INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE By ANNIE L A. BAIRD 3V 2060 .B2 1913 tihvavy of t1\e theological Seminary PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY PRESENTED BY Delava.n L. Pierson BV 2060 .32 -.->^ Baird, Annie L. A. b. 1864. Inside views of mission life t'' 1 Of PS 4 Ifi' Inside Views of Mission Life By ANNIE L. A. BAIRD Missionary of the Presbyteriafi Church at Pye?ig Tang, Korea PHILADELPHIA The Westminster Press 1913 Copyright, 191 3, by F. M. Braselmann Foreword My chief hesitation iu attempting a short de- scription of life on the mission field, together with some suggestions as to the inner workings of the missionary's mind, heart and soul as they are wrought upon in the daily grind of service, is the fear that some friend or acquaintance may imagine that he or she has been made use of to point a moral or adorn what would otherwise be a dull tale. As a matter of fact, no added scintil- lation to these pages would repay me for a hurt dealt to a single friend. If anything that may be said seems to come close to the center of that world around which the personality of each of my readers revolves, the reason may be found in the fact that the inward and outward experiences of those engaged in the same line of work are apt to be very much alike, and you, if you look into your heart and life, are very likely to find there much the same things that I find in mine. A. L. A. B. Pyeng Yang, Korea. [3] Contents I. Missionary Temptations . . .7 II. Missionary Trials .... 41 III. How Busy Is THE Missionary ? . 70 IV. Missionary Diversions, Community Life, and Some Other Matters 94 V. Missionary Joys . . . .112 [5] Inside Views of Mission Life CHAPTER I MISSIONARY TEMPTATIONS From the standpoint of our home friends, who often mourn over us with a good deal of misap- plied solicitation, doubtless the first chapter in a book of this sort ought to be headed " Missionary Trials." Some trials fall to our lot in common with the rest of mankind, and these may come up for consideration in a later chapter, but in the mind of no real missionary do they occupy a prominent place. Something more trying than trials is apt to claim our attention soon after dis- embarking upon the foreign shore where our days are to be spent, and the attack is often all the more grievous because it is unexpected. Many of us are apt to imagine that— having once made the great decision to follow Christ to the ends of the earth— we will have entered upon a high pUine of spiritual being where ordinary tempta- tions are unknown. We fail to take into con- sideration that— of the ancient trinity of soul- enemies, the world, the flesh and the Devil— only [7] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE the first is partially left behind. Not oue of us, as some one has said, is able to leave the home part without the brazen companionship of Satan and self, and one of the first forms that the sub- tile one assumes is suggested to the conscious heart of every mission worker by the phrase, ' ' Old and new missionaries. ' ' The reason is not far to seek. We reach the mission field after years of i)reparatiou for our life work. Perhaps we have had some experience in the pastorate or other active Christian work, or we may have spent some years in the school- room and have grown accustomed to deference and the exercise of authority. Now we find our- selves in the i)osition of a beginner at the very alphabet, literally and metaphorically. Our past record counts for little. Our opinions, based on experiences with men and things at home, may have been valuable there, but here we find no one greatly impressed with them. In fact, we lose confidence in them ourselves when we have been awhile in the Orient. In marked contrast to our inefficiency, the body of the older mission- aries confronts us, displaying what seems like an amazing acquaintance with the language and pursuing their various occupations with the calm- ness of conscious power. The situation is unex- pected and bewildering, and Satan is quick to see his opportunity. "I'm fairly beset," cried a young missionary almost with tears. " I had no [8] MISSIONARY TEMPTATIONS idea that I should feel at such a disadvantage Avith all the rest of yoa." Two courses are open to us at such a time. We may take the position that we are justified ill the curious mixture of feelings which well up in our hearts. "These old fellows," we say, " have the whole earth and they want to keep it. They have had control of the situation too long. They are not willing to make room for younger men." And so we wait with what patience we can until a few years have passed, and then we proceed to show the old fellows that we are a force to be reckoned with, and that the mission has really been waiting for us all these years. But this course, if pursued, will inevitably bring us up against another old fellow who has a way of turning the tables on us in the end, aud that fellow is Father Time. After— comparatively — a few short years we ourselves sit in the seat of the elders, and have the opportunity to look on at the workings of young hearts with a flash of late comprehension that brings the color of shame to our cheeks. How plain it all is now ! We thought it was justifiable resistance to a sort of oppression, zeal for the right, a proper standiug up for our rights, and we behold it stripped of its pretty names and showing itself for the thing that it really is,— resentment at conscious help- lessness, some envy aud a good deal of self-as- sertiveness and personal ambition ! [9] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE But there is another course — and I am happy to say that, as far as my observation goes, the large majority of young missionaries choose it in preference to the other — to take one's stand on the comfortable conviction that our seniors in the service are entirely ready to grant the fact of our ability and that it only remains for us to prove the possession of ability by diligent mastery of our profession. From the standpoint of the older missionaries, I suppose there are few indeed who do not look forward to the advent of fresh young life from* America in high hopes of something better, brighter and more promising in every way than they themselves have been able to contribute to the common stock. And more often than not the young missionary finds himself, from force of circumstances, loaded up with work long before he should be so busy, in justice to his ultimate and highest usefulness. At the same time it is true that older men and women may easily form the habit of expecting that, because they have been accustomed to occupy certain places of trust and responsibility, tbey will always continue to do so ; or they may as- sume to themselves a place of privilege over those newer on the field ; or they may be misled into a repellent attitude to any expression of opinion adverse to their own ; and they may even take the position, in committee meeting or elsewhere, that others must of necessity yield to their will. [10] MISSIONARY TEMPTATIONS All this is a pity, because there is always a strong probability that a generation will arise that knows not Joseph, and if it finds us uni)rex3ared to recog- nize the fact, our feelings may be hurt. It is much better always to hold ourselves in readiness to make room for the newcomer, and to learn what we can from him ; never to take the posi- tion—even in thought— that because we arrived earlier in the field, we are entitled to rights and privileges that others may not enjoy. In a word, let us be humble. It is a beautiful thing to see a missionary, crowned with years of service and the honorable recognition of his brethren, who yet esteems it his privilege not to grasp and keep all the honors he can get, but to share freely with others, to acknowledge the ability of younger men, and their natural desire to take a full part in the duties, responsibilities and honors of station and mission. Such a man will take no pride in being one of a little oli- garchy of very efficient meu, well trained in all the machinery of the mission, but his ambition will be the thorough training and efficiency of his mission as a whole. And what a royal op- portunity he has of making himself beloved ! A temptation to which older missionaries may easily yield is that of resorting to small political methods to accomplish their purposes. Long ac- quaintance with conditions on the field and with the prejudices and weaknesses of our fellow work- [11] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE ers makes it possible for us to make use of them to briug about our owu euds iu ways that are more or less covert. For instance, we may make it a practice to cultivate young missionaries with an eye to forming their views on mooted ques- tions. Or we may fall into the habit of securing — as far as we are able — the appointment on com- mittees of only those people who we know can be counted on to represent our i)articular views. More than one missionary in more than one field has found himself tempted to resent bitterly the action of a so-called majority of station or mis- sion, because he knew that it had been secured, not by arguments and means which were or could be employed in open meetings, but by buttonhole sessions and wire-i)ulling devices by which preju- dices had been appealed to and weaknesses taken advantage of. Few people are willing to be made tools of and few people ought to stoop to make a tool of another. Such methods may pass for a time for tact or policj^, but iu the end they will seem more like political chicanery. Our ideas may seem to us exactly right and much better than anything proposed by other brethren, but if they cannot be carried through wholly in an open and aboveboard way they had better be dropped. I do not mean by this that any private conver- sation between missionaries on mission subjects is necessarily underhanded. Often a few moments [12] MISSIONARY TEMPTATIONS of quiet talk will open up a subject to au inquir- ing mind as hours of public debate could not do. But we should be careful not to take advantage of the opportunity afforded by private conversa- tion to resort to any line of representation that would not bear the light of publicity. Anything like au attempt to put a newcomer "next" to the weaknesses or faults of a fellow missionary and thus create a prejudice against him, ought to be considered beneath us all. These things were pointed out to me years ago by a fellow mis- sionary. Perhaps he thought that I needed the reminder. At any rate, I have never for- gotten it. A good way to ward off this variety of tempta- tion from the start is to leave all party spirit be- hind us when we come to the field. ''My coun- try, right or wrong, " is a type of sentiment not very noble, here or elsewhere. If we are so un- fortunate as to find parties existing in our mission when we arrive, let us avoid all partisanship until we have secured our bearings, and then if we are wise we will continue to avoid it. This ex- tends to the relation between station and mission. Loyalty to one's station is a goodly thing within bounds, but it is possible to press it so far that it becomes disloyalty to the mission at large. Dearer to us than the welfare of any one station should be that of the whole mission with which we are connected. Let us set our whole hearts [13] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE from the time we join our mission upon helping it to attain and maintain that condition of perfect unity described as "right feeling toward God and man." This is not equivalent to saying, ."Let us all think alike." No one since the days of the Inquisition has really started out to accom- plish such a consummation on any large scale, and even if this were possible, it would be ac- companied with great loss, for all that it would mean in the final analysis would be that some one person would tell us what to think, and we should get the benefit of the judgment of the one individual only instead of the whole. Differ from each other we probably will, but there is a way of doing it without contention and in the spirit of love. In striving after this it will help us to remember that we have no monopoly of the Spirit's guidance. Others are as likely to be led of him as we, and it is quite possible that, though thinking we are right, we may yet be wrong. Another help in any strivings we may make after that state of union with our brethren de- scribed above as right feeling, is to get rid of a certain other commodity which too often slips in with our luggage, and that is personal ambition. It is astonishing to what extent this " mounting devil '^ attempts to rule the thoughts and motives of the best — no less than the worst — of us. Like a fly in the dried currants, he likes to get himself mistaken for better things and enjoys being called [14] MISSIONARY TEMPTATIONS by such euphemisms as " natural desire to excel, '^ or -'proper pride," but a little close iuspectiou will bring to light the mark of the beast. George Washiugtou is said to have been a model for us in this as well as other respects, in that he was ''absolutely without personal ambi- tion," and the Father of His Country has some humble followers on the mission field. I recall a missionary who arrived on the field after an un- usually long and evidently successful career at home. We waited with some concern to see whether or not he would be able to adjust him- self to changed conditions, but all anxiety was dispelled when it was known that he was ac- customed to pray that he might ever be willing to occupy a secondary place. Xo place occupied by such a man could be called secondary in any real sense. Eoom for right ambition the mission- ary had to a boundless extent, because he had within himself at least one of the elements of true greatness, namely, humility. But his ambition was for God and for the advancement of his cause through every human agency. As for self, he was not ambitious one moment. The old Moravians knew the human heart when they put into their liturgy the petition, " From the desire of being great, O Lord, deliver us ! " And only a little Christian experience is required to know that in narrow circles such as we have in the mission field nothing but heartburnings and un- [15] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE holy disturbance of ther wliole working body can arise from any contest for leadership. The spirit of a hireling is something for mis- sionaries to shut the door against resolutely. This spirit may manifest itself in several ways. A man may indulge himself in the feeling that, — having given what he regards as a reasonable number of hours to his school or hospital ; in other words, having accomplished as a hireling his day, — he is justified in shutting out the natives and their claims for the remainder of his waking hoars and devoting the time to sports, promiscuous read- ing or social enjoyment. This is to take the position of an employee who has no interest in the enterprise beyond drawing his daily wage and rendering his daily equivalent. The same spirit shows itself in a disposition to criticize the board and to resent the fact that we are under authority. No missionary can do this without great spiritual loss to himself. We see the same thing in unruly children, in schoolboys and among hired men and women, but to find it in the church at home and among Christian missionaries on the field comes as an uni^leasant surprise. Boards, being composed of human units, are doubtless capable of error, but the same thing may be said of the missions that represent them, and the one thing ever to be borne in mind is that the interests of the two bodies are identically the same. One cannot be undermined or injured in any way [16] MISSIONARY TEMPTATIONS without detriment to the other. Cori)oratioDS may be ever so soulless, but boards, I am cou- viuced, have both souls aud hearts, for I kuow of board secretaries who hardly seem able to write even business letters without gettiug a bit of their hearts into them. Our relation as missionaries to our adopted people is a subject to which we ought to give careful consideration. The disposition to claim lordshij) over other peoples is said to be common to the Anglo-Saxon, and it crops out readily wlien we are brought into contact with Orientals, for the reason that their i)assive, yielding demeanor gives little clue to the overweening pride that lies beneath the surface. A missionary in Africa is said to have labored fruitlessly for seven years before he discovered that the chief obstacle to success had been himself, because of his dicta- torial, overbearing ways. It is so easy for us to arrive on the field firm in the conviction that we are conferring a great favor on the natives to come at all, aud so from the start assuming an