiden had left the sacred mount 
 the priest found the jewel in the hand of Yen lo 
 Wang, and also received a mysterious revelation to 
 the effect that henceforth the fate of this lovely girl 
 would be bound up with the life of the god. A 
 revelation was made also to the maiden, who told 
 her parents upon reaching home of her loss and of 
 
 [i6 4 ] 
 
THE CHINESE TARTARUS 
 
 how she was to become the spiritual bride of the 
 god. The time of her death had been announced 
 and was now near at hand. When the day ap- 
 proached she was prepared by her friends for her 
 death as for a wedding. She gradually became 
 weaker and weaker as if passing away from disease, 
 when suddenly a tempest arose, so terrific in fury, 
 that the family, overcome with fright, fled from the 
 house, forgetting the dying girl. When the storm 
 was over imagine their surprise upon returning to the 
 house to find that the maiden's body had disap- 
 peared. Then they remembered her words that she 
 was to be the bride of the great god at Fungteu, and 
 they went immediately to his temple to see if that 
 had come true. They found her body in the temple 
 in the possession of the priests, who had recognised it 
 by the earring in their keeping. They declared the 
 body to be spiritualised flesh, which must be en- 
 shrined in the temple as the wife of the god in the 
 spirit world. Her friends then brought beautiful 
 silk and satin robes for the goddess, and gilded her 
 face to preserve it from contamination; and every 
 year since that long-ago time the descendants of the 
 Chens have made pilgrimages to this shrine, bringing 
 richly coloured robes for the goddess, and taking 
 away those of the previous year. 
 
 The wily priests were ready to draw aside the 
 curtain and show the missionary the fair creature — 
 
 [165] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 somewhat in the manner of the priests at Rome who 
 exhibit the portrait of St. Luke painted by himself. 
 Mr. Hart's teacher was particularly curious to see 
 her face and called for a light but the priests at that 
 time became suddenly busy in looking over an illus- 
 trated Gospel which the missionary had given them, 
 and when the teacher continued to persist, they cut 
 the exhibition short and invited their guests to visit 
 the tea and wine saloons in an upper story of the 
 temple. 
 
 In this same interesting temple they entered a 
 room which contained the images of two Taoist 
 genii, who flourished two thousand years ago. The 
 genii are seated at a rustic table, playing chess. One 
 is in the act of making an important move, holding 
 his hand waveringly over the board. An image of 
 a ragged boy stands near with his elbow resting on 
 a tree, supporting his chin with his hand, and watch- 
 ing the game most intently. The story goes that this 
 boy, a wood-chopper, went up into a certain moun- 
 tain near by to cut wood, and found these two genii 
 sitting in a grotto playing chess. One of them gave 
 the boy something in the form of a date-stone. He 
 became oblivious of time and is said to have watched 
 the game for two hundred years or more. At last 
 one of the genii suggested that it was time for him 
 to return to his home; coming to himself he dis- 
 covered that his clothes had rotted away, and his 
 
 [166] 
 
THE CHINESE TARTARUS 
 
 hatchet was consumed with rust. When he made 
 his advent into his native village, like Rip Van Win- 
 kle, he found that the world had not been asleep in 
 his absence; and seeing himself a stranger, lost in 
 such surroundings, he hurried back to the mountain 
 and became a famous Taoist recluse, and is now 
 honoured by the Chinese as a god. 
 
 For many centuries the superstitious Chinese have 
 believed that Hades or Purgatory is under or near 
 this famous mount at Fungteu. The West Gate of 
 the city, Mr. Hart was told, was once sealed to keep 
 out the prowling evil spirits who came forth from 
 their subterranean caverns to inflict injuries upon 
 any who might venture to travel the roads in this 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 A legend relates that during the fifteenth century 
 an official from Chungking was appointed magistrate 
 of Fungteu. He came down the river with his flag 
 flying, and went into port, but was amazed to find 
 anchored near by, a boat similar to his own, with a 
 flag of the same grade, thus announcing that the offi- 
 cial on board was magistrate of Fungteu. "How 
 can this be?" thought he. "Am I relieved before 
 reaching my post, or has some one imposed upon 
 me?" He sent his card to the other boat and re- 
 quested an interview, that he might understand the 
 reason of what he saw. He was politely received 
 and informed that the occupant was indeed the mag- 
 
 [167] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 istrate of Fungteu, but of the invisible city below! 
 He was invited to visit Tartarus and promised to 
 do so on a certain date. At the appointed time for 
 the visit, the West Gate was unsealed by order of 
 the magistrate, which brought forth many pro- 
 tests from the citizens; but his commands were en- 
 forced, and his chair-bearers and escort started upon 
 what they considered a most perilous undertaking. 
 They had not proceeded far beyond the gate when 
 the heavens became lurid. Unseen beings pressed 
 upon them and became so furious that the chair- 
 bearers dropped their load and ran away in terror. 
 On foot, the courageous magistrate marched to the 
 cavern alone, presented his card, which was received 
 by the magistrate of the nether regions. He was 
 taken by the spirit-guards, blind-folded, and con- 
 ducted through the dark prisons where untried spirits 
 waited for punishment or release. He was led into 
 the presence of the magistrate and his eyes unband- 
 aged. But how changed the magistrate was now! 
 How august and terrible! As he was leaving, to 
 return to the upper city, the King of Tartarus made 
 the reasonable request that any surplus chains he 
 might have should be sent below, as his were badly 
 rusted and insufficient for present uses. 
 
 In concluding his account of his intensely inter- 
 esting stay at Fungteu, our missionary says that 
 
 [168] 
 
THE CHINESE TARTARUS 
 
 the only evidence he had had of the proximity of 
 Tartarus was that when he was returning to his boat, 
 after distributing large quantities of religious litera- 
 ture among the people, he was followed by a crowd 
 of vagabonds, hooting and throwing mud and gravel. 
 
 [169] 
 
XV 
 "THE SEDUCTIVE VIPER' 
 
"On every hand are waving fields of poppy-white, pink, 
 and dark-purple flowers. Beautiful sight ! But so sad to 
 reflect that every head will help to kill some poor China- 
 man!" 
 
 Letter to Mrs. Hart. 
 
XV 
 
 IN ascending the Yangtse from Ichang to Fung- 
 teu, while Mr. Hart was deeply impressed with 
 the wonders and beauties of Nature, he was more 
 deeply impressed with the physical condition of the 
 people. It was a revelation to him. 
 
 "The sallow complexion of the people," he writes, 
 "their emaciated forms and languid movements, at- 
 tract our attention everywhere along the river. I 
 do not see a beautiful face or figure, nor a rosy 
 cheek; a dead leaden colour is in all faces, old and 
 young, male and female. Upon the mountain sides 
 are hundreds of labourers; approach these busy men 
 and you will see this death-like pallor upon their 
 faces. The climate seems the acme of perfection — a 
 long, pleasant summer with a cool, agreeable autumn 
 and bracing winter. There is plenty of food, and 
 of excellent quality for China — rice, millet, wheat, 
 peas, beans, corn, oils and fruits of many varieties 
 
 [173] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 — all within the reach of the humblest. Yet there 
 is a want of energy and life among the people. I 
 enter a large field near a hamlet, by the side of a 
 luxuriant growth of ripening wheat. The field is 
 clean, not a weed visible ; but close together and four 
 feet high stand stalks with large dry heads, brown 
 and decaying now, for their bright flowers faded a 
 month ago. These decaying stalks speak. They tell 
 me why the death pallor is upon all faces, from the 
 shrivelled form of age to the misshapen child sit- 
 ting in the cottage door. Oh, seductive viper ! Curse 
 of millions! Who shall dare to stand up in the 
 presence of this fast fading, degenerating people and 
 say the evil is not wide-spread and fatal?" 
 
 Mr. Hart had seen the terrible effects of the opium 
 traffic in the provinces of the lower Yangtse, but 
 never had he seen anything to equal what he saw 
 in the Province of Szechwan. He saw the best and 
 most fertile lands in the valleys and on the hillsides 
 withdrawn from the cultivation of cereals and vege- 
 tables and given to the exclusive cultivation of the 
 gorgeous, but poisonous, poppy. So increasingly 
 great was the acreage devoted to this purpose that 
 the prices of foodstuffs were rapidly rising; in fact, 
 in some parts they had already reached the prohibi- 
 tive stage. It is said that one-third of the opium 
 produced in China, previous to the famous edict of 
 1906, restricting its culture, was grown in Szechwan 
 
 [174] 
 
SEDUCTIVE 
 
 and that more than one-half of the men and about 
 one-third of the women in this province were 
 habitues of the deadly pipe. 
 
 We speak of the evils of the Liquor Traffic in 
 Great Britain, Canada and the United States, but 
 the Opium Traffic has proved a greater curse to 
 China than strong drink ever has to the countries 
 mentioned. 
 
 The opium pipe has a peculiar fascination for 
 the Chinese because their lives are so bare of inter- 
 est. To millions it is a relief from the dullness and 
 weariness which prevail everywhere in all classes 
 of society. "A month's travel by sedan chair," says 
 Dr. E. A. Ross, "gave me some light on why the 
 coolie hankers for his pipe. Our chair and baggage 
 coolies took with them no wrap, nor change of cloth- 
 ing, and eight successive days of rain brought them 
 to a state of utter misery. After twelve hours of 
 splashing and slipping up and down the mountain 
 roads and fording swollen torrents in a cold drizzle 
 under a weight of from seventy to ninety pounds 
 they would come at evening utterly exhausted to a 
 cheerless, comfortless Chinese inn. No fire, no cloth- 
 ing save two soaked cotton garments; no bed save 
 a brick kang with a ragged mat on it; no blankets. 
 For supper nothing but rice and bean curd or maca- 
 roni. What wonder that after eating, the poor fel- 
 low curled up on the mat with the tiny lamp be- 
 
 [175] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 side him, rolled the black bead and sucked the thick 
 smoke till he passed beyond the reach of cold, dis- 
 comfort and weariness !" 
 
 One of the saddest features in connection with 
 the opium curse in China is the conspicuous part 
 which professedly Christian countries have taken in 
 its encouragement. There is nothing to show in his- 
 tory that the juice of the poppy was valued in China 
 for anything but its medicinal properties until the 
 empire began to have trade relations, first with the 
 Portuguese and then with the English in the eigh- 
 teenth century. For half a century, in spite of the 
 protests of the Chinese Government and the havoc 
 that it was creating in the land, the British East 
 India Company continued to smuggle its Bengal 
 opium into various parts of China. In 1840 the 
 Chinese Emperor became so alarmed at the prev- 
 alence of the habit that he appointed a man by the 
 name of Lin as a special Imperial Commissioner to 
 take what steps he could to put an end to the nefari- 
 ous traffic. Lin's efforts in Canton brought him 
 into collision with the English traders, and his con- 
 fiscation of twenty thousand chests of opium precipi- 
 tated the first Opium War. British gunboats 
 went up China's rivers and along her coasts, burn- 
 ing junks, destroying fortifications and slaughtering 
 soldiers, until helpless to resist any longer the Chi- 
 nese were compelled to yield and make all the con- 
 
 [176] 
 
SEDUCTIVE 
 
 cessions that the victors demanded. In 1857 came 
 the second Opium War, which resulted in the Treaty 
 of Tientsin, when China was forced to legalise the 
 accursed traffic and guarantee protection to the hated 
 foreign trafficker. Until this time the Chinese Gov- 
 ernment had not tolerated the cultivation of the 
 poppy plant, but now rather than see the country 
 drained of silver to buy of India a narcotic that can 
 easily be produced on the soil of China, the Govern- 
 ment removed its restriction, and the poppy spread 
 with such great rapidity that by the beginning of the 
 twentieth century six-sevenths of the drug con- 
 sumed by the Chinese was native grown and the 
 quantity used was seventy times as much as was 
 used one hundred years before. 
 
 In her dealings with other nations Great Britain 
 has won the enviable reputation of being most fair 
 and honourable, but the opium trade with China 
 stands out as a hideous exception. It is a deep, dark, 
 damnable blot upon her name, where the good of 
 the weak was deliberately and cruelly sacrificed to 
 the commercial interests of the strong. It is a mat- 
 ter of satisfaction now to know that in the titanic 
 struggle upon which China has recently entered to 
 free herself from the slavery of opium she has been 
 assured of the sympathetic co-operation and support 
 of the nation that inflicted upon her her greatest 
 wrong. 
 
 [177] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 What a brave and successful fight China has been 
 waging against opium! It is without question the 
 most extensive and the most relentless warfare on 
 a vicious personal habit that the world has ever 
 known. By 1917 she hopes to see the end of the 
 growth, sale and consumption of the evil. To this 
 purpose much blood has been shed and property 
 destroyed. So loyally and thoroughly have some 
 viceroys entered into this patriotic movement that 
 in their provinces to-day there scarcely remains a 
 poppy leaf. China has awakened to the fact that 
 there is no hope for her among the nations of the 
 world, unless she wins the victory. May that vic- 
 tory be complete and permanent ! 
 
 While China is in a life and death struggle for 
 national existence, for the moral and physical regen- 
 eration of her people; what shall we say of those 
 American and British business firms who can take 
 advantage of such a crisis to push in every city and 
 hamlet throughout the land the sale of cigarettes 
 and intoxicating liquors, and even in foreign con- 
 cessions like Shanghai, where the foreigner is beyond 
 Chinese control, to traffic in the forbidden drug! 
 What a sad commentary upon our boasted Western 
 civilisation when the Chinese reformer is compelled 
 for purposes of self-preservation not only to form 
 anti-opium, but anti-cigarette and anti-alcoholic 
 leagues ! 
 
 [178] 
 
XVI 
 THE RE-ESTABLISHED MISSION 
 
XVI 
 
 THE RE-ESTABLISHED MISSION 
 
 THROUGH the generosity of the Rev. J. F. 
 Goucher, D.D., the well-known educationist 
 of Baltimore, the Methodist Episcopal Church was 
 enabled to open a mission in West China in the year 
 1882, and the Rev. L. N. Wheeler, D.D., formerly 
 Superintendent of the North China Methodist Mis- 
 sion, was asked to lead the new undertaking. The 
 City of Chungking, in the Province of Szechwan, 
 with its seven hundred thousand inhabitants, was 
 selected as the headquarters of the new mission. 
 Chungking stands in the same relation to West China 
 as Hankow does to the Central Provinces. It is 
 the great distributing point for the upper river, and 
 through it passes the traffic of sixty millions of peo- 
 ple with the outside world. 
 
 After many months of property-hunting, Dr. 
 Wheeler succeeded in purchasing within the city a 
 favourable site. The old Chinese buildings which 
 
 [181] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 stood upon it were repaired and used for chapel, 
 school and residential purposes. From the opening 
 of the work the interest was widespread and crowds 
 attended the Sunday services. In 1886 a fine new 
 property was purchased three miles from the city 
 upon the main road leading to Chentu. Here they 
 intended to build residences, a hospital, a chapel 
 and boys' and girls' schools. Shortly after the 
 buildings had been commenced, the military students 
 came up to Chungking for their triennial examina- 
 tions, and as they were anti-foreign in spirit, soon 
 set afloat all sorts of absurd rumours about the newly 
 acquired mission property. The new houses, they 
 declared, were to be forts from which cannon would 
 be turned upon the city to destroy it. They pre- 
 tended to have found a book which told of a dragon 
 whose head was in one river and whose tail was in 
 another, a mile away. The mission buildings, they 
 stated, were located exactly upon the dragon's neck 
 and were crushing him, and if building operations 
 did not cease, dire calamities would follow, such 
 as drought, famine and pestilence. The result of 
 such inflammatory statements was a fierce riot last- 
 ing for several days, in which all mission buildings — 
 Protestant and Roman Catholic — were looted and 
 destroyed, and all the foreign missionaries, after 
 suffering many indignities, were driven out. To 
 secure indemnity from the Chinese Government for 
 
 [182] 
 
THE RE-ESTABLISHED MISSION 
 
 all the losses sustained by the Methodist missionaries 
 and to re-establish the work, was the task assigned to 
 Mr. Hart by Bishop Fowler. 
 
 Early one May morning in 1887 the junk con- 
 taining the missionary and his party entered the 
 anchorage of Chungking. They had hoped that their 
 arrival had not been observed, for it was the Sabbath 
 and they wished to be quiet, but the Chungking small 
 boy is as ubiquitous and inquisitive as is his brother 
 anywhere else, and it was not long before a crowd 
 of gaping, little fellows had collected on the bank 
 and had tried all manner of means to gratify their 
 curiosity by getting a good, square look at the for- 
 eigners. In a short while nearly everybody in the 
 city had learned of their coming and the small boys 
 on the bank were strongly reinforced by equally curi- 
 ous men and women of all classes and descriptions. 
 The thought plainly written upon their countenances 
 was, "These foreigners are queer beings. We mob 
 and drive them away, as we did a few months ago. 
 We burn their houses and destroy their goods only 
 to see others come and take their places." 
 
 Elbowing their way through the crowd came the 
 secretaries of the Taotai of the city, who demanded 
 their passports and inquired as to their future move- 
 ments. A native preacher who had given the former 
 missionaries no little trouble, and who had feathered 
 his nest during and after the riots by selling the 
 
 [183] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 property of the mission which had escaped destruc- 
 tion, came aboard and meekly sought an interview. 
 His story was a long and pathetic one of how he had 
 been persecuted and punished by the officials for his 
 loyalty to the cause and his desire to protect the 
 property of the unfortunate missionaries. So over- 
 come was he with emotion in telling his story that 
 he burst into almost uncontrollable weeping. Mr. 
 Hart quickly closed the interview and bade the ly- 
 ing, thieving rascal depart and compose himself. 
 
 The first business of the new Superintendent was 
 to rent a suitable dwelling. His native teacher 
 scoured the city for several days and finally reported 
 some houses near the old mission property that had 
 been destroyed. Mr. Hart writes, "Being anxious 
 to keep in advance of reports and head off any 
 schemes that the officials might have, I went immedi- 
 ately to inspect them. Rambling over damp, mouldy 
 and decaying residences to find one fit to live in is 
 not agreeable, but at last a bargain was struck with 
 the degenerate scion of the Loh family for three 
 hundred dollars a year, including heavy furniture." 
 This ancient mansion, though it was the best avail- 
 able, had not a single bright room in it — every room 
 was dark, badly ventilated, damp and sepulchral. 
 It had to do, however, until more comfortable for- 
 eign-built houses were erected. Upon renting the 
 house, the Taotai was duly notified and politely 
 
 [i8 4 ] 
 
THE RE-ESTABLISHED MISSION 
 
 requested to issue a proclamation stating to the good 
 people of the city that the missionaries were among 
 them again. The Taotai graciously complied with 
 the request and shortly a proclamation reading some- 
 thing like this was pasted on a large board and placed 
 at the front gate of the missionaries' residence : 
 
 "This Edict is published to make you acquainted 
 that Rev. Mr. Hart, of America, and others are so- 
 journing in Chungking. Wherever they may have 
 their dwelling, it is reasonable and just that they 
 should be respected. Having issued this Edict I 
 expect that soldiers and civilians — all classes — will 
 make its acquaintance. If after its issue there shall 
 be any loafers at the place, sitting or lying around, 
 using uproarious language, or should there be idlers 
 and drunkards making trouble, they shall be pun- 
 ished severely and not pardoned. Let each one 
 tremblingly obey and by no means dare to rebel 
 against this special Edict. Thirteenth year of 
 Kwang Su, Fourth Moon, Sixth Day. 
 
 "Be certain to paste this upon the dwelling of the 
 American teachers that all may be notified. 5 ' 
 
 This was not a bad proclamation after all to come 
 from the hand of one who with one or two other 
 local officials had really inspired the rioting and the 
 looting done by the populace a few months before 
 in the anti-foreign disturbances. Such is the irony 
 of fate ! 
 
 Two weeks after their arrival in Chungking, Mr. 
 
 [185] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 Faber engaged a native boat to take him to the City 
 of Kiating, on the river Min, a tributary of the 
 Yangtse, three hundred miles distant. From thence 
 he was to proceed to the cool shades of Mount Omei 
 for a few weeks of study and rest. It was decided 
 that Mr. Hart and Dr. Morley, a month later, 
 should go overland in sedan chairs to Chengtu, 
 the capital of the province, and from Chengtu, by 
 water and chair, to Mount Omei and there join Mr. 
 Faber. 
 
 The journey was undertaken for several reasons, 
 the chief of which were to mingle among the people 
 throughout the populous districts and test their pres- 
 ent temper and attitude towards foreigners; to ob- 
 tain as much knowledge as possible of the country 
 and of those centres, particularly, that might likely 
 be occupied by Methodist and other denominations 
 as mission stations; to disseminate religious litera- 
 ture; and to satisfy a longing to see the provincial 
 capital and the far-famed "Glory of Buddha" on 
 the top of Omei. 
 
 On the morning of June 27, after bidding farewell 
 to Mr. Cady, who was left to hold the fort at all 
 cost, Mr. Hart and Dr. Morley began their over- 
 land journey. Besides their chair-bearers were cool- 
 ies carrying large baskets crammed with choice 
 tracts and Gospels for distribution along the way, 
 and an escort of soldiers which the Taotai insisted 
 
 [186] 
 
THE RE-ESTABLISHED MISSION 
 
 they must have to afford them protection. It was 
 quite an imposing little procession that passed out 
 of Chungking Westward into the country — the escort 
 at the head, screaming and swaggering and clearing 
 the way, greatly purled up with the importance of 
 their new mission. The highway that they traversed 
 was one of the best in China — wide, well-paved 
 and busy. They rode through groves of pine and 
 past orange and mulberry orchards; through endless 
 fields of millet and rice ; through large market towns 
 at intervals of ten miles with scores of hamlets and 
 villages between. Spanning the road at conspicu- 
 ous points were massive stone arches erected to the 
 memory of virtuous widows who had died honoured 
 and beloved by their families and neighbours. 
 
 At a place called Lung Chang the travellers left 
 the main road to visit the brine wells at Tzeliutsing, 
 two days' journey distant. As this new road was 
 considered unsafe the escort was materially strength- 
 ened. Strong gaseous odours emitted from the 
 streams that they crossed indicated their proximity 
 to Tzeliutsing, a city that eclipses Rome in the num- 
 ber of hills upon which it is built. Some of the hills 
 were so steep that the streets seemed almost per- 
 pendicular. There are few busier cities in China 
 than this city. The streets are thronged at all hours 
 of the day with pushing, bustling, wide-awake peo- 
 ple, all intent after the making of money. Squad 
 
 ri8 7 ] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 after squad of salt carriers are met at every turn in 
 the narrow streets, made still more narrow by piles 
 of bamboo poles intended to be used as brine and 
 gas conductors. 
 
