DOCTOR 
 MARY 5TONL 
 
 THE "LITTLE DOCTOR" 
 
 Woman's Foreign Missionary Society 
 Methodist Episcopal Church 
 Publication Office, Boston, Mass. 
 
 Price, two cents. 
 
DOCTOR MARY STONE 
 
 By Emily T. Sheets 
 
 Born in a Methodist parsonage ! 
 How many prominent workers in 
 the Woman's Foreign Missionary 
 Society can lay claim to the hon- 
 or of having been born in an 
 American parsonage! But Mary 
 Stone, the "Little Doctor" of Kiu- 
 kiang, has the honor of having 
 been born in a Chinese Methodist 
 parsonage. Her father was the 
 first convert to Christianity in the 
 Yangste Valley. In the small 
 Chinese house which stands in the 
 compound of one of the Methodist 
 churches in Kiukiang, she was 
 born in 1873. 
 
 It is most interesting for the 
 visitor of today to stand beside 
 this tiny house and think of the 
 large hospital just a short dis- 
 tance away, over which presides 
 one of the most eminent physi- 
 cians and surgeons of China — the 
 little girl whose birthplace the 
 tourist is visiting. So happy were 
 her parents when the little girl 
 was born, that they called her 
 Maiyu, which means — "Beautiful 
 Gem." 
 
 Dr. Ida Kahn, a life-long friend 
 of Dr. Stone, writes thus: "With 
 a faith that was strong and clear, 
 Maiyu's parents brought her up 
 with natural feet, thus giving her 
 the distinction of being the first 
 native girl, not a slave, in Central 
 and West China, to have her feet 
 left as God had made them. 
 
 "She began her Chinese studies 
 
early and proved an apt student. 
 When she was seven years old, 
 two missionary doctors opened a 
 hospital in Kiukiang. Seeing the 
 good accomplished by these 
 ladies, Maiyu's father thought he 
 would like to have his daughter 
 help her country women in the 
 same way, so he took her to one 
 of the physicians, asking her to 
 teach Maiyu to be a doctor. This 
 she kindly consented to do, after 
 Miss Gertrude Howe agreed first 
 to teach her English. 
 
 "Her life was a very quiet and 
 happy one. Meanwhile the two 
 physicians had gone away from 
 Kiukiang, one to her Heavenly 
 Father and the other to America. 
 As there were then no means of 
 obtaining a thorough training in 
 medicine in China, Miss Howe re- 
 solved to bring Maiyu to America 
 for a medical education." 
 
 When Maiyu was nineteen 
 years of age. Miss Howe brought 
 her to America and with Ida 
 Kahn, the adopted daughter of 
 Miss Howe, she matriculated as a 
 medical student in the University 
 of Michigan. While she was in 
 college she realized that it was 
 as difficult for Americans to pro- 
 nounce her Chinese name, Shih 
 Maiyu, as it was for her to master 
 some American names. It has 
 always been necessary for an 
 American staying in China for a 
 time to have a Chinese name as 
 well as an American one; so she 
 thought it would be better if she 
 had an American name while she 
 
was in America. She became 
 known as Mary Stone. Even in 
 China, among foreigners, she is 
 called by that name and her fam- 
 ily has adopted the same surname 
 for use in their associations with 
 foreigners. 
 
 In 1896 Mary Stone completed 
 her medical course with highest 
 honors, and, having been accepted 
 as a regular missionary by the 
 Woman's Foreign Missionary So- 
 ciety of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, went back imder the Des 
 Moines Branch to begin medical 
 work for women in her native city 
 — Kiukiang. For several years 
 she worked in a little hospital only 
 21x28 feet in size, containing only 
 20 beds. However, in 1900, a 
 well-known physician in Chicago, 
 the late Dr. I. N. Danforth, who 
 was very much interested in For- 
 eign Missionary work in China, 
 especially in its relation to the in- 
 troduction of modern medicine 
 into that country, offered to build 
 for Dr. Stone a hospital in mem- 
 ory of his wife. Since that time 
 a modern hospital has been built. 
 Inspired by her love and sympa- 
 thy for suffering Chinese women, 
 with this splendid plant in which 
 to work. Dr. Stone has spread the 
 fame of the Elizabeth Skelton 
 Danforth Memorial Hospital 
 throughout the Yangste Valley. 
 She has become a very skillful 
 surgeon as well as physician. 
 Most remarkable are the opera- 
 tions which she has performed. A 
 Chinese physician and surgeon 
 
meets a wider range of cases than 
 the physician in ordinary practice 
 in America. 
 
 Unhappy Chinese women very 
 often seek relief from the burdens 
 of life by suicide. Their favorite 
 method is to take an overdose of 
 opium. Often five and six times 
 a night the "little doctor" is called 
 from her rest to go in haste to 
 women who have tried to commit 
 suicide. The Chinese do not call 
 the doctor as a rule until the case 
 is desperate, if not hopeless. 
 Often she cannot stay the ebbing 
 life of the Chinese woman. She 
 has been summoned too late! 
 