attitude of condescension. As a matter of fact, the people have done without us for some hun- dreds of years, and a good many of them still think that they could continue to do so. It was not the call of the heathen that brought us to the mission but the call of Christ. If we find ourselves inclined to regard the people with a trace of superciliousness, it may help us to look at our- [17] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE selves for a moment from their staudpoiiit. As we pass aloug the crooked footpaths which an- swer for streets, threading our way among heaps of unspeakable filth, we think, " Was ever any- thing more dreadful 1 What would mother say if she could see me now ? ' ' Yet at least one Korean on attempting to make his home in New York City found the odors unendurable and came home. We love our people from the start, but we wonder sometimes how our fastidious olfacto- ries are ever going to become accustomed to their bodily presence. They in their tarn, with ever ready courtesy, resolutely suppress the look of disgust, and account for the strange effluvia by the charitable assumption that it must be due to our wearing woolen clothes so much and never washing more than the inner clothes. When sufii- cient acquaintance warrants the familiarity, and we intimate to them that they ought to bathe at least once a week, instead of once a year or not at all, they answer with a pleasant ^' Kurusimuaita " (very true), and a mental reservation to the effect that that may be all very well for people like these foreigners whose natural condition evidently compels it ! Until the introduction of Christianity the one reason in Korean minds for the existence of women was the exercise of the maternal function. To be a mother was their one claim to considera- tion, and they were accustomed to dress in a way [18] MISSIOxNARY TEMPTATIONS to present the least possible obstruction to the frequent nourishment of their little ones. The exposure that resulted was a never ending offense to a vigorous old lady from Kentucky who spent several years in Seoul. She used to descend bodily on women thus unattired whom she met on the street, and make energetic though futile attempts to pull their skirts and jackets together across the objectionable gap, scolding the mean- while in good round English, not one word of which the victims could understand. I never had any reason to think that she accomplished anything beyond a strong impression on the mind of the assaulted one that this must be a foreign devil of a peculiarly violent type, and I used to wonder what these same women would have thought could they have seen a crowd of Southern or ^NTorthern ^ ' quality ' ' gathered together for an evening dance. What explanation would they have regarded as sufficient to account for the unseemly lack of attire and the unheard-of famil- iarity of the attitudes ? A Korean woman once called my attention to the fact that the placket of my shirt-waist sleeve was gaping, exposing the flesh of my forearm. This was done as an act of kindness and evidently with the idea that I would rectify the matter at once. Since then I have often wondered what Korean gentlefolks think of elbow-sleeves and tiglit-fitting gowns, but I have never ventured to inquire. [19] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE It seems too bad to exhort young missionaries to cultivate self consciousness, but I am sure that we would all be glad to do even this rather than give unfavorable impressions to our people. A lively little missionary lady in a new gown from home, preening herself from side to side as she calls attention to her fresh finery, is a pietty and harmless sight to us, but what an oriental gen- tleman looking on sees and thinks is far from complimentary to her modesty or innocence. Any conspicuousness in dress or manner that could possibly be construed as parading one's person ought to be avoided carefully. Men mis- sionaries will do well to recognize from the start that there is a great barrier fixed between the sexes in the Orient, and if they thoughtlesslj^ overstep it in their demeanor toward either na- tive or foreign women, they run the risk of com- promising them in the estimation of onlookers. Clean minds and pure hearts are outside of the observation and experience of a non-Christian people, and they are naturally slow to compre- hend them when transplanted into their midst. Given time, Christianity will change all this, as it has done in Christian communities the world over, but in the meantime let us be willing to surrender something of our liberty in considera- tion of our weak brethren. Sometimes it takes years for us to compre- hend what living epistles we are to our adopted [20] MISSIONARY TEMPTATIONS people. Every look, word and action is noted, commented on, repeated to others, and often, per- haps, misconstrued. A woman patient, grateful for treatment received, brings a present of eggs to the woman physician. The doctor, knowiug the patient's poverty, deprecates the gift, and allows a troubled frown to overspread her coun- tenance. The poor woman, anxiously scanning her face, reads there only discontent with the meager offering, and slinks away, chilled and hurt. Or we find our chair coolies trying. They creep along at a snail's pace when we are in a great hurry, or they go too fast and endanger our lives by bumping against stones and posts. We attempt to rectify the matter by a vigorous use of the vernacular, and after an instance or two of this kind, we have won the nickname, Mrs. Best- Scolder-of-All. Or we give way to a real burst of temper a time or two when circumstances grow particularly irritating, and hereafter be- come known as the Mitchin Moksa (Crazy Pas- tor). Some one says, " Why, it is temi)er rightly applied that has made the Anglo-Saxon the dominant race of the world." Perhaps so, but the fact remains that temper wrongly applied has been the bane of many a missionary and effectu- ally nullified much hard, self-sacrificing labor. An oriental woman once remarked that she thought Western people (her acquaintance with the Occident had been limited altogether to mis- [21] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE sionaries) must be strangely fierce by nature, and held in check only by the fact that they are Christians. Our adopted people shock us by their aptitude at lying, and we surprise them beyond measure if we show a lack of self-control. Nowhere so much as on the mission field is it possible for our actions to speak so loudly that no one can hear what we say. The confident assumption that Eastern peoples are humbly ready to grant the superiority of our ways has led many a missionary into blunders. We want to inculcate the dignity of labor, and begin by telling our servants that in America people as a rule do their own work ; our parents were accustomed to do so, except in special emer- gencies, and we ourselves were brought up to labor. The bland countenances before us express nothing but gratitude for a statement so inform- ing as to a better state of things, but deep down in the oriental heart the surmise is confirmed : *' Nothing but coolies, after all. I thought so ! '' In this connection comes up the question of the style of living of missionaries. Many things sur- prise us when we first reach the field. We come out keyed up to endure physical hardship of any and every description, and we find the mission- aries living for the most part in comfortable houses, surrounded by bevies of yellow, black or brown servants, as the case may be, and present- ing altogether an appearance of astonishing ease. [22] MISSIONARY TEMPTATIONS Our thoughts go back to the friends aud relatives at home who have just committed us so tearfully to the privations of the mission field. We re- member that many of them do their own work, wholly or in part. We cast a look at the wife or husband of our bosom, and see the same look in his or her face. We talk it over together and both conclude that it cannot be altogether right. Others may do as they see fit, but as for ourselves, we will adopt a different course, a plainer, more evidently laborious one, and one better calculated 'to satisfy the occidental conscience. Perhaps we decide, as some have done, to dispense with serv- ants altogether, and do all our own work, even to the hewing of wood and the drawing of water, or if we do employ servants it is with a guilty feel- ing of self-indulgence. But as time passes on and our mental vision clears, we begin to see that the cheapest and most plentiful thing under heathen skies is human manual labor, and the scarcest and most precious is missionary time and strength. We will soon realize, too, with an intensity that is almost pain- ful, that we are face to face with the most diffi- cult undertaking of our whole lives, the acqui- sition of an Eastern language, and we begin to see that upon the acquisition of this language, by ourselves and others like us, depends the eternal and in a large sense the temporal welfare of a whole people. We observe, too, if we have the [23] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE opportunity to do so, that those missionaries who undei'take to su]3port themselves wholly or in part, or who for any reason elect to dispense with servants, while they may prove to everyone's satisfaction that they are able to live on less money than others do, are not able, as a rule, to prove that they can become as efficient mission- aries. Then we begin to thank God for the mod- est competence which enables us to turn over to strong and willing hands the actual labor of daily life while we give our whole time and strength to the prosecution of the missionary enterj)rise. Having once yielded to the employment of servants, it is very easy to go to the other extreme and employ more than are necessary. The temp- tation is strong, since it comes so easily and cheaply, to increase our style of living. Even a native of America, with all its boasted democracy, may have a bit of snobbisliness deeply imbedded somewhere in his original protoplasm. To be lord over a little crowd of underlings gives him g, pleasant feeling of power and position. He likes the possibilities so easily afforded of liviug ''in style." Why not, for instance, when guests are present, have dinner served in half a dozen or more courses, since all we have to do is to dispose of it as it comes on ? There is justification for all this, too, in the fact that it is so entirely in ac- cord with oriental ideas of what is good and reasonable, and we tell ourselves that a certain [24] MISSIONARY TEMPTATIONS amount of pomp and circumstauce increases the estimation in which we are held by the natives. Bat there is a better way, and that is to take a firm grip on our original ideas of missionary plainness and simplicity, and never let go of them. As far as the natives are concerned, we cannot live on so simple a scale but that we still present to their eyes a picture of unimagined wealth. The mere possession of such everyday articles as chairs, tables, rugs and a sewing machine puts us far off into the region of unattainable riches, and the plainest missionary home is still a palace in the eyes of the native. The assumption of any sort of rank, or the set- ting up of claims to any consideration beyond that due an ambassador of the meek and lowly Jesus, may succeed in exciting a species of awed sub- mission on the part of the people, but I have yet to be persuaded that it ever wins their love. The example of the Master in this respect ought to be sufficient for us. This principle of avoiding any disposition to set ourselves up as grandees applies particularly to the sort of houses we build. Perhaps no fea- ture of missionary life has excited so much sense- less, ignorant, not to say malicious criticism as our houses. One man, after a trip to the Orient, was quoted in a periodical devoted to the interests of an independent mission, and giving inciden- tally a considerable portion of its space to attacks [25] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE upon regularly organized mission boards, to the effect that if the truth were known about the work of the mission boards in the Orient, the contribu- tions for their support would fall away very ma- terially. And the one dark fact that he saw fit to divulge was that everywhere he went through the Orient he found that the missionaries had selected the "highest and healthiest sites'^ for their homes ! What we want to consider is not such criticisms as are too inane to be worth a troubled thought, but the opinions of intelligent friends of missions who are reluctant to admit any fault on our part and would like to see us comfortable and health- fully housed, yet in a way to disarm just criticism. Sometimes missionaries are left to bear the brunt of situations for which they are not responsible, as, for instance, when a man by the use of pri- vate means, in addition to the board's appropria- tion, erects a structure more gratifying to an ornate architectural taste than to plain mission- ary ideas. Then, from failure of health, or other reasons, he leaves the mission field, and, for the indefinite future, one unfortunate family after another is left to occupy his ''palace" and make what explanations they can to wondering visitors and fellow workers. Or a friendly and benevo- lently disposed architect comes along. He finds the missionary, whose experience with building operations up to the present has probably been [26] MISSIONARY TEMPTATIONS limited to lieucoox3s, wrestling with the problem of how to get his house built. The architect offers his services, aud the offer is too plainly providential to be refused. But the architect's professional standard is high, and he holds the generous theory, too, that missionaries ought to have the best there is. The result is an edifice at which visitors look askance, and which keeps the missionary continually apologizing. It is so good to keep away from this atmos- phere of hostile criticism that occasionally a missionary goes to the other extreme, and puts up a house which, while it may be cheap, cannot be said to be economical from any standpoint of comfort, convenience or stability. Perhaps the rooms are too small, and the occupants pass the time thereafter in a state of cramped physical existence. Or the rooms may be large enough, but they are too few, and so additions must be put on from time to time with the strong proba- bility that in the end the house will cost more and be less satisfactory in every way than if it had been planned on a sufficiently large scale to begin with. "Keep in the middle of the road," is good advice here or elsewhere. Two things are to be borne in mind. First, that mission money, be- ing trust funds, ought to be put into buildings that are substantial, and up to a reasonable standard of comfort and convenience. Second, [27] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE that mission money, for the same reason, ought not to be pnt into unnecessary spaciousness or ornamentation, and these two thiugs resolve themselves finally, of course, into a question of wise judgment. It is not a pleasant reflection that we are a city set on a hill, a target for criticism from every wandering one who may strike our station, but it is a good thing to re- member when we start to build houses, as well as the additional fact that none of us can live to himself, and what we do sets the pace for others. A temptation easily yielded to by people who have perhaps been out of school for years, or are not naturally fond of the acquisition of language, is to imagine that when they have completed the course of language study prescribed by the mis- sion, their labors in that direction are ended. Some have acted on this belief, and the result is the very plain line of demarcation which as time passes on may be observed among missionaries. To keep on the upper side of that line is a resolve that ought to be made early and adhered to tenaciously throughout a missionary's career. The new missionary should always keep an ear open for new words and expressions used in con- versation, and, if possible, he should set apart a few moments each day for reading in the native language. By adding to our vocabulary a word or an expression at a time, day after day and year after year, we may fit ourselves for the [28] MISSIONARY TEMPTATIONS highest and best forms of service that may pre- sent themselves Id any direction. Even married women with little children, given a fixed deter- mination sooner or later to acquire the language, can accomplish much in this way. I know a missionary who reached the field with several small children. Other little ones came to her and her health was never robust, yet little by little she added to her knowledge of the language, and by and by when her children