 "I had sent my teacher ahead to secure lodgings 
 for the night," writes Mr. Hart, "and as we reached 
 the centre of the city he made his appearance much 
 excited because the hotels had refused to receive 
 foreigners, fearing that the rush of people who would 
 gather to see them would injure their business. A 
 halt was made in the square, where several streets 
 converged and a council held. While we debated 
 the measures to be adopted, the crowd momentarily 
 increased and became somewhat excited. Just then 
 the bright idea of marching our exhausted coolies 
 half a mile up the steep hill to the branch magis- 
 terial office, flashed through the head of our Honan 
 teacher. The order was given, and with many 
 groans and curses our jaded men lifted their heavy 
 burdens to their shoulders, and with the aid of our 
 escort a path was made through the dense crowd. 
 The street was closely packed with sight-seers all 
 the way to the Yamen, and when the outer court 
 was reached an unruly mob took full possession of 
 it, leaving little space for our chairs. We sent our 
 cards to the magistrate and when a proper time 
 had elapsed and we received no answer, our teacher 
 and the escort threw open the great doors to the guest 
 
 [188] 
 
THE RE-ESTABLISHED MISSION 
 
 hall, conducted us in with much ceremony, and 
 bolted the doors behind us in the faces of the mob. 
 The menials about the Yamen were no less surprised 
 than the clamouring crowd outside by this sudden 
 and successful manoeuvre. As usual, on such occasions, 
 the official was 'not in town,' though probably not 
 twenty paces from us. Meanwhile we occupied seats 
 in the cool guest-hall as composedly as if in a way- 
 side tea-shop, laughing inwardly at the turn affairs 
 had taken through the stubborness of the inn-keep- 
 ers and the unnecessary fright of our teacher and 
 the escort. The din of many voices resounded from 
 the outer court, while the secretary and underlings 
 rushed in and out receiving instructions from the 
 absent official. Tea was brought and we sipped it 
 leisurely while keeping up a running conversation 
 with the secretary and the teacher. The latter was 
 determined to carry things with a high hand, and 
 insisted that the guest-hall should be turned into a 
 bed and dining-room for the distinguished guests. 
 The secretary pleaded that it was impossible and that 
 they were greatly alarmed for our safety. As the 
 officials had volunteered to give us protection on the 
 journey, and were rather jealous of the prerogative, 
 my mind was very easy, knowing full well that hav- 
 ing possession of the Yamen a hotel would be se- 
 cured in due time. Finally a messenger was des- 
 patched by the secretary to the largest tea-shop to 
 
 [189] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 have the best room put at our disposal. There was 
 a sudden parade of soldiers through the crowded 
 streets, and in their wake we followed — triumphant. 
 When we reached the inn the proprietor, now in his 
 right mind, met us at the door with all his blandish- 
 ments of manner." Thus that exciting first night in 
 Tzeliutsing happily closed. 
 
 The next day Mr. Hart and Dr. Morley visited 
 the salt wells for which this place is deservedly 
 famous. For nearly two thousand years many of 
 these wells have been in operation and not a few 
 of them have remained in the control of the same 
 family during all that time. The owner of one of 
 the large salt establishments was asked how long he 
 had been in the business. He laughed heartily, and 
 replied with dignity, "For twenty generations, sir!" 
 Several of the wells are from three to five thousand 
 feet in depth. Mr. Hart stood at the mouth of 
 one well and measured the rope that was attached 
 to a descending bamboo tube and found that it 
 measured, exactly, three thousand, three hundred 
 and sixty-six feet. It seems incredible that these na- 
 tive Szechwanese, with their clumsy bamboo drills, 
 can bore to such great depths — depths that have as 
 yet baffled the more scientific Westerner. 
 
 It is an interesting sight to watch the water- 
 buffaloes — some half-dozen — each with his shouting 
 driver, pull the long bamboo tubes or buckets up 
 [190] 
 
THE RE-ESTABLISHED MISSION 
 
 from the depths of the well. The rope is wound 
 about a huge drum-like wheel or cylinder, located 
 a few yards from the derrick from which the tube 
 is suspended. At first the buffaloes strain and tug 
 at the rope; then they walk and finally break into a 
 trot, stopping as the tube appears at the top. While 
 the brine is being emptied into a large vat, the 
 buffaloes are detached and perhaps exchanged for 
 fresh ones. In a few minutes the tube is ready for 
 another descent. Down it goes as fast as the rope 
 can unwind itself from the flying cylinder. Hardly 
 does it reach the bottom when the buffaloes are again 
 hitched to the rope and another tubeful of frothy 
 brine is on its way up to the vat. Though the buffa- 
 loes are given a rest after each second or third pull, 
 the men employed at the well are compelled to 
 labour often twenty-four hours at a stretch before 
 they are relieved. 
 
 Side by side with these marvellous brine-wells, 
 and reaching to similar depths, are what the natives 
 call "fire-wells." The gas which they supply is con- 
 fined in great reservoirs and is distributed to the 
 various factories as needed by means of very rude 
 appliances. It is utilised in large quantities for boil- 
 ing the salt and providing light. 
 
 Four days of further journeying from Tzeliut- 
 sing, over a lofty mountain range and down into 
 the fertile valley that skirts the beautiful river Min, 
 
 [191] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 brought our missionary and his friend to the city of 
 Chengtu, the greatest of all the cities in Western 
 China. As far back as the thirteenth century, 
 Marco Polo, the famous Venetian traveller, visited 
 it and found it "very great and exceeding rich." 
 
 Commercially and educationally Chengtu has few 
 rivals in China. It possesses many ancient and beau- 
 tiful temples and monasteries; is the burial place of 
 one of the early emperors and the birth place of 
 one of the three greatest Chinese philosophers — Lao 
 tsz, the founder of Taoism, one of China's popular 
 religions. Within the city walls are two other walled 
 enclosures, the Imperial City and the Manchu City. 
 Outside its gates there stretches for a hundred miles 
 or more one of the most fertile spots on the earth and 
 one of the most thickly populated. A system of 
 irrigation, two hundred years older than the Chris- 
 tian Era, keeps the plain from all danger of drouth 
 and ensures a succession of vast crops of rice and 
 other valuable cereals. 
 
 Mr. Hart's first impressions of Chengtu were 
 rather disappointing, probably due to the fact that 
 he arrived late in the afternoon of an exceedingly 
 hot day and that he proceeded along a most malo- 
 dorous street to an equally malodorous inn, though 
 it bore the reputation of being the best in the city. 
 So foul were his apartments that he sent for a load 
 of lime to sprinkle over the floors, and a load of 
 [192] 
 
THE RE-ESTABLISHED MISSION 
 
 mud to plaster over the rat holes. This may have 
 been the very same inn at which Mr. Hosie, the 
 British Consular General, stayed some years before, 
 and in which he found these appropriate lines scrib- 
 bled upon the walls : 
 
 "Within this room you'll find the rats 
 At least a goodly score; 
 Three catties each they're bound to weigh, 
 Or e'en a little more. 
 
 "At night you'll find a myriad bugs 
 That smell and crawl and bite; 
 If doubtful of the truth of this, 
 Get up and strike a light." 
 
 Mr. Hosie, thinking that this description of a 
 Szechwanese inn erred on the side of leniency, added 
 a verse of his own : 
 
 "Within, without, vile odours dense 
 Assail the unwary nose; 
 Behind the grunter squeaks and squeals 
 And baffles all repose. 
 Add clouds of tiny, buzzing things, 
 Mosquitoes — if you please, 
 Why, bless me! there are fleas." 
 
 The next city included in Mr. Hart's itinerary 
 was Kiating, one hundred and twenty miles to the 
 south of Chengtu. This city was reached by a small 
 native boat borne upon the swift-flowing waters of 
 
 [193] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 the Min. Kiating, in Chinese, means the "City of 
 Delights." It is a name well bestowed. Those who 
 have travelled in many lands declare that the view 
 obtained from the hill on which the city is built is 
 as fine as any to be seen in any city of the world. 
 
 Across the river from Kiating are lofty sandstone 
 bluffs honeycombed with curious and spacious caves, 
 carved out of the solid rock by the Mantzs — the 
 original inhabitants of this part of China. Here 
 also in a deep rock-recess is to be seen the most 
 gigantic piece of sculpture in the world, the famous 
 carved Mileh Buddha. The statue is in a sitting 
 posture and is three hundred and sixty feet high. 
 The circumference of the head is a hundred feet and 
 the length of the face is sixty feet. It was designed 
 by a Buddhist priest in the early part of the eighth 
 century and took nineteen years to carve. On either 
 side of the god are guards of colossal size and finely 
 chiselled. To those not versed in Buddhist lore 
 a brief explanation as to whom Mileh Buddha is 
 may not be amiss. Mileh occupies one of the seats 
 of the mighty in the Buddhist Pantheon. He was 
 the most important personage among the disciples 
 of the great Gautama, and was appointed by the 
 princely Sage to be his successor and to appear as 
 Buddha after five thousand years. He is, therefore, 
 the expected Messiah of the Buddhists, residing at 
 
 [194] 
 
THE RE-ESTABLISHED MISSION 
 
 present in Fuchita from which exalted place he 
 directs the propagation of the Buddhist faith. He 
 is the personification of charity and from the broad 
 smile which appears upon his imaged face he has 
 often been called the "Laughing Buddha." 
 
 [195] 
 
XVII 
 "ONE STEP FROM HEAVEN" 
 
XVII 
 
 "one step from heaven" 
 
 WHAT Mecca is to the Mohammedan, Mount 
 Omei is to the Chinese Buddhist. It is the 
 resort, annually, of millions of pilgrims who come 
 from all parts of China and its outlying divisions, 
 particularly Thibet. To the devout Buddhist its 
 seventy monasteries, its hundreds of temples and 
 shrines, its numerous marvels and sacred relics, its 
 cloud-enveloped summit, towering eleven thousand 
 feet above the sea and from which may be seen the 
 "Glory of Buddha," make it the most precious spot 
 upon earth — to use the words of the Buddhist, it is 
 but "one step from Heaven" 
 
 For many years Mr. Hart, who was steeped in 
 Chinese religious lore, had been anxious to see this 
 holy mountain which had figured so largely for cen- 
 turies in fable and story. While at Kiating the 
 coveted opportunity was afforded him of gratifying 
 his desire. 
 
 [199] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 With chair-coolies and baggage men, he and Dr. 
 Morley started early on the fifteenth of July. On 
 the evening of the same day they reached Omei 
 Hsien, a superbly romantic little city, nestling at the 
 foot of the mountain. They found all the public 
 houses in the place crowded with pilgrims. So taxed 
 were the accommodations that they were only able, 
 after much persuasion, to get sufficient room in one 
 inn to spread their beds upon the floor. Some of the 
 pilgrims whom they met had walked a thousand 
 miles and more to Mount Omei. One man, a dig- 
 nified old priest, footsore and weary, had come all 
 the way from Peking. He had been months on 
 the journey and had carried all his earthly treasures 
 neatly packed in two bundles suspended from the 
 ends of a long "carrying-pole." Mr. Hart's teacher 
 — something of a wag — noticing that every pilgrim 
 carried a yellow incense bag, the contents of which 
 would be burned reverently in some temple or shrine, 
 purchased one, too, but alas ! he devoted it to a less 
 holy purpose. To the astonishment of his foreign 
 friends as well as to the natives he irreverently used 
 it to hold his pipe and tobacco. 
 
 With high expectations, at sunrise the next day, 
 Mr. Hart and Dr. Morley joined the stream of pil- 
 grims who were to begin the long and difficult 
 ascent of Mount Omei. The pilgrims were of all 
 ages and classes in society. Many of them were 
 [200] 
 
FROM 
 
 women. Each pilgrim was provided with a stout 
 staff for climbing. These staves were quaintly 
 carved at the top with a figure of a dragon or a 
 tiger. It is the correct thing after the pilgrimage 
 is performed to have the staff painted red and black 
 and gold and preserved as a sacred souvenir. Beg- 
 gars, young and old, were out in force this hot sum- 
 mer morning, and posted at their accustomed places 
 along the road told their piteous tales to the pas- 
 sers-by. The scenery was simply grand, becoming 
 more and more beautiful as they left the plain. 
 Charming crystal streams, shaded by arching wil- 
 lows, were crossed on long, narrow bridges over 
 which only one person could safely pass at a time. 
 Some of these bridges were ornamented at the centre 
 with huge dragons, the heads of which would face 
 up stream while the tails would project from the 
 other side of the bridge. These dragons were there 
 for more than decorative purposes. They were 
 guards to ward off evil spirits. The dragon and the 
 tiger in China are popular symbols of power — and 
 both of these symbols are much in evidence on Mount 
 Omei. There are at least a dozen shrines where 
 fierce-looking images of tigers stand half way out 
 of the doors as though they were weary of the role 
 that they were playing as protectors and were con- 
 templating a raid upon the worshippers. 
 
 The ascent of the mountain is by continuous 
 
 [201] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 flights of steps, cut into the solid rock. In one 
 flight alone there are twelve hundred steps. Here 
 and there huge Banyan trees stretch their giant arms 
 across the steep, rocky paths to give grateful shade 
 and rest to the poor chair-coolies as they toil up the 
 interminable steps with their human freight. What 
 marvels of strength and endurance these chair-men 
 are! What nerves of iron some of them possess! 
 The usual method of carriage on Mount Omei is 
 to sit on a wooden perch attached to the shoulders 
 of a coolie. The story is told of how an American 
 traveller had been carried up to the summit in this 
 way. At one point the coolie stopped on the edge of 
 a precipice to take a little rest and suddenly stooped 
 down, so that the American hung over the abyss. On 
 his uttering a remonstrance, the coolie remarked 
 quite unconcernedly, "Have no fear! I am only 
 picking up a pebble with my toes." He was stand- 
 ing on one leg ! 
 
 Ten miles from Omei Hsien our travellers entered 
 a wild ravine, down which plunged a mad torrent, 
 cutting deeper and deeper, now wider, now narrower, 
 into the limestone ledges, bending this way and 
 that through one of the most romantic gorges imag- 
 inable. Not far from the head of this gorge sur- 
 rounded by dense groves, alive with singing birds, 
 and approached by three hundred broad stone steps, 
 stood the "Shen-Wan-Men-Sz," — the Holy Monas- 
 [202] 
 
STEP FROM 
 
 tery of a Myriad Years. Here in this beautiful re- 
 treat they were welcomed by Mr. Faber from whom 
 they had parted at Chungking six weeks before. 
 Some young priests hospitably supplied them with 
 cups of hot tea and later conducted them to com- 
 fortable apartments which they were to occupy dur- 
 ing their stay on the mountain. 
 
 Long before daylight of the next day, sounds of 
 sonorous bells and the beating of drums, calling the 
 monks to their morning orisons, awakened the for- 
 eign guests of the monastery. They arose and before 
 breakfast made a circuit of the venerable pile ren- 
 dered sacred by eight centuries of worship and 
 famous by the visits and the costly gifts of emper- 
 ors, kings and feudal princes. What Mr. Hart saw 
 that glorious July morning from the monastery 
 height left an indelible impress upon his mind. "It 
 would seem," he writes, "that the Creator could have 
 added nothing more to bring all the surroundings 
 into harmonious beauty. The towering mountains, 
 the gently sloping spurs, the ledges and pali- 
 sades, the cool streams, the myriads of songsters, 
 the long line of ascending pilgrims, looking like 
 ants in the distance, bewilder the imagination. 
 Like the Queen of Sheba, we feel that there is no 
 more spirit in us. 'It was a true report that I heard 
 in mine own land . , . Howbeit I believed not the 
 
 C 2 °3] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 words until I came, and mine eyes had seen it; and 
 behold the half was not told me.' " 
 
 Among the many curious objects that attract the 
 interest of the visitor at Mount Omei is a fifteen- 
 storied pagoda, well-executed in bronze and about 
 thirty feet in height. Each story displays a large 
 number of images of different and intricate designs. 
 There are four thousand seven hundred images of 
 Buddha alone in this pagoda, in all sizes and atti- 
 tudes and every one of them is exquisitely wrought. 
 The pagoda is of great age and is considered to be 
 one of the finest monuments in the country. Near 
 the pagoda, over a gateway, hangs an immense 
 bronze ball weighing twenty thousand pounds and 
 covered with finely engraved characters recounting 
 many incidents connected with the early history of 
 the place. On a little tray before a scarred image 
 in the monastery, a red rag hides one of the most 
 venerated relics in the world— a tooth of Buddha. 
 It was brought from India a thousand years ago and 
 measures fourteen inches in length, eleven inches in 
 width and three inches in thickness. It is of beauti- 
 ful yellow ivory as smooth as glass from the ceasless 
 handling of countless pilgrims and weighs about 
 eighteen pounds. Of course it is nothing more than 
 a very large elephant's molar, but the poor credu- 
 lous pilgrim does not know it and never asks any 
 embarrassing questions. When Mr. Hart remarked 
 [204] 
 
STEP FROM 
 
 to the priest in charge of the relic that Buddha must 
 have had an enormous mouth to accommodate such 
 a tooth, he meekly replied, "Yes, it is a matter I 
 do not fully comprehend." 
 
 The most interesting feature of the monastery 
 to our missionary was an elephant, made of the pur- 
 est and most costly bronze, of uncommonly good 
 workmanship and standing nine feet high. On the 
 back of the elephant is a magnificent bronze image 
 of the god, Pu-hsien, who as a sage came to Omei 
 from India in the third century before Christ, rid- 
 ing on a white elephant. These two bronze images 
 were cast at Chengtu in the tenth century and are 
 enclosed in a brick building, the walls of which 
 are square and the roof a revolving dome. The 
 square walls symbolise the earth and the dome the 
 heavens. On each side of this unique building are 
 seven shelves representing the seven stories of the 
 Buddhist heaven, filled with thousands of little 
 bronze idols. 
 
 In close proximity to the elephant, lying upon a 
 high couch and covered by two cotton spreads lies 
 Wo-fuh, the "Sleeping Buddha." For ten cen- 
 turies Wo-fuh is supposed to have been asleep. How 
 reverently the simple pilgrims gaze upon what they 
 believe to be the actual body of their unconscious 
 deity. 
 
 Eight thousand feet above the monastery rises 
 
 [205] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 the crowning peak of Mount Omei. At its topmost 
 point, when conditions are favourable, may be seen 
 the "Glory of Buddha." This is a feature of the 
 sacred mount that no pilgrim, with strength to climb 
 or nerve to ride, omits. With Dr. Morley, Mr. Hart 
 on a cloudless morning, late in July, began the dizzy 
 ascent. At intervals of two or three miles they 
 found commodious buildings which served the dou- 
 ble purpose of temples and inns. Here they were 
 cordially received by the resident priests and fur- 
 nished with refreshing bowls of tea. After a weary 
 climb of ten miles they reached the famous temple 
 of Si Siang when they were overtaken by a dense 
 fog, which prevented further progress that day. Mr. 
 Hart thus describes the scenery through which they 
 had passed in their ascent. "The ten miles we have 
 made to ascend six thousand feet were through a 
 veritable park. No spot on the globe can boast a 
 greater variety of vegetation, or scenes more beau- 
 tiful. There is not a barren acre nor a peak bereft 
 of verdure. I estimate we have seen fifty varieties 
 of trees in the ascent; flowers without number and 
 of every hue ; ferns everywhere ; black currant bushes 
 of immense size growing from steep declivities — 
 their trunks covered with green moss, and their 
 branches laden with well-flavoured berries. The 
 insect life is marvellous. Butterflies and moths fly 
 [206] 
 
STEP FROM 
 
 recklessly around and above us, as if inviting cap- 
 ture." 
 
 At the foot of the temple at Si Siang our travel- 
 lers were shown the pool where tradition says the 
 god Pu-hsien bathed his white elephant during his 
 sojourn in the mountain. At this high altitude 
 they felt the cold so keenly that a large charcoal 
 fire was kindled for them that night in the temple. 
 Before daylight the next morning, fortified with 
 a good cup of coffee, they started upon the last 
 stage of their mountain climb. Resting upon a nar- 
 row ridge they caught a glorious glimpse of the river 
 Min, winding through a valley, forty miles away. 
 Farther to the south, piercing through heavy clouds, 
 shone in majestic splendor the snow-crowned peaks 
 bordering Thibet. Seeing the foreigners standing 
 with rapt gaze upon the scene, a priest drew near 
 and exclaimed, "Those mountains that you are look- 
 ing upon yonder are thirty days' journey distant." 
 "When shall another such morning," asks Mr. Hart, 
 "with such views, greet my eyes?" After several 
 hours of further hard climbing they came to a stone 
 tunnel over the archway of which they read these 
 words: "One step from Heaven" Pilgrims in 
 large numbers were ascending and descending, all 
 excited by what they had seen or hoped to see. At 
 the close of the second day they reached the temple 
 at the summit, tired yet exultant and ready for rest. 
 
 [207] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 But little rest was secured that memorable night. 
 The temple was crowded with sleepless guests who 
 passed the time either in loud conversation or smok- 
 ing opium. All were eager for the coming of the 
 dawn. The next day Mr. Hart and Dr. Morley ex- 
 plored the summit. They discovered that the tem- 
 ple in which they had spent the night was but a 
 few rods from a precipice that had a perpendicular 
 fall of one mile. The weather was most uncertain. 
 At one moment the sky was a cloudless blue and 
 the sun's rays beat fierce and strong; the next mo- 
 ment a dense mist would sweep up from the moun- 
 tain gulfs below and envelop heaven and earth. 
 Thunder storms were quite frequent — the lightning 
 playing below instead of above them. 
 
 From the head-rock at the verge of the precipice 
 the pilgrims beheld the "Glory of Buddha." "Into 
 these depths come daily," writes Mr. Hart, "white 
 feathery clouds, floating from north to south, and 
 passing the out-jutting points until the broad ex- 
 panse directly below us is completely filled; not a 
 peak remains unveiled; then the gauze-like clouds 
 float higher and higher, until early in the afternoon 
 — from two to four o'clock — the cliffs are mirrored 
 upon these bright, white walls. Then if the observer 
 stands upon the edge of the precipice, and the sun 
 shines brightly upon him, he will see his dark shadow 
 away off upon the white clouds, with an exceedingly 
 [208] 
 
STEP FROM 
 
 bright and sometimes large halo around it, which 
 changes in size and brilliancy every moment as the 
 mists rise, or recede, or advance. Stretch forth your 
 hands, and the giant shadow does likewise. Now 
 the mist rises and dances about your feet, and finally 
 obscures the sun's rays, and the 'glory' is gone." 
 
