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 (1895) 
 
By The Great Wall 
 
 Letters from China 
 
 The Selected Correspondence of 
 
 ISABELLA RIGGS WILLIAMS 
 
 Missionary of the American Board to China iSSd-lSgy 
 
 Introduction by 
 ARTHUR H. SMITH 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 New York Chicago Toronto 
 
 Fleming H. Revell Company 
 
 London and Edinburgh 
 
Copyright, 1909, by 
 FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY . , a 
 
 
 
 
 New York; 158 Fifth Avenue 
 Chicago: 80 Wabash Avenue 
 Toronto : 25 Richmond Street, W. 
 London: 21 Paternoster Square 
 Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 THIS volume is a little window opened into the 
 life and work of an exceptionally equipped 
 missionary, whose earliest recollections were 
 associated with the labors of her parents for the native 
 tribes of America. 
 
 Kalgan, the northern gateway of China, was the scene 
 of her labors for a generation. It was here that a mis- 
 sion station was begun amid a people hard and unimpress- 
 ible, many of them Shansi men without their families, 
 who more than most, even in mercantile and materialistic 
 China, are given up to the worship of paper gods and 
 paper notes, of brass gods and brass cash. It was here 
 that Mrs. Williams won the hearts of Chinese women and 
 girls ; here that she showed what a Christian home may 
 be, and how the children of such a home can be trained 
 for wide and unselfish usefulness wherever their lot is 
 cast. No object-lesson is more needed in the Celestial 
 Empire than this. Many glimpses of that patient and 
 tireless missionary activity which makes itself all things 
 to all men are given in this story. Here indeed is the 
 faith and the patience of the saints. 
 
 In 1900, only two years after the last letters of this vol- 
 ume were written, Eev. Mark Williams, with his fellow- 
 missionaries at Kalgan, joined later by others in Mon- 
 golia, escaped across the Desert of Gobi, and after having 
 endured many privations and much suffering, reached 
 the Russian frontier in a little more than two months 
 from their leaving Kalgan. 
 
 Kg such demonstration of the essential unity of the 
 
 5 
 
6 INTKODUCTION 
 
 Chinese race had ever been afforded as was witnessed in 
 the Boxer uprising. In its train it brought great suffer- 
 ing both to Cliina and to many in the West But it 
 marked a turning-point, not only in the history of the 
 Chinese Empire, but also of the Far East. Already Old 
 China is going or gone j a new and unknown China is 
 slowly emerging. Kalgan, which we once regarded as a 
 "jumping-off place" marking the boundaries between 
 the remotest East and the extension of the European 
 West, is becoming modernized, and will soon be opened 
 as an inland port. Two thousand years ago the Emperor 
 Ch'in Shih Huang built the Great Wall to protect the 
 pass leading to the fertile plains of China. To-day a 
 railway runs throughout this Nan K'ou Pass, joining 
 Kalgan to Peking j a railway with sharp curves, steep 
 grades and long tunnels, and all built by the Chinese 
 without foreign aid. This fact alone might serve as an 
 index of the vast changes taking place in China. In due 
 time this line will be extended to Urga and Kiachta 
 (along the very path of the escaping party in 1900), join- 
 ing the Trans-Siberian Eailway, and making a direct 
 route from Peking to Paris. 
 
 In the new era now upon us nothing is more important 
 than that the East and the West should come to a mutual 
 comprehension. Towards that end the subject of this 
 volume and her daughter gave their lives, a precious con- 
 tribution which in God's great economy will some time be 
 seen to have been not in vain. 
 
 Aethue H. Smith. 
 FeMng, Marchj 1909. 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 To write fittingly a foreword to these letters froni 
 China one must have inside knowledge of the 
 spirit, the sacrifice and the joy of the life of 
 which they give glimpses. 
 
 When Isabella Riggs Williams went from us in 1866 to 
 China, it was as if to another world, much as if in these 
 days one were to venture on a voyage to Mars. The long 
 ship journey around the Cape, and the long delayed let- 
 ters, served but to deepen such impressions. And then 
 the letters, on thinnest of thin paper, telling of strange 
 places and people and later of the obstacles and difficul- 
 ties to be overcome, for a time greatly increased the far- 
 away-ness. 
 
 As I remember, to us at home, two thoughts soon came 
 out of the void of distance and strangeness: one, that 
 however far away she might be, Isabella was the same 
 dear, elder sister, full of home thoughts and home love ; 
 and the other that in it all there was little thought of 
 personal sacrifice, but an ever-increasing joy in service, 
 and an inconquerable hope. 
 
 As if giving concrete proof of this, by the mother^ s 
 grave under the shadow of the Great Wall, there is also 
 that of the eldest daughter. Another daughter has laid 
 away in India her dearest and best, and yet another is 
 now in the heart of China, rendering service to the Master 
 in the same spirit of loyalty and hope. 
 
 Thomas Laweence Eiggs. 
 
 OahCf S(mth Dakota, 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 1. 
 
 A Goodly Heritage 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 II. 
 
 The Journey to China . 
 
 
 
 ► 49 
 
 III. 
 
 Beginnings at Kalgan 
 
 
 
 • 95 
 
 IV. 
 
 The Patience of Hope . 
 
 
 
 . 149 
 
 V. 
 
 By Land and By Sea 
 
 
 
 . 190 
 
 VI. 
 
 In Labors more Abundant 
 
 
 
 , 200 
 
 VII. 
 
 Rest by the Way 
 
 
 
 . 265 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Love Never Faileth 
 
 
 
 . 276 
 
 IX. 
 
 Poor Dumb Mouths . - . 
 
 
 
 . 313 
 
 X. 
 
 Letters of Henrietta Willia] 
 
 MS 
 
 
 » 327 
 
 9 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Facing page 
 
 Isabella R. Williams Title 
 
 Rest in Flight 43 
 
 The Sailing Ship, Samuel Russell . . .52 
 
 By the Great Wall loi 
 
 Escaping from the Boxers Across the Desert 
 
 OF Gobi 141 
 
 Journeying to Kalgan 174 
 
 The Home at Kalgan 174 
 
 Mark and Isabella Williams in 188 i . .190 
 
 A Temple at Kalgan 231 
 
 Chinese Children at Play 289 
 
 A Group of Buddhist Priests . . , .319 
 
 A Chinese K'ang 319 
 
 Henrietta B. Williams 326 
 
 A Mongouan Tent and Family . . . • 35 1 
 
By The Great Wall 
 
 A GOODLY HEEITAGE 
 
 Bead, Sweet, how others strove, 
 Till we are stouter ; 
 What they renoimced, 
 Till we are less afraid ; 
 How many times they bore 
 The faithful witness, 
 Till we are helped. 
 
 — Emily Dickinson. 
 
 ISABELLA EIGGS was born into the missionary in- 
 heritance. In 1837 her father and mother, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Stephen E. Eiggs, received their commission as 
 foreign missionaries, and, after a journey of more than 
 three thousand miles, arrived at Fort Snelling, in Minne- 
 sota, then the frontier outpost of the United States Army. 
 Still travelling westward they reached Lacquiparle on the 
 upper Minnesota Eiver, where, in 1835, Dr. Thomas 
 Williamson had begun work among the Dakota Indians. 
 The story of their life of service is known to many 
 through the book *' Mary and I, or Forty Years with the 
 Sioux.'* Some memories of the early days in the mission 
 home are now given by one of the daughters, Anna 
 Eiggs Warner, to furnish a background for the letters 
 which follow in this volume. 
 
 *^ To father and mother on their arrival at Lacquiparle 
 was assigned the long and narrow upper chamber in Dr. 
 
 13 
 
14 ,;.,. .BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 Williamson^s log house, which became their home for 
 nearly five years. Here the eldest son Alfred, whom the 
 Indians called Zitkadanwashta, Good Bird, was born, 
 and, as the father wrote, ^ in the spring of 1840, before 
 the snows had disappeared, or the ducks come back to 
 this northern land, a baby girl was added to the little 
 family in the upper chamber.' She was named Isabella 
 Burgess for the wife of her father' s lifelong friend, Dyer 
 Burgess of Ohio. As the spring began to bourgeon into 
 leaf and flower, the mother's heart longed for a change, 
 a taste of the full measure of life. So a pleasure trip was 
 planned in company with Mr. Eenville's annual caravan 
 to Fort Snelling, Hhe fur-trader's Mecca.' Good Bird 
 was left behind, but the three months' old baby Isabella 
 must of necessity be taken along. The journey at first 
 was over the pleasant prairie, and all was well. But 
 when the Traverse was reached, the big boat had floated 
 away. There was naught to do but to cross the Minne- 
 sota Eiver in a crazy canoe, and attempt the difficult 
 journey through swamp and stream and over the logs of 
 the Big Woods on horseback, and so the lady mother 
 rode, without a saddle, but * the little lady Isabella rode 
 better, perched on a Dakota woman's back.' This was 
 her first journey into the world. Perchance the narrow 
 room was ever after too narrow for the eyes that had seen 
 visions of hills and trees and flowers, for a tale comes 
 down to us of the scare she gave the dwellers in that 
 upper room when she was found outside the window 
 ledge, on the shelf where milk was put to cool ! Little 
 lady, with your round, inquiring eyes, were yon begin- 
 ning already to turn the pages of your Wonder Book, the 
 book of Nature and of Life ! 
 
 " About this time the expanding needs of the family as 
 well as of the missionary life made a change imperative. 
 Two new mission houses were built on the high bluffe of 
 
A GOODLY HERITAGE 16 
 
 the Minnesota River. To the wiest was the ever beauti- 
 ful lake, and on either hand the wonderful stretch of 
 rolling prairie, of hill, and deep ravine, and river. The 
 home was now an * upper rooni^ no longer, but up- 
 stairs, down-stairs and my lady's chamber. Here other 
 children came to share its joys. It mattered not to us 
 that the floors were carpetless or the furnishings plain, 
 or that sometimes snow sifted in on the stairway and at 
 the window ledges. Lovely it was in our eyes, and lovely 
 the mother who had it in her keeping. Here was the 
 great room where the Indians sat on one side ; here fath- 
 er* s desk, and here the medicine shelves with rows of 
 mysterious bottles, salts and rhubarb and jalap. A big 
 saddle-bag stove was in the centre, and by the west win- 
 dow was mother in her rocking-chair. Here too was the 
 Children' s Corner. Father at his desk was never too busy 
 to turn in his chair and listen to the complainings or re- 
 quests of our Indian friends who were ever coming and 
 going with moccasined feet. Sometimes it was medicine 
 for the ailing baby, or if a warm garment was needed, it 
 was then mother's opportunity ; or was it a case of real 
 hunger, with what eager feet the children ran for a piece 
 of corn bread or a cold potato for Old Fuss, perhaps, or 
 Weeping Beauty. 
 
 ^^This idea of helpfulness came early into our lives. 
 We learned to read Dakota in order to help with the sing- 
 ing at the Indian meetings, and dearly we loved to sing 
 those good Dakota hymns. The weekly sewing and prayer- 
 meetings were always occasions for helping. On the af- 
 ternoon of the sewing the large basket was brought in 
 with rolls of patchwork wrapped each in its strip of 
 white cotton, marked with such high-sounding names as 
 ^ Scarlet Cloud woman,' ' She that walks singing,' and the 
 like, — names fit for princesses of the blood, as many of 
 them were. To Isabella and to Martha it was given to 
 
16 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 pass the rolls, the needles and the thread. We seldom 
 in those days saw any but Indian faces, — Indians in war 
 paint and feathers or wrapped in Mackinac blankets. 
 Indian children had been taken into our home, and others 
 too were with us in school. From such associations we 
 naturally acquired something of physical courage and 
 bravery. Isabella once beheaded a pope, — Pope John 
 XXIII, for that little affair of his with John Huss. For 
 the matter of that the pope was only a curly shaving, and 
 the instrument a chisel, but the result was disastrous to 
 her forefinger. 
 
 " When Miss Lucy Spooner came to teach in our mission 
 school she captivated all hearts by her gentle and win- 
 ning personality. She seemed to bring with her from 
 
 * the States ' a flavor of all that we had not ; was it a 
 matter of taste in dress or in music, or how to ^ do ' 
 one's hair, she was always consulted. We loved to hear 
 her sing and to sing with her, and she it was who gave us 
 our first real training in music. After the fire she returned 
 to her home in Ohio, and became Mrs. Drake, but to the 
 children of her adoption her latch-string was always out, 
 and Isabella often spoke of her as her ^ Ohio mother.' 
 
 ** The third of March, 1854, was a memorable day in our 
 family history. We long counted from * before ' and 
 
 * after the fire ' as did the Romans from the building of 
 the city. A pitiless storm was blowing from out the 
 northwest with flurry of snow, when there came a hurry 
 call for the boys in school to carry water. Our house was 
 on fire ! Every effort proved unavailing ; — in a few short 
 hours only smoking cellars remained of all that had been 
 home. Homeless we indeed were, but the old adobe 
 church at the foot of the hill offered us shelter, and while 
 little had been saved from the burning house, kind In- 
 dian friends gave out of their scanty store, and blankets 
 were sent us from Mr. M'Leod's trading post. Smoky 
 
A GOODLY HERITAGE 17 
 
 potatoes, too, had been taken from out the cellar, and in 
 a few days Dr. Williamson brought us good cheer and 
 things of which we had most need. The summer brought 
 us boxes and barrels from friends in the East, the open- 
 ing of which made glad the hearts of the elders and set 
 the children all a- tiptoe of joyful expectation. 
 
 ''It had been deemed best to build the new mission sta- 
 tion near to that of Dr. Williamson's at Pajutazee, and 
 in September of that year, with mingled feelings, we bade 
 good-bye to Lacquiparle, and entered upon the new order 
 of things at Hazlewood. Our home life here was full of 
 changes, the family much broken. Alfred, his mother's 
 right hand man, was away at college. The older 
 daughters, to the mysteries of breadmaking, dressmaking 
 and ironing father's shirts, had added tailoring, as the 
 many coats and trousers for the three younger brothers 
 would attest. But they too must go East to school, 
 which they did by turns, as the mother could ill afford to 
 spare both Hapan and Kapstina at once. 
 
 ''Oh ! the going to and coming home from school, the 
 ever- to-be- remembered journeys to and from the Traverse, 
 the blessed one hundred miles that separated us for a space 
 from our busy lives ; by the old Indian trail outlined in 
 autumn by goldenrod and purpling asters, and stretching 
 away and beyond to the edge of the world and the all-em- 
 bracing sky ! To Isabella this journeying was a joy despite 
 mosquitoes and the wi-wi-sica (bad swamp). It was a 
 time to think, to dream, and sing forgotten songs, or per- 
 haps to make new friends among the flower folk. Beck's 
 botany was a frequent companion, and with what shining 
 eyes she would proclaim some new flower analyzed. 
 
 "In the inheritance of these years, in its pleasures 
 and its burdens, Isabella shared an elder daughter's part. 
 Homely duties were to her homely in the truest sense, 
 and a matter of birthright. When floors must be swept 
 
18 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 or rooms dusted, there was singing in her heart j when 
 dishes were to be washed, the song was on her lips, or 
 here she led the full chorus, for the kitchen was a merry 
 place, with much piping of small voices at dishwashing 
 time. 
 
 ' ' She loved music and flowers and books always. And 
 if she had little time to give to her loves, they were the 
 more precious. In the latter years at home, or when she 
 taught the mission school, sometimes both time and 
 strength were taxed to the utmost. But when days' tasks 
 were over, and snow-drifts and long evenings shut one in, 
 what fresh worlds to explore ! One remembers on such 
 a winter's night, Isabella curled up in a blanket under 
 the bend of the stovepipe, her bedtime candle beside her, 
 all unconscious of the growing cold or the lateness of the 
 hour, as she turned the pages of her book. Was it Mrs. 
 Browning, — the 'blue and the gold,' or Robert Brown- 
 ing's 'Lyrics of Life,' a recent acquisition? Or, on 
 some happier night when, listening to her clear voice, 
 one trailed away to sleep and dreams, — was it waking or 
 dreaming ? — ' I will give you this leaf to keep . . . 
 you will remember and understand.' — Again there comes 
 a vision of her as a happy child at Lacquiparle, coming 
 from out the woodsy road in trailing clouds of glory and 
 wild clematis, sweet seriousness and round-eyed wonder 
 in her face ; ever like the Madonna of the Stairs with 
 step uplifted, arrested by the inner voice. '^ 
 
 Isabella's first letters were written to her friend Miss 
 Lucy Spooner, who afterwards became Mrs. Drake. 
 
 "3%e Old Church J Lacquiparle^ Minn., March 27, 1854.. 
 " Dear Miss Lucy : 
 
 "Oh, I think that you would like to have been 
 Jiere this afternoon! Two boxes came from friends at 
 
A GOODLY HERITAGE 19 
 
 Traverse des Sioux, Mr. Kennedy and Mr. McLeod. 
 There was a pair of boots for Thomas, and he was over- 
 joyed at the sight of them. Looking at their gifts made 
 me think of the fire more than usual. I am glad that our 
 friends at the Traverse send us their sympathy, which, 
 by the way, I think is the best kind of ^ pathy ^ there 
 is. . . ."' 
 
 '^ On the Prairie, June 22, 185 J^ 
 ^^ My dearest Miss Lucy : 
 
 ^' I wonder where you are now while I am writing, 
 whether you are at the Traverse or on your way home. 
 I feel sad and lonely on the wide prairie without you. 
 We have been playing ^ Silent Quaker ^ all the way up, 
 and have often gone three and four miles without speaking 
 a word. I was thinking of the past in respect to you. It 
 has been an alternation of joy and sorrow, and I think 
 sometimes that I should like to live it once again. I can- 
 not do that. "We will all have to learn to do without 
 you. . . . Still as long as any of our family live, there 
 will be a place in our family circle for you. 
 
 ^'Tuesday we slept at the Can-wan-ga-wanjidan, and 
 Wednesday night we spent at a place five miles the other 
 side of the Beaver Eiver. Before we reached Cetanbe- 
 wakpa we saw in a little swamp lake fifteen swans, young 
 and old. Eight of them came out of the lake and flew 
 around us, darted over our heads, and made many other 
 evolutions as if to show themselves. A few miles from 
 there we came to a swamp, which hindered us a short 
 time. I jumped off and ran over and left the others to get 
 across as they could, while I sat down to write to you. 
 We reached camp late and could not get any wood. The 
 mosquitoes were very bad, so we took a piece of cake and 
 
 ' This letter was written on blue paper, the edges of which show the 
 marks of the fire she mentions above. 
 
20 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 went to bed. The next morning we started at four and 
 drove on till six, when we stopped and had breakfast at 
 Mazawakan, four miles from home. Oh, if you were only 
 there to welcome me ! We got over the river safely, al- 
 though it has risen a great deal. Papa and Mi*. Brant 
 carried over all that they could on horseback. I rode 
 over in the wagon ; the wat^r almost filled the bed." 
 
 * ^ Home J June 27th, 
 *^Deae Miss Lucy: 
 
 *'I hope you will soon be at home. And when 
 you are there, surrounded by a circle of loved and loving 
 friends and relatives, don't forget me. Then ^a place in 
 thy memory, dearest, is all that I claim.' Your parting 
 words are sweetly sounding in my ear. How I have 
 longed to love and be loved. And those few sweet words, 
 *I do love you, Isabella,' often start the tears, and carry 
 me back to the days when you were with us, past now 
 forever." 
 
 *^ Hazelwood, Aj^ril 9, 1855, 
 ^^ Dear Miss Spoonee : 
 
 "After a long silence on my part, I have seated 
 myself at one corner of our table with the intent of 
 addressing my dear teacher once more. Shall I tell you 
 first that I miss you more than ever ? That in my day- 
 dreams the hope is first that I may see your face and hear 
 your voice again ? . . . I wish to see you more than 
 ever, because I need a counsellor. It seems to me that I 
 have a more difficult position than ever before. My 
 mother is not very well just now. She has more to do 
 and to bear than she is able for. I try to help her, but 
 daily and hourly I feel how far short my endeavors fall 
 from their mark. Oh, Miss Spooner, I often feel that it is 
 no use to try ! Methinks I hear you now saying, ^ Look 
 
A GOODLY HERITAGE 21 
 
 up ! Look up for aid.' Will you remember me evening 
 and morning f Oh, will you not ? . . . 
 
 " Yours ever affectionately, 
 
 "Isabella B. Eiggs.'* 
 
 " Kazelwood, Minn., April 21, 1855. 
 " Dear Miss Spoonee : 
 
 ". . . Do you read ffarper^s? There is an 
 exceedingly thrilling account of the Darien Expedition in 
 it which will be closed in the May number. Papa is read- 
 ing it to mamma now, and it is so interesting I can hardly 
 write. You will never forget the month of March, 1854. 
 But that exploring party endured more, far more than we 
 did. Oh, never did I feel how great our mercies were then ! 
 
 " I am an inch taller than when you saw me last. And 
 oh. Miss Spooner, I have learned the table of Long Meas- 
 ure this winter ! Now that school has stopped, mamma 
 is going to have Huldah and myself teach the younger 
 children by turns." 
 
 ''April 201. 
 
 "I commenced school to-day, — kept it from half- 
 past one to half-past three. It is quite strange to me, 
 and some of the children seem to think it so also. Ange- 
 lique put a violet behind each ear, in my braids, to do 
 honour to Isabella, the new schoolmistress! We girls 
 have earned our ten dollars for the melodeon and father 
 has ordered it from St. Paul. ... I must say good- 
 night. I am your affectionate pupil, 
 
 "Isabella." 
 
 ''Hazel Home, May 9, 1855. 
 "The carrier arrived yesterday, and I received your 
 welcome letter of April eighteenth. I was teaching at 
 the time, and it was hard for me to go on with the usual 
 exercises while the others were feasting on the newly ar- 
 rived ' mental food.' 
 
22 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 '^ Oh, Miss Spooner, mamma wishes me to say this, — 
 she wauts to know whether there are any new modes for 
 girls of thirteen and fifteen to wear their hair? She is so 
 tired of having Martha's hair dangling in the way. I am 
 not tired of the way I wear my hair, but if there is a pret- 
 tier style in vogue, I might like the change. 
 
 " I wrote you in my last letter that I felt that I had a 
 position full of trials. I have thought since that my com- 
 plaint should never have been put on paper, — that I and 
 all others, too, ought to bear our sorrows ourselves. 
 . . . It is so hard to do right. Miss Spooner, will 
 you not pray for me f Yours as ever, 
 
 "LB. E.^^ 
 
 ^^ Hazelwoodj I^ov. 15 j 1855. 
 *' Dear Miss Lucy : 
 
 " How are you and all your loved ones this even- 
 ing ? I picture you as seated at the piano, playing ^ Look 
 Aloft, ^ * Beautiful Isle,' ' Old Kentucky Home,' or it may 
 be you are entrancing your listeners with ' The Old 
 Folks at Home.' I have a class in vocal music now, 
 — Huldah, Anna Jane, Angelique, Smith and Martha 
 Williamson. We have recitations twice a week. The 
 book we use is ' The Young Choir's Companion.' " 
 
 In the fall of 1856, Isabella, then sixteen years old, made 
 the long journey from Minnesota to Ohio, and entered 
 the Western Female Seminary in Oxford, Ohio. Her 
 mother had been a pupil of Mary Lyon, and rejoiced that 
 as far west as Ohio could be found a school which was an 
 off-shoot of Mt. Holyoke. 
 
 ** Western Female Seminary , Oxford, Ohio, Oct. 22, 1856. 
 " My dear Mrs. Drake : 
 
 " I have written once to ^ Home Hazel wood ' and 
 
A GOODLY HERITAGE 23 
 
 once to Alfred, and my third letter shall be to my dear, 
 kind, Ohio mother. . . . Phebe and I get very home- 
 sick sometimes. Though I am very much pleased with 
 the school, with the teachers and girls, and am very well 
 contented, yet the time since I left home seems like 
 ages. I go down to Lalla Scott^s room sometimes to hear 
 her say ^ baby ^ ! It reminds me of home. Mamma 
 sent me a golden lock of Robin's hair last week in her 
 letter. 
 
 *•' I am writing miserably, but I have mislaid my own 
 pen, and am using my lap for a table. Added to this I am 
 as sleepy as I can be. With all these excuses combined, 
 I think even Miss Utley would be obliged to say ^ You 
 are excused.' It does seem odd to me to have everything 
 almost that can be thought of, considered a ^ crime.' But 
 all the regulations are very good but one, which I think 
 very ridiculous. Every one receiving eatables from home 
 must get excused for it, or have it put down against her. 
 No danger of my getting anything from home, either 
 potatoes, pemmican or buffalo meat, but if I could, I 
 would not get ^ excused ' for it at all. 
 
 " You asked if we had any politicians in school. I 
 guess we have ! I took the vote of about three-fourths of 
 the school the other day. Every teacher stands on the 
 right side, namely for Fremont, — and a hundred scholars, 
 to sixteen for Buchanan and twenty-two for Fillmore. 
 . . . The fifteen minute bell has rung, and I must 
 have my letter down in the hall. 
 
 "Your affectionate, 
 "Isabella." 
 
 " January 27, 1857. 
 ". . . This afternoon, Mr. Rice, of whom you 
 have heard, no doubt, was in our sections to hear our 
 compositions. It was my turn to read, and you can imag- 
 
24 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 ine how I blushed. The tears came before I got through. 
 I could not help it, but I read very bravely, considering 
 all things. But ' enough of this ^ as my Cousin Twenty- 
 one has it. 
 
 *' I expect you would like my opinion of my progress in 
 music. Well, I do believe I am a perfect blockhead in 
 music, and so you have my estimate of my talents (?) and 
 Miss McKeen's too, I have no doubt. 
 
 "I had a letter from home Wednesday. Papa wrote 
 that he was sending the * Pilgrim's Progress' in Dakota 
 off to New York, and that he had commenced a series of 
 Indian letters for the St. Peter paper. The first was on 
 * Sleepy Eyes.' 
 
 "But one thing more. You remember, do you not, 
 that I wrote you from home once that I hoped I was a 
 Christian ? And you know the rest. I have been long- 
 ing to tell you that I hope I am indeed a Christian 
 now. 
 
 "Yours ever most affectionately, 
 "L B. RiGGS.'^ 
 
 " Western Female Seminary , Oct. 13 , 1857. 
 " . . . Tuesday night, and we have just this after- 
 noon learned our destinies for the rest of the term. I 
 am to room with Nancy Williamson and Mary Woodbury 
 on the first floor. You cannot imagine how eagerly we 
 listened as one room after another was read off with its 
 occupants. Some cried right then and there, but the 
 most of us laughed, so that altogether we had a strange 
 time of it ! I like our room just tolerably. It has three 
 great windows and a very nice * cub ' (closet). You see 
 I stand up for seminary words and expressions ! I was 
 telling Nancy what a musical word * cubby ' was, and she 
 thought it equalled * alligator,' Antoine Eenville's choice 
 in the whole of the English language." 
 
A GOODLY HERITAGE 25 
 
 " December 29th. 
 *^I bad letters from home to-night. Mamma speaks 
 of the school exhibition. Martha, Anna and Ange- 
 lique read compositions ; the rest spoke pieces. Mar- 
 tha^ s composition was on ' The Old Home at Lacquiparle.' 
 Mamma said it brought the tears to her eyes. Anna Jane 
 wrote on ^The Sunset/ and Angelique on * Winter.' 
 Wouldn't you love dearly to have heard themi . . /' 
 
 ** Western Female Seminary^ Fifth Story, In Cloud Land, \ 
 
 Jjpril 15, 1858. ] 
 " You see that I am at last an occupant of the ^ upper 
 regions.' Mary and Edith are my neighbours on a ^ cross 
 street.' Jennie Chapman and I are so disappointed that 
 we are not to room together. Three lines of the strange 
 chorus of an old song have been in my mind all day : 
 
 " * Up he rose red in the morning, 
 Scattering the blackness away, 
 But I, poor heart, fell a-weeping. ' 
 
 I havenH yet, but it was rather hard work to move when 
 I had the heart-ache, headache and toothache forsooth! 
 I have a good constitution, however, and can work it off ! 
 ^^ One thing more. You have been so very kind to me 
 in vacation, — indeed in all the vacations, — that I must 
 thank you, — I do thank you from the bottom of my heart. 
 Mamma would thank you too, if she knew how well you 
 took her place, or rather the place of an older sister." 
 
 Isabella had been away from home for two years 
 now. A letter written in June, 1858, from Galesburg, 
 Illinois, tells of commencement day at Knox College, 
 when she saw her brother Alfred graduate. With sisterly 
 
26 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 pride she wrote, " Alfred^ s essay on 'The Spirit of Bud- 
 dhism^ was of course the best of all." Together they 
 made the journey to the home in Minnesota. 
 
 ' ' On the Mississippi once more, 
 " . . . I am very tired with the journey and 
 the round of commencement festivities before we left 
 Galesburg. Although I enjoyed yesterday^ s journey 
 very much because Alfred was with me, yet it has nearly 
 finished me up ! I shall revive, however, when we reach 
 Traverse des Sioux, and meet my own, dear father. Oh, 
 how glad I shall be ! Our boat is the Galena^ a very good 
 one, though not handsome. . . .^' 
 
 ** Hazelwoodj Minn., July 16, 1858. 
 
 " . . . You have heard of the disaster of the 
 Galena^ no doubt. If I had one of the St. Paul papers I 
 would send it on. As the boat caught fire at midnight, 
 the ladies and some of the gentlemen made rather a sorry 
 spectacle. White was all the style. One lady had, in 
 addition to a chemise, nothing but a skeleton skirt. She 
 and her husband certainly made a show, as he led her off 
 the boat, for he wore nothing but a hat and shirt. You 
 see we were not waked until the boat landed, and then 
 there was no time to dress. Indeed there was but time to 
 get on shore, for the fire had made considerable headway 
 before it was discovered. There was no smoke in the 
 cabin, as a draught of air carried it away, so that all 
 might have been saved. Why they were not, no one 
 knows. Perhaps they were drowned in attempting to 
 escape. There were seven lost ; a mother and her three 
 children among them. They were expecting to meet the 
 father at Mankato. 
 
 "Very few of the passengers saved any baggage. Al- 
 fred and I lost all. My loss I feel less than I do Alfred's, 
 as all his college text-books are gone. Still we cannot 
 
A GOODLY HERITAGE 27 
 
 but think of how it might have been, and the books and 
 all seem a very little thing. We will both have to go to 
 work now. Probably it will be better for us. 
 
 " I have been at home a week now, and everything 
 seems perfectly natural again. We have just the same 
 chairs, tables, cooking utensils and so forth which we had 
 before I went away. Every day I make acquaintance 
 with some old friend. Eobbie, however, is quite another 
 being from the baby I used to pet. His accomplishments 
 of walking, running and talking quite took me by sur- 
 prise, for though I knew it all before by heart, it seemed 
 strange to find him actually doing such things. And we 
 have something else new and growing. Father has set 
 out one hundred and fifty young trees, so that when we 
 children are grave, elderly people, this will be rather a 
 venerable residence, with great trees all about it. 
 
 "Anna went down with papa to the Traverse to meet 
 us. When we came up, as we had no tent, Anna and I 
 fastened our mosquito bar up under the wagon at night. 
 Somehow we fixed it so as to let in all the mosquitoes who 
 chose to come in, and in consequence had a night of it ! 
 We were wonderfully glad when morning came, for 
 though we apparently met the assaults of the enemy with 
 stoical indifference, yet at heart neither Anna nor I was 
 very patient. The mosquitoes were so thick that we 
 could not eat, even in the smoke, so we started on with- 
 out breakfast. 
 
 '^The Hazel wood Female Boarding School now com- 
 prises four boys ! Alfred and I have talked of commenc- 
 ing a Young Ladies' Boarding School at the Traverse. 
 Papa would let us have a lot or so, and we can get 
 a cloth tent to commence operations in. Of course we 
 would teach none but the higher branches, such as the 
 alphabet, McGufiey on Eeading, Cobb on Spelling, and 
 the languages. Don't you think it a good idea f '^ 
 
28 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 ^^ August 21, 1858, 
 '*We have been very busy, all of us, since I came 
 home. Alfred is building a house for John Baptiste Een- 
 ville. Martha and I have been sewing, of course, but as 
 I read not long ago that the great end of life is to be of 
 use, perhaps it is as well to be of use sewing, as any other 
 way ! It is easier far to be of use actively than passively. 
 But whether the strong and well are, after all, as nobly of 
 use as the feeble and sick, God knows. I feel that those 
 who go to heaven through sickness and suffering long and 
 patiently, will have the brighter crowns. I am thinking 
 of a young girl I met at Galesburg, who is confined to 
 her bed for life. She is not so old as I. I think I learned 
 a lesson from her patience. To me she seems to be of 
 use in as real a sense as any one can be. . . .^' 
 
 ^^Fajutazeey Hazelwood, Feb. 25, 1859, 
 "I shall begin with the most important news, the 
 arrival of our little Octavia, as papa calls her. She is a 
 brown little thing, with dark, curling hair. Thus far she 
 has been a good little babe, and while mamma is growing 
 strong, is my charge. 
 
 ^ ^ We had company at dinner yesterday — Indian girls. 
 They came upon us right in the midst of our washing. 
 We had a large washing and considerable to do besides 
 that, so I hardly knew how to entertain them at all. But 
 when we had chatted a little while I gave them up to Al- 
 fred. The mail had come and he was enjoying his half 
 dozen of letters wonderfully, but he took pity on me, and 
 made himself so agreeable that I wasnH missed at all. He 
 played for them, sang with them, and had just finished 
 showing off the sewing-machine to them by the time the 
 washing was done, and we had put dinner on the table. 
 "Alfred is busy studying and teaching school. He 
 teaches in the evening, and spends his mornings studying 
 
A GOODLY HERITAGE 29 
 
 Hebrew and Thorough Bass. Anna is trying to teach 
 Robbie his alphabet. He is nearly four years old, and 
 we are beginning to think it time for him to commence. 
 Just now he is in a great fever to have spring come. He 
 asks a dozen times a day, ^ When will spring come f ' or 
 * Will it come when the dark goes away 1 ^ meaning the 
 next morning. . . ." 
 
 The winter of 1859-60 Isabella spent at home teach- 
 ing school and sewing, so that she might earn the neces- 
 sary means to finish her course at Oxford. Although Dr. 
 and Mxs. Riggs began their missionary work among the 
 Dakotas at a time when the Board was cutting down its 
 appropriations and could only give a salary of two hun- 
 dred and fifty dollars, and although at this time when the 
 family numbered eight, the salary had only been increased 
 to five hundred dollars, yet it was the aim of the father 
 and mother that each one of the eight children should re- 
 ceive the best possible education, and through sacrifice, 
 work and prayer and the help of friends, this was accom- 
 plished. Isabella had spent two years at Oxford ; now it 
 was her sister Martha's turn. Alfred was in Chicago, 
 beginning his course in the Theological Seminary, and 
 it is to him that the next group of letters is written. 
 
 ^^Pajutazu, Dec. 13 j 1859, 
 ^^ My Dear Alfred : 
 
 ** Your letter to me came the day after your twenty- 
 second birthday, and I am grateful too for the copies of 
 the Century and the Harper^ s WeeJcly. Martha William- 
 son and I are reading ^ A Tale of Two Cities,' which is 
 published in Mr. McCullugh's paper, the Saturday Even- 
 ing Post J and we both (silly girls, I suppose) are looking 
 forward eagerly to see how Dickens manages to save Car- 
 ton from ^ La Sainte Guillotine.' 
 
30 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 " Well, I intended to tell you something of last week's 
 history. Monday, Mrs. Kinihanpi fell into the cistern, 
 and burnt her hand, — (I don't mean that she burnt her 
 hand in the cistern !) so the next day I went down to 
 condole with her and offer my services. . . . Then 
 we had a quilting bee. The whole town was invited. 
 The small fry sewed on a numberless amount of aprons, 
 while we quilted and sewed and talked till dark. . . . 
 I am so glad about your Shakespeare. To have White's 
 Shakespeare, and time to read it, is one of the utmost 
 dreams of my ambition, and now that you have it, per- 
 haps I may. I have seen a remark often quoted . about 
 women always ^ falling into raptures over Shakespeare be- 
 cause it is fashionable, not because they know anything 
 about it.' So I seldom say anything about caring to read 
 it, although since I found in some old reader, — 
 
 " 'How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank* 
 Here will we sit and let the strains of music 
 Sweep in our ears, ' — 
 
 I have wanted to read the whole of the drama from which 
 those lines were taken. Now you had better not turn to 
 the passage I tried to quote, or you will, like all true 
 Shakespeare lovers, be shocked at my mutilation of the 
 text. 
 
 ** I am prospering finely in my money matters, and have 
 a little store of fifty dollars laid away for the morrow. I 
 hope it will be one hundred dollars before that morrow 
 comes. I have done considerable sewing. We think of 
 putting up our sign, ^ Hazel wood Hotel,' — S. R. Riggs 
 and a dish of mush on one side, and my special card on 
 the other, — * Miss Riggs, Dressmaker, Milliner, Tailoress 
 and Common Seamstress.' When we get it up, and my 
 customers begin to come in, you'll see if I don't give the 
 
A GOODLY HERITAGE 31 
 
 ladies fits ! Mamma says I haven^t brass enough, but I 
 tell her time will bring that. 
 
 "Baby is getting more and more wonderful, of course. 
 Anna Jane has perhaps told you of her three teeth and 
 her feats in the way of standing alone, and all her cun- 
 ning ways. If she hasn^t tormented you with it, you will 
 be twice thankful if I don't do it either! . . . Good- 
 night. Isabella." 
 
 ^^ February 23, 1860, 
 "The mail came last night, bringing the music you sent 
 us, and I tried all the pieces with great delight, es- 
 pecially the songs. We had a good laugh all around 
 about your Indian song singing. Papa and mamma 
 thought it a little too big a dose of ^ Indian pills ' for the 
 fair Misses Smith, Jones, and so forth of the dty to hear 
 the war-whoop in a parlor. I should have been delighted 
 to see the scare. It would have been funnier than the 
 effect my snake stories used to have on some of our Oxford 
 girls. Why didn't your Sabbath-school class ask you to 
 sing during the morning exercises ? You could have edi- 
 fied them with 'The Pretty Finger Eing,' or 'Go Tell 
 Your Grandmother You're Slow ! ' 
 
 "You ask me about my school. I am getting along as 
 as well as I expected. Pretty hard work for me, though. 
 We don't get much sewing done, and sewing, you know, 
 seems to be our ' chief end.' I am still teaching Dakota 
 in the afternoon, and have piloted Agnes, David and 
 Thomas Simon through Cante Teca's journey as far as the 
 Wicket Gate. The smaller fry have read the ' Dakota 
 Tawaonspe, Wowapi I,' but haven't the vowel sounds 
 fairly drilled into them yet. They can spell off the books 
 * like lightling, ' as Eobbie says, but if I have them read 
 their spelling lessons, they can hardly do it. 
 
 "How does 'The Woman in White' progress? And 
 
32 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 * Trumps' ? The artist for ^ Trumps' doesn't know how 
 to make a handsome man. The ladies look very well, 
 but the men are soft-soapy. Papa suggested to you not 
 to send Harper^ s Weekly?—! suppose it is best, but I was 
 so much interested in Wilkie Collins' story that I would 
 rather read it than Harper's Monthly, Papa read in the 
 February number Thackeray's comparison of novels to 
 candies, saying that * a taste not vitiated, liked neither.' 
 So papa read the first chapter of ^Lovell the Widower,' 
 but said then that he hoped his taste would never be viti- 
 ated enough to like that stuff." 
 
 ^' May 12, 1860. 
 
 ^' I have been meaning to thank you for your proposed 
 capture of seminaries for Anna and me. We are still 
 discussing plans for next year. If the Western Female 
 Seminary should not be rebuilt early enough in the fall to 
 graduate a class, Anna and I will go to the Lake Erie 
 Seminary, which is Mt. Holyoke Number Three. There 
 will be some pleasant novelty in going to a new place, 
 even if the schools are peas out of the same pod. 
 
 *' I should like nothing better than to be in Chicago at 
 the time of the Musical Institute. Oh, if I could ! I can 
 promise you I'll thhik of it enough ! 
 
 *'A week ago Mrs. Ackley and I went down to the 
 Agency to call, taking Thomas as gallant. We called 
 everywhere ; stayed as long as we wanted to at everybody's, 
 went over to Myrick's and bought a dress, and wound up 
 by calling on Mrs. Other Day. The shopping did not 
 take long, as there was but one piece of anything but In- 
 dian goods in the store ! " 
 
 '^ May 22, 1860. 
 ". . . Has any one told you about the storm we had 
 a week ago ? Just at nightfall, in a moment of time, it 
 
A GOODLY HERITAGE 33 
 
 came on. The noise was deafening, and the water beat in 
 on all sides through panes broken by the hail. I 
 was fairly dazed as I tried to wipe up the streams in the 
 library chamber. Then I ran down to find the chicken 
 coops flying. 'In a jiffin' as papa used to say, Anna 
 Jane and the boys were through the kitchen window, 
 putting the coops in as fast as possible, and gathering up 
 the poor, stray chickens. We hurried up-stairs and found 
 our beds soaked, and the floor full of mud and water. 
 We shovelled and wiped up panful after panful. Then 
 the children went to bed, and mamma and I made fires in 
 the stoves to keep them from rusting. Mamma had to 
 bail out the water first, and it was no small task. We 
 could hear the water in the carpets as we trod over them. 
 So we took up the one in the sitting-room, and hung it 
 over chairs to drain. While we were at work, the chick- 
 ens had set up the prettiest chirping in the world, — not 
 like their hungry chirp, but like bird chittering. For a 
 few minutes I really thought the birds were singing out of 
 doors. . . . 
 
 *'Do not be troubled about my getting along at school 
 next year. Some way will open when the time comes. 
 I have no possible need of money now, having food 
 to eat, clothes to wear, and books to read. Trees, flowers 
 and grass to look at, too. Also something yet to give at 
 Monthly Concerts, and ^ my wants are all supplied.' So 
 you see I am pretty well contented. I do get tired once 
 in a while of staying here, but I should probably be 
 equally tired anywhere else. . . ." 
 
 ^^ July 31, 1860, 
 
 ". . . I like the arrangement of the tunes you 
 
 sent, especially that of * Oomahoo.' The tune used to be 
 
 a favorite a long time ago, when I thought the Dakota 
 
 meeting as long as a week of play-days, and waited for 
 
34 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 preaching to be over, till I was so tired. I liked to sing 
 though. That was the gay time when I took pins to 
 meeting to play with. Mamma was sure to see me as 
 soon as I got the pins nicely fixed in the squares of my 
 little green shawl. One pin was Martha, one was Anna 
 Jane, one was I. The squares were our gardens, and as 
 soon as we pin-folk got fairly to visiting around, mamma 
 was sure to see, and poor I had to lose all my dear pins 
 and go to listening to the sermon, to see if I could hear 
 * waste ' or ' sica ' before it was through. That dear old 
 green shawl, — first mine,, then Martha's, finally Anna 
 Jane's, and doubtless Cornelia would have been the 
 
 happy possessor of it, if . Martha and I were wiser 
 
 when a little older and only took two pins at a time, one 
 a shawl pin, the other to write words with and draw 
 houses and girls with on the benches. What a string of 
 childish doings that tune ^Oomahoo' has drawn after 
 it I'' 
 
 " Oxford, Ohio, Oct, 15, 1860. 
 "Dear Alfred : 
 
 *'Here I am, safe and sound, but with a pair of 
 aching eyes that say I mustn't write a word to-night. I 
 don't mean to mind them, for to-morrow I shall have to 
 commence school life again, and pitch into Paley and 
 Trigonometry like a good child. So your note must 
 be written now. 
 
 " Our class numbers twelve only, all strangers to me 
 but three. Miss McCabe's was the only familiar 
 fiace I saw at first. She gave me a very pleasant 
 welcome, as also have the girls. My roommate is a 
 Miss Diament. I am sorry the school is so small. A 
 school of an hundred and fifty girls has all sorts and 
 shades of character, and one can find plenty of company 
 to suit." 
 
A GOODLY HERITAGE 35 
 
 *' October 16th. 
 
 ** We don't have any rules here, positively nothing to 
 compare with what we used to have, — don't have to get 
 up in the morning till breakfast, nor speak in a whisper 
 in the halls, nor any of the forty other rules we had. 
 
 " Our class is studying Paley, Trigonometry and Schle- 
 gel's Lectures on the History of Literature. I have been 
 very diligently studying the first pages of my Trigonom- 
 etry till *• Logarithms ' looks about as definite and sen- 
 sible a word as ^my granny's nightcap' would in the 
 same connection. My head is whirling to the tune of 
 D. F. sine C. F. cosine." 
 
 ^^ Later, 
 "Just through the hour for Trigonometry. Professor 
 McFarland says he is afraid I've come in ^not at the 
 eleventh hour, but at half-past eleven.' While I have 
 been with you in Chicago at the Musical Institute, the 
 girls have nearly finished Plane Trigonometry. But I 
 don't regret it. See if I don't catch up in a week, my 
 good Prof. !" 
 
 ^^ November 6, 1860. 
 "I want to announce that I have caught up in Trigo- 
 nometry ! We have finished Plane and Spherical, and 
 are going on to something else. We have studied Logic 
 a week. I was sure I shouldn't like it, and the first 
 chapters took me quite by surprise. We all liked them. 
 But now we're approaching the barbarous Barbara Cele- 
 rent Camestris and sich like, I dare say we won't get 
 our lessons, and then of course it will be, — 'That horrid 
 old Logic, I can't &mr it ! ' . . ." 
 
 ^^ December 20 J 1860. 
 "So many things have happened since I wrote you 
 last, that I am fairly bewildered with the idea of giving 
 
36 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 you a * true and faithful ' history of these momentous 
 events. Think of it ! We, the young ladies of the West- 
 ern Female Seminary, have had the unparalleled felicity 
 of mingling with the world, — which means getting ac- 
 quainted with the townspeople and the students. First 
 came the sewing society, and then the two evenings of the 
 fair for the building of the new seminary. We supposed 
 that would wind up our worldly affairs, but here came 
 invitations from our Miami friends to the performances 
 of the Miami Union Literary Society and the Erodel- 
 phian, and we were given permission to go ! 
 
 *^I never had a letter in my life which did me more 
 good than your last. I had been quite down-hearted over 
 an accumulation of woes, — my fourth wisdom tooth 
 among them. Then I naturally got blue when I found 
 that I had to pay one hundred and ten dollars for board 
 and tuition. You know I have only the hundred dollars 
 I earned last year, and had thought that would leave me 
 enough money for books. It has troubled me very much. 
 At last I have summoned courage to write home about it. 
 I think they can let me have what I absolutely need, so 
 that I have stopped worrying. ... I told the girls 
 about your calling on Lincoln.'' 
 
 ^^ February 9, 1861, 
 ". . . We serenaded Miss Peabody and Miss Mc- 
 Cabe last night. Program of the serenade was : * Three 
 Blind Mice,' *B-a, Ba, Be, Be, B-i, Bi,' ^ I Bought Me a 
 Grower, *Mary Had a Little Lamb,' and ^ King of the 
 Cannibal Islands.' We quite shocked Miss Helen with 
 * Woman Pudaing, Baby Sauce,' whereas Miss McCabe 
 was quite delighted, and wants me to copy the words 
 for her. 
 
 "We have organized our class into a society, — Presi- 
 dentj Miss Bell Eiggs ; Vice President, Miss Ellen John- 
 
A GOODLY HERITAGE 37 
 
 son. We have had some pleasant meetings and quite ex- 
 citing ones, with such important topics as our gloves and 
 gowns for graduating. They are important to us, as we 
 shall not graduate but once, you know. At our last meet- 
 ing we had a peculiarly gay time talking about our 
 badge. I want pipe-stone seals, but don't suppose it will 
 suit generally to have them. 
 
 * ' You say, * Don' t be proud of your voice. ' Don' t fear 
 that I will be at present. I know so little about using it 
 properly, that there are very few girls of my acquaint- 
 ance who play and sing, who do not sing more effectively 
 than I do. I almost grow discouraged sometimes, — not 
 often, though. I plod along patiently and seldom get dis- 
 couraged at anything, for if I should give up, surely no 
 one else could do anything with me. 
 
 *'We talk politics here considerably. Miss McCabe 
 keeps us pretty well posted. I read the papers some, and 
 the Independent faithfully. Thank you for your brotherly 
 kindness in sending it to me. I am now reading some of 
 Macaulay's and Carlyle's magazine articles, as we hap- 
 pen to have two volumes of the * Modern British Es- 
 sayists.' 
 
 *^ Study hour bell will ring in a few minutes, so good- 
 night. Your affectionate 
 
 " Isabella." 
 
 " Western Female Seminary^ Oxford^ Feb. 11, 1861. 
 " My Deae Mes. Drake : 
 
 ^^. . f. I have discovered that I can afford a 
 new graduating dress, but Miss Peabody will purchase 
 the goods for us. I should like to have you get me a hoop 
 skirt, however. We have about decided to have our 
 graduating dresses made high in the neck and surplice 
 waists. There is to be a dressmaker up from the city to 
 help the girls make their dresses. We have had a world 
 
38 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 of talking to do, and have most certainly done it faith- 
 fully ! . . ." 
 
 " Western Female Seminary, March 27, 1861. 
 "Dear Alfred: 
 
 " We had quite an animated discussion on Milton's 
 fourth book day before yesterday. We are none of us 
 rabid Woman's Eights women, but we don't any of us 
 agree to Milton's 'not equal.' Miss McCabe is very con- 
 servative ou this point, and I don't think she could be in- 
 duced to have a lady doctor or to attend any woman's 
 sermon or lecture or anything, yet even she doesn't ' quite 
 agree with Mr. Milton.' 
 
 "I'm glad you think I can learn to sing. I'm not 
 afraid of hard work, and will do the best I can. I meant 
 to tell you when I was talking about Milton, of Miss Mc- 
 Cabe' s comment on * God is thy law, thou mine. To know 
 no more is woman's happiest knowledge and her praise.' 
 She said it was true, — that the happiest women were those 
 who had what ' he ' said, as their rule in everything. I 
 think that's a libel. She believes that ^beauty is ex- 
 celled by manly grace,' but that * mentally, men and 
 women are equal, though not alike.' I don't think that's 
 quite consistent. We girls were hardly more so, how- 
 ever, in our discussion ! . . . Good-night. 
 ^ ^ Your affectionate sister, 
 
 "Isabella." 
 