grew older and her time and strength were hers once more, she was able to take her place as teacher in the Bible training class work of the station. "I'mgoiug to learn this language if it takes me a hundred years," a missionary mother announced not long ago, and those of us who know her have no doubt that she will. Man or woman, married or single, here is the place for ambition ! N^ot to surpass others, not with the secret hope of being considered one of the best linguists in the mission, nor with any trace of resentment toward those who may be outstripping us in the race, but with the stead- fast resolve that with God for our helper, we will as far as in us lies glorify him in the free and skillful use of the strange language which has now become ours. It is a pity to be satisfied with mediocrity of effort, and nowhere so much as on the mission field. The plane of our attainment may never be so high as that of some others, but [29] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE we ought to see to it that it is the best of which we are capable. Sometimes we fail to realize the fact that with the task ou hand of learuiug a uew language, it will be necessary to relinquish the delights of om- nivorous reading in English. While it may not be advisable in every case to follow the Spartan example of Dr. Nevius of China, who for the first ten years of his missionary career read nothing in English except commentaries or other theo- logical works, yet it is greatly to our advantage to restrict our reading in English to just the amount necessary to keep us in good mental tone. Anything beyond this will serve to draw us away from the language which we are striving to learn, and ought to be reckoned as an unlawful indulgence. Of course, as far as our home boards and committees are concerned, we are put on our honor with regard to the use of our time. There is no rule or by-law to prevent us from keeping ourselves supplied with the latest output of light literature from home, or even carrying on actual courses of study in English, as has been attempted in some cases, but there is a great deal about such a procedure to prevent us from ever becoming anything but mediocre missionaries. When we first reach heathendom and find our- selves confronted by millions of people without God and without hope in the world, few or no Christian schools, little or no Christian literature, [30] MISSIONARY TEMPTATIONS practiciDg filtbj^ and barbarous methods of medi- cine, and with the only hope, humanly speaking, for the amelioration of these conditions resting with a handful of missionaries, we may be tempted to forget that "he who believeth doth not make haste." This may lead us into impa- tience with the slow process of language acqui- sition. We want to '^get to work," and we find ourselves before we realize it in a state of mental hurry and worry, and carrying around with us a continual sense of guilt because we feel that we have not accomplished all that we should have done. This is not conducive either to mental or spir- itual health, and is easily followed by a disposi- tion to be fussy about our physical condition. In the face of the great need, missionaries begin to look so valuable and so scarce that we fear we may not hold out long enough to accomplish some of the things we know ought to be done. We begin to wonder if our head, our stomach or our temperature are just what they ought to be, and we talk vaguely about "overworking'^ and "breaking down." A good cure is to remember that our service is not for a month or a year, but — if God wills — for life, and also that while we may be and ought to be very desirous of helping in his work, yet we are not really indispensable to the carrying out of his purposes. He will have his way with men [31] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE aud uations, not always because of us, but very often Id spite of us, aud wbat coucerus biiu most iu your case aud mine is not nearly so mucb wbat we do as wbat we are. Once grasp tbe trutb tbat tbe tbiug of most importance is not to "serve God mucb" but to "please bim per- fectly," and tbat otber blessed fact tbat "in quietness and in confidence is our strengtb,'^ aud we will find tbat tbe joy of tbe Lord waits on our footsteps, aud tbat our power for effective service is increased tenfold. A trip bome wben our furlougb comes is good for us in tbis directiou. Wben we see tbe mad and furious rate at which our friends and rela- tives, who are eugaged in business, live and work, we will realize tbat while we have beeu busy as missionaries, and hope to continue to be busy, yet it has not been beyond a sane degree. One tbiug tbat we have to learn after we reach tbe field is tbat, in some important respects, life in a mission station is mucb like matrimony. The narrow circle in which our days are spent in the course of time brings us and our fellow workers to a degree of mutual acquaintance which we have probably never experienced before with anyone. Not only every excellency aud idiosyncrasy of character, but every little trick of mind, every crook of conscience which each one possesses, be- comes perfectly well known to every other one. We and tbe otber men and women of our station [32] MISSIONARY TEMPTATIONS will have to walk along from day to day *' bear- ing tlie dear burden of each other's infirmities.'' This excellent rule for a happy married life is no less applicable in a mission station : Devote your- self to curing your own faults and to making the other happy, and by no means confuse these two things by attempting to be happy yourself and curing the faults of the other. I know of no spot on earth where the same close fellowship, the same loving community of interest exists as in the mission field. Yet this precious ointment may have its flies, and there are little foxes ever ready to spoil the vines. The very intimacy which is often so sweet may lead to friction between natuies of an opposite mold. A missionary whom I knew found herself at close quarters with a nature which was to hers as fire is to tow. The shameful possibility of actually quarreling with a fellow worker yawned at her feet. Feeling entirely helpless in herself, she threw herself on her knees in an agony of prayer that God would keep her from anything so dishonoring to him and his cause. He heard and answered, and from that moment, although the two continued to work together in the same station for some time, she never afterwards felt any stirrings of antagonism. A community, otherwise congenial and happy, may find itself burdened with just one foolishly sensitive, hysterical woman, unable to view any [33] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE subject apart from the standpoint of self, or a single ill-tempered, unreasonable, overbearing man. What shall we do in such a ease ? Except for actual moral lapses, missionaries are slow to make ill rej)orts to headquarters of a fellow worker. I know of nothing that meets the case so well as to set about the earnest cultivation of those graces in ourselves which we would like to see in the troublesome sister or brother, the love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, gentleness, faith, meekness and temperance, which alone can make them or us beloved or useful. It is a good thing to call a halt at regular intervals and ask ourselves : "Have I little ways that are likely to be a trial to my fellow workers'? Am I given to bursts of temper or other forms of impatience? or am I cold and unaccommodating? Am I self- ish, or given to underhanded ways of accomplish- ing ni}^ purposes, ways not very wrong perhaps, yet not exactly straight ! Am I overbearing, or inclined to hold grudges ? Am I always willing to give place to others, or do I often claim and take the foremost place for myself, and sulk if I do not get it?" These and other forms of self- interrogation which our own consciences can suggest, together with the maintenance of a constant state of watchfulness and prayer, ought to keep our feet from slipping. But there is one thing to be taken into grave and earnest consideration : that God will not [34] MISSIONARY TEMPTATIONS answer our prayers for these thiDgs, or j)our out upon us the full measure of his loving spirit that we crave, as long as we indulge the habit of criti- cizing each other, discussing the faults of other people, the mistakes w^e have known them to make, turning their peculiarities over and over until they assume a magnitude in our minds altogether out of proportion to their real impor- tance. It is better not to do this, even with the other inmates of our homes. Our conversation may not be as interesting to some people, but it will be more pleasing to God, and we cannot exhibit to the other members of our station better evidence that we have been well brought uj) than by preserving what some one has called "the very hall mark of good breeding— a noble silence concerning the faults of others." The failure to do this on the part of just one member of the missionary body, especially if situated at a port or capital city where many come and go, may bring a whole body of mission workers into dis- repute. Or a missionary visiting in another field may make up his conversation of the eccentricities, disagreeable qualities or moral lapses of his fellow workers until the only conclusion left to the lis- tener is that they must all be a very peculiar and undesirable lot. Alas that these things should ever be so ! When topics of conversation fail we can have recourse to literary periodicals, or any one of a [35] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE dozen fiist-class magazines. We can lay aside our work for a few moments before dinner and glean something from their pages to talk about. Let us not give way to the feeliug that this is a stiff and stilted way of doing, and that we should feel more at home with personalities. Such a practice will not only keep us off the low level of j)ersonal gossip, but will bring us breadth of mind and interests, and skill in the art of conversation, so that when we emerge once more into the glare and rush of Western life, we will find that we have kept within very gratifying touch of current events. Sometimes missionaries find themselves within easy reach of good financial investments on the field. Their children are growing up and the problem of their education must be met. They are getting on in years, perhaps, with little or no life insurance. Xo one faces the prospect of penniless old age with real enjoyment. The op- portunities are legitimate from a business stand- point and the investment of private means or small savings seems so harmless and justifiable. Shall we or shall we not? It may help us to come to a decision in a matter like this to notice the stand taken by other people in other callings. When the Coast and Geodetic Surveying Party sent out by the Government reached the Klondike region they found the country underlaid with vast deposits of gold. It [36] MISSIONARY TEMPTATIONS lay within tlieir power, without transgressing the law of the land, to stake out their claims and make themselves rich beyond the dreams of avarice. Yet not one foot was appropriated by one member of the party for his personal benefit. When Mr. Moore, of the United States Depart- ment of Agriculture, discovered the ^'nitrogen-fix- ing bacteria," he conferred an incalculable benefit upon the farming interests of the country, and there was no reason from a business standpoint why the discovery should not have made him a very wealthy man. But he kept on at his work of patient investigation for the public benefit, without any effort to appropriate the wealth that might have been his. Horace Mann, always financially hard pressed, when reproached by a friend for letting a good business opportunity pass by, replied that he was *'too busy to make money." Such instances of high honor in public servants are not uncommon. Members of what we love to regard as a ''sacred calling" can hardly do less. No non-Christian people has any concep- tion of pure disinterestedness, and the very first requisite for successful service is to establish the fact in their minds that we are here for their good alone. It is absolutely necessary for the foreign missionary to avoid all suspicion of ex- ploiting the people or the country for his own [37] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE personal benefit. Let the belief be once firmly- established in the minds of the people that he is making money at their expense, or at the expense of the natural resources of the country, and from the standpoint of the missionary, he has become a mere cumberer of the ground. If we have pri- vate means to invest it is better to do so in the homeland where no misunderstanding is likely to arise. And as to the need of food and clothing in our old age, we have the Saviour's personal assurance that if we seek first the king- dom of God and his righteousness, all these things shall be added unto us. That is a good pillow for the silvering head to lie upon. All this does not mean that we are not to ex- ercise as far as possible a wise forethought as to the future needs of our work. It is said that Adoniram Judson during his lifetime purchased for the mission a tract of land, not needed for immediate use, but necessary, in his mind, for the future growth of the work. After his death the home authorities, stung, possibly, by the epithet "landgrabbers," applied by unfriendly travelers, ordered the sale of the land. But time proved Judson' s faith and sagacitj^, and the mission has since been obliged to buy back, piece by piece, and at greatly advanced prices, the land that once was theirs. As one decade after another rolls over our heads on the mission field, we find ourselves [38] MISSIONARY TEMPTATIONS confronted by a very real danger, that of arrested development. Years ago, out of a variety of possible methods of work, we selected those that approved themselves to our judgment. Practice has made us facile in their use, and we fall into the habit of attributing any measure of success that may have attended our efforts to these par- ticular methods. Little by little they assume in our minds almost fetichlike proportions. Times change, and what were once entirely suitable principles of procedure are no longer adequate to meet the situation. Newer, larger, more up- to-date methods are called for, but we find our- selves a little resentful and unwilling to respond. In short, the process of ossification has set in, and prompt action is required or we will take our place in the ranks of the has-beens. Dr. Arthur J. Brown says: "God does not need our meth- ods. . . . Let us be ready to adjust our methods from time to time, as God in his provi- dence may direct." Dr. S. E. Millard, long Chicago's oldest physician, on the occasion of his ninety-second birthday, said that one reason he had lived so long and so happily was because he had "always tried to keep alive to the things of the present." The infusion of new missionary blood from time to time is a great boon to the whole mission body. If the younger workers have much to gain from their elders, the reverse is also true, [39] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE and it is a good thing for all coucerued if we can ever keep ourselves in the position of being will- ing to learn from those younger and less exx^eri- enced than ourselves. [40] CHAPTER II MISSIONARY TRIALS "Please tell me -frankly, " once urged the anxious mother of a young missionary candidate, "what the experiences are of heavy trial and privation that you missionaries hide behind such a brave show of cheerfulness.'