 "It is while thus gazing that many pilgrims in 
 their ecstatic frenzy, either intentionally or not, 
 throw themselves over into the abyss. One monk 
 tells us that there are 'many tens' of pilgrims who 
 annually throw themselves over to Buddha. An- 
 other monk says that the act is not intentional ; that 
 they are dazed, and leaning too far over fall down. 
 My own experience was that as the gulf filled up 
 with clouds swaying to and fro, and rising almost to 
 the level of the rock on which I stood, the giddiness 
 which follows looking into the open gulf left me, 
 and I could stand within a foot of the edge of the 
 precipice as easily as by the sea shore. I also found 
 myself when the aureola was brightest making in- 
 sensible advances towards the image in it. This 
 natural phenomenon which is peculiar to some other 
 mountains — such as Adam's Peak in Ceylon and the 
 Spectre of the Brocken in the Hartz Mountains — 
 is considered by the devout Chinaman, the manifes- 
 tation of Buddha's spiritual presence, and an object 
 of worship." 
 
 [209] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 Mr. Hart and his young medical friend spent ten 
 days amid the wonders of this highest point on 
 Mount Omei. One day, full of the spirit of adven- 
 ture, thev resolved to follow a lumberman's trail 
 which they discovered "zig-zagging" down the south 
 side of the crag. In describing their excursion, Mr. 
 Hart says, "We scarcely had a foothold on the rocks; 
 sometimes the loose earth was partially banked up 
 with half-decayed sticks and spruce boughs; below 
 us were only yawning chasms. We reached one 
 ledge where a ladder rested, the other end being on 
 another ledge, which descended several hundred feet ; 
 we passed over and reached the out jutting wall of 
 solid rock on the opposite side of this chasm. It 
 now became a subject of serious debate whether a 
 thousand feet of such climbing, done principally 
 on all fours, or by hanging to twigs and roots above 
 us, would pay for the ferns we might get. The 
 coolie we had picked up at the temple advised us 
 to return. However, we went on, led by Dr. Mor- 
 ley. The path grew worse and worse, until the 
 descent was made upon two logs placed together, 
 with holes chopped in them for the feet. I felt 
 quite ashamed of my nervousness upon meeting two 
 brawny lumbermen, carrying heavy planks up this 
 almost perpendicular road. Each man carried three 
 planks fourteen feet long, one foot wide, and one to 
 [210] 
 
STEP FROM 
 
 two inches thick. The planks were lashed to a yoke 
 three feet long, which rested upon the shoulders. 
 On our way back we found it almost impossible to 
 pull ourselves up over places which they scaled with 
 seeming ease. Reaching the lumbermen's forest, we 
 had an hour of unalloyed bliss searching for flowers 
 and rare ferns, and were rewarded by finding some 
 beautiful specimens." It is of interest to note that 
 two or three of the specimens procured by our travel- 
 lers that day in their climb were not known to the 
 scientific world, and they were later awarded the 
 honour of being the first discoverers. 
 
 The room which Mr. Hart occupied in the tem- 
 ple at the summit opened out into the sanctuary, 
 where the gods were enthroned. One morning as he 
 emerged from his room two pilgrims who were pros- 
 trating themselves before the idols caught sight of 
 him. Never had they seen a being like this in their 
 lives. Surely he must be a god, too — perhaps Bud- 
 dha, himself! They turned quickly from their wor- 
 ship of the idols and fell at his feet, knocking their 
 heads upon the floor and crying, repeatedly, "Omito- 
 foo! Omito-foo! Amita Buddha! Amita Buddha!" 
 Poor, benighted souls ! how our missionary's heart 
 went out to them that morning, as they in their 
 darkness, were eagerly but vainly groping after that 
 peace and comfort which alone can come through 
 
 [211] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 the revelation of God in Christ Jesus, His Son. 
 Pathetic were those words once addressed to one of 
 our missionaries by an Omei pilgrim as he lamented 
 his failure in his search for truth: "I feel for the 
 door, but I cannot find it." 
 
 [212] 
 
XVIII 
 TOR CANADA!" 
 
XVIII 
 
 IT was past the middle of August, 1887, when 
 Mr. Hart and his friends left Mount Omei on 
 their return journey to Chungking. A few days by 
 boat brought them to their destination. They found 
 Mr. Cady, who had been left in charge of the re- 
 established mission, tactfully winning his way 
 among the officials and people of the city, allaying 
 suspicions and gradually restoring confidence in the 
 foreign missionary. 
 
 As Mr. Hart's old enemy, malaria, had reappeared 
 — and in a most aggravated form — it was thought 
 advisible that he should return to his home in Can- 
 ada as speedily as possible. The down-river trip 
 was exceedingly difficult and dangerous, owing to 
 the unusually high water caused by recent heavy 
 rains. Wreck after wreck went floating by as they 
 descended, and it was only through a kind provi- 
 dence that their own boat did not come to grief. 
 
 [215] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 As they were passing through the Wind-box Gorge 
 the current sent their boat flying into the middle of 
 the stream; it went round and round like a top. At 
 a speed of ten miles an hour it was driven towards 
 some sharp up-rising rocks, which it just barely 
 grazed. "I cannot conceive of anything more excit- 
 ing," says Mr. Hart, "than making the gorges of the 
 Yangtse at high water. One ascent and descent of 
 this river is enough for a life time." 
 
 While on shore in this same gorge Dr. Morley 
 had an experience which almost cost him his life. 
 He had been disposing of some religious literature 
 to a crowd of natives, when a ruffian, bent upon 
 making trouble, appeared upon the scene. This man 
 was naked downwards to his loins, brawny and pow- 
 erful, with a most fiend-like countenance. His first 
 act was to snatch the books from the doctor's arms. 
 When the doctor attempted to recover them, the 
 man seized him by the hair, put his arm about his 
 neck and pulled him headlong into the river, where 
 it was swift and deep. A struggle ensued, much to 
 the disadvantage of the foreigner, as the man still 
 had a firm hold upon his hair and neck. The doc- 
 tor, being a good swimmer, resorted to every trick 
 that he could think of to shake off his assailant, but 
 he found that the man could endure submersion quite 
 as well as himself. Finally, when almost exhausted, 
 by a supreme effort, he compelled the fellow to re- 
 
 [216] 
 
linquish his hold, and swimming to the shore, reached 
 it more dead than alive. The ruffian was promptly 
 arrested by the local officials and subsequently pun- 
 ished. In addition to punishing the man the offi- 
 cials very generously sent on board the foreigners' 
 boat a large supply of fowl and vegetables. It was 
 a peace-offering that came in most acceptably and 
 did much to mollify the feelings of the injured 
 doctor. 
 
 Dr. Hart reached KiuKiang in time for the an- 
 nual meeting of the Central China Mission, which 
 was presided over by Bishop Henry W. Warren. 
 On December 17, 1887, he sailed from Shanghai for 
 San Francisco. Five weeks later he was with his 
 family in Parkdale, Toronto. 
 
 The first few months of his furlough were passed 
 largely in preparing his first book for publication. 
 During his long journey to Szechwan he had taken 
 copious notes of all that he had seen, which he 
 thought might prove of general interest. The result 
 was a book which, to quote the words of a reviewer 
 in the New York Tribune, was "graphic, picturesque 
 and extremely interesting; a fresh, bright and really 
 quite fascinating book of travels." This book, 
 though written many years ago, is still an authority 
 on West China. A little later appeared his second 
 book — a popular treatment of the salient features 
 
 [217] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 of Confucianism — to which was given the title, "The 
 Temple and the Sage." 
 
 For his literary work and Chinese scholarship 
 Mr. Hart was honoured in 1888 by being elected 
 a fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, a distinction 
 which afforded him much satisfaction. In 1888 his 
 Alma Mater — the Garrett Biblical Institute of 
 Evanston — conferred upon him the degree of Doc- 
 tor of Divinity. 
 
 The severe nervous strain of the past five years 
 of unceasing toil and responsibility and the many 
 hardships endured in connection with his travels 
 in different parts of China, had played such havoc 
 with his constitution that it became evident to Dr. 
 Hart and his friends that the usual furlough of one 
 year granted by the Missionary Society to its agents 
 would not suffice to restore to him his health. Act- 
 ing upon the advice of his physician in 1889, and 
 much to the regret of the Missionary Board and his 
 colleagues in the field, he resigned the superintend- 
 ency of the missions in Central and West China. 
 
 Receiving a good offer for his property in Park- 
 dale, he sold it and moved his family to Fordham, 
 New York, where for a year he gave himself assidu- 
 ously to the work of Missionary Secretary in connec- 
 tion with the Christian Alliance. But his work in 
 the office and in the pulpit proved too exhausting 
 
 [218] 
 
and he was compelled to abandon it and think only 
 of his health, if he were ever to go back to China. 
 
 About this time an opportunity presented itself 
 of purchasing a small fruit farm in Burlington, On- 
 tario. Years before his longing for such a place 
 to recuperate during his visits home were expressed 
 in these words: "I should like, if it is God's will, 
 to have about ten acres of orchard and small fruits 
 to cultivate. I am sure the occupation would afford 
 me great pleasure, peace and rest." A year at "The 
 Pines," as he named his retreat, brought a complete 
 return of health. Life loomed up again with great 
 possibilities. Though he did not realise it at the 
 time, his work for missions was but half done. God 
 had in reserve for him a great undertaking, in which 
 his experience of a quarter of a century in China 
 would be a factor of supreme value and importance. 
 In a most providential way the opportunity was 
 brought to his attention. 
 
 The Methodist Church of Canada, at this time, 
 had but one foreign mission and that was in Japan. 
 There had been a feeling for some years among many 
 of the prominent ministers and laymen that the 
 Church should extend its missionary interests abroad. 
 The West Indies, India, Palestine and China were 
 all thought of as suitable fields. When the Execu- 
 tive of the Missionary Board met in December of 
 1889, two letters which Dr. Sutherland, the Mis- 
 
 [219] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 sionary Secretary, had received were read. One of 
 the letters was from David W. Stevenson, a student 
 at Rush Medical College, Chicago, who had previ- 
 ously volunteered for the foreign field when in 
 Toronto. He stated that he expected to be ready for 
 service the next spring. The other letter was from 
 Dr. O. L. Kilborn, a tutor in chemistry at Queen's 
 University, Kingston, Ontario. Dr. Kilborn said 
 that he and another young man, George E. Hart- 
 well, B.A., who was then studying in Drew Theologi- 
 cal Seminary, Madison, New Jersey, were anxious 
 to go as foreign missionaries. Before applying to 
 the Missionary Boards of other denominations, they 
 desired first to offer their services to their own church. 
 They expected to be through their studies and ready 
 to go in two years. "Will the Society send us to- 
 gether to China in 1891 *?" asks the earnest young 
 doctor. "We would work together — Mr. Hart well 
 as preacher, and myself as doctor — in pushing for- 
 ward the cause of Christ in some of the as yet un- 
 touched provinces of China. I am well aware that I 
 need not now urge upon you the importance of medi- 
 cal mission work, and most especially as a pioneer 
 agency in a land like China. And I trust that the re- 
 cent agitation in favour of planting a new mission in 
 China will be decided in the affirmative. If no one 
 goes before, I believe we two would gladly lead the 
 way — if our church will accept of us." 
 [220] 
 
Though the Missionary Executive could not give 
 any definite assurance to these young volunteers, yet 
 their names were kept before them in the hope that 
 the way might open for their employment when 
 their studies were completed. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the Board of Missions 
 in October, 1890, the following resolution was en- 
 thusiastically carried : 
 
 "Whereas during several years past evidences have 
 been accumulating, showing that the Head of the 
 Church is calling us to enter some new field of heath- 
 enism and thus far the leadings seem to be in the 
 direction of China. 
 
 "And whereas, several educated and devoted 
 young men have offered themselves for this service, 
 and will be ready to proceed to any designated field 
 in the spring or autumn of 1891, therefore, resolved, 
 that we respond to what seems to be a clear provi- 
 dential call, and appeal to the whole church to sus- 
 tain the Board in this forward movement, and that 
 the Committee of Consultation and Finance be em- 
 powered to take definite action in regard to the selec- 
 tion of a field and the appointment of the young 
 men who have volunteered." 
 
 A similar resolution was subsequently passed by 
 the Woman's Missionary Society and a call was 
 made for two volunteers. 
 
 The decision of the Missionary Board, as expressed 
 in the resolution just given, met with almost uni- 
 
 [221] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 versal favour throughout the church, and special 
 contributions for the new mission came pouring in. 
 Though China had been selected as the new field, 
 no particular part of the empire had been definitely 
 chosen in which to begin the work. The Rev. Dr. 
 Wakefield, the Methodist minister at Burlington, 
 who also was a member of the Missionary Board, 
 had frequent conversations with Dr. Hart about 
 the proposed new mission in China, and one day 
 sought his advice as to the best location for it. 
 Dr. Hart at once replied, "Szechwan!" Upon in- 
 vitation he met the Committee of Consultation and 
 Finance in Toronto, February 17, 1891. In glow- 
 ing words he described the needs and the opportuni- 
 ties of Szechwan — an empire in itself, with its 
 teeming millions to whom only two Protestant so- 
 cieties were ministering. He strongly recommended 
 Szechwan to the Committee as the most inviting 
 and promising field in all China for missionary op- 
 erations. At the close of his address the Committee 
 unanimously concluded to open work in Chengtu, 
 the capital city of Szechwan, and the veteran mis- 
 sionary was requested to assume the leadership. 
 After a few days for consideration he accepted the 
 invitation, subject to the approval of the Mission- 
 ary authorities of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 of the United States. This approval was given with 
 the expectation that within a short time he would 
 [222] 
 
return to his old field on the lower Yangtse, but 
 though he was twice importuned by the missionaries 
 in Central China to come back and lead them, the 
 work in West China was too important and too criti- 
 cal to admit of his return. 
 
 Dr. Hart looked upon his Canadian appointment 
 as a magnificent opportunity. In a letter written 
 at this time, he says, "Well, it does seem that God 
 is to take me out into a large place ; I feel so insuffi- 
 cient for this undertaking, but God knows how to 
 use His children. Only think of the opportunity 
 God has given me to establish another Mission — 
 and for Canada! First He permitted me to estab- 
 lish a mission for the United States in Central China, 
 and to grow up with it. Then He sent me on a 
 perilous mission to West China, to re-establish the 
 work there, which, though I knew it not, paved the 
 way for my present undertaking. Then, after much 
 urging to come back to China and take up my old 
 post, I resigned, but was permitted to do other work 
 in the home land. Then, in broken health, laid aside 
 for a time, I indulged in my old love for farming, 
 which restored my health. Now I am to lead forth 
 a contingent to the very place where God seemed to 
 direct me to get the experience which will now be so 
 valuable. Who knows the future? Let us pray 
 for a gracious one !" 
 
 [223] 
 
XIX 
 THE FIRST CONTINGENT 
 
XIX 
 
 THE FIRST CONTINGENT 
 
 THE pioneer band of Canadian Methodist mis- 
 sionaries for West China consisted of Dr. 
 and Mrs. Hart and their daughter, Estelle, Dr. and 
 Mrs. O. L. Kilborn, Rev. and Mrs. G. E. Hartwell, 
 Dr. D. W. Stevenson and Miss Amelia Brown, the 
 representative of the Woman's Missionary Society. 
 Dr. W. J. Hall had been appointed by the Mis- 
 sionary Board to accompany the party, but he re- 
 signed upon learning that his intended wife, who 
 was then a medical missionary in Corea, could not 
 secure a release for a year or so from the American 
 society which she served. Instead of going to China 
 Dr. Hall went to Corea, where he did heroic service 
 until his premature death in 1895. 
 
 Several months elapsed between the time of the 
 appointment of the Canadian missionaries and their 
 departure for China; an interval that was well em- 
 ployed by them in visiting the various conferences 
 
 [227] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 and many of the larger churches in the Connexion. 
 Everywhere they met with warm welcomes and un- 
 bounded enthusiasm. Dr. Lathern, Editor of The 
 Wesleyan, in moving a resolution of appreciation in 
 the Nova Scotia Conference, said that in fifty years 
 he had not seen a conference so mightily moved as 
 had been theirs by the presence and message of the 
 leader .of the new mission. Wherever Dr. Hart 
 spoke he made a strong appeal for the hospital 
 which he desired to see erected in Chengtu. Before 
 he left for China he had the satisfaction of knowing 
 that sufficient funds had been subscribed to warrant 
 the carrying out of the project. 
 
 On the night of September l, 1891, a farewell 
 service was held in Elm Street Church, Toronto, for 
 the departing missionaries. Rev. Dr. Carman, the 
 General Superintendent, presided and gave a brief 
 but telling address. After each of the missionaries 
 had spoken, Dr. Sutherland followed, and in a few 
 tender and impressive words bade them God-speed 
 in the name of the church. During the succeeding 
 four weeks, as they journeyed across the continent, 
 similar meetings were held in London, Winnipeg, 
 Brandon, New Westminster, Vancouver and Vic- 
 toria. 
 
 From Toronto to London the little party were 
 accompanied by the Rev. David Hill, the great Wes- 
 leyan missionary at Hankow, China, who was on 
 [228] 
 
THE FIRST CONTINGENT 
 
 his way to the Ecumenical Conference at Washing- 
 ton. It was an inspiration to the missionaries and 
 to the large congregations that filled Queen's Avenue 
 Church in London to see and to hear this sweet- 
 spirited man of God — the St. John of modern Chris- 
 tian missions. Months afterwards in Chengtu, Dr. 
 Hart thus writes of the London visit: "Our recep- 
 tion and meetings in Queen's Avenue Church on 
 Sunday and Monday eclipsed anything of the kind 
 in our whole missionary experience. The money 
 raised for our work, though considerable, was not 
 the important feature of the meetings — it was the 
 spirit manifested by the good people of the city. We 
 carried the precious influence of those hours of fel- 
 lowship and prayer across the continent, across the 
 Pacific and across the Chinese Empire." 
 
 Three never-to-be-forgotten days were passed by 
 the missionaries in Victoria. On the Sabbath, early 
 in the morning, they addressed a large gathering of 
 Chinese, after which they spoke in the different 
 Methodist pulpits of the city. As a result of the 
 day's services, twenty volunteered for mission work 
 in China. The Chinese residents of the city were 
 particularly interested in the visit of the mission- 
 aries and vied with one another in manifesting their 
 good will and generosity. They gave a reception in 
 their honour, which was followed by a sumptuous 
 repast. "Such a happy lot I never saw," writes Mrs. 
 
 [229] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 Hart in a letter to one of her sons, "they took up 
 a collection among themselves for our work, and 
 afterwards escorted us to the steamer to see us off." 
 
 On the afternoon of the fourth of October, the 
 beautiful new liner of the Canadian Pacific Railway 
 Company, The Empress of China, left her moorings 
 at Vancouver and steamed out upon the broad waters 
 of the Pacific, bearing with her the tearful yet happy 
 members of the first Canadian Methodist Contingent 
 — bound for the holy war in China. 
 
 The first point touched at in Japan was Hakodate, 
 where the coal supply of the ship was augmented 
 and the passengers were given the opportunity of 
 going ashore and taking in the sights. Two days 
 later The Empress entered the commodious harbour 
 of Yokohama, from which could be seen the smoke 
 of a living volcano. Here the missionaries were 
 met and warmly welcomed by Dr. and Mrs. 
 Meacham. It was a genuine pleasure to Dr. Hart 
 and his wife to see these old friends — for Dr. 
 Meacham had been for three years Mrs. Hart's pas- 
 tor in Toronto. Now the venerable doctor was in 
 charge of the Union English Church in Yokohama 
 and seemed very happy in his work, looking "as 
 sunny as the fair land in which his lot was cast." 
 Short trips were made to Tokio, Shidzuoka and 
 Nagoya, where the Superintendent and his young 
 associates had the privilege of speaking in some of 
 
 [230] 
 
THE FIRST CONTINGENT 
 
 the native churches and schools connected with the 
 Canadian Methodist Mission. Three years after 
 his visit to Shidzuoka, Dr. Hart received a letter 
 from one of the missionaries stating that a young 
 Japanese student who heard him speak when he was 
 there was so impressed with the message that he 
 was anxious to go to Chentu as a missionary. 
 
 While our missionaries were in the old, historic 
 city of Kioto, studying the splendid educational 
 work of the American Board of Foreign Missions, 
 a most disastrous earthquake occurred, the effects 
 of which were felt throughout Japan. Dr. and Mrs. 
 Hart and their daughter were the guests of Profes- 
 sor Learned of the Doshisha. In his journal the 
 doctor makes this reference to his experience on that 
 eventful day: "While we were at early breakfast, 
 without warning, the house began to sway and a 
 rumbling sound was heard above our heads, the 
 timbers of the building creaked as though they would 
 come apart. The ladies ran into the yard and in a 
 few moments the Professor and I followed. Just 
 then a chimney burst through the roof and emptied 
 clouds of soot over the breakfast table, the hall and 
 the parlour. When we reached the open yard the 
 earth seemed to be swimming around, which pro- 
 duced in us giddiness and nausea. After the shock 
 we returned to the house and to what was left of 
 the breakfast. Then we went to the college chapel 
 
 [ 2 3i] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 for prayers. Just after the reading of the lesson 
 a tremor was felt through the building. Five hun- 
 dred students leaped upon the benches and began to 
 rush for the doors; but order was soon restored and 
 we listened to a short address to the students." Later 
 Dr. Hart and his host walked through different parts 
 of the city and saw something of the havoc that had 
 been wrought by the earthquake. Hundreds of 
 houses and shops had been demolished or badly dam- 
 aged and thousands had been rendered homeless. 
 Outside of the city railroad bridges had collapsed 
 and deep gaps had been made in the earth which in 
 some places were miles in length. Though much 
 damage had been done in Kioto it was trifling com- 
 pared with what some other cities had suffered. 
 Nagoya, which they had only left the day before, 
 was almost wiped out. Ten thousand people had 
 lost their lives and from fifteen to twenty thousand 
 were injured. A writer has said: "Because earth- 
 quakes and volcanoes have played such a prominent 
 part in the making of Japan it is a land of wondrous 
 beauty." What a price to pay for a little scenery ! 
 At Nagasaki our missionaries, after two interest- 
 ing and somewhat exciting weeks in Japan, took 
 ship for Shanghai, where they landed on the third 
 of November. While in Japan ugly rumours had 
 come to them of the unsettled state of Central 
 China. They heard of the destruction of several 
 [232] 
 
THE FIRST CONTINGENT 
 
 missions and the martyrdom of a number of foreign 
 and native workers. These rumours were confirmed 
 upon reaching Shanghai. A wave of virulent hatred 
 of the foreigner had formed in the interior Province 
 of Hunan and broken with force all along the lower 
 Yangtse. They found Shanghai a veritable city of 
 refuge. Missionaries from all parts of the empire 
 had gathered there to wait until the violence had 
 spent itself and they would be permitted to return 
 to their respective fields. 
 