 '^ Bast Walnut Sills, Cincinnati, June 6, 1861. 
 "My Dear Alfred : 
 
 * * Have patience with me, and I will tell thee all. 
 Anna and I will be ready to start from Chicago Monday, 
 June twenty-fourth. Mrs. Drake and I have been mak- 
 ing mamma's purchases this week. I really don't know 
 anything which requires more talent than this does. 
 
A GOODLY HERITAGE 39 
 
 Taste and judgment (of fitness and cost) are stretched 
 like a bowstring. Strings snap sometimes, and I'm afraid 
 I'll wind up by getting a dress for mamma with all the 
 colors of the rainbow, or yellow calico for the boys' 
 coats and pants, such as they desired a few years ago. I 
 am getting scared about the money, too, for papa has 
 given me carte blanche (don't take it for granted that I 
 can pronounce that) and I'm afraid he won't do it 
 again ! " 
 
 The winter of 1861-62 Isabella spent at home in Hazel- 
 wood, helping in the mission work and for four months 
 teaching the school of eighteen Indian children. 
 
 ^' Some Sazelwood, Oct. 29, 1861, 
 " My Dear Alfred : 
 
 ". . . We have been talking, as we do every 
 now and then, about my going to the Normal School at 
 Winona in the spring. We resolved ourselves into a 
 Committee on Ways and Means, but have matured noth- 
 ing, for we find no way, and have no means. ... I 
 fear that it is easy for me to let wishes for things which 
 I seem to fail in having, grow so strong that life seems 
 to be nothing but an agony of desire, — a long- continued 
 hunger and thirst. Again it is easier by far to sing Te 
 Deum. . . ." 
 
 '^ December 1, 1861, 
 *^ . . In great tribulation I am acting as tailor- 
 ess for the boys. The sewing-machine does its part nobly, 
 but I haven't any great genius for dispatching anything 
 of the kind. Pockets and collars and buttonholes try my 
 (righteous) soul exceedingly. My third coat is nearly 
 done ; my fourth is to be the last, and I rejoice at the 
 prospect. Thomas is tx) be favored with two, Henry has 
 
40 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 one, and Henry Williamson the same. Their other tailor- 
 ing troubles me much less, as I am used to that. . . ." 
 
 ^^ February 6^ 1862. 
 ". . , The future is a puzzling subject for thought, 
 and I am getting more and more distrustful of my capa- 
 bility of judging, in points which may affect it. Now it 
 seems as if little things might have a wider bearing and 
 greater influence on my future life than they have had 
 before, and so I have less faith in myself, and try to have 
 more in God. I believe I do have more than heretofore. 
 I learned something of trust last winter for I got 
 through the year decently, although I could not see be- 
 forehand how I could do so. When I got to Oxford, 
 after paying for board and tuition, and buying one book 
 and fifty cents' worth of postage stamps, I hadn't a cent, 
 and had already borrowed ten dollars of Martha. Our 
 home folks sent me fifteen dollars ; I earned some seven 
 or eight dollars, and so got through. My roommate was 
 almost as poor as I (not quite, for she was able to lend me 
 in my entire destitution, — but almost), and we used to get 
 a great deal of relief from talking over our financial diffi- 
 culties. She spoke of it in her last letter, * Those were 
 times which tried girls' souls.' . . ." 
 
 '^ February 21 j 1862, 
 ". . . We have just been reading ' Cecil Dreeme ' 
 and Curtis' s prefatory life of Winthrop, one of the most 
 beautiful things I ever saw, — a prose Lycidas. I have 
 been reading besides, ^ Tom Brown,' Mitchell's 'Planetary 
 and Stellar Worlds,' Macaulay's History, one volume ; 
 and the 'Marble Faun' (over two or three times, I 
 should think), for the criticism and description and not 
 for the story, although I have got quite reconciled to it. 
 Tennyson I never stop reading. ' Night Thoughts ' I 
 
A GOODLY HERITAGE 41 
 
 commenced ou Aunt Jane's recommendation, but to my 
 sorrow and shame, found out that I was very glad to 
 stop, before the Thoughts did ! I have read a few pages 
 of Spencer's work on Education, and have gained one 
 idea which will stick. I have skimmed over Goethe, 
 so much as we have of him, peeped into Scott's Poems 
 and Bacon's Essays, and read Taylor's * Logic in The- 
 ology,' — as well as forgotten every bit of it since ! Some 
 things in * Recreations of a Country Parson,' and 'Dr. 
 Grant and the Mountain Nestorians' I haven't for- 
 gotten." 
 
 A few sentences from Isabella's carefully worked out 
 School Report for the spring of 1862 show in the girl of 
 twenty-two some of the characteristics of later years. 
 The pupils studied in both Dakota and English, and ten 
 read daily in the Dakota Bible. It was her great desire 
 that these Indian children might become real Christians. 
 We see her interest in the '' troublesome scholar," and it 
 makes us think of the poor, fallen Chinese whom she 
 " could not give up," in later years. 
 
 ". . . During the term, Joseph Ogi Ota, John 
 Laframboise, William Dickey and Bell Renville have left 
 the school. William was a troublesome scholar, and the 
 school is more easily managed without, than with him. 
 Still I had interested myself so much in him, that I 
 was sorry to have him go away. . . . There have 
 been causes for discouragement as well as some encourag- 
 ing indications. I have much hope that I shall be able 
 to fulfill my part during the present term so that the re- 
 sult shall equal my desires. I have been earnest in my 
 attempts to do my duty, and feel that the position of 
 teacher here is important, and that it is one which can- 
 not be lightly or carelessly filled. My hope is that at the 
 close of this term I shall be able to report such prog- 
 
42 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 ress and behavior as shall equal your prayers and de- 
 sires." 
 
 The summer of 1862 saw all the family together in the 
 home in Hazelwood, with the exception of the eldest 
 brother, Alfred. To him Isabella wrote: — ^'Our days 
 are busy and happy, and just now especially pleasant 
 since we have a lady and gentleman from New Jersey, 
 Mr. and Mrs. D. Wilson Moore, boarding with us. 
 They came out to Minnesota on their wedding trip. They 
 are very pleasant and fit very comfortably into our mode 
 of life. Mrs. Moore is only eighteen. We elderly 
 maidens, Martha and myself, consider her very juvenile, 
 so far as years go, but like her for all that. She sings a 
 great number of ballads. I think their visit will do us 
 all good. . . ." 
 
 The peaceful home life in Hazelwood was soon to come 
 to an end. On a quiet Sabbath, the seventeenth of 
 August, while the Christian Indians and the missionaries 
 were celebrating together the sacrament of the Lord's 
 Supper, hostile bands of heathen Sioux, angered by 
 broken promises on the part of government agents, and 
 inflamed with rum sold them by white men, began the 
 terrible massacres of the Outbreak of 1862. 
 
 At Hazelwood the rumors of the uprising were at first 
 utterly disbelieved, but by sunset on Monday, the Chris- 
 tian Indians, who at first thought they could give protec- 
 tion, pleaded with the missionaries to escape while there 
 was yet time. And at midnight the dear home was left 
 forever, soon to be burned to ashes, with its treasures 
 scattered to the four winds of the earth. There was no 
 time for preparation, and little of either food or clothing 
 could be taken, for strange men had stolen the horses 
 from the stables, and the journey must be made on foot. 
 It was hoped that the danger might be only temporary, 
 and for a day they remained in hiding on an island in 
 
A GOODLY HEKITAGE 43 
 
 the Minnesota Eiver, the party being reinforced by other 
 missionary families and white settlers to the number of 
 thirty and more. In hunger and weariness they 
 journeyed, fording creeks and crossing swamps and 
 marshes. Fires could not be built for fear of detection 
 by hostile Indians. Sometimes they saw the smoke of 
 burning villages where the savage bands were even then 
 at their deadly work ; — sometimes on a night march, they 
 stumbled over dead bodies. Destruction and death were 
 all about them. But God kept them as they journeyed 
 across the pathless prairie, through dangers seen and un- 
 seen, — "the terror by night, '^ and "the arrow that 
 flieth by day," and the words of the Psalmist were ever 
 in their minds, — "God is our refuge and strength, a 
 very present help in time of trouble." 
 
 So soon as might be, the story of the dreadful happen- 
 ings along the Minnesota Eiver had been flashed over the 
 land. The older brother in Illinois came with a 
 revolver in his grip, wondering indeed what he might 
 find. A brother of D. Wilson Moore, in New Jersey, 
 telegraphed " Send the bodies at any cost ! " 
 
 But it was a very much alive company, albeit sun- 
 burned, ragged, footsore and weary, that walked into 
 Henderson, Minnesota, on the afternoon of August 
 twenty- fifth. On the brow of the hill above the town, 
 they were met by several Indian women who rushed to 
 greet them, saying, "We are strangers to you, but we 
 have white hearts, and we heard you were all killed ! " 
 In Henderson and Shakopee there were those who gave 
 of their best to these destitute "refugees," and finally in 
 St. Anthony they found themselves among the kindest of 
 friends. And in St. Anthony, for the three years 
 following, the Biggs family made their home. In 
 October, 1862, Isabella wrote to her brother Alfred : — 
 , ". . . We have just expressed a trunk to our ref- 
 
44 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 ugee friends at Traverse. Martha and I trimmed up a 
 bonnet for Julia, and a milliner here trimmed another in 
 crape for Mrs. Huggins. We went down to get the trim- 
 mings and incidentally told the circumstances in Mrs. 
 Huggins' case, when she offered to trim the bonnet for us 
 and only charge for the material. Don't you think she 
 was generous ? I believe it will do us good to be here. 
 It is blessed sometimes to receive as well as to give. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Van Eman prove themselves to be the kindest of 
 friends, day by day more and more so. I couldn't begin 
 to tell you the friendly offices they have done for us. If 
 all St. Anthony people are as agreeable as those we know, 
 it will be a very nice town to live in. 
 
 *'. . . We are getting extremely dissipated ! Why, 
 we go out two evenings every week (one is prayer- 
 meeting and the other singing), and have taken tea out 
 once and are going again to-morrow. Then we find much 
 of our pleasure in promenading Front Street— to shop, of 
 course. Just think of it ! Did you ever suppose your sis- 
 ters would become such trifling creatures ? To be sure we 
 shop hardly in the ordinary way, but buy eggs, brooms, 
 potatoes, tubs, vinegar, stoves, crockery and tinware in- 
 stead of fineries and furbelows ! " 
 
 During the winter of 1862-63, Isabella taught in a 
 Young Ladies' Boarding School in St. Anthony. The 
 next fall a school was opened in Lakeland, Minnesota, of 
 which Isabella took charge. 
 
 Many years later, two of her pupils, and Miss Mary Le 
 Due, her fellow-teacher and lifelong friend, wrote of 
 those days at Lakeland, and a few extracts from their let- 
 ters show Isabella's influence and character as her own 
 letters cannot. 
 
 Her pupil, Mr. Oscar Jackson, writes : — 
 
 " When the Lakeland Academy was opened in Septem- 
 ber, 1863, Miss Isabella Eiggs was chosen principal. 
 
A GOODLY HEEITAGE 45 
 
 Her influence in Lakeland was not confined to the school- 
 room, for she was a leading spirit for good in the village, 
 through her speaking, her singing and playing, and her 
 presence. She had a wonderful gift of song. Before that 
 time there had been few opportunities for the young peo- 
 ple of Lakeland to learn to sing by note, and she helped 
 us by giving us instruction in vocal music. . . . She 
 was a born missionary, for she was always wanting to do 
 some one good. . . . " His brother, Mr. Preston 
 Jackson, adds : — "In the schoolroom she was bright and 
 vivacious, insisting on good behavior and hard study. 
 Sometimes it was necessary to say something sharp and 
 perhaps a little sarcastic to bring us up to the line, but it 
 did us good. I have been thankful many times since that 
 she did. The influence of her strong, lovely character 
 upon her pupils and upon the community was remarkable. 
 It has always seemed wonderful to me how she could take 
 such a deep, earnest interest in so many of us. To me 
 she was as loving and kind as though she were my own 
 sister. Among my treasured things of boyhood days (I 
 was about fifteen years old then) are many letters she 
 wrote to me when on her vacations and after she went to 
 China. . . .'' 
 
 Miss Le Due writes : — 
 
 "How far, far away those days at Lakeland seem, and 
 yet how vividly many of the experiences we enjoyed and 
 suffered together come back to me. Our life in that little 
 Minnesota village was a mixture of comedy and tragedy. 
 The house in which we roomed and boarded was the 
 coldest shell of a house, and the winter one of Minnesota's 
 most severe, and as we had no fire in our room, and were 
 not provided with sufficient bedclothing, we spent half 
 the coldest nights in shivering sleeplessness, and were 
 glad to hurry to the schoolroom in the morning, where 
 we could build a fire and thaw out ! And our pupils 
 
46 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 were so eager to learn, their parents so kind, social and 
 sympathetic, that we worked with enthusiasm and enjoy- 
 ment, and forgot all the discomforts of the home. . . . 
 How I loved to watch Isabella as she sang. Do you re- 
 member the absorbed, inspired expression, the long, 
 dark eyelashes, the clear enunciation, the mobile mouth, 
 and soulful voice ? Her singing was an uplifting power 
 in the school. . . . 
 
 ^^ Isabella and I met as strangers. At the close of our 
 year of earnest work for others, of intellectual and spirit- 
 ual growth, we parted as dearest friends, and what a 
 friend she proved all through our separate lives ! I have 
 never had another so steadfast, so devoted." 
 
 Isabella's two years at Lakeland closed in the summer 
 of 1865, and in the fall of that year, the family home was 
 removed from St. Anthony to Beloit, Wisconsin. In 
 October Isabella went with her father to Chicago, to at- 
 tend the meeting of the American Board. There an im- 
 portant decision was made, and she became the promised 
 wife of Eev. Mark Williams, whom she had known dur- 
 ing her school-days in Ohio, and who was appointed by 
 the American Board as a missionary to China. From 
 Lockport, Illinois, she wrote to her mother : — 
 
 ^^ As father has told you, I have promised to go to 
 China. I trust that I have done right. I believe that I 
 have. Still I know that unless I have great help from 
 above, there will still come doubt and perplexity, as there 
 does come to every one in all places in life. We have the 
 promise of God that we shall be sustained and strength- 
 ened. This missionary work is a great work, and a most 
 noble one. I think you will be glad to have me as your sub- 
 stitute in this army of the Lord, although I cannot go into 
 the same army corps. Since this meeting of the Ameri- 
 can Board, I have a new conception of the grandeur of 
 the labor which Christ has left as a legacy to His chil- 
 
A GOODLY HERITAGE 47 
 
 dren. I feel more earnestly than ever before the obliga- 
 tion resting on some to go amoDg the heathen, and who 
 are so likely to feel the necessity of such labor as the chil- 
 dren of missionaries ? I think we shall all feel glad that 
 I am going. 
 
 ^^Mr. Williams is going down to Beloit some time, — 
 now, if I say so, — and at Christmas at any rate. He may 
 stay out here and preach or may go back to Ohio. 
 
 *^ I hope you are not working too much again. 
 ''Always your loving 
 
 '' Isabella. '^ 
 
 '' October 13, 1865, 
 " Dear Mamma : 
 
 ''Your letter came this morning. I know not how 
 to comfort you. ... I feel as though God will surely 
 lead us and help us and comfort us through the span of 
 life which He will give. And we surely have a right to 
 ask that we may ' count it all joy.' All things are possi- 
 ble with God ; unaided by Him it is a sheer impossibility. 
 But we must remember that 
 
 ** * His grace and power are such 
 None can never ask too much. ' 
 
 "If you had not lived, my place surely would have 
 been at home. The matter would not have required a 
 second thought. For two or three days I have been say- 
 ing over to myself, hour after hour, — 
 
 " ' On the Eock of Ages founded, 
 What can shake thy sure repose ? ' 
 
 " When I feel most strongly as if I cannot go to China, 
 I remember that it is not more than you and many others 
 
48 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 have done before me, and I dare not say, ^ I am not brave 
 enough to go.' And yet I am not, unless I have help from 
 the Lord of the harvest. 
 
 ". . . Mr. Williams left for Chicago this morning. 
 *^I am your loving 
 
 *' Isabella." 
 
n 
 
 THE JOUENEY TO CHINA 
 
 I said, " Let me walk in the fields," 
 He said, " No, walk iu the town." 
 I said, "There are no flowers there ! " 
 He said, *' No flowers, but a crown." 
 
 I said, ' ' But the fogs are thick, 
 And the clouds are veiling the sun." 
 He answered, " But hearts are sick 
 And souls in the dark undone." 
 
 I said, " But the skies are dark. 
 
 There is nothing but noise and din." 
 
 And He wept as He led me back. 
 
 ** There is more," He said ; " there is sin." 
 
 I said, " I shall miss the light 
 And friends will miss me, they say." 
 He answered, " Choose ye to-night 
 If I must miss thee, or they." 
 
 I pleaded for time to be given ; 
 He said, " Is it hard to decide ? 
 It will not seem hard in heaven 
 To have followed the steps of your Guide." 
 
 — George MacDonald. 
 
 ON February 21, 1866, Isabella Burgess Eiggs and 
 Mark Williams were married in the home 
 church at Beloit. A few days at home with the 
 father and mother, the brothers and sisters, and then the 
 long journey was begun. Letters came to the home tell- 
 ing of delightful visits with classmates and friends, and 
 with Mr. Williams's ''Uncle Chidlaw,'' the famous 
 Welsh Sabbath School Missionary. Together they 
 visited Lane Seminary, Cincinnati, and Oxford, rich in 
 
 49 
 
60 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 memories of school -days. But best of all were the weeks 
 at Mr. Williams's home, where the father and mother, 
 who had long ago consecrated their son to missionary- 
 work, welcomed them to the old home, and bid them God- 
 speed on their journey. 
 
 (To her brother Alfred.) 
 ^^ March 23, 1866, Near Lodcport, New York. 
 
 "I think I shall send you some hieroglyphics from 
 the New York Central. We have come from Niagara. 
 I felt as if I could have looked forever, but don't 
 mean to go into the adjectives ! Mr. Williams bought 
 Coleridge' s Works, and I have a volume out for reading 
 on the cars,— his notes on Shakespeare and other dramatic 
 authors. They seem very abrupt and fragmentary to me. 
 
 "Kiss the dear baby for us. I shall always thin^ of 
 him as he is now, and shall be slow to imagine him grown 
 to man^s estate. 
 
 ^ ' Good-byes have been hard to say. The note from you, 
 Alfred, did me so much good. The idea that our going 
 from you seemed not so much the token of long and wide 
 separation as of closer binding together of our homes, al- 
 though the sea comes between us, helped and still helps. ^' 
 
 Passage had been engaged on board the Samuel RusseU, 
 to sail the first week of April. Isabella went on from 
 New York to the Longley home in Massachusetts, where, 
 as a girl of twelve, she had spent a winter with her 
 grandparents. On her return the days went quickly by, 
 planning and packing the outfit. She wrote to her 
 mother : — "I commence to fulfill my promise of writing 
 ten minutes a day. It will be very easy to do it, gen- 
 erally, since I shall think of you so many times ten 
 minutes. 
 
THE JOURNEY TO CHINA 51 
 
 *^ We have invested seventy dollars in books. What 
 treasures they will be ! Nor have we forgotten the more 
 prosaic things. In our purchasing, we took care to in- 
 clude soup spoons, as I believe rat soup is to be a 
 standby ! " 
 
 To her friend, Mrs. Drake, she wrote, ^^ Your sister has 
 been a good Samaritan to poor, unsophisticated me ! I 
 think of the many kindnesses which you have shown me, 
 and feel that you have no small share in this missionary 
 work among the Chinese. I shall be partly your deputy.' ^ 
 
 On April sixth, the day before they sailed, she wrote 
 to her little sister Cornelia: — "Dear little Tot, I am 
 going to write you one more letter before we go on the 
 ship. Then I will write you another, but you will not get 
 it for a long time. We have a very nice ship, as 
 you will see by the picture. She sails fast, and there is a 
 great deal more room on her for us to walk about in than 
 I expected. 
 
 *'Be a good, pleasant little girl, and play outdoors all 
 you can. I hope you will be mamma's sunshine, to help 
 her get well." 
 
 On April seventh, the long ocean voyage was begun. 
 On board the Samuel Eussell^ Isabella wrote : — 
 
 " Here is to be that one more letter, and it will be as 
 long as the pilot will let it. I've read your good-bye let- 
 ters many times, and presume I shall wear out the edges 
 before we reach Hongkong ! . . ." 
 
 They sailed in company with Eev. Justus Doolittle and 
 his wife. Mr. Doolittle was well known as the author of 
 "Social Life Among the Chinese," and under his direc- 
 tion the study of the Chinese language was begun. 
 
 This was the last company of missionaries to make the 
 voyage around the Cape of Good Hope in a sailing vessel. 
 A record of the three months at sea is given in Isabella's 
 Ship Journal. 
 
62 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 *' On Ship Samuel Bussell, April 13, 1866, 
 " Dear Folks: 
 
 ^^Good-morniDg ! We have had our Chinese les- 
 son, and it is now late in the afternoon. But my story- 
 will have more harmony if I take up its thread where it 
 was broken off. I don't remember about the rest of that 
 day, only that it was very sad. While I could write you, 
 — while you still wrote to me, we did not seem utterly 
 separated. That afternoon, however, the last word which 
 you could have from me for months, had been written 
 and sent away. The last, last word ! The next day, and 
 the next, I was sick, and felt very unlike myself, but was 
 not so entirely wrapt up in my feelings as not to think of 
 you all. If it had not rained, so that we were shut down 
 in the cabin, I think I would have been tolerably well. 
 Yesterday we had no fire till nearly noon, when I spoke 
 to the steward about it. So I had popcorn for supper, 
 and after a good night's rest, found myself all right, ex- 
 cept that I'm rather sensitive to the various smells which 
 salute our noses from all quarters. Seasickness prej udicea 
 one against food in general. Yesterday oranges and 
 bananas tasted worse than rhubarb and castor oil. 
 
 " After breakfast this morning we sat on deck and sang 
 a while. Then came our Chinese lesson. After dinner I 
 read * Charles Auchester.' The book is thoroughly filled 
 with the spirit of music, and yet some of it seems puerile. 
 I knew once whom Seraphael is a portrait of, but try now 
 in vain to remember. Not Beethoven, — he is spoken of 
 by his own name. Was it Mendelssohn ? I remember to 
 have read a criticism which characterized the portrait as 
 exaggerated. It may be, but the story suited my mood 
 well to-day. 
 
 ** A little while ago there were porpoises playing 
 around the ship. They seem to be very frolicsome crea- 
 tures. Last night we heard a whale blow, but it was too 
 
THE JOURNEY TO CHINA 53 
 
 dark to see him. The phosphoric light in the wake of 
 the ship is wonderful. Sparks flew last night as fast as 
 from a burning chimney. 
 
 " This afternoon we spoke the ship Patrician, bound for 
 Boston from Calcutta. The system of signalling is inter- 
 esting. Signals are flags of different colors and patterns 
 which stand for certain numbers. These mean words, 
 which are determined by the order in which they stand. 
 For instance, after reading the signals with his glass, the 
 captain would say, ^8, 4, 5, 6,— Sheffield, look up the 
 signification.' 
 
 " We are on the route to France, making use of the cur- 
 rent of the Gulf Stream. After crossing it we shall have 
 the trade-wind. The air is warm, and it is delightful to 
 be on deck.'' 
 
 ^^ Saturday nighty April IJf., 1866. 
 
 "One week of our ocean life gone. We have had 
 a delightful day, and have been on deck almost all the 
 time. 
 
 " I will give you a few sentences from Mark's home 
 letter. * A week ago the ship left moorings, and 
 anchored in the stream. The captain has remarked 
 since that it was an unlucky day, since we have only 
 gone 250 miles during the week. Saturday morning we 
 bade farewell to our New York friends. We go to 
 find friends, and we go to our adopted country. On 
 Tuesday, Long Island faded from our sight, and we bade 
 farewell to America. . . . We have our dreaded sea- 
 sickness. I could vouch for the truth of Beecher's saying, 
 " Whom the Lord abhors. He sends to sea." 
 
 *^ * We have seen a nautilus or Portuguese man-of-war. 
 The captain brought in a flying fish the other evening. 
 It was about eight inches long, and had wide wing-like 
 fins. The fish cannot fly long without having them wet 
 
64 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 Mrs. Doolittle preserved one of the wings by pressing it 
 in a book. We had a taste of the fish next morning at 
 breakfast.^ 
 
 " We have seen neither whales nor sharks, but have seen 
 one pilot fish, the shark's servant, a beautiful little 
 creature. Schools of flying fish are about us all the time. 
 Their wings gleam in the sun like silver. They look 
 like bright birds to me." 
 
 ^^ Wednesday, April 18, 1866. 
 
 '^ I wish you could just see us going with an unpremedi- 
 tated bang against the lee side of the cabin. The chairs 
 were quite lively last night, sliding from one side of the 
 cabin to the other. To-day they are constant in their at- 
 tention to our side of the cabin. The wind is steady, and 
 keeps the ship inclined to one side. I hold my ink in my 
 hand, keeping a sharp eye on it, for fear that a sudden 
 lurch would spill it over my berth. There's danger of it, 
 but that makes trying to write all the more interesting. 
 You've no idea how much we like anything which breaks 
 the monotony of ship life. This gale would be very wel- 
 come if it did not bring seasickness with it. The water 
 is dashing over the main deck. The stove has been 
 taken out of our cabin, and we are obliged to go to bed 
 to keep warm. 
 
 "Writing is easier than walking around just now. I 
 wonder that it is so easy for me, but my practice in writ- 
 ing on the cars helps me. It's a good thing for me that 
 I can jot you a page, as we cannot study Chinese, and I'm 
 tired of reading. I feel as if I'd rather not see another 
 book for a week." 
 
 ''ApHl21, 1866. 
 " The way we were pitched around last night was for- 
 lorn. My impression is that I didn't sleep a wink, but 
 
THE JOURNEY TO CHINA 65 
 
 kept catching at something to keep me from falling out 
 of the berth all night long. Not quite the truth, how- 
 ever, I presume ! 
 
 *'. . . After dinner to-day Mark and I finished ^ A 
 Life for a Life,' which we have been reading together 
 and like, — mostly. We are reading the * Life of 
 Madame Guyon ' in the same way. Since then, I have 
 worked two hours at a list of Chinese words which Mr. 
 Doolittle has us practice on.'' 
 
 '^ Monday, April 23, 1866, 
 "I'm through my day's work, and have a nice long 
 time to write. We are near 25° north latitude. Our 
 weather is perfectly delightful. I didn't half give you 
 the history of last week. The captain said the sea was 
 *a little rough,' and there was ^something of a gale.' 
 We thought there was, decidedly ! We were so churned 
 up that it was easy to be sick in the orthodox way. We 
 stayed on the quarter-deck as much as possible. I alter- 
 nated between it and my berth, going to the latter when- 
 ever I was too cold to stay on deck any longer. When 
 going out we put on all the clothes we could wear, and 
 carried blankets. I took my hoops off, and don't mean 
 to wear them except in pleasant weather. We couldn't 
 walk about, but sat holding to the ropes. The white- 
 capped waves looked like mountains to our inexperienced 
 eyes. Their spray dashed over the stern every little 
 while, and a wave poured over the middle deck some- 
 what oftener. Several times we had been caught by the 
 spray, but Friday afternoon when we were making be- 
 lieve read, and were sitting on the windward half of the 
 deck, a wave came over very slyly and floated us for a 
 minute. The ship lurched, and the wave ran to lee- 
 ward, but we were so taken by surprise that it was back 
 before we came to our senses. The captain and the other 
 
56 BY THE GKEAT WALL 
 
 gentlemen who were around helped us up, and took our 
 hats, shawls and blankets, so that we need not carry all 
 our wet clothes into our staterooms. Our shawls and 
 Mrs. Doolittle's shoes were hung on the spanker boom to 
 dry, and the rest of our clothes tied to the rigging. 
 
 * * Yesterday Mr. Doolittle preached. Mark had done so 
 the Sabbath before. To-day we went at our Chinese, 
 and all studied together till noon. Then Mrs. Doolittle 
 and I got some mending. I mended two pairs of stock- 
 ings and a tear in my travelling dress. After dinner I 
 mended Mark^s coat and sewed on some buttons for him. 
 Our Chinese recitation lasted from two to four, which 
 made nearly five hours for Chinese to-day. We have had 
 a pleasant time to-day. I enjoyed that mending very 
 much. 
 
 ^' Our life here during pleasant weather may be just as 
 profitable as if we were in China, and perhaps pleasanter. 
 In rough weather we can neither study, nor sew, nor 
 read, with satisfaction. Even if one is not seasick, read- 
 ing is tiresome in the dark cabin and impossible on 
 deck. As for study or sewing, — in rough weather, a 
 body doesn't feel like it when she has to brace up with 
 all her strength simply to keep in a chair ! The steward 
 is a bustling Scotchman and gets more falls than any one 
 else, which accounts for his mild wrath at Mrs. Doolittle 
 for falling against the cabin table and knocking up the 
 staple which fastened it to the floor. 
 
 ** Shipboard is a good place to call out latent selfishness. 
 Mr. Smith, our stateroom neighbor, wants everybody to 
 wait on him. It is ^ Steward ! ' * Ah Ting ! ' ' Charley ! ' 
 or * Lyman ! ' all day long. Our room is an unfortu- 
 nate one in that we can hear almost everything which is 
 said in the cabin, and even in the stateroom opposite 
 ours. We stuff our clothes into the ventilators when we 
 don't want to hear Smith's confidences and do want to 
 
THE JOURNEY TO CHINA 67 
 
 go to sleep. Then we have to put our fingers in our ears 
 when he is especially interested in his recitals." 
 
 ^^ April 25y 1866. Lat. 21° Worth, Long. 28° West 
 " Monday evening was so delightful that we stayed on 
 
 deck till late. We jumped the rope. It was fun to see 
 
 Mr. Doolittle's ponderous body shake when his turn 
 
 came. 
 
 " We have had the trade- wind to-day, and glide 
 
 smoothly along at the rate of nine or ten knots an hour." 
 
 ** Thursday, April 27th. 
 " While I was writing the last sentence yesterday, I 
 heard a confused noise of voices and trampling, and 
 above all the captain's voice, ' Helm down ! Man over- 
 board ! ' We hurried on deck. The sailors were letting 
 down the boat and putting the ship about. Mr. Eowan 
 had thrown the step-ladder over the instant he saw the 
 man in the water, but he either did not see it or could 
 not swim, for he made no effort to reach it. He had 
 fallen from the bowsprit and no one saw him fall. He 
 kept up on the water for a while but the boat did not 
 reach him. Perhaps a shark took him. It was sad to 
 see life go out thus. Every one did what he could. 
 Grant helped at the helm with all his might, and other 
 gentlemen helped about taking the awning down, as that 
 hindered putting the ship about, but all was in vain. 
 The man was a German. He had been a sailor for more 
 than twenty-five years. Freddy, the captain's little boy, 
 says, ' How his mother will feel ! ' We do not know 
 that he was a Christian, — indeed, I believe there is not a 
 Christian on board, aside from us four. Mark preaches 
 on Sabbath. I hope his sermon will do good to some 
 one." 
 
S8 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 " Friday J April 26th. 
 
 ^'Fred is having one of his daily thrashings from his 
 father, due to mistakes in his spelling lesson. I presume 
 he has left the ^ u ^ out of ^ squall.^ 
 
 " Our fresh beef lasted until yesterday.^' 
 
 ^^Mayl, 1866, 
 *^ Saturday, a Dutch ship passed so close that the cap- 
 tains spoke with their trumpets. She goes to Amster- 
 dam and will report us. Low and Company will hear 
 from us ; I wonder if yoa will. We hoped the Telemaque 
 would be short of water, as we could then have stopped 
 without breaking the insurance, and could have sent let- 
 ters home by way of Europe. (I had mine all ready ex- 
 cept sealing.) Yesterday we passed very near a brig, 
 and anticipated fine talk, but all the English they knew 
 was * Portuguese ' ! This morning we signalled a Dutch 
 bark (a vessel with three masts). She was a mile or two 
 off, but will also report us. Every sail I see gives a thrill 
 of hope that I may send you these words, but I try not to 
 be much disappointed as they pass without the hope's 
 fulfillment. 
 
 ^*The days pass quickly with our study and reading. 
 We are reading ^Madame Guyon' still, and 'The Old 
 Helmet.' Sometimes I read, and sometimes knit while 
 Mark reads. We like the ' Life of Madame Guy on,' but 
 Upham's style is so diffuse that I should never have time 
 to read it anywhere but on shipboard. 
 
 ^' A few days ago Mr. Sheffield caught a 'bonita ' with 
 an instrument called the 'grains.' It has four barbed 
 points and is thrown like a harpoon. The fish weighed 
 fifteen pounds, was short and thick, had no scales, but a 
 very brilliant skin, like Joseph's coat of many colors. 
 We had it for supper. It tasted a little like pork. A 
 large number of them swam about the prow all that mom- 
 
THE JOURNEY TO CHINA 6^ 
 
 ing. We were told that they were attracted by the bright 
 copper on the bottom of the ship.'' 
 
 ''May 10, 1866 J S. Lat. 10°, W. Long. SO"". 
 
 "I haven't written you a word for a long while, and 
 don't feel much like doing it now. I just had an unin- 
 tentional slide across the cabin, landing in Mrs. Doolittle's 
 room. I had a fright because my precious ink bottle was 
 in danger, and besides, I am trembling from head to foot 
 with the jar. I meant to write you when we were on the 
 equator, but we passed it and were several miles south 
 before we were aware. 
 
 " I feel nowadays as if my intellect was capable of no 
 further exertion when our Chinese lesson is over. Mr. 
 Doolittle says the devil is the reputed author of the lan- 
 guage. 
 
 .*'I think of you all very often. My thoughts are 
 prayers. I am so far off from you that it gives great con- 
 tent to remember that God is near you and us alike, and 
 that He knows all about us. He watches us while we are 
 absent one from the other." 
 
 '' Thursday, May 17th, 
 "This week I have been reading Holland's ^Life of 
 Lincoln' and am greatly interested. The weather does 
 not permit reading together, as we cannot sit on deck 
 much. Through the afternoon to-day there were heavy 
 squalls of rain ; the spanker was lowered, and towards 
 night, the royals were reefed ; then the crochet-sail, and 
 finally the mizzen topsail and topgallant. We went to 
 the middle deck to see the gallant reefed. We sat on the 
 booby hatch, Mrs. Doolittle and I, but soon felt a sprinkle 
 of salt water and retreated. Waves came over in a few 
 minutes which knocked the sailors down very uncere- 
 moniously. 
 
60 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 "The cat has fled for refuge to the dining-room, and 
 is mewing piteously. By the way, — cats talk Chinese ! 
 * Miao ! ' * Yao ! ' mean a great variety of things in 
 Chinese. 
 
 "Our longitude to-day noon was 34° west, with lati- 
 tude 30° south, so that we are quite out of warm weather. 
 Last week I had on my light calico, and to-night my 
 heavy, large-figured delaine. My hoops are hung away. 
 Mrs. Doolittle never goes without hers, so the fashion is 
 divided ! 
 
 "It is comical to see legs and arms flying as they do 
 now in an attempted passage through the cabin. A short 
 time ago Mark was reading for our evening worship, 
 when a lurch of the ship shot him and his chair in dif- 
 ferent directions. As I write, I am holding convulsively 
 to the table. The furniture of our wash-stand is rattling 
 as dead men's bones j bowls, pitchers and tumblers, all 
 at it with a vengeance." 
 
 " May 22d, Lot. 36° South. 
 
 "My memory says this is Robbie's birthday. No 
 doubt Thomas and Henry gave him whippings at least an 
 hour ago, and, making a guess, I should say that at this 
 particular minute he is getting several from the boys on 
 the playground. It is 3 : 15 P. M. here, and I suppose 
 about 10 A. M. in Beloit. Our longitude is between 
 20° and 25°. 
 
 " Mark has just copied the Chinese lesson for me, and 
 instead, I shall write to you, so you may thank him for 
 this, and not me. 
 
 "I have just taken out my two-foot rule and made 
 measurements in our stateroom and in the cabin, so that 
 you may have an idea of our present home. The state- 
 room is four feet, two inches by eight feet. Our berths 
 are five feet ten inches long and two feet wide. Behind 
 
THE JOURNEY TO CHINA 61 
 
 the door are six little shelves where our books are sup- 
 posed to be. In rough weather, if I forget to wedge them 
 in closely, or if I take one out for a minute, I find its 
 neighbours on the floor, Dagon-like. Let me show my 
 shelves to your minds^ eyes. Two volumes of Coleridge, 
 
 * Wayside Hymns' with its pink cover. Wood's Botany 
 (one which Mark studied at Miami), two copies of the 
 
 * Golden Trio,' my French Dictionary, ^ Fasquelle ' (an- 
 other of Mark's college books), Tennyson, Mrs. Browning, 
 Elias's Sermons (Welsh), Bible, Testament, second vol- 
 ume of ^ Madame Guyon,' a selection from Eutherford's 
 Letters, 'Near and Heavenly Horizons,' Mark's journal, 
 
 * Memoir of Marty n,' and ' Daily Food,' with Jay's * Ex- 
 ercises,' my knitting, and a clean towel ! 
 
 ** The cabin is nine feet by eighteen, and six feet high 
 except where the skylight is. 
 
 " Cape pigeons, boobies and albatrosses fly at the stern 
 of the ship. Captain Lucas tells us that the boobies some- 
 times light on the ship, and that when they do so, they 
 fall asleep immediately, and the sailors catch them. 
 
 ''I have finished Holland's Life, and admire Lincoln 
 more than ever. Our days are greatly shortened. It is 
 too dark to write more than that Isabella loves you all." 
 
 " Thursday^ May ^4, 1866. 
 
 " We have seen a wonderful sight to-day ! Land ! I was 
 sitting in my berth, just about to set the heel of a stocking 
 (important fact ! ) when Mr. Grant called down the com- 
 panionway, ' Land, ho ! ' We all rushed to the quarter- 
 deck to look at three clouds on the horizon. The largest 
 is called ' Inaccessible Island,' or ' Tristan d' Acunha.' It 
 has been inhabited, but the captain thinks it is not at 
 present. Ships very seldom sight it. The island has no 
 harbor. Its longitude is 120° 3' and latitude about 37°. 
 
 *' While off the South American coast our course was 
 
62 BY THE GKEAT WALL 
 
 somewhat westward after passing St. Eoque. At noon 
 the steward had to put the clocks back every day. Now 
 he puts them forward ten, fifteen, or twenty minutes, ac- 
 cording to our progress. 
 
 "We have beautiful weather still, and are on deck a 
 great deal. When, however, the wind is so strong that we 
 are driven down, we do not think it much of a hardship, 
 remembering that we shall the sooner reach our desired 
 haven. 
 
 " We are still pleasantly busied with our Chinese, and 
 latterly I with French also. 
 
 "The clipper Oriental^ some time since, made the voyage 
 from New York to Hongkong in eighty-one days. So far, 
 we are even with her, and the captain's ambition is to keep 
 up all along. No other ship has ever done the same, and 
 her owners have never sent her to China since. So we all 
 talk about equalling the Oriental ! We may do it and 
 may not. I don't care, for my part, as Tm used noyr to 
 sea life and enjoy it. The next land we shall see will be 
 Java Head. I hope to send this letter from Angler.'^ 
 
 ''June 2, 1866, 
 " When I wrote last we were making 250 miles per day 
 as our average. Since then we have had calms. We 
 were about 400 miles south of the Cape of Good Hope. 
 The captain has been obliged to go south for favorable 
 winds. Our latitude is 47°. We have not had sun at the 
 right time for finding longitude for some days and guess it 
 between 20° and 30°. If there were dangerous islands 
 here we might feel anxious.'' 
 
 ''June 3 J 1866, 
 " My thoughts are of Thomas on this birthday of his. 
 Though I am far off from you, with seas between us, my 
 
THE JOUENEY TO CHINA 63 
 
 heart is there with you. It abides there, and yet it is here, 
 aud will find content, and home, and work in China, 
 should we reach her shores. 
 
 '^ . . June eleventh, — and I have not been on deck 
 since I wrote last. We have had storms and squalls con- 
 tinuously. Once in a while the stars have been out, and 
 we have had an occasional gleam of sunshine. The last 
 day of real sunshine was the twenty-ninth of May. The 
 ship was sailing very slowly and the captain took the op- 
 portunity to fish for birds. A hook and line baited with 
 pork was very attractive to the Cape pigeons, mollymawks 
 and albatrosses. Such a splashing and fighting in the 
 water as they made ! Three mollymawks were caught, — 
 beautiful creatures, measuring six feet from tip to tip, — 
 and one albatross, measuring ten feet, three inches. The 
 hook caught in their bills, and they did not seem to be 
 hurt by that. Dragging them through the water strained 
 their wings a little. They were so strong, and resisted so 
 fiercely, when being drawn up, that it was just as much 
 as one man could do to get them on deck. They fought 
 us at first, but were somewhat helpless when set on their 
 feet. They had a great quantity of splendid feathers and 
 down, and beautiful heads, with eyes like doves' in color, 
 and very large and bright. I felt like petting them, — 
 smoothing their graceful heads and arching necks, but 
 could not have done it unless I had first tied up their bills ! 
 They looked brave and beautiful, — except when they tried 
 to walk ! They were seasick in a very few moments, and 
 much distressed, so the captain let them down into the 
 water. All but the albatross swam off gay ly. It tried to 
 fly, but its wings were too much hurt. The next day, 
 when the Sam Eussell lay as ^ idle as a painted ship upon 
 a painted ocean,' everybody talked mysteriously about 
 the albatross in connection with the calm. Mr. Grant 
 had tied a bit of board around its neck with our latitude 
 
64 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 and longitude scratclied on it. I wonder if any sliip will 
 ever find our bird. 
 
 *' Since that, we've had wind and storm enough. Yes- 
 terday was the grandest day yet. Waves dashed over on 
 every side. Several times a wave went over the skylight. 
 Our windows and blinds were kept shut all day. If we had 
 opened them we should have found ourselves afloat. The 
 cabin was not delightful, as there was no fire and could 
 be none, the wind being aft. The cold rains which shut 
 us up altogether ; the stifling smoke when we tried to have 
 a fire, make us wish for an end to this part of the voyage. 
 
 ** The waves are very glorious. Until yesterday the 
 steward has said, ^ Oh, this ain't a circumstance ! ' Now 
 he admits that we have a storm. Last night the fore- 
 royal yard was broken by the gale, and this morning a 
 wave came in over the cabin table, as the door was hurriedly 
 opened. The steward has threatened us that some day 
 we shall have to go breakfastless, when a wave has car- 
 ried off the food. Fortunately for us this morning, the 
 table wasn't set. 
 
 *^I write lying in my berth. The wind has abated, so 
 that our blind is open, but the window must still be shut. 
 I gasp for air that hasn't been breathed again and again 
 a hundred times. Notwithstanding all that is unpleasant, 
 we feel contented and happy. These are but ' light afflic- 
 tions.' It is odd to read the first part of this letter, and 
 see how much we felt our discomforts at first. 
 
 "I never tire looking at these wonderful waves. The 
 grandeur of the sea cannot find complete expression in 
 words. Niagara seems like a child's toy in my memory 
 now, and Minnehaha, a drop of water, in comparison. 
 The great blue waves are crowned with emerald and 
 foam, as they pursue us. They break on the ship's side 
 with the sound of thunder, and she quivers as if with fear 
 or pain. She seems alive to me sometiines," 
 
THE JOURNEY TO CHINA 65 
 
 ^^June 18th, Lat. 31°, Long, 95°. 
 
 "Our ship goes on swimmingly and has carried us into 
 mild weather. We have a perfect contrast to our former 
 discomfort. The ship is nearly steady, having just 
 enough motion to put us quietly and happily to sleep at 
 night. During our stormy weather, I could not sleep 
 well on account of the tossing of the ship and the feverish 
 air. 
 
 *^ Wednesday night, a sea came over and in the cabin. 
 It did not strike hard enough to break our windows, or 
 we should have been flooded. I heard a noise of thunder, 
 and sprang up in the darkness, wondering if the ship had 
 struck an iceberg, and if we should sink. In a minute 
 the water poured in around the window which I supposed 
 was broken. When I heard the captain calling, 
 * Steward ! a mop ! ' and growling about the fellow at the 
 wheel, I understood the case. Mark lit our lamp, and we 
 began to repair the damage. I used one of my pillows to 
 sop up the water in my berth ; the steward handed us a 
 mop, and we (Mark, rather) mopped the floor. I found 
 my books were wet, so wiped them off, and wrapped 
 them in my shawl. After handing out our wet pillows 
 and bedclothes to the steward, we went to sleep again." 
 
 '^ Tuesday, June 19, 1866. 
 
 ** We expect to pass Angier, June twenty-ninth, if we 
 have reasonable progress. I hope to send you my letter 
 from there. I think, written as it is, on this thin paper, 
 it will not cost more than a dollar, or a dollar and ten 
 cents perhaps. 
 
 ^* From Angier, two weeks more will take us to Hong- 
 kong, and our long voyage will be ended. We shall hope 
 to reach there safely. God^s hand protects us. I am so 
 used to the sea that I feel as safe as if on land. Un- 
 doubtedly we are as safe," 
 
66 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 *^ Wednesday J June 27th. 
 
 "We have had little wind, and the captain is blue. 
 Our days are warm in this Indian Ocean. On the poop- 
 deck the breeze is cool, and the nights are brilliant with 
 the brightest of moonlight. I feel sorry that sleep is a 
 necessity. 
 
 " I think I have not mentioned our Bible class to you. 
 We wanted to have one composed of the sailors, but it 
 was not allowed, so we have had it among ourselves ; 
 studying the Gospel of John, and meeting at ten, Sab- 
 bath mornings. '^ 
 
 ** Thursday^ June 28, 1866. 
 
 " We are all on the lookout for Java Head and are ex- 
 pecting to hear * Land Ho ! ' every minute. How glad 
 we shall be to see it ! 
 
 " Monday, three whales were seen by the few who were 
 up early in the morning. We were not so favored. 
 Grant called out, ^W'ale, w'ale ! ' but we didn't hear 
 him, and couldn't have gone to look at the ' w'ales ' if we 
 had. Yesterday we saw a school of porpoises and lots of 
 ^ boatswains.' This is a bird with a very curious tail, one 
 feather of which is as long as the bird itself. Freddy 
 says they have ' marlin-spikes for tails.' We see schools 
 of flying fish again. Fred gave me a wing this morn- 
 ing. 
 
 ^^Mr. Williams has a gift in the story -telling line. 
 Fred could listen to his Bible stories by the hour, and so 
 could I. Other stories, too, come in play. I wish Robbie 
 and Cornelia could be auditors. It would please Cornelia 
 as well to sit on the bamboo settee on the poop-deck, and 
 hear about Joseph, as to listen to Anna's stories, told 
 while we were sewing together, of * what the stitch saw in 
 China.' The stitch is nearly there, Cornelia ! 
 
 " Last night we had a thunder-storm. Two of ^ the 
 
THE JOUENEY TO CHINA 67 
 
 boys^ were sent up to reef the royal, and as the ship 
 tossed, they were afraid. The captain had to threaten to 
 * rope's end' them, before they could do their work 
 properly. In fair weather the decks are swept every 
 evening and scrubbed every morning. Sometimes they 
 commence scrubbing the upper deck by four in the 
 morning. The water runs off on the lee side, or if the 
 ship is nearly upright, on both sides, so I have to close 
 our window when the splashing commences. 
 
 ^'I have learned all about the names of masts, yards, 
 sails and decks, but haven't succeeded in learning which 
 are halliards^ braces or sheets^ or any of the rest. I 
 wouldn't believe at first that sheets were ropes ! 
 
 ^'The racks for our plates are still on the table, though 
 we do not absolutely need them now. They are about 
 two inches deep. In stormy weather another device is 
 necessary to keep the dishes of food in place. A table- 
 cloth is rolled together, and laid in scallops between the 
 racks for our plates, and the dishes, of food put in the 
 scallops to keep them somewhat still. Once the castor 
 was set down on the table, and fell over, anointing us all 
 with oil and vinegar. The steward carries it around gen- 
 erally in rolling weather. 
 
 ^*I ought to have told Eobbie and Cornelia how Fred 
 was scared when we crossed the equator. Neptune is 
 supposed to come on board ships when near the line and 
 shave the heads of any men or boys who have not 
 previously crossed it. He gives them a bath in sea water, 
 and torments them generally, until they treat him or give 
 money. The sailors who have already crossed the line 
 help him, and sometimes novices have rough usage. 
 Fred was well frightened, and Smith somewhat, by the 
 tales of Neptune's probable deeds. When the time came, 
 the sailors set a tarred barrel on fire and threw it over- 
 board, calling Fred to look at Neptune's boat. He cried 
 
68 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 with fear, but when he saw the light rapidly falling be- 
 hind us, decided to laugh with the rest 
 
 *' When we were south of the line, we began to look for 
 the Southern Cross and Magellan's Clouds. Many of the 
 constellations of the JS^orthern Hemisphere are finer, to 
 my eye, than the Cross. The Clouds are very fine clusters 
 of nebulae, and look like circular sections of the Milky 
 Way, with the larger stars taken out. One night not 
 long ago, the gentlemen saw two of Jupiter's moons with 
 an opera glass. None of us had any map of the heavens 
 accessible, so that we missed recognizing the many bril- 
 liant stars which looked at us night after night with un- 
 familiar faces." 
 
 ^^June 29th. 
 *^Not past Angier yet, nor have we seen land. There 
 is a strong current against us, running out through the 
 Straits of Sunda. It is so strong that the breeze we had 
 last night could not even keep us in statu quo. We were 
 forty miles to leeward of Java Head yesterday noon, 
 and this morning are no nearer. In fact we lost two 
 miles during the night, and if we had had no wind, we 
 should have lost thirty. A heavy thunder-storm came 
 up in the middle of the night. The captain and mate 
 giving orders ; which the men repeated ; the thunder 
 drowning all other sounds for a moment at a time ; the 
 laughter of several on the quarter-deck ; — mingled at 
 first in my dreams, and then waked me. *Haul taut 
 your weather braces ! ' ' Haul taut your topsail sheets ! ^ 
 
 * Haul taut the weather braces, sir ! ' ^ Haul taut the top- 
 sail sheets, sir ! ' ^ Ahoy, ahoy, ahoy, a ! ' ^ Belay that ! ' 
 
 * Belay, sir ! ' ' What are you doing forward there % ' 
 
 * Ahoy, aha, ahoy ! ' ^ Decker ! Go up the miz- 
 zen royal ! ' * Ahoy, aha, ahoy ! ' ^ Go out on the 
 crotchet-yard arm ! ' * Screw down these ventilators 
 
THE JOURNEY TO CHINA 69 
 
 here ! ' Imagine all this said in stentorian tones and as 
 rapidly as possible, emphasized by frequent claps of 
 thunder, and laughter, filling in a pause that came but 
 once J — and you have a picture of the five minutes before 
 the rain. Then the gentlemen, who had rushed up to 
 help, came down in mirthful mood. The captain had put 
 our fellow passenger. Smith, at the wheel. Smith the 
 timorous. Smith the torpid ! It was so comical a sight 
 that Mark had to make some commemorative lines. 
 Here they are, — all a burlesque, of course. — Smith thinks 
 them fine ! 
 