^ If the mission- ary appealed to had been up in modern slang, she might have replied, "You can search me." Almost in vain she explored the inner recesses of her consciousness for some experience of hard- ship or creature discomforts that could be styled peculiarly " missionary. " There had been things hard to bear, but very little which she had not shared in common with the professional traveler, the gold-seeker, or the members of business and political circles who elect to pass their lives in the remote regions of the earth. Under this head comes the leaving of one's native land, long separations from friends and relatives, irreg- ular mails, coming in contact with contagious diseases of every kind, the discomforts of travel in countries where there are no roads, no bridges, uo hotels that our friends would recognize by [41] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE that name, aud no wheeled conveyances of any kind. To be far from one's base of supi^Iies is not always convenient. To have to eat butter, for instance, which has been canned or in pickle for an indefinite length of time, and to order one's hats by mail from an export firm in America, is trying. Yet the butter is good, when once you acquire a taste for it, and the hats — well, they are often quite passable in the absence of any very high standard of comparison, and the worst of them are hardly ever as bad as they might be. Even then they answer a useful purpose in keep- ing us humble as long as they last, which, with care, may be a good many years. Sometimes all the women of a station have to be assembled to sit in judgment on a hat recently arrived from America, in order to decide which side is the front. It may be that some of us will never know whether hats which we have worn with cheerful unconsciousness year after year were not really hindside before all the time ! Once — a golden once — a missionary arrived at a certain station with the instincts of the milliner born, and of the philanthropist as well. She at- tended the usual church service in English, held every Sunday afternoon, and one sweepiug glance around convinced her that she need not wait to acquire the language before doing some mission- ary work. Gently but firmly she secured pos- [42] MISSIONARY TRIALS session of one venerable piece of headgear after another, and when these emerged from her hands they were left with so few recognizable features that it seemed something like a sleight-of-hand performance. Church attendance almost reached the pitch of a mild excitement to see what new marvel had been wrought. Perhaps these things might be more properly told in the chapter on missionary diversions, for no one enjoys the comicalities of mission life so much as the missionaries themselves. The X 's love to tell of their first trip home on furlough. The traveling suits of Mrs. X and the children represented the combined skill and ingenuity of the ladies of the station, but when they made their appearance in a large railway station in America, they were aware of a momen- tary suspension of business, and a sudden access of suppressed hilarity in the air. Finally a scrub- woman at work on the floor voiced the thought of all hearts when she asked, '' Whur^d you come frum ? " But while we get all the fun we can out of such occurrences, we do not want them to happen if they can be avoided. The matter of dress and appearance is not so trivial as it sometimes seems to us in the first heat of the struggle with heathen- ism. A story is told of a graduate of Dr. Guin- ness' Missionary Training School in London who called on Mrs. Guinness for a parting word before [43] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE starting for Africa. He had expected words of deep spiritual counsel, and it was with somethiug of a shock that he heard her say, ' ' I hope that you will always be particular to keep your hair brushed." She had lived long enough to observe that a proper attention to the details of personal appearance not only commands the respect of other people, but is formative of right character in the individual himself. In the homeland most of us have probably dressed for people. On the mission field we have the opportunity to dress from principle. Xot that we can attempt to keep up with the latest vagaries of fashion. To be within far hailing distance of the ever changing dame must satisfy most of us. But at least we can keep well trimmed and brushed and blacked, and we can make it a principle to dress up always for Sunday or any other occasion that can be made to present itself, and thus keep ourselves feeling at home in our good clothes. The people are sometimes more observant than we imagine of our attire and the degree of respect which it indicates for them. I once made a trip iuto the country to a village where no foreign woman had ever stayed before. In anticipation of sitting and sleeping on the floor and eating on my lap, I wore an old dress which I felt willing to sacrifice. But the very first question put to my Bible woman when we reached the place and found ourselves surrounded by a group of eager [44] MISSIONARY TRIALS womeu and girls, was, '' Did she put on her good clothes to come and see us ! " We never know until we take up life in a non- Christian land how much we have been upheld heretofore, in mind and spirit, by public la^ order and decency. Even in the matter of exter- nal comeliness, the system and orderliness pre- vailing everywhere, and the beauty in common things has meant much, to us. Streets laid out on the square, public buildings of noble and dignified proportions, flower beds, gardens and farms ar- ranged with regard to symmetry, even the pretty displays in the shop windows, have all ministerea to our aesthetic sense and kept us in good menial tone. It is true that in some mission countries there is much to gratify one's sense of truth and beauty, but, as a rule, in Christless lands, any- thing that there may be of moral grace or ma- terial loveliness is rudely jostled on all sides by a meanness and squalor that beggars de- scription. The effect upon the newcomer is often a heavi- ness of mind and heart that is hard to throw off, but here, as elsewhere, ^^the mind is its own place." No true missionary allows his or her thought to dwell on what there may be of ugliness in or about their chosen people. Even if we can- not follow the first part of Alice Freeman Palmer's counsel to * ' look at something beautiful each day ' ' (and there are few spots on earth where even this [45] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE is altogether imi)ossible), yet the last part, to "think of, do and laemorize something beautiful each day," is open to all of us. Eufus Choate is said to have been possessed all his life with a sort of poetic elation of soul which lifted him above outward adverse circumstances. Substitute the word "spiritual" for "poetic" and we have something that all can cultivate. Perhaps it is only another name for faith, that faith which dwells in " the high and holy place" with God, and provides its possessor with wings for each day's journey. With regard to unhygienic conditions which cannot be avoided, the advice, " Keep your mind off them," applies with special force. In a country like Korea where the rooms are very small, with no provision for ventilation, the missionaries are often obliged to spend hours of their time crowded in with a multitude of un- washed human beings in an atmosphere so vile that the very candles threaten to go out, and are only revived from time to time as the door is opened to admit newcomers. It is easy to ask, "Why don't you throw every door and window open and get fresh air! " The probabilities are that the windows are of paper and immovable. The door, or doors, if there happens to be more than one, is very small, perhaps a foot and a half wide by four or five feet high, and if it is open everyone in the room is exposed to the outside temperature, [46] MISSIONARY TRIALS whicli may be all the way from freezing down to twenty-six below zero. How unfortunate under such circumstances to allow one's mind to dwell on the subject of noxious germs! AH that one can do is to dismiss the tliought with the reflection that the same God who made them is able to control their action. Livingstone found strength in the assurance that we are all immortal till our work is done, and so can we. Some mortifying revelations await man}' of us upon reaching the field. We find that we have heretofore depended largely for spiritual inspira- tion upon church services and religious gather- ings of all kinds, and that what we have been accustomed to consider the joy of the Lord as experienced by us has, in reality, consisted largely in the iusi^iration of numbers, or in self- satisfaction based on the successful exercise of our natural powers, and on the approval of admiring friends. In short, we find that we have not had much i^ersonal acquaintance with the Saviour. The mission field has no lesson for us so ineffably sweet and precious as that of drawing strength and inspiration directly from the Master himself. We learn what it is to work away from day to day and month to month and year to year, un- known and unpraised of men, and yet more than rewarded by the thought of that time when " every man shall have praise of God." [47] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE At the same time let uothiog mislead us into forsakiDg the assembling of ourselves together for the purpose of prayer aud praise in our own language. The whole history of missions presents no more noble picture than that of Judson and his wife sitting down alone to celebrate the Lord's Supper. We ought never to fall in with the idea that the native services take the place of our own more formal worship. We will probably be a good many years on the field before this is the case, if it ever is, and even if it is true of those longer on the field, it will not be of those who have come out more recently. Fellow mission- aries, as long as they live and work together, will need to get down on their knees at regular inter- vals, and make humble confession of sins and weaknesses and shortcomings, and raise earnest prayer together for forgiveness and strength. It is to the inner workings of any station or mission community what the drop of oil is to the piece of machinery. That mission community is blessed where the homes are sufficiently close togetlier to admit of a brief daily prayer meeting. Undoubtedly one of the great trials that we have to bear for the first few years of mission life is enforced inactivity to a greater or less extent in the direction of mission work. Long weeks, months and years of language study must inter- vene before we can do with any ease the things that we came out to do. Our pent-up energies [48] MISSIONARY TRIALS look about in vain for sufficieut outlet, aud for lack of soinetliing larger we are likely to aj)ply ourselves to trifles with the same streuuousuess that we would employ iu orgauiziiig churches or carrying on schools or Bible classes if we could. The result may easily be a sort of bumptiousness or self-assertiveuess on our part which may not be altogether pleasant to others. Or a worse thiDg may befall us. We may drop so easily into the student^s habit that the active things of life have no longer any charm for us. A sort of spiritual numbness possesses us, and processions of lost souls pass aud repass before us without awakening any special concern. No one can safely minimize the necessity for acquiring the language. Yet a greater mistake, if possible, is to imagine that no missionary work can be done in the meantime. As a matter of fact, the acquisition of an oriental language is the task of a lifetime, and any missionary work that we do must be a siDiultaneous process from first to last. It is not altogether easy to begin without language, yet, with a very few words at command, one can distribute tracts, do street preaching to individuals, or gather up children and teach them Bible verses and prayers. From the very standpoint of language acquisition the process is a useful one, for it affords an opportunity for using the words which we have learned, and — what is fully as important — of becoming ac- [49] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE quainted with native character by actual contact with it. Moreover, by the watering of other souls our own are refreshed and spiritual drought is averted. Two very real trials may be enumerated, one of which is peculiar to the early years of mission life, and more particularly to single i)eople. I refer to loneliness and lack of diversion. Hardly any phase of life which a young man or woman can have experienced in the homeland can pre- pare them altogether for the weight of loneliness that is likely to fall to their lot in a heathen country. The fact that they are single puts them in an anomalous class and isolates them greatly in the estimation of the people. Unless they are exceptionally situated they will have little com- panioushi]3 of those of their own years, and very little change of mental occupation. Loneliness has its own peculiar trials and temptations, as Martin Luther and all other honest monks of all times have found. It is hard for anyone, married or single, who lives alone or with only a few companions of his own race, to maintain an absolutely sane view of all questions. We lose our seuse of proportion and are tempted to feel a foolish sensitiveness to the words and acts of others. A story is told of a missionary in Africa who threw up his job and went home, on being reproved by a fellow worker for leaving an ax out over night. He bad lived [50] MISSIONARY TRIALS in a narrow circle of thought and companionship until he was no longer able to distinguish between things of great and little importance. Irritabil- ity, resentment and passion followed in logical sequence, and the matter of the ax was doubtless the last addition to a long and melancholy series of grudges. It is a thankworthy thing if single missionaries find themselves situated with a congenial work- ing mate of their own sex. Two by two was the Master's rule, and it is still a good rule. There are ways, too, of cultivating the Saviour^s com- panionship that reijay us more richly than tongue can tell. One dear woman whom I know, whose post of duty is lonely and hard, has a way of holding audible converse with her Lord as she goes about her work. "This isn't an easy task you have set me, Lord," she will say, '^but I trust you to sustain me." One man, who longed greatly for a more real sense of the Saviour's presence, used to draw up a chair for him when he knelt to pray. These things may seem a little grotesque to people whose lives are full of close and happy human companionship, but the story of Brother Lawrence has taught us that anything is lawful that brings us to a livelier sense of the Saviour's presence, ''closer than thinking or breathing, nearer than hands or feet." As time passes and our knowledge of the lan- guage and the ways of the people increases, it [51] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE becomes easier to enter into their hearts and lives and find friends and companionship among them. Every year on the field drives the specter of lone- liness further away, but alas, to many of us every year brings nearer the second trial enumerated above, one peculiar to married people and par- ents. I refer to parting with children at an early age. Many missionary i^arents have felt that they had no real experience of trial until the time came " To see their bright ones disappear, Drawn up like morning dews." In hot countries where even very little children must be sent away, the question as to what is duty must be a very difficult one to decide. To what extent are parents justified in shifting upon other people responsibility for the training and care of the children whom God has given them'? Are the children likely to turn out well when left at a tender age in an institution or to the care of relatives perhaps not altogether In sympathy with the life work of the parents? Is it better, perhaps, for the mother to reside in America with the children, leaving the husband and fa- ther to work on for an indefinite period alone ? Or shall both the parents suspend their mission- ary work for a term of years at least, in the ex- pectation of being able to take it up later on? [52] MISSIONARY TRIALS All these questions open up suck vistas of broken homes, separated families, heartache and perhaps bitter disappointment, that only a fool would rush in with ready opinions and advice as to the right course to pursue. Of one thing we may be sure that, if the hearts of all concerned are fully Yielded up to God, he will make his will for them plain, and will give strength to bear the burden which cannot be escaped by any course of pro- cedure. , ., In cases where the climate admits of this, chil- dren may be kept beyond at least the early years of their childhood, but the question of their education is most serious. Here in Pyeng Yang, where we have at the present time in our mission community eleven families with children, we have solved the problem by putting our mites together and with the help of this and that generous friend at home, have our own little school with a teacher brought out from America. The blessing that this school has been during the ten years o its existence is not easily calculable. Without it, we missionary mothers would have been obliged to teach the children ourselves, without nearly so much profit to them, and with very considerable loss to the mission work. When the school was started only four families were responsible for its financial support, yet we have always seemed to have enough. Even it a mission community is very small my advice would [53] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE be to economize in every other direction and have a school. Where this cannot be done, nothing remaius but for* the parents concerned to give the