 Several times Dr. Stone has re- 
 turned to America for rest and 
 further study. She is a forceful 
 speaker, being winsome, witty and 
 inspiring. One of the best after- 
 dinner speeches that was ever 
 made in this country was made by 
 the "little doctor" at a great ban- 
 quet in Los Angeles. Notwith- 
 standing her prominence she is 
 simple and unassuming. Her work 
 absorbs her very life. 
 
 Dr. Stone has adopted four 
 Chinese lads whom she is bring- 
 ing up. Two are relatives, one is 
 the son of a widowed Bible wo- 
 man, and the fourth is a famine 
 orphan. She is in charge of a 
 home for cripples near the hospi- 
 tal in Kiukiang. An account of 
 this interesting work can be ob- 
 tained in the leaflet, "A Girl's 
 Beautiful Thought," by Mary 
 Ninde Gamewell. 
 
 Dr. Stone is a leader in reform 
 
movements in China. She is a 
 member of the China Continua- 
 tion Committee and has recently 
 been president of the National 
 Woman's Christian Temperance 
 Union of China. Her life is full 
 to overflowing as will be seen 
 from the latest report of the work 
 of the hospital. She is assisted 
 by two native doctors and a corps 
 of Chinese nurses whom she has 
 trained in her hospital. 
 
 She has been seriously ill twice 
 within the last few years, but her 
 life has been spared. That she 
 might have help so that the bur- 
 dens will not be too great for her, 
 her sister, Phoebe Stone, came to 
 America to take a medical course. 
 She graduates this year from 
 Johns Hopkins University. She 
 will return next year to share the 
 work of her sister in Kiukiang. 
 For a number of years Dr. Stone's 
 saintly mother has acted as one 
 of the Bible women in the hospi- 
 
 tal. 
 
 The statistics of the hospital as 
 given in Dr. Stone's last report 
 are as follows: 
 
 Dispensary new visits 8,617 
 
 Dispensary old visits 11,814 
 
 Hospital In-patients 1,243 
 
 Operations 494 
 
 Obstetric cases (difficult) 70 
 
 Out visits 385 
 
 Surgical dressings 10,379 
 
 Grand Total 33,002 
 
 Receipts from fees and board 
 of patients $6,117.73 
 
Of work on the district Dr. 
 Stone writes in this report: 
 "Where there are no doctors with- 
 in reach people have gone blind 
 for life or lost their lives entirely 
 in an attempt to reach us. With 
 Dr. Kathleen Hwang in charge go- 
 ing from city to city with her big 
 traveling medicine chest and out- 
 fit, we have been able this year to 
 form the three-fold cord of the 
 Gospel in some places. That is, 
 medical work side by side with 
 the evangelistic and the educa- 
 tional. The nurses are trying to 
 reproduce in a miniature form all 
 the phases of medical work in 
 our Danforth Hospital, dispens- 
 ing, visiting, lecturing, evangel- 
 izing, yes, and even operating. 
 
 "They wrote from Hwangmei 
 that a child had an accident. The 
 abdomen was cut open about two 
 inches, the intestines came out. 
 The nurses themselves prayed 
 with the family and operated. 
 The child is all healed and thev 
 are of course jubilant over their 
 success. At Tai Hu they had to 
 set a compound fracture. They 
 see fifty to sixty patients daily. 
 The city authorities at both places 
 have called mass meetings and 
 asked our nurses to give health 
 lectures. The Lord surely gave 
 them utterance before all those 
 hundreds of officials, gentry, and 
 merchants. The magistrate at 
 each place responded and prom- 
 ised financial aid as well as moral 
 support. 
 
 "Finally — the best and most 
 
encouraging fact is that 230 souls 
 have been won to the Lord. OuS 
 of these our two young doctors 
 have taken definite stand for the 
 Lord. It was a touching sight 
 when Dr. Alice Hwang was bap- 
 tized — side by side with an old 
 convert from the hospital — a dear, 
 poor soul who has come to the 
 Lord at the end of her life. A 
 well dressed official lady stood by 
 her and on the other side several 
 'precious jewels' of our cripples 
 from the Ida Gracey Home that 
 had been carried to the church 
 that morning for baptism." 
 
 To Dr. Stone the evangelistic 
 work of the hospital is most im- 
 portant of all. Bodies may be 
 healed but the "little doctor" is 
 not satisfied unless the souls of 
 the patients are healed by the 
 touch of the Great Physician. 
 She has been offered splendid po- 
 sitions with the Government, but 
 it is missionary medical work that 
 holds her heart and allegiance. 
 May the "little doctor" be given 
 strength to carry on her great 
 work. 
 
 She closes her report with these 
 words : 
 
 "Saviour thy dying love, Thou gavest 
 me. 
 
 Nor should I aught withhold, dear 
 Lord, from Thee, 
 
 In love my soul would bow, my heart 
 fulfil its vow. 
 
 Some offering bring Thee now, some- 
 thing for Thee." 
 
 Yours in His glad service, 
 Mary Stone.