 " * Smith at the Wheel 
 
 '''June 28, 1866 
 
 " * Homer sang of Achilles, Virgil of ^neas, and I of 
 Smith ! 
 
 ** * The faint, stmggling moonbeams to me did reveal 
 The face of a hero, all glowing with zeal. 
 Sam Russell seemed conscious, in timbers and keel, 
 That a master hand held her, — brave Smith at the wheel ! 
 
 '* * The lightning's fierce glance and the thunder's loud roar 
 Made timid ones shake in their shoes ever more ; 
 But with muscles of iron, and fingers of steel. 
 Stood firm at his post, — brave Smith at the wheel ! 
 
 ** * When fierce tempests howl on the billowy main, 
 
 While tall masts are bending, and staunch timbers strain, 
 
 Some manage the sails, and some hold the reel ; 
 
 Good captain, we beg you ! Place Smith at the wheel ! 
 
 ** * You may think us officious in this our request, 
 
 But his excellent traits can't by words be expressed; 
 
 He is good at a nap, he is good at a meal. 
 
 But there's one thing most certain, he's good at the wheel. 
 
 " * For two days we've stood and have fastened our gaze 
 Where we think Java Head lies hid in the haze ; 
 Our chickens are gone, and our pigs no more squeal, 
 But we'll do well enough while we've Smith at the wheel I 
 
70 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 ** ' We know that Bill Doughty is skillful and true, 
 When no danger threatens, we think he will do ; 
 But you cannot imagine what safety we feel 
 If we have the assurance that Smith's at the wheel ! 
 
 " * All through the long hours of the tropical night, 
 Among the strange fancies that haunted my sight, 
 A form evermore cross my vision would steal ; — 
 It was the slight figure of Smith at the wheel ! ' 
 
 *^ As they came down the companionway, Smith says, 
 *How quick we mariners come down.' 'We've left the 
 *' ancient mariner " to take care of the ship,' says Mark, 
 meaning the captain, as he is frequently called * the old 
 man ' by Smith and the others." 
 
 ^^ Afternoon, 
 " ^Land ho ! to leeward ! ' said Lyman a few minutes 
 ago. We went up to look at a cloud eighteen miles off, 
 which is said to be Java Head. I looked for a minute, 
 and came down to write again. ... In half an hour 
 the cloud looked like land ; in a few minutes more it was 
 land ! We have done little else but sit on deck and watch 
 the new revelations of beauty which grow brighter mo- 
 mentarily. There is a rock off Java Head which looks 
 like a bird, which the captain pointed out to us. Soon 
 we could see the rocks plainly, and the green moss and 
 shrubs which cover them. Farther along there were 
 trees, — real palm trees! With Grant's opera glass we 
 could see vines on some of the trees, and Fred thought he 
 could see monkeys with cocoanuts in their cheeks. He 
 got a handful of salt to put on the tail of the rock bird 
 which I mentioned, and started to get some for the 
 monkey's tails, but we persuaded him to wait till the 
 ship neared land ! Oh, it was so good to see land ! We 
 have a fine breeze and go on swiftly. The moon is shin- 
 ing now, and I must go up and have a walk. I have fin- 
 
THE JOURNEY TO CHINA Tl 
 
 ished my stockings this evening. The knitting-needles 
 have been quite tarnished from exposure to the salt air. 
 
 *' Henry, I wonder if you will find this letter in the 
 office before your birthday in September. I hope so, 
 and think you will all be glad, as we are, that God has 
 prospered us so much, and that He has made our voyage 
 so pleasant. 
 
 " As I think of putting this in a thin envelope to send 
 from Angler if we have opportunity, I will only write, 
 
 ^* Love to all, from your 
 
 "Isabella." 
 
 ^^6: SO A. M.J JuneSah. 
 
 '^Sailing along nicely in the Straits of Sunda, and 
 about thirty miles from Angier. We have just been up 
 on deck, counting the native boats. There are fourteen 
 to be seen j tiny boats with large sails, each one looking 
 like a nautilus. 
 
 " Let me give you Mark's description of the day. 
 
 " ^ We could scarcely keep our minds on Chinese this 
 morning after the cry of " Land ho ! " When through, 
 the captain told us that the Philistines were upon us, and 
 looking out, we saw two boats coming at full speed. Each 
 was manned by six oarsmen, half naked, with handker- 
 chiefs on their heads (for Eobinson Crusoe hats), pulling 
 away most manfully.^ (They kept time by uttering con- 
 stantly, sharp, quick, guttural cries, ^ A-e, o-e, a-e, o-e ! ^ 
 or ' Ah-e, o-e, ah-e ! ' something after the fashion of the 
 cry or grunt which Dakota women make when dancing.) 
 * We gazed with interest on these Javanese. They are 
 about five feet high, quite dark in complexion. Whole 
 boat-loads boarded the ship on Sabbath morning, as we 
 crept slowly up to Angier. One could not help feeling 
 sad to see them as they offered their wares, with gesticu- 
 lations and outstretched hands. They know no Sabbath. 
 
72 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 But they liave souls. Java, some day, will belong to 
 Christ.' " 
 
 " Thursday, July 12, 1866, 
 " We are now in the China Sea, about 290 miles from 
 Hongkong. I felt such disappointment in not sending 
 my letter from Angier that I've not had the heart to 
 write since. We had such light wind that we did not 
 reach Angier till nearly noon on Sabbath. We felt that 
 we ought not to send our letters out on that day, but the 
 disappointment was hard to bear. I had been counting 
 so much on your hearing from us a month earlier than 
 you would expect ! Now we must wait till we reach 
 Hongkong. 
 
 ** July third we saw many beautiful islands and a wreck. 
 The great frame of an iron ship lay stranded on the white 
 sand-beach. It was wrecked on a rock six feet under 
 water. We passed within two miles of the rock, but as 
 it was daylight, and the breeze favorable, we were in no 
 danger. Shortly afterwards, we entered the China Sea. 
 The strait which connects the two has three channels. 
 Macclesfield was the one through which we passed. 
 After passing Gaspar Straits and an island of the same 
 name, the really dangerous part of our voyage was over. 
 The Java Sea is full of sand-banks, shoals, and sunken 
 rocks. ^ The water in the Strait of Sunda and in the Java 
 Sea was green, — very different from the deep blue of the 
 ocean. Now that we are in the China Sea it is deep blue 
 again. 
 
 " On the Fourth we crossed the equator atone o'clock ; 
 the two cannon were fired off ; we were treated to rasp- 
 berry syrup and sponge cake, and wound up the day by 
 the light of a few rockets, and the singing of the * Star 
 Spangled Banner.' 
 
 * The Samuel Russell was afterwards wrecked in Gaspar Straits. 
 
THE JOURNEY TO CHINA 73 
 
 " We have very sudden squalls of wind and rain here 
 in the China Sea. The sailors have to fly around until 
 they have taken in the studdingsails (* stunsails/ they 
 are called), and have furled the royals. If the wind 
 blows very hard, the topgallant ('tugallant') sails are 
 lowered but not furled. 
 
 "On Sabbath, the eighth, Mark preached about 
 Naaman the Syrian. The captain was there, and most 
 of the passengers and sailors. 
 
 "Last week the sailors holy-stoned the main deck. 
 This week they have oiled it ; have painted the outside 
 of the cabin and the quarter-deck ; have tarred the rope 
 ladder, and to-day are holy-stoning the poop-deck. 
 Such a noise over our heads ! I feel as if I should go 
 crazy ! Ship cleaning is decidedly unpleasant. Yester- 
 day Lyman and Bancroft touched some of the new paint 
 by accident and had to catch it ! Mrs. Doolittle and I 
 have done the same, and the captain smiled graciously 
 on us. He takes house-cleaning as hard as any woman, 
 and is very irritable. His rooms and the cabins have 
 been cleaned. Our staterooms happily are left un- 
 touched ! " 
 
 " July 13, 1866. 
 
 "We crawl towards Hongkong at the rate of two 
 miles an hour, and have given up hoping to mail our let- 
 ters this week. We are about eighty miles this side, and 
 with any progress for the last twenty-four hours, worth 
 the name, we would have been there. But we have been 
 so favored throughout the voyage, that there is no 
 ground for complaint. Only we feel a little disappointed 
 about our letters. 
 
 "I am sewing instead of studying these days. I have 
 made my summer Balmoral, and the skirt to my corn- 
 colored dress, and have cut out my pink calico. It is 
 
74 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 rather of a pleasure to do something of the kind 
 again. 
 
 *'^ A few days ago while we were at dinner, a school of 
 dolphins passed at the stern of the ship. There were as 
 many as a thousand of them, the captain said. Many of 
 them were four feet long, and they were quite brilliant in 
 color. 
 
 *^ We have had a good deal of laughter over Smithes 
 chickens these days. He bought some very young ones 
 in Angier, and they have gone by the name of the 
 ^humming-birds^ among the sailors. The captain ob- 
 jected to his having them cooked here, saying that Mr. 
 Low was able to furnish the Sam Bussell with all necessary 
 food. Bancroft and the rest joked Smith about having 
 to carry half a dozen chickens in each hand when going 
 through the streets of Hongkong. But nobody took 
 care of them, and when the tiny things were round the 
 deck, they were trod on, one by one, till but three were 
 left, of which Smith had one for breakfast the other day. 
 
 ^^ When in the Java Sea, we passed not far from where 
 the Alabama commenced pursuit of the Contest Captain 
 Lucas showed us the places on the chart, telling us all 
 about it.'^ 
 
 * ' Saturday J July 15th. 
 
 "I have been packing this evening, and have every- 
 thing ready to lock up, so that we can leave them when 
 we go to church in Hongkong, to-morrow ! We took on 
 a Chinese pilot this afternoon at four o'clock. The pilot 
 boat had two odd little flags, one red and white, which 
 looked like a sweet pea blossom when the boat came 
 near enough for us to distinguish colors. It was the 
 Chinese pilot flag. The other, a square, blue flag with 
 a round, white spot in the centre, is the universal pilot 
 flag, ^No. 8,' or *Blue Peter,' by name. Our pilot 
 came aboard with his queue hanging nearly to his feet. 
 
THE JOURNEY TO CHINA 75 
 
 He asked twenty-five dollars, but the captain answered 
 resolutely, ' Ten ! ' Captain Lucas has been into Hong- 
 kong so many times that he doesn't really care to have a 
 pilot, only that it is customary, and Low and Company 
 would probably prefer that he should. * You no takee 
 ten, I no wantee,' says the captain firmly. ^Cap'n, 
 fifteen ! ' ^ No ! ' says the captain. Mr. Pilot marches 
 off, and commences to climb down the side of the ship, 
 all the time looking around and studying furtively the 
 captain's expression. The captain turns away, and Mr. 
 Pilot calls out, * Cap'n ! Twelve dollars ! ' A pause. 
 * Cap'n ! I takee in for ten ! ' 
 
 *^I have just been up to see Jupiter's moon, and saw a 
 nice little star by the aid of a glass. Good-night. 
 
 **Your 
 
 "Isabella." 
 
 The good ship Samuel Bussell anchored in Hongkong 
 harbor on Sabbath morning, the sixteenth of July. 
 Hastening from the ship to the nearest Protestant church, 
 the missionary party found themselves the first arrivals 
 among the worshippers. Mr. Williams afterwards com- 
 memorated this experience in lines written for his 
 children. 
 
 ** In Hongkong's port, on Sabbath morn, 
 We gazed upon the shore ; 
 Our voyage, days one hundred long, 
 At length was safely o'er. 
 
 " To worship God we were intent; 
 By sounds our heads were whirled. 
 Through narrow streets our steps we bent, 
 Dropped in another world. 
 
 ** The worshippers we had to blame, 
 We left them in the lurch ; 
 Though fifteen thousand miles we came, 
 We beat them all to church I " 
 
76 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 At Hongkong they were entertained at the Bishop's 
 residence, which seemed like a paradise, with tropical 
 vegetation all about. And here the home letters were 
 mailed at last. It is a matter of interest, in comparing 
 the postal rates of that day and this, — to read the note, — 
 ** Only three dollars and twenty-five cents for mailing our 
 letters." 
 
 From Hongkong, up the Pearl Eiver to Canton, and 
 on to Shanghai and Tientsin, they journeyed. Some 
 memories written later give glimpses of their impres- 
 sions : — ^^ At Canton how narrow and crowded the streets ! 
 how clean and blue the people ! We visit temples, in 
 one of which, sacred hogs wallow in common mire ; we go 
 through magnificent bronze and china stores ; we visit 
 hills on whose southern exposure are countless graves; 
 and some of our party pass through the leper village. 
 But our chief time is given to visiting schools and mak- 
 ing inquiries about hospital and other missionary work. 
 . . . July takes us to I^ingpo, where we are again 
 cheered by the progress and growth of Christ's kingdom. 
 When we reach Shanghai under a burning sun, we re- 
 member who it is who has promised to be a shelter, * a 
 shadow from the heat.' I see our steamer slowly work- 
 ing up the Pei Ho. Here is Tientsin, a vast city. It is 
 to be our home for a time.'' 
 
 ^^ Tientsin, China, Sept. 18, 1866, 
 " Dear Alfred and Maey : 
 
 " It is difficult to realize that I am on the opposite 
 side of the world from you. I don't feel as though I were 
 far off, not farther off than Minnesota used to seem from 
 Illinois. I shall not be likely to come back soon, but if I 
 were to go, I should not dread the voyage if we had as 
 good a ship and as experienced a captain as we had when 
 coming here. I think I should enjoy another sea voyage 
 
THE JOURNEY TO CHINA 17 
 
 even more than I did the first. There were many things 
 unpleasant about ship life, but I should know what to ex- 
 pect, and being forewarned is to be forearmed, according 
 to the proverb. There were a great many thiDgs which 
 were very pleasant. The pictures of the sea which I 
 have in my memory are worth more to me than all the 
 ocean pictures ever painted. They far overbalance all the 
 discomforts of the voyage. 
 
 " If I were an invalid, I cannot say that I should fancy 
 a voyage to America by the way we came. When the 
 railway across the western territory of the United States 
 is finished, it will be a nice excursion trip from New 
 York to Peking. A trip by steamer from San Francisco 
 to Shanghai would be very pleasant. At any rate, it will 
 be nice when oar letters won't be more than five or six 
 weeks old, instead of ten or twelve. 
 
 *^ I don't like very well such thin paper as we are us- 
 ing, except when postage comes to be paid. Before long 
 it will be so much less that we shall not need to use such 
 gossamer sheets. It has always been a sort of pleasure to 
 me to scratch out carefully my mistakes in writing, — a 
 recreation, when my brain didn't work freely. I don't 
 have it any longer, and ' Othello's occupation ' was no 
 greater loss than this of mine ! 
 
 " I haven't told you the news. Chieh, a native helper, 
 came to Mr. Stanley last week, and with tears in his eyes 
 begged him to leave Tientsin, saying that there was a 
 plot throughout the empire to massacre the foreigners in 
 ten, fifteen or twenty days. This need not alarm you, for 
 if there is anything of it, you would hear by the Eussian 
 telegraph before this letter can reach you. Nor need it be 
 cause of alarm in any case, for God will keep us. ^ Un- 
 less the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in 
 vain,' we have said often to each other at night when 
 hearing the watchman on his rounds. The difficulty has 
 
78 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 arisen at Peking on account of the building of a cathedral 
 by the French priests. The spire overlooked the Em- 
 peror's grounds, and there was great excitement. Sol- 
 diers went up from here in great numbers to tear the 
 spire and the whole building down.'' 
 
 ^^ October 20, 1866, 
 " . . . The disease and wretchedness about us are 
 hard to see. I feel sometimes as if it were wrong for us 
 to live in comfort while there is so much misery which 
 might be alleviated. In our daily walks we see numbers 
 of poor, of maimed, halt and blind, in all the streets and 
 lanes of the city. They knock their heads on the ground 
 to every passer-by, hoping to have a cash or two given 
 them. Of course their aim is to look as miserable as pos- 
 sible. Their minds are in worse case than their bodies. 
 * Darkness which can be felt' They have no hope for 
 this life nor for the life to come. One poor old woman 
 in Shanghai had been attending the Christian services until 
 she lost all faith in Chinese superstition, but before she 
 had made up her mind to be a Christian she fell sick. 
 She was much troubled about her future state, and con- 
 sulted the missionary. ^ I no kneel to English God ; no 
 can go top-side. I no k'o t'ou to Chinese josh ; no can 
 go bottom-side. Where I go ?' 
 
 *^We are expecting the mail constantly. Our papers 
 are even more interesting than they were at home. We 
 have the Congregationalist and Song Messenger ; Mr. 
 Stanley the Independent and Christian JBierald ; Mr. Doo- 
 little, the New TorJc Times and China Mail. As for 
 magazines, they're not much good, coming only once 
 in six months or so, by ship. I don't know about con- 
 tinuing the Song Messenger. It's nice to get it and know 
 a little still about music and musical affairs, but whether 
 or no it wouldn^t be my duty to spend the time on 
 
THE JOURNEY TO CHINA 79 
 
 Chinese, I haven't decided. One mustn't wear oneself 
 out by keeping at one thing always. Still I don't think 
 I'm in much danger of that. 
 
 ". . . We are beginning to feel as if we would 
 like to know where we are to be stationed. I shouldn't 
 be surprised if we started for Kalgan in a few weeks. 
 Nor shall I be if we stay here. . o o" 
 
 '^ February 11, 1867. 
 
 " . . . "We have had a mission meeting. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Gulick came from Kalgan, and Mr. Blodget and 
 Mr. Goodrich from Peking. After the devotional meet- 
 ings, three days were given to business of which there was 
 any quantity on hand. It was decided that Mr. Williams 
 and I should go to Kalgan for one year." 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Williams were most fortunate in hav- 
 ing Mr. and Mrs. Gulick as their co-workers in these 
 first years at Kalgan. Dr. John T. Gulick is now well 
 known as the missionary scientist of his age. Eomanes, 
 the disciple of Darwin, called Dr. Gulick " the most pro- 
 found Darwinian thinker of post-Darwinian days," and 
 through Dr. Gulick' s Christian scholarship was led back 
 from atheism to belief in God. 
 
 ''Peking, Feb, 25, 1867. 
 
 ^'Having had my first experience of travel in China, 
 let me tell you something of the journey from Tientsin to 
 Peking. 
 
 ^*Mr. Williams and I left Tientsin in company with 
 Mr. and Mrs. Gulick, our future associates, on Thursday 
 21st, the anniversary of our marriage. 
 
 " Arrangements were made to have carts come for our 
 luggage Wednesday morning, so that there would be time 
 for them to reach Peking before the Sabbath, but the day 
 passed and no carts came. 
 
 "The ' go-between ' said the carts were refractory and 
 unreasonable, but the truth probably was^ that while he 
 
80 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 had contracted to send us two baggage carts and one pas- 
 senger cart for 20,500 cash, — about twenty-one Mexican 
 dollars, — he was trying to make the carters go for half 
 that sum. 
 
 ^' The evening passed and we felt disappointment at be- 
 ing obliged to defer our journey till after Sunday. But 
 at midnight the carts came, and were loaded and started 
 off by one o^ clock. They probably travelled the rest of 
 the night and till ten or eleven the next morning. This is 
 the Chinese style of doing the thing. A carter don't care 
 how early he is up, if he can stop at four or five in the af- 
 ternoon, feed his mules and himself and be asleep by dark. 
 One reason is that robbers are bolder in the early part of 
 the night than towards morning. 
 
 ^' Thursday morning my cart was at the gate, the horses 
 and Mrs. Gulick's donkey saddled, and I crept into the 
 cart quite wondering what my new method of locomotion 
 would be like. ^Yih,' said the driver, and we were off 
 on a trot, jolting over the rough stone pavement. 
 
 ^^ The Chinese carts are very heavily and clumsily made. 
 The wheel tires are put on in pieces about half a foot in 
 length, nailed with large spikes, with which also the wood 
 of the wheel is filled to keep it from splitting. The 
 covered part of the cart is generally about four feet 
 long, two wide and three feet high. At the back of mine 
 a trunk was strapped, on the front board the driver's 
 bedding. Inside there was but a tiny den left for me, 
 as valise, provision box, bandbox, baskets, a feather-bed, 
 two pairs of pillows, some blankets, comforts, shawls, be- 
 sides a goat-skin rug were arranged to make my ride easy, 
 if that was possible. One gets terrible jolts when riding 
 in an empty cart, but mine was rather too well filled. 
 The driver was a fat, good-natured fellow with back 
 so broad that, except when he walked, I had only an oc- 
 casional glimpse of anything beside his dirty gray gown* 
 
THE JOURNEY TO CHINA 81 
 
 '* The mule in the shafts did all the work while the 
 other, harnessed by long ropes to the right side of the 
 cart, was merely ornamental. It was quite careful to 
 keep the ropes slack. If the driver touched it with the 
 whip, by mistake, it pranced about and broke the ropes. 
 The driver then said * Yih, yih,^ in a soothing way, sprang 
 from his seat, patted the forward mule, twisted the ropes 
 together so that they lasted for a few minutes, said * Yih ^ 
 with a lively tone, and presently went through the same 
 program again. We made no very great progress, but 
 I rather liked occasionally to have a look at the travellers 
 whom we met. There were all sorts of odd-looking peo- 
 ple and things. Now there came along a half dozen fat, 
 self-satisfied men on tiny donkeys, and a fellow on a queer 
 sort of pack-saddle, which looked like a sawhorse. 
 Then some military Chinese jolting uncomfortably on 
 horses, and numbers of carts, from each of which peeped 
 four or five faces eager for a sight of the foreigners. 
 
 ^^The Chinese seem to be made of gutta-percha, as an 
 indefinite number can get entirely out of sight in one of 
 these carts. If there is anything to see out come their 
 heads like wads from a pop -gun. 
 
 *^ The driver's whip was quite a curiosity. A slender 
 cane handle six or seven feet long, spliced loosely in the 
 middle and a small cord for a lash, seemed more for orna- 
 ment than use. The drivers of our baggage carts had 
 still more surprising ones ; they looked like fishing-rods 
 and lines. 
 
 *^ We stopped for lunch at an inn, ordering mutton, 
 and hot water for our tea. A low table was set on the 
 kang, — or Chinese couch, — our rugs laid at its sides, and 
 we sat down to try the flavor of mutton hashed up with 
 a kind of garlic which has so strong a smell that, com- 
 paratively speaking, onions have none. 
 
 "Mr. and Mrs. Gulick ate with chop-sticks, as they 
 
82 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 had learned to do so tolerably well, but the rest of us 
 preferred the barbarous foreign style, as far as we could 
 follow it. We had provided ourselves knives and 
 teaspoons, but no forks. Another proof of our foreign 
 stupidity was, that our taste was better suited by the con- 
 tents of a tin box filled with such barbarian follies as 
 mince pie, cold chicken, bread and butter, than by celes- 
 tial food. 
 
 " That night we had further experience of life at a 
 Chinese inn. Driving into the large courtyard we were 
 shown rooms, into which our bedding and other things 
 were carried. Then Mr. Gulick shouted ^ Innkeeper ! ' 
 ' Aye ! ' ^ Bring face-washing water ! ' ' Aye ! ^ ^ Pre- 
 pare fire — heat the kangs ! ' ^ Aye ! ' ' Bring boiling 
 water ! ^ ^ Aye ! ^ Presently a servant came in with two 
 small tubs of warm water, and setting them on the brick 
 floor returned to bring a teakettle of hot water for tea, 
 and an armful of dry weeds and sorghum stalks, with 
 which he made fires in the small fireplaces under the 
 kangs. Air passages are built through these, which gen- 
 erally connect with chimneys. In Peking and its 
 neighborhood, however, none of the houses have chim- 
 neys at all. 
 
 ^' When the kangs are not well built they smoke badly, 
 as ours did that first night. So we padlocked the door, 
 and sat in Mr. Gulick' s room till ready for sleep. By 
 that time the fire was out, and the room partly cleared 
 from smoke. 
 
 ** We thought our feather-bed very nice at first, but the 
 kang was quite warm and heated the bed so that by mid- 
 night we were perspiring uncomfortably. I^ext morning 
 I was as stiff as a bear coming out of winter quarters, and 
 when we started before daybreak, Mr. Williams had to 
 put me in the cart, for I could hardly walk. 
 
 ^^ The morning was very long and wearisome. By af- 
 
THE JOURNEY TO CHINA 83 
 
 ternoon I was able to ride a little on the donkey, which I 
 found to have an easier gait than any horse I ever rode. 
 Mr. Williams took my place in the cart, and was as sick 
 as when at sea for a while. A friend of ours had a worse 
 experience. Starting to Peking in a cart she was so sick 
 that she had to walk half the way, and ride on a shaft 
 the rest of the time. 
 
 " As I had opportunity to see very little of the scenery 
 between Tientsin and Peking, I have the impression that 
 there is but little to see, especially in the winter. Almost 
 the whole country is under cultivation. Here and there, 
 among the fields, are graveyards. Frequently these are 
 walled, and there are always many evergreens in and 
 around them. These are really beautiful, and are a great 
 comfort to the eye, after seeing such stretches of bare, 
 yellow fields. 
 
 ^* One or two miles apart are the villages of farmers. 
 These are walled with mud or sorghum stalks, or both. 
 The stalk fences are pretty, sometimes, as the Chinese 
 have many ingenious ways of weaving the stalks together. 
 Often one of these fences is plastered with mud, and when 
 a coating of cement is added the wall is strong, and looks 
 quite respectable. The farmers live in these villages for 
 mutual protection against robbers, and they have no 
 houses on their farms. The fields are not fenced, but are 
 marked out by ridges of earth, or sometimes ditches. 
 
 *' We made a long journey the next day — forty miles — 
 and were rather late in the evening. Just before reaching 
 the village where we were to stop, the driver fell asleep, 
 and the mules took an old road which had been worn 
 away by the river. Over went the cart and mules on the 
 ice. The driver had time to spring off and I to change 
 my position so that the fall did not hurt me. The cart 
 turned almost bottom upwards. The ice didn't break, as 
 I feared it would, but there were some inches of water on 
 
84 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 it. I braced myself so that my hands only were in 
 water. Mr. Williams rode up hurriedly, calling out, ^Are 
 you hurt ? ^ and was much relieved to hear a faint * All 
 right ' come from under the bed, pillows, etc. The driver 
 loosed the mules, and Mr. Williams came to my assist- 
 ance. Finding a foot and a corner of my dress he essayed 
 to pull me out, but I could not stir. Then he got out the 
 feather-bed and me, finally, safe and sound. Had the 
 ice broken the affair might have been serious. Mean- 
 while the driver had gone to the village for help. We 
 waited there, knowing it was not safe to leave our luggage, 
 and walked to and fro to avoid taking cold. 
 
 "After a while we saw lanterns, and heard voices 
 talking all at once, and the men came up. They got the 
 cart up after much tugging and scolding, and then the 
 driver made a long search for a missing string of cash, 
 bewailing his loss loudly. 
 
 "Next morning found us none the worse for our night's 
 adventure. 
 
 "The previous day we had passed several temples, 
 some of them in ruin, and a few quite picturesque. 
 Saturday we saw many, most of which were neat and 
 pretty. They had fine old trees about them, with rooks, 
 nests in the highest branches. The Chinese take great 
 pains to raise trees and to preserve them. Their idea of 
 beautiful form differs from ours, and many of their trees 
 are pruned so as to make one think of hearth brooms for 
 a giant's castle. 
 
 " I was lonely in my cage behind the driver, and Mrs. 
 Gulick wanted me to have a fair look at Peking, so she gave 
 me the donkey. I enjoyed my ride very much. There 
 was a great deal to see, — pretty villages and temples, fine 
 cemeteries, with marble and granite pillars, standing on 
 immense tortoises which were very ugly, and looked 
 quite forlorn. Then there were lions with goggle- eyes. 
 
THE JOURNEY TO CHINA 85 
 
 which were intended to look very fierce, but made a lu- 
 dicrous failure. 
 
 "I had fun with the donkey. She found out that I 
 was not her mistress, and her assinine nature asserted it- 
 self. As soon as inside the city gates, she determined to 
 take the sidewalk, instead of the raised cart road in the 
 middle of the street, so that she could start down the side 
 street whenever she pleased. We contended the matter 
 for three miles, being alternately successful. Her plans 
 for having her way were most ingenious. The donkey is 
 belied by being made the emblem of stupidity. They are 
 thought very wise by the Chinese, who assert that they 
 understand the Chinese language very well. 
 
 *' We were at last inside the great city of Peking. Its 
 streets are wide, so that their appearance is very different 
 from those in southern cities. There are plenty of dirty 
 hovels adjoining fine shops, and as the grandees and re- 
 spectable, well-fed Chinamen pass through the streets, 
 hosts of filthy, emaciated beggars follow them crying, 
 ^Have pity, sir.' 'Give me a cash.' 'Have pity, sir.' 
 
 ''On reaching the mission premises, we received the 
 kindest welcome possible. Mr. Blodget opened the great 
 doors of Mrs. Bridgman's house : 'We must open both 
 the doors to show how thoroughly welcome you are.' " 
 
 ^' Peking^ March 8 ^ 1867, 
 ". . . In preparation for going to Kalgan, we re- 
 packed three or four boxes yesterday, and selected Chi- 
 nese wall-paper, of which we take four thousand sheets, 
 as each sheet is small, measuring only thirteen by eighteen 
 inches. We dined at Minister Burlingame's at seven 
 o'clock in the evening, — not reaching home until a few 
 minutes before midnight. No wonder I'm tired, is it? 
 We have dined or ' tea-ed ' out almost every day since we 
 came, and one day we breakfasted out as well ! Mrs. 
 
B6 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 Bridgman and Mr. Blodget have not joined us in all this 
 dissipation, but we have not gone except when they ap- 
 proved of it, and said we had better go. We like the 
 Legation people, but so much visiting is too much. We 
 are asked to sing everywhere we go. The good people 
 urgently press us to bring our music, or else send for it 
 after we come. ^ Sheridan, Sheridan, Cavalry Sheridan,' 
 is a duet much called for, wherever we go." 
 
 " Kalgan, April 13 j 1867. 
 
 ** I shall not attempt a description of Peking, as I saw 
 but few of its sights. Mr. Doolittle describes most of 
 them in the last chapter of ^ Social Life of the Chinese ' 
 quite fully. 
 
 ^*We spent an afternoon in visiting the examination 
 hall and the observatory, and afterwards drove around 
 the wall of the imperial grounds. 
 
 "The instruments at the observatory for calculating 
 the sizes, distances, and movements of the celestial bodies 
 are made of bronze and are very fine indeed. 
 
 " Our visit to the examination hall was interesting also. 
 The halls in the various provinces are on the same model, 
 so much so that Mr. Doolittle' s description of the one at 
 Foo Chow will answer almost equally well for that at 
 Peking. We noticed that large jars are used here for 
 water instead of wooden troughs, as wood is much scarcer 
 than at the South. There is an artificial hill in part of 
 the Emperor's grounds. It was made of coal a long time 
 ago, as a provision of fuel in case of siege. It is enclosed 
 separately from the palace grounds. 
 
 " Going out one evening for a walk on the wall we had 
 a good view of the city. The wall itself is a wonder. 
 Some one said, * What a genius the Chinese have for pil- 
 ing up bricks and mortar.' 
 
 " We were shown the immense iron drawbridge used 
 
THE JOURNEY TO CHINA 87 
 
 over the grand canal where it ran through the city. Very 
 great power must have been required to raise it. 
 
 ^'The yellow tiled roofs of the Emperor's palaces can 
 be seen from the wall, also the blue dome of the Temple 
 of Heaven. This temple is one of the greatest objects of 
 interest in Peking. It is in the Chinese part of the city. 
 The Manchu city, especially, has a great number of trees, 
 so that the prospect from the wall in summer-time is 
 beautiful. While we were in the city the Emperor paid 
 one of his uncles a visit. For days before, the streets, 
 over which he was to pass, were being put into order, 
 and that morning yellow dust was sprinkled over them. 
 Mrs. Gulick saw the imperial Sedan chairs, the Emper- 
 or's and Prince Kung's, and five Princes' carts. The lat- 
 ter are red. There is another difference from the com- 
 mon carts. The wheels are much farther back, so that 
 they are easier vehicles to ride in. 
 
 "As the Emperor was returning, a man pressed too 
 near his Sedan. The guards chained him and dragged 
 him away instantly. Undoubtedly he was executed. 
 
 "As soon as we could obtain a good Chinese teacher, 
 we left Peking for this city. Mr. Williams and I now 
 had a litter instead of a cart, and found it very comfort- 
 able. A litter is something like a sedan chair. It has 
 more room than a cart, and is carried by mules. When 
 a few miles away from Peking and its dust, we breathed 
 free. It is said to be the dustiest city in the world. 
 White clothing cannot be kept white, and I am told can 
 never be made so again after being worn a while there. 
 
 "During the first day's journey we often heard bells 
 which sounded like cow -bells at home, and, looking out 
 under the delusion that we should see a dozen sleek cows 
 feeding in a meadow, there came a line of donkeys, shak- 
 ing their wise, long ears constantly. 
 
 "During the whole of our journey we were in si^ht of 
 
88 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 the beautiful blue hills, and almost always were sur- 
 rounded by them. The contrast between them and the 
 monotonous plains about Tientsin was delightful. 
 
 *' The second day we spent going through the Nank^ou 
 Pass, which is about thirteen miles in length. Most of 
 the way was very rough, but we enjoyed our ride in the 
 litter as much as when on level ground. It rocked con- 
 stantly, but the motion was pleasant, and we were not 
 afraid, knowing how sure-footed mules are. 
 
 *' Friends had promised us a great deal of pleasure in 
 the scenery of the pass, and it far exceeded our expecta- 
 tions. There was a constant feast for the eye. Here 
 there were immense boulders, and there, huge fragments 
 of rock. Bright little brooks were merrily winding their 
 way between. 
 
 *^ New England is outdone in the way of stones. Both 
 walls and houses of villages, outside and inside the pass, 
 are built of them, and still their number seems undimin- 
 ished. Deep gorges are full of them ; the hills look like 
 solid rock from peak to base, and the road for miles Is 
 over boulders wedged tightly together. There is so much 
 travel through the pass that these are worn smooth. 
 
 *^The inner line of the Great Wall is at the entrance 
 to the Nank'ou or Southern Mouth, and three or four 
 branches cross it. We went tjirough ten gateways. 
 These are double, as is customary with cities. The wall 
 is dilapidated in some places. The gateways are solidly 
 built and in good repair. One was very fine, having 
 much carved work, and inscriptions in six different lan- 
 guages. One of these European scholars cannot read. It 
 was written by Tartars allied closely to the Manchus. In 
 some places there was snow and ice. !N"ear by, the wil- 
 lows were growing yellow, and down in the valley be- 
 neath little vegetable beds were quite green. These were 
 the first signs of spring that we had seen. Beggars stand 
 
THE JOURNEY TO CHINA 89 
 
 in the narrowest passes, holding little baskets. When 
 they see any one coming they pick up a stone or two, 
 throw them from the path, and hold out their baskets for 
 cash. This is better than the Peking style, which is to 
 excite pity by looking and being as dirty and miserable 
 as possible. They are thoroughly lazy. 
 
 " Cottages are perched by the side of the road, or above 
 it. Some are picturesque and pretty, others have not 
 even the merit of picturesque ugliness. 
 
 " Many trains of donkeys, mules and camels passed us. 
 Occasionally the road was hardly wide enough, and the 
 litter had some hard knocks. 
 
 *' Our day in the heart of the hills was all too short. I 
 felt an impulse to go back and find a cottage among the 
 rocks, where we might tarry for a while, taking the 
 grandeur into our very souls. I cannot give you an idea 
 of the glory of these mountains. The masses of rock lie 
 at all angles to the horizon, often are perpendicular to it. 
 Nature has been both architect and sculptor among the 
 rocks. There were frowning castles, and gigantic statues. 
 Grander than these were her cathedrals, more solemn 
 than any handiwork of man. One felt overshadowed by 
 silence. *The Lord is in His holy temple,' came from 
 the heart to the lips. Truly the place was His temple, 
 and He was present there. ^ The strength of the hills is 
 His ' seemed written on every rock. And the key-note of 
 the whole happy day, an unalloyed song of praise, was 
 ^ As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the 
 Lord is round about His people from henceforth even 
 forever.' 
 
 *^ Among those everlasting hills, where God is so near, 
 men had dared to build shrines and temples to gods made 
 by their own hands. One was in ruins. The immense 
 idol was sitting there still, in grinning mockery of Him 
 who is a spirit and must be worshipped in spirit and in 
 
90 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 truth. To us who knew of the one true God, everything 
 spoke of Him. Some of the rocks, black and scarred, as 
 if by great convulsions of nature, ages ago, spoke of His 
 power and wrath. Others, mossy and beautiful, or 
 brightly variegated with yellow and gray lichens, had a 
 more cheerful voice. The trees on the mountainside, 
 climbing towards heaven, seemed to speak words of trust. 
 Their roots were clasped firmly about the rocks, and the 
 trunks had clung so closely to them as to hide them in 
 their hearts. By the brooks the early budding trees were 
 merry with birds, whose songs completed the voice of 
 praise ceaselessly going up to the Throne. 
 
 " Again and again we passed shrines. Some were high 
 above the road and were reached by stone stairways. 
 There were sometimes inscribed tablets set in the rock 
 below. On some of the temples odd figures and scenes 
 are painted. 
 
 *^ Here and there are brick watch-towers. These are 
 not in the pass alone, but at intervals all along the road. 
 Near these there are invariably five cones, apparently of 
 clay, whitewashed and tipped with red. Figures are 
 painted on them in red, yellow, or both ; dragons per- 
 haps, but they look like cats with wings. Once we saw 
 cones painted with two cocks, as many tigers, and a 
 demon instead of the ordinary winged cats. These cones 
 were quite a mystery to us. Mr. Gulick has seen but one 
 man who professed to know what they were for. He 
 said they were filled with combustible articles, so that in 
 time of invasion these should be means for giving signals. 
 
 *^ On the wall and scattered through the pass a number 
 of small cannon are lying. All these preparations for 
 defense are useless now ; the wall, broken in numberless 
 places, cannon thrown away, and watch-towers crum- 
 bling back to dust. 
 
 "The mules had hard tugging when going over the 
 
THE JOURNEY TO CHINA 91 
 
 steepest places in the road, and some of our baggage not 
 being put up properly was injured. A few boxes and 
 trunks were stove in. The bureau lost a leg and came 
 through the fight with a number of honorable scars in 
 front, as well as a large wound in the back. 
 
 "After two nights at the inns I became quite deaf. 
 The Chinese say that if any one sleeps with face towards 
 the wall when angry, he will be blind in the morning, 
 but I have not heard how they account for deafness. 
 Thick nightcaps would have been a preventive, but, 
 like Gail Hamilton, my ideal of such articles of apparel 
 had never been realized. 
 
 "When we washed our faces in the morning we used 
 cold tea. Noon or night is the time to call for ^ face- 
 washing water.' In the morning the only thing one can 
 get is hot water for tea, and sometimes that doesn't come 
 before time to be on the way. Generally, while we were 
 taking a lunch before starting, the man who had charge 
 of our litter was yelling to Mr. Williams, ' Teacher Horse, 
 Teacher Horse, have your things put in the litter.' 
 * Wait, wait,' was the answer, which would quiet him for 
 a minute and then he would begin again. As our days' 
 journeys were all short, we never cared to start before six. 
 
 " After leaving Nank'ou we supposed the poetry of the 
 way was ended, and were prepared for the prose of flat 
 plains, but were delighted to find the scenery through 
 which we passed during the next two days often equal to 
 any we had seen before. 
 
 "One morning there was a grand sunrise. The purple 
 hills were touched with suddenly dawning day, and their 
 sombre hue changed to rosy and golden lights, all the 
 brighter for dark shadows between. 
 
 "Parts of the country are sandy. There were large 
 beds which had been left by the wind wrinkled and wav- 
 ing, like crepe and watered silk. 
 
92 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 *' The trees are few except where they have been 
 planted near villages. At some places we saw those 
 which had been lately pruned. They were cut off about 
 ten feet from the ground, all branches pruned away, and 
 the top tied up in rags and straw. The idea is to make 
 the branches grow out broom fashion. 
 
 "We saw, one day, a heavily loaded wheelbarrow 
 drawn by four men. In the clay bank by the roadside, 
 a beggar, or devotee, had a little cave. He came out 
 when we passed, hoping for something. I felt more like 
 giving money to help the barrow men buy a donkey, for 
 it was painful to see them work so hard. Man^s labor 
 is often worth less than a brute's. The population is far 
 greater than can really live. Many endure living death, 
 and vast numbers die. Still China swarms with human 
 beings, and it is not strange that they are glad to do the 
 work of brutes. As among bees, there are two classes, 
 workers and drones. Most of the workers make slaves 
 of themselves in order to keep above beggary. The 
 drones include of&cials, a majority of the wealthy, and 
 the beggars. 
 
 " The Chinese value mules and donkeys very much — 
 more than horses in the extreme North. Apparently, 
 they really admire long ears and the donkey's bray. 
 
 ' ' I must not forget to mention seeing at one of the inns 
 a coffin having a live cock tied on it, as is the custom in 
 case of persons dying away from home. Mr. Doolittle 
 says it is for the purpose of ^ luring home the spirit of 
 the dead.' 
 
 "The people in some places were very anxious to see 
 us. They ran after our litter, and stooped to peep under 
 the curtains, and after having a long look, would say, 
 * Why, it is a woman ! ' 
 
 " One night there was a large crowd of people at our 
 room door, eager for a peep, whenever it opened. There 
 
THE JOURNEY TO CHINA 93 
 
 was a bit of glass window, two inches square, at which 
 some one kept an eye, till I covered it up. Then they 
 thrust holes in the paper windows, and the innkeeper 
 rushed out, very angry, — 'These children! What 
 things ! ' The first phrase is a great reproof, but the 
 second far worse, as it is considered degrading to be 
 called a ' thing. ^ 
 
 "Afterwards two Mongols came in, saying, ^Mundu, 
 Mundu.' A lot of Chinese men and boys followed them, 
 and we had the room full of open-mouthed starers. 
 
 "Many trains of camels were carrying soda from Mon- 
 golia, as we came up. It is in large blocks, of which a 
 camel carries two. 
 
 "Thursday we reached the Sandy River, and near it 
 saw a number of inscriptions cut in the rock. As the 
 river was full of ice, we did not cross, but took a road 
 among the mountains, not ordinarily travelled. The 
 scenery was very grand ; equal to any part of Nank'ou. 
 The road was steep, and at first, one could but look down, 
 and think of the result of a single misstep. After ascend- 
 ing as abruptly as we had descended, a wonderful land- 
 scape opened before us. The horizon was a wide one ; 
 and, far as the eye could reach, there were the beautiful 
 blue hills. 
 
 "To the left was a sea of sand, whose waves seemed to 
 have been petrified as they were ready to break over the 
 hills in the distance. The nearer shore was bordered by 
 a line of silver, a little river shining in the sun. 
 
 "That night we spent at Hsuan-hwa-fu, a fine city, 
 with wide streets, and tile- roofed houses. We saw many 
 memorial arches in a burying-ground adjoining the city. 
 We went out for a walk in the city and Mrs. Gulick 
 and I were much gazed at ; many followed us, but nobody 
 was really rude. 
 
 "We bought a few hazelnuts, red haws, and grapes. 
 
94 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 The nuts would have been good if they had not been 
 gathered long before they were ripe. The grapes were 
 very nice. The north of China is famous for grapes, the 
 soil seems perfectly adapted to their culture. It is sandy, 
 and by no means rich. 
 
 " We had nice rooms at the inn. They were in a pri- 
 vate courtyard, and we enjoyed that very much. Hav- 
 ing no coal fire in our rooms, we slept well. The Chinese 
 use furnaces which send all the gas and smoke out into 
 the room. The gas is very bad, and makes people sleep 
 as if dead. 
 
 *'The following day we reached Kalgan at noon. The 
 Lord^s hand had led us. He had kept us as under the 
 shadow of His wing.^^ 
 
m 
 
 BEGHraiNGS AT KALGAN 
 
 " Oft when the word is on me to deliver, 
 Lifts the illusion and the truth lies bare. 
 Desert, or throng, the city or the river, 
 Meets in a lucid paradise of air. 
 
 *• Only like souls I see the folk thereunder, 
 
 Bound who should conquer, slaves who should be kings ; 
 Hearing their one hope with an empty wonder, 
 Sadly contented in a show of things. 
 
 ** Then with a rush the intolerable craving 
 Shivers throughout me like a trumpet call. 
 Oh, to save these, to perish for their saving I 
 Die for their life, be offered for them all ! " 
 
 (To her father.) 
 
 '^Kalgariy May 4^ 1867, 
 " TT* EEAD your letters over so often that my time for 
 I answering them is likely to be small. Yesterday 
 A we were busy unpacking. While we were at din- 
 ner, a mandarin and his friend marched in on us without 
 any notice. Mr. Gulick took them into our room while 
 the rest of us finished dinner. Then Mrs. Gulick and I 
 played for them. They asked all possible questions, and 
 showed great curiosity, examining everything in the 
 room, and even opening boxes and bureau drawers. It 
 was very wearisome, and they stayed a long time. Then 
 some Manchu ladies came to call. I soon exhausted my 
 stock of remarks, but found some Harper's Weeklies 
 which furnished food for their curiosity. I showed the 
 children one of the picture tracts, and talked as well as I 
 
 95 
 
96 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 could about the pictures. All nigM long the Chinese 
 gongs, drums and bells sounded, so I feel quite as if I had 
 used up to-day's strength before the day came. 
 
 ^'I am still looking for my next home letters to hear 
 more of God's work in Beloit. When the Church at home 
 is in earnest, missionaries may look for a blessing in 
 foreign lands.'' 
 
 ''June 2 J 1867. 
 
 ^^ I am like the horse-leech's daughters, crying, ' Give, 
 give ! ' for I'm never satisfied — never have enough of 
 letters from home. Five weeks ago one came from 
 Alfred ; two weeks before, one from Martha ; and two be- 
 fore that, one from Beloit, so that I have been quite 
 favored until just now. But I have been looking just as 
 eagerly every day for nearly a week, as if I had not had 
 any for a very long time. The coming of a package of 
 mail is as great an event as it used to be at Lacquiparle. 
 Everything else is put aside if possible, and we thoroughly 
 enjoy a look at the world, and especially at our home 
 worlds. Then we have plenty to talk about for a long 
 time after. 
 
 " We are sharing with the Gulicks a little mud-roofed 
 house at the foot of the Bluff. Its court, ten by fifteen 
 feet, is shut up by a high mud wall. How the heat is re- 
 flected from the rocks of the mountainside against that 
 yellow wall, and down into our court ! It is almost 
 stifling. But we keep up heart, and study diligently. 
 
 "Mrs. Gulick is fitting up the new house which is to 
 be theirs, while Mr. Gulick is away touring. You ought 
 to see how ignorant these carpenters are. We all have to 
 consult together about how things are to be done, for the 
 man don't know, of course. You would be amused at 
 their floors and door-sills. The boards are nailed down 
 with large-headed nails, and as two boards are seldom of 
 
BEGINNINGS AT KALGAN 97 
 
 a width, they are hacked up this way and that to make 
 them fit. Boards are all coffin-lengthy — seven feet. No 
 other length of lumber is brought here. It comes on 
 camel-back. Mrs. Gulick has had one door made foreign 
 fashion, and it took two men something more than three 
 days ! . . .'^ 
 
 '* Kalgany June 15, 1867, 
 "My Dear Sister Martha : 
 
 *'. . . This afternoon Mr. Williams finished 
 his Chinese lesson early, and started off to the Lower City 
 to have glass cut for the doors of our bookcase. So I 
 took my turn with the teacher, making a martyr of my- 
 self to the extent of reading eleven hymns. 
 
 "Since Mr. Gulick' s going away, Mark is getting to be 
 quite a business man, and has been putting his Chinese 
 lessons into practice. Just now he has gone to the bank 
 to have a bill changed, — a thing he wouldn^t have 
 dreamed of doing a few weeks ago. Our servant is a 
 great trial to me. Just now he passed the door with the 
 dish-cloth hanging over his head ! His cooking is mis- 
 erable. There is the large-pot flavor, the small-pot 
 flavor, the essence of dirty frying-pan, and of black dish- 
 cloth, with the taste of garlic and smoke thrown in. 
 There you have a true picture of one very important part 
 of our present life, and one darJc enough to suit Alfred 
 and Mary. At least the dish-cloths are ! '^ 
 
 ^^Kalganj June 17, 1867. 
 "Dear Alfred and Mary : 
 
 "We are glad to be here in Kalgan, and I am 
 pleased that we are soon to keep house. We enjoyed 
 boarding with the Stanleys at Tientsin, and with the 
 Gulicks here, but I think now that we know enough 
 Chinese to get on after a fashion, we shall learn much 
 
98 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 faster when keeping house, since we will be obliged to 
 talk. Mr. Gulick's ideas about the Chinese language 
 have been a great help to me. I don't agree with him in 
 all his opinions about the sounds of the language, but he 
 sets me thinking, and we have many interesting discus- 
 sions. Mark and I are studying faithfully these days. 
 We are encouraged, for our teacher has praised our k^ou 
 yin (our * mouth-sounds '), and he is very particular not 
 to let any wrong pronunciation pass. 
 
 ^^ I haven't given you any very dark pictures of life in 
 China. For the most part I do prefer to speak of pleasant 
 things when I write. As far as concerns myself, if I am 
 unhappy or lonely sometimes, it is no more than one ex- 
 periences anywhere, and it will do you no good to know 
 it. Whether things are pleasant or not, generally de- 
 pends on the way one takes them. 
 
 ^' One day when we went to ride, I dug a wild flag out 
 of the mountainside, and I have it growing nicely on our 
 window ledge. 
 