time necessary to carry on the education of the children. This is not an ideal arrangement from any standpoint, but it is very many times better than to send them to America at an early age. To our friends at home and to some on the mis- sion field this may seem a strange statement. Under what circumstances could it possibly be better to keep boys and girls to maturity in heathen rather than in Christian surroundings'? But it must be remembered that the immediate surroundings of the families of missionaries are not heathen, but are— or ought to be — very strongly Christian. It is easy to inculcate in the mind even of a very little child the idea that they are partners in the missionary enterprise, and that their little lights also must shine clear and bright from day to day. Sin is so open and un- disguised on the mission field that it is easier to guard the child against it than it sometimes is in Christian America where it so often lurks in un- suspected places. In the first shock of contact with heathenism, we are naturally inclined to hark back to the homelands as a sort of Canaan where sins and sorrows fail to grow. We find ourselves perhaps in a country where contagious diseases rage unchecked. Children die of small- pox within a stone's throw, and the loathsome [54] MISSIONARY TRIALS little forms are wrapped in straw aud raised on a platform in the open field, to secure the full bene- fit of the disiutegratiug and disseminating influ- ences of wind and rain. Typhus is always in the air, mad dogs run amuck in the street, or the pneumonic plague sweeps unhindered through the country, leaving a broad track of death be- hind. Perhaps we lose little children under cir- cumstances that leave through life an unhealed wound in the heart. As our furlough time ap- proaches we find ourselves looking forward to a year of blessed respite from unhygienic surround- ings for both soul and body. But less than a twelvemonth of observation and experience in the homeland is apt to be sufficient to remind us that death reigns in America, too, and that chil- dren slip away from their parents' grasp in spite of every possible medical precaution. Then there are moral lepers in America, as well as in China, Korea or India, and a general use of profanity that is entirely unknown to many non-Christian peoples. I know of two little boys, who, after a short experience in the common schools of Amer- ica, begged their mother almost with tears to take them back to their home on the mission field. ^'The boys here swear so dreadfully," they said, '' and we can't get the words out of our minds." Unceasing vigilance on the part of the parents is ever the price of purity in the children, and many sorrowing fathers and mothers both in [55] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE Christian and uou-Cliristian lauds have awaked to find that while they were busy here and there about good and useful tasks, their children's purity was gone, they knew not how. Home duties must ever come first to a mother, and the question as to how much and what kind of work a missionary mother should attempt is one that circumstances and individual judgment must de- cide. In lands where servants are as cheap, plentiful and excellent as they are in the Orient, however, even a busy mother, by planning sys- tematically, finds herself in possession of spare hours. Several ojDtions present themselves as to the possible use of these. Instead of training the servants, she can take upon herself the more par- ticular parts of the housework, or the bulk of the sewing, and occupy herself in this way. Or, with the other ladies of the community, she can keep a little round of social functions going, pleasant and entertaining, thus furnishing the flowers necessary — according to the poet — for softening the tread of Time's foot. Or she can resolutely set aside her spare time for the study of the language, preparation for classes among the women or in the schools, literary work, help- ing in the hospitals, visiting among her native neighbors, or any other form of effort that she finds profitable. Wives and mothers all over the mission field are busy with any and all forms of Christian endeavor, and the splendid sons and [5b J MISSIONARY TRIALS daiigLters who come out of their homes are i)roof that duties that come first have been giveu their rightful place. I like to remember that it was the sou of missionaries, a boy of eighteen, who at the time of the burning of the Iroquois theater in Chicago took his stand on a plank connecting the balcony of the burning building with a place of safety, and, lifting the panic-stricken women and children one after the other in his strong young- arms, passed them on beyond the reach of the fire. The flames rolled on and over him, but he stayed at his iDOst until he was burned beyond recovery. " Hushed be the heart and still " at the thought of the hallowed pride and joy that must have filled that mother's heart in far-off South Amer- ica. Married women who have taken no i)art or interest in the mission enterprise have been so few in the circle of my acquaintance that I am hardly qualified to speak on the subject, but I will venture to express the opinion that they are not so healthful, either mentally, spiritually or physically as they would otherwise be, and if their families have developed any more satis- factorily than others, my attention has not been called to it. Moreover, the existence in a mis- sion home or station of an element in the least degree out of sympathy or indifferent to the aims of the mission cannot but be detrimental to the enterprise as a whole. Children will uat- [57] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE urally take their cue from the mother iu their attitude toward mission work, and it is quite I)ossible for a family out of sympathy with the work of the husband and father to nullify much earnest effort on his part. In general it may be said that any man is heavily handicapi)ed in the attempt to reach and hold the plane of his best effort, if he is deprived of sympathetic support in his home. Unquestionably the greatest trial that any mis- sionary can be called upon to endure is to toil through a long night of years and take little or nothing. Surely this is the supremest test of faith. Then it is hard to see promising converts slip back into heathenism, changed from bright professors and seemingly affectionate friends into bitter personal enemies and i3ersecutors of the faith they once followed. To us in Korea, who found here a people prepared of God for our coming, the awful heartsickness of long- deferred hope has not been part of our portion. No hoary old heathen faith sets itself like an impenetrable wall before us. The difficulties of caste are al- most unknown, and absorbing business interests do not crowd upon our people. They are, for the most part, a simple, unexactiug folk, unsus- picious and unspoiled. Friendly advances are received in a friendly manner, and the good seed of the kingdom strikes quick and lasting root in these good and honest hearts. [58] MISSIONARY TRIALS Of those devoted brethren in other fields who lay down their lives daily for their people, re- ceiving little gratitude iu return, and few souls for their hire, I can only say that, somewhere iu the deep recesses of heaven, there must be laid up for them a special fullness and sweetness of reward which those of us who are so richly com- pensated from day to day can hardly expect. In promising and uupromisiug mission fields alike one burden must be borne, and that is the paucity of workers. To know that there are mil- lions of souls perishiug within reach, uuvisited by a single gospel messenger j to see grand oppor- tunities for propagating the gospel pass by unim- proved, these are trials. Sometimes word reaches us of a group of believers, lively and hopeful. They put up a little house of worship and meet regularly for divine service. But after a hasty visit or two from the missionary comes a long space of time when they are left to themselves. They are young and weak in the faith, of neces- sity they are instructed but imperfectly in the Way of Life, and they are left to wander in the wilderness. How can they know that the mis- sionary shepherd Is burdened with very much more work than he can by any possibility be expected to accomplish? Doubts spring up as to his love for them, and their enthusiasm in the cause of Christ wanes. Spiritual hunger and thirst do their work, and one by one the famished [59] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE little flock falls a prey to the devourer. These things are veritable burdens and heavy to be borne. According to some writers from the field, no chapter on missionary trials would be complete without mention of the servants, but my only reason for speaking of them in this connection is that I am not contemjjlati ng a chapter on missionary blessings. My thoughts run back as I sit here to some of the faithful servants I have known. There was Moon Sami, friend and serv- ant of a lonely man whose chief solace during the prolonged absence of his wife and children was a frisky little scamp of a dog. Furlough time came, and the missionary went away for a year's visit with his family, committing Gyp to Moon Sami's care during his absence. Presently Gyp fell ill and suspicious symptoms developed. "Kill him," advised the other missionaries, "be- fore he goes mad." What ! kill Gyp, the Mok- sa's (missionary's) only companion and comfort, who had been left in his care ? Never ! He would himself run the risk of death first. So Gyp was lovingly tended through the throes of hydrophobia until Moon Sami was actually bit- ten, and his life was saved only by a hurried trip to a distant institution where the Pasteur treatment could be applied. Then there was Yoon Ssi, left with ironing to do and a knitted bedspread to mend while the [60] MISSIONARY TRIALS family went away for their summer outiug of ten days on the river. It was in August, and Yoon Ssi, toiling over the ironing board, was prostrated by the heat. She lingered for three days in great weakness and pain, but the day before she died she sent for the bedspread and the darning cotton, saying perhaps she would be able to mend it before the pouin (lady) returned. When the missionary came home and found Yoon Ssi in her humble grace and heard the story of her last days, she realized something of how David would have felt had those three lovers of his been slain in their gallant dash for the drink of cool water that he craved. Old Pong Subang comes to my mind. He was so feeble and apparently stupid that when a family newly arrived employed him as a gate- man, the other families deplored in private their unfortunate choice. But as far as faithfulness and affectionateness could accomplish it, old Poug was an excellent servant. Time passed and the W 's were transferred to another station, leaving old Pong behind. Months later, on the birthday of one of the family, he appeared at the door. He had walked three hundred miles to offer his congratulations in person, and to pre- sent her with a bookmark which his wife had embroidered. Later when time came for their home journey on furlough, he made the trip again and presented each of the three members of the [61] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE family with a silver medal wliicli he had had ex- pressly designed aud paid for o^ut of his i)Overty. Sometimes maids at home, I am told, object to visitors or unauticipated additions to the house- hold, and according to this analogy, onr good Su Ssi might have been exj)ected to assert herself un- pleasantly last year when a motherless little niece and nei)hew were added to our family circle. Far from it. She ran out to meet them when they came, took them in her arms and wept over their motherless condition. She prays for them by name in morning worship, and never wearies of doing little kindnesses for them. In fact, one of our difficulties with servants in this part of the world arises not from unwillingness to serv^e but from over-willingne*ss, so that it is a hard matter to keep them from doing for the children in our families what the children should learn to do for themselves. True, servants in missionary households are human, and they have their faults in common with the rest of humanity. Even our good Su Ssi is not exempt. Occasionally when I appear in the kitchen at an unexpected moment, I find what seems to be a bowl of breakfast mush aud a cup of coffee arranged evidently for some one's consumption. Or an unanticipated peep into the teakettle brings to view, simmering cozilj^, an egg which cannot be accounted for by any plans for salad in the near future. Or a plate of pancakes [62] MISSIONARY TRIALS left from breakfast disappears. Now these thiugs are all taboo, for Su Ssi, being the recipient of a monthly wage of the equivalent of five dollars gold, is exi)ected to board herself at home, and agrees to do so very cheerfully. It is not right that she should take our food. I am sorry for her own sake that she should do it even occasionally, and j)erhaps I had better speak to her about it. But wait a moment. It is baking day, and Su Ssi has been here since soon after five o'clock this morning. The regular arrangement is for her to go home for her breakfast about nine and come back at ten, but she feels that the interests of the loaves, which she has just put back of the stove to rise, demand her presence here. So she fills in the interim with the family darning, and by the time the bread, light and white and tender, is drawn from the oven, it is time to prepare the vegetables for dinner, and two o'clock in the afternoon comes before she gets away. The same thing happened a few daj^s ago when the children and Tsi Iri, the big boy who helps with the housework, came in from the garden with those great pans full of raspberries that had to be canned at once, and it is likely to happen again next Monday if the wash is unusually large. I remember, too, that for three mouths now, Su Ssi has ''cooked for company," members of other stations who are here on mission business, to say nothing of various parties of world travelers and [63] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE others who may hax)peu in for a few days at any time. She does the bulk of the plain sewing, too, for the family, and all without a word of com- plaint. Come to think of it, that egg, beiug a Korean egg, cost considerably less than a cent, and was probably only "partially good," auyway. The mush, on a closer look, proves to be the scrapings of the kettle, and the coffee the dregs from the breakfast table. I begin to fear that she did not eat those pancakes the other day, after all. PerhaxDS they were thrown away by mistake, and I form a quick resolution to see that she gets them next time. No, if I say anything to Su Ssi, I will tell her how much I appreciate her affec- tionate service, and how well I know that if I have accomj^lished anything as a missionary, it is because her hard working brown hands and those of her fellow servants and predecessors have relieved me of the household tasks that otherwise would have occupied all my time and strength. At the same time, if I am wise I will put the eggs and all other desirable and easily appropriable things under lock and key, leaving out only quan- tities sufficient for a day or two. This may seem distrustful and troublesome, but the strong prob- ability is that it may save me a lasting grief in the discovery that I have trained up a hardened thief. In a way I stand in the place of God to Su Ssi. He considers her frame and remembers that she is made of easily tempted dust — and so must I. [64] MISSIONARY TRIALS With a change of name and detail, what I hav^e written is true of an army of humble folks all over mission countries. I wonder if they know that they were remembered when the beautiful new Cathedral atLiverx)Ool was planned, and a stained window was put in commemorating ' ' Mary Rogers (stewardess of the * Stella '), and all other faithful servants." However that may be, I thank God for the assurance that the names of very many are written in the Book of Life. No one can claim with reason that housekeep- ing in the Orient is without its special difficulties. To begin, as some of us did, with a cook who had never seen a cookstove, a table or a piece of soap, who had no knowledge of white flour, sugar, butter, milk, lard, tea or coffee as cooking in- gredients, would be a toilsome operation under any circumstances. But add to this ignorance of each other's language, reducing the possibility of intercommunication entirely to the realm of '' signs and wonders," and the resultant situation is one from which only youth, buoyant, reckless and laughter-loving, can extract real pleasure. Fortunately such an experience, if