 For three months the Canadian contingent were 
 compelled to remain in Shanghai, but they were not 
 three wasted months. Chinese teachers were at once 
 procured and the study of the language was earnestly 
 prosecuted. Besides the contact with so many ex- 
 perienced missionaries for so long a time could not 
 help but be inspiring and profitable. An interest- 
 ing incident occurred during the quiet life at Shang- 
 hai that changed the domestic affairs of two of the 
 members of the party — Dr. Stevenson had won the 
 heart of Miss Amelia Brown, and the two were hap- 
 pily married by Dr. Hart. Thus early in the history 
 of the Canadian Mission did the Woman's Mission- 
 ary Society come to the aid of the General Society 
 in matters matrimonial — a precedent that was more 
 than once followed in after years. 
 
 On the sixteenth of February, 1892, the Cana- 
 dian missionaries, with the exception of Mrs. Hart 
 
 [233] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 and her daughter — the former of whom had not 
 quite recovered from a serious fall — left Shanghai 
 on their long, up-river journey to Chengtu. As 
 the steamer ascended the Yangtse it was hard for 
 the veteran Superintendent to pass by the different 
 missions that he had founded, dear to him as his 
 own children and to which he had given the best 
 years of his life. Old memories like a flood pressed 
 upon him. Now and then as the vessel stopped for 
 a few minutes at some familiar landing place, an old 
 colleague or native Christian who had heard of his 
 coming would cross the gangway plank and give 
 him a hearty shake of the hand and a fervent God- 
 speed. 
 
 From Hankow Dr. Hart proceeded alone to 
 Ichang to engage native boats for the remainder of 
 the journey. The old boat upon which he travelled 
 steamed up the river in a most leisurely way, anchor- 
 ing always at night. The officers were as leisurely 
 in their ways as was the boat. The captain was 
 visible but once or twice during the day and had his 
 meals brought to his cabin. The chief officer was 
 only seen at the table in the saloon — and then re- 
 tired to the restfulness of his room. "The chief en- 
 gineer," remarks this missionary critic, "rises at nine, 
 takes his toast and coffee at ten, lunches heartily 
 at twelve, has toast and coffee again at three and 
 dines at seven. The rest of the time he sits in his 
 
 [234] 
 
THE FIRST CONTINGENT 
 
 room and reads." If it had not been for the faith- 
 ful subordinate officers and crew, who were Chinese, 
 the company and the passengers would have been in 
 a bad way. 
 
 At Ichang Dr. Hart, with very little trouble, 
 which was most unexpected, managed to secure two 
 fairly good boats for the trip to Chungking, but his 
 patience as well as that of the native captains was 
 severely tried by the long delayed coming of the 
 rest of the party. The trip from Hankow to Ichang 
 is generally made in four days, but this time, owing 
 to an exasperating stay for a week upon a sand-bar 
 in mid-river, it took eleven days. It was the six- 
 teenth day of March when the passenger junks hoist- 
 ed their huge sails and left Ichang, the last visible 
 link that reminded them of home and the comforts 
 of civilisation. 
 
 All through the long series of gorges and up the 
 rapids the young missionaries were kept on the qui 
 vive. Each day brought its own quota of thrills. 
 One morning those on Mr. Hartwell's junk heard 
 a terrible clamour on the forward deck. An enter- 
 prising captain, contrary to river etiquette, was tak- 
 ing advantage of a strong wind, to sail past the long 
 line of boats waiting for their turn at the rapids. 
 This naturally aroused the ire of every other cap- 
 tain and his crew. Steering into the eddy the first 
 boat that the unscrupulous captain encountered was 
 
 [235] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 Mr. HartwelPs. Then the war began. The men 
 on the missionary's boat, armed with long bamboo 
 poles, began thrashing their rivals with all their 
 might. Crash! crash! crash! went the poles — for- 
 tunately missing more often than hitting the poor 
 sailors. The crew of the other boat were unable to 
 fight back as only by hanging on to their poles could 
 they keep their advantage. This they did with great 
 pluck. As the excitement increased, one man seizing 
 a heavy hand-axe leaped upon the offending boat and 
 dealt the foremost man a terrible blow in the small 
 of the back. All the while a crowd of men on the 
 shore were shouting and jumping in a most frantic 
 manner. Which party they were encouraging it was 
 hard to tell; but this was soon made apparent, for 
 no sooner had the boat of the unscrupulous captain 
 passed the bow of Mr. HartwelPs boat, then the 
 mob on shore began hurling stones. For a time it 
 looked as though boat and crew would be destroyed, 
 when suddenly Dr. Hart appeared, and after some 
 parleying, induced the ambitious skipper to go back 
 and resume his proper place in the line. 
 
 On the eighth day from Ichang an incident oc- 
 curred which cast a deep gloom over the party for 
 several days. Shortly after anchoring for the night 
 one of the crew who had been taken ill was carried 
 ashore and laid on an overhanging rock and left to 
 die. As the poor fellow was being borne to this 
 
 [236] 
 
THE FIRST CONTINGENT 
 
 cold and desolate resting place, the men on the boat 
 kept up a continuous beating of gongs and firing of 
 crackers. Images were brought out and placed at 
 the bow, while candles were lit and incense was 
 burned before them. This was done to keep the evil 
 spirits that might be attracted in the event of the 
 man's death from doing harm to the boat and its 
 crew. When the missionaries heard of. the fate of 
 the sick man they hurried to his side, but nothing 
 could be done for him. He had been a confirmed 
 opium smoker; the deadly pipe had done its work, 
 and now he was paying insulted Nature's last toll. 
 While he was dying on the rock above, his old com- 
 rades in the boat below, unheeding the warning of 
 his example, were courting a similar death as they 
 curled themselves up about their tiny lamps upon 
 the deck. Since the superstitious crew had succeeded 
 in getting the man off from the boat before he died 
 and had performed a few religious rites in self-pro- 
 tection, what cared they now what happened to him ! 
 Not one of them offered to stay with him and attend 
 to his last wants. That dark night by the banks of 
 the Yangtse marked the vital difference between 
 heathenism and Christianity. The cruel heartless- 
 ness of the one stood out in sharp contrast to the ten- 
 der pitifulness of the other. Until the sailor died 
 the missionaries did what they could to relieve his 
 suffering and comfort his soul. Dr. Hart, the next 
 
 [237] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 day, bought a small plot of ground and paid a local 
 Chinaman sufficient to give the body a decent burial. 
 
 After nearly a month in a cramped and crowded 
 native boat, the Canadians hailed with delight the 
 sight of Chungking — the half-way place between 
 Ichang and Chengtu, where they could have a few 
 days' rest and the opportunity of meeting the breth- 
 ren of the Methodist Episcopal Mission — the mis- 
 sion which Dr. Hart refounded five years before. 
 
 Two more weeks of travel brought the party to 
 the beautiful and swiftly-flowing Min River, which 
 like a blue thread runs through the heart of Sze- 
 chwan and connects with the Yangtse at the city 
 of Soochow. The scenery along the Min is most 
 romantic and furnishes an uninterrupted succession 
 of natural pictures. The missionaries had many 
 opportunities of studying at close range the people 
 in this most thickly populated part of the province, 
 no small number of whom live in boats and subsist 
 by fishing. In speaking of this last stage of the 
 journey Dr. Hart says: "While taking a little ex- 
 ercise upon the bank above our boats, I was attracted 
 by twenty or more cormorants sitting upon small 
 skiffs which the men row about after the birds, while 
 they dive into the river and bring up fish. Two 
 or three men were going the rounds of the birds with 
 dishes filled with water and to each one they gave 
 a generous dash or two of the contents. The tired 
 
 [238] 
 
THE FIRST CONTINGENT 
 
 birds seemed to enjoy their bath immensely. They 
 would stretch out their long necks to the full and 
 flap their great wings and then give themselves a 
 glorious shake. I had never seen this process of 
 cleansing the fishing-birds before, and I judge it was 
 a bit of petting as a hunter would pat his dog after 
 a good day's hunting. It is no uncommon thing to 
 see fishermen carrying their skiffs upon their backs 
 from point to point, while the birds sit on top. The 
 cormorant is a clumsy, unattractive-looking bird, 
 most stupid when on land, but an expert swimmer 
 in the water and able to bring up fish weighing two 
 pounds or more. While I stood watching the birds 
 quite a crowd of men and boys gathered about me 
 and curiously inspected my face, hat and clothes. 
 They had never seen a foreigner before and were 
 amazed when I spoke to them in their own tongue. 
 Then came volleys of the queerest questions you ever 
 heard. What do you suppose a middle-aged man 
 asked me? I am almost ashamed to tell you, but 
 it is too good to be kept a secret. He examined 
 me pretty thoroughly, except my teeth, and said, 
 'Are you a hundred years old?' You can imagine 
 my emotions at such an absurd question, for I am 
 straight and fat, can walk thirty miles a day, jump 
 and hop with any of the young missionaries, and to 
 be taken for a centenarian was a little too much. 
 He quite wilted when I gave him my age, and he 
 
 [239] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 found himself five years my senior. 'Well,' he said, 
 'your beard is white.' The people take me for a 
 genuine patriarch and would not be very much sur- 
 prised if I were to tell them that I am two hundred 
 years old. Buddha is said to have received into 
 the priesthood one man two hundred years old. 
 
 "One fellow with a black skin, big mouth and 
 small tail tied about his head, with barely a pair of 
 loose pants on, came closer than the others — if that 
 were at all possible — and asked, 'How far is it to 
 your country and how do you go ?' When I told him 
 the distance to Shanghai, which is like a foreign city 
 to the people of Szechwan, he began to look a little 
 sceptical, but when I said that from Shanghai to my 
 country was three myriads of li and that the great 
 steamer which takes one to it travels twelve hundred 
 li a day, the man's astonishment knew no bounds. 
 The ignorance of the masses is something appalling, 
 and the indifference is more so. What is done in 
 Eastern or North China will be known to but 
 few out here. No political questions trouble them; 
 no questions except the chop sticks and rice bowl, 
 and how to fill the bowl, are considered important." 
 
 On the ninth of May, Kiating — the beautiful — 
 was reached. Scarcely had Dr. Hart's boat come to 
 anchor when the Rev. Olin Cady boarded it and 
 gave a hearty welcome to his old friend and super- 
 intendent and to his young associates from Canada. 
 
 [240] 
 
THE FIRST CONTINGENT 
 
 Mr. Cady, whom Dr. Hart had left at Chungking 
 five years before, was now residing in Chengtu, in 
 connection with the newly-established mission of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. He accompanied the 
 party to Chengtu and most generously offered them 
 the use of his house until they had obtained satisfac- 
 tory quarters for themselves. On the evening of 
 the twenty-first of May, 1892 — three months from 
 the time they left Shanghai — they landed in 
 Chengtu. Their arrival attracted a large and curi- 
 ous crowd. Especially were the people interested in 
 the wives of the missionaries, for this was the first 
 time in the history of the city that ladies, dressed 
 in foreign style, had passed through its streets. 
 
 Dr. Hart pays the following tribute to the young 
 men and women whom he had conducted twelve 
 thousand miles, by rail, steamer and Chinese junk, 
 safely to the field of their life-work: "They are all 
 good men and women and have one common aim 
 — the glory of God. It has never been my lot be- 
 fore to be connected with so many persons so con- 
 siderate, so loving and kind to one another, and 
 withal so charitable. I pray that this spirit may 
 abide and grow. It was no small thing to bring 
 out a band of new recruits and take them across the 
 Empire of China at this time." 
 
 [241] 
 
XX 
 
 BEGINNINGS 
 
XX 
 
 BEGINNINGS 
 
 UNTIL they could secure homes of their own the 
 Canadian missionaries gratefully accepted the 
 kind offer of Mr. Cady to occupy his house, which 
 was a large and roomy one. They arrived in Cheng- 
 tu on Saturday night. On Sunday they attended the 
 services in the little chapel of the American Mission. 
 On Monday their goods — and they were no small 
 number — were transferred from the boats to Mr. 
 Cady's house a mile or so away. Never had the city 
 seen such a moving day and hundreds of interested 
 citizens stood along the line of march and watched 
 the novel proceedings. For vans and horses there 
 were coolies with their long carrying-poles. What 
 marvellous strength these coolies possess! One of 
 them carried upon his back a box weighing four hun- 
 dred and fifty pounds; another trotted off with an 
 organ that could not have been less than two hun- 
 dred and fifty pounds. 
 
 [245] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 For nearly two weeks Dr. Hart hunted for a 
 house to rent. At last he found a commodious one 
 in the northeast part of the city, with a large open 
 space in the rear, which he thought, with a good 
 deal of water and soap and a number of necessary 
 repairs, might answer for a time. In two days a 
 room was made ready in the old mansion for his 
 occupation so that he might better supervise the 
 work of renovation. By the end of June all the 
 party had moved in except Dr. and Mrs. Stevenson. 
 The house contained not only accommodations for 
 the five missionaries but also room for a dispensary, 
 wards for eight or ten patients, a reading room and 
 chapel combined and quarters for servants. 
 
 On the twenty-fourth of June Dr. Hart opened 
 the reading-room, which faced upon the public high- 
 way. He carefully arranged upon tables different 
 kinds of books and periodicals; placed pictures and 
 charts about the walls and engaged one of the lit- 
 erati of the city to look after them and the sale of 
 whatever literature they had in stock the people 
 might want. That first night the Book Steward, 
 as we shall call him, reported that at least a thou- 
 sand persons had dropped in during the day and had 
 manifested considerable interest in the new book con- 
 cern. It was an auspicious beginning, this first ven- 
 ture on the part of the Canadian Mission to touch 
 
 [246] 
 
BEGINNINGS 
 
 and influence the mind of this great Western 
 metropolis. 
 
 On the following Sunday the first religious service 
 was held. It was of a semi-private character and 
 was conducted in the reading-room. Apart from 
 Dr. Hart's teacher, the Book Steward, and the "boy" 
 or servant, there were four or five men who had been 
 employed about the place and one stranger. Not 
 one in the little gathering except the boy had ever 
 been in a Christian service before. How ignorant 
 and awkward they were, but oh so willing to learn ! 
 "None of them could sing," says Dr. Hart. "I had 
 to take all the parts myself. I found the Scripture 
 lessons for them and tried to teach them how to pray. 
 When we came to prayer my teacher who is quite 
 a swell and very portly exclaimed, 'And you kneel 
 do you?' With a mighty effort he followed the 
 example of the others. Such was the nucleus of the 
 Canadian Methodist Church in West China!" 
 
 One of the first friendships that Dr. Hart formed 
 in Chengtu was with a little boy, seven years of age, 
 the son of his next door neighbour. The little fel- 
 low came in every day and followed his foreign 
 friend around like a pet dog, keeping up an inces- 
 sant fire of questions. He was a handsome boy and 
 the most precocious native child the doctor had ever 
 seen — a veritable Chinese Macaulay. He had a 
 knowledge of hundreds of characters. One day he 
 
 [247] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 brought to the missionary a couple of Chinese clas- 
 sical works and recited long passages from them. 
 This boy later was christened "Lucas," after the 
 Rev. J. V. Lucas, D.D., a Methodist minister in 
 Canada, who contributed fifty dollars annually for 
 some years towards his education. 
 
 On the fourth day of July Dr. Hart, having done 
 what he could to make the young missionaries com- 
 fortable in their new homes, started for Shanghai to 
 escort his wife and daughter up the river. The water 
 was so high and the current so swift that his little 
 craft made the five hundred miles to Chungking in 
 four days — a distance that took four or more weeks 
 when travelling in the opposite direction. In five 
 days the Yangtse had risen fifty feet and still it was 
 rising. One night they tied up at a little village. 
 They could see the farmers in feverish haste pulling 
 up their corn which was planted along the river bank 
 twenty or thirty feet above the level of the water. 
 They wondered at their fears — but in forty-eight 
 hours the seething floods of the Yangtse had not 
 only reached the top of the bank but forty feet 
 higher. Under such perilous conditions the boatmen 
 could not be persuaded to travel further. For four 
 days the little boat and its occupants took shelter 
 under a big banyan tree, "while the floods rushed 
 and thundered past, boiled over, whirled sidewise 
 
 [248] 
 
BEGINNINGS 
 
 and backwards, filling every nook and crevice, up- 
 rooting trees, carrying away hillsides, houses and 
 the suburbs of a dozen cities, besides wrecking scores 
 of junks and smaller craft." Gradually the waters 
 subsided and the impatient foreigner was permitted 
 to continue his journey. With great caution and 
 remarkable success the captain piloted the boat down 
 the rapids, until after two weeks of one of the most 
 thrilling voyages on record, it anchored in the calmer 
 waters before Ichang. On the last day of July 
 Shanghai was reached and husband and wife and 
 daughter were again united. After a few weeks in 
 Shanghai and in visiting some of the Central China 
 Missions, they turned their faces towards Chengtu, 
 reaching their destination about the first of the new 
 year. 
 
 During Dr. Hart's absence, just a few days after 
 he left Chengtu, the first dark shadow fell upon the 
 little mission. The following pathetic letter from 
 Dr. Kilborn, dated the eleventh of July, is self- 
 explanatory : 
 
 "My heart is well nigh crushed with its load of 
 grief as I write. My darling wife was taken from 
 me last night, Sunday the tenth, about eleven o'clock. 
 The disease was cholera. She was sick only eigh- 
 teen hours. On the Saturday previous she was ap- 
 parently as well as any member of the party, and 
 
 [249] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 looking forward to many years of service here for 
 the Master. All my plans for the dispensary and 
 the hospital were invariably made in consultation 
 with her. The interests of all our future work were 
 hers as well as mine, and in losing her I feel that I 
 am crippled one-half. Her faith was simple, but 
 bright. Oh, I did think that the Lord would spare 
 her for the work's sake, if not for mine. It is hard, 
 so hard to bear, but yet we must say, Thy will be 
 done, O Lord !' 
 
 "My darling wife and I invariably studied the 
 language together, and we had made exactly equal 
 progress up to the day of her death, in both reading 
 the characters and speaking. We were both plan- 
 ning and looking anxiously forward to the time 
 when I should be able to begin dispensary work 
 and she would assist me in compounding and dis- 
 pensing drugs. Now all this is altered, for the Lord 
 has taken her." 
 
 Five miles from Chengtu, by the banks of a little 
 river, rises a beautiful hill crowned at its summit 
 with a grove of waving bamboos. Here amid the 
 evergreens is the "God's Acre" of the Canadian 
 Methodist Mission. To this hallowed spot one day 
 late in January, 1893, the remains of Mrs. Kilborn 
 were borne from their temporary resting place. In 
 the presence of a few foreigners and many Chinese, 
 Dr. Hart explained the comforting doctrines of the 
 resurrection and immortality. At the close of the 
 [250] 
 
BEGINNINGS 
 
 service two Buddhist priests who had been impressed 
 with what they had seen and heard, lingered behind 
 to talk with the Christian missionaries and to receive 
 from them that Book which taught such precious 
 truths. 
 
 [251] 
 
XXI 
 THE WORK EXPANDING 
 
XXI 
 
 THE WORK EXPANDING 
 
 NO country in the world needs a physician more 
 than does China, for there is no country that 
 is more ignorant of the commonest principles of 
 hygiene. On every hand as one passes along the 
 countryside, or through the crowded streets of the 
 city, he is confronted by suffering and disease in 
 their saddest, most aggravated and repulsive forms. 
 Fevers, cholera, tuberculosis, diphtheria, leprosy, and 
 smallpox are frightfully frequent. Half the popu- 
 lation, it has been declared, are troubled with skin, 
 eye and ear diseases. It is true that native doctors 
 are in abundance, and drugs and drug-stores — 
 Heaven save the mark! Anybody can be a doctor 
 in China. It requires no course of study, no diploma, 
 only a fondness for tinkering with the bodies of 
 others and mixing up concoctions — and what concoc- 
 tions! The prescribed remedy is often worse than 
 the disease. Here are some samples: For a fever, 
 
 [255] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 the skins of snakes or frogs caught at high noon 
 on the fifth day of the fifth moon, dried and pow- 
 dered and administered alone or in combination with 
 other ingredients. For broken bones, a poultice of 
 greens or powdered drugs and some internal medi- 
 cine to makes the bones knit. For a tonic, take a 
 mixture of tiger claws or bones — for the tiger is the 
 strongest beast in China and the bones are the strong- 
 est parts of his anatomy, or if that remedy is not 
 available take the pure tincture of monkey which 
 is so efficacious that in a few days it can make a 
 man who is weak in the legs as active and as sin- 
 ewy as his simian brother. These few examples of 
 native prescriptions are sufficient to indicate the 
 crying need in China for the introduction of modern 
 methods in surgery and materia medica. What un- 
 limited opportunities this poor quack-ridden country 
 offers to the scientific medical man who is anxious 
 to make the most of his life and accomplish the most 
 in helping to reduce the sum total of human pain 
 and suffering. 
 
 From the beginning in connection with its work 
 in West China, the Canadian Methodist Church has 
 realised the need of placing special emphasis upon 
 medical evangelism. In the pioneer party there were 
 two clergymen and two physicians — an equal pro- 
 portion of physicians to clergymen which the Mis- 
 sionary Society has ever since endeavoured to main- 
 
 [256] 
 
THE WORK EXPANDING 
 
 tain. "The thought was," writes Dr. Kilborn, 
 "that the direct preaching of the Word should al- 
 ways be accompanied, if possible, by the practical 
 benevolence of the medical missionary." 
 