 ^' We are having a board floor put down in the room 
 that is to be our kitchen. Soon we shall be living * like 
 folks.' " 
 
 *^ Kalgauj July 9, 1867. 
 " Dear Henry : 
 
 *' You want me to prize your letters very much, I 
 suppose, and so make them like 'angel's visits, few and 
 far between.' If you could see me when the letters come, 
 you would think I was glad enough ! Why the day 
 yours and Anna's came, I was so excited that I forgot 
 my thimble, and in consequence lost it, — my only one, — 
 and at night was still so glad that I couldn't sleep for a 
 long time. 
 
 " Mark is going out into Mongolia next week to buy a 
 cow, and Mr. Gulick has promised to show him the way. 
 
BEGINNINGS AT KALGAN 99 
 
 So Mrs. Gulick and I are going with them for the fun of 
 the thing. I need to go, so as to have a sight of some- 
 thing more than these high mud walls, — at least, it will 
 do me good to go. We are, however, more fortunate 
 than most people in China, with these grand rocks all 
 around us. Mark brings me green leaves and vines from 
 the hills every now and then for bouquets. Sometimes 
 there are a few flowers. I enjoy them ever so much. 
 Once in a while I go and gather them too, but it's rather 
 a hard scramble for me. 
 
 "Mrs. Gulick had quite an experience with ahorse 
 fresh from Mongolia. He had never seen a manger. So 
 he thought it was meant to put his feet in, and regularly 
 broke it down, every few days, besides breaking the door 
 open, as an alternate recreation. Now he is really half- 
 civilized and behaves pretty well. He has taken such a 
 fancy to the little donkey, * Funny Fun,' that he is 
 perfectly disconsolate if it is out of his sighf 
 
 " July 20th. 
 
 '* Early Monday morning, the middle of July, we were 
 up, and preparing busily for an immediate start. It 
 quite reminded me of our getting ready for prairie 
 journeys, in former times, in Dakota land. 
 
 "Mr. and Mrs. Gulick had a horse and a donkey. 
 We had one donkey, and Mr. Williams hired another for 
 the trip. The Chinaman who let him was to furnish 
 riding-gear. What should he bring but a wooden pack- 
 saddle ! It was too late to make other arrangements, so 
 this was fitted to Mr. Williams' animal, which was no 
 easy task. The saddle had, of course, neither stirrups 
 nor girths. The former were improvised from ropes, and 
 the latter voted unnecessary, —considering that we had 
 none, and that they could not be used if we had them. 
 These pack-saddles are very clumsy affairs. 
 
100 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 "Mrs. Gulick kindly insisted on my taking her donkey, 
 as it has a remarkable easy gait, while she would ride 
 the one Mr. Williams had hired. 
 
 "While the donkeys were being saddled, Mrs. Gulick 
 and I busied ourselves in packing provisions and clothes, 
 and making arrangements for and with the Chinese part 
 of our family. Besides that, Mrs. Gulick' s pets had to 
 be cared for. One boy was to feed the cats, another the 
 eagle, owls and dogs, and the third was to water the 
 flowers 5 while one was charged not to forget the dove. 
 
 "As it was possible friends might arrive from Peking 
 in our absence, I put my rooms in readiness for them, 
 leaving a note and our keys with one of the teachers. 
 
 " The last thing was to contrive a way for the cats to 
 have access to rooms where, otherwise, rats and mice 
 would rule supreme. That done, and all the bags and 
 blankets being securely fastened to our animals, Mr. 
 Gulick led the procession out of town. 
 
 " We were as happy at the prospect of leaving Chinese 
 books, servants and workmen behind as children are 
 when winter holidays come. 
 
 " All went well till we were outside the gate. The 
 horse and three of the donkeys, counting ^ Funny Fun,' the 
 little one, plodded along, with eyes on the ground, evi- 
 dently meditating on some profound subject. The ears 
 of the fourth looked very suspicious, and when we came 
 to a steep descent just beyond the wall, he started down 
 at such a pace that Mrs. Gulick was obliged to dismount. 
 When she was seated again, he rushed at full speed in an 
 opposite direction from the one we were to take. He 
 had no idea of going out on the plains while home was 
 so near ; and, as there was no bridle, he had matters all 
 his own way for a while. After taking the bridle from 
 my donkey for his benefit, we succeeded at last in being 
 fairly started on our way. 
 

BEGINNINGS AT KAIX^ANi* ^,']'.;iidi/ 
 
 "The pass into Mongolia is by two valleys, through 
 one of which flows a rapid mountain torrent. The other, 
 which we took, has a dry, sandy bed, with rugged hills 
 close on either hand. 
 
 "The clouds promised rai% and it came shortly — a 
 pleasant little shower, making everything brighter. No 
 bluer sky ever gave inspiration to an Italian artist. One 
 could not but exult in the vivid sunshine. It was such as 
 you imagine that of tropical regions to be. On such days 
 it is easy to understand why the Parsee clings to his re- 
 ligion. 
 
 " The crickets were as happy as we, and chirped as if 
 they had just found voice. We found an odd kind of 
 creature, something between a cricket and a grasshopper. 
 Some had long antennse and tails, some had the one with- 
 out the other, while others had apparently been to the 
 wars, and come back without either. 
 
 " When dinner-time came we enjoyed our lunch under 
 a tree, and a lot of youngsters, mostly in undress, enjoyed 
 watching us equally well. 
 
 " The view at Bamba is very fine. We were climbing 
 up the ridge on which the Great Wall runs. Behind 
 were the blue, blue hills, with dark shadows resting be- 
 tween, and, on either side, wide, beautiful valleys. Be- 
 fore us were towers, rising one above another, connected 
 by the line of ruined wall. As we rode up to the 
 town and out from it, I could not but look beyond the 
 miserable huts, the wan-faced children, the dreary 
 human life, to the beautiful peace of the unchanging 
 hills. So we look from our unsatisfying life on earth to 
 the perfect peace crowning the hills of heaven. 
 
 " We climbed up to one of the towers, stepped over the 
 wall, and stood long gazing on both valleys. Beautiful 
 flowers held up their smiling faces to ours. These wild 
 flowers do not seem to love China, and one wearies for 
 
'imflyr^.'' -BYTH^ GEEAT WALL 
 
 the sight of them. Garden plants apparently accord 
 better with the Chinese nature, for they thrive finely. 
 
 "After passing Bamba the hills grew less rugged, and 
 the intervening valleys widened. At last we were fairly 
 on the Mongolian plains. We went on to Sher-pa-tai 
 that night. It was quite a ride for some of us, — thirty 
 miles, — and we were veiy tired, although the whole day 
 had been one of intense enjoyment. 
 
 "The moon was up, and a star out here and there, 
 while the line of light about the western horizon was 
 fading away. The sky above, shedding its calmness over 
 the widely rolling prairies, repaid us well for all the 
 fatigue we felt. One does not appreciate the sky until 
 after being in a city, and especially in a Chinese city, 
 with its narrow streets and small courts. The contrast 
 between being shut up in our little yard, with its high 
 wall of yellow mud and tantalizing bit of blue overhead, 
 and riding across broad, grassy plains, with the whole 
 dome of heaven above, was very great. The week^s ride 
 will be long remembered as one of the pleasant things of 
 life. 
 
 "Going to an inn, we found the best room occupied, 
 and were obliged to take a large one, where there was al- 
 ready a party of card players, and from which two other 
 rooms opened. After the players left Mrs. Gulick 
 partitioned off the ^kang,' or brick platform for beds, 
 with a sheet, and we were soon soundly asleep. 
 
 " Our host and his son occupied one of the rooms open- 
 ing from ours, and, early in the morning, they were 
 running back and forth through our room. The day was 
 the sixth of the sixth Chinese month — a great festival — 
 and it was essential that the gods should be worshipped 
 in every room of the house. We had undressed but 
 partially the night before, which was fortunate. Still it 
 was a difficult task to complete our toilet, for the silly 
 
BEGINNINGS AT KALGAN 103 
 
 young fellow could not satisfy himself with gazing at us. 
 Finally, at an opportune moment, Mr. Gulick shut him 
 into his bedroom, and, preventing the return of the old 
 man by bolting our outside door, we hastily finished 
 dressing. 
 
 " Breakfast over, and prayers, we mounted our donkeys, 
 and were off for Borisomo, a Mongol temple some twenty 
 miles distant, wishing to see the religious ceremonies to 
 be performed there. 
 
 ** We lost the road, and, stopping to inquire at some 
 Mongol huts, found none but women at home. After 
 learning the direction of the temple, we bought some 
 milk and cheese. As each tiny dipperful of milk was 
 poured into our can, they insisted that the cash should 
 be laid on the ground, and did not discover that the sum 
 offered for the whole quantity, at first, was greater than 
 what they received. 
 
 ** We reached the temple in time to see the chief per- 
 formance of the day — a masked dance by the priests. 
 We attracted as much attention as the dancers ; and 
 women crowded around Mrs. Gulick and myself to look 
 at our clothes. Her bead collar was especially admired. 
 
 " Their dress was as great a curiosity to me as ours was 
 to them. Many had garments richly embroidered, and 
 very heavy head-dresses. Silver ornaments and beads of 
 coral and many colored stones hang on either side the 
 face, and numbers of showy hair pins looped up their 
 braids behind. 
 
 " The leader of the dance stood in the centre. All were 
 dressed in yellow garments. Among the masks were deer 
 and goat heads, frightful human faces, and some quite 
 indescribable. The dance was accompanied by the 
 music of horns, cymbals and drums. The horns were of 
 brass and about ten feet long. Following the circle of 
 dancers came other priests, repeating prayers. They 
 
104 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 wore yellow caps, shaped like Eomau helmets. Last 
 in the procession came a car containing a female idol. 
 Plates of cheese and apples were set before her. When 
 the car stopped women knelt and crawled under it. 
 The dancers, having passed around the temple, came 
 again into the outer temple court. The horns gave a 
 deafening blast, and the circle formed again for the 
 dance. It was wilder than ever. One by one finished 
 his dance in the centre of the circle, making the most 
 frantic leaps, and then, going into the large temple, laid 
 aside his mask. Afterwards all exchanged their gowns 
 and helmets for every-day garments at the door of a 
 building in the rear. Then the idol was placed in the 
 temple, and, bowing their heads to the ground, all were 
 sprinkled with holy water. 
 
 " While Mr. Gulick was gone to distribute books, and 
 Mr. Williams to watch our animals feeding on the plain, 
 a pleasant faced Mongol woman came to me, and by signs 
 asked us to drink tea and sleep at her tent. I assented, 
 and when the rest returned we left the temple. Mrs. 
 Gulick and I went directly to the good woman's hut. 
 .She welcomed us most heartily. We sat by the argol 
 fire, and watched the process of making tea. When the 
 large potful was boiling our hostess put salt, butter, and 
 a quantity of milk into it, dipping up and pouring back 
 the mixture rapidly. Going outdoors, mats were 
 brought, and afterwards bowls of tea, which tasted 
 somewhat like soup. 
 
 "After Mrs. Gulick had used up her Mongol, we did 
 not know how to fill up the silence. The best we could do 
 was to sip tea with great apparent gusto, and smile back 
 on our smiling hostess. We were greatly relieved by the 
 arrival of our husbands and a fine looking Thibetan from 
 a neighboring tent. He spoke three languages, — 
 Thibetan, Mongolian, and Chinese, — and was quite Intel- 
 
BEGINNINGS AT KALGAN 105 
 
 ligent and cordial. He urged us strongly to spend the 
 night with him, but we chose to accept the first invitation. 
 
 ^* After nightfall we disposed of ourselves in the tent 
 on two sides of the fire. The cooking utensils and door 
 were on the other sides. We were ready to sleep, but 
 our hostess and the young priest still sat watching us, 
 although they had offered us their tents, saying they 
 would go to a neighbor's. There was no room for them 
 to lie down, and we did not fancy being watched ; so, 
 after half an hour or more, we suggested that we would 
 not detain them. After other hints, which finally be- 
 came very broad, they went away, first insisting on clos- 
 ing the hole at the top of the tent and also the door. 
 We should have been smothered by the smoke of the 
 argol fire, if we had not succeeded in having the cover- 
 ing removed from the top of the roof. 
 
 ** We returned to Sher-pa-tai, and, after Mr. Williams 
 had bought a cow from a Mongol gentleman, TJr-she-ran- 
 ga-rig-go by name, we visited another temple, five miles 
 distant. A Mongol prince resides here. Apparently the 
 family are wealthy, for the temple is quite handsome, 
 and kept in good order. The prince and several of his 
 sons were away from home, but we saw his brother, the 
 priest, and one of his sons, also a priest. The princess 
 and her daughter came into the reception room for a little 
 while. She was a fat, good-natured body, and the young 
 lady was rather good looking. 
 
 ** We looked at the outside of the temple, and through 
 shutters which were opened for us, but did not have per- 
 mission to enter. Some of the exterior decorations were 
 very interesting, being plainly after Hindoo models. 
 Chinese architecture decorated with Indian pictures gives 
 a partial clue to the Mongol character. The Mongol is 
 in many ways independent, but in some respects has 
 been, and is still, dependent and easily influenced. 
 
106 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 *' During our call tea was offered, aud our cups filled 
 constantly. We were also served to cheese, and parched 
 miUet in some cream. I did not fancy this dish, but be- 
 ing unable to talk was obliged to eat it very industriously, 
 with (I flatter myself) a delighted expression of counte- 
 nance. 
 
 *^ Mongol cheese is simply the curd of milk pressed out 
 and dried. I was curious to taste some that was quite dry, 
 and rued it very much. I bit off a piece at great risk to 
 my teeth ; but a scrap of sole leather would have been 
 more easily masticated. Both ladies were watching me, 
 and I could neither chew the piece in my mouth nor see 
 how to dispose of the long strip in my hand. Of course 
 I gave Mr. Williams a piece, and enjoyed seeing him go 
 through the same perplexity. Finally I succeeded in 
 hiding the rest in my handkerchief, and have it now laid 
 away in one of my drawers. 
 
 ^*I enjoyed the talk in Chinese very much. Mr. Will- 
 iams and I understand enough to make it a pleasure to 
 listen, generally. One's mind must be alive and alert to 
 catch what is said, and there is a sort of excitement about 
 it. When I am tired, however, and an avalanche of 
 words comes down on me, as there does if our servants 
 are in a sociable mood, I become utterly discouraged, and 
 at intervals of five or ten minutes say, * I don't under- 
 stand,' in a way that ought to touch the feelings of the 
 most inveterate gabbler. 
 
 " There are about eighty Mongols living in this village 
 of from twenty to thirty tents. These tents are, in shape, 
 much like the Indian huts of bark. The frame is of 
 wood, covered with felt. They present a picturesque ap- 
 pearance. 
 
 "Friday morning Mr. Ur-she-ran-ga- rig-go brought 
 our cow and calf. The cow has very peculiar hoofs, — 
 filed runners, Mr. Williams calls them. He declares they 
 
BEGINNINGS AT KALGAN 107 
 
 were of great service in getting her down to Kalgan. 
 The rope was tied to the pommel of the horse's saddle, 
 and when she was tired sliding down-hill on her feet, she 
 varied that exercise by running unexpectedly from one 
 side to the other, and lying down in the middle of the 
 road. The calf behaved nicely, setting a good example 
 both to its mother and ' Funny Fun,^ which they did not 
 choose to follow. The little colt donkey amused itself by 
 turning somersaults over the cow's rope, stopping to 
 gaze at the scenery till we were half a mile ahead, and 
 had to go back after it ; and then rushing up to us at 
 such a pace that the old cow was quite scared out of the 
 few wits she may once have possessed. 
 
 ^^ Our noon resting-place was one of the most beautiful 
 in all Mongolia, I feel sure. There was keen pleasure in 
 the novelty and freedom of the whole week, and our en- 
 joyment of it had been intense, but this was the crown of 
 all. I cannot describe it. The remembrance is like a 
 beautiful dream. Lovely wild flowers at our feet, such 
 as are familiar in home gardens, green fields and grassy 
 hillsides about us ; and towering one above another the 
 purple mountains, as far as the eye could reach. The 
 day was perfect, and our pleasure complete. 
 
 " We rode in company with several men that day, as 
 well as on previous ones, with whom Mr. Gulick con- 
 versed on religious and other subjects. One was very, 
 very urgent that we should visit him ; and we should 
 have been glad to do so if there had been time. 
 
 ** At night we reached a village seven miles from this 
 city, and were again obliged to stop at an inn where there 
 was but one vacant room, and that a small one, having 
 but one kang in it. But by this time we were so well 
 used to new ways of doing things that we very composedly 
 accommodated ourselves to our circumstances. 
 
 " Mr. Gulick went out into the village to sell tracts and 
 
108 BY THE GEEAT WALL 
 
 preach. He sells books in preference to giving them, 
 saying that one book sold is better than ten given, as it 
 is sure to be read. 
 
 ** Meanwhile a crowd gathered to see us, pushing holes 
 in the paper windows, after we closed our doors. But 
 we fastened a sheet and shawl at the windows, so that 
 even those who had climbed to the roof to gaze in were 
 disappointed. With a high bench, curtained with shawls, 
 we divided the kang, thus making two rooms. The whole 
 kang was not much longer than an ordinary bedstead. It 
 was somewhat wider, but Mr. Williams had to make tassels 
 of his feet. How Mr. Gulick disposed of himself remains 
 a mystery. 
 
 **The next morning, as our picnic was almost done, 
 wishing to make the most of it, we carried with us our 
 breakfast, and stopped to eat it when out of sight of the 
 village. The morning was a charming one, and we felt 
 very happy, sitting in the shadows of the great rocks. 
 There we had our devotions. Mr. Williams prayed that 
 we might live remembering that we were strangers and 
 pilgrims on the earth, journeying to a better country ; 
 and that during this pilgrimage we might have God's 
 presence with us — His arm about us ; and that our feet 
 might stand firmly on His promises — those gracious 
 promises more sure than the unchanging hills. 
 
 **So we came home, happier and stronger, both in 
 body and mind, ready and eager for work again. 
 "Your sister, 
 
 " Isabella E. Williams." 
 
 " Kalgauj July 22 j 1867. 
 "My Dear Father : 
 
 "Did I tell you how forcible the thought you gave 
 me when speaking of Martha^ s marriage seemed to me! 
 You wrote : — ^ We are alone again. As one after another 
 
BEGINNINGS AT KALGAN 109 
 
 goes away to make a new home, we seem like a tree that 
 has reached its growth, and one limb after another falls 
 off. This is the law of earth. The law of heaven will, 
 I think, not be so.' How comforting the last thought. 
 May we not hope that at last the tree shall stand in Jeru- 
 salem the Golden, — complete, perfect, with no branch 
 wanting, none marred ? " 
 
 (To her mother.) 
 
 " . . . I feel quite sure that if I keep always before 
 my mind the idea that I must write a letter which will do 
 to show, that you won't like my letters half as well as 
 you do now, and that they won't be half as good. 
 
 " When I came to China, it seemed as if my heart was 
 shut up, and I couldn't learn to love anybody on this side 
 of the sea. I liked people very much, but that was all. 
 But Mr. Blodget did me good : he was so kind and gentle 
 to us all. Then Lyman's death brought us near to the 
 Chapins, and I love them very much too. And now be- 
 ing with Mr. and Mrs. Gulick, I have come to love them 
 dearly. They have been as tenderly kind and careful of 
 me, in all possible ways, as if they were my own brother 
 and sister. You can understand how such tender thought- 
 fulness touches me now when I need it. My heart needs 
 it, at least. I am so much happier than I was. . . . " 
 
 Many years afterwards, Dr. John T. Gulick wrote of 
 their work and fellowship : "Those were great days in 
 the opening of a new era for China. Hudson Taylor told 
 me that our success in getting into Kalgan and in stay- 
 ing there for permanent work, was a great encouragement 
 to him in his efforts to get into the interior. 
 
 ** It was as workers together, with the blessing of God, 
 that we made the beginning. I want to write you some 
 things which abide in my memory of your mother. She 
 was a person to whom each day's experiences came as the 
 
110 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 most intense realities, and not as the drifting tide of life. 
 By nature she was deeply concerned with each event that 
 touched her life, and ardently longed for the attainment 
 of the highest ideals for herself and others. With in- 
 tense sensibilities that were stirred by the sufferings of 
 others as well as by the depressing conditions that crowd 
 in one's own life, a tinge of sadness sometimes crept over 
 her inner life, but when the waves were running high 
 over her own soul, she never lost her tender sympathy 
 for others. 
 
 "An insatiable longing for friendship that is never 
 fully satisfied in this life, was one of her marked experi- 
 ences. She poured out her life for others, and to her has 
 been given the life more abundant.'^ 
 
 ** Kalgan^ July 24, 1867, 
 " I professed to begin housekeeping day before yester- 
 day. The fact that we are at last in a home of our own, 
 was made real, yesterday, by the arrival of our guests 
 from Peking, Mr. and Mrs. Goodrich. I think I shall 
 give you a new edition of the history of a day. 
 
 "See me fresh and ready for work at five o'clock. 
 Since our Mongolian trip I have felt thoroughly well, 
 and as if made with springs. 
 
 "First there were the storeroom and bedroom to be re- 
 duced from chaos to order. Everything had been moved 
 in quite hurriedly the day before. The dining-room also 
 was to be put to rights. Tswei Ma, the Manchu woman 
 Mrs. Goodrich had brought from Peking for me, came in, 
 and we worked together. Our methods did not quite 
 agree, however. She preferred to sweep only the middle 
 of the floors, leaving coal under, and behind the stove, as 
 well as bits of paper under the table, and in the corners. 
 I found it necessary to point to each spot, as she could 
 remember but one at a time. She was good-natured 
 
BEGINNINGS AT KALGAN 111 
 
 about it all, and I knew beforehand what to expect, so 
 that we got along nicely. I went out to the kitchen on 
 an errand, and saw something there, which I did not ex- 
 pect, however ! The night before I gave Tswei Ma a 
 towel, which was to be used for the spoons and teacups. 
 I impressed it on her that she was not to use it for the 
 pots. I explained carefully, that after using it, she was 
 to wash it, and hang it out to dry. My satisfaction on 
 the dish towel question received a sad blow, for as I went 
 into the kitchen, what should I see but the cook washing 
 his ears and neck with the clean, new towel ! * Is that 
 yours ?^ I said calmly. *No, it's the dish towel, ^ was 
 the answer, in a most innocent tone. * It isn' t our foreign 
 custom to use dish towels for our ears,' I remarked, and 
 walked off to recover from my astonishment and dis- 
 may. 
 
 "Next, the salt-rising bread was to be made and the 
 clothes folded for ironing. Then I changed my dress, 
 and sat down with my sewing for a few minutes, while 
 Tswei Ma made the bed in quite an original way, putting 
 one of the sheets outside of everything else ! I think, 
 however, that the good woman has the ability to learn 
 how to do tilings. 
 
 " By this time it was half- past seven, time for Chinese 
 morning prayers. Breakfast came after prayers, as usual. 
 Tsai Yu had fried the beef nicely, and we had eggplant, 
 millet, potatoes and cucumbers. We finished up with 
 bread and milk and stewed apples. I was quite pleased 
 and encouraged with my first housekeeping attempts 
 when Mr. Goodrich declared it was the best breakfast he 
 had had for a long time. Milk is a great luxury to us. 
 At Peking they can buy milk made mostly of water and 
 bean curd, but here we cannot get even that ! After 
 breakfast I unpacked my dishes, and wiped while Tswei 
 Ma washed, and then showed her all the places for the 
 
112 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 dishes, knives, forks and spoons. After reading the 
 fourteenth chapter of Mark with the teacher, I sent the 
 cook to bay millet, flour and oatmeal. Then the fruit 
 man came, and we bought fifty plums for less than three 
 cents. 
 
 " This afternoon I made my bread and ironed. Then I 
 went in to see Mr. and Mrs. Goodrich, and played and 
 sang a while. Mr. Goodrich is a fine singer, and plays 
 the flute well. His progress in Chinese has been remark- 
 able. It is quite noticeable how much more easily those 
 who can sing learn Chinese than others do. 
 
 ^' Did I tell you that Tswei Ma is a widow ? She has 
 her two little boys with her. We support one and she 
 the other, and both go to Mr. Gulick's school. They are 
 nice, bright boys. We thought we were surely able to 
 feed and clothe one boy, when Mr. Gulick does it for 
 three, and pays the school-teacher out of his own salary 
 besides. 
 
 " Love to all the good Beloit friends. 
 
 ^^Your 
 
 *^ Isabella.^' 
 
 " KalgaUy Aug. 1, 1867. 
 " Dear Good Home Folks : 
 
 *^It has occurred to me that if I write you any 
 more letters at present, I shall have to do it before break- 
 fast, as I can generally have a few moments of leisure 
 then. I do not so decidedly need to see to my kitchen 
 folks then, although the cook may forget part of the 
 breakfast until almost eight, and my good woman will 
 certainly leave half the dust at the sills of the bedroom 
 and dining-room, and has not yet succeeded in putting on 
 the bedclothes properly without my help ! I flatter my- 
 self, however, that she has learned to-day, and will prove 
 herself equal to the task alone, to-morrow. . . ," 
 
BEGINNINGS AT KALGAN 113 
 
 ^^ September 21j 1867. 
 
 " I have been very happy in getting so many letters 
 from you lately, though I have not shown it by writing 
 much in return. We have been having lively times in 
 Kalgan, in comparison to the common state of things. 
 We have had company all summer, but I have been very 
 well on the whole, and have worked hard enough to keep 
 so. With two servants, one would think I would have 
 nothing to do, but it's very far from that. If I had our 
 house in Beloit to live in, I could live more easily, doing 
 my own work, than I do here with two servants. Our 
 man does as well as he knows how, although he some- 
 times cooks execrably. But Tswei Ma is as lazy as the 
 laziest ! 
 
 "If there is a Dakota Dictionary to be had, and papa 
 does not think it extravagant for me to have it, I should 
 like to buy one. The grammar of the language is some- 
 thing about which I am often questioned, and there are a 
 number of missionary gentlemen who would be interested 
 in comparing it with the Mongol, Chinese and Thibetan. 
 
 "Mr. Blodget goes back to Peking in a few days. 
 Dr. S. Wells Williams and his wife may go next week. 
 When they are gone it will be so lonely that we shall 
 have to clean house to divert our minds ! '^ 
 
 On September 25, 1867, a baby girl came into the home 
 at Kalgan. Mr. Williams wrote on the twenty -sixth : — 
 
 "Dear Father and Mother Eiggs : 
 
 "Yesterday a little daughter came to us. The 
 youngster has just been weighed, — seven pounds. As to 
 the appearance of the child, I will tell you that she is 
 rather good looking. We remembered that the day was 
 Henry's birthday. As the baby is a girl, he escapes 
 having her named after him, but we have done the next 
 
114 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 best thing, — we intend calling her Henrietta. The whole 
 name is to be Henrietta Blodget, so that she may be con- 
 sidered also as named for Eev. Henry Blodget, who, as 
 pioneer of the North China Mission, deserves to have all 
 the babies named after him." 
 
 On I^ovember 22d, Isabella wrote to her mother : — 
 *^ I must tell you some of the compliments my baby has 
 received. Our washerwoman says she is hao ti U hai 
 (equivalent to Herribly nice ^) ! Tswei Ma says, ' Why, 
 she looks just like our babies ! ^ 
 
 f * Mr. Blodget has just sent her the cunningest of knit 
 socks, — blue and white, — and a soft ball. I sent to 
 Tientsin for calico for a dress, but Mrs. Stanley misun- 
 derstood me, and has sent me some curtain calico, very 
 pretty and nice, to be sure, but hardly the thing for this 
 winter's wear ! We are just back from a walk. I mean 
 to go out nearly every day, so as to keep well for baby's 
 sake." 
 
 The following letter was written to Miss Naomi Diament, 
 her roommate at the Western Seminary, and afterwards 
 her lifelong friend and associate in the Kalgan work. 
 
 ^^Kalgan, Dee. ^, 1867, 
 " You would enjoy sitting by this nice coal fire with 
 me. I know I should have to talk about the baby, and 
 ask you about your school, and there are ever so many 
 things you would want to know. The baby is a great 
 comfort to me. I have not been so well for a long time 
 as I am now. 
 
 "If you were to take a walk with me this afternoon, 
 you would see a great many strange things. Red-faced 
 Mongols dressed in skins, bouncing between the two 
 humps of their camels, or galloping on restless horses 
 
BEGINNINGS AT KALGAN 115 
 
 ahead of long trains of soda carts, tea-laden camels, or 
 perhaps a great flock of fat- tailed sheep. While we wait 
 for them to pass, we can look about us. Opposite, across 
 this lane, is a melon stand. Perhaps you are Chinaman 
 enough to have a piece. I am not. If you are, save the 
 seeds and throw them into this willow basket, and the 
 man will have them salted. Then after a while his little 
 boy will carry them around with peanuts, salted apricot 
 kernels, and hickory-nuts, so that you may pay your cash 
 and get them back ! Yonder are carts of green oats and 
 hemp-seed cake. We feed our cow on these. The oat 
 crop has been a failure, and oatmeal has gone from two 
 and a half cents per catty to four or five. Poor folks 
 have to confine themselves to millet. Wheat flour they 
 cannot afford, as that is five to six cents per catty. 
 
 *^Here comes a man with dusting brushes made of 
 chicken feathers, and there across the street is one carry- 
 ing a quantity of pots and teakettles of a cheap earthen- 
 ware. A pot large enough to cook for our family I can 
 get for four or five cents. A pint teakettle will cost one 
 and a half cents* They are very easily broken. 
 
 " Walk up the street, and we shall see yonder, a boy 
 who is cobbling shoes. The shoes are of cloth, not leather. 
 *What are those open furnaces for?' Those are the 
 travelling kitchens. You can have a bowl of bean curd, 
 rolled flour, or some other equally delectable stuff. Here 
 are twelve cash if you want to try it. Look around you. 
 Here right out in the street is everything imaginable 
 spread out for sale ; cotton cloth, shoes, Second-hand 
 clothing and bedding, peas, persimmons, nuts, red haws, 
 and radishes. There is a load of chou mei (poor coal). I 
 see it has been plentifully watered, so that eighty 
 catties will weigh 100. We'll not buy, as we've been 
 cheated once that way this fall. We usually get very 
 good coal, and it is cheap, much more so than at Tientsin 
 
116 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 or Peking. We are paying for our coal only thirty to 
 thirty-four cents (in silver) per hundred catties (133 
 pounds). Other kinds having less smoke are sixty to 
 eighty cents per hundred. They are better for the 
 Chinese, as most of their fires are open, letting all the 
 smoke into the room, but we can use the cheaper kind in 
 our stoves. 
 
 " The camels have passed, and we'll go and make Mrs. 
 Gulick a morning call. ^ Why, you go about here as if 
 you were at home ! ' Yes, it is only a three minutes' 
 walk. I should not wish to take long walks alone, 
 though I don't know that it would be unsafe. Mr. Will- 
 iams was telling me the other day that he had been to 
 what is called the Wolf's Den, a little temple on the 
 mountains near us. The story of the Den is this. A man 
 wishing to commit suicide built this temple, dedicating 
 it to the wolves. He represented that people about to 
 kill themselves would do well to follow the example he 
 was intending to set, and do so in this temple where the 
 wolves would be sure to eat them. This would be meri- 
 torious, as the wolves would be less hungry, and less 
 likely to eat men who still enjoyed gathering argol, or 
 begging in rags for their living. The truth of this struck 
 a good many, and suicides became so fashionable that the 
 town ofl&cials were obliged to issue a law forbidding peo- 
 ple to kill themselves in the Den. 
 
 " We have a little orphan boy with us now, and think 
 of taking another. The boy goes to Mr. Gulick' s school. 
 Mrs. Gulick is one of the kindest of friends. Indeed, one 
 could not find better friends than she and Mr. Gulick are 
 to us. This is a matter of real gratitude. God has been 
 kinder to us than we expected, in more ways than this 
 one. 
 
 "You say my letters are a comfort to you and you 
 need them. Somehow I had forgotten that anybody 
 
BEGINNINGS AT KALGAN 117 
 
 needed my letters. I know I need yours, and those of 
 other friends, but had not thought of the other side of 
 the matter. 
 
 '' While I write this last, I am sitting on the Icang by 
 the window, to catch the last light of the day. It is only 
 four o^ clock, but twilight comes early within these high 
 walls. 
 
 " God bless you and good-bye. . . .'^ 
 
 " Kalgan, June 18 j 1868, 
 " Dear Alfred and Mary : 
 
 ^' Yesterday I finished reading Matthew in Chinese. 
 I feel quite encouraged. . . . Mr. Williams has gone 
 down-town to change a * shoe ' of silver. I wish I could 
 send you a Chinese bank bill, but I think PU have to 
 wait for a bank to break ! 
 
 ** We have green vegetables now, radishes, cucumbers 
 and string beans. To-day the first apricots came in. 
 They will be very abundant by and by, but are not a very 
 valuable kind of fruit. Where British soldiers have 
 been stationed on the Mediterranean, apricots are called 
 * Kill Johns.' I hope some one will be a missionary to 
 the fruit trees here in China some day, and graft on some 
 really good fruit. 
 
 *^ I get up in the middle of each sentence to see the 
 baby. I had her by me in her chair ; bat she would 
 throw all her playthings on the floor, so I've put her in 
 the crib. I have to go to her every few minutes, for like 
 Dagon, she falls on her face, and can't yet get up herself." 
 
 ^^Kalgan, Nov. 8, 1868. 
 "Dear Anna: 
 
 " . . . You asked what I sing in the * Coronet.' 
 Only our old favorites. * Sheridan,' * Evening Star,' and 
 ' Farewell, Father ' are past their time with you, but we 
 
118 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 in China move more slowly. ' Sheridan ^ was called for 
 constantly at Peking and Tientsin. It has a ring to it 
 that stirs folks up. 
 
 ^' I haven't read ^ Felix Holt/ nor have I read any 
 other story for a long time. My novel reading has been 
 done, or rather is not to be done, I think. Babies and 
 books of that kind don't agree for the most part. You 
 mustu't think I've become painfully good. I haven't 
 forsworn such reading entirely, only just now I must 
 learn Chinese and take care of my house and baby, and 
 after that, maybe I can have a girls' school, or do some- 
 thing else for the Chinese. If I should have time, ever, 
 and have a good story, I'll read it. 
 
 "I've taken the baby over to Mr. Gulick's twice, 
 lately, and have gone out donkey ridiug. It has done 
 me good. I feel better every time, and am much stronger 
 than when I wrote you last. . . ." 
 
 ^^Kalgan^ Nov. Uj 1868, 
 " Dear Home Friends : 
 
 "The afternoon of the day we sent off our last 
 home letter there came a vigorous ring of the old cow- 
 bell which does duty at our gate, and in came an ^ ex- 
 pressman ' with two girls from Peking. They bobbed to 
 the ground and up again, asked if I had eaten, said it was 
 cold, and that they had come to read, all in the same 
 breath. They go by the name of the ^Topsies' with us. 
 The younger one out-topsies Topsy sometimes, in my 
 opinion. Such a case! They were street beggars in 
 Peking. 
 
 " The next event was the arrival of my box, — the box ! 
 The Dakota Dictionary I have hardly seen yet, as Mr. 
 Gulick said it was just what he wanted, and carried it off 
 that night. I like the music Anna sent me very much. 
 The footstool is famous. So nice to have a bit of your 
 
BEGINNINGS AT KALGAN 119 
 
 home carpet ! Baby's napkin-ring is laid away at pres- 
 ent. When she is considerably older, it will come in use. 
 My aprons please me much. I like the alpaca apron 
 with its red braid. It is nice to be gay once in a while. 
 ^Kathrina' I enjoyed soon after opening the box, and 
 shall enjoy it again. * Snow-Bound ' I have read before, 
 and wanted a copy. Here it has come, truly the reward 
 of virtue, for last year I self-sacrificingly marked it off 
 the list of books we sent for. I haven't made the dress 
 mamma sent Henrietta, but will before long. It will be 
 her best dress this winter. Tell Mary the brilliant will 
 become the baby beautifully. Imagine her in it next 
 summer. Then the lamp-mat ! I wanted one, but I am 
 afraid I shall be too choice of this to use it, as I am of 
 the iron-holder and clothes-bag Cornelia gave me when I 
 came from home. I never allow any one but myself to 
 use that holder ! 
 
 "Mr. Williams has a weakness for nice neckties, and 
 he wishes me to say * Hsieh Hsieh ' (^ Thank you '), which 
 I will say to every one of you. Mrs. Gulick said she 
 must at least write you a note, mamma. She was greatly 
 pleased with your gift. 
 
 " Coming in tin, everything was as nice as possible. I 
 cannot mention everything, nor tell what good all did 
 me. You must imagine it. Bobbie's pins are especially 
 acceptable, as I left America with but two or three papers. 
 * Daily Light ' I have begun to use, and promise myself 
 much profit from it." 
 
 ^^ November 16ih. 
 
 "I wrote on Saturday night, when very tired and 
 sleepy, though very eager to begin my month's story. 
 
 *' Since the home box came, our books, canned milk, 
 potash, and coal-oil arrived. Everything in good order ; 
 one lamp chimney only, broken. We are too busy to 
 
120 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 read much. I take au occasional peep at a book when 
 holdiug Henrietta. 
 
 ''I have been trying to sew all the time lately. Am 
 busy with Mark's clothes at present j mending coat-lin- 
 ings, putting on braid, washing coat collars, and last 
 week I spent two days in making him a pair of trousers. 
 I thought of getting a Chinese tailor, but while Mr. Good- 
 rich was finding one, I got them done. The tailor would 
 have done them badly, and charged two dollars or more. 
 
 ^* I have a woman here daily to help about making the 
 children's winter clothes. We have five Chinese chil- 
 dren, and one of our own, — something of a family. The 
 eldest girl makes her own clothes, and helps a little about 
 the rest. 
 
 ^* I took our girls for a cart ride one day. We went to 
 Gulick's Glen, and climbed up to the Caves. The girls 
 were not used to climbing, and it took them so long to go 
 and return that when we came back to the mouth of the 
 valley, our cart had gone. There was nothing to do but 
 walk home. We marched along, through sand and water, 
 too much in earnest about getting home to pick good 
 paths in the dark. A great many men passed us, but 
 none molested. We reached the Great Gate, which was 
 closed, of course, at such an hour. I told the circum- 
 stances, offered two hundred cash, and we got in without 
 difficulty, reaching home so thankful that our rather 
 perilous adventure had ended safely. Mr. Williams 
 would have gone with us, had he not been so busy over- 
 seeing workmen at our new house. He has succeeded in 
 renting the Pei Kuan Yin Tang house which we have been 
 trying to get all summer. It is rented at the following 
 rates : — two hundred dollars down, sixty next year and 
 the year after, and after that, one hundred dollars per 
 year, paid quarterly. Mr. Williams is having some 
 papering and bricklaying done, and two rooms are to 
 
BEGINNINGS AT KALGAN 121 
 
 have board flooring. We expect to move in the last of 
 this week. 
 
 *' The Topsies have marvellous appetites. Besides do- 
 ing wonders in their own dining-room, they help eat my 
 bread so fast that I have to bake twice as often as for- 
 merly. This will never do ! I will watch them, hoping to 
 teach them better things. 
 
 ^' It is half-past nine. My last loaves are to come out 
 of the oven in a few minutes, so good-nighf 
 
 ^''November 18th. 
 
 "My girls are all sitting in the room, sewing. The 
 three younger ones are expected not to talk for a little 
 while, until I finish writing. This letter has not had a 
 fair chance. The best time which I have taken for writ- 
 ing was the other night, when baking, as my greased 
 fingers testify on these last sheets. When we begin to use 
 our big stove, baking will be a shorter process than now, 
 when I can bake but two small loaves at a time. 
 
 " Baby has not come in for her share of the letter yet. 
 Her vocabulary is entirely Chinese. She says ^Dou-ba^ 
 C Let us go ^) and has some idea of what it means. Show 
 her a pin or a needle, and you will hear ' Da, da,^ imitat- 
 ing dja (to prick). Hsin Ching spent half an hour teach- 
 ing her to say it. I hear ' ba ba ' in the cutest tones pos- 
 sible, whenever she sees Mr. Williams. 
 
 " The three little girls are washing dishes at the table 
 by which I write. They have their new wadded gar- 
 ments on, and look very nice. When they don't talk 
 over much, I call them my pao pei-ers, ' precious pearls' ! 
 They will behave well a long time to be called that. I 
 have had to whip Topsy very severely several times. 
 We think we shall like both girls very much when they 
 are tamed, however ! 
 
 " Mr. Williams gets on well these days with his work- 
 
122 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 men. He is growing to be such a business man, that I 
 am quite proud of him. 
 
 *' I am having a splendid opportunity to learn Chinese, 
 with these five children in our home. If I don't learn to 
 talk well, it will be my own fault, or because I am 
 stunned by such volleys of words as are fired at me con- 
 stantly.'' 
 
 ^^Kdlgan, Bee. 19, 1868. 
 " Dear Anna : 
 
 " Mrs. Gulick wants me to send for a lot of machine 
 needles, so that she can break as many as she pleases I 
 
 *^It is eleven o'clock, and I am at last ready to write 
 to you. The mornings begin before six with us. Mr. 
 Williams gets up first, makes the fire, and goes out to 
 milk. While he is gone, I dress and clear up the room, 
 and dress the baby. Now that Wu Ma is sick, I fold the 
 bedclothes, and spread the table, besides frying meat or 
 heating gravy, if we haven't cold, baked meat on hand. 
 Then the cook brings in rice, millet and potatoes and we 
 have breakfast at eight o'clock. I am hungry at seven, 
 but the cook can't possibly get ready any earlier than 
 eight. After breakfast we have prayers. Then the 
 younger girls wash our dishes, while the oldest one pre- 
 pares their breakfast. I watch them sweep the fioor and 
 dust : then I study, sew, or attend to things in general. 
 This morning the washerwoman's husband came for the 
 clothes. I do not have our washing done at home now. 
 We furnish a tub, wash-board, soap, and fuel for heating 
 water, and have our washing done for six cash, or one 
 half cent a person. 
 
 " Next I put a piece of meat thawing to bake for to- 
 morrow, and sat down to write. My ink will not work, 
 but I struggle on. When moving, all our ink was frozen, 
 which is a great misfortune to those who have to read our 
 letters. 
 
BEGINNINGS AT KALGAN 123 
 
 "Baby is wearing Chinese slioes now. Hsin Ching 
 made them for her of some bits of black cloth, with white 
 soles and blue edge. They are wadded, and very nice 
 for cold weather, but not easy to walk in. She has to 
 stay on the bed in our sitting-room as we have no board 
 floors, so she has no chance to learn to walk. Hsin Ching 
 has made her a very pretty wadded garment, bright blue, 
 with gray lining and black edge. Our teacher and all 
 the rest of the Chinese shook their heads over her ^ for- 
 eign clothes ^ and prophesied that unless I let her be 
 dressed according to the fashion of the country, she would 
 die. They were all so pleased when she had the new 
 gown on, and predicted that when she is grown she will 
 not wear ^ foreign clothes ' at all." 
 
 '' Kalgan, Jan, 6, 1869, 
 " Dear Mamma : 
 
 " Do you not think that parents whose children 
 reach heaven will have a joy unknown to others? When 
 all are gathered about them there, what rapture to fall at 
 the foot of the throne, saying, * Behold, I and the chil- 
 dren which the Lord hath given me.' A father and 
 mother could well afford to spend a whole life of priva- 
 tion and misery, if, in consequence, those souls which 
 are, in a most tender and precious sense, their own, — 
 their very own, — shall one day join them in praising their 
 Saviour Jesus. 
 
 " I think more of death and heaven than ever before, 
 and with much pleasure at times. I do not look at the 
 repulsive aspect of death, but at the joy that will be re- 
 vealed. Grace to bear the thought of separation and de- 
 cay will come with the dying hour. Until that time, it 
 is our privilege to look beyond all that is painful, and 
 fearful, and which will last but for a moment, — to the 
 exceeding weight of glory. I have realized lately with 
 
124 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 startling distinctness the fact that we are all to pass away, 
 leaving our places to be filled by others. I felt it as one 
 feels the ticking of a clock, — the beating of the heart, — 
 when all around is still. 
 
 "Such realization of eternal things should not be al- 
 lowed to pass without producing fruit in the life. I ought 
 to be more patient, more charitable, more loving. As 
 yet I have made but slow advance. 
 
 "What you wrote of Cornelia touched me very much. 
 Oh, that all your children and your children's children 
 may meet you in heaven ! " 
 
 The mother never received this letter, for before its 
 coming, she had gone to that heavenly home, to await 
 her children there. 
 
 ^^Kalgauj Jan. 5, 1869. 
 "Deaely Beloved : 
 
 " Happy New Year, Happy ]^ew Year ! We ai-e 
 so eager for our next letters from home,— eager to know 
 where Alfred and Thomas go. I think so often of our 
 missionaries among the Indians ; of the native preachers ; 
 of the schools. Now and again my heart fills with special 
 sympathy and desire for their good. 
 
 " I left my writing yesterday to baste sewing for Mrs. 
 Tsai, look after the baby, and finally to attend the Chi- 
 nese meeting, taking my brood of Chinese children under 
 my wing. This is our Week of Prayer. Mr. Goodrich 
 led. He preaches and talks incomparably well. I know 
 enough of Chinese to know that. We are in the midst of 
 some pressing fears and anxieties about our oldest girl. 
 Such fears as make one silent before God, with an un- 
 spoken petition lying always in the heart. I love her, 
 and have hoped that she was a Christian. So I still hope. 
 
 "Baby is learning to talk, every day, chiefly in Chi- 
 nese. She is a dear little treasure. She looks very 
 
BEGINNINGS AT KALGAN 126 
 
 festive to-day in her new dress, mamma's gift, which I 
 am letting her wear with some good, big aprons, while 
 her Chinese dress is being washed. Baby delights in 
 standing alone. She does it on the bed, and in Chinese 
 shoes, which is something more than standing on the 
 floor. 
 
 '* We have had pictures painted for the panels of the 
 door between our bedroom and this room. They repre- 
 sent the four seasons. One is quite pretty, lotus flowers 
 and leaves. Adjoining, is the panelled woodwork mak- 
 ing the China closet, which is to have texts of Scripture 
 instead of the Chinese classics which fill the panels now. 
 
 "There is a Mohammedan rebellion seven hundred li 
 from here. I hope it will not prove formidable. All 
 sorts of idle rumors are afloat. A man died in the house 
 adjoining ours. His friends attribute his death to our 
 being here. 
 
 " Baby had a lovely Christmas Day. She was radi- 
 antly happy over her flaxen -haired doll, her box of alpha- 
 bet blocks, her book about the * kittens who lost their 
 mittens,' and her toy from 'Uncle Thompson.' Mrs. 
 Gulick invited us to dinner on Christmas Day, and we 
 invited everybody for New Year's. We had chicken pie 
 and venison. Dinner at three, and they all spent the 
 evening. Mr. Williams has just bought two nice deer ; 
 very cheap. They are splendid eating. The Mongols 
 bring them in to sell in the winter season. We can also 
 get pheasants now and then. 
 
 *'We have begun to use our coal-oil and new lamps. 
 It is delightful to have a good light with so little trouble. 
 The sesame seed and linseed oils which we have been 
 using, as the Chinese do, are so glutinous and dirty. 
 
 " We have just ordered forty pounds of Buriat butter 
 through our Eussian friend, Mr. Gazanoff. It is made 
 without salt. The Buriats are Mongols who have settled 
 
126 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 down under the Russian government, and become con- 
 verts to the Greek Church. The butter is nice for short- 
 ening, and only costs us nine cents per English pound." 
 
 " Kalgan, Feb. i, 1869. 
 "My Dear Sister Martha : 
 
 *'I was indeed glad to have the letter about the 
 little lad. I know he grows to be more of a treasure and 
 blessing every day. I wish you had some of my new 
 books to read, while you sit with him in your arms. 
 Have you the ' Daily Light ' ? I usually have mine at hand 
 while holding baby, and enjoy the reading of it. Then 
 I have the Gospel of John, in large print, which is very 
 convenient. It was given me by Mr. Thompson. Since 
 studying Chinese my eyes have sensibly changed in their 
 habit, and are unwilling to read anything but large print, 
 if it can be had. When I was a child, I liked diamond 
 type ; now I never look at it, except when absolutely 
 necessary. 
 
 ". . . I have a sewing woman from Yu Cho in 
 training nowadays. I have tried several women before, 
 but it was more trouble than it was worth to teach them, 
 and then they were not taught ! For what we call a day^s 
 work we pay eighty to one hundred cash. (One hundred 
 copper cash are sometimes equal to ten, and sometimes to 
 eleven cents, according to the rise and fall of silver.) My 
 chief reason for employing Mrs. Tsai is not, however, that 
 she may sew for me, but that she may teach me the Yu 
 Cho dialect, as we hope to go down there a month from 
 now. 
 
 " Our Chinese girls are learning to cook for themselves. 
 I see that the vegetables which they need are bought 
 for them about once a week, and Hsin Ching comes in 
 twice a day for their allowance of rice, millet or oatmeal. 
 My great problem these days is to keep the four girls 
 
BEGINNINGS AT KALGAN 127 
 
 from quarrelling. If it were not for that, I really would 
 have some leisure for study. As it is, I have two or three 
 of them with me all the time, and so keep a peaceable 
 family. After I send them to bed, they take a bout at 
 it frequently. I have to whip the two Mongols very often 
 and very severely for lying, stealing, and disobedience. 
 Yet there is much good in them, I believe. Hsin Wu 
 loves the baby very much. The happiest times in the 
 day to her are when she has a teacup of rice and milk, 
 and is feeding Henrietta. Hsin Ching, too, has a kind 
 heart, if you know how to find it. She is the most med- 
 dlesome child I ever saw, but she has a pleasant face and 
 voice, and her animal spirits no slights or punishments 
 can damp. The work which I have before me for these 
 two is no little thing." 
 
 (Written on the same day to her father.) 
 " . . . I read your letter to Mr. and Mrs. Gulick, 
 and they were greatly interested in the progress among 
 the Dakotas. They think of going into Mongol work, 
 and as the Mongols seem to be somewhat like the Indians 
 in their scattered mode of living, the missionary work 
 among them may partake somewhat of the same charac- 
 teristics. 
 
 *^ A point which is of special interest with us now is 
 the plan for entering the province of Shansi, and taking 
 it as an especial field for our mission. Perhaps some one 
 may come out who would be willing to come to Kalgan, 
 but not to go to the regions beyond. In that case, it may 
 be our place to go. Most of the province of Shansi is a 
 very fine country, so we are told. ^ 
 
 * Though Mr. and Mrs. Williams never left Kalgan for work in 
 Shansi, yet more than thirty years later, in 1903, their daughter Mary, 
 with her husband. Dr. W. A. Hemingway, helped to reopen the 
 jghansi Mission, after the tragedy of 1900, 
 
128 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 ^^ I left my writing to look after the bread and tlie 
 baby. Then after cutting a leg of mutton for the girls^ 
 weekly allowance, and ordering for them a catty of bean 
 sprouts, four pieces of bean paste, five cash worth of 
 onions, and the same of chiang (a kind of sauce), I am 
 ready to write again. 
 