it comes at all, is in the springtime of our missionary career, and if we fall upon trying times later on, it is well to remember that youth is not a matter of years but of spirit. By an effort of will we can keep with us a large measure of that early zest in overcoming difficulties and in bringing into be- [65] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE ing law aud order where lliere w ao uone before. And to the end of oar lives we cau cultivate what some one has so ax)tly termed the ''saving grace '' of humor that goes so far toward keeping us all cheerful and sane. Tlien when a green servant puts on a hot stove our one j)recious bit of solid silverware — a relic left from a remote ancestress — to weep itself away in silver tears, or deposits a hot teakettle on the one piece of furniture that we really prize, or digs up the asparagus bed that we have been coaxing into existence for a period of years, or commits any other of the long list of errors of j udgment that might be compiled, we will be prepared to take it, if not joyfully, at least with equanimity. Sometimes our friends in America are willing to grant us the luxury of servauts in view of the necessity laid upon us to learn the language and accomplish something as missionaries, but they wonder why such a troop of them seems to be inevitable. And missionaries, too, have mo- ments of despair when they w^onder the same thing. One reason may be found in the fact that in the Orient the system of public service is either not developed at all, or very imperfectly so as compared with the Occident. Private serv- ants must do for each household what people in more favored countries are accustomed to have done for them by public servants, animate and inanimate, such as the postman, the baker's [66] MISSIONARY TEMPTATIONS wagOD, the grocer's boy, the woman's exchaoge, the telephone, telegraph, the trolley line, city waterworks, lightiug companies, etc., etc. For instance, every drop of water for household uses may have to be carried half a mile in jars on the head or in tin cans suspended from a yoke borne on the shoulders. Or the currency of the country may be so small as to value and so large as to the individual piece, that when a missionary wants to do a little shopping, instead of putting a dollar bill or two in her pocketbook and sallying foith alone as she would in America, slie is obliged to set out in what seems like considerable state, with a stout servant in attendance to carry her dollar's worth of money. Another reason may be found in the fact that an oriental servant is apt to have a very definite idea as to what he will do and what he will not do. Specialization of labor — and not too much of it — is no new thing under the Eastern sun. When we first came to Korea, twenty -one years ago, we found ourselves provided, through the thoughtfulness of our friends, with three serv- ants : a cook, a "boy" for general housework, and a gateman to bring water, cut wood, cultivate the garden and take general care of the premises. There were just two of us in a small house, and I felt that the three servants, between them, ought to be able to compass the washing and ironing. But because I insisted on this we lost our cook, [67] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE and I was obliged to take a greeu boy and train him into the work. Ten years later, with a family of six and four servants, we were treated to a long siege of sulks in the kitchen because I took the giOLind that a fifth servant would be superfluous. !N^ow, with a mail box a few steps away, a Chinese boy from the general provision and dry-goods store, and the butcher's man com- ing every morning for orders, a community telephone and city waterworks, a new era has dawned and we are getting along very comfort- ably with two servants and extra help during the gardening season. They are both Christians, good personal friends, and are willing to accom- modate each other. Otherwise it would not be an easy arrangement to maintain. My chapter on missionary trials has come to a close without any mention of what many mis- sionaries regard as the greatest trial that could fall to their lot. I mean the necessity for giving up the work and leaving the field, " exiled in the homeland,'^ as one dear sufferer expressed it. Years of effort to adapt oneself to conditions in the Orient naturally tend to unfit one more or less for life in the homelands. We find our- selves out of touch with local happenings, our thoughts occupied with distant things of a sort not easily communicable to friends at home. The tremendous onrush of events in America, comi)ared with the slow-moving East, makes us [68] MISSIONARY TRIALS sometimes feel uueertaiu of our giouiK], and al- most timid. We are sometimes embarrassed by finding ourselves greatly overrated and looked up to as persons of peculiar sanctity by dear saints and household martyrs whose lives have consisted of daily self-renunciation far exceeding our own. Eveu in the matter of speech we may feel ourselves at a disadvantage because of the tendency of our own native vernacular to elude us, while instead oriental phrases suggest them- selves. In my experience all these things, except the matter of language, were more noticeable at the end of the first term of service. Succeeding fur- loughs find one's stable equilibrium restored and we are able to feel almost equally at home iu either hemisphere. But always there is the abiding reminder, "So many workers for Christ here, so few there," to keep us from resting iu the homeland. As miners flock to the place where gold is, so missionaries are most happy aud at home where such rich treasures may be had for the seeking. [69] CHAPTER III HOW BUSY IS THE MISSIONARY? While iu America on furlough a missionary remarked on the delicious quality of the Rhode Island Red chicken which graced a friend's table, and spoke in contrast of the fowls which we get in Korea, which are foragers and scavengers all their lives and usually well toughened by the struggle for existence. A sharp-eyed friend across the table, who was evidently beholding a real live missionary for the first time, asked the question, ''Why don't you keep chickens yourselves?" The following pages are an attempt to answer that question. To get a comprehensive view of the work of a mission station, one might well wish to be a bird. As the little dwellers up aloft look down uj)on the activities of our station, these must take the form to them of a great kaleidoscopic wheel, radiating out in every direction from Pyeug Yang, revolving with the year and showing more or less of change with each month and season. September is the month of meetings and the beginning of the yearly cycle. The first week is apt to find us busy preparing either to attend the [70] HOW BUSY IS THE MISSIONARY? annual meeting or to entertain it. One recent meeting was held at Pyeng Yang, and for twelve days or so each of the nine households in the station entertained from five to twelve guests in addition to the members of their own families. This may sound burdensome to housekeepers at home, but some preparation in advance and plenty of faithful brown help in the kitchen at tlie time, leaves us all comparatively care free. We are crowded, of course, but nobody minds that. Sometimes nearly every room is a bed- room, and the "koangs" as well (rooms outside, used ordinarily for storing purposes). The single men guests are asked to bring their itinerating outfits of folding cots and bedding, and often other guests are asked to bring their own sheets, pillowcases and towels, or to contribute to the supply of spoons and napkins. Washstands are rigged up out of boxes, and all sorts of makeshifts are resorted to without explanation or apology. Sux^i^ose we do have to eat soup with an iron spoon from the kitchen, or drink out of a jelly tumbler, or take turns with several others in per- forming our ablutions in a tin hand basin on the top of a box ! What are these things to i^eople who have been cooped up for a year or longer in one mission station with hardly a glimpse of any faces besides their own ? The place of the annual meeting becomes like Mecca to the pilgrim, and' Mecca is all excitement, too, when the pilgrims [71] INSIDE VIEWS OF iMISSION LIFE begin to arrive. Here come the dear familiar faces that have beeu with us for years, aiul the well-kDOwn garments with collars and sleeves remodeled from last season's fashion plates, or masquerading under a new shade that smells of the dye pot, but still easily recognizable as old acquaintances. And here are the new people just out, so hopeful and enthusiastic and up-to- date. We scan their features eagerly, one by one, for some signs of that peculiar fitness and adapta- bility that we have felt the need of ourselves, and some of us are taking notes of their pretty clothes with a view to working out improvements in our own wardrobes. Then there are the children, a troop of them, some nearly as high as their parents' shoulders, and coming on rax)idly to the age when the question of their education — that specter which has sat at the family hearth all these years — can be thrust aside no longer, but must be faced resolutely. And the little ones, born during the year, brought up by their parents, like Samuel, to be offered to the Lord ! In the midst of all the pleasure and jolly banter of meeting, there is yet the ever-present suggestion of tears. Some whom we have been accustomed to see are not here. They have fallen in the har- ness, and in the faces of others a little of the brightness has given way to that look of steadfast endurance that says, ^'Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." Gray hairs are more plentiful, [72] HOW BUSY IS THE MISSIONARY? and in manj^ young faces lines of responsibility and care begin to appear. For every o ue of us the year has had its burdeus, problems and i)erp lex i ties, but it has had its joys and triumphs as well, and con- stant proofs of God's kee^jing and conquering j)ower. From every station we have been enabled to come, not empty handed, but bringing our sheaves with us, so that the dominant note is one of rejoicing. Our annual meetings always begin deliberately with the admiuistration of the Lord's Supper and the rite of infaut baptism, and they are apt to conclude precipitately about ten days later in a midnight meeting when everybody is in a great hurry to get all the odds and ends of business despatched, and off on the train the next day. Each day's session is prefaced with an early prayer meeting, at about 6 : 45 A. M. The reading of the reports of all the stations and other general matters occupy the first few days. Then comes the real business of the meeting — the reports of the various committees. Matters of the greatest im- portance to the welfare of the mission are brought up, widely varying opinions as to the best course of procedure are stoutly maintained, yet when the question is called for and the vote taken, it is good to see how strong men whose whole hearts have been set on a certain measure can see their hopes go down and yield gracefully to the will of the majority. And if, in the heat of debate, the [73] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE harsh word is occasionally spoken, yet the manly word of apology is apt to follow, and we are all the better in the end for the little demonstration of what grace is able to do with these hearts of ours that are naturally so willful and contentious. I notice that every year finds us all a little mellower, a little more tolerant and less strenuous, more disposed to let the ark of God move along without ofi&cious offers of assistance. When the annual meeting is over we scatter variously. All who can, attend the meetings of presbytery and General Assembly, the latter es- tablished for the first time in 1912. Then comes the meeting of the Presbyterian Council — a body composed of the four Presbyterian missions at work in Korea : American, North and South, Aus- tralian and Canadian. After this is the meeting of the General Evangelical Council, organized at the initiation of the union movement, and partici- pated in by all the missionary bodies in the coun- try except the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. In the meanwhile the fall work is getting under way. Local schools all over our territory are opening up for the term's work. Bright boys, the output of these local schools, come trooping in to begin their higher education in the Pyeng Yang Academy. The preliminary examinations have already been held, so that the worst strain of anxiety has been removed, but still they are [74] HOW BUSY IS THE MISSIONARY? all atremble with the novelty of leaving home for the first time, of seeing the wonders of the metropolis, and of finding themselves actually enrolled in a school conducted on the far-famed Megook (American) plan. A little later the college opens and the full stress of work is on. Nearly one hundred boys in all besiege the self- help department for work in order to enable them to remain in school, and the shops are full of busy workers with hammer, plane and saw. Others are out making roads, and gathering in the crops from the school fields. Every classroom is full and rooms in the theo- logical seminary are in requisition to accommo- date the overflow. This condition will be relieved as soon as the new college building is completed, and thereby hangs one reason why one family in the community did not keep chickens one year. All the plans, drawings and specifications of every kind for this building, a substantial three- story structure, had to be worked out, first in English and then in Korean, of evenings around the family lamp, or during spare moments snatched from other duties during the day. The mission- ary in charge, being also president of the institu- tion, had been accustomed to give his attention to subjects astronomical or otherwise more or less celestial, and the geological studies to which his attention had been directed had not included un- der the head of earth formations the subject of [75] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE three-story brick college buildings. So notbiug remained but to take up the task de novo, and an aggregate of many hours had to be put in in his study, hemmed in by huge volumes on archi- tecture. After he had himself acquired some knowledge of the subject, the task was before him of instructing the contractor, a Korean who had never before attempted nor even seen so large a building. Later the new dormitories were be- gun, and a constant suiDervision of the two build- ings had to be kept up in addition to a full bur- den of classroom-teaching, administrative and other duties. What has been said about the boys' college and academy applies equally to the girls' academj^ The same year when the other building opera- tions were going on, the energies of those con- cerned were applied to the erection of a good two-story brick building to serve as dormitory for the girls and as residence for the women in charge. In September begins the school for girls and women who cannot attend the academy, with three sessions a week. In October the Women's Bible Institute — in the work of which all the women of the station take part — resumes work with a Normal Class for Sunday-school teach- ers, followed by what is kuow^n as a Workers' Class. This class is attended by women from far beyond the limits of our teriitory, who come [76] HOW BUSY IS THE MISSIONARY? to prepare themselves by a two weeks' course of traiuiug to teach country Bible classes during the year. Cue womau iu atteudauce iu oue re- cent class walked a distance of three hundred and thirty-three miles over rough mountain roads, the journey consuming twenty days. She said she "had teaching to do and wanted to learn how. " A few of these women are supported by the Korean church, but the majority of them are unpaid workers. In one year, from Novem- ber till March, one hundred and eighty-seven women from this class held a total of one hun- dred and six country classes, attended by an aggregate of thirty- nine hundred and twenty women. In October the itinerators, men and women, begin to scatter for the isolated country regions, where a missionary's visit is an occurrence long anticipated. These trips may be a week or they may be a month in length, and they are kept up until the station Bible classes in January demand the presence of the itinerators. Equipped with folding cots, bedding and sufdcient tinned food to supplement the good cheer of the Korean hostesses, and accompanied by the indispensable "boy," whose duty it is to secure for them what measure of creature comfort he can, off they go, on foot, on horse or donkey, or in chairs swung on long poles and carried by coolies. Over high mountain passes they go, through [77] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE remote defiles of the hills, across deep rivers or flooded plains, anywhere and everywhere in the search for the lost sheep or the little flock of faithful Christians which has been huddling to- gether on the mountain side, holding out against ail foes as best they could while the shepherd was away. All sorts of possible adventures await the itiuerator. He may find himself in the way of robbers who are uncomfortably reckless as to who the victim of their demonstrations may be. In inhospitable regions he may be refused ad- mittance to the inns, or he may be received late at night and put to lodge in a dark, cold room, where every available foot of floor space is al- ready occupied by sleeping forms. His cot may be miles behind him on the pack load, or even if he has it, there may be no room to put it up. The comfort for the night of his fellow lodgers depends upon conserving the heat from their own bodies, so the one small door and window are tightly shut. Perhaps the coming of morning reveals the fact that the man beside him, who was so hot and restless during the night, is black and swollen with smallpox. Or the itinerator may lodge for a week in a little room eight feet square before he learns that it was vacated for him by a leper. He may be precipitated midstream into an icy current, miles away from the possibility of dry clothes, or he may be — and in all proba- [78] HOW BUSY IS THE MISSIONARY? bility will be— devoured by vermiu of a pleni- tude and variety well-nigh beyond the j)ossi bility of description or calculation. Be these things as they may, they are not remembered long when he approaches his destination and the people pour out to meet him along the way, from Grandfather Kim, dim of eye, and leaning like Jacob on his staff, down to little Sam Poki, who outruns them all, being unembarrassed by clothing or any sense of shame. October, November and December are busy months for the itinerator, as well as from Feb- ruary on till the coming of hot weather. Last year in our country districts twenty-three hun- dred and fifty-one persons were received into the church, and thirty-two hundred and twenty-eight into the catechumenate. In nearly all of the two hundred and eighty-one country churches Bible training classes were held, either by the mission- aries themselves, or by Koreans whom they had previously trained for the purpose. The itinerator gets home for Christmas if he can, and during January he must be in Pyeng Yang, for during this month the station Bible training class for men, with an attendance last year of seven hundred and seventy-two, is held, lasting about ten days. Last year in addition to this class, the Men's Bible Institute occupied the whole month. The Institute holds a position midway between the ordinary training class of a [79] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE week or ten days' duration, and the theological seminary, covering a course of three school years. It is for the benefit of those men who are anxious to equip themselves for effective service as Chris- tian workers, but cannot hope to take the full seminary course. Last year, its first session, one hundred and eighty-one men were in attendance. Only paucity of missionary teachers prevents the course from being extended to three mouths. In February comes the Pyeng Yang city classes for both sexes. Last ye-dv saw an enrollment of two hundred and sixty-six men and four hundred and eighty-five women. These classes are held at the heathen New Year season, and were started at the earnest solicitation of the Christians, as a counterattraction to the idolatrous festivities that prevail at that time. When these classes are over the itinerators begin to scatter for the spring work and are usually at home only a few days at a time until late in May or June. In March comes the general class for country women held in Pyeng Yang for ten days and attended last year by five hundred and thirty- two women. This is the parent class of all our training-class system for the women. How well I remember the first class that was held, thirteen years ago ! Mrs. Graham Lee and I were the two women in the station who had been long enough on the field to take part in the teaching. We sent out the announcement with a heart for [80] HOW BUSY IS THE MISSIONARY? any fate, haviug very little idea how many to expect, or what discouragements we might en- counter. I remember we said to each other that if six women should come we would consider the class a success. When the proi^osition was put to the women of the city church that they should entertain the country women as their guests during the ten days of the class, they responded royally, and in a short time the entertainment of twenty visitors was pledged. It was a pleas- ure that is with me yet to be at that meeting and hear the testimonies as the pledges were being made. One drew a graphic picture of Christ's sufferings for us, and said it would be a pity if we could not deny ourselves to the extent of a little money in order that others might know more about him. One who had been redeemed from a long lifetime of wickedness said, "Here is a chance to do something pleasing to God and make ourselves more precious to him," and she sat down with tears streaming down her poor, sin -scarred face. Everybody had something to contribute and some word of praise to utter at the same time. Knowing how poor they all were from our standpoint, I had to wink hard to keei3 the tears back, and am not sure that I succeeded. Having secured the assurance of entertainment, our next anxiety was lest the country women would not respond to the invitation, for it was a busy time of year for them. But they came [81] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE from all clistaDces rouucl about to the uumbej- of twecty-four. There were two, I remember, who walked a distauce of one hundred aud fifty miles. They started Monday morning and came trudg- ing in toward evening on Saturday, looking weather-beaten and weary, but they had no word of complaint to make of the long, tiresome way. As one feeble, trembling old body, who had also walked far, said, "I was very tired, but I am so glad to get here that I do not feel it." It has become an old story now, but I think I had never up to that time enjoyed any ten days more than those we spent with this class. We were both kept busy, for Mrs. Lee's baby was barely six weeks old, aud my help in the kitchen was a green womau who didn't know beans when the bag was open. In addition to instruction in Scripture, I took the class for a half hour, morn- ing aud afternoon, in singing. We labored espe- cially, I remember, over ''Jesus, I my cross have taken," and Mrs. Lee told me afterwards that she never would feel discouraged again over the ability of the Koreans to learn to sing, because as she listened to the class — from the distance of her home, a few steps away — she had been able to recognize the tune quite easily at the end of the teu days ! Who could have foretold then that thirteen years later this feeble beginning would have swelled to a grand total for the year of one hun- [82] HOW BUSY IS THE MISSIONARY? dred and tweuty-five classes for womeu through- out the statiou territory ^ How wonderful have God's thoughts been unto us! Of this whole number, nineteen classes were taught wholly or in part by missionaries in person, and the re- mainder by women whom they had trained. In March also, the three months' session of the theological seminary begins. In 1912 the theol- ogues, one hundred and thirty-four strong, flocked into the city from all directions, anxious to be in their seats at the opening session. The teachers, too, are gathering in from north, south, east and west, for this is a pan-Presbyterian Seminary, being carried on by the four Presbyterian bodies at work in the country. During the nine years of its existence, a total of fifty-eight men have been graduated, forty-eight of whom have been ordained and are occupying positions of usefulness. The place that the institu- tion is taking through its graduates may be seen from the fact that it has representatives in eleven of the thirteen provinces of Korea, besides mission- aries in Manchuria, Eussia and the Isle of Quel - paerde. The teachers are all busy men who must lay down their other work in order to take up their duties in the seminary, and this accounts for the shortness of the term. The plan is to lengthen it as soon as a faculty can be pro- vided. During this month the long session of the [83] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE Womeu's Institute begins and continues for two mouths and a half. Eighty-nine women were in attendance this year. The mornings are occupied with Bible subjects, the afternoons with lectures, conferences and lessons in writing and the first principles of arithmetic, in order to enable the women to keep account of books received and sold, attendance at classes, travel expenses, etc. May has been our month for graduations, and a very busy month it is with closing examinations, baccalaureate addresses, commencement exercises, alumni meetings, farewell meetings, etc. Koreans love pomi) and circumstance, and all the forms and ceremonies ijicideut to such occasions are greatly to their liking. Even the children from the primary schools are " graduated " with huge diplomas and considerable formal display. Last year one missionary was privileged to deliver an even one hundred diplomas to the boys and girls from the city primary schools, the young men and women of the academies and college, and the graduates from the Normal School for primary school-teachers. After commencement comes the usual drudgery incident to schools, of examining papers, making out reports to be sent to each pupil, bringing up all the accounts for the year, etc. From the middle of May till the middle of June comes the language school for the new additions to the missionary force, and the older mission - [84] HOW BUSY IS THE MISSIONARY? aries have a chance to feel youug again iu the presence of so much youth aud euthusiasm. Uncle Eemus' advice to "take yo' foot in yo' han' " here comes in well, for if any of the older missionaries are inclined to rest on their oars in the matter of the language, the rapid progress of some of these young people is enough to remind them that the race is not always to the first comers. In June comes the Normal School for primary school-teachers, those humble men and women, presiding over little groups of boys and girls, crowded into ill- ventilated, ill-lighted rooms, and scattered all over our territory. In 1912 they numbered one hundred and eighty-six, with an attendance of thirty -seven hundred and sixty-five, and two hundred and ninety-six teachers. The one glimpse for these men and women of the higher possibilities of their calling has come to them in the past through this normal class of a month. Now other classes of a similar nature —under the direction of local church officers and taught in many cases by those who have studied in this class, or by academy graduates— are being held throughout the country districts. During this month comes the Officers' Class for the benefit of church officers, attended last year by two hundred aud thirty-four men, and in June we must make up our personal reports for the year, to be presented to the station, from which [85] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE is made up the station report to be presented to the mission at its annual meeting. The station medical work, although it means life and health to so many, is like death in that it has all seasons for its own. Year in and year out, every month in the year and every day in the month, the missionaiy doctor or his substitute must be at his post, ready to answer the call of distress. Often the other members of a station, each engrossed in his own particular work, have little idea of the strain and stress that comes upon the missionary physician in his daily practice. In many cases with no colleague at hand with whom he may counsel, no trained nurse to assist, and under the most unfavorable conditions, hemust undertake operations which only specialists in America would attempt. His situation demands that he shall be a specialist in every line of med- ical endeavor, and unaided — except by God — he must assume responsibilities involving life and death. Our station hospital reports an attendance for the last year of more than fifteen thousand pa- tients. All these were taken care of for the sum of fifteen hundred dollars. The missionary doctor has a wonderful opportunity to influence grateful patients, and that the chances are im- proved is shown by the report from one mission hospital of a total of six hundred and twenty-six professed conversions during the year. It is very [86] HOW BUSY IS THE MISSIONARY? true, however — as one doctor says iu bis re- port — that "tlie results of such work cauuot be shown statistically." Seed is sown daily that may bear fruit later on and in some unexpected place. • A large proportion of the general activities of the station goes on regardless of times or seasous. The seven city churches with congregations total- ing about four thousand, while very largely in the hands of Koreans, are still of necessity under missionary oversight, and a great deal of time is given to meetings of sessions, trustees and com- mittees of every sort. Sermons must be prepared and preached, Sunday schools must be superin- tended and classes taught, Thanksgiving and Christmas programs must be arranged for, teach- ers' meetings, meetings of school boards and con- ferences with leaders from the country districts must be held. Outlines must be made out and hours of study given to preparation for the end- less succession of classes. Upon the teachers in the academies and the college falls the burden of preparing to a very considerable extent the text- books for use in the classrooms, and some of us must strip off our wings for the time being and sit down for long months to the task of working out textbooks from the English into Korean on such subjects as geography, physical geography, physics, physiology, botany, zoology, astronomy, etc. Fortunate it is that the pleasure of achieve- [87] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE ment common to tlie race, added to the pressing ueed, can make even such work a joy. The mission and station machinery may move along smoothly and effectively, but to have it do so means time and work on the part of all con- cerned in the various committees. The question at the beginning of this chapter, as to why we do not keep chickens, cannot be adequately answered without mentioning them. Situated as we are, on the through railroad line to St. Petersburg, visitors from all parts of the world, not to speak of other Korean missionaries on mission business, amount to a very consider- able number in the course of the year. July and August bring a change of occupation. Only the regular work goes on. The schools are not in session and no special classes are called. The heavy rains set in and calls from our Korean friends are infrequent. This is a good time for bringing things through the press with the burden entailed of reading proof; or for attacking the heap of unanswered letters that reproach us when- ever we open our desks, some of them, perhaps, from dear friends and supporters of missions, who are inclined to feel almost hurt because they hear from us so seldom ; or for writing that article that the board secretary asked us for months ago. For the housekeepers this is the time for putting up the fruit that our gardens yield so bountifully — strawberries, raspberries, [88] HOW BUSY IS THE MISSIONARY? cnrrauts, gooseberries, cherries, apples aucl pears. With the cousciousiiess of plenty of good things prepared iu advance, we can sit down at the heads of our big tables full of guests at annual meeting time, or welcome the arrival of unex- pected visitors from New Zealand or the Aleutian Islands, with a look of ease that is not assumed. This is a good time of year, too, for getting the sewing done for the children, and the annual re- pairs on our own wardrobes. In July or August we take advantage of the rains and the heat to get away— if we can— for a short vacation. The favorite Pyeng Yang sum- mer resort is the river. We secure the use of one of the native freight boats for a week or a month, as the case may be, erect upon it a shack with straw roof, walls of straw mats and muslin, and floors of rough boards covered with mats. One end— partitioned off and furnished with a charcoal pot and a supply of canned food and fresh vegetables— answers for the kitchen. There are folding cots for the older people, and a shake- down on the floor does for the children. With a crew of five brawny, half-naked