 On the morning of the third of November, 1892 — 
 one year from the date that our missionaries landed 
 in Shanghai — the first dispensary in Chengtu was 
 opened. In the forenoon of the first day eighteen 
 patients received treatment, and they kept coming 
 in such increasing numbers each dispensary day, that 
 soon fifty and sixty persons were being daily treated. 
 Cases appeared which could not be satisfactorily 
 dealt with in the dispensary, and so the doctors were 
 obliged to press into service two additional rooms, 
 in one of which they placed men and in the other 
 women. It was not long before they had half a 
 dozen patients in each ward and several successful 
 operations had been performed. 
 
 Among the dispensary patients there appeared one 
 day an old man of sixty, totally blind in both eyes. 
 For some years he had suffered from cataract. He 
 was put into the little, improvised hospital and op- 
 erated upon. After a few days the bandages were 
 removed. He began to gaze at his hands and then 
 at the windows. Then he looked at his bed and at 
 the beds of the other patients in the ward. When 
 Dr. Kilborn approached him he exclaimed, "Stand 
 back, doctor, I can see you there, back a little fur- 
 
 [257] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 ther, there! I can see you plainly now!" His joy 
 knew no bounds. With physical light came spir- 
 itual light. It was the custom to hold services in 
 the wards, to distribute tracts and when possible to 
 speak daily to each patient about the Great Physi- 
 cian. On being dismissed from the hospital, the old 
 man that "once was blind" put down his name as an 
 inquirer. He attended church regularly and fre- 
 quently brought a friend with him. Up and down 
 the streets of Chengtu he went entering a tea-house 
 here and a home there — everywhere telling all who 
 cared to listen the story of his wonderful cure. 
 
 But the work of the foreign medical missionary is 
 not confined to the dispensary and the hospital ward. 
 He has many calls to visit people in their homes. If 
 the patient be a man there is usually little or no 
 difficulty in treating him, but if the patient be a 
 woman and the physician a man, sometimes the most 
 unreasonable — and amusing — obstacles are put in 
 the way of an intelligent diagnosis of the case. 
 
 A very urgent call came to one of our physicians 
 in Central China to visit the home of an important 
 and wealthy official living several miles in the coun- 
 try. A sedan chair with six bearers and a petty offi- 
 cer in charge, were sent to bring him. The doctor 
 was told that the wife of the official was very ill, 
 that her life was despaired of, and that they must 
 hurry. Away the chair-bearers started at a dog-trot 
 
 [2 5 8i ' 
 
CANADIAN METHODIST HOSPITAL AT CHENGTU 
 
THE WORK EXPANDING 
 
 which they kept up to the end of the journey, so 
 anxious were they to bring relief to their mistress. 
 Upon arriving at the residence the doctor quickly 
 alighted and entered the guest hall. He at once 
 asked to see the patient. In great surprise they told 
 him that it was contrary to Chinese etiquette for any 
 man outside the family to enter a lady's chamber; 
 the "Honorable Foreign Doctor" must prescribe for 
 her without seeing her. This the doctor said he 
 could not do. After a long and unsuccessful parley 
 in attempting to overcome established custom and 
 prejudice, the doctor ordered his chair and without 
 giving any treatment, returned home. The next day 
 a still more urgent call was sent by the official to 
 the doctor to come and save his wife's life. The 
 doctor at first declined but finally consented to go 
 upon the assurance being given him that he would 
 be allowed to see the patient. When he reached the 
 house the women of the establishment could not be 
 persuaded to give up their prejudices and he was 
 flatly refused admission to the sick-chamber. Again 
 he was on the point of leaving when it occurred to 
 him that by a little diplomacy he might be able to 
 make a diagnosis. He suggested to the female at- 
 tendants that since he could not see the sick lady that 
 they make a hole in the partition of her room and 
 that through this hole she might be permitted to 
 stick out her tongue and extend her hand that her 
 
 [259] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 pulse might be counted. To this arrangement the 
 women finally agreed and the doctor succeeded in 
 getting the symptoms of the case. Thus the rigid 
 Chinese law of sex was scrupulously observed and 
 the Chinese "face" was saved. 
 
 While the new Canadian Mission placed a strong 
 emphasis upon the medical side of their work they 
 by no means minimised the importance of the educa- 
 tional side. As the physicians in the field had dreams 
 of a great central hospital some day in Chengtu, so 
 the teachers had dreams of a great central college 
 or university. The first step in the educational pro- 
 gramme of the mission was taken early in 1893, at 
 the time of the Chinese new year, when a day school 
 — the first day school in Chengtu — was opened. At 
 the end of the first week twenty scholars were en- 
 rolled and at the end of the first month the number 
 had risen to forty. Dr. Hart, Miss Hart, and a 
 native teacher undertook the work of instruction to 
 which they devoted two or three hours each day. 
 How eagerly and quickly these bright Szechwan chil- 
 dren mastered the text books that were prescribed 
 for their study and the Christian hymns and pas- 
 sages of Scripture that were given them to memor- 
 ise! They took special delight in the singing exer- 
 cises and some really fine voices were discovered 
 among them. From the new school the first choir 
 [260] 
 
THE WORK EXPANDING 
 
 of the chapel was formed and from its classes re- 
 cruits from time to time were found. 
 
 But all the pupils attending the school were by 
 no means children. There was no small sprinkling 
 of men — and, wonder of wonders, some of these men 
 were of the proud literati class who were anxious to 
 learn English — men, with long, sedate faces, set off 
 with huge tortoise-shell goggles, who, though they 
 may have had a profound knowledge of the books of 
 Confucius and Mencius, were so ignorant of geog- 
 raphy that they did not know even the names of 
 the provinces of China. The growing work of the 
 Mission in the chapel, the dispensary and the school, 
 was greatly hindered for the lack of accommodation. 
 So crowded were the Sunday services that the gates 
 of the compound often had to be locked to keep the 
 people out. Dr. Hart, after some weeks' search, 
 managed to lease a property which he thought might 
 prove suitable for the needs of the Mission for some 
 years. It surrounded a large temple — and this fact 
 gave rise to trouble later on. A dwelling was com- 
 menced at once. No new building ever attracted 
 more attention from the people of a city than did 
 this one. Everybody who heard of it wanted to see 
 it and the white-haired foreigner who was in charge 
 of its construction. It was estimated that an average 
 of three thousand persons came each day into the 
 compound to gratify their curiosity. Old men ac- 
 
 [261] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 companied by their toddling grandsons would come 
 and stand for hours awaiting recognition from the 
 doctor and the chance of a word with him. Ladies 
 dressed in silks and satins, sparkling like June but- 
 terflies, brought their radiant daughters and chat- 
 tered away about the wonderful house. So friendly 
 was the chief priest of the temple towards the for- 
 eigner that he invited the carpenters employed on 
 the building to use the large room containing the 
 gods for a workshop. 
 
 But the Mission was not permitted long to remain 
 in the quiet possession of this new site. One day a 
 mob, jealous for the prestige of the temple and its 
 gods, gathered and destroyed all the building mate- 
 rial on the ground. Dr. Hart was advised by the 
 city authorities to surrender the property and buy 
 elsewhere. In the spring of 1893 a mucn larger and 
 finer property, by the city wall and adjacent to the 
 East Military Parade Ground, was purchased. As 
 the officials, at that time, would not allow houses 
 of foreign style to be constructed, the old Chinese 
 buildings that came with the land were remodelled 
 into dwellings for the missionaries and a large school 
 for boys and girls. The next year two smaller com- 
 pounds were added to the property. Upon this new 
 site were erected a charming little chapel with a 
 seating capacity of three hundred — the gift of Mr. 
 Jairus Hart of Halifax, Nova Scotia — a book room 
 [262] 
 
THE WORK EXPANDING 
 
 and a hospital. The chapel was dedicated by the 
 Superintendent in February, 1894. So interested 
 were the people in the erection of the building and 
 so anxious for preaching services to begin that when 
 they heard that it was completed, they gathered in 
 large numbers upon the street before it and pounded 
 upon the outer gates for admission. It was not until 
 Dr. Hart went out to them and promised that it 
 would be opened to the public on the following Sun- 
 day that quiet was restored. 
 
 In 1892 an appeal had been sent by the mission- 
 aries on the field to the Missionary Board for twen- 
 ty-five more men by 1900. In response to this ap- 
 peal the Rev. James Endicott, B.A., and Dr. H. 
 Mather Hare were appointed. They arrived in 
 Shanghai in September, 1893, where they were met 
 by Dr. Kilborn, who had come to take them up the 
 river. Accompanying the new reinforcements from 
 Shanghai were Dr. Retta Gifford and Miss Sara 
 Brackbill of the Woman's Missionary Society. The 
 trip through the Yangtse gorges was an unusually 
 long and trying one. The party had more than its 
 share of accidents. Several times their boats ran on 
 the rocks or the ropes broke and they drifted help- 
 lessly down stream; finally one boat became a 
 wreck. In writing of the wreck, Dr. Kilborn says, 
 "The larger of the two boats — the one we are all 
 living in — struck a rock, filled in about fifteen min- 
 
 [263] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 utes, and sank; not, however, before we were able to 
 get near a sloping, sandy bank, and get ashore our- 
 selves, along with all easily movable articles and 
 furniture from our rooms. Darkness closed in, and 
 we realised that we were shipwrecked. Providen- 
 tially, our small houseboat was right at hand, so we 
 were able to have a sheltered sleeping-place. Next 
 day, our cargo of boxes was slowly fished out of 
 the sunken boat, and in forty-eight hours after the 
 accident, the old craft again stood upright on the 
 water, looking not much the worse for the dip, 
 though inside she was the picture of desolation. In 
 the meantime we had purchased a quantity of coal, 
 built fires on the sand, set up drying poles and com- 
 menced drying bedding, clothing and books." 
 Everything in the boxes were soaked with water, 
 and much of the stores was a total loss, while nearly 
 the whole stock of books was ruined. 
 
 Upon the arrival of the new missionaries it was 
 decided to open work in Kiating, a city second in 
 importance only to the provincial capital. Kiating 
 is one hundred and twenty miles to the south of 
 Chengtu with a population of something over sixty 
 thousand. It is a great centre of the silk and white- 
 wax industries and only a few miles from a large 
 salt-well district. Its close proximity to Mount 
 Omei makes it a stopping place each year for hun- 
 dreds of thousands of pilgrims, giving the Christian 
 
 [264] 
 
THE WORK EXPANDING 
 
 missionary unique opportunities for sowing the Gos- 
 pel seed. Dr. Kilborn, who was soon to be married 
 to Dr. Retta GifTord, was placed in charge of the 
 new mission in March, 1894. A house was rented 
 and an adjoining compound was secured for a hospi- 
 tal and dispensary. The doctor preached on Sun- 
 days and carried on his medical work during the 
 week. 
 
 In the autumn of this year Mrs. Hart and her 
 daughter returned to Canada. Dr. Hart accom- 
 panied them as far as Shanghai. Keenly though he 
 had felt other separations from his wife and family 
 none was so trying as this one. It was a very lonely 
 man that made his way back again up the river. 
 
 Shortly after Dr. Hart's return to Chengtu a very 
 exciting incident occurred which illustrates the 
 peculiar difficulties under which our medical mis- 
 sionaries laboured in West China in those early days 
 and the personal danger that they incurred in the 
 event of a failure to cure. Dr. Hare, who had taken 
 up his abode with Dr. Hart in the compound, was 
 called, early one evening, to visit a woman who was 
 in a very critical condition. The call came too late 
 to save her life; however, he went and did what he 
 could for her. Towards midnight a messenger came 
 to the Mission saying that the woman had not spoken 
 for quite a while and her husband was very anxious. 
 Hurrying on his clothes, with a stout stick under 
 
 [265] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 his arm for the dogs on the street, accompanied by 
 his dispenser and teacher, he started for the home 
 of the sick woman. Upon arriving at the house he 
 examined her and found that she was dead and had 
 been dead for some time. Up to this moment the 
 husband of the woman — Chwang by name — had 
 been very polite and had expressed regret for put- 
 ting the doctor to so much trouble. "But," says 
 the doctor, "as soon as I told the dispenser that the 
 woman was dead, the man's whole demeanour 
 changed. At once he sprang and double-barred the 
 only door by which I could go out. At first I paid 
 no attention and went on making preparations to 
 leave. On asking the man to open the door, he 
 placed himself squarely before it in a defiant atti- 
 tude. Three times I asked him to open the door, but 
 there was no effort to do so. I then got cross and 
 took hold of him with the intention of giving him 
 a good shaking, but on the dispenser saying some- 
 thing to him which I did not catch, he opened the 
 door. We walked out of the courtyard and on to 
 the street leisurely, not thinking that there was such 
 a surprise party in store for us. We had not gone 
 far before the husband of the dead woman ran after 
 us, calling out loudly. Catching up with us, he at 
 once took hold of me. I told him I did not want to 
 talk then, but for him to come to the hospital the fol- 
 lowing day and I would discuss the matter with him. 
 [266] 
 
GREAT EAST STREET, CHEXGTU 
 
THE WORK EXPANDING 
 
 He paid no attention to this whatever, but continued 
 to hold me. A number of men, hearing his cries, 
 came to his assistance. I shook myself clear of 
 them and attempted to walk on, but they would not 
 allow it. At one time there were three men clinging 
 to me. The little teacher did his best to keep the 
 peace, but all his efforts were unavailing. At this 
 point two men snatched at my stick and though I 
 kept hold of it for awhile I could not struggle with 
 them and keep my eye upon the others also, so let 
 the stick go. Chwang then caught me by the collar 
 of my shirt and refused to let me go, so I had to 
 chuck him under the chin pretty solidly to make him 
 do so. Just then another one of the men hit me 
 behind the head, knocking my cap off, and as he 
 passed me I struck him, about three-quarter reach, 
 and knocked him across the street. All this time the 
 crowd was increasing fast and cries of 'Strike the 
 foreigner!' 'Kill the foreigner!' were frequent. 
 Seeing that the crowd was ready for anything, and 
 I was single-handed and weaponless, I concluded to 
 make a break for the hospital and put my conclu- 
 sion into practice at once. The whole mob, number- 
 ing at this time over a hundred, I should think, 
 yelling, ran as hard as they could after me. But I 
 soon saw that I had the best of them at that game. 
 Getting near to the man carrying my instruments, 
 I called to him to run hard and get the gate on the 
 
 [267] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 street open. But the old gateman was slow — and 
 our urgency seemed to make him slower still. By 
 the time the last bar was drawn, I threw myself 
 against the gate, bursting it in and almost falling 
 upon the gateman. I had not time to turn round 
 and close the gate before several of the foremost pur- 
 suers threw themselves against it, and unaided I 
 could not shut it. I caught Chwang and half- 
 dragged, half-carried him through the side-gate, in- 
 tending to keep him until the morning, but more and 
 more men coming in, I thought it best to let him 
 go and set to work to get the others out. Making a 
 rush at them they broke and ran, and I at once 
 slammed the gates together. I came up to the 
 house and washed the blood out of my eye that had 
 been cut, got a drink, then went back and opened the 
 gate and went out on the street, but I could not see 
 any one. I found the gateman had retired to his 
 room and was almost frightened to death." 
 
 Dr. Hart heard Dr. Hare go out of the house on 
 that memorable night and come back later, but he 
 did not learn of the doctor's adventure until the next 
 morning. He at once sent his card to the Yamen 
 and Chwang was arrested, but not until he had done 
 untold mischief to the Mission. All through the city 
 there circulated the story that the foreign doctor had 
 been the cause of his wife's death, and for some time 
 her dead and naked body was exposed in front of 
 [268] 
 
THE WORK EXPANDING 
 
 his house, for all the curious to gaze upon, as evi- 
 dence that the foreign doctor had poisoned her, for 
 some horrible purpose of his own. The object of 
 Chwang was very apparent — it was to extort black- 
 mail. 
 
 A few days after Dr. Hart's return from Shanghai 
 the annual meeting of the Mission was held. It was 
 arranged that Dr. and Mrs. Kilborn, who had been 
 but a year at Kiating, be stationed at Chengtu, 
 while Dr. Hart, Mr. and Mrs. Endicott and Dr. 
 Hare should go to Kiating. On the twenty-ninth 
 day of May, 1895, Dr. Hart and his party reached 
 Kiating, but their occupation of the new mission was 
 of brief duration. While they were engaged in mov- 
 ing their goods from the boat to the new home little 
 did they dream of what was transpiring in the city 
 which they had just left; but they soon learned. 
 
 [269] 
 
XXII 
 A BOLT FROM THE BLUE 
 
"We are sorry and almost dazed at the sudden blow that 
 has come upon us, but our permanent victories often spring 
 from temporary defeats." 
 
 Letter to Dr. Sutherland, June 2, i8g$. 
 
XXII 
 
 A BOLT FROM THE BLUE 
 
 ON the evening of the thirty-first of May, two 
 days after Dr. Hart's arrival in Kiating, a 
 little cripple boy who had been a patient of Dr. Kil- 
 born in the hospital at Chengtu, knocked at the mis- 
 sionary's door and told him a most startling tale. 
 He said that he had just come from Chengtu and 
 that every mission house in the city had been de- 
 stroyed, but that all the missionaries, as far as he 
 knew, were safe; that the rioting had commenced 
 late in the afternoon two days before. He had es- 
 caped from the burning hospital, made his way by 
 friendly aid to the Chengtu anchorage, found a boat 
 bound for Kiating and had come to tell him the 
 news and warn him and the other missionaries in 
 the city of possible danger. Next morning messen- 
 gers came from the scene of the riots with further 
 details and with a letter from Mr. Hartwell, written 
 in pencil upon a long, narrow strip of brown Chinese 
 
 [273] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 paper. The letter was dated the thirtieth of May, 
 and read as follows: 
 
 "You may have heard of the great misfortune that 
 has befallen the mission property. It is not confined 
 to our mission, although it began there. Eleven 
 places, at least, have been utterly destroyed. But 
 for details. The fifth of this Chinese month was 
 a feast day. The parade ground was crowded. 
 Everything was quiet until the time to go home had 
 arrived. About half past four I went across the 
 street to get Geraldine, who was playing with Dr. 
 Stevenson's children, and brought her home. When 
 I went over there were twenty or thirty people try- 
 ing to look through the gates. They ran after me 
 to our place. When I got inside some one kicked 
 the gate and two or three stones were thrown over it. 
 A crowd kept gathering on the street and the shout- 
 ing increased. Men were sent to the Yamen, and 
 after awhile Yamen runners came, but did nothing. 
 Soon the gates (of the compound opposite) were 
 broken down, and the crowd began to enter, but Dr. 
 Kilborn and Dr. Stevenson rushed forward, shot 
 their guns into the air and the crowd rushed pell- 
 mell in both directions. They then stood on the 
 street and kept things quiet, expecting every mo- 
 ment the official would come with more runners. As 
 the darkness was coming on, the runners persuaded 
 them to go in while they would disperse the people. 
 But the crowd returned and were entering in again. 
 Upon the two doctors appearing they fled. By this 
 time a few men had gathered on the other side of 
 
 [274] 
 
A BOLT FROM THE BLUE 
 
 the premises and were entering the hospital gates. 
 The doctors found themselves between two fires and 
 their families unprotected. They now sought a way 
 of escape. After a time of great distraction they 
 decided to make a bolt through the gates of the hos- 
 pital compound. The rioters had made a hole in 
 one of the gates, through which they crawled. The 
 mob seemed so surprised when they came out that 
 it did not at first take in the situation, and so the 
 doctors and their families got away safely though 
 the mob began to cry almost immediately, 'beat' 
 and 'kill.' They tried to enter several places in 
 the neighbourhood, but were repulsed. They went 
 to the soldiers' barracks, but were sent away with 
 curses — one of the soldiers kicking Mrs. Stevenson 
 as she was leaving. Crossing the parade ground they 
 reached the city wall and from there could see the 
 flames of the buildings. After wandering about un- 
 til nearly midnight, they finally made their way to 
 the China Inland Mission. 
 
 "In the meantime the mob was making quick 
 work of the dwellings and hospital opposite. The 
 crashing of glass, the smashing of partitions, the 
 crackling of the fire, and above all the inhuman din 
 of human voices was something indescribable. You 
 can imagine our feelings for we expected a visit 
 from the mob every moment. Then the officials 
 came — oh! what a relief it was — the Fu and the 
 Hsien, with about two dozen runners. They slowly 
 walked along our street and entered the place. The 
 din stopped and the Yamen runners seized a few 
 people. Shortly the Fu came out, walked a little 
 
 [275] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 distance, got into his chair, and he and his retinue 
 departed. Scarcely had he gone when the work 
 of destruction began with renewed energy. As soon 
 as the Fu departed I began to think of a refuge. We 
 finally were taken into Mr. Fan's house — over the 
 wall at the back. This was about ten o'clock. At 
 midnight the crowd dispersed. At four in the morn- 
 ing we arose and went back to our house. At five 
 the rioting began again over the way. I sent for 
 chairs and Mrs. Hartwell and the children started 
 for the 'Pearly Sand' street (where the property 
 of the Woman's Missionary Society was). Mrs. 
 Hartwell had but just gone when bang! bang! went 
 the stones at our gate. I had only time to get some 
 silver and run. Fortunately I got into Mr. Fan's 
 house without any one seeing me. The mob, a min- 
 ute later, entered and before noon everything was 
 levelled. The destruction was complete. I remained 
 like a prisoner until evening and then started for 
 the Magistrate's Yamen, where I found all the mis- 
 sionaries except those of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Mission. 
 
 "About ten o'clock in the morning the mob came 
 to Tearly Sand' street and gutted the buildings. 
 Mrs. Hartwell and the two ladies of the Woman's 
 Missionary Society escaped over the side wall and 
 secured chairs for the China Inland Mission. They 
 had scarcely arrived at the Mission when the mob 
 appeared. Mr. and Mrs. Cormack, Mrs. Hart- 
 well and Bertha, Dr. and Mrs. Stevenson got away 
 in chairs, but before the others could start the mob 
 rushed in. Dr. and Mrs. Kilborn, the two ladies 
 
 [276] 
 
A BOLT FROM THE BLUE 
 
 of the Woman's Missionary Society, Geraldine and 
 Mr. Vale escaped by climbing the back wall. They 
 entered a neighbour's house and gave him thirty 
 ounces of silver for a small room. (Here behind the 
 thick curtains of a bed they hid for three hours, not 
 daring to look nor even speak.) At evening our 
 party arrived at the Yamen. Shortly after I came 
 the Methodist Episcopal friends arrived. Their 
 place had also been levelled ; even the back wall was 
 carried away. 
 