 ^' We have had an old lady pensioner for some time. 
 She has been treated very cruelly by her grandnephew's 
 wife, with whom she is staying, so we have helped her to 
 go back to relatives in Peking. When I spoke to her 
 about the Saviour, she said, ' Don't be afraid. T shall 
 never forget those two names. Heavenly Father, and 
 Jesus.' I hope she never will. 
 
 "Not long ago we had a visit of a very interesting 
 character from four men, living fifty miles distant. 
 They came for books, saying that some generations back, 
 the head of the family had renounced his idols, declaring 
 they were false, and urging his children to seek the truth. 
 
 "Yesterday I took the girls out for a cart ride. We 
 went down to the Lower City, past the soldiers' encamp- 
 ment, to our new chapel ; then into the business part of 
 the city, to see the gay New Year's pictures on every 
 shop window." 
 
 ''Kalgan, Feb. 4, 1869. 
 "Dear Mamma : 
 
 "We were made very happy by receiving home 
 letters to-day. I congratulate you on the completion of 
 your rag carpet, but wish I could have sent you a Chinese 
 woman to sew the rags for you, at eleven cents a day. It 
 would have saved you many a backache. 
 
 ". . . It has been in my heart, and every year I 
 have felt more strongly, that, to sum it up, — the whole of 
 life is not simply to be thought well of by others, to make 
 a comfortable living, to be surrounded by pleasures ; — it 
 is to do God's will, to do the work He gives us," 
 
BEGINNINGS AT KALGAN 129 
 
 In March, 1869, Mr. and Mrs. Williams made a tour 
 to Yu Cho, leaving Baby Etta in Mrs. Gulick's charge. 
 The trip was a hard one, made on donkey back, through 
 the dust and cold. Coming to swollen rivers, they were 
 carried over on men's backs. It was pioneer work, not 
 without its dangers. Once, passing through a crowd 
 gathered before a theatre, the stones began to fly, and the 
 mob followed them, until an old man intervened in their 
 behalf. 
 
 In Mr. Williams' diary of June is written, "When I 
 came home from chapel to-day, baby came out of the 
 bedroom saying, ^ Mamma Wu,^ Letters had come telling 
 of her mother's death." 
 
 A month later he wrote : — 
 
 '* Isabella has typhus fever. We think she must have 
 taken it from a woman who came in to sew. There have 
 been many calls from the sick, and she has been going to 
 the Lower City almost daily, riding in the sun. This last 
 month has been a hard one, since the news of her mother's 
 death." 
 
 In a letter of July twenty -seventh he wrote : — 
 
 " Dear Father Eiggs : 
 
 " Isabella is recovering. For days I thought she 
 could not live. I watched with her night and day, for 
 there was no one else. Baby was with the Chinese. The 
 Gulicks were sent for from Yu Cho, and with their help 
 she passed the crisis. The fever has left her, and she only 
 needs time to get strong. As soon as she is able, I hope 
 to take her away from the noisy scholars and the heat of 
 the city, out to the Mongol Plains." 
 
 On the twenty -third of February, 1870, Isabella wrote 
 to her sister Anna : — 
 
 *^ Looking over my boxes, I find some things still with 
 
130 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 the labels Mark pinned on them, last summer, when I di- 
 vided out my little treasures. 
 
 " Perhaps you may care to read some fragments which 
 I wrote on my birthday, day before yesterday. 
 
 5jC *T^ ^ ^ *1^ *f* 
 
 " In severe illness, return to health depends on many 
 circumstances, any one of which being altered, the result 
 is also changed. 
 
 ^^ When I was sick last summer, had I not passed out 
 of the severe mental conflict between the desire for life, 
 and the belief that death was certain, life could not have 
 been long continued. And if this belief had not been re- 
 placed by the strong contrary conviction, and above all, 
 by the close presence of Jesus, which in itself was life, — 
 recovery would have been impossible. After the scale 
 was turned, everything was life to me, as before every- 
 thing had been death. 
 
 "Some things should be told only to God. K yon 
 speak of them to an earthly friend, though the present 
 relief be great, a sting will be left behind. 
 
 ^ H: :{: H: 4: ^f: 
 
 " 'Why should a man observe the day of his birth f 
 If he could know the day of death, that would indeed be 
 worth honoring as a festival.' 
 
 " Can a Christian speak thus ? The day of birth gave 
 him entrance to a life which will at last be exchanged for 
 an existence of perfect blessedness. The unbeliever or 
 heathen may curse his day, but not the Christian. If 
 one does not rejoice at having been brought into the 
 world, he cannot be joyful at going out of it. 
 
 * * * * :ic * 
 
 " * How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God ! 
 
BEGINNINGS AT KALGAN 131 
 
 how great is the sum of them ! K I should count them, 
 they are more in number than the sand.^ 
 
 "The insect of a day, so curiously and wondrously 
 wrought ; the lasting mountain, which has been the 
 birthplace and grave of myriads upon myriads of gener- 
 ations of these tiny creatures ; — all things, from the atom 
 in the water-drop to the grandest system of worlds in the 
 universe, — all are thoughts of God. Every human being 
 on the swarming street is one of God's thoughts. Were 
 the universe of matter destroyed, it would be of less con- 
 cern in His sight than the death of one of these souls. 
 Alas, that these onc« beautiful living thoughts have been 
 so tarnished and debased by sin ! The immortal princi- 
 ple might have soared to the farthest skies. Behold, how 
 it delights to grovel in the very dust ! 
 
 " Were I a minister, I should have been glad to write 
 a sermon on that text. I wrote this after coming in from a 
 ride through the streets, as a result of my thoughts on the 
 way, but it did not please me entirely, and I could write 
 no more. 
 
 " The Ta Niang is combing baby's flaxen hair, and the 
 little maid is laughing, prattling and singing merrily the 
 while. The aforesaid ^ Elder Mother ' (our servant's 
 wife) had a holiday week at the Chinese New Year, 
 during which I took care of baby's little Hen tzus (braids), 
 myself. I keep the Ta Niang busy with sewing. Yester- 
 day she made a pair of trousers which are for a poor, 
 blind cripple, and helped one of the girls make herself a 
 pair of shoes. 
 
 " We have enjoyed the music-box which was given us 
 by Mr. and Mrs. Goodrich. Perhaps you may care to 
 read the note I wrote to them. 
 
 '^ ^ The music-box continues to be a delightful compan- 
 jou. I feel quite well acquainted with it now, and i% 
 
132 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 never scoffs at my moods, but seems to sympathize with 
 them instead. It seems to have a great variety of moods 
 and feelings itself, so that is not strange. Sometimes 
 it bids one dance, but as I do not know how, I go about 
 dusting my rooms to the rhythm of the music. A poor 
 substitute, some would say, but it answers my purpose 
 well. As I listen to the songs, like drops of water which 
 have but found their voice, day after day the same ideas 
 have been suggested, and I have written them down. 
 
 ^* ^ It has a voice of childhood, eager and yearniug. It 
 speaks, too, of the dreams of youth, — bright youth which 
 laughs to scorn impossibilities. It tells of the weary 
 doubts and dumb griefs of later years, but also of their 
 comforting hopes and inexpressible joys. It brings to 
 remembrance the cross-workings of life, and then silences 
 distrust with the thought *'In Jesus Christ, all contradic- 
 tions are reconciled. ^^ It lifts the soul above strife and 
 discontent to a calm mountain top from which, on fair 
 days, there is a clear sight of Mt. Zion. With exultation 
 she sees the end of pilgrimage, and knows that last hour 
 to be supreme in its triumph, perfect in its joy. ^ ^^ 
 
 ^^ February 25 y 1870. 
 
 " Mr. Williams and Mr. Thompson called on the Eus- 
 sian postmaster at the Eussian New Year. They were 
 entertained royally. One of the dishes was a hash made 
 of meat and sugar ! 
 
 " Baby is very fond of the parched beans which we buy 
 for her. Mr. Williams always helps me undress her at 
 night, and then holds her by the stove. She hugs the 
 stovepipe, and says, *Lo (love) To-pi-tza.^ See what a 
 little Chinese she is ! She has heard the children on the 
 street call out, ^ The little Mohammedan ! See her blue 
 eyes ! ^ until she insists that her eyes are black. She is 
 
BEGINNINGS AT KALGAN 133 
 
 very positive on that point ! She shows her papa and 
 the teacher her pretty yellow braids every morning, and 
 courtesies to the teacher, for which she expects his keys 
 as pay. When our servant went away this morning, she 
 wished him I lu ping an ('Peace on the road ^) very 
 nicely. She is a busy little body, ironing, washing, cut- 
 ting paper, or pretending to read, all the time. 
 
 *' Your letters brighten me up, and make me feel fresher 
 and younger. I need to feel so. 
 • " With love always, Your 
 
 ^'Isabella.'' 
 
 ** Kalgany March 11, 1870. 
 " Dear Friends at Home : 
 
 " We are busy these days, preparing to go to mis- 
 sion meeting. I have not been well this year. The fever 
 last summer, and the loss of the babe, broke my health. 
 I have been very much downcast, but now feel as if I 
 have some reason to hope that by being careful of myself 
 for a year or so, good health may be established once 
 more. Caution about working, writing or studying will 
 be essential, and that is very distasteful to me. Just now 
 I do almost nothing, and it is hard. But I have a great 
 many things to be thankful for. Baby is well and so is 
 Mr. Williams. This is a great comfort." 
 
 " March 19, 1870. 
 
 ** Mrs. Gulick's Ma Ta has lung fever, and we have al- 
 most given up the idea of going to mission meeting. Mr. 
 Williams with Mr. Thompson left yesterday for a tour to 
 Yu Cho and vicinity. Baby misses him sadly. She cried 
 for him the first thing on waking this morning. 
 
 ^' Did I ever send Alfred the music of some street cries 
 which I had written out ? 
 
 " I have just finished reading ' Ecce Homo,' and it has 
 done me good, — stirred up thought." 
 
134 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 ''Marches, 1870. 
 " I remember this is papa's birthday. Yesterday was 
 a solemn anniversary. I could rejoice as well as weep, 
 for the remembrance of our mother's death filled my 
 thoughts through the day. We can thank God now that 
 her battle was fought, her victory won, a year ago. As 
 for the rest of us, the time is not yet come. 
 
 " * What if the bread 
 Be bitter in thine inn, and thou nnshod 
 To meet the flints ? — At least it may be said 
 " Because the way is short, I thank Thee, God ! " ' 
 
 "Sometimes the bread is no longer bitter, but sweet. 
 Sometimes the bare and bleeding feet walk no longer on 
 the flinty road. ^He leadeth me in green pastures.' 
 ' He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their 
 wounds.' " 
 
 ^' March 24, 1870, 
 
 " I am sorry Mark did not have time to write you be- 
 fore he left for Yu Cho, for since I happen to have a list 
 of the things he has been writing about lately, I'm sure 
 he might have given you a very interesting letter. You 
 may judge from the list. 
 
 " 'One day in my Chapel. 
 
 A Walk through the Great Street. 
 
 A Visit to the Soda Factories. 
 
 Among the Theatre Goers. 
 
 From the Summit of the Great Wall. 
 
 On the Mongol Plains. 
 
 A Glance at the Gardens. 
 
 The Soldiers' Encampment. 
 
 A Trip to Yu Cho. 
 
 A Call on the Russians. 
 
 Chinese Customs illustrating Scripture/ 
 
BEGINNINGS AT KALGAN 135 
 
 There^s material enough for as many separate sketches, 
 a year's work in that line. I'd try my hand at one 
 of them, only when would I ever learn to read Chi- 
 nese, if I allowed myself to run off on side tracks! 
 My letters take as much time as I have to spare from 
 daily work and study. I have been reading over some 
 of my favorites among Mrs. Browning's poems, and send 
 you a pencilled fragment I wrote about them some weeks 
 ago. 
 
 " In the study of style, Mrs. Browning has been one 
 of my best teachers, and this not only on account of her 
 excellencies, but of her faults. In reading her poems, 
 one is obliged to exercise the judgment, almost whether 
 he will or no. Her rhythm is at times imperfect ; at 
 times her words lack the charm of simplicity, — at times 
 that of directness. This is the more marked, because the 
 opposite is so signally true at other times. 
 
 ^' Turning from the outside garment to the soul within, 
 her poems open before us whatever is passionate, mourn- 
 ful, tender. Her tenderness is such as we sometimes 
 have dreams of, — have glimpses of in our daily life. One 
 could not often bear such a joy. 
 
 ^* You will think that my mind is very defective in that 
 it finishes nothing. I fear so. But as I did not come to 
 China to write, I must be satisfied with such gleams of 
 ideas as come in intervals of leisure. 
 
 ^'Mr. and Mrs. Gulick are coming to take dinner with 
 me to-day, and I am to be my own cook. So I must say 
 good-bye, and go off to my domain.'^ 
 
 In 1870 she wrote to her sister Cornelia :— 
 
 " You would like your little niece Henrietta very much 
 were you to see her, only you would have to teach her 
 
136 BY THE GEEAT WALL 
 
 English before she could talk with you. Hsin Ching 
 says when I tell her I am writing to my little sister, — 
 * Wen t'a hao,' which means about the same as ^ Ask after 
 her health.' She knows all about you and Eobbie, and 
 has seen your pictures, and your drawings of Eed Eiding 
 Hood's wolf, and of the Pied Piper taking the children 
 after him into the hillside. . . . 
 
 " I wish I could put my donkey, long ears and all, into 
 this letter, and send her to you for a birthday present. 
 You would have fine times riding her. 
 
 ** You wrote me a long letter, for which I thank you 
 very much, as it helps me realize how much my little 
 sister has grown and changed since I last saw her. Do 
 you love Jesus ? Do you love Him more than you did 
 last year ? This is the great thing for which all of us 
 live, or ought to live. You will not choose never to see 
 our dear mamma again, will you? She is with Jesus, 
 and she loves you more than she ever did while here. It 
 will be so happy for us when we all go together to thank 
 the dear Saviour for all His love." 
 
 ^^FeMnffj May 9, 1870. 
 " Dear Friends at Home : 
 
 " Our mission meeting is over, and the friends are 
 leaving. We are staying over for a wedding ! Our eldest 
 girl is to be married to a young Peking lad, ' Everlasting 
 Happiness.' I think they are well fitted for each other, 
 on the whole, and hope that they will be happy and 
 useful. They will go up to Kalgan with us to spend 
 three months, after which they will return to Peking." 
 
 ''May 17, 1870. 
 '' My ' daughter ' is married, and is sitting in state on 
 the Icang. I went in and kissed her after the ceremony 
 was over, and she had gone from the chapel to her room, 
 
BEGINNINGS AT KALGAN 137 
 
 but I did not speak, as she could make me no answer, 
 a<?cording to the Chinese custom. Mr. Williams per- 
 formed the ceremony, and the two bore themselves very- 
 well. Afterwards we sang a hymn which Mr. Goodrich 
 had composed for the occasion. 
 
 " I am packing a little box to send home. It will not 
 be a very expensive one, but you will know that I love 
 you just as much as if I sent you the finest things to be 
 found in all China. I cannot feel that our money is ours 
 to spend always as we would like to spend it, or as it is 
 right for some others to spend money. 
 
 '^ I have on my black alpaca in honor of the wedding. 
 I ought perhaps to wear it every day, but I find my calico 
 wrappers, which are neat and pretty, so much more serv- 
 iceable when I am taking care of ^ Wu-ba-du-ba ^ (our 
 little Henrietta). 
 
 " This visit here has done us a great deal of good. So 
 silent and uneventful a life as ours at Kalgan needs 
 an occasional stirring up, and this pilgrimage to Peking 
 really keeps us from wearing out, or settling down in ruts 
 too much.'^ 
 
 '^ May 28d, 
 ' ' Good-bye ! Off for Kalgan. All well. 
 
 "ISABELLA.^^ 
 
 ^^ Kalgan, June 18, 1870, 
 *^My Dear Anna: 
 
 "I have been busy as a bee, to-day, starching 
 shirts and dresses, making a pudding for dinner, to use 
 up the scraps of bread crumbs ; putting away winter 
 clothes to keep them from the moths ; training Zen in the 
 way she should go, and finally doing quite a part of a 
 large ironing. Some days I seem very idle ; at other 
 times I do no discredit to former training. I have not 
 studied much since we came from Peking. Putting the 
 
138 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 house to rights, and keeping my family in order, seem to 
 fill up the time, and I have been away from the house 
 but once, excepting Sabbaths. 
 
 "Miss Diament keeps busy at her Chinese. Hsin 
 Ching teaches the two girls, and her husband, ' Everlast- 
 ing Happiness,' is partly Mr. Williams' pupil, and 
 partly his teacher. So go the mornings. I keep about 
 the house till it seems as if my feet would ache off. After 
 dinner the girls sew, the two students are at their books 
 again, and I try to keep a half an eye on the baby, and 
 the other half is usually devoted to medical reading. 
 You have no idea how wise I'm getting ! But the fact is 
 that somebody must know something, or every once in a 
 while folks come to a strait place, and don't know where 
 to turn. 
 
 " Our chapels have been fitted up under Mr. Will- 
 iams' and Mr. Thompson's supervision, and two or more 
 of the helpers go down every day. 
 
 " My roses are all out in bloom, but they don't look so 
 lovely as last August, when, every morning, Mr. Will- 
 iams picked the freshest to lay on my pillow. How much 
 good they did me ! How lovely their color, how delicious 
 their scent! How I loved them ! They seemed to love me." 
 
 ^^June22d. 
 
 " Your letter came yesterday. When you get through 
 with your catalogues of flower and garden seeds, just send 
 a few to us, please, as I want to get seeds for distribution. 
 
 "My second ^daughter' is now to be married. I feel 
 quite happy about her. If either or both do well, we 
 shall be fully repaid for all our trouble. I shall have less 
 care now, and more time for teaching Etta. She is sew- 
 ing away, while I write, on some patchwork for a dolly's 
 quilt. The doll has yet to come from England." 
 
 The summer of 1870 following the Tientsin Massacre of 
 
BEGINNINGS AT KALGAN 139 
 
 June twenty -first was full of disturbing rumors and war 
 alarms. Isabella wrote : — 
 
 " Uncertainty is over everything. I am enclosing 
 some fragments I have written lately, from an instinct of 
 preservation, I believe. Were it possible, I would send 
 you everything I value, although, according to my judg- 
 ment, we are not yet in danger. Some of my treasures 
 are here in this world, but how easy for God to take all 
 of them, so that it would be wholly true, * Where your 
 treasure is, there will your heart be also.' But since we 
 know we have treasure in heaven, we can trust God with 
 the rest,— with our earthly treasures, and with our lives. 
 
 ** Good-bye. God bless you all." 
 
 On the twenty-second of August, a son was bom, 
 Stephen Eiggs Williams, named for his grandfather. On 
 September sixth, Isabella wrote to her sister Anna : — 
 
 "The baby is asleep. I am in durance vile by his 
 side, and am supposed to be asleep, too. As you see, I 
 am not. 
 
 "I'm very much delighted with my ugly little boy, and 
 wouldn't have him prettier for anything. We hope he'll 
 be a real Eiggs, but he isn't good-looking enough for that 
 yet ! Never fear, he will be, by and by." 
 
 ^^ September 7th. 
 "I'm better to-day than yesterday, and hope not to 
 be useless long. Miss Diament is reading Bushnell's 
 * Moral Uses of Dark Things ' to me. He makes very 
 convincing points, — so much so that while one reads the 
 essays on * Physical Danger' and ^Physical Pain,' one is 
 thoroughly satisfied that it is a very tame thing to be in 
 a state of security, and as for health, it is really undesir- 
 able ! This only lasts while reading the essays. After- 
 wards, one is as much of a coward as ever ! I used to 
 suppose myself tolerably brave, but either I am losing 
 
140 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 my power of endurance, or each year brings an experi- 
 ence of pain which is more severe than any preceding one.'' 
 
 ^^ September 8th. 
 "I have just been reading your last letter before 
 mamma's sickness, — one of Thomas's, written a short 
 time after, and one of papa's. They bring tears, but 
 blessed ones. Flowers die without rain." 
 
 ^^ September 12th. 
 
 *^ I am up all day now, except a little while at both 
 ends. Sabbath I was up to breakfast, but was quite tired 
 out by dark. 
 
 ^' We have a new Russian postmaster, a Buriat. He 
 speaks Chinese and Mongol fluently, so that we get the 
 European news now. Mr. Gasanoff and his family have 
 returned to Urga. They gave us their samovar, and pre- 
 sented the little baby with a five ruble gold piece. I 
 think this will be used to print tracts. 
 
 " We have a women's prayer-meeting on Saturday af- 
 ternoons. I must stop writing, and make preparation for 
 it. When Hsin Ching prays and talks I feel how much 
 I lack of the knowledge of Chinese which I wish. Still 
 I know enough to point others to a Saviour if their hearts 
 are prepared to receive Him. These troublous times 
 seem to make people less ready to listen than formerly." 
 
 *^ September 22, 1870. 
 
 "The poor crippled woman I've told you about died 
 the day my baby was born. I wish we knew she was a 
 Christian. 
 
 " Stephen is a good baby. He has gained two pounds 
 since he came to us. He is a month old to-day. Baby 
 Etta is washing. A wicker basket is the tub, a dust-pan 
 the wash-board, and one of her alphabet blocks the soap. 
 Her dolly's face is being rubbed well. 
 
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BEGINNINGS AT KALGAN 141 
 
 ^' We are anxious for letters from you. What can be 
 keeping the mail ? ' ' 
 
 *"' Evening. 
 " No letters yet ! Mr. Williams came in with the 
 rumor of a massacre in Peking. How the blood all went 
 to my heart ! It was some time before I got over the 
 shock. God knows if it be true. 
 *^ My love to every one of you. 
 
 '^ Your sister, 
 
 * Isabella.*' 
 
 " October 2, 1870, 
 " My Dear Father : 
 
 '^ Mr. Gulick has rented a tiny house in a Mongol 
 village, hoping that, in case of trouble, we might find it a 
 safe retreat. I know you will be anxious about us, but 
 remember that Kalgan is one of the safest places in all 
 North China, and that our relations with the people have 
 been all peaceable and pleasant. Eemember, above all, 
 that God rules. If we can do more for China by death 
 than by life, God will so use us. If not, we shall be 
 carried safely through every peril. . . .*' 
 
 ^' October 12, 1870. 
 " Dear Anna : 
 
 " Pm trying to be a good mother to my boy, and 
 that fills up much of my time. Pm growing strong, 
 though, and am more like what I used to be. You'd be 
 glad to see how strong I am now. 
 
 " I send you another fragment, being a fragmentary 
 creature, as you know. It's not thoroughly worked out, 
 but I send it, as I want you to have all you can of me.'* 
 
 " Perhaps you question why I am especially anxious to 
 be a good mother to my little boy, if, at the same time, 
 
142 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 life appears so uncertain. I'll try to tell you something 
 about it. 
 
 " Other things being equal, perhaps we may be hap- 
 pier in heaven, if our earthly bodies are healthy, happy 
 ones. At least it may be so where health depends upon 
 the care we take of our bodies when fully aware what is 
 right and wrong in regard to them. Misuse or neglect is 
 sin (unless the result of unavoidable ignorance, or unless 
 higher interests are involved), and puts us lower in the 
 scale of happiness than we should otherwise have been. 
 You will say that much of life's best discipline comes 
 through sickness. So it does, and it may, even when 
 brought on by wilful neglect or abuse. This does not 
 prove it good in itself. God's ' divine alchemy' turns 
 dross to gold, evil to good. 
 
 " As for a little child, it may be the soul will grow 
 faster if the body is not puny and stunted. If I were to 
 take my boy back to heaven soon, I'd like to show the 
 angels how he'd grown since he came down to us. One 
 would like best to have the lad grow up, and serve God 
 here first, but we should pray to be kept from setting our 
 hearts on any plans for ourselves or our children." 
 
 *^ We are not told that Jesus ever smiled. Could He, 
 with the weight of a world's woe pressing Him down! 
 * Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sor- 
 rows.' Although He may never have smiled on earth, we 
 shall see His smile in heaven. 
 
 *^Even though this supposition be true, nothing is 
 proved by it against joy. If we were shown the misery 
 of the earth as He saw it, life would go out in one despair- 
 ing cry. God would not take away the lives He has 
 given, until the appointed time, and so He does not show 
 us. For the rounding to completion of e^xjh life which is 
 
BEGINNINGS AT KALGAN 143 
 
 in a measure such as He would have it, joy and mirth are 
 needful. We exult in the sunshine, and rest in the peace 
 of moonlight. We pray in the presence of the holy stars. 
 All bring us joy. God sees it, and is glad.^^ 
 
 * * ♦ * 4c « 
 
 " There are thoughts like the lightning flash, with 
 sword-thrust of exultant agony. There are also thoughts 
 like that flash when it sears and blackens. 
 
 "Some there are, thank God, like soft, winged, nest- 
 ling birds, warming and thrilling the heart where they 
 rest." 
 
 "One need not deny the existence of Paradise because 
 his abode is out in the desert. He should so till his 
 sandy garden that it may, in the last days, bloom in 
 lowly beauty. *The wilderness shall blossom as the 
 rose.^ " 
 
 " ^It was my desire to know the whole of life, — the 
 bitter as well as the sweet, — the agony as well as the joy.' 
 For myself, I never had any distinct realization of this, 
 but I should grieve for my son were he to miss hearing 
 any chord which may be struck on the harp of life. 
 
 " * But the minor chords wring out tears ! ' 
 
 " * Yea, I know it. Yet better is the moaning forest 
 when the wind breaks down its branches, than the tearless, 
 songless desert.' 
 
 "To-day I ask for him nothing of this. Oh, tender 
 Father, deal with him as seemeth good in Thy sight ! " 
 
 '^ November 21, 1870, 
 " Stephen boy is three months old to-morrow. Such a 
 splendid, fat baby. The pride of my heart, and the de- 
 light of my eyes, and everything else you can think of | 
 
144 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 Mr. Williams tells Etta Bible stories in Chinese these 
 days, and she repeats them to me. Just now she is play- 
 ing with one of her dolls, on the floor. Four of her five 
 dolls have had their heads broken off, and the other has 
 a dreadful hole in her cranium. Decapitation is a slight 
 accident, and is remedied by making hoods for the 
 martyred creatures. The other ailment is cured by strips 
 of paper and gum arabic. 
 
 *' It^s a great comfort to have Miss Diament here ; she 
 is always kind, and one of the most reliable, self- con- 
 trolled persons I ever knew. Her mastery over her 
 tongue is a constant lesson to a body like me, always 
 blundering, always in fault. 
 
 **Mr. Gulick came over a few days ago, and we had a 
 talk such as does me good for days or weeks. Sometimes 
 we talk about books, but not this time. One of the sub- 
 jects most spoken of was the probable shortness of our 
 time here, and the duty of trying to work while our little 
 day in Kalgan should last. It may be that we shall have 
 to go, and who knows whether any of us would ever come 
 back to China or to Kalgan again ? We trust all will be 
 peaceful. I do try to leave all this with the Lord. No 
 hour could be so dark but His love would make it very 
 light. I pray for each one of you these days. It is all 
 I can do, except to love you. That I do, be sure ! 
 
 *' Letters this evening from Yu Cho. Dr. Treat and 
 Mr. Goodrich write more hopefully. The uncertainty of 
 things is a constant strain. According to the Chinese 
 proverb, * Only the shoe knows whether the stocking has 
 a sole or not.' '^ 
 
 '^Kalgan, Nov. 23, 1870. 
 **My Dear Sister Martha : 
 
 "My little Stephen Eiggs was baptized October 
 thirtieth at our Chinese service. Given to the Lord for 
 his lifetime, and for eternity; I trust. 
 
BEGINNINGS AT KALGAN 145 
 
 " We liear good news, that there are nine gunboats at 
 Tientsin, and two thousand Sepoys are coming. This is 
 as it should be, — I felt condemned when those last lines 
 were written, feeling that they showed less trust in God, 
 and more in man, than is right. ^ Some trust in chariots, 
 and some in horses, but we will remember the name of 
 the Lord our God.' 
 
 '' I had a lovely letter from Mary Porter to-day. She 
 has a talent for friendship, — (if it is right to speak of so 
 precious a gift in so light a way) I did not mean it so. 
 She is a friend to every one, and all love her, but I think 
 the affection between us is of an especial kind.'' 
 
 Miss Porter's friendship meant much to Mrs. Williams, 
 at this time and always. Years afterwards, writing to 
 one of the daughters. Miss Porter recalled the days they 
 had spent together. 
 
 "How shall I convey to you the impressions of your 
 dear mother? Her personality was so distinctive, her 
 nature so sweet and rare, that when one tries to put the 
 charm, the traits which set her apart and made her 
 friendship such an inspiration, they elude one ; they are 
 like the fragrance of a flower, — indescribable. 
 
 " When I, scarcely more than a girl, went to China in 
 1868, I looked forward with eager anticipation to the first 
 mission meeting, when your mother would come to 
 Peking, and I should make her acquaintance. I knew 
 her parents and her brothers and sisters in Beloit, and she 
 was the only one in the North China circle with whom I 
 thus had personal ties. 
 
 " In the months which passed before that time, a rumor 
 reached her of something in my course which seemed 
 to her injudicious, something which she feared would 
 weaken my influence. She wrote me, with regard to it, 
 a frank, sisterly letter, to which I replied as frankly. 
 
146 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 Her beautiful courage, and the way in which she did 
 so delicate and difficult a thing, completely won my 
 heart, and my answer in some way secured me entrance 
 into her inner circle, so that from thenceforth we were 
 friends. 
 
 "Although we met only occasionally, and but once 
 spent a few months together, we found constant strength 
 in our mutual affection, and I had many glimpses, through 
 her clearer vision, of the hidden things of the spirit, some 
 of which she saw with rare intuition, and in moments of 
 intimate confidence, could make real in words as few are 
 able to do. 
 
 " I had no conception of the heroism of her ordinary 
 life, or what acceptance of the conditions of the Kalgan 
 field cost her, until I made the journey to Yu Cho in her 
 company. With the little baby in her arms, ascents 
 which we made in the litters were a terror to her, and the 
 fording of streams a nervous strain. Yet I never heard 
 her speak of either the heights or the waters except in a 
 perfectly matter-of-fact, quiet way. This gave me a sug- 
 gestion as to other every-day matters, which I had taken 
 for granted as meaning little to her. When I understood 
 what daily, intimate association with the Chinese cost for 
 herself, and yet more, the permitting it to her children, I 
 marvelled at a self-giving so absolute that it would not 
 count it sacrifice, and would scarcely permit the sympathy 
 of a friend. The poorest, the most sorrowful and hope- 
 less needed her most, so to them was extended kindliest 
 welcome, and she clung to them through repeated disap- 
 pointments, failures and rebuffs. 
 
 "Only once when together did we exclude Chinese 
 work and care, and give ourselves to the enjoyment of 
 things which fed our minds and gratified our tastes. I 
 had been summoned to her side because she was very ill. 
 I found her weak and shadowy, — ' All eyes,^ as she said 
 
BEGINNINGS AT KALGAN 147 
 
 the first time we allowed lier a looking-glass, but the 
 crisis was passed, and she was able to enjoy the devotion 
 of a nurse who had no other duty than to aid her to 
 gather strength. After some rearrangement of her 
 room, and the placing of fresh flowers where she could 
 see them without effort, she said, ^ Oh, how lovely ! 
 Do not let me have anything ugly in sight while I have 
 time to look at my surroundings. Let us rest and play ! ' 
 And so we did, during a week of convalescence, while 
 even her children were excluded from her room that the 
 mother might the sooner be restored to them. 
 
 ^' Then I learned something of her intense, almost pain- 
 fully intense, love of beauty in nature, in art, in litera- 
 ture. We read fragments from great authors, and looked 
 over the few fine engravings within our reach. When a 
 little stronger, she shared with me letters from her home 
 friends, and lived over scenes of childhood and girlhood 
 which they brought to mind. More intense than her love 
 for any external beauty was that for moral excellence. 
 Her face would glow with a transfiguring joy, as she 
 told of some deed of heroism or self-sacrifice. I have 
 rarely, perhaps never, heard a tone of such reverence and 
 adoring love as that with which she spoke of the Saviour. 
 Passages from the Psalms and Gospels, which we read to- 
 gether, are indissolubly associated with her in my mind. 
 So many times in those days I found her, the almost trans- 
 parent fingers clasping her little Bible, and a look on her 
 face such as I think Mary must have worn when she sat 
 at the feet of her Lord. Once, I remember, she said, with 
 broken voice, as I came into the room, ^ He touched them ! 
 Oh, the touch of that hand ! ' 
 
 * ' The impression which it all left upon me is vivid yet. 
 How much more than most of us this beauty-loving ideal- 
 ist had given up, when she devoted her life to work for 
 the lowly in a Chinese city, so far from any of the things 
 
148 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 which especially appealed to her tastes. How much she 
 might have done with her pen, — how her keen mind would 
 have delighted in research in the best literature ! 
 
 *^With returning strength, came a longing for her 
 children which could not be denied. Her welcome for 
 each one was beautiful to see. Her merry laugh over 
 their pretty ways was fresh as though she were herself a 
 child, and as she lay back flushed and weary on her pil- 
 lows, she said, ^Oh! I'd forgotten that they were so 
 lovely! ' So she came back to the workaday world for 
 many more years of unstinted service. 
 
 " We toured together in the Yu Cho field, and the prac- 
 tical woman, looking after details of cart and litter equip- 
 ment, — the teacher and friend ready early and late to 
 meet the crowds of women who swarmed about us, seemed 
 quite another person than the dainty invalid, but always 
 I saw in her the enthusiast and mystic, into whose inner 
 life I had been permitted a glimpse, whom I loved and 
 love, and shall find again, when we meet when ^ this 
 earthly ' has been laid aside. ^' 
 
IV 
 
 THE PATIENCE OF HOPE 
 
 HER FRUITS! 
 These are her fruits, kindness and gentleness, 
 And gratefully we take them at her hands ; 
 Patience she has, and pity for distress, 
 And love that understands. 
 
 Ah, ask not how such rich reward was won, 
 How sharp the harrow in the former years. 
 Or mellowed in what agony of sun, 
 Or watered with what tears. 
 
 — Mary Eleanor Roberts, 
 
 ^^Kalgauj March n, 187 L 
 *^ My Dear Anna: 
 
 "Don't expect anything from me this month ex- 
 cept £ s. d,y £ s. d.j all over the page ! I have just been 
 working over the bills for the English goods, and with 
 great mental strain have at length ferreted out the matter. 
 You don't know what a blessing a decimal currency is. 
 Here we have Mexican dollars, Chinese taels, English 
 money, Eussian currency, American money, Kalgan, Pe- 
 king, and Tientsin money, — all different, — and bills to 
 work out with all these mixed up together. 
 " Much learning hath made me mad ! '^ 
 
 ^^ Kalgan J March 21 j 187 L 
 "Dear Papa: 
 
 ". . . On my birthday I had a Chinese party, 
 — a dinner party ! Our servant and his wife, Yung Fu 
 and Hsin Ching, and Liu, the young peddler who is a 
 church-member, and his mother. 
 
 * By courtesy of McClure'a Magazine, 
 149 
 
150 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 ^' This morning a Chinese woman came in, and was here 
 for a couple of hours. I wanted to write, and felt 
 ashamed that I did. After she went away, I was glad 
 that I had tried to teach her of Jesus, for she seemed 
 to understand what was said. We had a long talk. Af- 
 ter dinner, I scribbled off a page to Anna. Just as it 
 was done, a half dozen women came in for a friendly chat. 
 For such interruptions, you will not be sorry if your let- 
 ters are shortened. I am writing now with Stephen in 
 my arms, and it is slow work. 
 
 '^ Next month we shall be preparing to go to Peking for 
 mission meeting. Mr. and Mrs. Gulick will probably 
 leave for England immediately after our meeting. We 
 shall miss them. I do not know whether any one will 
 come to take their place or not. But Miss Diament is 
 here, you know, so we shall not be alone. Then the 
 children are great company for us, and our Chinese 
 friends too, — so that it is not like being alone when first 
 coming to China, as Mr. and Mrs. Gulick were. 
 
 "A kiss from Henrietta and Stephen. I wish I could 
 show you this precious, precious baby of mine. I think 
 he has brought a new revelation of motherhood to me.^' 
 
 In April the promised visit to Peking was made. A 
 little story, written afterwards for her children, describes 
 the start. 
 
 Hetta's Outing 
 
 Up and down she jumped all about the court, the great 
 rooster sedately coming out to look at her. The idea 
 came into her mind to catch him, which she had often 
 tried to do in vain. Now she rushed in pursuit, and off 
 he flew to the roof and perched close by the cupola, with 
 its tiny shrine and the comical row of imps on each side. 
 
 Up and down, out and in, the happy little girl danced. 
 
THE PATIENCE OF HOPE 161 
 
 "We are going, we are going to Kambalu, to-day, to-day, 
 and I don't care for you, old rooster ! '' 
 
 Finally she hopped into the coal corner ; the coal-room 
 was delightfully dark — there were such interesting cob- 
 webs at the end, and one queer great spider. ' ' Spider, 
 I am going to Kambalu, — don't you wish you were going 
 too?" On the pile of coal-dust she was dancing, — she 
 was a tiny thing, and forgot that she was dressed ready 
 for the journey. 
 
 Presently mamma came out. She had been packing 
 up the loaves of bread, the Jersey biscuits, and roast 
 meats. "Where is Hetta?" She called once or twice, 
 and a cheerful voice came out of the coal-room : " Here 
 I am, mamma. Going, going to Kambalu!" Mamma 
 looked distressed. "It is almost time to start, and what 
 a dirty little girl you are ! " So Hetta was scrubbed up, 
 and a clean suit was taken out of a valise full of clothes 
 for the journey. 
 
 Now she had her lunch, and the mules were led in 
 with the litters (large sedan chairs) j the bells tinkled — 
 such a delightful sound they had that Hetta and the baby 
 ran out to hear and see. The nurse toddled out on her lit- 
 tle feet, but the baby was so quick that he disappeared 
 around one corner of the house just as she got sight of him 
 at the other. So she called out to her big boy to tell the 
 mule-driver to look out for "baybay," which the jolly 
 one was very ready to do. 
 
 Papa came on the scene now, with an armful of blankets 
 and rugs, and the young man who was called "Second 
 Boy " brought some more. These were packed in one of 
 the litters with valises and bundles. 
 
 Papa said, "Lao Ma" Tthat means "Aged Nurse '^), 
 "please sit in this litter, and keep the children with you." 
 The litter was set down at the door of her room, and she 
 was an old woman, so it was all right for her to be there. 
 
152 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 Baby sat with her and watched the great mules eating the 
 cnt straw and black beans. He was terribly afraid yet 
 greatly delighted when they swished their tails, or when 
 the donkeys lay down and rolled, saddle and all, in the 
 dust. How the drivers scared him, scolding and pretend- 
 ing to cut with their whips ; yet nothing could have kept 
 him in the house, where mamma was packing the last bag 
 and locking the inside doors. 
 
 Now she comes out. Her litter is set up nearly on end, 
 hung on the front mule, and lifted to its fastenings on 
 the other mule's saddle. Hetta looks out while baby's 
 litter is put up in the same way, and they swing away 
 down the street, while the little girl sings : 
 
 " Baby, are you glad too ? 
 Going, going to Kambala ! " 
 
 ''PeUng, AprU 27, 1871, 
 **Deab Anna: 
 
 "Mission meeting days are busy ones. Not a mo- 
 ment is left unoccupied. After the evening program, sen- 
 sible folks like me creep immediately into bed. I * eat 
 well ' these days, but am like the lean kine that Pharaoh 
 saw. Stephen is fat and fair, and makes up for my defi- 
 ciency. It has done me good to make the journey down. 
 Every time I see so many people as we meet between here 
 and Kalgan, it stirs me up to be active in work and prayer 
 for souls. It is good to realize the great need of these 
 heathen, over and over again. . . ." 
 
 ^^ Kalgan, May 23, 1871, 
 " Carpenters and masons fill the yards, repairing what 
 is to be Mr. Williams' study, improving the roofs in the 
 outer yard, and rebuilding chimneys. The outer yard is 
 full of mud, and the entrance court of lime. The car- 
 penters saw and plane till our ears are tired, and our eyes 
 
THE PATIENCE OF HOPE 163 
 
 are full of sawdust. Miss Porter and the Wheelers are 
 coming up the last of this week, and I am hurrying up 
 my work to go with Mr. Williams on a tour to Yu Cho. 
 Miss Porter goes with us and we start next week. 
 
 ' ' On our way home from Peking, we narrowly escaped 
 being thrown down a precipice in Nank^ou Pass, from 
 the foolhardiness of our driver. The children were with 
 me, and you cannot tell how I clung to life, for them, more 
 than for myself. The strong, safe mules took us out of 
 the dreadful danger, and I, quivering in every limb, 
 thought, ^God has yet work for me, or for these children.' 
 
 " On the last day, when Stephen was fretting in the lit- 
 ter, I called for Mr. Williams to carry him on donkey- 
 back a while. Mr. Thompson offered to take him on his 
 horse. The careless litter driver flirted the baby's long 
 clothes in the horse's face, and frightened him. He 
 reared and threw them off. Mr. Thompson held the lit- 
 tle boy close to his breast, so that in the fall backward, 
 he was not injured at all. Mr. Thompson was hurt, but 
 not seriously. 
 
 " The McCoys came with us from Peking. Since that, 
 Bennie has been very sick. They depended chiefly on 
 me to know what to do. It was a crushing responsibility. 
 I didn't know any more than any one else what to do, but 
 only where to look in the books. I set the rest to work, 
 bathing his head, rubbing his feet and hands, while I 
 read up in West and Bouchut. In a few minutes I'd jump 
 up and say, ^He must have a dose of calomel.' We'd 
 give him that, and then I'd go to the books again. 
 ' Blister on the back of his neck.' So it went. We 
 worked all day with him. I couldn't endure such re- 
 sponsibility, so when there was a breathing space, we 
 wrote off an account of the symptoms, and sent a mes- 
 senger to Peking, for Dr. Dudgeon. Bennie is better to- 
 day." 
 
154 BY THE GEEAT WALL 
 
 *' Yu Cho, June 13^ 187 L 
 "My Dear Father : 
 
 " We left home two weeks ago to-day ; had a pros- 
 perous journey down, and have been quite as much en- 
 couraged in our work as we could expect. Last Wednes- 
 day we went down to West Eiver Camp, and stayed till 
 Saturday morning. Crowds of visitors all the time, ex- 
 cept just time enough for meals, and a little rest at noon. 
 
 " I wish I could give you some idea of the work we find 
 so hard and yet so easy when the love of Christ fills our 
 hearts, and some are interested to hear of Him. Prej- 
 udices are being removed, a spirit of inquiry is stirred 
 up, and if the harvest does not come now, it will after 
 a while. God's Word will not * return unto Him void.^ 
 This endeavor to speak the Word of God to so many, is 
 blessed work when we are listened to cordially and at- 
 tentively. If faith is strong, it is blessed even when all 
 do not so listen. 
 
 " A good preparation for these more trying weeks was 
 the journey down — glorious scenery of mountain and 
 plain all the way. I cannot tell you how it rested us. I 
 understand better how Jesus loved to go alone to the 
 mountain tops for prayer. Those few days, with their 
 rest and beauty, seem to fill a greater space in time than 
 many weeks of common life. 
 
 *^ I hope to gain strength on this trip. Mentally I need 
 it more than bodily, and the bodily need is not slight. I 
 feel very hopeful about it.'' 
 
 A description of this tour was written later for the 
 Dakota Word Carrier, 
 
 " June, 1871. 
 
 *^ Let me tell you the story of a journey made by Mr. 
 Williams, Miss Mary Porter, of Peking, myself and my 
 ten months' baby, Stephen Eiggs. 
 
 **The carts were at our door, and we kissed the three- 
 
THli PATIENCE OF HOPE 156 
 
 yeax-old daughter who was to be left in Miss Diament^s 
 kind care, and went jolt-jolting along on our wearisome 
 way. There were donkeys for Miss Porter and me, so that 
 we might ride in the cooler parts of the day ; and as we 
 came up to parties of women washing clothes on the 
 smooth stones of the brooks, we stopped and talked with 
 them. 
 
 "They were so filled with amazement at hearing us 
 speak their language that they would pay no attention to 
 what we said. ' Why she talks Chinese ! ' ' How 
 strange ! ^ ^ Do look at their saddles ! ^ * Wonderful I ^ 
 * The foreigners' things are all nicer than ours.' 
 
 "Sometimes one woman listens quietly while the rest 
 chatter on, and we hope that she will gain something. 
 And she does gain a little, if only the tender sound of 
 voices touched with the wondrous love of the story they 
 are telling. 
 
 " As we beg them to listen, a man comes by, ' Pooh ! 
 you women know nothing,' and politely turning to us he 
 says, ^Ladies, don't trouble your hearts for them. 
 Chinese women are too stupid to learn anything ! ' 
 
 " He passes on and a young fellow saunters up, ^ Don't 
 you be listening to these foreign devils ! What do they 
 want here anyway ? ' The carts come creaking up, and 
 we sadly ride away. 
 
 "When we stop at the inns, noon and night, crowds 
 gather around us, as if a menagerie had just arrived. 
 ^ Do look at that baby ! ' * Ha, ha, ha, ha. What white 
 hair ! ' ' They'll dye it black when it gets big.' ' How 
 ugly it is ! But isn't it clean ? ' * Why, there she's going 
 to wash its face ! ' ^ Is this the woman doctor who came 
 last year ? ' * No, it isn't. I know that one. She cured 
 Er Hsiaodz.' 
 
 "How weary we grow of so many eyes and tongues 
 busied with us and our doings. 
 
156 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 " By and by the crowd scatters somewhat, and some 
 pleasant- faced women come in. They are a little afraid, 
 but soon they sit down on the edge of the brick bed and 
 talk. They ask about our age, family and friends ; and 
 we answer, knowing that if anything will win them, it 
 will be the answering all these questions kindly. Then 
 one of us tells, as plainly and distinctly as possible, of 
 God and His Son Jesus. They listen respectfully, and 
 one woman says, * Jesus is your God. It would not do for 
 us to worship Him. I am a Buddhist.^ 
 
 " Miss Porter answers, * From the books we find that 
 Buddha was only a man. Jesus is God. You as well as 
 we ought to worship Him. The God who made the world 
 and keeps us all alive, is He, whom, if you learn about 
 Him, you will want to worship. Here is the first chapter 
 of Genesis ; may I give it to you ? ^ 
 
 '^ ^ But I cannot read it ! ^ 
 
 ^^ ' Do none of your family read ? ^ 
 
 " ^ My son reads ; he is coming presently ; ^ and while 
 she speaks here he is. After a long talk with Mr. Will- 
 iams, he takes the leaflet of Genesis, and, bowing po- 
 litely, goes his way. One seed is sown ; will it grow ere 
 long? 
 
 ^* After these days of rough and barren road, we come 
 to a lovely mountain pass, where the steep slopes are 
 covered with leafage and flowers, and the music of the 
 brooklet cheers our ears. 
 
 "We dine to-day in a town of 30,000 inhabitants. 
 Curiosity is wide awake, and hundreds are gazing at us 
 with open-mouthed wonder. The room where we sit is 
 filled to overflowing; the paper windows are instantly 
 filled with holes, and at every hole there is an eye ! 
 
 " Mr. Williams says, * Young men, you may all go out- 
 side. 141 talk to you and explain the books outdoors.' 
 Out they go, and in hobble the women, young and old. 
 
THE PATIENCE OF HOPE 167 
 
 Among these women are two who know in part the 
 Gospel message. They are timid about letting others 
 know their desire to see us, but they are glad, and so are 
 we. 
 
 " After passing through one more city we reach the 
 place of destination, where the Christians' greeting is 
 heartfelt and cheery. 
 
 *'Soon we are cozily at home in the little mission 
 house, but the rains come, and we are shut in. A few 
 near neighbors come to see us between showers, while all 
 the women of Yu Cho are impatiently waiting for the 
 rain to stop. When the skies are bright again, they 
 come in by tens or by dozens all day. Mr. Williams re- 
 ceives the men in one room, while Miss Porter and I, 
 with a native Christian woman, receive our visitors in two 
 or three rooms. Women and children, and some men as 
 well, are all eager to see the foreign women. Often they 
 are sure that they cannot understand when we speak of 
 Jesus ; while remarks on any other subject are as clear as 
 day ! How nobly the Christians help to explain the way 
 of salvation ! 
 
 *' Hundreds come on the last two days ; among them 
 some Eoman Catholics, who, unlike all others whom we 
 have seen, have a clear idea of the Saviour's redeeming 
 work. 
 
 *^ Turning our faces homeward at Hsi Ho Ying we have 
 bright, sunny days, and at early morning, through the 
 day, and late at night we three are more than busy, either 
 with large companies, or with but two or three auditors, 
 repeating over and over again the stories of Creation and 
 Eedemption. 
 
 ^' At old Pao An there was a fair, and we were besieged 
 at our inn. Sorely did the landlord rue the hour when 
 he gave us a room, for in a few minutes a noisy crowd 
 took possession of the court. Eows upon rows of heads 
 
158 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 covered our windows, from which all the paper had dis- 
 appeared in a few seconds, and the court was wedged full. 
 Mr. Williams carried Stephen out to the street to draw 
 away the crowd, so that Miss Porter and I might have 
 quiet. 
 
 " The next day we had a similar experience. I will 
 give you Mr. Williams' story of it. * As we passed 
 Hsuan Hua, there was a theatre, and we neglected to 
 draw down the cart curtain. The multitude caught 
 sight of the white-headed baby, and surrounded the carts, 
 so that the driver was helpless. He begged in vain for 
 them to give way. I rode my donkey, and flourished my 
 whip with no result, except to push some of the small- 
 footed girls against a fruit peddler's baskets. For- 
 tunately, the men at the inn, where we were accustomed 
 to stay, recognized us, and mounting the driver's seat, 
 and lashing the horse, made a way and took us to their 
 inn. The people followed, but the landlord unchained 
 his dogs, and the mass surged back, trampling over each 
 other in their haste to get through the gate. We made a 
 present to the unfortunate peddlers, and resolved to keep 
 the cart curtains down in the future.' 
 