fellows to pull us up the rapids and row where the river is deep, we start off for a week or two of enjoyment of the simple life. It must be confessed that some of the less conscientious of us yield to temptation and slip in a Korean dictionary or a pile of un- answered letters and a typewriter, but for the [89] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE most part we stock up on books aud magaziDes tliat we have uot had time for during the year. We take our way leisurely along, stopping at all the sand banks, and splashing in and out of the water at will. The children are soon able to swim like so many ducks, and all go barefooted when they want to, regardless of age, sex, or previous reputation for respectability. For one brief while we break away from the tyranny of the clock. We go to bed at dark and sleep as late in the morning as the mounting sun will allow. When the season is good, delicious trout just out of the river can be bought for a few cents, and we feast on them three times a day. Every point along the river gets to be familiar and beloved. Here is the spot w^here the baby fell in and was dived after so quickly by the older boys that he hardly had time to strike the water. Here are the Tiger Eapids, filling the air with their rush and roar. If our towline should break now, we would be whirled down on the rocks. The crew are in the water up to their waists, pulling and pushing with might and main, and shouting directions which nobody obeys. Over the edge of the boat leaps the missionary with the boys after him, and they add their strength to that of the straining crew. A long pull and a strong pull, and we are past the rocks on to the smooth, lakelike expanse beyond. Here is old Misty Mountain, the highest [90] HOW BUSY IS THE MISSIONARY? point of all. From its rocky summit we see the couutry stretcliiug away in every direction, moun- tains piled on mountains, with here and there the silver thread of the river winding in and out. It is easy to see now why Koreans love to refer to their country as "Sam Chun Li Kang San " (Three Thousand Li of Eivers and Mountains). A li is the Korean measure of distance, and is about one third of a mile. Farther on is the big cave with the ice-cold spring, and here we come t^ the little recess in the rocky face of the cliff where the hermit lives. Every night after dark his flickering light can be seen creeping along midway of the cliff, and stopping finally at the little cave, not much more than a good -sized shelf, where he keeps his lonely vigils. We have visited his retreat with tracts and gospels but never found him at home. Our laborious ai^proach gives him plenty of warning, and it is quite likely that he prefers to be out when callers come. Pinned to the rocky walls of the little recess are prayers scrawled in Chinese on bits of tough native paper. What is he seeking for? Doubtless the same thing that all the rest of the world wants — power of some kind. He would like to be able to turn rocks into money at the touch, or to transport liimself to immense dis- tances at the mere expression of the wish. Oi" he may want to get rid of bodily ailments or to be avenged on his enemies. Whatever his desire, [91] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE the being that he courts is the Prince of Darkness and Evil. That Good can be stronger than Evil is a truth that enters with the gospel. Often crowds of wild, rough-looking moun- taineers hear of the approach of our fleet, and come down to the river to have a '' koo kyung" (sight-see), and their remarks are sometimes in- teresting. " What makes them have such white skins?" one will ask. " It's because they drink cow's milk," comes the ready answer. "Did you ever hear of anything so disgusting? " Or, " Where are your daughters-in-law ? " This ad- dressed to the mother of three small sons, aged respectively eight, ten and twelve years. Sometimes our Christian friends from the vil- lages near by come to see us with the gift of some crab apples, or eggs or a chicken, and the request that we help out with their week-day prayer meet- ing or the Sunday service. In the evenings we often gather in a circle on the sands and sing hymns, or tell stories and conun- drums and play games. Or we renew our ac- quaintance with the summer heavens until great blue Vega tells us by bowing with slow grace toward the west that. we ought to be in bed. So the days go by till a growing chill in the air and the chirp of small friends in the grass warn us that September is near with its rush of meet- ings and school openings, and we must be getting back home to set our house in order and be ready [92] HOW BUSY IS THE MISSIONARY? for whatever our share iu the general activities may be. It would be Dice to keep chickens and have our own home-grown fries, but some of us tried it once, and discovered that to make a success of it took time and thought, so we gave it up. [93] CHAPTER IV MISSIONARY DIVERSIONS, COMMUNITY LIFE, AND SOME OTHER MATTERS A CHAPTER on missiouaries at work is followed iu natural sequence bj^ a chapter on missionaries at play — if, indeed, the latter subject has not al- ready intruded into the former in the description given of our summer outings. These days spent on the river are the most thoroughgoing and protracted play-spell that we lake in Pyeng Yang, but they are not our only hours of diver- sion. To one in harmony with his surroundings, at rest with God, himself and his associates, and in a country like Korea, where the reward of effort is so speedy and bountiful, the work itself is a constant recreation. The tears of the sower have hardly time to flow till they are mingled with the shouts of the reaper. Many comical things happen in our daily rela- tions with our people which an ordinary sense of humor easily transmutes in to relaxation. Thestory has been told many times of how, in the days of the first bicycles in Korea, Dr. M was rolling swiftly along one day when he met a farmer lead- ing a bullock. Thinking to prevent the animal's [94] MISSIONARY DIVERSIONS boltiDg from fright, Dr. M shouted, ^' Chap- para ! Chappara!" (Seize him ! Seize him !) The farmer seeiug ouly, as he thought, a foreigner helpless in the grij) of a mad runaway mouster, dropped the bullock's halter aud manfully sprang to the relief of the missionary ! There was fun in that, but something else too. It illustrated the strong trait of altruism in the Korean make-up, which has helped to gain easy entrance for the gospel, as well, perhaps, as the disposition to yield to authority cultivated in the lower classes by long ages of servile submission. Until a few years ago the wonder-working devices of the dentist were entirely unknown. If teeth were troublesome they were unceremoni- ously knocked out, aud sufferers from facial neuralgia often parted with all of a set of fine teeth in the attempt to find relief. This was the f^ite of a young woman named Mrs. E who used to attend my Sunday school. Her friends aud acquaintances, in frank recognition of her toothless condition, added " ni bachin " to her name, so that she was familiarly known as ^'Mrs. E Whose Teeth Are Out." But one day a Japanese dentist opened up an office, and not long after, Mrs. E came into Sunday school with a mouth full of beautiful, shining white teeth. The opening exercises were already in progress, but everything had to be suspended while she w^ent from one group to another with [95] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE lips spread to display her new treasures to the excited beholders. '' Are they comfortable'? " I asked. " Oh, not at all," she answered in a tone of perfect resignation, as much as to say, '' How could anyone expect anything so beautiful to be comfortable too ? " She told me afterwards that she always took them out when she ate, as they seemed to be very fragile. A disposition to ways that are dark occasionally creeps out, and we have an opportunity to laugh first, even though we may feel obliged to frown later. One day, after my Wednesday afternoon Bible class was over, Mrs. Sin, the old deaconess, told me that, the day before, she had received an urgent message from Poong Mai, a place a few miles away, to come at once and cast out a devil. Gathering up this and that faithful sister, and armed with Bible and hymn book, they set out. Arrived at the place the women found that the family consisted of a mother and two sous, the elder a boy of eighteen who had begun to show au interest in Christianity, and had attended church services in Pyeng Yang for several suc- cessive Sundays. The mother, seeing the drift of things, declared that ancestral sacrifices always had been offered in her family, and always would be, and she would have no son who was otherwise minded. Let him get back to the only world he knew anything about, said she, and do according to its customs. [96] MISSIONARY DIVERSIONS ^'Very well, mother," said the boy at last, goaded beyoud endurance, " if you want me to do according to the fashion of this world, I will. Hand over what money you have and let me try my hand at gambling." Although the old lady protested that that sort of work would not do at all, he relieved her forcibly of all her spare cash, and hied him away to a gambling den, where he stayed until his capital was reduced to the sum of three poon (about three fifths of a cent). Eeturning home he threw himself on the floor and remained there, speechless and motion- less, for Jiours. Then suddenly his whole expres- sion changed, his face grew red and swollen, and rushing to the closet where the devil-garments were kept, he threw oft his own clothes, arrayed himself in the fantastic garb prepared for the evil spirits, and running out to a plain near by, he leaped and danced and shouted, apparently in the full sweep of demoniacal frenzy. His poor old mother was frightened half out of her wits. " Dear me," she cried, '^ this is worse than the Jesus-believing business. If he is going to act like this there is nothing to do but send for some of the Christians to cast out the demon." And this was the word which had reached old Sin Ssi. When the women reached the i^lace they found the house and yard full to overflowing with sight- seers, and the opportunity was immediately seized upon to present the gospel. While they talked, [97] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE read, sang and prayed, the old lady sat in the corner of the room, too frightened and anxious to look up, but the sou was observed to cast glances at her from time to time, at the same time sup- pressing a disposition to smile. Presently old Sin Ssi, undercover of the crowd, made her way to his side and whispered in his ear, "Take fast hold of Jesus and don't let go." "Is letting go possible?" was the quick reply, aud then he whispered in return : " Don't worry about me. I haven't got any devil. I'm just bringing mother around to my way of thinking ! " On this hint the rites of exorcism were brought to a close, the crowd dispersed and the women came away, feeling a comfortable hope, as old Sin Ssi said, that the family would all become Christians and some of the neighbors as well. Here was a nice question of morals for the Christian teacher ! I looked hard at old Sin Ssi's countenance, but it was inscrutable. She neither excused nor condemned. She simply told the tale. I opened my mouth to say something on the sin of deceit, and then the thought came to me of David and his feint of madness, and of Elisha and how he misled the hosts of the Syrians. It came not with any idea of excusing moral crookedness, but only with the comforting" reflec- tion that doubtless the Maker of man can get glory to himself even yet out of the devious ways of his creatures. [98] MISSIONARY DIVERSIONS In mission stations eomj)osed of a very few people, where, as one missionary put it, nothing happens but the meals, the question of keeping Jack from becoming rather a dull boj^ sometimes becomes acute. All the stunts known are per- foi'med until everybody knows them by heait. If, by good Providence, jDleasant country roads are within reach, they can be utilized for daily promenades, or if there is room in the station, and there are those who play tennis, a tennis court can be provided. I am told that the old temple is still pointed out at Moulmain where Judson and his wife used to go to play tag. I wish that this fact might have been mentioned in his biography. It is a pleasure to know that the ^'prince of missionaries" had his moments of human relaxation like the rest of us. But, even after we have done all we can to enliven it, life in a small mission station is often greatly lacking in vsLviety. Seasoned missionaries, deep in the diversion afforded by their work, care little for this fact, but it is apt to be hard on newcomers. It is a good thing if they can get oft' occasionally for visits to other stations, and move around for a while in another orbit, if not in a different orbit. Bat the best prop that one can build up for him- self under such circumstances is to lay fast liold on God's promises, and resolutely cultivate a cheerful spirit that extracts sunshine from all conditions. The only thing absolutely essential [99] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE to the liappiuess of auy of us is the presence of God, and that may be had for the taking. Where the mission community is larger, the problem is comparatively easy. Here in Pyeng Yang, with a community of forty grown people and twenty-five children, there is apt to be enough diversion to keep us all from forgetting how to laugh. AVhen anyone goes on furlough we get together and give what one small person calls "the i)arting kick." The program on such occasions is apt to consist of a series of take-offs representing our departing friends as they will appear in America, arrayed in garments of long- forgotten style, and making frantic efforts to keep out of the way of trolley cars and automobiles. Sometimes (this is confessed in the hope of for- giveness) even our much -respected board secre- taries and other dignitaries are drafted in from the distance of thousands of miles to contribute to our fun. Wlien our friends return from furlough we are apt to give them a welcome reception, or as it is sometimes called, a pumping party, at which they are expected to relate the experiences, not grave, but gay, of the year. We hear at such times of people who thought that Korea is a town in northern Michigan, or one of the central Amer- ican states, and of others who express astonish- ment at the appearance of the little towheads of the family, having expected that since they were [ 100 ] MISSIONARY DIVERSIONS born iu Koi-ea, they would be oriental in color and cast of countenance. We quiz the returned travelers with regard to the trend of things in church and state, and one of our number always used to ask what the latest slang was, although he was never known to use slang himself. Per- haps it was the very horror of the subject that excited in him a morbid curiosity. On Christmas Eve we have our suppers to- gether and Santa Claus appears in a rig which fills the youthful beholders with awful delight. On the Fourth of July we spread a picnic supper on the grass and listen to the Declaration of Inde- pendence, and a patriotic speech, if we can get any- one to deliver it, prefaced and followed by fire- crackers. On any of these festive occasions the community poet is likely to drop into verse, and sometimes we have charades at which mission- aries, who have been accustomed to pass with the uninitiated as "awfully solemn,'^ exhibit an un- expected weakness for fun, or break out on the spur of the moment into astonishing exhibitions of histrionic talent. At the end of the term our little community school gives exhibitions on the order of similar occasions at home, and we listen with just the same pleased attention to our children's rendi- tions of "Old Ironsides at Anchor Lay," or "Curfew Shall Not Ring To-Night," as parents do in the homeland. [ 101 ] INSIDE VIEWS OF MISSION LIFE Our children here in Pyeug Yang, with their little school and country surroundings, live a normal and happy life. They have their pleas- ures and rightful interests, as the following notice sent around the community a few days ago illus- trates : GBAND AGRICULTURAL EXHIBITION! At the Foreign School Thursday afternoon at Jf o'clock. STUPENDOUS CELEBRATION! The children who planted things in the spring will exhibit them in competition to-morrow. Come and see the result of their efforts. Besides the exhibits of the children the entire community is requested to exhibit any garden or farm truck they may have laised, in any way, shape or manner, and blue ribbons will be given for the best, red for the second best. The exhibits must be in to-night. ISiO entries received after 1:15 Thursday. Rules :—Th