 "Things are suspicious around the Yamen, so we 
 do not know what will happen next. There is no 
 doubt but that the officials have given full license 
 to burn and plunder. So far no lives lost. 
 
 "All the Roman Catholic property is destroyed. 
 Two priests arrived late last night. Wild rumours 
 are afloat. There is no certainty when we can leave. 
 There is a rumour that no foreigner will be allowed 
 to leave the city — soldiers have been stationed out- 
 side. There may be no truth in it. We are all well 
 at present. We imagine this is a provincial matter, 
 and trust that you will not meet with any mishaps. 
 All we have is on our backs. I saved over two hun- 
 dred taels of silver, and have the draft, so we are 
 all right. Dr. Kilborn and Dr. Stevenson had no 
 time to save anything." 
 
 Though the missionaries in Chengtu had escaped 
 the fury of the mob they were now at the mercy of 
 the officials. For ten days eighteen persons — six 
 of them babes — lived in a few small rooms, not 
 
 [277] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 knowing what was to be done with them. In the 
 Yamen courtyard were encamped sixty soldiers. 
 The magistrate pretended that if their whereabouts 
 were known to the people he would be unable any 
 longer to protect them. They had one great com- 
 fort — the native Christians. They secretly visited 
 them, ministered to their wants as best they could 
 and kept them informed as to what was going on. 
 The fidelity of these native Christians was beautiful 
 and completely disproved the frequent charge that 
 Chinese only become members of Christian churches 
 for the living they can get out of them. Some of 
 the little party became seriously ill in the Yamen. 
 There were no medicines and the heat was intense, 
 but a kind providence brought them through. 
 
 During their imprisonment Dr. Kilborn and Dr. 
 Stevenson were brought to trial before the magis- 
 trate. They were charged with having drugged and 
 murdered Chinese children in order that they might 
 use their hearts and eyes and other parts of their 
 bodies as medicine. A glass jar of stewed cherries, 
 looted from some missionary's store-room, was ex- 
 hibited, accompanied by the loud announcement of 
 one of the accusers that they were babies' eyes. A 
 boy, stupid and dazed, was brought into court. It 
 was said that he had been found in a tin-lined box 
 under the chapel floor, where he had been placed 
 after being drugged by the foreign doctors. Human 
 
 [278] 
 
A BOLT FROM THE. BLUE 
 
 bones were produced as evidences of the horrible 
 practices of the missionaries. These bones were 
 afterwards discovered to be parts of the skeleton 
 of a Roman Catholic bishop who had been martyred 
 by the Chinese seventy years before. The leaders 
 of the mob had taken them from their resting place 
 in the cathedral and carried them through the streets 
 of Chengtu, crying, "See ! here are the bones of some 
 of the people the missionaries have murdered. We 
 have just taken them from under the houses of the 
 foreign devils." 
 
 Dr. Kilborn and Dr. Stevenson listened patiently 
 to all these ridiculous charges, boldly affirmed their 
 innocence and demanded a safe passage for them- 
 selves and all the foreign missionaries down the 
 river. On the tenth day, the magistrate stealthily 
 came into their quarters and in a whisper announced 
 that arrangements had been made for their journey 
 to Chungking. "Be prepared," he said, "to go to 
 the boats at twelve o'clock to-night. Don't tell even 
 your servants !" At midnight precisely, sedan chairs 
 were brought quietly into the courtyard and the 
 worn-out little band of foreigners were hurried into 
 them and out of the Yamen, through the deserted 
 streets of the city, through the great East Gate, and 
 on for a mile to where they found a fleet of ten 
 small boats waiting by the river's edge. The soldier- 
 escort occupied seven of the boats; the official in 
 
 [279] 
 
VIRGIL Q . HART 
 
 charge occupied one; into the remaining two boats 
 were huddled seventeen foreign adults with their 
 eleven children, besides the native crew, six servants 
 and two soldiers. No tin of sardines was ever more 
 closely packed than these two Chinese boats. For 
 ten days, under the most barbarous and unsanitary 
 conditions, the refugees lived and suffered until 
 Chungking was reached. Here they were joyfully 
 received by the missionaries and other foreign resi- 
 dents, clothed and cared for until boats were hired 
 to take them to Ichang. On the fourth of July — 
 five weeks after the riots — they reached Shanghai. 
 
 Upon hearing of the troubles in Chengtu, Dr. 
 Hart sent a messenger with a letter to Mr. Hartwell 
 and with some comforts such as condensed milk for 
 the babies and a few medicines. He advised Mr. 
 and Mrs. Endicott to leave Kiating immediately for 
 Chungking. To them were entrusted most of the 
 money of the mission treasury, leases of property 
 and other valuable documents. 
 
 For two or three days Dr. Hart and Dr. Hare 
 pursued the Wilson policy of "watchful waiting." 
 Rumours came to them of the destruction of a dozen 
 different missions in the province — Protestant and 
 Roman Catholic — and of marvellous escapes not 
 only from angry mobs in the cities, but from prowl- 
 ing gangs of robbers along the line of flight. They 
 hoped against hope that Kiating might escape, but 
 
 [280] 
 
THE MISSION PROPERTY AT KIATING 
 
A BOLT FROM THE BLUE 
 
 on the morning of the fourth of June, placards were 
 discovered posted all over the city stating that all 
 foreign places would be attacked on the morrow. 
 "About eleven o'clock to-day," writes Dr. Hart in 
 his journal, "suspicious crowds found their way into 
 our courts. I got them out twice and had the gate 
 bolted. We threw together a quantity of things and 
 about two o'clock sent them to a boat at the West 
 Gate. We soon after left by the back way and got 
 to the boat with little trouble — few seeing us." 
 
 That night the mission houses in Kiating were 
 looted, but the two missionaries were safe in their 
 boat and on their way to a place of safety. 
 
 Like a bolt from the blue came these riots of 1895 
 — and yet they were but the culmination of a spirit of 
 hostility to foreigners that had been growing through 
 the years in West China, and which had been more 
 or less manifest at times, particularly in the larger 
 cities. 
 
 For some months previous to the disturbances 
 rudeness had been displayed by many of the Chi- 
 nese in Chengtu towards the missionaries, and scur- 
 rilous remarks had been heard by them as they passed 
 through the streets. So frequent and pronounced 
 were these manifestations of hostility latterly that 
 the ladies of the mission were afraid to walk upon 
 the streets alone and when obliged to leave their 
 compounds always took closed chairs. More than 
 
 [281] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 once had the authorities of the city been appealed 
 to to issue a proclamation, forbidding the use of 
 abusive language towards foreigners and announc- 
 ing the fact that the missionaries were not in China 
 for any hostile purpose, but for the good of the peo- 
 ple. The officials not only ignored these appeals, 
 but openly incited the people against the foreigners. 
 On the second day of the riots in Chengtu, one of 
 the officials — a taotai in rank — issued the following 
 statement : 
 
 "At the present time we have ample evidence that 
 foreigners deceive and kidnap small children. You 
 soldiers and people must not be disturbed and flur- 
 ried. When the cases are brought before us, we 
 certainly will not be lenient with them." 
 
 A day or two before the riots there appeared the 
 following placard: 
 
 "Notice is hereby given that at the present time 
 foreign barbarians are hiring evil characters to steal 
 small children that they may extract oil from them 
 for their use. I have a female servant named Li 
 who has personally seen this done. I therefore ex- 
 hort you good people not to allow your children to 
 go out. I hope that you will act in accordance with 
 this." 
 
 No wonder there followed a riot. Here is a 
 placard that was posted all over the city the day 
 after the riots in Chengtu : 
 [282] 
 
A BOLT FROM THE BLUE 
 
 "At the present time when Japan has usurped 
 Chinese territory, you English, French and Ameri- 
 cans have looked on with your hands in your sleeves. 
 If in the future you wish to preach your doctrines 
 in China, you must drive the Japanese back to their 
 own country, then you will be allowed to preach 
 your holy Gospel throughout the country without 
 let or hindrance." 
 
 The war which China at that time was waging 
 with Japan no doubt helped to intensify the bit- 
 terness of the people towards foreigners, but the re- 
 sponsibility for the troubles in West China must 
 largely be placed at the door of the Viceroy — a pro- 
 nounced anti-foreigner — and some of the officials. 
 
 [283] 
 
XXIII 
 THE APPEAL UNTO CAESAR 
 
XXIII 
 
 THE APPEAL UNTO CESAR 
 
 CHUNGKING was full of excitement when Dr. 
 Hart and Dr. Hare arrived from Kiating. 
 Every day brought news of further uprisings not 
 only in Szechwan, but in other provinces; fugitive 
 missionaries were continually coming in from the 
 unsettled districts and hurrying on by native boat 
 to Shanghai. The officials of the city appeared 
 greatly worried at the outlook. They declared that 
 it would be impossible for them to maintain order 
 when the students — always a troublesome lot — 
 would gather for the annual examinations in a few 
 days. The British consul had telegraphed Peking to 
 see if the examinations might not be dropped for 
 that year; but as the telegraph lines had been tam- 
 pered with no reply had as yet been received. The 
 consul with half a dozen foreigners belonging to the 
 Imperial Customs went about armed. They had ar- 
 ranged among themselves, in the event of an attack, 
 
 [287] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 to assemble at one of the compounds and fight it out. 
 An invitation had been extended to any of the mis- 
 sionaries who were in fighting mood to make their 
 way to the appointed place. 
 
 For two weeks Dr. Hart and Dr. Hare took up 
 their quarters in a large passenger boat, moored near 
 the pontoon of the Customs. Here from day to day 
 they closely watched developments in the hope that 
 the situation might clear sufficiently for them to 
 return to their work. But the situation did not 
 clear and they were urged by the British consul to 
 follow the other missionaries to Shanghai. Before 
 leaving Chungking there was a conference of the 
 missionaries and other foreigners and a paper was 
 drawn up to be presented to both the British and 
 American Ministers at Peking, stating their griev- 
 ances and demanding immediate redress. Dr. Hart 
 was commissioned to go to Peking and represent the 
 petitioners. At Ichang, Hankow and Shanghai there 
 were similar conferences and similar papers were 
 drawn up. 
 
 In a letter to Dr. Sutherland, dated at Ichang, 
 July 4, 1895, Dr. Hart says: 
 
 "Our party, except Dr. Hare and myself, are in 
 
 Shanghai, and we hope to join them within a week, 
 
 when all our claims will be made out and presented 
 
 for payment. We shall include the original cost of 
 
 [288] 
 
THE APPEAL UNTO CAESAR 
 
 building, repairs and oversight in construction, and 
 time to rebuild, also all our enforced travelling ex- 
 penses, furniture, etc. 
 
 "Mrs. Stevenson was rather ill when she went 
 down the river, so was Mrs. Hartwell. No ladies 
 will go back to Szechwan for a year at least. 
 
 "We hope to return by November next, and begin 
 the work of reconstruction. Our claims will not be 
 much under twenty thousand taels (eighteen thou- 
 sand dollars). Of course our plan is to rebuild at 
 once. 
 
 "I am going from Shanghai to Peking, not only to 
 press a full settlement of our claims before the min- 
 isters, but to present a petition to their Excellencies 
 for the purpose of having radical changes made, and 
 punishment meted out to the guilty officials, as well 
 as to the ringleaders of the riots. 
 
 "We need our treaty rights stated so clearly that 
 both officials and people cannot err. We want a 
 Commission of Inquiry to sit at Chengtu, and there 
 see the guilty brought to justice. My petition cov- 
 ers all this ground and has the English consul's (of 
 Chungking) approval. I have just held a confer- 
 ence with the English consul and the Commissioner 
 of Customs of this place, and they both heartily ap- 
 prove of such a course; and would go further, that 
 a Consular Agent reside at Chengtu, and that trade 
 be opened to Sui Foo, Kiating and even Chengtu, 
 if warranted. I shall urge especially these latter 
 points upon the attention of Minister Denby, of 
 Peking, who is a personal friend of mine. 
 
 "It is imperative that something be done at once 
 
 [289] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 to secure our position in Szechwan, or we may be 
 subjected again to all sorts of indignities. Now is 
 the time to strike. The riots may work out for us 
 great and lasting good. I shall keep you well in- 
 formed of all steps taken. We may be obliged 
 to do things more independently of the Society than 
 we could wish, but we cannot delay without jeopard- 
 ising great interests. In going to Peking I am speak- 
 ing for the whole body of missionaries in Szechwan, 
 and, if successful, for all China. 
 
 "I hope that you will keep me well advised as to 
 the wishes of the Board. Don't take any back track. 
 Pray for us, and as sure as our cause is just and for 
 the good of this people, it must win." 
 
 In a second letter to Dr. Sutherland, written from 
 Shanghai, Dr. Hart says: 
 
 "I hope that you will urge the Canadian Govern- 
 ment to stir in the matter. It is not in a vindictive 
 spirit that we are acting, but to rescue China from 
 the greater perils in store for her if such proceed- 
 ings are not stopped. Mob violence has been chronic 
 with her for forty years; it is growing and becom- 
 ing one of the chief features of her action towards 
 all foreigners. The officials are our enemies and 
 have been directly or indirectly responsible for most 
 of our troubles. We are anxious to bring them to 
 time while this grave affair is pending. A money 
 settlement only will not help us for future work. 
 We must be respected and be treated as men if we 
 are to be successful." 
 [290] 
 
DR. AND MRS. HART AND THEIR DAUGHTER 
 
THE APPEAL UNTO C^SAR 
 
 On the evening of the eighteenth of July — fifty 
 days from the outbreak at Chengtu, Dr. Hart and 
 Dr. Hare put out to sea on the little steamer 
 Wuchang bound for Peking. At noon on the second 
 day they sighted the Shangtung Promonotory, which 
 like a great index finger points towards Korea. Off 
 the port bow they saw the low island of Liu-Kong- 
 Tao, the scene of the great naval fight between Japan 
 and China six months before. Here the Chinese 
 Admiral Ting made a gallant stand against the 
 Japanese Admiral Ito. Day after day the battle 
 waged, when Ito, who had been a friend and great 
 admirer of Ting and knew his courage, saw that the 
 Chinese could not hold out much longer, he wrote 
 a letter to Ting beseeching him to come over to the 
 Japanese until the close of the war. But Ting, 
 although in terrible straits, declined the well-meant 
 invitation and continued the contest. A few days 
 later he took poison, as did his second and third 
 officers in command and thus perished the naval 
 hopes of China. 
 
 Chefoo, with its commodious harbour, numerous 
 shipping and interesting foreign settlement, was the 
 first port of call. Long before the steamer came to 
 anchor a fleet of clumsy-looking rowboats put off 
 from the shore and just as a boat reached the middle 
 of the steamer a brawny man would throw up a 
 long pole with an iron hook at the end and swing 
 
 [291] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 himself clear of his little craft to the steamer's deck. 
 This feat was done by a dozen or more enterprising 
 as well as athletic fellows who had come aboard to 
 secure guests for certain native hotels which they 
 represented. 
 
 On the fourth day from Shanghai they entered 
 the narrow and tortuous Peiho River and dropped 
 anchor off Taku with its historic fortifications. Here 
 from the deck of the steamer Dr. Hart got his first 
 glimpse of a Chinese railroad. He says, "We could 
 actually see a railroad depot, and engines and cars 
 coming and going, and hear the bells and an occa- 
 sional toot. Can it be that I have lived to see such 
 a thing as a railroad in China!" The following 
 morning he and his young companion went ashore 
 with their traps to the station and boarded a train 
 for Tientsin, the port of Peking, forty miles up the 
 river. 
 
 During their short stay in Tientsin they visited 
 the London Mission Hospital, the scene of Dr. Ken- 
 neth Mackenzie's earnest and heroic labours. The 
 wards were full of sick and wounded soldiers gath- 
 ered from the battlefields of Port Arthur and Wei 
 Hai Wei. The travellers were deeply impressed 
 with the memorials that they saw of the terrible 
 massacre of foreigners in 1870. "I could not leave 
 Tientsin," writes Dr. Hart, "without a sight of 
 those places where such cruel deeds were done. A 
 [292] 
 
THE APPEAL UNTO CAESAR 
 
 small and severely plain chapel stands on part of 
 the site of the Orphanage (Roman Catholic) and 
 where the ten heroic sisters fell, defending as only 
 loving hearts can their sacred trusts. Each conse- 
 crated spot is marked by a single round marble pil- 
 lar about four feet high, with the sister's baptismal 
 name carved in Roman letters upon it. Two of the 
 pillars are in the body of the chapel and eight out- 
 side in front and around the building where they 
 are claimed to have fallen. This sacred place, re- 
 moved but a stone's throw from a noisy street and 
 entirely shut in from view by walls, was the scene of 
 more brutal violence than ever disgraced Chinese 
 annals. As I went from pillar to pillar and stood 
 reading the names of the martyred sisters, my heart 
 was strangely touched, and I could not but feel 
 that these small white monuments would be elo- 
 quent sermons to unborn generations and an ever- 
 lasting testimony against heathen barbarity and the 
 strange ingratitude of the Chinese people." 
 
 Through the kindness of Mr. Pethick, the private 
 secretary of Li Hung Chang, whom Dr. Hart knew 
 in Foochow many years before, the two mission- 
 aries had the rare opportunity while in Tientsin of 
 an informal interview with that greatest of modern 
 Chinamen. While they were in the secretary's office 
 in the Viceroy's Yamen, Li was announced. He 
 came forward and shook hands with each of the 
 
 [293] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 gentlemen in true Western fashion, and after invit- 
 ing them to sit down, entered into an hour's con- 
 versation with them. The conversation naturally 
 turned to the riots in Chengtu and Dr. Hart's mis- 
 sion to Peking. "He was anxious to settle the mat- 
 ter upon the spot," states the doctor, "and said that 
 he could do it by telegraph. He assured me that 
 the Hunan man — Chen — who issued the famous 
 proclamation on the second day of the riots, should 
 be punished and we should go back in safety, pro- 
 vided we would waive our indemnity. He spoke 
 most bitterly of the Roman Catholics and charged 
 them with having made money out of the riots. 'Ad- 
 mitting it to be so,' I replied, 'the Chinese are to 
 blame for the rioting.' 'Well,' he said, 'don't take 
 any indemnity and I will guarantee you shall never 
 be mobbed and looted again; hereafter there shall 
 not be any more destruction of property.' I said to 
 him, 'These riots have been going on for thirty or 
 forty years and you do not stop them. We ask 
 nothing but a righteous reparation, and do not want 
 more than will reconstruct our property.' He still 
 charged us, but more particularly the Roman Cath- 
 olics, with demanding more than a full compensa- 
 tion. I asked His Excellency what he would do if 
 bad people destroyed his house and property, would 
 he ask compensation'? He answered, 'No!' Of 
 course he need not, for he could get his compensation 
 
 l>94j 
 
THE APPEAL UNTO C1SAR 
 
 without asking. He would seize it I He urged me 
 to tell him all I knew about Liu, the Viceroy of 
 Szechwan. Did I know anything bad about him*? 
 I answered, 'Not personally. 5 He then pressed me 
 so hard that I said, 'He has the reputation of being 
 a very avaricious man.' The Viceroy denied this, 
 and said, 'No, he is not.' Then I stated that Liu 
 had the reputation of being a hater of foreigners, 
 but he answered, 'No, but you may say that he does 
 not like them.' I could have told more, but I knew 
 well that he was better acquainted with his villainy 
 than I. We had to examine his face, or rather Dr. 
 Hare did, and give him some assurance that he 
 would not suffer from the encased bullet (which he 
 had received from a would-be assassin in Japan). 
 Poor old man ! walking in darkness, tottering to the 
 grave, a prejudiced heathen ! 
 
 "We were shown over the vice-regal palace and 
 looked upon the fine gifts of the Emperor and Em- 
 press Dowager which have come to him from time 
 to time. I had seen and talked face to face with the 
 hero of Taiping days, the queller of riots in Sze- 
 chwan a score of years ago, the most eminent gen- 
 eral, the wiliest diplomat China has ever produced, 
 a viceroy that in peace and war, in calm and temp- 
 est, in honour and dishonour, has played his cards 
 for all they were worth. Hateful foes are now 
 hounding him to the grave and but few friends rise 
 
 [295] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 to bolster the tottering giant. The Empress Dowager, 
 however, through thick and thin, swears by him 
 and longs with itching palms for the substantial 
 proofs of his gratitude, which have been lavished 
 upon her as seldom from subject to ruler." 
 
 From Tientsin to Peking is anywhere from seven- 
 ty-five to one hundred and thirty-five miles — all de- 
 pends upon which route one selects, the water or 
 the land ! There are three popular modes of trans- 
 portation in vogue — house-boat, cart and saddle. 
 Though Dr. Hart's inclinations were to select a 
 cart, as a new experience, he was wisely persuaded 
 by his missionary friends in Tientsin to take a boat. 
 The scenery along the river he found most uninter- 
 esting and monotonous. The country was flat and 
 almost leafless. Mud was everywhere — mud-houses, 
 mud-shops, muddy roads, muddy clothes. Never did 
 he see so much mud. And yet this little Peiho River, 
 the muddiest and crookedest stream on the planet, 
 is one of greatest historic interest. The Thames, the 
 Spree, the Seine, the Tagus, even the Tiber, are but 
 of yesterday compared with it. Dr. Hart thought 
 of this as he sat in his stifling cabin and looked out 
 of the windows upon the cheerless landscape. 
 "Think of the pleasure barges that have gone up 
 and down this river; of emperors and empresses, 
 princes and dukes, away back — no one knows how 
 far. Think of the armies that have been marshalled 
 
 [296] 
 
THE APPEAL UNTO CAESAR 
 
 upon its banks, of battles fought, of the tragic events 
 of plottings and conspiracies to overthrow hated rul- 
 ers. Think of the numberless scholars who have 
 come to compete at Peking for academic honours and 
 the few who have returned bearing chaplets ! While 
 I muse upon the great past my heart grows strangely 
 tender towards this little stream." 
 