 " Miss Porter went on to Peking under the escort of an 
 elderly Chinese Christian. It was the first anniversary 
 of the Tientsin massacre, but God kept us all. ' As the 
 mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is 
 round about His people.' " 
 
 " If any time my Lord had let my hand 
 
 Slip out of His Hpon the way of life; 
 If any single hour, had bid me stand 
 
 Alone, unshielded, in the day of strife, 
 I then might doubt Him, for the world is great, 
 
 And I, of all the millions, only one. 
 How should He see me in my low estate, 
 
 Or care if were my battle lost or won ? 
 
THE PATIENCE OF HOPE 169 
 
 ' But ever when the road has roughest been, 
 The guiding Hand has closest kept its hold; 
 
 And hardest when the fight with grief or sin, 
 Then tenderest the Arm that did enfold." 
 
 ^^ Kalgan, July 6, 1871. 
 " My Deae Father : 
 
 " To celebrate the Fourth, we planted the Amer- 
 ican flag on Lone Eock. Mr. Gilmour is down from 
 Kiachta now, and added to the gayety of our picnic. He 
 presided over the Eussian samovar, and interrupted with 
 ' God save the Queen,' when we sang * America.' 
 
 " While we were at our tea, a storm broke over us, and 
 a torrent came roaring down the dry river-bed until in a 
 few moments it was too deep for crossing. Attempting 
 it, one of the carts went partly under water, and was in 
 danger of upsettiDg until Mr. Gilmour waded in to the 
 rescue. The drivers refused to go forward so we turned 
 to the nearest village, not reaching it until ten o'clock 
 that night. The children were sleepy and draggled, and 
 got dreadful bumps from the carts, such as we used to get 
 going through the Big Woods when we were little tots in 
 Minnesota. Fortunately we found an inn with one large 
 room, and eleven of us slept together on the brick Icang. 
 The gentlemen spent the night in the only cart that got 
 through with a dry bed, and we were all glad to start 
 home before dawn. Our Fourth of July picnic certainly 
 added something to our experience. I, for one, didn't 
 regret it. 
 
 ^^ Mr. Gilmour has pitched his tent at the Gulicks', and 
 one day he invited us to a meal served in Mongol style. 
 He used argol for fuel, and showed us how the Mongols 
 wash their dishes by licking them clean. He put the 
 children on the camel and let them ride around the 
 yard. . . ." 
 
160 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 (To her brother Henry.) 
 
 ''Kalgan, Sept 18, 1871. 
 
 "Your birthday has almost come around once more. 
 I never forget it, since the day is a double annivei-sary. 
 But I seem to remember it more for your sake than for 
 Henrietta's, because she is always with me, and all days 
 are alike good. 
 
 "I am busy now getting winter clothes ready for 
 Stephen, Etta, and the two Chinese girls. The children 
 are noisy and confuse me, so that I make mistakes in 
 cutting. I remember mamma used to want a quiet room 
 if ever she was going to cut coats or pants for you boys. 
 
 ^ ^ The rains are upon us. Sometimes it rains all day, 
 misting or pouring by turns. Sometimes we have a few 
 hours of sunshine, and the whole earth steams. I've not 
 had the usual help from servants in taking care of the 
 house and children. The small feet were afraid of spoil- 
 ing their fine shoes, or of getting a fall in the mud. 
 
 '* Our landlord's house is badly used up by the rain ; 
 holes clear through the mud wall, ceilings all down, and 
 Mngs broken up, so he takes the opportunity to beg for 
 money. To-day has been chiefly spent in listening to 
 him and to his wife. First he came and Wo Vou-ed to 
 Mr. Williams, and when a man of his station does that, 
 one knows something miserable is in the wind. He in- 
 sisted that some of us go and see his house. Miss Dia- 
 ment and I put on our waterproofs, and picked our way 
 through the 'mud. The house was in a dreadful state. 
 The whole family were tearing their hair — (figuratively). 
 We promised them some money, but the brazen fellow 
 said it was not enough ; he wanted one hundred taels. 
 His wife spent the afternoon talking with me. She did 
 it faithfully, as the lack of home letters this mouth will 
 testify. I used some plain language to her, at the last, 
 but being really sorry for her, notwithstanding, kept my 
 
THE PATIENCE OF HOPE 161 
 
 temper. They are well-to-do people, only the old rascal 
 of a man gambles all his money away, and starves his 
 wife and children. 
 
 " My cook, speaking of this man, yesterday, gave me a 
 new Chinese proverb : — 
 
 ** * Who in the third and fourth months 
 Mnds not his roof with pain, 
 He, in the fifth and sixth months, 
 Curses the God of Bain.' " 
 
 '^Kalgauj Oct. 18, 1871, 
 " Dear Ones at Home : 
 
 " The box you sent us came safely. ^ Grandfath- 
 er's picture ' is one which Stephen expects his father to 
 show him a dozen times a day. He must go home to some 
 of you by and by, for it's a dreadful thing to grow up 
 here. We were never half thankful enough for the bless- 
 ings of our younger years. 
 
 *^Mr. Williams studies and preaches faithfully these 
 days. My children take most of my time, so that I can- 
 not visit much, but we have calls, and quite a number of 
 applications for medicine. To meet these, I am com- 
 pelled to study. Last week we had crowds of visitors. 
 Indeed we had to keep them out part of the time, or we 
 should have been exhausted. There were too many, — 
 fifty or more at a time. I feel more successful when we 
 have but two or three at a time to talk to. In a year's 
 time, we have from two thousand to three thousand 
 callers. Surely the seed is sown." 
 
 " November 21, 1871, 
 ^^ Stephen is a source of great pleasure to us all. He is 
 laughing just now at a rat of cotton wadding which Liu 
 Ma has made for him. Birds, both in pictures, and out- 
 doors, are his especial delight. He thinks people caii 
 
162 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 fly, and when Etta is carried off to bed, he says she flies. 
 He points to hats, and then brays, to show that he wants 
 to be carried out to see the little donkey, or if he finds a 
 shawl, drags it along with the same vocal accompaniment 
 to his laboring steps." 
 
 ^^ November 22d. 
 
 " Dr. Treat has just told us of a terrible fire in Chicago. 
 I think of Thomas, and long to hear from you all. Dr. 
 Treat leaves to-morrow. We have enjoyed his visit 
 greatly. Our isolation makes us very glad to see friends. 
 
 " A couple of Chinese ladies have just come in to see 
 me. They tell me to go on writing, but I must say 
 good-bye.'* 
 
 ^^ January 15, 1872. 
 ^*Mr. Williams has gone to call on the Russians; 
 Stephen is asleep, and Etta is sewing. Pm sitting on 
 the '' 
 
 " January 16th, 
 "Before I could write 'stove-hearth,' Stephen woke 
 up, and that was the end of writing for that day. We 
 are having bitter cold weather, ten below zero, and a 
 strong wind blowing. My morning sweeping is done, 
 and I begin again. First the children want me to play 
 be a tiger (tang lao hu) j Etta runs away in great terror, 
 while Stephen walks right up and puts his arms around 
 my neck. 
 
 ''Mr. Williams has just bought a great bar of soap 
 from the Russians. It weighs over fifty pounds, and 
 costs about six dollars, — not quite as expensive as the 
 soap we get from New York. Soap that we make is 
 much cheaper. 
 
 "The two women who were sewing for me are both 
 sick. I am so sorry, for they were getting along so 
 
THE PATIENCE OF HOPE 163 
 
 nicely in learning the catechism. Wu Ma sews in Miss 
 Diament's room, that I may be spared her talkative 
 tongue. There being no other Chinese woman there, she 
 is forced to be more silent. Hsin Ching's tongue is the 
 hardest of all to bear, however. It is never weary. 
 
 "Genesis, with Lange's Commentary, is exceedingly 
 interesting. I haven't yet been able to study thoroughly 
 the introduction, which seems dry, but the rest is not. 
 
 "Some time ago a Buriat had a finger injured in a 
 fight with some Chinamen who were trying to steal the 
 tea he was in charge of. I wanted him to go to Peking, 
 thinking amputation of the first joint was necessary. It 
 was impossible for him to go, so he has been coming here 
 to have it dressed, and I am proud to say that the finger 
 is nearly well." 
 
 ^^Kalgauj Feb. 9, 1873, 
 " The weeks of this lonely life fly just the same as if 
 we were a part of the world, and not away by ourselves 
 in the desert. I wish life in the wilderness might be to 
 us what Elijah's sojourn in Horeb was to him j that we 
 might be made strong in the Lord, and in the power of 
 His arm begin anew our combat with the world, the flesh 
 and the devil. 
 
 " Yesterday was Chinese Kew Year's Day. A Sabbath- 
 like stillness, broken by no sound except occasional fire- 
 crackers, made the day pleasant. The mill next door to 
 us, which shakes our walls, jarring the dishes together 
 and confusing our brains, is quiet, and it seems some- 
 thing to be thankful for. Chinese gentlemen (and all are 
 such now) go about making IN'ew Year's calls. The wives 
 stay at home to cook, and sometimes to receive calls 
 when the callers are such as it is proper for them to see. 
 All are dressed in their best. The little boys go through 
 the streets kicking feather toys, and firing crackers." 
 
164 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 ^'February 12th. 
 
 " We are still in the midst of the comforts and discom- 
 forts of Chinese New Year. Invitations to dine are im- 
 minent. The ^Iron Man^ (a Christian) invited us for 
 Wednesday, but they all spend so much (comparatively 
 speaking) on their entertainments that it is best to de- 
 cline them. 
 
 **Our washerman is a gentleman now, and will not 
 find it convenient to serve us for a week or two. I did a 
 little washing this morning, and must do more to-morrow. 
 Our washing-machine must come in play to astonish the 
 natives, and strike old Liu's heart with terror. 
 
 *' Yesterday (Sabbath) we had a call from a Mr. Titu- 
 skin, an English-speaking Eussian gentleman who is 
 acting professor of German and Eussian in the Peking 
 University. He seems quite friendly, and apologized for 
 calling on the Sabbath, saying that he did not know 
 what our customs were. It did seem good to hear the 
 voice of some one besides ourselves speaking the familiar 
 tongue. 
 
 "The distress in Tientsin and vicinity is terrible. 
 Thousands must die of starvation. Mr. Williams has 
 sent one hundred dollars to be used for the benefit of 
 sufferers. It is nothing among so many, but it is all we 
 ought to give. 
 
 "Miss Porter writes : — ^Mr. Blodget has just finished 
 working over the old hymns, and is now busy on some 
 new translations. I'm sorry that he must do this work 
 alone, but don't know who could assist him. He is very 
 busy with his class of helpers, his school and transla- 
 tions, and is so cheerful and hopeful that it makes me 
 glad to see him.^ 
 
 "It will not be long before we start for Peking to 
 attend mission meeting. We shall all be very glad to 
 go. It will freshen us up, for we are lonely here. Miss 
 
THE PATIENCE OF HOPE 165 
 
 Diament is a treasure. She is unvarying in kindness 
 and cheerfulness. 
 
 ^' Lange's Commentary is one of my best friends these 
 days. I read Grenesis and Matthew. I only wish I had 
 commenced earlier to study the Bible. 
 
 ** On Chinese New Year I let the children celebrate by 
 popping some of the corn that Henry and Eobert shelled 
 for us to eat on the sea voyage. Pve been very saving 
 of it, and keep it in the bag like mamma's dress, which 
 Cornelia made for me.'^ 
 
 ''Kalgan, Feb, 17 ^ 1872, 
 "Dear Sister Cornelia : 
 
 "February 17, 1859, was when you first came to 
 us. Thank God that you did come. Your little baby 
 life was worth a great deal to your elder sisters, teaching 
 them to be less selfish, teaching them to love, and help- 
 ing them to be cheerful and glad instead of being discon- 
 tented and miserable without cause. . . . Eobert, 
 too, was a little one whose mission was a blessing. It 
 would not have been good for us to have been without 
 either of you. Bobbie was my boy, and I used to ask 
 mamma if I mightn't send him to college. If God per- 
 mits, I will send him something every year until he 
 finishes his studies. . . . 
 
 "I hope you are committing a great many precious 
 Bible verses to memory. Now is your golden time. I 
 learned too few. . . ." 
 
 ^^Kdlgan, March 19, 1872, 
 "My Dear Father : 
 
 "Mr. Thompson has AUibone's 'Dictionary of 
 Authors.' Eev. S. R. Riggs has a niche in it. 
 
 " Miss Diament and I have been dipping into ' Among 
 my Books' and 'My Study Window,' and have enjoyed 
 
166 BY THE GKEAT WALL 
 
 them. But oh, how much better is the Bible ! God is 
 leading me to care less for the culture of ordinary read- 
 ing, and to find blessings flowing in a constant stream 
 from His holy Word. The longest life will not suffice 
 for its study. 
 
 "About a bushel of papers and magazines came to-day, 
 — the first we have had since November. Scribner^Sy 
 Living Ages, Independents and Advance — why, it^s a sort 
 of intoxication, such an avalanche all at once ! '' 
 
 ^^ May 26 J 1872, 
 "Our good Christian Li is dead. Mr. Williams and I 
 went to see his wife and old mother this afternoon. They 
 greeted us with emotion. We wept with them, and 
 spoke of glorious resurrection hopes. They listened and 
 were somewhat comforted. His wife will probably be 
 obliged to marry again on account of very poverty. Li's 
 brother has never been counted as having business tact, 
 and they all doubt his being able to support father, 
 mother, wife and two babies, without counting his brother's 
 wife and son. 
 
 "Li's last word was 'Amen.' Although he may not 
 have been entirely free from error and superstition, yet 
 his understanding and acceptance of the truths of the 
 Gospel were hearty and gratifying. We hope that his 
 death will be a point of awakening for many. His old 
 father desires baptism. 
 
 "I have been rereading your letters. There are many 
 precious ones which warmed my heart. Thank God for 
 friends and their loving letters ! " 
 
 " Kalgan, June 17, 1872. 
 " My Dear Anna : 
 
 " Your letters are precious to me. Their sparkles 
 of mirth and wit brighten me up, and cheer me again 
 
THE PATIENCE OF HOPE 167 
 
 and again. I neglect letter-writing of late, but am 
 ashamed of it when the dear home letters come. 
 
 ''I've been planting all the flower seeds we have, and 
 am looking anxiously for some of them to come up. 
 Something that looks suspiciously like sunflower is up, 
 but I didn't plant any, so it must be one of those learned 
 and euphonious flowers which I don^t know. 
 
 '' We are full of plans for marrying and giving in mar- 
 riage, just now. Miss Hsin Wu is sewing busily on her 
 bridal outfit. ' Topsy ' is also spoken for, and the futui-e 
 mother-in-law is to take her on trial. If she doesn't want 
 her, the young lady is to come back again. The two 
 girls will go into respectable Chinese families, and seem 
 to be saved for this life. They know of a Saviour, so that 
 when any stress of trouble comes, they may seek Him. 
 
 "Etta, Stephen and Geng Yuan, our servant's little 
 boy, are having a great frolic about the room. Wu Ma 
 is cutting out stockings for the future bride, Mrs. Tsai is 
 working on some of the children's clothes, Li's wife is 
 making a new straw tick for the lounge, while Hsin 
 Ching is ripping up one of their bed comforts for wash- 
 ing. The Chinese don't use sheets, but disrobe entirely, 
 and run themselves into the bed comfort as the wick goes 
 into the candle mold. 
 
 " When you get your house with the grand organ, I'll 
 come to see you, dear. But it will not do to wait for that. 
 I think perhaps it will be best for us both to look towards 
 the glorious Home where will be perfect, rapturing har- 
 mony. These dreams of what might be here, may, how- 
 ever, be of the highest use, if we can always remember 
 how much better heaven is. 
 
 " May you be helped in all wisdom to pray and work 
 for the souls of others. You will find ways to work if you 
 seek them, and prayer has always a path straight up to 
 God. Oh, pray for me, — for us all, I entreat you, pray ! '' 
 
168 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 (To her father.) 
 
 <' Kalgan, Dec, 23, 1872. 
 
 ". . . A woman has lately made me several visits, 
 wanting medicine and food for her sick husband. He 
 has been an opium- smoker for some years, and so was 
 an easy victim to bronchial trouble. Unable to work the 
 last few months, he could have neither his usual amount 
 of opium, nor sufficient food, so that he declined rapidly. 
 We gave medicine and food. Three days ago, his wife 
 came to tell me that he was dead. For several days he 
 had eaten nothing, knowing that their scanty pittance 
 was not enough to enable his wife to satisfy their little 
 baby^s hunger. The filth of her rags was loathsome, and 
 her hands were, each of them, one great, puffed, shining 
 chilblain. We gave her money to help bury her dead, 
 thankful even for his sake that it was over. I don't 
 know how I dared say that, and yet it does seem as if 
 hell could not be worse than such a dreadful life, — the fire 
 and gnawing of the opium hunger, — starvation and cold, 
 the racking of bodily disease ! O Father in heaven, 
 have mercy upon these poor creatures who have no mercy 
 upon themselves ! 
 
 ^' Before this man was dead, another case forced itself 
 upon us. The family were once in prosperous circum- 
 stances, but in an evil hour, the son began to use opium. 
 He is a silversmith and was good at his trade. But the 
 opium devil came into his house, taking possession, and 
 even his wife became its slave. Before long their good 
 furniture began to disappear. Then the commoner things, 
 one by one, until the house was bare, and the children 
 chattering with cold and crying for food. Again and 
 again this man cheated his employers, deceiving about 
 weights, and even pawning articles given him to be re- 
 paired or altered. He had to flee from Kalgan to a vil- 
 lage ten miles away. The same thing was repeated there. 
 
THE PATIENCE OF HOPE 169 
 
 He came back to Kalgan to beg money from us. We 
 refused, saying we gave no money to buy opium, but that 
 he might bring his children to us, and we would care for 
 them. So the boy and girl came to us, dressed in a few 
 filthy rags. The man's poor sister cries and cries over 
 him. When she works for me she wants to tell me all 
 about their misery, but I cannot bear to know all. 
 
 "I must tell you one more story. When Hsia Hsien 
 Sheng began teaching the Boys' School, he and his wife 
 had a baby which they had bought and adopted. I was 
 touched by the tender affection both husband and wife 
 manifested for the child. It warmed my heart to go there. 
 The woman had an instinct of love, like some brute 
 creatures, but the man had more, — he was so gentle, 
 thoughtful and patient with the poor little sufferer. Here 
 is a man, said I, who may be led into the kingdom of God. 
 
 *^ Some years later, and what of the same man? His 
 child is dead. He, too, is dead to all that is good. That 
 gentle manliness is gone : instead is a sneaking meanness. 
 Money he borrows here and there. Bills are run up at 
 every shop. The husband and wife, once loving, quarrel 
 continually. Finally he sells her. This is considered a 
 disgraceful act even in China. Why this dreadful change ? 
 Opium, cursed opium has done it all. 
 
 *' As we go along the streets, we see men slinking into 
 the opium dens. Oh, to think how many there are of 
 these hell-mouths ! What a sad letter for you. Oh, that 
 I might send it instead to the English people ! I could 
 go on my knees and with tears beg that Christian nations 
 would have mercy upon poor heathen China. See the 
 long procession in the dance of death I Will not hell 
 soon be full?" 
 
 ^^ January J 1873. 
 
 " . . . Pray for us. We are lonely and weary 
 sometimes. Living here in this heathen land is a kind of 
 
iro BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 death, a long dying. But Jesus is here, and we learn to 
 love Him more and more as the years go by. . . ." 
 
 ^^Kalgan, Feb. 4, 1873. 
 "My Dear Father : 
 
 " Our Tuesday evening prayer-meeting is just 
 over. We've been cleaning house to-day. I swept a 
 room and mixed the bread before my two Chinese assist- 
 ants came, a deafish old man, and a dirty boy. While 
 I molded the loaves, they took down and dusted the pic- 
 tures. Etta had been at work taking tacks up from the 
 carpet, and had it half done, which was very good for a lit- 
 tle girl. Then the children were sent to their papa's 
 study, the carpet was taken up, the floor swept, and I 
 scrubbed, while the two heathen Chinese wiped up. 
 Then we had dinner in the study, the men beat the car- 
 pet, I baked, and we washed the study floor. While I 
 set the table to-night, the children had their Bible stories 
 from their father. 
 
 "Miss Diament and I have been thinking much lately 
 of reviving the Girls' School. While the beggar girls 
 were here, after they had grown so large that they must 
 necessarily influence younger ones, we could not plan for it. 
 
 " I should be glad to have you use the money which 
 has come to me in any missionary way which you may 
 think desirable. What are the needs of your Indian stu- 
 dents at Beloit ? Perhaps there are some sick among the 
 Indians to whom you would like to send some little com- 
 forts. . . ." 
 
 ''Kdlgan, Feb. 19, 1873. 
 " My Dear Brother Alfred : 
 
 ". . . The Emperor, a fifteen or sixteen year old 
 boy is to ascend the throne on February twenty-third. 
 The demand that foreign ministers be allowed audience is 
 talked o£ 
 
THE PATIENCE OF HOPE ITl 
 
 ** After morning work I took up the March and April 
 Scribner^s and read ^ A Sick-room Paper.' On finishing, 
 I took a knife into my bedroom and opened the upper 
 windows. We have paper windows and we paste up all 
 the cracks when the cold grows intense, but it's time now 
 to cut them open. Don't think we have no ventilation ! 
 Any quantity of dust sifts in through the paper, and 
 where that finds entrance, air certainly can. To-day is 
 charming. To-morrow the wind may blow a hurricane, 
 and sand will come in by the spoonful. I may repent 
 opening the crack ! Lest I should not get into the spirit 
 of doing the like again, I'd better open the rest of the 
 windows while this weather keeps me in the mood. 
 
 ^' I get Sarper^s Weekly still. Now the political cam- 
 paign is over, it ought to be better for my purpose, which 
 is the having pictures to give away. I gather pictures 
 from advertisements also, — houses, sewing-machines and 
 melodeons, thinking that prejudice against us may be 
 disarmed, and a great deal of useful knowledge spread by 
 the gift of even such simple pictures. It is with prayer- 
 ful feelings that I give many of them. When giving pic- 
 tures away, I generally try to adapt the gift to my idea of 
 the person. I have some good pictures of scenery taken 
 from Appletori's (Dr. S. Wells Williams sent me some 
 numbers), which will wait a long time for the right per- 
 son. . . .'^ 
 
 ^^Kalgan, March 18, 1873, 
 "My Deae Brother Alfred : 
 
 ". . . Mr. Gilmour, a Scotch missionary to 
 the Mongols, is here. He is a man of overflowing energy 
 and vivacity. His present plan for work is to get two or 
 three camels, and go about here and there through Mon- 
 golia, visiting every village or hamlet in his way. He 
 proposes to be gone for seven or eight months. 
 
1Y2 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 * * Mr. Gilmour seems quite a character. He has a great 
 proclivity for slang. He is Scotch to the core, and insists 
 on calling our oatmeal porridge Hhey' and 'them.^ He 
 does this partly from mischief. ^ I'll take a few more of 
 them,' he says, looking towards the oatmeal dish. 'They 
 are uncommonly good.' It is refreshing to have him 
 with us. His exposition of Scripture is often a feast, and 
 he is a devoted Christian and missionary." 
 
 ''March 19th. 
 '' You perhaps know that we are expecting Mr. Sprague 
 and his wife to come here with a view to Mongol work. 
 " . . . Love to Maiy and all the bairns. 
 
 "Ever your 
 
 "Isabella.'' 
 
 (To her sister Anna.) 
 
 '' Kalgan, Aug. 13, 1873. 
 
 "I'm rejoicing over a letter from you. It is like open- 
 ing your door again, and taking a good peep at you. I 
 revelled in those catalogues you sent. And I planted some 
 of the phlox and mignonette. Only four little plants 
 came up. They are very delicate, the blossoms are few, 
 and green worms have tried to eat up the mignonette. I 
 do love them, nevertheless. 
 
 " We have given seed of home corn to the Chinese here, 
 and they are raising it successfully. We had some yes- 
 terday for dinner. Messrs. Gulick, Thompson and Gil- 
 mour dined with us. Mr. Gilmour is leaving for a sum- 
 mer's trip on camel-back into Mongolia. I gave him a 
 magazine which has a lovely Scotch lassie on the cover. 
 I hope it will make him want to find a lassie for him- 
 self!" 
 
 " August 22d. 
 
 "Our mail came yesterday. Sabbath, but as we do not 
 pay any money out until the next day, and the carrier 
 
THE PATIENCE OF HOPE 1Y3 
 
 was a new man, he would not leave it. Before breakfast 
 this morning, lie came again. We did not eat much ! 
 
 *' My Stephen boy was three years old, August twenty- 
 second. He had a birthday party, inviting Mrs. Gulick's 
 Martha, and little blind Te Mai to an open air lunch." 
 
 "^Mnth month, tenth day' — I write the date in 
 Chinese, and look at the calendar, which says that the 
 10th of the 9th month of the 12th year of Tung djir's 
 reign is the 30th of October, 1873. 
 
 "You speak of Enos' wife. Comfort her, from me, 
 with the thought of her children in heaven. In the midst 
 of so much misery of the dying, and the sin of infanticide, 
 I find my great consolation in this, that this great multi- 
 tude of dying and murdered children have joined the re- 
 deemed in heaven. 
 
 "Our servant's wife has had twelve or thirteen chil- 
 dren. But only four are living. She killed none of hers 
 however. Her case is a very common one. 
 
 "Were I to judge from the inquiries I have made, I 
 I should say that more than two-thirds of those born in 
 China die or are murdered, in infancy, or early child- 
 hood. Think of the great multitude ! * These from the 
 land of Sinim ! ' Isabella." 
 
 ^^Kalgan, Nov. 12, 1873. 
 " Dear Father : 
 
 "I'm not in the most charming mood for writing 
 to-day. Our house is being papered for the first time since 
 we came into it. After a day of dirt and discomfort and 
 the prospect of three more, my patience gave out, and I 
 asked the paperers to do some night work, so they are at 
 it this evening, as I write. The ceiling is papered with 
 Chinese paper, and the wall with foreign. You haven't 
 
174 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 an idea of how much dirt has come down from the ceil- 
 ing ! Tiles are dirt, originally, and there must be other 
 trash used in the fearful and wonderful structure which 
 we call a roof. 
 
 ^^The four men who are papering are having a lovely 
 time. We have left them to their own devices. I hope 
 they won't carry off a stove lid or a poker in their sleeves 
 when they go. I know they can't steal paper, for there 
 is just enough to finish with ! 
 
 ^^The children had the study for a refuge to-day, but 
 they preferred to wander around disconsolately, with red 
 noses and chapped hands. Etta varied that monotony 
 by painting herself with red ink till she looked like a red 
 Indian, or a Chinese belle. Etta is making fine progress 
 in reading these days. She thinks over words, and 
 springs them on us at meal-time.'' 
 
 ^^ November 14th. 
 "Still papering!" 
 
 ^^Kalgan, Feb. 17, 187 4. 
 ** My Deae Sister Cornelia : 
 
 " It is Chinese New Year's Day, and your birthday 
 as well. The Chinese kept it up, pop, pop, pop, half the 
 night, and an occasional report of firecrackers is yet to 
 be heard. . . . 
 
 "Stephen knows two verses of * Twinkle, Twinkle, 
 Little Star.' He and his papa have great talks. Oh, so 
 many stories, — all the Bible stories there are, — and a 
 great many others about * when papa was a little boy/ 
 about Indians, and so forth, and so forth. Stephen says 
 ^ he is going to kill a deer for papa when he grows old and 
 blind like Isaac' But for fear * papa would choke on 
 the horns and hoofs, he will be careful that they are not 
 cooked with the rest' " 
 
JOURNEYING TO KALGAN 
 
 ifcr^"^ 
 
 '~^^^p 
 
 ^ ^ t 
 
 jfm u% 
 
 ■.■mms^mmam 
 
 ■Ej^ 
 
 THE HOME AT KALGAN 
 
THE PATIENCE OF HOPE 176 
 
 ^^ July 18, 187 Jf. 
 
 " . . . Our rainy season has begun, and the flower 
 bed and the pots are green with mold. Our paper win- 
 dows are getting a little wet. Occasionally a drenching 
 rain beats against them and tears them. . . . 
 
 " Etta is buried in the Eiverside Magazine again. Mr. 
 Thompson gave all of our missionary children presents 
 this spring, — yearly volumes of the Eiverside. I do wish 
 Etta was with you. I believe her young auntie would 
 influence her more than her old mother does. 
 
 " I hope my letters are not a delusion, though it is 
 nice that you think them cheerful. But as to not having 
 any troubles, why, I have a great many anxieties, and 
 we have some heavy troubles except as Jesus bears them 
 for us. . . . Good-bye. 
 
 *^ Yours lovingly, 
 
 *' Isabella." 
 
 ^^Kalgauj July 81, 187 J^ 
 " Dear Anna : 
 
 ^' The chicks are so lively that I've decided to get 
 up while they are asleep, and write you all about my 
 flowers. First and foremost is a great sunflower. I did 
 not plant it, but let it live as a matter of duty, because 
 sunflowers create ozone, which is lamentably needed in 
 China. My nasturtiums and mignonette are doing finely. 
 I planted all the seeds you sent me. 
 
 '^ Theatre at our gate began day before yesterday. 
 Mrs. Sheffield says we ought to call it opera. A dozen 
 visitors yesterday ; one woman so well satisfied that we' re 
 Russians that there was no possibility of setting her 
 straight. 
 
 ''Mr. and Mrs. Gulick are out on the Mongolian 
 plateau, seventy miles from here. They are camping in 
 regular Mongol style. 
 
1Y6 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 " Oh, such a bouquet of larkspurs and mountaiii pinks 
 as Mrs. Sheffield brought back from the hills yesterday. 
 I ought to take my children out oftener. Etta is wild to 
 go. The other day we went, and Mr. Williams put the 
 baby down on the gravel bed at the foot of a glen. Oh, 
 how happy she was, heaping her dress full of gravel, 
 while the others ran about gathering morning-glories, red 
 lilies, and so forth, and so forth, of which I don^t know 
 the names. I used to be a botanist in Minnesota, but 
 there's no time for that here. 
 
 ^^ I'm not doing any sewing this summer. We all 
 wear what we've got, and it's delightful ! 
 
 " Baby begins to nestle about. There'll be an end to 
 writing, I fear.'' 
 
 " Kalgan, July SI, 187 J^ 
 " My Dear Robert . 
 
 '^ . . . After breakfast this morning we hired 
 a big cart, clumsy as a lumber wagon, and I took all the 
 children out for a ride. We went up the valley where 
 the Russian traders live, past their houses and beyond, 
 as far as our carter could be induced to go, for 200 cash 
 (about sixteen cents). The fresh mountain air was de- 
 lightful, and we found some pretty flowers without climb- 
 ing much. If you had been with us, you would have 
 been scaling rocks and frightening me, undoubtedly ! 
 
 " The theatrical performance at our gate is dum — dum 
 — dum, bang — bang — bang, hum — hum — humming away. 
 Emily is having a sweet sleep after her long and jolting 
 ride ; Stephen is playing with his camels, elephants and 
 horses, and Etta is swinging." 
 
 ^^ After dinner, 
 *' About eight women and as many girls came in for a 
 little visit. I showed them my photographs, especially 
 
THE PATIENCE OF HOPE 177 
 
 those new ones of my ' seventh younger brother,' and my 
 ^eighth younger sister.' This isn't meant for nonsense 
 but is real Chinese. We count beginning with the eldest, 
 so as to show one's place in the family. 
 
 We shall have no tomatoes this year. Our little 
 donkey tramped them all down. Fruit such as apples, 
 grapes and peaches, is, as a rule, abundant, so we do 
 very well. Peaches are very inferior. The best of them 
 do have a little suspicion of peach flavor ! 
 
 " Pm afraid we shall not go home at the end of ten 
 years. The Board is in debt, and we shall not be able to 
 afford to go home." 
 
 ^^Kalgan, Jan. 13 j 1875. 
 " Dear Sister Anna : 
 
 ". . . We have had Mr. and Mrs. Sprague 
 with us since fall. Miss Diament is away in Peking. 
 Mr. Williams is also away from home, having gone with 
 Mr. Goodrich on a preaching tour. They will be back 
 this week, and we shall be ever so glad to have ^ papa ' 
 at home again. He will not be less glad to see us, for 
 they have been gone twenty- five days. 
 
 " We did something remarkable in our family history 
 yesterday, — went visiting ! We took tea at the Gulicks' 
 and stayed for prayer-meeting. The children were sleepy 
 and tired, and it's my opinion that, ordinarily, mothers 
 should keep their children at home to tea. If you've 
 only one chick, it's different. 
 
 *^ Pm making yeast from the beginning again, and yes- 
 terday I despaired of its coming to anything, and sent 
 down to the Belgian merchants, to see if they had any 
 left of what I had given them. Mr. Graesel wrote, 
 * To-morrow it will cause us great pleasure to let you have 
 some yeast. To-day there is none ready.' Meanwhile 
 my yeast has taken a notion to ferment, and I don't need 
 his, but I'll send for it all the same, after such a polite 
 
ITS BY THE GKEAT WALL 
 
 note. One year we took a jar of yeast down to Peking, 
 as no one in the capital had anything but salt-rising 
 bread! 
 
 "We had fish this morning for breakfast. It was 
 pretty good, but not equal to those we used to have in 
 Minnesota. These fish come from the Amoor Eiver. 
 They have the ' Eastern Asia ' taste, as Mr. Blodget said 
 of a pudding which was made with Mongol butter. I 
 am going to have pheasant for dinner next Friday, and 
 apple-pie for a luxury. Mark and Mr. Goodrich will be 
 back, and we shall have the Gulicks and Mr. Thompson 
 here.'^ 
 
 '^ApHl, 1875. 
 ". . . Little blind Timeus is dead. Seven years 
 ago he was found by Mr. and Mrs. Gulick, having been 
 cast out by his parents who had no wish for a blind baby. 
 He was a bright, happy little fellow, — very fond of music. 
 Mrs. Gulick says, * I had always thought of him as our 
 future chorister, but God wants him for the heavenly 
 choir.' Before he died, he gave away his little treasures 
 to his playmates, saying, ' I won't need them in heaven. 
 I am going to Jesus, and He will give me all I need.' " 
 
 ^^Kalgauj June 19 j 1875, 
 " My Dear Anna : 
 
 " How the children enjoyed mission meeting ! On 
 Emily's birthday, she and little Myron Hunt were crowned 
 with vines and flowers, at a feast made for them. 
 
 " Since coming home, we have had a siege of whooping- 
 cough. I have come to have a great respect for whoop- 
 ing-cough as a disease, although it seems to have no 
 particular use. Now typhus comes so plainly in viola- 
 tion of the laws of health, that it seems a just punish- 
 ment. 
 
^ THE PATIENCE OF HOPE 179 
 
 " I don^t do much but live from day to day. I cannot 
 visit, or give medicines as I have done, while my hands 
 are full with my three children. Faces to wash, wet 
 aprons to change, stockings to mend, heedless children 
 to reprove, — (s) * cold,^ as Emmy says, — so go the days. 
 
 " I have read ' Middlemarch.^ Would you not like to 
 know Dorothea as a friend ? Mary Garth, too ? What a 
 good, comfortable soul to spend the day with she would 
 be ! Otherwise I should not care to know any of the 
 numberless people in the novel, unless it were Lydgate, 
 and I should be too sorry for him to have even a word to 
 say. 
 
 "Mr. Thompson leaves for America in the fall. He 
 has been a good friend to us, and we shall miss him. 
 The children will be broken-hearted.^' 
 
 A glimpse into the home-life at Kalgan is given in a 
 letter written years later by Mr. Thompson to one of the 
 children, and it seems fitting that it should have a place 
 here. 
 
 " I was a fellow-missionary with your father and mother 
 for a little more than six years in the early history of 
 Kalgan as a mission station. . . . Your mother's 
 home in the Upper City was a home of study and cheer- 
 ful activity, of good talk, of children's stories — (those 
 stories of your father's, how much we all enjoyed them !) 
 of merry young people, of thoughtful kindness, reverent 
 worship, and missionary zeal and hopes. 
 
 "Satisfactory housekeeping in our circumstances, and 
 with our assistants, would not go of itself, and your 
 mother, with her training and her conscience, could not 
 neglect anything. That order, system, cleanliness, and 
 the best of wholesome food were secured, I can bear wit- 
 ness. But your mother's mind was not cabined, con- 
 fined, or bound in to cares of this sort. She was always 
 
180 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 the genial, responsive hostess, always ready for higher 
 themes. Your mother was attractive personally. I once 
 heard a worthy Scotch merchant, his wife assenting, pro- 
 nounce her * bonny.' She loved music, and practiced it, 
 and she loved good literature and appreciated it. . . . 
 
 ^' As became one who came from a missionary home, 
 she understood well that a missionary must have faith 
 that can stand firm against doubt, discouragement, failure 
 and disappointment. She had no over-sanguine expec- 
 tations of immediate and astonishing results, as young 
 missionaries sometimes have. She took fully into ac- 
 count difficulties and hindrances and for that reason she 
 was a most helpful and inspiring counsellor. . . . 
 
 " It was characteristic of her to have in mind and on 
 her heart some charitable scheme which she made suc- 
 cessful. When I first knew her, she was interested in 
 the orphans at home, whose cause was espoused by the 
 Orphaned Advocate of New York, and when I saw her last, 
 she was interesting her friends in the Home for Mission- 
 aries' Children in Oberlin. 
 
 "For myself personally, let me say that the recollection 
 of her friendship is a great treasure. Its faithfulness and 
 Christlikeness so confirm one's faith in its source as to 
 make it seem that in praising the disciple, we are prais- 
 ing the Lord and Master whose disciple she was. 
 
 " Let my tribute to your mother's faith and piety be 
 considered a grateful one." 
 
 '^ Kalgan, Dec. 6^ 1875, 
 "My Dear Alfred : 
 
 "Since my long siege of fever I'm just beginning 
 life newly again, although I'm not quite so devoid of a 
 past as I was after recovering from typhus. I am three 
 months behind in family discipline, and the children are 
 far less tractable and pleasant than they were last sum- 
 
THE PATIENCE OF HOPE 181 
 
 mer. The baby thrives famously. She stays with me 
 now, and likes the stir and bustle of the children's play. 
 She's a remarkable baby for smiles. 
 
 "Etta is reading Irving' s 'Washington,' 'Old-Fash- 
 ioned Girl,' Macaulay's History, 'The Merchant of 
 Venice,' and much else. I have borrowed ' Kenil worth ' 
 for her to read to me one of these days when we shall 
 find time. Our Emily bird is a darling ! But she's been 
 into so much mischief to-day that I'm tired out, and 
 wonder wearily what can be done to amuse children and 
 keep them from playing in ashes, water and cx)al hods ! " 
 
 ^^ February 23, 1876, 
 "Word has come of Mrs. Gulick's death in Japan. 
 We have lost a friend. Unselfish beyond others, she 
 was, — enthusiastic, patient, and faithful unto death. 
 That our mission station at Kalgan was not long ago 
 given up because of its distance inland, and because of 
 the weakness of our force, has always been due to Mr. 
 and Mrs. John T. Gulick. They bore the brunt of the 
 beginning, — the shouts and stones of the noisy rabble. 
 It was in a great part due to Mrs. Gulick's medical work 
 that the hearts of the people were made friendly, and the 
 way opened for the Gospel. We who remain feel that a 
 sacred trust has been left in our keeping. '^ 
 
 " Kalgan, March 28, 1876, 
 " Dear Brother Egbert : 
 
 "Are you surprised at my writing to you? If 
 thoughts could send messages, you would not be astonished. 
 This would be only one of many. 
 
 ". . . The children have all been unusually restless 
 and trying to-day. I can find work for girls, but what to 
 do with a boy passes my knowledge. I wish I could 
 whittle or whistle or do something else that comes in a 
 
182 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 boy's line. Etta wants to read all the time. It certainly 
 cannot be good for her. 
 
 " . . . Our winter's supply of newspapers is on 
 hand. We are satiated with news and know nothing 
 about anything. I almost scorn to look at a paper now, 
 which is just as well, for I need to be at work on chil- 
 dren's clothes. 
 
 ". . . The wind has been very fierce this month. 
 Bits of coal are blown all over the court. 
 
 ^* From what father writes, he certainly is not as well as 
 in former years. I know you and Cornelia will do all you 
 can to help and cheer him, in return for what he has done 
 for you and for us all. 
 
 ** My little Eussian is doing nicely. She is Ma-rie, and 
 my baby is plain Mary. Miss Eussian doesn't wear any 
 clothes to speak of. She has only a shirt — the rest of her 
 is wrappings of various sizes and kinds. 
 
 ^* Mr. Holcombe has just translated ^I am Jesus' little 
 lamb,' and Mrs. Collins, * Knocking, knocking, who is 
 there ? ' They are both worth singing. I taught Chang 
 Fu Cheng's little boys to sing the first last Sunday, and 
 to-day taught their mother. 
 
 ^^ Our organ which Mr. Thompson gave us is such a fine 
 one that I sing and play more than for years, — more than 
 at any time since coming to China. 
 
 " May God bless you all." 
 
 (To her sister Anna.) 
 
 ^^Kalgan, June 2^j 1876. 
 ** You will be glad to know that after so long an illness, 
 and a convalescence of six months, I am now strong and 
 well as I have not been for years. My castles have fallen 
 as to our speedy home-going. However, I'm not going to 
 buy any new dresses till we go home, — which is safe to 
 say, as my wedding dress is still existing, — so is my 
 
THE PATIENCE OF HOPE 183 
 
 brown which I brought out with me. I have a black 
 alpaca and a corn -colored summer dress still unmade. 
 My one winter dress is of green Kussian goods. . . . 
 
 ^^ . . . Won't I go to see you with all the children ! 
 Oh, that wood-lot, and the wild flowers, and the hills ! 
 The grass will be my chief joy. Think of it, — could you 
 live without grass? We have some, sparsely scattered 
 over the mountains, but none in our paved yards. . . . " 
 
 ''Kalgauj Sept 25, 1876, 
 " My Dear Brother Egbert : 
 
 ^^I think the fact of your having finished your 
 college course, of itself entitles you to a letter from me. 
 
 " . . . Emmy ^ goes to ^cool ^ now with the other 
 children. Mary says a few words in Chinese. My little 
 Eussian protegee is doing nicely. She is fat and fair, and 
 can creep about very fast. And oh ! Mary has another 
 tooth ! There, haven't I disgusted you, most noble 
 Salutatorian ? There is a fitness in knowing what to 
 mention and what to omit, and youths who are the pos- 
 sible heroes of the next novel shouldn't be belittled by 
 having to read about creeping, teething babies. That is 
 one reason why I do not write oftener to you and Cor- 
 nelia ! Now of course papa wouldn't mind it ! . . ." 
 
 ^^Kalgauj Dec. 19, 1876. 
 "Dear Father: 
 
 "Etta and Stephen are learning Christmas hymns 
 these days. They repeat them to us before breakfast. I 
 am still busy at pants and jackets for Stephen. I'd bet- 
 ter make him a buckskin suit than so many out of his 
 father's old coats ! I am more and more thankful to my 
 brothers, Thomas, Henry and Eobert, for giving me op- 
 portunity to know something about the making of boys' 
 clothes. 
 
184: BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 " We have ^ent our youDg servant away. He is prof- 
 ligate. There are some good things about him, and my 
 heart goes out to him. I mean to keep on praying and 
 believe the Lord will save him yet. 
 
 '' When the children go off in glee for an afternoon^ s 
 visit to Mrs. Sprague, I hasten to use the precious time 
 in teaching my women. One woman learns a Bible verse 
 a day, while another attacks for the fifth time the first 
 lines of * Jesus loves me.' ^I am so stupid,' she says. 
 The sweat rolls off Chang Fu Cheng's face as he pain- 
 fully repeats the first verse of the morning lesson. His 
 bright-eyed boy teaches it to him every night by the light 
 of a bit of twisted cotton in a few spoonfuls of linseed oil. 
 When I read over the first chapter of Genesis, how grand 
 the ring of the words ! To my heart, eager to teach 
 these souls newly called to the kingdom, the Chinese 
 words have a wonderful melody, — a triumphant move- 
 ment that I had almost forgotten was in the English. 
 But it is there. Go out at night alone under the stars, 
 and then back to your Bible, and read the glorious story 
 of Creation. The women say as we read, * You have told 
 us of this, and we Icnow it is true.' Their faces shine with 
 a new light, and you forget the soiled garments, and the 
 dullness and stupidity and think only of the dark souls 
 upon whom the Sun of Eighteousness is shining, and you 
 are glad." 
 
 ''Kalgan, Feb. 17, 1877, 
 "Dear Little Sister Cornelia : 
 
 " I don't have time to write these days. If folks 
 vnll be so inconsiderate as to be sick, why, there is noth- 
 ing to do but to pore myself stupid over doctor-books. I 
 have one scurvy patient, one with dropsy, and one with 
 consumption, besides three Russian babies, who are not 
 specially anything just now. But babies are babies, 
 
THE PATIENCE OF HOPE 185 
 
 and will cut teeth, and do otlier absurd things. . . . 
 This is your birthday. I wish you as many happy re- 
 turns as God may choose. How well I remember eighteen 
 years ago. Mrs. Williamson brought you out for the big 
 sisters to see. ^ She's a plump little thing/ she said." 
 
 ^'Kalgan, Dec, 15 j 1877. 
 " My Dear Beother Alfred : 
 
 " I was glad of your letter, and its evidence of ad- 
 vancing work among the Dakotas. It is a good work. 
 May God bless you all in it. 
 
 ''Stephen broke his arm, six weeks ago to-day. The 
 bone has grown together, but it does not seem best to 
 take off the splints yet. Everybody has been writing 
 kind letters to Stephen, so his cloud has had a silver 
 lining. 
 
 ^' Mr. Sprague set Stephen's arm. He has had consid- 
 erable practice lately as a surgeon. Last week he was 
 sent for, post haste, to go to a place seven miles distant, 
 the case a gun-shot wound (bullet left in the man's neck, 
 — nothing to be done). He goes up, finds the man who 
 shot the other holding on for dear life to a pumpkin with 
 a hole cut in it, pressing it over the wound, and expect- 
 ing the bullet to be drawn out by the attraction of gravi- 
 tation, perchance ! Think what a picture some artist 
 could make of that ! The man may be holding the pump- 
 kin there still, for aught I know." 
 
 '^ Kalgan, Jan. 26, 1878. 
 '' My Dear Father : 
 
 ''What a very windy day we are having! The 
 dust blows in at every crack and cranny. 
 
 "I've just been working buttonholes in five shirts for 
 my little Stephen. This looks like preparing for a home- 
 ward journey. The children have some very interesting 
 
186 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 Bible stories of evenings, nowadays. Mary says nightly, 
 *Papa, tell ^bout Hagar,' and when it comes to the right 
 place, she does not fail to say, ^What is it, mother!' 
 'Water, my son.' 
 
 ^^ Samson's foxes are favorites with the other children. 
 Stephen and Emmy had a fine play once or twice. 
 Stephen would be Samson carrying off the gates of Gaza, 
 and Emmy and Mary the hosts of the Philistines, and 
 then they all would be the foxes or jackals, tied together, 
 running through the fields of wheat, and lying to rest by 
 the shocks of grain wherever it was harvested. 
 
 *^ I'm studying the Psalms in Chinese whenever I have 
 time. The hymns we use need a great deal more study, 
 that I may be familiar enough with them to sing while 
 playing the tunes. In our Chinese prayers we are read- 
 ing the Gospels, having just finished Luke. 
 
 ^'The letters which come to us most frequently now 
 are Chinese. They come from our boys at the Bible 
 Training School at Tung Cho, and make our hearts glad." 
 
 " Kalganj April 16, 1878, 
 " We have a ti*ee ! You might not know it, were you 
 here, but we do. You would say, ^ You have had a nice 
 post put up for your clothes-line.' The Chinese method 
 of planting trees is to chop them off at the roots, chop off 
 the top, so far as there are any branches, and tie a wisp 
 of straw with a handful of mud, and, if very liberally 
 minded, a dirty dish-rag around the top. 
 
 "I have been laboring to get a bonaflde tree. In my 
 mind's eye was a graceful poplar, branching, and about 
 to leaf out, with some four or five feet of root. I re- 
 sented the idea that I should take a branch ignominiously 
 cut off from a large tree, and tie it up with my dish-cloth. 
 Not I! 
 
 "The servant travelled here and there. * Plenty of 
 
THE PATIENCE OF HOPE 187 
 
 branches and no trees. Won't sell a tree.' He goes off 
 ten miles with determination in his eye : comes back the 
 next day triumphantly, with a great, fat clothes-line 
 post, — without root or branch, and high as our house. 
 * See the tree ! ' I was speechless. My beautiful tree, 
 six feet including its delicate topmost leaf, — the tree 
 which Etta and Stephen were to remember all their lives 
 as the oasis in their desert, — was this twenty -foot beam 
 to be a substitute for that ? 
 
 " Well, so it is, and I am at last as resigned as is pos- 
 sible to my nature. 
 
 "P. S. Chinese trees do sometimes grow, — in fact 
 very often. It must be the wet rag that causes it." 
 
 ^^Kalgauj Aug, 16, 1878, 
 " My Deab Father : 
 
 " Am I going to let this mail go without a letter 
 to you ? It almost seems like it. But I'll bestir myself 
 while my twin babies sleep as soundly as two kittens. 
 
 " You never saw a prouder mother than I am now ! 
 When the two little loves are smiling at me, and their 
 four little hands are going, going, I want to call every- 
 body to come and see ! 
 
 ^' Mr. and Mrs. Gilmour will be in from Mongolia next 
 week. We have asked them to stay with us. It is lone- 
 some without Miss Diament. But then there are always 
 the amusing babies ! . . ." 
 
 " August 26, 1878, 
 "I fly around after the children these days till my feet 
 
 are tired. But I am thankful for the strength which 
 
 makes the flying around possible. 
 
 "We have been reading Hamlin's * Among the 
 
 Turks,' and have enjoyed it greatly. His arranging for 
 
 hospital washing for the English soldiers at the time of 
 
188 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 the Crimean War was quite interesting. WasMng 
 clothes is an interesting subject to me, especially now 
 that I have two babies ! 
 
 ^^ Emmy is a real little mother, and Mary talks about 
 ^ my this baby,^ and ^ my that baby.^ She is a common- 
 sense, practical little creature, and yet gets out some 
 quaint sayings. One morning she said, ^ I haven^t 
 washed my night-face yet.' I wrote you of her asking 
 for some ^ shooting-cookies ' on the Fourth of July. She 
 calls the clothes-line the ^ lion,' and the other day she 
 called to Stephen to give her ^ the clothes-tiger ' ! 
 