 At Tung Chao, fourteen miles from the Capital, 
 our missionaries left the house-boat and proceeded 
 upon donkeys, their baggage following in a cart, 
 which travelled at the rate of a mile and a half an 
 hour. Such roads ! They had heard that they were 
 bad, but the half had never been told. Both riders 
 and baggage suffered severely from the concussions 
 — jolts is too mild a word — which they received by 
 dropping into the myriads of holes and ruts which 
 marked the way to Peking. The ride was a memor- 
 able, but most undignified one. Dr. Hart did not 
 feel like a special Commissioner to the Imperial City 
 as he sat upon his little, lean, razor-back, stubborn 
 beast, with his knees half-drawn up to his chin. 
 The donkey had a mind of its own and at times on 
 the journey was uncontrollable. In entering the city 
 where the streets were at all good he would rush 
 along at a fearful speed, keeping his rider busy dodg- 
 ing sign boards, meat hooks and other menacing 
 things that hung suspended from the shops ; he would 
 plunge straight into a crowd, upsetting any one 
 
 [297] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 and anything that came in his way. His venerable 
 rider remarks, "I could no more guide that diminu- 
 tive beast than Perseus could the winged Pegasus 
 when he took the bit and flew towards the haunts of 
 the Gorgons." 
 
 Dr. Hart's visit to Peking was a short one. He 
 was there for only one week and as he had to confer 
 with several important dignitaries, he could give but 
 little time to sight-seeing. 
 
 At eleven o'clock on the day following his arrival, 
 by special appointment, he called upon the most in- 
 fluential foreigner in China, Sir Robert Hart, the 
 Inspector General of the Imperial Maritime Cus- 
 toms. For forty-one years this Irishman had been 
 in the confidence of the Chinese Government and 
 had won a world-wide reputation for the services 
 which he had rendered the Empire. No man could 
 have held a trust of such magnitude so long, and sat- 
 isfied a government so whimsical as the Chinese, 
 unless he possessed extraordinary powers. It must 
 have been very galling to capable and ambitious 
 Chinamen to have one of the hated and despised 
 foreign race employed by their government in the 
 organisation and control of so important a branch 
 of the public service as the Customs. There are no 
 better financiers in the world, as individuals, than 
 the Chinese, but they have seldom proved themselves 
 adept in managing great public affairs. They may 
 
 [298] 
 
THE APPEAL UNTO CiESAR 
 
 have the ability, but they as a rule succumb too read- 
 ily to the tempter. 
 
 Dr. Hart was quick to notice in his interview with 
 Sir Robert how a long sojourn in China and a close 
 identification with the people had practically dena- 
 tionalised him. He had become in reality a China- 
 man in thought and feeling. After discussing the 
 matter of opening a few new ports in West China, 
 the conversation drifted to Christian missions. Sir 
 Robert strongly hinted that the presence of mission- 
 aries was most undesirable on the part of the Chi- 
 nese ; that they were disturbing elements, and that in 
 the Confucian classics the people had all they needed. 
 Dr. Hart referred him to the gross ignorance and 
 deplorable degradation of all classes, and the corrup- 
 tion of the official class in particular, and that while 
 they had a good system of ethics, its hold upon the 
 people was gone ; that the Roman Empire at its worst 
 was no worse than China at present. Sir Robert 
 finally and frankly admitted the truth of the state- 
 ment. 
 
 In the afternoon of the same day Dr. Hart pre- 
 sented his card at the imposing gateway of the Brit- 
 ish Legation. In a few minutes he had met Sir 
 Nicholas O' Conor, the British Minister, and had 
 handed him the document prepared by the mission- 
 aries at Chungking. The minister agreed most fully 
 
 [299] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 with the demands made, but felt that some of the 
 points should not be pressed at that time. 
 
 After the interview Sir Nicholas showed Dr. Hart 
 and Dr. Hare over the extensive legation grounds. 
 The residence is one of those old ducal palaces for 
 which Peking is famous, and is a magnificent speci- 
 men of Chinese art. The reception and dining rooms 
 with their frescoes and wood carvings are by far 
 the finest in all China. Indeed few palaces in Eu- 
 rope can boast of more sumptuous apartments. 
 
 Before returning to Shanghai, Dr. Hart must see 
 his old friend, the popular American Minister, the 
 Honourable Colonel Charles Denby. He discovered 
 that the Colonel was holidaying in his summer home 
 among the hills some miles west of the Capital, but 
 an invitation had been left for him to come out and 
 stay as long as he could make it convenient. The 
 generous invitation was accepted, though it meant 
 another long and distressing ride upon a Peking 
 donkey. Two days were pleasantly passed in the 
 Minister's retreat, reviving old memories, when the 
 two had travelled many a mile together in Central 
 China, and in canvassing the vexed situation in 
 Szechwan. Colonel Denby did not seem very hope- 
 ful of securing much beyond a money indemnity, 
 but assured his missionary friend that he would leave 
 no stone unturned to bring China to her senses and 
 [300] 
 
THE APPEAL UNTO CAESAR 
 
 secure prompt and adequate measures of redress and 
 reform. 
 
 Sir Harry Parkes, who for many years was the 
 British Minister to Peking, used to say that when he 
 came back to the Capital it was returning to the 
 three D's— "Dirt! Dust! and Disdain!" Dr. Hart, 
 after a week's residence, fully accepted Sir Harry's 
 characterisation of the city, but felt that he could 
 have added a few more D's to the list. This was 
 his parting shot: "My opinion is that Peking, while 
 the capital of a mighty empire and possessing many 
 objects of interest, is the most corrupt, most filthy 
 and most unenlightened city in the world. It is des- 
 titute of any claims to represent a civilised people. 
 Its streets, houses, shops and general conveniences 
 are no better than ten centuries ago. It is without 
 waterworks, without sewers, without proper light- 
 ing, without police, without a properly paved street 
 and without shame." 
 
 The result of the demands of the missionaries and 
 other foreign residents of China, the consuls and 
 the various foreign Ministers at Peking, was the deg- 
 radation of Liu-Ping-Chang, the notorious Viceroy of 
 Szechwan; the degradation and dismissal of all the 
 other guilty officials; the full recognition of the 
 status of the missionaries in the province, and the 
 payment of a sufficient money indemnity for all 
 
 [3oi] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 losses — no small proportion of which the ex-viceroy 
 was compelled to pay out of his own pocket. 
 
 At the time the Imperial Edict was issued an- 
 nouncing the compensations which the missionaries 
 were to receive and fixing the responsibility for all 
 the troubles upon the officials of Szechwan, Dr. 
 Hart wrote these words to the Canadian Methodist 
 Missionary authorities : 
 
 "I believe the very pillars of iniquity which have 
 held up this tottering fabric which we call, 'The 
 Imperial Government' are about to be pulled down. 
 We must and are to have a new China. I feel thank- 
 ful to live to see this day and somehow feel that we 
 have done our best year's work in 1895." 
 
 [302J 
 
XXIV 
 THE WORK RESUMED 
 
XXIV 
 
 THE WORK RESUMED 
 
 FOR several months following the riots the prov- 
 inces bordering upon the Yangtse, as well as 
 one or two by the sea, were in a more or less dis- 
 turbed state. In some provinces rebellions had 
 broken out and Imperial troops were busy in trying 
 to put them down. At Kucheng, near Foochow, ten 
 missionaries had been massacred and a commission 
 had been appointed to investigate the matter. A 
 British fleet of warships was lying off Wusung, a few 
 miles from Shanghai, ready for emergencies. Brit- 
 ish and other gunboats had gone up the Yangtse and 
 were now anchored off the various treaty ports pre- 
 pared to shell the native cities if the foreign residents 
 were molested. The outlook for missionary work 
 was far from promising. 
 
 Our West China missionaries were, like the coun- 
 try, most unsettled too. One or two went to Japan ; 
 Dr. and Mrs. Stevenson and Mrs. Hartwell, whose 
 
 [305] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 nerves had been badly shaken by the experiences 
 through which they had passed, decided to return 
 to Canada; the others remained in Shanghai. 
 
 Early in November, tired of inaction and anxious 
 to test the feeling of the people, Dr. Hart and Mr. 
 Hartwell set out for Szechwan. They were pre- 
 ceded by a commission of three gentlemen sent by 
 the American Government to Chengtu to settle the 
 amount of indemnity to be paid American citizens 
 for their losses and to insist upon the punishment of 
 all guilty officials. 
 
 When the missionaries reached Chungking, a petty 
 officer boarded the boat and presented Dr. Hart with 
 the card of the Chief Magistrate of the city. Ac- 
 companying the card was a present of two chickens, 
 two doves and two plates of cakes. This was the 
 conventional intimation that a personal visit would 
 soon follow. The next morning the magistrate 
 called and had a long conference with the doctor. 
 He was a jolly old fellow and every time the doctor 
 said anything that pleased him he would jump up 
 from his chair and in a most animated way shake 
 him by the hand. But the magistrate was as wily 
 as he was jolly. He was particularly anxious that 
 Dr. Hart should not go to Chengtu until the Ameri- 
 can Commission had left. But the experienced mis- 
 sionary quickly saw through his plea. He was afraid 
 that his presence there and his intimate knowledge 
 
 [306] 
 
THE WORK RESUMED 
 
 of affairs might strengthen the hands of the com- 
 mission and be very embarrassing to the officials. 
 
 In leaving Chungking Dr. Hart notified the Chief 
 Magistrate of Chengtu that he was coming overland 
 and asked that suitable accommodation be provided 
 for him and Mr. Hartwell. The magistrate was ex- 
 ceedingly obliging. He ordered an escort of six 
 soldiers to meet the missionaries and to accompany 
 them to the city, and rented a commodious dwelling 
 near their old property, where they might reside until 
 their own houses had been rebuilt. When they ar- 
 rived in Chengtu they found the magistrate awaiting 
 them in their temporary quarters "all wreathed in 
 smiles," having made every provision for their com- 
 fort. 
 
 In visiting the ruins of their old buildings they 
 discovered some very interesting and significant 
 drawings upon what remained of the walls of the 
 chapel. One of the drawings depicted a ferocious 
 man with a very long arm thrashing a sad-looking 
 Chinese boy. Under it were these words : "This is 
 the way foreigners beat their children." Another 
 drawing was entitled, "The boy and the box in the 
 blood room." On one of the walls, in large char- 
 acters, appeared the sentence, "Here is the hall that 
 met a righteous retribution from Heaven's wrath." 
 
 But though these drawings very clearly indicated 
 the conceptions and feelings of the populace towards 
 
 [307] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 the missionaries at the time of the riots, they by no 
 means indicated their attitude towards them when 
 they returned. Seven months had wrought a great 
 change. In a letter to the Editor of the Christian 
 Guardian, Dr. Hart says: 
 
 "We have mingled freely with the people on the 
 streets and on the parade ground and have received 
 the best of treatment. This morning Mr. Hartwell 
 and I walked back and forth upon the parade ground 
 while about two thousand soldiers were going 
 through their evolutions. The onlookers were many. 
 We stopped and conversed with the soldiers and peo- 
 ple and did not hear an offensive word or observe 
 an act that indicated anything but goodwill. The 
 degradation of the Viceroy and the punishment of 
 the other officials have worked wonders for our 
 cause. The simple fact that we can secure property 
 for our missions, using the words 'buy' and l selV — 
 which has never been the custom before and that 
 we are not limited to certain districts for purposes 
 of residence, gives us a far different standing in the 
 eyes of the people. Our hearts are full of praise to 
 God who has done by the wrath and cunning of our 
 enemies more for His cause than our preaching, 
 schools and hospitals could have done for decades." 
 
 One of the local causes contributing to this happy 
 result was the loyalty and the testimony of the 
 scholars of the mission day schools. The scholars 
 were living witnesses to the falsity of the cruel 
 
 [308] 
 
THE WORK RESUMED 
 
 rumours that had been circulated by the Chengtu 
 officials. When the excitement of the riots had 
 subsided, these boys and girls were visited by many 
 of the better disposed citizens and they were closely 
 questioned about the life, methods and teachings of 
 the missionaries. Without a single exception these 
 scholars stood faithfully by their teachers and helped 
 to open the eyes of the people to the deceptions that 
 had been practised upon them by their unscrupulous 
 officials. Joined by their parents many of these 
 scholars walked miles out of the city to welcome 
 the returning missionaries, their faces aglow with 
 the joy of seeing them again. 
 
 After a few busy weeks in Chengtu in settling 
 claims, buying a new property and starting the work 
 of rebuilding, Dr. Hart left for Kiating, where he 
 spent several days in repairing the damaged mis- 
 sion premises and in notifying the authorities and 
 the people that the missionaries were about to return 
 and resume their work. 
 
 But the strain of the past few years — especially 
 the last one — had been too much for the veteran 
 missionary and broken in health through malaria 
 he left for home in February, 1896. A year's rest 
 did him a world of good and he was again ready for 
 his field in China. On the thirteenth day of Febru- 
 ary, 1897, he, with his wife and daughter, sailed 
 from San Francisco. Upon their arrival in Yoko- 
 
 [309] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 hama they were met by Dr. Hare, to whom Miss 
 Hart was married on the following day. Three 
 delightful and altogether too short days were passed 
 in the home of Dr. Edgerton Hart at Wuhu, when 
 the party proceeded up the Yangtse, reaching Kiat- 
 ing on the twenty-seventh day of May. 
 
 As Dr. Hart's house had suffered considerably at 
 the hands of the rioters it was some time before it 
 could be made habitable. Not a door nor a window 
 had been left in the place. For several days, until 
 new doors and windows could be made, blankets 
 were hung up. "We were like people living in a 
 bird cage," writes Mrs. Hart to one of her sons. If 
 this good lady was not charmed with her house she 
 was with the grounds that surrounded it. At the 
 back of the place rose a high rock covered with small 
 shrubs, ferns and banana plants. "I never tire," 
 she continues, "of looking at this lovely view about 
 twenty feet from our dining-room window. We 
 have steps up this rock and at the top one gets a 
 view of the river and two large islands; rafts and 
 boats of all sizes are going and coming. We reach 
 the wall of the city — only a short distance away — 
 by this same flight of steps. The outlook from the 
 wall is charming. Hill after hill appears, covered 
 with shrubs and flowers and vegetation of all kinds 
 — and then beyond is Omei with its lofty range of 
 
 [3io] 
 
THE WORK RESUMED 
 
 There is nothing that the foreigner, living in the 
 hot cities of China, longs for more than a good drink 
 of cold water. Good drinking water is hard to ob- 
 tain — hence the universal tea habit. Dr. Hart en- 
 deavoured to solve the problem in his compound at 
 Kiating by attempting to dig a well just at the 
 foot of the big, red sand-stone cliff or rock, already 
 referred to, at the back of the property. The work- 
 men had not gone down more than seven feet when 
 they came upon a cave, entering the perpendicular 
 cliff at right angles — made by the Mantzs, the orig- 
 inal inhabitants of the country. "As soon as we 
 could get into it," says Dr. Hart, "we took torches 
 and penetrated the long lost cave where human 
 beings dwelt probably two thousand years ago. The 
 cave is eight feet high, about the same in width, and 
 sixty feet deep, straight into the solid rock. It is 
 beautifully chiselled and at the farther end is a fire- 
 place with two furnace holes for cooking food. Along 
 the sides of the cave are old stone cisterns for water 
 and a niche or two for sleepers. We found the cave 
 very cold and rather damp. We are going to make 
 use of it as a dry well for cooling drinks and food. 
 There are thousands of these ancient caves in and 
 around the city, but I have never seen one quite so 
 deep as this one." 
 
 On returning to West China Dr. Hart found all 
 the missionaries back at their posts with the excep- 
 
 [311] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 tion of Dr. and Mrs. Stevenson, who had resigned 
 from the mission. During his absence seven or eight 
 new buildings had risen from the ruins of the old, 
 among which were a fine brick church in Chengtu 
 seating over four hundred people and a neat little 
 chapel in Kiating. One of his first duties upon his 
 return was to dedicate the Kiating chapel and bap- 
 tise the first convert of the mission. 
 
 In founding the West China Mission Dr. Hart 
 soon felt the need of the printing press. In an ad- 
 dress at a missionary conference in Victoria College, 
 Toronto, some years after, he said, "I felt the neces- 
 sity of it to meet the wants of both missionaries and 
 Chinese. It is quite a serious undertaking to bring 
 literature up from Shanghai. Nearly one-third of the 
 books sent westward have been lost on the way. And 
 we need books. From the time when Morrison and 
 others laid hold on the press to convey their thoughts 
 to the Chinese, what a world of good has been done ! 
 The Chinese are a literary people, and it seems to 
 me that when they read and gather and love books, 
 that there can be no better way of influencing them 
 than through the medium of the printed page." In 
 one of his first communications home after opening 
 the work in Chengtu, he says, "I am very much con- 
 vinced that the best religious work that can be done 
 for Szechwan for a few years to come is that of a 
 good weekly paper to be sold say for two or three 
 [312] 
 
THE WORK RESUMED 
 
 cash a copy, giving the people some knowledge of 
 our purposes and of the world in general. Light is 
 what they need. Their ignorance is so dense that 
 they cannot comprehend our motives." 
 
 Before leaving Canada in 1897, Dr. Hart made 
 a tour of the churches and in his addresses he always 
 put in a special plea for a mission press. Through 
 private subscriptions he collected fifteen hundred 
 dollars by which he was enabled to take back with 
 him two presses, a Gordon treadle, and a lever hand- 
 press, together with a limited quantity of Chinese 
 type, which he purchased in Shanghai. What a 
 time he had in Ichang in packing these presses into 
 a junk for transportation up the river! They were 
 as the apple of his eye and the cause of much solici- 
 tude as they passed through the perils of the rapids. 
 These two little presses were the first to be used in 
 China west of Hankow. They were put into com- 
 mission in Kiating where a new brick building was 
 erected to house them. Dr. Hart says, "We began 
 our work with one man to print all our books for 
 fifty millions of people — and this man was a for- 
 eigner. We went on slowly and the day we printed 
 our first tract I saw his eyes sparkle with joy. This 
 tract was entitled, 'Words Exhorting the World to 
 Good Deeds,' and we sold it for one cash. From 
 this beginning we went on to larger work, such as 
 the printing of the Gospels. After one year, when 
 
 [313] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 we had printed one hundred and fifty thousand 
 copies of books, I put on two more men. The next 
 year we put on six or seven more men. We now have 
 sixteen young men in our employ, and in one year 
 we printed three millions one hundred thousand 
 pages of literature. 
 
 "A short time ago our General Secretary said 
 to me that he hoped I would live long enough to 
 make this press work in China self-supporting. So 
 far as paying its own way is concerned, it is that 
 now. From the time that we collected our first 
 money and paid for our press this enterprise has been 
 entirely self-supporting. Not only so, but we have 
 made money. And we can make more. I fully 
 expect that when we have five or six presses at work 
 we shall not only pay the missionary in charge, but 
 establish a fund for the carrying on of mission work 
 in China. Last year we could not begin to fill our 
 orders. The American Bible Society alone demanded 
 one press all the time to print Gospels and the Acts 
 and we ran off seventy-five thousand volumes for 
 them. The British and Foreign Bible Society are 
 anxious to have us print a large edition for them, but 
 we are unable to do so with the presses we have. 
 It costs from twenty to thirty per cent, less to print 
 these books in Chengtu than it does to have them 
 sent in. The price of paper is reasonable and labour 
 is cheap. We have adopted the following scale of 
 
 [3H] 
 
DR. HART OPERATING HIS PRINTING PRESS 
 
 THE FIRST TO BE USED IN CHINA WEST OF HANKOW 
 
 THE PRESS BUILDING AT KIATING 
 
THE WORK RESUMED 
 
 wages for our printers and the allowance is a gen- 
 erous one for Chinese labour. First year, one dollar 
 and twenty-five cents per month; second year, two 
 dollars per month ; third year, two dollars and a half 
 per month. The highest amount they will ever get 
 is three dollars and twenty-five cents per month, and 
 they are happy men, when they receive that — and 
 they all feed themselves out of the wages they re- 
 ceive ! 
 
 "There are no newspapers in Chengtu and even 
 a small bi-monthly paper would be a good thing. It 
 would need a foreigner at its head, but if he were 
 the right man it could be made a great success. The 
 news supply could be furnished by telegraph (which 
 now comes into Chengtu), and by extracts from 
 daily and weekly papers which reach us from the 
 coast. News even three months old would seem 
 fresh to people who could not get anything fresher. 
 And the Chinese are not the only ones behind the 
 times. There are people in Toronto who did not 
 appear to know that we had a press in West China 
 until to-day. 
 
 "I have great faith in this work of the press — 
 more faith than I have in any other kind of work I 
 ever undertook. By means of it we can spread God's 
 Word everywhere. It is reaching far out now, and 
 the time is coming when we shall be printing litera- 
 ture for Thibet and sending the Word of Life up 
 
 [315] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 into those dark provinces where for so long the Em- 
 press Dowager has been sowing the seeds of death." 
 Dr. Hart's faith in the power of the printed page 
 among the millions of West China has been more 
 than justified. The two little presses that he took 
 up the river in 1897 are now a dozen; the little brick 
 building in Kiating has become a fine large plant 
 with modern equipment, having a total output each 
 year of over thirty-five million pages, printed in four 
 or more languages, employing four or five foreign 
 heads of departments and a native staff of over 
 sixty. There is no branch of the work of the Cana- 
 dian Methodist Church that is so successful and 
 far-reaching in its influence as the presswork. 
 
 [316] 
 
XXV 
 
 A VISIT TO AN OUTSTATION 
 
XXV 
 
 A VISIT TO AN OUTSTATION 
 
 DURING the growing years that followed the 
 return of the Canadian missionaries in Sze- 
 chwan several new outstations were established in 
 the neighbourhood of Chengtu and Kiating. One 
 of the first to be opened was Omei Hsien, a day's 
 journey from Kiating. Dr. Hart, in a breezy arti- 
 cle, tells of a short trip which he and his wife made 
 to this new outstation and to an ancient monastery 
 a few miles beyond, among the mountains. 
 
 "Come with me to our new outstation at Omei, 
 a quiet city nestling in a fertile plain near the foot- 
 hills of the great Mount Omei. The mountain now 
 wears her winter robes, and streams of snow water 
 rush along the deep street gutters, to find the paddy 
 fields far beyond the city walls. 
 
 "There are not many lands where the people 
 would make more use of such tiny streams. The 
 ducks and geese swim in them; the little urchins 
 
 [319] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 wade in them and sail their toy boats; turnips and 
 cabbages are washed in them; buckets of filth are 
 emptied into them; clothes are washed in them; and, 
 lastly, coolies every hour dip their pails in them 
 and carry the refreshing contents to the tea shops 
 and homes to brew fragrant tea and steam rice. 
 
 "Mrs. Hart and I, after a twenty-five miles' ride 
 in sedan chairs, entered the East Gate just before 
 nightfall and took lodgings in our newly rented 
 house upon the main street, in the rear of a fashion- 
 able tea shop. Our courtyard was not the pink of 
 neatness, nor as sweet-smelling as a clover patch. A 
 cold wind circulated freely through the roof and 
 walls of our house. It is wonderful what white- 
 wash and red paint will do for an old, tumble-down 
 Chinese dwelling! We had the evidence before us 
 and were happy. A charcoal fire was quickly made, 
 a good meal was soon spread out upon our own 
 washed table, and two happy people feasted in the 
 heart of the city, unknown by the thousands about 
 them. 
 
 "The next day was 'market day' — always a gay 
 day in West China. Every city and town is sup- 
 posed to have a public market from ten to fifteen 
 times each month, and as the cities and towns are 
 not far apart, the people have exceptional opportuni- 
 ties to dispose of everything the earth grows and 
 the hand of man manufactures. About nine o'clock 
 [32o] 
 
A VISIT TO AN OUTSTATION 
 
 the peasants from hills and vales and mountain 
 heights come in groups toward the city gates, and 
 by eleven o'clock nearly every important street has 
 become a veritable bazaar. The din of myriad voices 
 rises over the city and is heard half a mile beyond 
 the city gates. Every commodity known to this dis- 
 trict, and some new and fantastic articles from be- 
 yond the seas, are arranged on either side of the 
 street. Here an old woman sits by a basket of fresh 
 eggs, brought with much pride from her home in the 
 hills, five miles away. Yonder a sturdy lass holds 
 a squeaking black pig with a straw rope and finds 
 her charge a lively one until a purchaser drags the 
 squealing nuisance away, pulled, punched and kicked 
 out of half a month's growth. 
 
 "This is just the time to sell books and rub shoul- 
 ders with the people, and no one has enjoyed the 
 delights of missionary work unless he has pushed 
 his way through a large town or city with his hands 
 full of books and tracts, and run over half a dozen 
 pigs, chickens and waddling babies, and received a 
 hundred inward imprecations from old women, as 
 the cause of unseemly hubbubs. 
 
 "The day was cold and misty, but the cold and 
 the mist did not interfere with business. About ten 
 o'clock the hum of voices was heard, and a little 
 later I sallied forth with our cook for a canvass of 
 the city. With illustrated calendars, in two colours, 
 
 [321] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 and tracts in abundance, we walked leisurely through 
 the crowds, holding up our precious merchandise and 
 calling to every one near and far to purchase. Talk- 
 ing here to a group of farmers, much to their amuse- 
 ment, and there explaining calendars and tracts to 
 shopmen. Some one purchases and then a dozen 
 conclude to venture, and my hands are all thumbs 
 as the buyers multiply. One hand is filled to the 
 uttermost with tracts, the other must select and give 
 out the ones sold and receive the brass coins, and 
 deposit them in my coat pocket and defend my cal- 
 endars from assaults in the rear and sides, for well- 
 behaved Chinamen are not above taking considerable 
 liberties with things which do not exactly belong to 
 them. After two hours of this kind of work, with 
 one side of my person weighted down with brass, I 
 struggle back to my lodgings hungry and weary. 
 
 "The following day there was a market at Tsin 
 Lung Chang, ten miles away, and both Mrs. Hart 
 and I went. I cannot attempt anything like a de- 
 scription of the lovely views we caught of the won- 
 derful mountain as we wended our way over streams, 
 by mighty banyans, through villages and past an- 
 cient temples, ever looking up to the snowy peaks 
 and rugged gorges. We had a good reception by 
 the multitudes, and books were in great demand, and 
 notwithstanding the streets were wet, and my feet 
 damp and cold, my part of the market was so lively 
 [322] 
 
MARKET DAY 
 
A VISIT TO AN OUTSTATION 
 
 that such small troubles were soon forgotten. Every- 
 body was happy, and when I stood between the 
 sedan poles, and ate my lunch as it was handed to 
 me by my faithful partner, the enthusiasm mani- 
 fested was something extraordinary. Lunch over, I 
 left Mrs. Hart again, and did a big business before 
 it was time to retrace our steps. 
 
 "The next day we journeyed forty li, or thirteen 
 miles, to Ta-Ngo-Sz, an ancient monastery, twenty- 
 five hundred feet up the side of the mountain. My 
 wife had a sedan chair, but she had to walk so much 
 of the way up that she declared she would make the 
 whole journey next time on foot, and take two days 
 for the ascent. I half surmise the coolies will be 
 just as well pleased, for I might as well say it now 
 as some other time, they declared she weighed 
 three hundred catties, which in plain English weight 
 is three hundred and seventy-five pounds. It was a 
 libel, of course, but then she is pretty heavy. 
 
 "We took the old abbot — whom I had met before 
 — by surprise, but his beaming face declared plainly 
 enough, 'You are welcome!' We made ourselves 
 at home by taking the whole west end of the great 
 temple. The old gentleman, who boasts the mature 
 age of sixty-nine years, prostrated himself before 
 us both, first to myself and then to my wife. With 
 thumbs spread wide and outstretched arms, he fell 
 upon his knees, his silk robes, lined with fur, all in 
 
 [323] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 a heap, and bowed his mitred head at our feet. 
 I found it rather hard on my part to be so humble 
 for both of us. However, I bowed pretty low. 
 
 "This ceremony over, the abbot ordered the hum- 
 bler fraternity to bring in the great brazier, for it 
 was cold, and make up the bed, insisting that we 
 should have mosquito curtains. Of mosquitos there 
 had not one hummed to the smoking incense for half 
 a year. Hot water, in a tiny brass pitcher, just 
 enough for one cup of tea, was brought by the serving 
 abbot. After wiping the cups with his sleeve, he 
 pulled out a package from his bosom, from which, 
 when unrolled, dropped two wads of Yun Nan 
 coarse tea. With one wad he made me a cup of 
 yellow liquid, then he proceeded to do the hospitable 
 thing for Mrs. Hart. Her wad, by accident, fell 
 into the ashes, but the old man was courtesy itself 
 and wiped it well with his withered hand and an old 
 rag which had seen much service. I sipped my cup 
 with great gusto and with sufficient noise that both 
 he and Mrs. Hart could hear, giving a side glance to 
 her to see how she liked the mixture he was now pre- 
 paring for her. Hers was well brewed, and with 
 great politeness handed to her by the grand old man. 
 He went out just then, and to my chagrin Mrs. Hart 
 deliberately poured out that choice cup of tea into 
 the ashes. Women are so queer and finical ! 
 
 "We stopped for two days and enjoyed the ab- 
 
 [324] 
 
A VISIT TO AN OUTSTATION 
 
 bot's hospitality. He lives a very quiet life, sur- 
 rounded by a few young priests and novitiates. In 
 addition to serving the gods and waiting upon the 
 worshippers, who come from all parts of the empire 
 and even from Japan and Korea, the abbot is a 
 doctor. At the temple door he has a cupboard with 
 ten drawers all filled with different herbs, barks, 
 roots, clays and curious mixtures. One morning 
 while we were there a mountain woman brought 
 her daughter for treatment. 'What's the matter with 
 you*?' he asked the girl. 'I have a pain, 5 she replied. 
 'Yes, I know, but where is it'?' 'In my head and 
 stomach, sir.' 'How long*?' he asked. And when 
 the mother told him, he quickly said, 'Ah, ague!' 
 In a few minutes he had prepared for the sick girl 
 a huge package of ginger, a dozen different herbs, 
 with a big lump of white clay thrown in. 
 
 "The old man seemed very anxious for us to make 
 our home with him during the hot months, and as 
 an inducement he said he would have plenty of 
 vegetables in the garden and good corn meal for por- 
 ridge. Once or twice he referred to the wonderful 
 efficacy of the waters of the bubbling spring near 
 the temple, which the priests call spiritual water or 
 water of the gods. He claimed that it could prolong 
 life and make marvellous cures. He said that if I 
 would come every year during the hot season he 
 believed that I would live to be a hundred years old, 
 
 [325] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 and that he expected to live to be ninety years old 
 himself. 'How fine it would be to return to your 
 own country at the age of a hundred,' he said. I 
 have no doubt the Missionary Society would look 
 favourably upon any simple measure that would 
 preclude the necessity of a furlough for forty or fifty 
 years. It might be worth trying. 
 
 "We had a splendid visit and enjoyed communion 
 with nature — the mountains and streams and mam- 
 moth trees — and from the temple front one of the 
 grandest outlooks to be found in West China. I 
 often thought of the Scotchman who spent a few 
 minutes of each day before the mountains, unhooded, 
 in adoration of nature. 
 
 "By the way, what wonderful memories blind 
 men have! As we took lunch in a temple court on 
 our ascent, a blind man came in and stood by a pillar. 
 Hearing me talk to the waiting priest, he quickly 
 asked my name. c Ah!' he said, 'you were at Wan- 
 Nien monastery eleven years ago, were you not*?' 
 It was so, and the then blind boy now hears my 
 voice after such a lapse of time and knows me." 
 
 The old abbot of Mount Omei is still living. His 
 face is fearfully wrinkled, his form is bent — but his 
 heart is as large and as warm as it ever was. Dear 
 old soul ! what a good friend he has been to the mis- 
 sionaries ! After this first stay at the monastery Dr. 
 and Mrs. Hart visited it several times, once or 
 
 [326] 
 
A VISIT TO AN OUT STATION 
 
 twice for many weeks when the doctor was suffer- 
 ing from prolonged attacks of malaria. The abbot 
 has built additional rooms for the accommodation of 
 the missionaries who now make it a regular resort 
 during the extreme heat of the summer. 
 
 [327] 
 
XXVI 
 TWO EVENTFUL YEARS 
 
XXVI 
 
 TWO EVENTFUL YEARS 
 
 THE closing year of the nineteenth century and 
 the opening one of the twentieth were very 
 eventful years in the history of Christian missions 
 in West China. In the early part of 1899 eacn °f 
 the seven Protestant missionary societies at work 
 in the Province of Szechwan sent representatives 
 to a conference held in Chungking to consider the 
 possibilities of closer federation and co-operation. 
 The conference was an unqualified success. It was 
 well attended, most enthusiastic and deeply spiritual 
 in tone. One of the native Christians who was pres- 
 ent, in describing the gathering to Dr. Hart, said: 
 "The 'Big Washees' — the Baptists — were there; the 
 'Little Washees' — the Episcopalians and Methodists 
 — were there, and the 'No Washees at alV — the 
 Quakers — were there. Me no understan why dif- 
 ferent and yet worship same Jesus." This poor, con- 
 fused Chinaman, in those pidgin-English terms, 
 
 [331] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 placed his finger upon the weak spot in the Christian 
 propaganda, both in the Orient and the Occident — 
 the lack of visible unity. 
 
 The most practical result of the conference was 
 the organisation of a standing committee called The 
 Advisory Board — a committee whose influence has 
 so increased through the years that it has come more 
 and more to be recognised as voicing the public 
 opinion of the body of West China missionaries. 
 The Advisory Board seeks to be a medium for ex- 
 change of opinion and consultation upon all matters 
 of common interest to the missionaries, so that un- 
 necessary over-lapping and duplication of work may 
 be avoided and the greatest harmony promoted in 
 the relations of the different operating societies. 
 
 One of the first tasks imposed upon the Advisory 
 Board was the division of the Province of Szechwan 
 into missionary "spheres of influence." The sphere 
 assigned to the Canadian Methodist Church was a 
 strip of territory running from the centre of the 
 province south to the Yangtse and including such 
 important centres as Chengtu, Kiating, Tzeliutsing, 
 Jenshow and Luchow — the very heart of this empire 
 province, and comprising about eight million souls. 
 
 This co-operative missionary effort in Szechwan 
 was the first step in a series of union movements 
 which has led recently to the adoption by the great 
 [332] 
 
TWO EVENTFUL YEARS 
 
 majority of the foreign and native workers of the 
 slogan, "One Protestant Church for West China!" 
 
 In speaking of the inspiration received at the Mis- 
 sion Conference held in Chengtu in 1908, when one 
 hundred and seventy delegates from the various mis- 
 sionary societies met, Dr. George J. Bond says, "The 
 keynote of that great meeting was union. Already 
 the Advisory Board and the Educational Union had 
 brought all the missions together, while four of them 
 had come into the plan of even closer union in higher 
 educational work. And to-day that ideal dominates 
 the thought and markedly influences the relationships 
 of the missionaries of West China. It has found 
 practical shape in the Union Christian University; 
 it has led to proposals for the saving of men and 
 money and the provision of better plants and equip- 
 ment and maintenance in hospital work by co-oper- 
 ation and concentration where possible among all 
 missions specially interested therein. Indeed West 
 China has set the pace for all the rest of China in 
 the sincerity, the sanity and the scope of its union 
 in missionary work." 
 
 While in West China the work of the missionary 
 was making encouraging and peaceful progress, there 
 sprang up in North China a secret native movement 
 called, "Ho-Chuan" — the Righteous-Harmony- 
 Fists, popularly known as the "Boxers." The 
 avowed purpose of this organisation was the exter- 
 
 [333] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 mination of the foreigner and the exaltation of the 
 then existing Manchu Dynasty. The recent disas- 
 trous and humiliating war with Japan; the appro- 
 priation by foreign powers, such as Great Britain, 
 Germany, France and Russia, of important and 
 strategic points along the coast; the frequent refer- 
 ences in the foreign press of the possible partition 
 of China; the granting of official status to Roman 
 Catholic priests and their intervention in matters of 
 law when their converts were concerned; the sweep- 
 ing reforms already carried out or contemplated by 
 the progressive young Emperor Kwang Su — all these 
 had greatly alarmed and incensed the conservative 
 classes of the empire and made it easy for the am- 
 bitious and unscrupulous Empress Dowager, by a 
 clever coup d'etat, to seize the reins of government 
 and institute a reign of terror against the reform 
 party. Under the new regime reaction became the 
 order of the day and things reverted to their former 
 condition. 
 
 In such an atmosphere it was not hard for the 
 Boxer movement to thrive. Receiving the sympathy 
 of the Empress Dowager, encouraged and even aided 
 by several northern viceroys, the Boxers' numbers 
 increased by leaps and bounds until in 1900, in a 
 wild outburst of bigotry and frenzy, they sought by 
 the sword the accomplishment of their purposes. 
 Over two hundred foreigners — mostly missionaries 
 
 [334] 
 
TWO EVENTFUL YEARS 
 
 — were massacred, and twelve thousand native Chris- 
 tians died as martyrs for their faith. 
 
 Though the Boxer movement was largely confined 
 to the northern parts of China, yet its influence was 
 more or less felt throughout the Empire. Here and 
 there were little sympathetic uprisings and isolated 
 cases of persecution which, but for the prompt and 
 energetic action of local officials, would have in- 
 volved the whole nation. 
 
 Szechwan did not escape the Boxer influence. At 
 different times Dr. Hart reported to the Mission 
 Rooms at Toronto that while the officials were most 
 active in their efforts to maintain order, yet the peo- 
 ple were unmistakably restless. Once or twice they 
 had gathered in large numbers in the streets of 
 Kiating and made anti-foreign demonstrations, but 
 no harm had come save to the nerves of the mission- 
 aries. The mission work was being affected some- 
 what seriously by the spreading of evil reports. 
 Patients were becoming afraid to stay in the hos- 
 pitals and teachers and servants in the schools and 
 homes of the missionaries. The officials requested 
 the missionaries to confine their activities to a few 
 cities, promising no protection if they went beyond 
 these restricted areas. For several months the un- 
 certainty was so great that Mrs. Hart had baskets 
 packed with food and clothing ready to beat a hasty 
 retreat if the necessity arose, and ropes were at 
 
 [335] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 hand to let them down over the city wall to the 
 river. Several missions to the south — mostly Roman 
 Catholic— had been pillaged and two priests were 
 kidnapped by roving bandits and hidden in a mine 
 for weeks until ransom was forthcoming. Soldiers 
 were stationed for awhile in all the mission com- 
 pounds at Chengtu and sentinels watched by the 
 gates at Kiating for suspicious characters. The 
 gates of the cities were ordered to be closed at dusk 
 instead of at ten o'clock as formerly. Large numbers 
 of wealthy country people were moving into the cities 
 for greater security in case a rebellion should break 
 out, and the problem of housing these refugees was 
 becoming quite acute. The Prefect of Kiating issued 
 a proclamation offering forty taels for the capture 
 of any person guilty of spreading evil reports about 
 the city. "I was just notified," writes Dr. Hart in 
 a letter to Dr. Sutherland, "that a literary man near 
 our school premises had been caught by the magis- 
 trate for speaking inadvisedly about foreigners and 
 threatening our employes with starvation on ac- 
 count of their connection with us. As soon as I 
 heard the man was making seditious statements to 
 excited crowds, I sent my card to the magistrate 
 asking for his apprehension. He was apprehended 
 yesterday. Several literary men of high standing 
 are interceding for his release. They purpose to 
 
 [336] 
 
TWO EVENTFUL YEARS 
 
 bring him to me, escorted by Yamen runners; that 
 he shall ask our forgiveness and knock his head 
 upon the ground. He promises to keep his mouth 
 shut in the future and the literary men will become 
 his bondsmen. Forgiveness in this case may be more 
 efficacious than punishment." 
 
 In the face of such discouraging and, at times, 
 alarming conditions, our missionaries for many 
 months prosecuted their work, not knowing the mo- 
 ment when the order might come from the British 
 consul for them to leave their fields and proceed 
 down the river to a place of greater safety. At last 
 one Sunday night in July, 1900, the consular order 
 came by special messenger to Dr. Hart, who im- 
 mediately sent it on to Chengtu in charge of a trusty 
 Chinaman. A few days later, after a tearful fare- 
 well with the native Christians, the Kiating mis- 
 sionaries joined those from Chengtu and hurried 
 down the river, under military escort to the coast. 
 The journey, during the intense heat of summer, 
 when the thermometer registered one hundred and 
 fifteen degrees in the cabin, was a most trying one to 
 all the foreigners, but especially was it to the veteran 
 Superintendent. For days he lay in his sweltering 
 boat prostrated with fever, with wet cloths con- 
 stantly being applied to his head, while his faithful 
 wife sat by his side fanning him. 
 
 [337] 
 
VIRGIL C . HART 
 
 As there was no prospect of the missionaries being 
 able to resume their work for many months, the ma- 
 jority of them stayed in Shanghai, some visited 
 Japan, while Dr. Hart, whose health was most pre- 
 carious, returned with his wife to Canada. 
 
 [338] 
 
XXVII 
 "WORN OUT" 
 
XXVII 
 
 WRAPPED in a shawl, with deep lines of suf- 
 fering marked upon his thin face — yellow 
 with the ravages of fever; his voice weak; his form 
 bent and fearfully aged — such was Dr. Hart as he 
 sat by the study fire in his home at Burlington one 
 spring night in 1901, the poor, frail shadow of his 
 former self. At the sight tears sprang into the eyes 
 of his eldest son, who had journeyed far to greet 
 his returned parents. The contrast to the strong, 
 rugged and ruddy man who left Canada five years 
 before was startlingly, tragically pathetic. 
 
 His physician in far-off Szechwan had pronounced 
 him "China-worn out," and said that he would never 
 respond to any treatment given there. His only 
 hope was across the sea, in the homeland. The win- 
 ter months had been passed amid the flowers and 
 fruits of Southern California, but they had brought 
 no change for the better, and now he was back 
 
 [341] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 upon his beloved farm. Three times the old place 
 had retoned his nerves and renewed his strength and 
 sent him back to China a different man. Would it 
 — could it do it again 4 ? He never ceased to pray 
 that it might. Not once did he give up the hope 
 of returning — but his intimate friends knew that his 
 missionary career was ended, that his powers of re- 
 cuperation which had served him so well in the past, 
 were now spent, his health was shattered beyond 
 all possibility of repair. 
 
 For nearly three years he lingered close to the 
 border line. Once or twice he was able to take a 
 journey to see a loved one. Several times he spoke 
 briefly at missionary gatherings, where his presence 
 as well as his message was a benediction. During 
 those long months of waiting nothing so cheered him 
 as the letters which he received from his old com- 
 rades in the mission field. One letter he called his 
 "love letter." It read thus: 
 
 "I am sorry to learn of your ill health and your 
 delayed return to China. There has been no one in 
 China whom we have so longed to entertain and 
 have with us as we have longed for you. The love 
 and intimate acquaintance of you that was Mrs. B.'s 
 and my pleasure to acquire during our formative 
 period of missionary life we shall ever cherish. It 
 is no flattery to say that we have never met another 
 missionary that came up to the idea we found in 
 you. None who has so warm a place in our hearts. 
 
 [342] 
 
We often speak of you and more often do you come 
 into our minds as we pursue our work in this city. 
 Praise the Lord we will reach the same place at last 
 even if our paths must be so far apart here. We 
 seek the same city !" 
 
 Deeply was he touched by a cablegram from 
 Bishop Moore of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 of the United States, and by an affectionate letter 
 from the Central China missionaries urging him to 
 come out and spend his remaining days with them. 
 "Ah!" he remarked to his wife as the tears coursed 
 down his cheeks, "I am not worthy of so much re- 
 gard and affection !" 
 
 The last public address that Dr. Hart made was 
 to the students of Victoria University, a few weeks 
 before his translation. All present felt that his 
 words were a parting trust. The frail, wasted form 
 was more eloquent than his speech in its appeal to 
 the heroic, and several young men that day were led 
 to think of the foreign field as their life's task. On 
 the evening of February the twenty-fourth, 1904, he 
 was not for God took him. His body rests in beau- 
 tiful Mount Pleasant in Toronto, but his spirit — it 
 never rests. It is in China and in every one who 
 seeks to live and labour for China's redemption. 
 
 Since this memoir was commenced Mrs. Hart, the 
 wife of the missionary, has passed within the gates 
 
 [343] 
 
VIRGIL C. HART 
 
 and joined her "fellow- farer true," in that land 
 where long years of cruel separations are not known 
 and love is made perfect. She died April the fifth, 
 1915, at Clifton Springs in New York State, where 
 she had been taking treatment for some months. A 
 memorial service was held in the Metropolitan 
 Church, Toronto, on the afternoon of April the 
 seventh, at which the Rev. Dr. Aikins, the pastor, 
 and Rev. Dr. Endicott, for many years an asso- 
 ciate of Dr. Hart in West China, paid beautiful 
 and touching tributes to her memory. 
 
 [344] 
 
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