 ^^ Our tree is branching out nicely. The morning-glory 
 vines have run far past its top, and seem to be looking 
 out for a star to tie to. We have four-o' clocks and portu- 
 lacas, balsams and roses. One of my oleanders is full of 
 blossoms and the other two are budding. . . .'' 
 
 ''Kalgan, Dec. 6, 1878, 
 " My Dear Beothee Alfred : 
 
 " On this your birthday I think of you as repeat- 
 ing ^ These forty years the Lord hath led me,' with a 
 deeply thankful heart. 
 
 " I have just returned from spending two weeks with 
 Mrs. Sprague, while Mr. Sprague was away on a tour. I 
 came home once in a while, — once to make some pies, — 
 and Mark brought the children over often to see me. We 
 had a delightful time. I read ^ Eomance of Missions ' to 
 Mrs. Sprague in the evenings, and oh, how we did enjoy 
 the babies ! They were delightful darlings, with nobody 
 to slam doors, or shout or scream, and waken them ! 
 
 "I am building great air castles about the visit home. 
 I hope we can have a month at least, all together at 
 Santee.'' 
 
 (To her sister Cornelia.) 
 " . . . I am looking forward eagerly to our family 
 
THE PATIENCE OF HOPE 189 
 
 meeting. Let us pray about it, that it may be pleasant 
 without any marring, that it may help us through all 
 our lives. If we all meet for this once, it will most 
 probably be for this once only. The family circle is 
 not completed even now, except as we reach in beyond 
 the veil. . . ." 
 
V 
 
 BY LAND AND BY SEA 
 
 The King of Kings He rules on earth, 
 He sends us sorrow here or mirth j 
 He bears the ocean in His hand, 
 And thus we meet on sea or land, 
 What pleases God. 
 
 Then let the crowd around thee seize 
 The joys which for a moment please, 
 But willingly their paths forsake 
 And for thy blessed portion take 
 What pleases God. 
 
 Thy heritage is safe in heaven, 
 There shall the crown of joy be given. 
 There shalt thou hear and see and know 
 As thou couldst never here below 
 What pleases God. 
 
 — Paul Gerhardt. 
 
 IN May, 1879, the homeward journey was begun. As 
 a parting gift, the Chinese Christians at Kalgan 
 presented Mr. and Mrs. Williams with a memorial 
 scroll, whose quaint inscription reads as follows : — 
 
 ** God pitied the world, led astray by the devil, 
 Christ, for man, struck the serpent's head. 
 
 " Jesus sent disciples into the whole world to preach ; 
 Paul passed over the sea to Europe. 
 
 " England, France, Prussia, Russia and America 
 Do not endure oppression, but have liberty. 
 190 
 
BY LAND AND BY SEA 191 
 
 " The Chnroh, for the Lord, saves men. 
 Teacher Williams preaches, and he and his wife sing. 
 
 ** Leaving America, more than 30,000 li, 
 Came to the Middle Flowery, staying twelve springs and 
 autumns. 
 
 "At Kalgan and Hsuen Hua always; 
 Going once to Pao An, many times to Yu Cho, 
 
 " Going north to Mongolia, going south 
 To Peking, and through the Nank'ou Pass, 
 
 " He baptized ten church friends, 
 Constantly entreating Jesus. 
 
 " He possesses great kindness and patience, 
 And is very merciful. ' 
 
 " With six children 
 They are very much like Noah entering the Ark. 
 
 " May the Lord give you a returning road, 
 You will then have gone around the globe. 
 
 " You are like the husbandman, plowing and sowing, 
 The Lord will surely send reapers to reap the harvests." 
 
 For the Eiggs family gathering, Isabella wrote a sketcli 
 of the journey homeward. 
 
 *'Ding lang, ding lang, ding lang ! Hear the bells. 
 The litters are packed, the good-byes spoken. Thirteen 
 years of work in sorrow and in joy are over. * Good-bye, 
 we will pray for you all ; do not forget us.^ 
 
 "Down the narrow street, past the closely crowded 
 houses of more crowded inmates, beyond the pale green 
 of the gardens, on the stony plain, and our long journey 
 is begun. 
 
 "Eight hours, and the first inn is reached, and we had 
 made a twenty-five-mile-stage. Over rocks and river, 
 fertile lake bed, desert plain, and through mountain 
 gorge, we creep our way, till, on the fifth day, the mass- 
 
192 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 ive walls of Peking loom up before us. Here there are 
 cordial greetings from warm hearts, and willing hands 
 stretched out to help. Best of all is the inspiration of 
 mission meeting, with its glad, good news from Shantung 
 Province. 
 
 " By cart, and by canal boat, again away. At Tientsin 
 we ride by starlight in jinrikishas to the steamer. How 
 huge the monster ! How broad seems the river, covered 
 here and yonder, and again yonder, with fleets of boats ! 
 We ensconce ourselves in the assigned staterooms, and 
 little Anna's foster-mother keeps a vigil by the child so 
 soon to be hers no more. ' Farewell, farewell.' 
 
 ** Gray morning comes, and the ponderous engine be- 
 gins his work. We move past boats, ships, steamers, 
 past the fort at Taku, out on the open sea. No one sings, 
 ^ A life on the ocean wave,' or * Murmuring sea,' for our 
 ' day of youth went yesterday.' The enthusiasm of early 
 years is gone. Instead, I read reverently the 107th 
 Psalm, verses 23-31. Then with the strong, glad, spray- 
 laden breeze on one's face, it is fitting to read, ' The Lord 
 on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, 
 than the waves of the sea.' 'Let the sea roar, and the 
 fullness thereof. Let the floods clap their hands . . . 
 before the Lord.' ' The sea is His, and He made it.' 
 * The earth is full of Thy riches : so is this great and wide 
 sea. There go the ships ; there is that leviathan whom 
 Thou hast made to play therein.' 
 
 ''Five days, and we steam up through the low, flat, 
 fertile shores of Woo Sung River to Shanghai. 
 
 " Ho for the land of the rising sun ! Two days we sail 
 over a silver sea, yonder is I^agasaki, and now a heavy 
 rain reminds us that this is Japan. On through the In- 
 land Sea. How surpassingly beautiful are the green hills 
 and mountains on every side. 
 
 " At Kobe we receive a delightful welcome from Mr, 
 
BY LAND AND BY SEA 193 
 
 Orramel Gulick^s family, and on the morrow we meet 
 our former co-laborer in the Kalgan work, Eev. John T. 
 Gulick. Ten days of rest, and our little Anna is herself 
 again. She is round and fair and sweet, and every one 
 laughingly says she is more like our hostess than like me. 
 
 " Again away, in a floating palace, fitly named City of 
 ToMo. We glide out of sight of Japan, with hearts 
 strangely stirred by God's work in that land. 
 
 ^^ One sail after another disappears, until we are alone 
 on the great ocean. Water, water, water everywhere. 
 
 " Our days are all alike. Constant care of the chil- 
 dren, and thoughts of home and beloved ones keep hand 
 and heart busy. The events of each day are breakfast, 
 tif&n, and dinner, daintily prepared, and faultlessly 
 served by deft and noiseless waiters. We think it a 
 pleasant variety when a stiff breeze makes the waves run 
 high. The table racks are on, yet once and again, a 
 glass of water, or a plate of soup goes over. We turn our 
 plates at the proper angle, when the long roll begins, and 
 unconcernedly go on. 
 
 ^' One day of waves mountain high, which sweep us on 
 to our desired haven. On the eighteenth day we see the 
 shore of beautiful America. How the heart beats ! So 
 soon to see father, brothers and sisters ! Thank God. 
 Aye, thank Him, too, for the manifold mercies of our 
 journey. 
 
 " How strange and yet familiar are the sights and sounds 
 of San Francisco. The children's eyes shine as they plan 
 and execute raids on a toy store. 
 
 " There is yet the land journey of thousands of miles. 
 By night and by day we speed on ; across gorge, through 
 tunnel and snow-shed over the alkali plains, over fertile 
 fields, to Omaha. 
 
 "At last we arrive in Yankton, and a cheery voice 
 makes weary hearts glad. *I am Mr. Ward. Your 
 
194 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 brother Henry is here.' Ah, is that Henry I How lie 
 has changed from boyhood to manhood ! 
 
 '^ ^ Over the hills and far away.' Here we are ! How 
 beautiful the mission houses look ! And the dear familiar 
 faces ! Eest and home at last for a little while. * For 
 here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to 
 come.' " 
 
 The two years spent on furlough were like a rest be- 
 neath the palms of Elim. The family reunion held at 
 Santee, Nebraska, on mission ground, was a memorable 
 one. Later a gathering of the Christian Indians at the 
 Good Will Mission was an inspiration. Isabella wrote 
 to her sister Cornelia : — 
 
 " We are right in the midst of it ! Martha had a 
 family of twenty-one yesterday. ... I went to hear 
 papa talk about the Bible to the Dakota preachers. Do 
 take care of our precious father when he is at home 
 again. You have him in charge for all of us. You can 
 fulfill our lack of service to him. I do not think he will 
 stay long on earth. Some of these across-country trips 
 will be the close of this life spent in the service of Christ." 
 
 In 1880, Lane Seminary celebrated its semi-centennial, 
 and The Western its twenty-fifth anniversary, so that 
 there were delightful reunions with classmates and friends. 
 But China was not forgotten. Wherever they went, the 
 churches were eager to hear of their work. It was an 
 especial pleasure to speak in the old home church at 
 St. Anthony, and among the friends in Beloit. How full 
 of blessed memories for the years to come were the days 
 spent in Beloit with her father. She wrote in 1880 : — 
 
 " I joy and rejoice in this spring. It seems as if I had 
 never known one spring in China ! The roses which our 
 mother planted are beginning to bloom." And again : — 
 " How many things we have to be thankful for, during 
 this short, precious, wonderful visit at home ! " But the 
 
BY LAND AND BY SEA 195 
 
 shadow of parting from her children, as well as from the 
 dear father, shows in the letters of the last months in 
 America. From a missionary gathering in Minneapolis, 
 she wrote to her boy Stephen : — ^'I remembered you on 
 your birthday, and would have been so glad to have 
 given you ten kisses. On the next twenty-second of 
 August, papa and mamma will be far away.'^ On the 
 last day of January, 1881, in a letter to her sister, she 
 wrote : — *' To-morrow night at this time I shall have bid 
 Etta and Stephen good-bye. If I ever see them again, 
 they will be grown up. God will help me. I wonder 
 sometimes how I can do it, but God makes the way as 
 easy as possible. 
 
 *^I have not written many good-bye letters. I hegiUj 
 and break right off^ and go to find some little thing to do 
 for one or the other child. I don't mind how many steps 
 I take for them. . . .'^ 
 
 (From Beloit, on February second.) 
 *^It is now thirty hours since I bid my dear children 
 good-bye. I could almost stay from China, but not quite, 
 thank God. He comforts me.'' 
 
 From San Francisco she wrote to her father: — "We 
 sail on the Belgic. Many have been in to bid us good- 
 bye. It is so pleasant to see some friendly faces before 
 sailing out on the great sea. ... I say good-bye to 
 you, — to each one. Pray for us ! " 
 
 The journey to China was afterwards recalled in a little 
 story written for her children : — 
 
 What Doll Ellie Told Me 
 
 I never willingly think of the time of my birth. No 
 doll remembers, without a shudder, the glue, the bits of 
 wire, the sawdust, or the gleaming needle darting through 
 and through its skin. Passing over such memories I 
 
196 BY THE GEEAT WALL 
 
 will begiu with my life in tlie store. It would have been 
 delightful there, with the busy clerks, and so many 
 pleasant ladies passing in and out, if they had only 
 known how dolls felt about hanging up undressed. The 
 room was warm, and we did not shiver, but oh, how un- 
 pleasant it was to be liung in a row with such short, scant 
 garments on ! 
 
 One day a sleigh drove up, and the loveliest little 
 lady you ever saw stepped out. She looked at us all and 
 pointed to me. My heart beat high with hope. ^* How 
 much is that one? ^' she said in so sweet a voice that all 
 the dolls turned around to listen. Their cheeks grew 
 pale with disappointment when the clerk took me down 
 and wrapped me up. 
 
 How the bells jingled as we flew over the snow ! I 
 peeped through a tiny hole in the wrapping-paper, and 
 the cold almost took away my breath. When we stopped, 
 I was carried into a House Beautiful. Somebody opened 
 the wrapper quickly. ^'Let me see it, aunty! How 
 pretty! Won't Emily be surprised? Dolly, you are 
 going to take a long journey, — half round the world ! " 
 Miss Ellie ran down-stairs, and I saw the Lovely Lady's 
 fingers flying fast over dainty garments. Ere long the 
 whole suit was done, and Miss Ellie came injustasthe 
 Lovely Lady had finished dressing me. ''Why, aunty, 
 how nice ! What a pretty cloak she has ! May I show 
 her to mamma ? " and off she danced with me. 
 
 Then the Lovely Lady wrote a letter and put me into 
 a dear little travelling-bag, and I heard the bells jingle 
 again. When they stopped, I was carried into a house 
 which was very full of children. Somebody read, ''For 
 Emily Williams," and gave me to a pale little girl who 
 looked as if she had been sick. How happy the little 
 girl was ! 
 
 The children's papa and mamma were ever so busy 
 
BY LAND AND BY SEA 197 
 
 packing lip to go to China. One day the four little girls 
 were hooded and cloaked and mittened, and taken to the 
 train. We dolls went along with them, of course. It 
 isn't every doll who has the chance to see so much of the 
 world, or to go as far as China ! People were always 
 saying good-bye, and when a beautiful, white-haired old 
 man kissed the children and their mother, she whispered, 
 " It is for the last time here.'' 
 
 Travelling wasn't so nice as we thought it would be. 
 I did very well, having my bag to hide in when we 
 changed cars, but the other dolls were in a perpetual 
 worry lest they should be undressed when the summons 
 came, and should be obliged to leave all their clothes 
 behind. 
 
 The little girls' papa and mamma did not read papers 
 and books much, but were busy watching the children j 
 and if you had seen how merry and how restless they 
 were, you would think they needed watching, especially 
 the twins. When we stopped, people were very kind to 
 our little mammas. Sometimes there were tears and 
 sometimes smiles, and some one was always saying good- 
 bye. 
 
 We rode on and on in the cars till we dolls thought 
 we should reach China very soon. Two of the little 
 mammas thought so too. ^^ Is dis Tina ? Is dis Tina ! " 
 they said. There were more tears and smiles but not 
 many people now to say good-bye. 
 
 At last we went on a great ship. It was damp and 
 cold at sea, and our little mammas were all seasick. We 
 went to bed, and slept, and waked, and sang "Eocked 
 in the Cradle of the Deep," but Dumpling, one of the 
 twins' dolls, wouldn't sing the trills right, and her sister 
 Cecilia didn't play the accompaniment in time. Arthura 
 told her that, considering her name, better music was to 
 be expected of her, and she was vexed, and finally we 
 
198 BY THE GEEAT WALL 
 
 wouldn^t speak to each other. If we didn't have a mis- 
 erable time ! 
 
 By and by the little girls were well and running 
 about, balancing first on one foot, and then on the other, 
 like chickens. They played with us a great deal, but 
 didn't let us go on deck, lest the sea water spoil our 
 travelling suits. I had a peep at the waves through a 
 port-hole once, — oh, they were grand ! The two little 
 dolls used to be so frightened when the waves came over 
 the ship with a heavy jar, as if about to send us to the 
 bottom of the ocean. 
 
 So long on the water ! The confinement was telling 
 sadly on our health, and Dumpling's sister Cecilia died 
 from a dreadful fall. I^ellie had her head shattered by 
 falling from her berth, but our grandmother gathered up 
 the pieces and mended her with '^ mucilage glue and 
 cement," and in a week the child was as lively as ever. 
 
 You may be sure I was glad to go ashore at Yoko- 
 hama. It was good to be on land once more, and we were 
 never tired of watching the ships in the harbor, or the 
 queer Japanese. No one took us dolls out to see the 
 sights, but the little girls rode out in jinrikishas with two 
 kind friends who had been very good to them all through 
 the long voyage. When they came back, they were so 
 merry and excited that all talked at once, and they had 
 boxes of Japanese dolls and toys. Oh, how jealous we 
 were of those dolls. Our mammas let us lie under the 
 sofa, and there, they were petting those deformed crea- 
 tures ! I made up my mind to cry all the pink off my 
 cheeks ! They crowded me in one trunk and then in 
 another, and I didn't get a breath of air until we reached 
 Shanghai. From Shanghai we journeyed on and on. At 
 last we stopped, and I was full of excitement. But when 
 the trunk lid was opened, I heard some one say, ^* It's a 
 clear case, — measles without doubt!" The room was 
 
BY LAND AND BY SEA 199 
 
 so dark that I turned over and slept a week or two. I 
 did think of having measles to spite them, but feared 
 that they would know nothing about it, and if they did, 
 they would take no pains to read my favorite authors to 
 me, but would be sure to choose some trifling stuff, sure 
 to suit a little creature like Dumpling, but such as a doll 
 of my education utterly scorns. 
 
 What a disappointment it was to be locked up in a 
 trunk, — so inconsiderate, — when I had arranged for a 
 regular series of letters to the Dolls' Bazar ! I had es- 
 pecially promised to give the latest notes from Tokio and 
 Peking in respect to ladies' styles, and the freshest news 
 in art, as for example, which leg the Japanese storks are 
 expected to hold up for the next year or two, and exactly 
 how many spears of grass may surround the pensive and 
 esthetic cat tail. There was nothing for me to do but to 
 imagine the whole thing, and if the Chinese and Japanese 
 fashions are not the same on both sides of the Pacific, you 
 will know the reason why. 
 
 Finally, after a five days' journey, we reached the 
 place that Emily called home. I did not admire her taste 
 in selecting a home where there are no trees, and no flowers 
 but morning-glories. Yet if she will love me, I will for- 
 give her, and shall be happy here. One thing has com- 
 forted me, and that is that all those Japanese dolls died 
 long ago. 
 
 Ellie Doll Willla.ms, 
 Per amauueusls. 
 
VI 
 
 IN LABORS MORE ABUNDANT 
 
 " Ife is only a poor sort of happiness that could ever come by caring 
 very much about our own narrow pleasures. We can only have the 
 highest happiness by having wide thoughts, and much feeling for the 
 rest of the world as well as ourselves ; and this sort of happiness often 
 brings so much pain with it that we can only tell it from pain by its 
 being what we would choose before everything else, because our souls 
 see it is good." — George Eliot. 
 
 ^^ Kdlgauj June 7, 188 L 
 "My Dear Sister Cornelia : 
 
 " In the vortex of beginning housekeeping, I must 
 yet write a few words to some one of you. . . . We 
 are all glad to be back in Kalgan, and our Chinese 
 friends were glad to see us. The missionaries here are 
 all new people, — Mr. and Mrs. Eoberts, Dr. Murdock and 
 Miss Garretson. Dr. Murdock is very enthusiastic in her 
 profession, and will surely do a good work for God. . . . 
 "We have been here over a week. Trunks not un- 
 packed, — no place to put things ! Although I have no 
 room yet to store away what we have, I wish we had got 
 twice as many shoes for the children ! They will be out 
 in a year's time. Feet grow faster on the march ! " 
 
 ^^Kdlgan, July 9, 1881, 
 " My Dear Anna : 
 
 "We are very happy here in many things. Dr. 
 Murdock' s energy, earnestness and skill are a great bless- 
 ing. When it is necessary, these days, I leave the babies in 
 
 200 
 
IN LABOES MORE ABUNDANT 201 
 
 Emily's and Mary's care, and interpret for the doctor. I 
 like to interpret ; it is in my line of past work, so that 
 I'm seldom at loss, and the test of knowledge of the lan- 
 guage is exhilarating. I must say that the various ulcers 
 and eye diseases are anything but enlivening, yet looking 
 at them from a professional point of view, one forgets 
 that, especially when there is a triumphal improvement. 
 There have been between 600 and 700 treatments in the 
 last seven weeks. 
 
 " Fu Yuan and his wife are very grateful over the safe 
 arrival of their boy. She said yesterday, ' F'usztai fu 
 tsai chi ?i, 7nei la woa P ('If there had been no doctor here, 
 there would be no me ! ') Dr. Murdock pointed to me, 
 and Fu Yuan replied politely, ^ You twohonorables.' 
 
 *' Tsai Fu Yuan grows in love to his Saviour. I am so 
 glad^ for I love him so much, and his wife for his sake, 
 and both of them for Jesus' sake. Fu Yuan has been 
 teaching both Mr. Williams and myself every morning 
 from nine or ten until twelve. It has been such an op- 
 portunity for me to give him some of the precious things 
 of the Bible which God has given me. I plan to teach 
 him and Lu Yuan a little on the organ. They both wish 
 it very much, and I think I can gain influence over Lu 
 Yuan in that way. When I said laughingly that I could 
 not teach any one who had long finger nails, Fu Yuan 
 came back in the afternoon, minus those signs of gentility. 
 I couldn't refuse after that, it was such a surprise ! Don't 
 I wish I could prevent Sala's foot-binding as easily ! " 
 
 ^' July nth. 
 "The very same day that I wrote the last sentence, 
 Sala's feet were unbound ! She came to me Sunday morn- 
 ing with twinkling eyes, and said, 'My papa has let 
 my feet loose ! ' I had talked to her mother and father 
 on Friday, speaking of the sin of deforming the bodies 
 
202 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 given us by God, and how it would be an especial sin for 
 them, since they knew it to be wrong ; — but I had not 
 quite faith enough to expect the answer so soon. That 
 afternoon I saw the poor, deformed Chinese foot for the 
 first time. How pitiful it is ! " 
 
 ^^Kalgauj July 26^ 1881, 
 "Deae Sister Cornelia : 
 
 *'I have been so thankful over that red darning 
 cotton that I must write you a letter. The mail is to go 
 up to the Russian postmaster this evening before dark. 
 It is twenty minutes to meeting time, —Chinese Wednes- 
 day prayer-meeting. 
 
 "We had all of the station here to tea last night. No 
 cake, but excellent yeast rolls or biscuit, apricot jam, 
 and a gelatine royal cream. Our babies behaved shock- 
 ingly at the table. I think I'll never invite anybody 
 again ! 
 
 ' * Dear little Anna is asleep. One is so safe about chil- 
 dren when they are asleep. That is one of MacDonald's 
 thoughts, which I have often had. . . . 
 
 "Prayer- meeting is over. Mr. Williams' remarks 
 were very good, — well prepared. Some of the Russians 
 are going to let the doctor teach them English, the Gospel 
 of John. We hope good may result. 
 
 "Love to dear, dear father, to mother and the rest. 
 " Your affectionate sister, 
 
 "Isabella." 
 
 ^^Kdlgan, Aug, 3, 1881, 
 "MyDeae Anna: 
 
 " . . . We have Dr. Murdock and Miss Garret- 
 son boarding with us, and find it very pleasant. I was too 
 busy for a while to breathe or sleep, but can take time 
 for both now. The children are well, but the heat and 
 
IN LABORS MORE ABUNDANT 203 
 
 impurities of city air begin to tell on us all. Tsai Fu 
 Yuan took Emily, Mary, and his little Sala up the moun- 
 tain for flowers last evening. They came back merrily, 
 having had quite a climb. 
 
 " We have an oleander in beautiful bloom. Our other 
 flowers are not worth much except for the twins to pick. 
 My one rose-bush and the scarlet geranium are only good 
 for promises, as yet. 
 
 "I want to see Etta and Stephen, oh, so much, these 
 days. . . ." 
 
 ^^ August 6(h, 
 " I have been reading with much refreshment the Mem- 
 oirs of Frances Ridley Havergal. Being dead, she yet 
 speaks, urging me by her example to fresh Bible study. 
 I covet the ability to commit verses easily in Chinese. 
 Those I do know are so wonderfully useful. 
 
 *^It makes us glad to come back and find how much 
 real progress has been made in these two years. Miss Dia- 
 ment had a beautiful work for our Christian women and 
 girls while we were gone. They were gathered together 
 from the country round about, and many brought their chil- 
 dren with them, so our outer court was as populous as 
 most Chinese establishments. I am seeing some of the 
 fruits of Miss Diament^s work, and the seeds are being 
 planted over and over again. Most of the women have 
 gone back to their homes to be seed-sowers there. ^^ 
 
 '^ November 17, 1881. 
 **. . . We have been papering our sitting-room, 
 and have put down the bedroom carpet. Had two plated 
 knives and my last pair of scissors stolen by the paperers, 
 I suppose. I have still a pair of shears and Emily ^s 
 blunt scissors to console me. ^ Lay not up your treasures 
 on earth ! ^ 
 
204 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 " I have nice yeast made without any to start with, and 
 have good bread, as I do not leave it for our servant, 
 but always bake it myself. Yesterday a crowd of women 
 came in while I was mixing my bread. They came into 
 the kitchen, and I talked with them as I worked. I 
 think they will come again j perhaps to our Sabbath 
 meeting. . . ." 
 
 " Kalgavij Dec, 4, 1881. 
 *^ My Dear Father : 
 
 ^^ . . I am reading in First Samuel with Tsai 
 Fu Yuan these days. The friendship of David and Jona- 
 than was our lesson yesterday. The beautiful story is for 
 all time, and perhaps for eternity too. We read the 
 Psalms in connection with the history as far as possible. 
 *' Daisy says, ^Wi' 'oo div we itta tins some tash 
 (cash) ! ^ So the question of filthy lucre is up in their 
 small heads, you see. Emily and Mary have been earning 
 money for Christmas purchases. Anna's exploit in words 
 is to talk about ' Pi-gwim's Pogwims.' They love to hear 
 the story of Christian and Christiana from their father. 
 . . . Mary has turned out a second Etta. She read 
 six chapters in Revelation in one day, and has now read 
 the whole. She did not know all her letters when we left 
 America eight months ago. . . ." 
 
 ^^ December 5, 1881. 
 
 ** I have just added something to a note to Miss Porter, 
 which you may like to see. 
 
 ^*I have been enjoying some of the Psalms, and am 
 wishing that I knew when David wrote the eighth. Was 
 it while he kept the sheep, and was it the far-off voice of 
 children singing their evening hymn, which made him 
 say, ^ Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, Thou hast 
 perfected praise' ? (You see I quote it as Jesus did.) 
 
IN LABORS MORE ABUNDANT 205 
 
 Our Chinese is, ^ Thou hast caused babes and sucklings ex- 
 ceedingly to praise.' 
 
 ''Or was it written after pacing the roof of his house 
 in Jerusalem, and were they Bathsheba's boys who were 
 singing one of their father's songs ? Those other women 
 didn't teach their sons many Psalms, I'm thinking. No, 
 it was poor, sorrowful, forgiven Bathsheba, who walked 
 softly before God, and led Solomon and his brothers in 
 the way of peace. 
 
 ' ' Poor David ! Do you wonder at his sorrowful laments, 
 when, besides all his enemies, he had six wives before 
 leaving Hebron ? Michel and Bathsheba made eight, and 
 there were more yet, too numerous to mention, in the 
 palace at Jerusalem. Think how Ahinoam and Maachah 
 and Haggith used to glare at each other when their boys 
 fought, and David had to stop right in the middle of a 
 Psalm, and say, 'Lads, don't tease Adonijah' ! " 
 
 ^^ December 6th. 
 
 " My carpet is nearly ready to put down. It has taken 
 one woman five days, and another sewed one day. You 
 might think I would fly with nervousness, but I don't. I 
 cut the carpet myself, but was not at all able to sew on it, 
 just getting over my siege. Besides there was mending to 
 do, and indeed it has been done with much backache and 
 despondency. 
 
 "Our carpet is very pretty. When we get it down, 
 looking at it, and at the elaborate carvings of the doors and 
 panels, if we only had some luxurious chairs, I am sure 
 you would think, ' Isabella lives in quite a grand house ! ' 
 We are glad of this large room. It is our only one, and is 
 none too large, being used for Chinese meetings and Sab- 
 bath services. It is likewise none too large for air, when 
 we have twenty to forty Chinese women in visiting! 
 Moreover our sitting-room is only grand when in order I 
 
206 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 It is far from fine when the chairs are prostrate, the 
 blocks scattered around, and paper cuttings everywhere ! 
 My fight for neatness and order is truly perpetual. 
 
 *' Excepting this room, our other rooms are small 
 enough. Yet all do very well for our needs. I do not 
 want better. ^ Surely goodness and mercy have followed 
 me all the days of my life.' " 
 
 " Kdlgan, Jan. 27, 1882, 
 " Deae Stephen : 
 
 " I think about you so much that I must write to 
 you to-day. I think so much about the years that you 
 were with us. I remember how I gave you to God from 
 your earliest existence. I think how much I loved you 
 when you were a baby, and how kind everybody was to 
 you. Mr. Thompson, dear Mr. Hunt whose place in our 
 hearts nobody can ever fill ; Mr. and Mrs. Chapin, Miss 
 Porter, and most of all, Mrs. Gulick, Miss Diament, and 
 Mr. and Mrs. Sprague. Think how many walks Mr. 
 Sprague took with you and Etta, climbing the mountains 
 for flowers or minerals. Think how much happiness 
 came into your lives through Mrs. Sprague' s frequent in- 
 vitations to their home. 
 
 "Then what could we have done when getting ready 
 to go home, without Mrs. Sprague' s loving help, much of 
 it given in ill-health ! Dresses cut and made ; suits made 
 for you ; a half dozen white slips for the babies, and two 
 white dresses, dainty and lovely, but with strength and 
 life worked into their folds, so that they are like the 
 water from Bethlehem's well, which David could not 
 drink. 
 
 "All this was done that your mamma might go on 
 with the Chinese women's lessons. You may remember 
 that there were three women almost daily. It really was 
 the same as if Mrs. Sprague had taught them herself, be- 
 
IN LABORS MOEE ABUNDANT 207 
 
 cause slie took my work, and left me some time for the 
 teaching. 
 
 " How many others here in the mission and at home 
 loved you and Etta for your father's and mother's sake, 
 and because you were born on heathen ground, with all 
 the drawbacks of city life, and of loneliness in the midst 
 of a multitude. And for these years since you have been 
 at home in America, what untold gratitude and thanks 
 we all owe to Uncle Abner and Aunt Mattie, who are 
 doing everything for you. 
 
 ^^When you think over all these things, your heart 
 will fill with love to God, who put it into the hearts of all 
 these friends to be so loving towards you. Because it 
 wasn't for anything wonderful of good in you or in the 
 rest of us, that people have been so kind. We did not 
 deserve it at all. Then why was it ? It was all done for 
 Jesus' sake. So you need to love Him and thank Him 
 for it all, as well as for the far greater love He showed by 
 dying for you. Before you were born, long, long before 
 the world was made. He knew you, knew what you 
 would be like, knew what you would think and say and 
 do. And He knew and knows the same about every one 
 of the countless millions who have been born, and who 
 have died. He knew and knows the same about every 
 one of the countless millions who are to be born, and 
 must die. Then, in that long past eternity, knowing all 
 the sin which would be lived out in the lives of these mil- 
 lions, He chose to die, that these if they only choose may 
 live. . . .'^ 
 
 ^^Kdlgan, Feb. 16 j 1882, 
 " My Dear Sisters : 
 
 " I wonder that any of you write any letters, justaa 
 I am surprised when I write any myself. The sweeping of 
 floors, washing of faces, picking up of dolls, and setting 
 
208 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 chairs right side up ;— the looking after scissors and 
 thimbles, the planning for my Chinese friends, the bread- 
 making, the arrangements for my cook's tri-daily cam- 
 paigns, and lately, my soup-making, — leave me neither 
 sense, nor time, nor hands, for respectable letter- writing. 
 
 " As I have been relieved of two pairs of scissors and 
 my third, and last thimble, my labors will be lighter 
 hereafter ! One of the twins carried my steel thimble 
 outdoors, and lost it, long ago. The ten-cent one went 
 next, — was stolen, — and now the other twin has taken my 
 silver one into the court, and probably one of the men, 
 who were carrying coal in baskets on their backs, picked 
 it up. I think I never lost a thimble before, since com- 
 ing to China. Dr. Murdock's teacher took hers, and 
 Miss Garretson's thimble has now to do duty for all three 
 of us ! I'm going to make a leather finger cap. 
 
 ^'I'm interested in soup -making, lately. The bones 
 and scraps of our meat have kept the thing going for 
 twenty days' time. Carrots and cabbage have helped, 
 and the water in which the vegetables for our table were 
 cooked, and steak gravy, — everything that's nice that I 
 can get, goes in. At an expense of one-half cent per day, 
 besides the bread, there has been two-thirds of a pint of 
 good soup for three persons, daily. Our cook's boy and 
 Tsai Fu Yuan's wife are sick, and needing a change of 
 food, and something easily digested. As for Lu Yuan's 
 poor mother, she is needing to be built up too. With a 
 slice of bread, the pint is filled. Emily carries the 
 morning rations in my quart bowls. So far, they have 
 not been broken, and the soup is acceptable and medici- 
 nal in the truest way. 
 
 "I am reading Farrar's ^ Life of Christ^ these days. 
 I feel so eager to read it, and it helps me so much more 
 to realize Jesus' life on earth with its grief and joy, that 
 it surely will lead me to love Him more. 
 
IN LABOES MORE ABUNDANT 209 
 
 "This is the anniversary of our father^ s and mother^ s 
 wedding day, forty-five years ago. It has not been very 
 long since February 16, 1837, that is, the forty-two years 
 that I know about, have not been long. It will be but a 
 short time until our children are men and women. ^^ 
 
 (To her sister Anna.) 
 
 ''Kalgan, Feb. 17, 1882, 
 
 " To-morrow is Chinese New Year' s Day. Firecrackers 
 began singly last night. The noise occurs at intervals all 
 day. Just you listen to-night! ^It's Fourth of July, ^ 
 you will say. 
 
 ^* I am just back from the study where I've been read- 
 ing with Miao Hsien Sheng. (Don' t think him a cat from 
 his name !) I don't find two Chinamen who read exactly 
 alike. This man uses the ru-shengy but not on all the 
 words for which Dr. Murdock's teacher uses it. * What's 
 ru-sheng ? ' you say, ^ and what do we care about it ? ' 
 VWplay that you care a great deal ! 
 
 ' ^ The Pekinese have four tones. A knowledge of these 
 is fundamental, as one word usually has four different 
 meanings, dependent upon the length and pitch of the 
 tone. For instance, ma has four meanings ; — ^ mother,' 
 * hempen string,' ^ horse,' and 'to swear or revile.' Now 
 our Yu Cho dialect has only three tones, of which the last is 
 most like the third Pekinese tone, the first is like the first 
 Pekinese tone in quality, but is lower, and the middle one 
 is like the first in opening pitch, but is shorter, and falls 
 more at its close. Some comical things happen from this 
 complete turning around of tones. When our helper Kao 
 Hsi spoke about repentance and reformation down at 
 Peking, the Pekinese said he was talking about some- 
 thing's hind leg ! If one speaks of a State Church in the 
 Yu Cho dialect, a Peking man would, if critical, say he 
 was speaking of foot-binding. But the fact is that our 
 
210 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 people here at Kalgan are used to sucli a variety of 
 dialects that they will understand anything. The mertj I 
 mean, for the women can't. A word more about the ru- 
 slieng, the shortest possible of tones. It can only be used 
 on certain classes of words, and about a few of these the 
 custom varies with the place. The pronunciation varies 
 greatly, but all shoot these words out as from a pop -gun. 
 Words having the ru-sheng may be considered by far the 
 older forms of the language. Down south the k and t 
 finals are signs of this short tone. . . ." 
 
 ^^ Kalgan, April 9, 1882, 
 " My Dear Sister Cornelia : 
 
 ^^. . . I have been very happy in the work 
 God gives me to do for a very few. Study of the Psalms 
 is a daily joy, for I know that Tsai Fu Yuan gains a 
 deeper knowledge of the Bible, in addition to the gain 
 which I make in the language ; — his gain far more im- 
 portant than mine. His younger brother, too, I have 
 been able to love and help. (Do you know that I think 
 when I'm dying I shall remember that wonderful page 
 in ^ Daily Light ' which you copied for our family letter ; 
 I shall remember it as in your handwriting, and it will 
 be for your good-bye to me /or a little while. ' I can (I am 
 able to) do all things through Christ which strengtheneth 
 me. ' * Able, ' — it is Jesus who makes me able to love and 
 help the boy Lu Yuan. 
 
 " Let me tell you of the lad. With some help from an 
 invalid mother (who does part of our washing in an in- 
 different way), he has to support the family of five per- 
 sons. When he began working for me, nearly all their 
 clothes were in the pawn-shop. That was well enough 
 for summer-time, but when winter comes, even old clothes 
 are a convenience. Mr. Williams lent him two months' 
 wages to redeem some of them and keep the family from 
 
IN LABORS MORE ABUNDANT 211 
 
 starvi ng. I helped them out by letting Lu Yuan' s mother, 
 Mrs. Tsai, sew for me. She is nearly blind, but I got 
 easy work for her, and as she used to be a good seamstress, 
 her needle goes of itself, after a fashion. Then I used to 
 send poor old Mr. Tsai, the father, some milk every day, 
 as he had just given up the last grains of opium which he 
 was taking. It became easy to wake up nights to pray 
 for them. You think it would have been a simple way 
 to help them by giving money outright, but there are 
 reasons why that did not seem at all wise. I gave them 
 pieces of woolen goods to make shoes for the two little 
 boys, and bits of unbleached muslin to make stockings 
 of, and an old sheet to line some of their wadded clothes. 
 "At one time towards the end of the year, when his 
 father's old creditors were worrying the poor lad, Lu 
 Yuan looked for weeks like a thunder-cloud. (Poor boy, 
 he has a high and mighty temper to control.) It made 
 me actually sick to see him, — took away my appetite, — 
 I was so sorry for him. After the new year had come in, 
 they left off their persecutions, and he got hold of Moody's 
 sermon on heaven, which Dr. Porter has translated. It 
 has done him more good than I can tell. Last night while 
 he was setting the table, I took the opportunity to have a 
 little talk when nobody else was present. I said, ^ You're 
 happier now than a few months ago, Lu Yuan ? ' ^ Yes, 
 but what makes you think so ? ' ' Your face shows it,' I 
 said. ' Jesus has helped me, ' was his answer. ^ He helped 
 you partly by that book of Moody Hsien Sheng's, did He 
 not 1 ' * That was a very great help. There's nothing so 
 very pleasant in this life, but it makes one happy to think 
 of the after,'' I told him that I pray for him every day, 
 linking my two boys of the Tsai family together, so as 
 not to forget either. He said, ' I knew you did, and Miss 
 Evans and Kwo Fu pray for me too.' The table was set 
 by that time, and I went to stir up cakes for breakfast, 
 
212 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 but the few words will cheer him on in the way which we 
 travel together. 
 
 " Dr. Murdock is having wonderful success with her 
 opium patients. She gets them past the miserable stage 
 very soon. It does not last more than two days or three 
 at the most. 
 
 "We have a new mandarin here who is not going to 
 allow the raising of opium. That will make many anx- 
 ious to leave off the use of it before the price has gone up 
 too greatly. This Kuan (Mandarin) has had eleven 
 robbers killed lately, by decapitation. The axes are not 
 sharp, according to accounts of the spectators. 
 
 **Next week the Chinese theatre will be at our gate. 
 We may have one hundred or two hundred visitors a day 
 for the three days of the HsL I wish we could scatter 
 them along in the days when no one comes ! '^ 
 
 " Tungchouj June 1, 1882, 
 " My Dear Sister Anna : 
 
 "Here we are at mission meeting. I have made 
 up my mind to write you this afternoon, right in the face 
 of all these reverend brethren, — right in the midst of a 
 most animated discussion about the press at Peking. 
 
 " Yesterday evening the whole company of us took tea 
 in Mr. Sheffield's court. Plates were laid for forty, nine- 
 teen of whom were children. Mr. and Mrs. Sheffield were 
 at the ends of the table. Dr. Porter was at my left ; Mr. 
 Ament just across from me, and then Mr. and Mrs. Stan- 
 ley, and Mrs. Porter and Lucius. We had a merry time, 
 — not too merry, but charming. The table was trimmed 
 all around with arbor vitse, and flowers here and there. 
 It was beautiful ! I wore my brown silk, and Miss Por- 
 ter said she quite approved of me in that dress. Mrs. 
 Sheffield said this morning that all we lacked was a tele- 
 phone from one end of the table to another. This is a 
 
IN LABORS MORE ABUNDANT 213 
 
 pleasant change for us, — the coming to mission meeting. 
 The children are happy as larks ! (Mr. Stanley is talking 
 now about a college at Tientsin. It will come some time, 
 perhaps there, perhaps at Peking.) 
 
 "I am so glad to be in Mra. Chapin's home, and to see 
 her with her children. I have loved my children, but 
 not enough. I have loved my Saviour, but not enough. 
 I do desire to be His. I do desire that my dear ones shall 
 be His, — now, just now." 
 
 ^^ Afternoon, 
 "We had such a lovely meeting this noon. Miss Por- 
 ter led. She asked us to give any promise or word from 
 the Bible which has been especially precious, or to bring 
 the chief desire of our hearts as subject for prayer. . . .'^ 
 
 ''July, 1882. 
 " Our Dr. Murdock is having grand success, and is us- 
 ing up all our rags and stocking feet and old flannel at 
 an alarming rate. Do not be surprised if we all go down 
 to mission meeting next year tied up in grain bags, as 
 the only things that are not useful to our patients ! " 
 
 ''Kalgan, Sept. 19, 1882, 
 " Dear Sisters : 
 
 " Our neighbors of the Wang family have just had 
 a sacrificial feast. In consequence we have had many 
 visitors. Yesterday they came in great numbers, all day 
 long. The opportunity which has come to-day has seemed 
 even better than that. No houseful to-day, to keep up a 
 chatter, but just one man with his son, a lad, and the two- 
 year-old baby. I talked with him, telling him of God 
 the Creator, of the creation and the fall, but came straight- 
 way to the Babe in the manger, and right through the 
 works of divine power to the cross, the grave, and the 
 
214 BY THE GEEAT WALL 
 
 resurrection. ^Listen well,' the father said to his son, 
 but when the baby cried for mother, he said, ^ Take her 
 out ; buy her some beans to eat, and amuse her,' while 
 he paid most earnest attention. Oh, this was so different 
 from every day. Every day is like this : — * There is but 
 one true God, Maker of heaven and earth. Heaven is 
 not God, it is His throne,' — ' How many meals a day do 
 you eat ? ' * We are all sinners,' — * How many children 
 
 have you ?'...* God sent His Son, Jesus, to ' 
 
 * How old are you ! ' To be sure I try to answer all these 
 questions before beginning, but a newcomer asks them 
 all over again. Then I do not answer, but some one of 
 the party does, and I wait a moment and go on, only to 
 be again interrupted. 
 
 ^^Dr. Murdock's patients bring her eggs, sugar, vege- 
 tables and fruit of all kinds as thank-offerings. I buy 
 most of them of the dispensary at market prices. Once I 
 got a lot of bad eggs, eighty-four ! It was my first experi- 
 ence with eggs that pop like firecrackers, and it scared 
 me. Pop, pop, and with every pop a scream, and then a 
 laugh. Those eggs were worth all I should have paid for 
 them, for the fun of the thing. I popped them by 
 dozens, one morning, pop, scream, laugh. I did some- 
 times keep back the squeal, but there would come a loud 
 report, and then a body could not help it ! The giver 
 wasn't to blame. Probably he had just one hen, and 
 waited till she laid enough for a handsome present. 
 
 ** . . . I have made a beginning at learning to write 
 Chinese. It cannot ever be much more than a beginning, 
 yet it will help to fix the character on one's mind. Just 
 now I must sew. Emily is nearly out of clothes. All 
 hers, Mary falls heir to. As for the twins, this morning 
 I cut out six aprons for them, all of blue and white calico. 
 
 ' ' Dear sisters, I wish we could sit down every day for 
 fifteen minutes together, to read our Bibles, and compare 
 
> IN LABORS MORE ABUNDANT 215 
 
 notes. The Bible is so wonderful that I vainly wish for 
 some of the time I wasted years ago, to spend upon it 
 now. Don't suppose I would read nothing else ! But 
 there's less time for other books than once there was. 
 And it is far too easy for us just to have our favorite 
 Psalms, chapters, and verses, and let the rest go. Well, 
 since we can't sit down together, let us take some one else 
 instead. I am sure that Tsai Fu Yuan has a quickened 
 sense of the worth, the preciousness of this gift of God. 
 Now perhaps my sewing woman is the next one I am to 
 help." 
 
 *^ My Dear Sister Martha : 
 
 " . . . I have kept on with my Chinese lesson 
 daily this fall, and have tried to commit to memory at 
 night. The Psalms are wonderful ! I have just reached 
 the last division or fifth book of the Psalms, and am try- 
 ing to get a clear idea of the Babylonish captivity and of 
 the persons who were leaders in the restoration to their 
 own land. What intensely interesting characters are 
 Ezra and Nehemiah ! 
 
 "I think Ezra must have written some of the Psalms 
 of the restoration. If so, which ? Read one verse, and 
 you will guess as I did. ' For Ezra had prepared his 
 heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to 
 teach in Israel statutes and judgments' (Ezra 7:10). 
 What Psalm do you think of? I said out loud, ^ Ezra 
 
 wrote the Psalm ! ' and found Cowles' Commentary, 
 
 and was as pleased as can be imagined that he suggests 
 the same thing. 
 
 *' Just note that verse quoted above. He had prepared 
 his heart, made it ready (being thoroughly in earnest, 
 having decided forever to keep his heart open to God, 
 shut to sin), to seek the law (he that seeks, finds), and to 
 do it, and to teach statutes and judgments. There are 
 
216 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 three steps, it seems ; a strong choice to be made fit for 
 the searching out of God's will, — obedience to God's will, 
 —and teaching others to obey God's will." 
 
 ^^Kalgan, Oct. 20, 1882. 
 " Dear Father : 
 
 *^I am busy sewing for winter. But the chief 
 thought of my mind is how best to help smooth the dying 
 pillow of our neighbor, and former cook, Tsai Yu. His 
 death seems only a matter of a few days or weeks longer. 
 His body appears used up and worn out. First by fixing 
 upon it the opium habit, then by giving that up at inter- 
 vals, and lastly by the necessary use of kinds of food 
 which do not suit a victim of opium. 
 
 "The physicians say, ^ Give a man opium, by smoking, 
 in slowly increasing quantities, and give him besides, such 
 food as he craves, — meat, rice and wheat flour, — he may 
 live long.' But let anything occur to distui'b his regular 
 habits, as poverty, coming like an armed man, and all is 
 changed. His allowance of the drug is cut down, com- 
 pelling him to eat or drink it, instead of smoking it, and 
 he must change his food to the cheaper kinds (which 
 other people can nevertheless live on) ; and diseases come 
 upon him which will sooner or later end his life. 
 
 "This man professed Christianity soon after we came 
 to Kalgan. He was Mrs. Gulick's cook, after which he 
 was ours, and remained in that capacity until we went 
 home to America. We knew in the later years that he 
 was an opium user, and knew also, from circumstantial 
 evidence, that he left it off, at least twice, during those 
 years. We surmised each time that he took it up again. 
 At one time Mr. Williams would have dismissed him 
 from employ, if it had not been for his wife's health at 
 the time. The question gave us anxious thought for 
 days and nights, for months and years even — I may truly 
 
IN LABORS MORE ABUNDANT 217 
 
 say. Had we a right to keep a man in employ who 
 spent of his wages, ten, twenty, or thirty dollars per year 
 for opium! Had we known it earlier, we should not 
 have kept him in our service ; and looking at the matter 
 now, I suppose we ought to have dismissed him. Our 
 knowledge of his breaking off the use of opium at times 
 gave us hope. 
 
 " The principle among the Chinese that it is dishonor- 
 able to disclose the sins of others if it will injure their 
 prospects, makes it difficult to get at the truth. Only 
 great anger will bring out the hidden wrong. Progress 
 has been made on this point. There are now church- 
 members who will dare to tell the truth. Tsai Yii was 
 excommunicated, and has never been received back. 
 Even after his late and possibly final cure from opium, 
 the missionaries could have no confidence in him. * What 
 poor stuff your churches are built up of ! ' some will say. 
 Paul said, *And such were some of you,' to the Ck)rin- 
 thians. 
 
 "Our servant was of a good family. His wife was a 
 woman who seemed to be telling the truth in ways where 
 Chinese expect servants to lie. For example, in buying 
 seven cash worth of thread or thirty-six cash worth of 
 wooden combs to say seven instead of eight or nine, and 
 thirty-six instead of forty. Her husband appeared more 
 honest in his purchases than some others. So when again 
 and again balancing the question, we again and again 
 decided to let the tree stand a little longer, while we 
 should dig about it. The trouble was that the tree 
 would bear no use of the spade. The earth about it 
 might not be touched. Any attempt to bring up the sin 
 was met with denial. Well, where were our proofe ? We 
 had not often proof which could be used. He would say, 
 * At the time you speak of, I was sick. Opium is the 
 only thing which cures me. I have to take it for two or 
 
218 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 three days at a time.' Or as a final clincher he would 
 appeal to heaven, or with an expression of injured inno- 
 cence end off with *If you say I take it, I take iV This 
 does not mean what you may suppose. It is saying, ' I am 
 innocent ; if you falsely accuse me, I will say no more.' 
 
 *^Next door to Tsai Yii's room, where he lies dying, is 
 the coffin of a young Manchu woman. She died four 
 days since. Her parents were very fond of her, their 
 only child, and have made many temple offerings hoping 
 to save her life. They have called in necromancers, they 
 have bought the most expensive medicines as ginseng 
 (ren seng) and a patent medicine costing ten taels, or 
 about fourteen dollars. They have forced her husband's 
 father into the same kind of expenses, until the young 
 man said, as his wife was near death, * The money is 
 gone and the person (woman) gone.' He had to buy for 
 her five new suits of clothes — three of them wadded — and 
 all were put on. All her own good clothes and shoes 
 were either put into the coffin with her, or burned. Five 
 complete sets of silver or gold-plated head ornaments 
 were to be put on her head or in the coffin. Think of 
 the poor, emaciated face, with the gleaming silver and 
 gold standing out in her hair, and the shrunken body 
 with its layers of wadded clothing ! Her husband was 
 swelling with rage at being obliged to do all this. These 
 ornaments are worth over fifty dollars, a large sum for 
 poor folks ; and some were given by his family. As his 
 mother is dead, they cannot get on without a woman in 
 the house, and his father is making arrangements for a 
 new daughter-in-law immediately. This one was the sec- 
 ond wife, and but twenty-eight years old. I heard it 
 said that her death and burial, and the new bride's home- 
 coming would all be in one month's time. 
 
 *' Lu Yuan has bought his father's burial clothes. He 
 bought shoes with leather soles. This does not accord 
 
IN LABORS MORE ABUNDANT 219 
 
 with Chinese ideas. Perhaps it is a suggestion to the 
 lictors of Hades that there was something beastly about 
 the man. At any rate the emperor of that world of the 
 dead will be sure to send him back as an animal. Lu 
 Yuan's uncle went in to see the sick man. * You must 
 change these. They won't do at all. You will be sneered 
 at,' said he, and his nephew didn't know what to do. *I 
 wouldn't have got them if I had known,' he said. ^But 
 I told the folks,' he went on, 'that Jesus' disciples went 
 to heaven when they died.' 
 
 " * Ask your father what to do,' I said. It was a new 
 thought that Buddhist doctrines might extend to shoe 
 soles. He did, and the poor wreck of opium said, ' Keep 
 them, I know my soul cannot enter a beast. If the Lord 
 will have me in heaven, I shall go there ; if not, I shall 
 go to hell. There will be no coming back.' 
 
 ' ' Can you know how glad I was ? As I write about it, 
 my heart is so full of compassion, that I sit here crying, 
 and turn my back, that the sewing woman and my chil- 
 dren shall not see. 
 
 "Your affectionate daughter, 
 
 *' Isabella R. Williams." 
 
 '^Kalgan^ Dec. 13, 1882. 
 " My Dear Own Sister Anna : 
 
 " Our mail came this morning, just before Chinese 
 prayers. Reading snatches from the papers, while baking 
 the bread, I found myself wondering which ones of our 
 family read the same things that I do. I think Cornelia, 
 being the wife of an editor, has the greatest variety to 
 choose from, and I think of proposing to her a Sabbath 
 tryst on the second page of the Christian WeeJcly. I find 
 very often something on that page, which helps me on 
 the way up to God. 
 
 "I wonder if you take the Life and Light now. It is 
 
220 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 rare to me that I read a number without findiug some 
 person or place for which to pray. The fear came into 
 my mind to-day, — what if my dear ones, my brothers, 
 and especially my sisters, are forgetting to pray for me ! 
 Have you got into the habit of telling God your love and 
 wishes for the rest of us, for your other dear ones, while 
 you are at housework or sewing? I do while sewing, 
 unless the children are too noisy. I can't when in a rush 
 of work, but when preparing fruit, as peeling tomatoes 
 or peaches, or washing crab-apples for jelly, I get some 
 quiet minutes often, and frequently many. They rest me 
 and gladden me so wonderfully when I spend them talk- 
 ing to Jesus. But what if you are not praying for me ! 
 Then I fear I shall fail to do the saving work which I 
 ought to do here. For the sake of these many, many 
 people who know not our Lord, do pray for me, — for us. 
 And don't forget our Girls' School when you pray, — these 
 dear little girls with bound feet, and hair done up to 
 stand out like horns or teapots from their heads. — The 
 prettiest and brightest of them has been very sick. She 
 is such a dear little thing. Do you think I described the 
 little schoolgirls just to make you laugh? No, indeed; 
 but laugh first, — ^you'll pray just as well afterwards. 
 How could you pray for them at all, without a shadowed 
 idea of their looks ? 
 
 ^^ Mr. Arthur Smith has written such learned and witty 
 articles on Chinese proverbs. I wish you could see them. 
 Yet the ^ hen-tracks ' would aggravate you, even though 
 most of them are translated. I wish I could write the 
 * hen-tracks' ! Mr. Smith fills his letters with them, 
 while I pride myself simply on being able to read them I 
 
 *^ The children have had a great pasting fit. Even the 
 twins make their books very neatly. But they put in all 
 sorts of things, — poetry and ague cure, organs and stove- 
 polish !" 
 
IN LABORS MORE ABUNDANT 221 
 
 (To her sister Cornelia.) 
 
 ^'Kalgauj Jan. 25, 1883. 
 
 ". . . I was so glad to get your letter. I am in great 
 perplexity and sadness about some of our dear Chinese, and 
 a letter from any of the best beloved at home comforts me 
 just now more than I can tell. I could almost give my 
 life for some of these. What if I should never save the 
 souls of any f 
 
 *^ Dr. Murdock and Miss Garretson were here to tea this 
 evening. We talked over the appropriations just sent 
 out from Boston, or rather the ?io7i-appropriations. Our 
 North China Mission is cut down over $5,000 of what we 
 asked. Our Boys' Day School is cut down from $150 to 
 $50. Mr. Williams is going to shoulder that himself, if 
 there is no other way. . . . 
 
 * '• You wrote October twenty-seventh. I receive and an- 
 swer January twenty-fifth. You will not receive this un- 
 til the winter is over and gone, and the time of the sing- 
 ing of birds is come. 
 
 " How precious and beautiful it was to have dear papa 
 in your home with your baby in his arms. Shall I ever 
 forget his taking the twins up, one on each knee, and 
 holding them there so many times? It seems that a 
 blessing must follow them from having been in his arms. 
 
 ". . . Mr. and Mrs. Dean showed me great kind- 
 ness when I was in Minneapolis. I could never tell them 
 or any one how deeply I still feel their kind hospitality. 
 If you ever have an opportunity to do anything for any 
 of their family, or indeed for any of the Ponds, I hope 
 you will do it with joy. I can never do anything for any 
 of the old friends of former days. Some time I may do 
 something for newer friends. 
 
 " Our weather has been the coldest by one degree that 
 we have ever known, — it was sixteen below zero one 
 morning. 
 
222 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 **The children had long red and blue pencils given 
 them for Christmas. They have used them up entirely 
 in a month^s time ! There was but a half inch left of 
 Anna's yesterday. Imagine if you will the delight which 
 the two midgets have known during the time of this 
 shortening of the pencils ! Imagine a corresponding de- 
 gree of misery to their mother, as all the Babylands and 
 Nurseries have put on a coat of red and blue ! 
 
 " May Grod bless you and your two beloved ones. 
 " As always, with love, your sister, 
 "Isabella.'' 
 
 ^^Kalgarij June 29, 1883. 
 "My Dear Sister Cornelia : 
 
 "I am ashamed to write you this time, yet don't 
 like to hint at the reason here on the first page. Yet un- 
 til that is done, I can't feel free to write of anything else. 
 ^ How have I got on so far ? ' you say, when I haven't got 
 on so far at all. 
 
 "Let me tell you the truth. I have come to face the 
 dreadful possibility that my life should be a failure, con- 
 sidered as a missionary life. There is nothing but prayer 
 to meet such a fear. If, so far as I know, I do not save a 
 single soul, and if I do not live in the spirit which may 
 have power with God and men, why my life is a failure. 
 If I see Lu Yuan's precious soul caught in by the devil's 
 snare, if I see truth fading out of his face and falsehood 
 coming in its place, if I know that according to human 
 probabilities, every day makes his salvation less probable, 
 there is nothing but agony of prayer to meet the case. 
 For if I do not save him and his mother, whom shall I be 
 used to save? Some one whom I know and love less well f 
 Some one whom I neither know nor love at all ? 
 
 " It isnH getting on far. You would do the same in my 
 case. In imminent danger of death all pray. This is 
 
IN LABORS MORE ABUNDANT 223 
 
 just tlie same— ouly soul-death instead of body-death, 
 and for another instead of one's self, but that doesn't 
 matter. What we realize keenly, moves to action. 
 Prayer is action — ' the highest activity the soul is capable 
 of.' Yet I do not know that it is best for us to think of 
 it so, except when necessary to keep us from being dis- 
 couraged in it ; because if it accomplishes anything, it is 
 not the prayer, but the love and power which answers 
 the prayer, which has efi&cacy. ^ Thine is the power.' 
 
 '^I don't know yet if my lad is to be saved. I have 
 been easier about him, and stopped praying as much as 
 before. Perhaps it is too soon. Perhaps I thought he 
 was going to stand firm, when his feet are not firm yet. 
 Last night prayer was the only resource and comfort. 
 . . . I find we need to ^ begin again ' often. As you 
 say, this time of our beloved father's sickness is a good 
 time for a new beginning." 
 
 ''July 2d. 
 
 "Yesterday afternoon I went with Dr. Murdock to the 
 dispensary down-town. On donkey-back» we rode through 
 the pleasant lanes and byways where rattling carts never 
 go. Pleasant lanes! Don't think of hawthorn hedges 
 and violets peeping from the sward ! I hardly know if 
 we saw a blade of grass. These lanes are pleasant be- 
 cause they were clean (approximately) and because 
 there were no dogs to bark, —(that is, not many) and very 
 few men to gaze at us. There were some willow trees 
 pleasant to the eye, — both the old veterans, who have 
 been our friends for many years, and a row or two of 
 young ones, and some young poplars and lindens. 
 
 "There were some women and young girls wait- 
 ing to see us. During the hour and a half of our stay, we 
 had more than twenty-five in all, not counting little chil- 
 dr^jj, It Tras a good opportunity to talk to them j also to 
 
224 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 be patient with them in their own talk, and yet seize the 
 right place to turn conversation back into the channel I 
 wished. I was very glad to have the privilege. Nor did 
 I repent, as how could I ? — when this morning I found 
 that Daisy had seized that auspicious hour for working 
 her own sweet will, and had turned my little desk over 
 bottom side up for a few moments, long enough to send a 
 river of ink through my envelopes and cuttings from 
 papers. My letters to and from friends were fortunately 
 spared." 
 
 "The rain everybody has been praying for came yes- 
 terday evening and night. It was earlier at the sources 
 of the mountain torrents, and soon came the booming of a 
 wild river, born in an hour. It tore away large parts of 
 the stone embankments. It broke the heavy wooden bar 
 which fastens the great gate, and hurled immense boul- 
 ders through, of which one, at least, weighs six or seven 
 hundred pounds. They were carried along by the torrent 
 for nearly half a mile. The shopkeepers outside the 
 gate left their houses, going up on the highest ground in 
 reach, and praying and begging the keepers of the gate to 
 open it, so there might be a waterway. They feared that 
 the torrent would pour in on their shops until they should 
 be drowned. No one heeded them but Grod. His water 
 flood opened itself a way. 
 
 ' ' Carts, oxen, and horses were swept before the terrible 
 torrent. I have not heard whether any men were 
 drowned. A man might escape, even though a horse 
 could not. He would be wiser, and would run to the 
 nearest point of safety. The flood came down in a solid 
 wall, six or eight feet high. It is strange to see a wall of 
 water walking over the dry river bed. We saw it once 
 years ago. Lovingly, 
 
 "Isabella," 
 
IN LABORS MORE ABUNDANT 225 
 
 ^^ Kalgan, Aug. 16, 1883, 
 " Dear Sister Cornelia : 
 
 " I have had a fit of mending books this afternoon, 
 and have finished twelve which were in all stages of di- 
 lapidation, — beginning with one which had two leaves 
 out, and ending with more than one which was entirely 
 out of the binding and well pulled apart. Mr. Williams 
 thinks me an accomplished bookbinder, and has handed 
 over two volumes of Matthew Henry, huge, and with 
 heavy leather covers, one of which is quite apart from 
 the book. Well, paste will do wonders ! 
 
 ^*What a darling baby ! Do have all the happiness 
 with your baby that is possible, Cornelia dear. I regret 
 nothing so much as not taking more time to enjoy my 
 babies. Now I have to wait for my grandchildren, and 
 it will be a great while I . . . 
 
 "With love, your 
 
 "Isabella." 
 
 ^^Ealgan, Sep. 22, 1883. 
 " My Dear Sister Anna : 
 
 " . . . The washing is done, dinner is over, and 
 Hannah^ s father has j ust been in. Think a bit, and you^ 11 
 remember that Hannah was one of the little Chinese girls 
 whom Mrs. Gulick adopted. She is now in Japan. The 
 parents want to see her, and think she might come over 
 for a few days, at least ! They sent word to her about 
 the family, — her sisters and their children. . . . 
 
 "I have just finished making myself a gingham dress 
 and lining Mr. Williams' overcoat, — a heavy job, and one 
 I should not do if there were only a tailor to be had. As 
 for the children, Emily's ^Marjorie-coat ' descends to 
 Mary this winter, and must be rebound with braid, and 
 I am to make Emily a new one." 
 
226 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 '' October 8th. 
 
 '^The 'Marjorie-coat^ is too small for Mary, but will 
 do before long for a twin ! The twins' blue dresses 
 have seen a good deal of service, and I'm happy to say, 
 will see much more. The hems have been faced, the 
 sleeves pieced down at the top, and but one more thing 
 remains to do, — take off the collars to patch the elbows ! 
 May that day be distant, although inevitable. This 
 patching and mending of old things is necessary, living as 
 we do, among the Chinese who, in their extreme poverty, 
 think it extravagant to throw anything away. The chief 
 reason, however, is that I may have work to give these 
 poor women, and so keep them from beggary. A few 
 cents a day will enable them to be independent. 
 
 ^^ We were invited to celebrate Mr. and Mrs. Sprague's 
 wedding anniversary. Mr. Williams wrote some verses 
 for the occasion, and I thought them delightful. We 
 had such a precious hour of family worship and thanks- 
 giving after supper. Mrs. Sprague has a lovely home. 
 It is not the house^ though the new houses are of course 
 pleasanter than this we live in, but it is furnished 
 charmingly. It is a sort of Eden to me. 
 
 *^ Love the children a little extra for me. 
 
 "Your own 
 
 " Isabella! " 
 
 ^^Kalgan, Dec. 18, 1883. 
 ** My Dearest Aksa : 
 
 "I think I have not written to you since our be- 
 loved father went home. It seems as if one could never 
 write letters after this, — we always wrote to hinij you and 
 I. Comfort yourself, dear heart, by writing down some 
 of the things he said, some of the Bible texts he quoted. 
 " I have written a letter to the Presbyterian Missionary 
 Society of Bloomington, Minnesota, which I enclose for 
 
IN LABORS MORE ABUNDANT 227 
 
 your readiug. I wish I could write more letters. But 
 far more than that, I wish I might do more for these 
 poor women. 
 
 "What have I done to-day? Helped our Chinese 
 woman with the washing, and made ready her sewing for 
 the afternoon ; led Chinese prayers as Mr. Williams goes 
 to the school for prayers there ; bought four catties of 
 grapes of a fruit seller, and refused to buy of another 
 fruit seller, but gave him a pair of the children's old 
 shoes for his little boy ; and read a story to the twins, — 
 they begged me so hard. Then I found some old clothes 
 for my Chinese woman's children (she has six, like my- 
 self), and said some words to cheer her and to turn her 
 thoughts heavenward. Except that last, I can't be said 
 to have done any work especially for my Master. 
 
 "I took the twins and spent a day with Mrs. Sprague 
 this week. She helped me plait some ruffles for Emily's 
 dress, as we visited. Mrs. Sprague told me she thought 
 I might remember in heaven such work as makes our 
 clothes beautiful to others, as the plaiting of those ruffles. 
 I didn't quite agree with her, yet I told her I was sure 
 that Jesus was pleased that I should put those ruffles on 
 Emily's dress. Dressmaking is difficult work for me, but 
 Emily likes to look nice, and will be happier for my lov- 
 ing labor on her behalf. 
 
 "Mary is deep in Shakespeare these days. Absurd, 
 but she enjoys it so that I haven't the heart to suggest 
 another book. She is only eight years old, and I really 
 would prefer to have her read only Lamb's ^ Tales of 
 Shakespeare ' as yet. But this volume has beautiful illus- 
 trations by Plaxman, which please her. . . . 
 
 "One of my Chinese friends came for me to-day to go 
 with her to a mandarin's house, to look at their newly- 
 bought sewing-machine. But alas, the book of directions 
 was in Russian, and I could do nothing with it ! I will 
 
228 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 ask one of our Eussian friends to lielp me about it. You 
 see there is use for all sorts of knowledge here. . . ." 
 
 (To her boy Stephen.) 
 
 " KalgaUj July 8, 188 J^, 
 
 " I have been intending for some time to send you this 
 letter from dear * Uncle Hunt/ which you received years 
 and years ago, when you were a little boy. I did not leave 
 it with you when we came back to China because I feared 
 you might not be old enough to be careful of it. Notice 
 how kind it was for Mr. Hunt to take the time and trouble 
 to print so much of the letter. He loved you dearly, 
 Stephen. He loves you still, and has been loving you all 
 these years. Some day shall it be that your eyes may 
 again see him, and your ears hear his kind voice ? 
 
 ** . . . Are you reading a few verses in the Bible by 
 yourself, every day ? Do you sometimes take one verse 
 to think over, after learning it % Sometimes a part of a 
 verse is enough. 
 
 ". . . Good-night, my Stephen Eiggs. You know 
 what I want for you most of all. Don't wait. What 
 would it be to lose heaven ! 
 
 " I gave you back to God when you were a very tiny 
 boy. I want you to be His now and always. . . .^' 
 
 ** Kalgarij July 29, 188 J^. 
 "MyDeab Anna : 
 
 ". . . My days go on heart-hungry. I need 
 more sunshine. It is the shining of the Sun of Eight- 
 eousness that my soul needs. ^ Eeturn, my soul, unto 
 thy rest.' Pray too for me, sister dear, when you pray 
 for your best beloved. 
 
 ^' My flowers are pretty at last. I have not a great va- 
 riety, but such a bed of mignonette you never saw, and 
 my verbenas are very thrifty. The oleander has been 
 
IN LABORS MORE ABUNDANT 229 
 
 gay with bloom, and the Chinese pinks and alyssum sweet 
 as sweet ! The candytuft is straight and bright- faced, 
 like a row of West Pointers. Such a time as I have had 
 to raise my young cadets ! There is a tiny insect, like 
 white dust almost, which eats at the roots of many of my 
 flowers. I have great faith in matches to drive these 
 creatures away. 
 
 " . . . The danger of war between France and 
 China is not yet averted. All was arranged satisfactorily 
 but the Chinese troops, according to the report, violated 
 truce. 
 
 " i have been having not an easy time with a new saw- 
 ant, sir ! I hate change, and new bad things are not bet- 
 ter than old bad ones. You would have smiled to see me 
 teaching this new chap to iron. Table napkins were 
 folded just as many wrong ways as there are, and never 
 right ! He is improving now, and can iron the common 
 things quite nicely. Ironing seems to me so easy that I 
 wonder when I find any one who learns so slowly. 
 
 *'I have finished translating the ^ Story of Yeghesa,^ 
 from the Romance of Missions. The work has been a 
 great pleasure to me.'' 
 
 ^^Kalganj August 7, 188^. 
 ^' My Dear Little Sister Cornelia : 
 
 '' I want to hear from you and that beautiful baby 
 and his father. It is long [since I heard from you and 
 long since I deserved to hear from you as well. We are 
 to write to each other for two reasons : — one is because 
 our father, the house- band of this house, has loosed his 
 hold of us, according to our earthly sight and thought ; 
 the other is that he, not having loosed his love away from 
 us, will be glad to have us draw closer together. Yes, 
 he will be glad with a great gladness, if we speak often 
 one to another. 
 
230 BY .THE GREAT WALL 
 
 " In lack of other letters, I now and then read old ones. 
 Last week I read over yours after that uncomfortable ex- 
 perience about my letter. It was hard then, but you 
 have forgotten almost entirely about it now. How such 
 vexations shrivel in the light of a great sorrow ! Maybe 
 I should have said ' In the shadow of a great sorrow,^ 
 but our bereavement, though so heavy, shines more and 
 more with light, if we but let it do so. Courage, sister, 
 let us be worthy children of our glorified beloved ones. 
 How easy to be unworthy ! 
 
 ^^ Our father once sent me a gold dollar while I was at 
 school. It was folded in a bit of paper on which was writ- 
 ten ^ Looking unto Jesus.' That was beautiful, wasn't it I 
 Though so small a sum of money, it was not small for him 
 at that time. And he ^ Looking to Jesus ' in the sending, 
 and yearning over me that I might look to Jesus in the 
 receiving and the spending, — don't you think that was a 
 blessed coin ? I kept the paper long as one of my pecul- 
 iar treasures, though I have forgotten how I spent the 
 money. 
 
 " That was the year of my great poverty, — the year I 
 graduated, — when even fifteen cents was sometimes not 
 to be spent lightly, for it was all I had. I wonder now if 
 I should not have been wiser to tell somebody, but you 
 know that is not the Eiggs way. I did Anna Stewart's 
 washing and ironing, and she and I and our respective 
 roommates, Mary Bennet and Naomi Diament, kept it a 
 profound secret from the rest of the class. I taught 
 Henry Peabody music, — he had no ear whatever for 
 sound, — and I was woefully disappointed when 
 Miss Peabody gave me a chintz dress instead of 
 money as I had hoped. I needed the dress, but the 
 money would have been more useful. Thomas had 
 a like experience of adversity when he sold his over- 
 coat. 
 
IN LABORS MOEE ABUNDANT 231 
 
 ^' I rose at four this morning and mixed tlie bread, — a 
 thing I haven't done for six months or more. Our cook 
 makes good bread, but we were in need, so I stirred it up 
 over night, and that means four o'clock rising for me. I 
 wouldn't be inhuman enough, or bold enough, to wake 
 him up at that hour. He is a great sufferer from dyspep- 
 sia and sighs day in and day out. . . . 
 
 *^ With all the old love, your 
 
 ** Isabella.'^ 
 
 ^^ Kalgauj Nov. 3. 
 
 " . . . I must tell you, — ^such a pity it is, — this 
 war between France and China is all owing to a mistake 
 of interpreters. After the first fight when a peace was to 
 be patched up, the treaty was first written in French, and 
 then translated into Chinese. There was a clause pro- 
 viding that the Chinese troops were to be withdrawn 
 (from Annam, I suppose). This was omitted from the 
 Chinese, which must be laid to the door of some French 
 interpreter ! 
 
 '^ . . . It is one of my delights to go over to the 
 Girls' School. I love the dear children. Their bright 
 faces are a joy to me. My schoolgirls' lessons are now 
 all in Christian books. I love dearly to wake up their 
 minds. And I do feel very sure that several of them love 
 the Saviour. They are committing hymns to memory 
 now. ^ Rejoice and be glad ' has taken them a long time, 
 and to-morrow they begin * One more day's work for 
 Jesus.' The hymns are often harder for them than any- 
 thing else. The rules for Chinese poetry are very exact- 
 ing, and since the hymns will be sneered at if they are 
 not regarded, simplicity must often be sacrificed. . . . 
 "We have a new schoolgirl, eleven years of age. She 
 came yesterday. Poor thing, her father beats her fear- 
 fully, — has broken a broomstick on her." 
 
232 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 ^^ Kalgariy Jan. i, 1885, 
 " My Deab Sister Anna : 
 
 *^ I do want to write you about my Girls' School, — ■ 
 not my school after this winter. But I'm just as happy 
 in working for it as if it were. What a pleasure and 
 privilege to teach about Jesus ! It is quickening to one- 
 self too. How one sees with shame that one's living is a 
 teaching which ought to match. My girls are reciting 
 only from the Bible and hymn-book. Some days we 
 have such pleasant times. One of the girls recited, 
 ^ Consider the lilies of the field. . . . Wherefore if 
 God so clothe the grass of the field, shall He not much 
 more clothe you?' I asked the girls to name all the 
 flowers they knew, one each around, and then around 
 again. ^ If you plant aster seeds, do nasturtiums ever 
 come up ! ' I asked. The eyes of all brightened. ^ No, 
 never,' they said. *Who is it who keeps the seeds 
 always true?' ^God,' they all answered. ^Does He 
 like the flowers since He is so careful of them, giving 
 them so much beauty?' 'I think He does.' ^ Which 
 does He care for most, for you, or for a nasturtium ? ' 
 One girl insisted that He liked the flower the best. The 
 others laughed. ^He likes us most.' ^ We're the most 
 important.' ^ Why ? ' * Yin wei sz ren.^ (^ Because we're 
 human.') ^ If it was a baby, just born and only so long, 
 what then?' ^It is human, too.' ^Yes, it has a soul 
 which may live with Jesus always. Kow you all remem- 
 ber how much God cares for the flowers, but how much 
 more He loves you. What did He do to show most how 
 He loves you ? ' ^ He sent Jesus.' 
 
 " One of the dearest of our little girls has been taken 
 away by her mother to be married. I wanted to see La 
 Mei Tz again. I wanted to sa;y, ^ Don't forget to love 
 Jesus. Don't forget that He loves you.' 
 
 Mrs. Feng told one of the women who came 
 
 li 
 
IN LABORS MORE ABUNDANT 283 
 
 in yesterday, about when she first heard of the true 
 God. 
 
 ** ^ I used to hear about the foreigners who were preach- 
 ing a new religion, but never saw them. It was not 
 allowable for me to go to the street door to gaze. I was 
 a young wife then. But I heard some things, which, 
 though I did not understand, yet set me thinking. My 
 father was a doctor, and he had a tablet inscribed in gilt 
 letters to the god of medicine. When my father died, 
 my brothers, having given up the apothecary shop, were 
 very careless about the tablet, and finally allowed it to be 
 thrown in a rubbish heap, instead of burning incense 
 before it, on the first and fifteenth of every month, as my 
 father had done. 
 
 " ^ My uncle sold bean curd, and he worshipped a ** hai 
 fu shen^^^ but when they stopped that business they no 
 longer burned incense to this god. I saw that everybody 
 did the same ; they worshipped only to forward their own 
 interests. I thought, ^ ' What gods are these that they are 
 not insulted by such neglect ? " So I had my doubts, but 
 we always ¥o fou-ed and burnt incense at the proper time. 
 After a while the children's father came home from 
 Kalgan. As soon as he had washed the dust from his 
 face, he burnt up the gods. I wasn't pleased, but said 
 nothing. The next morning he left for Peking (to go to 
 the Bible Training School), and I thought, ^^ If the gods 
 are angry, he will meet misfortunes on the way." But 
 he reached Peking safely. Before long our daughter fell 
 sick, and the neighbors said, '* This is because he burnt 
 the gods; buy some more." I said, ^'When he comes 
 back, what will I do ? " They said, " Then you can take 
 the gods down and paste them in a jar." I thought 
 now if I were pasted up in a water jar, I should die, 
 and it certainly would be an insult to the gods to 
 put them in a place not fit for me. So I was firm. I 
 
234 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 think it was the Lord who helped me stand out against 
 them aU.» '' 
 
 (To her daughter Etta.) 
 
 " . . . Have you a photograph of your grandfather ? 
 I want yo'u to have one. I want you to study what you 
 may of his life, and know all you can about him. He 
 was faithful and true. And God is faithful who has 
 given him an abundant reward for his many labors and 
 his life of faith, and truth, and patience. 
 
 *^The more you as well as I think about the joy of 
 heaven, the better we shall be prepared for it when the 
 time comes. When Jesus opens the door for me, how 
 glad I shaJl be.^' 
 
 " Kalgan, April 22^ 1885, 
 *^ Dear Anna : 
 
 *' I send you my note to Martha. There's little in 
 it but love, and I send you just the same. What should 
 I do without my sisters, surely ! 
 
 **Fvebeen having some changes made in our outer 
 yard, so as to give our servant's family a more healthful 
 place, and though I've not directed the workmen, I have 
 had to decide about things and have been too busy to 
 have any brain for writing. 
 
 " Our cook's poor, invalid boy will now have a bright, 
 sunny room, with two glass windows. I hope the better 
 rooms and the sunny windows will work for Jesus. The 
 repairs are done with my money. It is not much, but 
 I've done it ^for Christ's sake.' " 
 
 ^^ August 15 J 1885. 
 ". . . How rich you were this spring with the plum 
 and the crab-apple blossoms. I could almost envy you, 
 only that I find envy never makes any one happier. I 
 
IN LABORS MORE ABUNDANT 235 
 
 can feel what reverent ecstasy would have filled me, had 
 I seen your beautiful treasures, and I thank God for you. ' 
 They were His message to you for your especial need. 
 When you were glad in their beauty, He meant that you 
 should be glad. He meant to soothe and rest you. He 
 meant to have you know that He has prepared fairer 
 things for you at home. His wealth of gifts in this world, 
 gifts which often no one receives and no one cares for, — 
 means just that for you and for me, and for all who love 
 Him. I feel sure that He has for you an extra tender- 
 ness of love because our father is away. 
 
 " When we were out in Mongolia last week, those hills 
 and valleys so richly adorned with flowers said to me 
 these things and many more. In many places the ground 
 was starred with a tiny plant. What a dear, beautiful, 
 perfect thing its one blossom was ! God knows about 
 each tiny flower j knows about each hardly visible seed. 
 
 ** The edelweiss is very abundant in Mongolia. I will 
 send you some blossoms and buds. Mourning-brides, 
 larkspurs, pinks, forget-me-nots, a small purple iris, 
 sweet-scented goldenrod, butter- and-eggs, a purple snap- 
 dragon, two varieties of potentilla, — all these and many 
 more we found blossoming on the plains and hills. . . .^' 
 
 " December 15, 1885. 
 
 ** I fear it is too long since I wrote you, and what can I 
 do to make up ? By the time that I get fairly started, 
 the schoolboys will come to sing ! 
 
 "We had a little boy here who lived with the cook^s 
 family and went to school. He has gone home, and I'm 
 going to send for him again lest my plan of giving him 
 a lift in the line of education should fall through. He 
 seems such a nice boy. IVe had bedding made for him, 
 and his mother and I are to share the expense of board- 
 ing him.'' 
 
236 BY THE GEEAT WALL 
 
 ^^ Afternoon. 
 
 *^Well, the boys had their sing, and since then Lu 
 Yuan has been copying Bible verses for me on some 
 cards I want to give the school children. He has now 
 left off opium for a long time, and he told me to-day 
 how sorry he was that he had ^sinned against us^ so 
 much when he lived here. He meant in taking things. 
 An opium user is a slave bound hand and foot by the 
 devil. There is nothing he will not do. If this young 
 man truly loves Jesus, he will be kept. What may he 
 not do for the cause of Christ in China if he is a true 
 Christian. 
 
 ^*This is a dull day. When the sun shines brightly, 
 there is a perfect flood of glory filling our room. 
 
 ^^Love me and pray for me, my Anna, and PU love 
 and pray for you. Always your 
 
 ^^ Isabella. '* 
 
 " Kalgan, Feb, 10, 1886. 
 *' My Dear Sistee Anna : 
 
 ** I want to hear from you so much this winter. 
 
 ^^ Yesterday two schoolgirls and a little brother came 
 to see me, and I sang with them, and lent them two 
 hymn-books so that they could sing to their mothers. 
 
 ' ' We were invited to a ^ capercailzie dinner ^ with Dr. 
 Murdock and Miss Diament. Some Eussian patients had 
 given this immense bird to the doctor. It is called 
 * cock-of-the- woods ' or capercailzie, and is as large as a 
 turkey, and as delicious. When I told our cook of it this 
 morning, he was ready with a proverb, as usual. ^ Tien, 
 nge; t'i, pu,' — (^heaven, goose; earth, capercailzie,') 
 meaning that of the birds flying in the sky, the goose is 
 the best ; and of those on the ground, this bird with the 
 queer long name takes front rank. 
 
 " A Chinese woman has just come in, and I shall at 
 
IN LABOES MORE ABUNDANT 237 
 
 least have to listen with one ear to her, while I scribble a 
 bit to you. The schoolgirls will be in soon, and then 
 comes the weekly prayer-meeting, and the mail must go 
 immediately after. 
 
 "I have a purple verbena which has just blossomed 
 and a lovely pansy plant. I can^t spare all my windows 
 for plants, — ^my olive plants must have their light ! 
 
 "The forty-sixth anniversary of my birthday, and the 
 twentieth of our wedding day comes on apace. We shall 
 want the Roberts, Miss Diament and Dr. Murdock to 
 help us celebrate.'^ 
 
 The China Wedding of Mark and Isabella 
 Williams, Feb. 21, 1866-1886 
 
 In China, one can plainly see, 
 Should China weddings always be ; 
 Unnoticed hitherto have been 
 Our weddings, wooden, crystal, tin. 
 Assemble, friends, around our board 
 List to the tale in memory stored ; 
 This natal and this wedding day 
 Marks a new milestone in life's way. 
 
 To-day, just twenty years ago, 
 We glided o'er the crispy snow. 
 The great church bell, with clangor loud, 
 Had summoned swift an eager crowd ; 
 Silent they sat, and did us scan, 
 As we the church-aisle gauntlet ran. 
 Then we before the pastor stood. 
 In prime of man and womanhood ; 
 Repeated each the solemn vow ; 
 ('Twas binding then, 'tis binding now,) 
 To cherish, keep, protect and love. 
 Till death remove our souls above. 
 
 Of those who in that crowd were found, 
 To-day, some stand on mission ground ; 
 Perhaps to them, our silent deed 
 Was like a grain of goodly seed, 
 
238 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 Which, in their hearts, then taking root, 
 Grew, and produced thereafter fruit. 
 
 It was but twenty years ago ; 
 
 The scars of war were healing slow ; 
 
 We bade our native laud farewell, 
 
 And ventured on the billow's swell 
 
 In slender, graceful clipper ship. 
 
 That promised us a speedy trip ; 
 
 One hundred days had passed away, 
 
 Ere we caught sight of old Cathay. 
 
 We slowly crept along the coast, 
 
 The hot air stifled us almost ; 
 
 At length slow Peiho's stream within 
 
 We anchor cast at Tsz Chu Lin ; 
 
 Here would we stop, nor longer roam ; 
 
 This place we planned should be our home. 
 
 At journey's end, with gratitude, 
 ^ We turned us to our " Daily Food " ; 
 
 And courage filled us as we read 
 The portion for the day, which said, 
 " If thou do good, and trust God's hand, 
 Thou shalt dwell safely in the land ; 
 In time of famine shalt be fed, 
 And always by His eye be led. " 
 
 We struggled hard with inward groans, 
 
 To speak correctly all the tones, 
 
 To get the northern mandarin, 
 
 Clear cut, as spoken at Tientsin. 
 
 In broken China was our talk. 
 
 Slow we progressed, with many a balk« 
 
 But now uprose the pillar cloud. 
 And spoke a voice in accents loud, 
 '* Tarry ye not in all the plain." 
 ****** 
 Not heedless of the high behest, 
 We turned our footsteps to the west ; 
 Zigzagging o'er the mountains tall, 
 We saw the famous Chinese wall. 
 
IN LABORS MORE ABUNDANT 239 
 
 Throngh rocky gap, brisk commerce flows, 
 Men flock for wealth, — a city grows, 
 Where Mongols come their goods to barter 
 And shopmen strive to catch a Tartar. 
 
 Here we have dwelt a score of years, 
 And memory the place endears ; 
 Young olive plants around us stand. 
 In number half of Jacob's band ; 
 On shorter catechism bred, 
 On healthful highland oatmeal fed ; 
 Shall it be said of them when grown, 
 That Kalgan children lack backbone ? 
 
 When wilting in the summer heat, 
 The Peking pilgrim turns his feet 
 To cooler climes, we stop his quest, 
 And welcome give the weary guest; 
 He from Mt. Williams' lofty seat, 
 May see the city at his feet. 
 Then he should form a well fixed plan 
 To quaff the spring at Tsz Er Shan ; 
 His fainting strength he will renew. 
 Beneath the shade at Yung Feng Bn. 
 
 If tired of the haunts of men, 
 Let him retreat to Gulick's Glen, 
 The place of all the world the best, 
 To picnic with invited guest ; 
 In shadow of the mountain tall. 
 Beside the gorge's mossy wall. 
 Amidst the craggy rocks we view, 
 The lily red, the larkspur blue. 
 When food and rest our strength restore, 
 We can mysterious caves explore, 
 A home for bandits fierce to dwell, 
 Or fitting place for hermit cell. 
 
 Ascending now to Mongol land. 
 On Hannore's signal towers we stand ; 
 Made by some lost, mysterious race. 
 Whose warlike habits here we trace ; 
 
24:0 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 The columns tall of signal smoke, 
 Full five score miles the danger spoke. 
 
 Lo, what a scene of grandeur wild, 
 Bleak mountain on bleak mountain piled, 
 And stretching in a billowy maze, 
 Far as bewildered eye can gaze. 
 
 But come we now to Mongol plains, 
 Eefreshed by timely summer rains. 
 And covered o'er with verdure green, 
 Where countless flocks and herds are seen ; 
 The Mongol on his hardy steed, 
 Rides swift around at breakneck speed ; 
 Within the fold, the vast herds go, 
 And rest secure from prowling foe. 
 
 Then we, who have a curious bent. 
 Will wish to see the nomad's tent ; 
 So nearing with a loud mendu. 
 We bring the host his guest to view. 
 Who barking dogs sends to the rear, 
 And bids us lay aside our fear. 
 The traveller will thirsty be. 
 And drink with relish poor brick tea, 
 Or take instead, if thus he please, 
 A cup of milk and fresh made cheese. 
 The guest who all those sights has seen, 
 Will not forget our mountains green ; 
 But joyfully will he repeat, 
 His visit to our cool retreat. 
 
 Loved parents, since our marriage day, 
 To higher realms have passed away. 
 We often walking through the street, 
 Old faces miss, new faces meet. 
 Men quickly come, they quickly go, 
 Probation's short to all below. 
 The harvest fields are fully white, 
 Fast flies the day, quick comes the night ; 
 The chief, who moved a million men. 
 By word of mouth or stroke of pen, 
 
IN LABORS MORE ABUNDANT 241 
 
 Has yielded up his mortal breath 
 A victim to the conquerer, death. 
 
 Perhaps ere loug, the steam car's wheel 
 Will rumble o'er its tracks of steel; 
 Eveu DOW we see electric fire, 
 Flash messages across the wire. 
 The beds of coal , and iron ore, 
 Now hid in earth, — a boundless store, 
 Shall in the flaming furnace glow, 
 And wealth on China's sons bestow. 
 
 See scores of willing workers sent, 
 To enlighten the dark continent, 
 And of Christ's army, in the van 
 Comes pressing on a new Japan. 
 The hermit nation does not refuse, 
 The offer of the Gospel news ; 
 In China's every province now, 
 To the true God some humbly bow, 
 Though many years may intervene, 
 Before Christ's triumph shall be seen. 
 
 When comes the time, foes then shall find, 
 That hell gate has been undermined; 
 In secret chambers out of sight. 
 Is hid celestial dynamite. 
 Then suddenly with lightning flash, 
 Obstructions crumble with a crash ; 
 Lo,idol temples tottering fall, 
 And flat lies superstition's wall. 
 
 Our life thus far, has all been spent, 
 In quiet, peace and calm content ; 
 Our labor never can be lost. 
 The end will pay for all the cost ; 
 No generous deed, no earnest prayer 
 Or word shall vanish in the air ; 
 Each in the grand result shall tell. 
 And answer God's good purpose well. 
 In famine, plague and war's alarm. 
 This promise kept us free from harm j 
 
242 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 ' * Close by thy side shall thousands fall, 
 But it shall not thy soul appall ; 
 In noonday heat, in deadly night, 
 No fear of death shall thee afEright, 
 In perfect peace his soul shall be, 
 Who trusts himself, O Lord, to Thee/* 
 
 To us 'twas given to respond. 
 To call from regions far beyond ; 
 The thought that most our spirit cheers, 
 Is that we're Gospel pioneers. 
 
 On mission field we've spent life's prime, 
 To us remains brief space of time. 
 Onward we'll go as we've begun. 
 Immortal till our work is done. 
 
 — Mark Williams, KalgaUj North China. 
 
 ^^Kalgan, Aug. 17, 1886. 
 " My Dear Little Sister : 
 
 " I feel as if I had written you a great many letters 
 since your little daughter came, but cannot be sure about 
 them. If I have not written any, I am very sorry. There 
 are only two things I can do for you, dear, and it is not 
 right to neglect even one of them. . . . 
 
 ^'I am always wanting to pray for papa, that some 
 new joy may come to him in the heavenly home. His 
 life on earth was one of such toil and self-denial, that I 
 am sure our King delights to honor him now. When 
 this thought rushes over me, there is an answer of half 
 rebuke and half comfort, — always the same — it is always 
 the same, — 'Pray for his grandchildren. There can be 
 no greater joy for him than .that they should be wholly 
 the Lord^s.' . . . 
 
 " I have had pasting parties for eight of our schoolboys, 
 four at a time. Each set had to come twice to finish their 
 books. The first four had Appleton^s Journals to paste 
 
IN LABORS MORE ABUNDANT 243 
 
 in ; the last four had Missionary Heralds (duplicate 
 copies). . . . The boys who come to the singing class 
 are some of them really learning to sing ! Some still 
 growl away on one pitch, but I was greatly encouraged 
 with the others yesterday. 
 
 ^^It rains a great deal — almost every day, in fact, and 
 our court begins to look like Mariana's Moated Grange. 
 I shall be glad of clear weather again. . . . When 
 the clouds are black and the thunder mutters, generally 
 about four o'clock in the afternoon, we fly around, put in 
 paper windows, and set the flower pots around the stone 
 walk so that they may not be stranded in the muddy lake 
 that fills our porch." 
 
 ''Kalgan.Sept. 2, 1886. 
 ^* Dear Cornelia: 
 
 ' * We have j ust received the Revised Bible. I have 
 also an Old Testament with larger print to suit my old 
 eyes. I have morning prayers with the girls, while 
 Mr. Williams has Chinese prayers. Two of us have 
 the revised version, and two or three have the old 
 Bibles. . . . 
 
 *^Did I ever tell you that we bought a vase of crackle 
 ware which was a genuine one, belonging to the time of 
 Kang Hsi or Chien Lung or somebody ? Mr. Holcombe 
 took it home to America for us, and sold it for the benefit 
 of the Kalgan chapel.^ The proceeds, forty-five dollars, 
 are a great boon to us in this time of retrenchment. . . . 
 
 "Your loving 
 
 "Isabella." 
 
 *Mr. Chester Holcombe, well known as the anthor of "The Real 
 Chinaman " and many sketches of Chinese life, had been connected with 
 the North China Mission, but was at this time secretary of the Amer- 
 ican Legation in Peking. 
 
244 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 ^'Kalganj Sept 21 j 1886, 
 "My Dear Beothee Egbert : 
 
 " It is long since I wrote to you. For our father^ s 
 sake I write this morning. He would be sorry to have 
 us forget each other. And besides the thought of his be- 
 ing made sorry, there was once a dear little boy who in a 
 peculiar sense belonged to me as a great treasure, my 
 greatest treasure. For that little boy's sake (that little 
 lad who is mine, and whom no one can ever take away), 
 for his sake, let me write to the man who was once ^ Lad- 
 die.' 
 
 " I am sitting alone, and it is odd to be so silent and 
 alone. Mr. Williams and the girls have gone to dine at 
 Hhe Captain's' on the occasion of his wife's birthday. 
 This afternoon I am expecting a visit from Hsin Wu, one 
 of our former schoolgirls. She came here when about ten 
 years old, was married at sixteen, and has two boys, who 
 are homely with smallpox marks. She has had a hard 
 time. I want to give her a bit of pleasantness, and find 
 out if her soul is awake. If she will accept a Saviour 
 nowj my work for her will not have been in vain. Other- 
 wise the foundation laid will prove to have been of hay 
 and stubble, worthy only to be burned. It is a solemn 
 thing to come to a place in life where one may see one's 
 work burned up, — worse than that, if worse is possible. 
 This woman's sister is lost. She was only seven when 
 she came to me, a very trying child, with the seed of evil 
 in her, but so young a child, — a better, a more loving 
 woman than I might have been used by God to save her. 
 — I did not mean to write this— I had hoped to give you a 
 bit of pleasantness too, and instead this. 
 
 "I am trying to help Mr. Williams with his boys. 
 We have a singing class once a week. I have some of 
 them also for a short time on Sundays, just before service. 
 I have had four scrap-book parties this summer, and 
 
IN LABORS MORE ABUNDANT 245 
 
 thirteen of the older boys have finished their books. The 
 pictures delight them. One little girl, who was in Miss 
 Diament's school when it was in my charge, has made a 
 picture book under Emily's supervision. These are little 
 things, but little things may be the beginning of greater 
 ones. I know that the boys and I stand on a better basis 
 than before. The pictures give opportunity for friendly 
 talk and some real teaching. 
 
 ^*My asters are still gay, though a little past their 
 prime. Our geraniums and verbenas are doing their duty 
 nobly. I have given away a good many rooted slips and 
 some cuttings, and am rooting some verbenas for our 
 landlady. Anything which will establish friendly rela- 
 tions between us and this people is not to be slighted, 
 even down to the little cotton cloth doll we made one day 
 for our carpenter's little girl. He has a cordial smile for 
 me ever since. 
 
 " (Hsin Wu has come, and is reading to me the fourth 
 chapter of Luke.) My eyes are far from strong. Some- 
 times the writing of a single letter will cause terrible pain 
 for hours. It is so when I write at night, generally. 
 Spectacles ease me much, so I use them often. I garden 
 in my little flower bed and in my array of pots, and do 
 more housework than I used to do. Sewing I leave out 
 as far as possible. 
 
 *^ I forget whether I sent you pictures of the monsters 
 which were around eating up us foreigners during the war 
 with the French. If I did, you can give them to some 
 lover of the hideous, if you can find such a being. You 
 may get a gleam of pleasure by thinking how many mil- 
 lions of Chinese have seen these pictures with delight and 
 satisfaction. ' Put yourself in his place ' (that of the 
 average Chinaman), and think how stern justice demands 
 the death of your brother and sister as being 'foreign 
 devils.' . . . Just there I stopped trying to do two 
 
246 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 things at once, and read with Hsin Wu through the fifth 
 chapter of Luke. 
 
 " I have some plans for one or two of our dirty boys. 
 My plans don^t lie in the line of buying them new clothes 
 or of scrubbing them up, as once I should have tried to 
 do. If I succeed, the result will come slowly, but more 
 surely. We must at first be repelled by the filthy cloth- 
 ing and persons of those we meet, but we gain later a 
 true sense of the fact that the hour for saving these souls is 
 passing fast. If we can bring them to Christ, other 
 changes, oh, so small in comparison, will come after- 
 wards. 
 
 ** Some medicine is called for which I can give, so I 
 will not send the folks down town to Dr. Murdock. 
 " Your sister as in the old days, 
 
 " Isabella E. Willlims.^' 
 
 " * Mission Meeting j^ Tungchou, May 16, 1887. 
 ** Dear Etta: 
 
 " I am stealing a few minutes during business 
 meeting to write to you. The revision of Dr. Williams' 
 dictionary is just now being discussed. Mr. Arthur 
 Smith keeps us all laughing, no matter what the subject. 
 
 " I have been deeply interested in the reports given by 
 the Chinese helpers. Eung Hsien Sheng of Peking, who 
 has been here all the years since we came, and who re- 
 members when you were a sunny, gold-haired baby, said 
 that they had much hope that the children lately received 
 into the church might be like the new shoots of a tree, 
 which bear more fruit than do the old, scarred branches. 
 
 ** Another helper told of an inquirer who said, * I fear 
 I cannot get rich if I become a Christian. I will wait. 
 When I am rich, I will then decide.' Our Kalgan helper 
 told of perils from cold and snow when out on a tour 
 selling Bibles. He saw two lean and hungry Cassius- 
 
IN LABORS MORE ABUNDANT 247 
 
 wolves. The village people said, ^Do not kill them! 
 They are gods, and do not eat men.^ The next day one 
 man was killed and another fatally injured. 
 
 <<For Tangchou, Chao Hsien Sheng spoke. Great 
 cause for encouragement. Sixteen had been received 
 into the Church and thirteen children baptized. ' But 
 the dew is not enough : we need a rain.' Another helper 
 told of a man who was favorable in part to the ^ doctrine,' 
 but did not like to kneel. So the helpers, when he was 
 present, would make the prayers short, and the preach- 
 ing long ! This man gave fifteen dollars towards a vil- 
 lage chapel. 
 
 " We had a most interesting discussion on Confucian- 
 ism. Chao Hsien Sheng said, ' There are no Chinese who 
 do not lie. The root of this is in Confucianism. Con- 
 fucius and Mencius told lies in little things, and people 
 now defend themselves by the example of the sages. I 
 will not say that no Western people tell lies, but our mis- 
 sionaries never do. If the Chinese become Christians, 
 they will become true.' 
 
 " Mr. Blodget said, ' Let us not attack Confucianism. 
 Let us preach Christ, and let the Confacianists alone. 
 But if they bring on a discussion we must be ready for it.' 
 
 **The painter, Ren Hsui Hai, spoke on the subject, 
 ^ Helping People to Realize their Sins.' He said, ' We 
 must preach, John did not stay in a cave, but came out 
 to the Jordan. And we must be like Christ in our 
 preaching. In fish-catching, men use small strings and 
 hooks. If one used a great rope, and several pounds of 
 meat, throwing it in with a heavy splash, he would scare 
 away the fish. You must preach of the love of God. 
 You must not always be telling men they are wicked. 
 Show a sympathizing heart j show your pity and your 
 love, and men will listen to you. Then press home their 
 sin and the need of salvation.' Mr. ShefSeld spoke of 
 
248 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 Finney ; how he showed heaven and hell and man's sin, 
 and yet with the utmost tenderness." 
 
 ''May 25, 1887. 
 '* Business meeting closed yesterday, and we took the 
 children for a picnic and boat ride up the canal. We 
 went a little beyond Pa Li Ohiao, and spread our supper 
 in a graveyard. The graveyards are the only beautiful 
 places in China. . . .'' 
 
 In the spring of 1887 Mr. and Mrs. Roberts left for 
 their furlough in America, and it seemed best to move 
 from the home in the Upper City to help in the work 
 carried on at the new mission compound, ^'Bethel," 
 three miles distant, and nearer the Lower City. 
 
 (Journal written just before moving to Bethel.) 
 
 '^ August 31st, 
 
 " I am anxious to see all my Chinese friends before we 
 go. Five women and two children called to-day. (I 
 never count babies or any under seven years.)'* 
 
 ^"^ September 1st, 
 
 ^^Went with the cook's wife to see Er Ku Tzu's 
 mother, and had a good visit. I like her. Her little 
 girl has never seen foreigners, and was frightened when 
 I asked if she would not like to come to our Girls' 
 School. She cried so hard that I thought we should 
 have to come away before we began talking about the 
 Bible. 
 
 ^* This afternoon I went to Ch'i Kan Yuan, and visited 
 our landlady's sister-in-law. She and her two hsi-fers 
 (* brides' or sou's wives) were very kind. I told them 
 the Story. * How can any one not believe ? ' said she. 
 Next I visited one of the women who was here yesterday. 
 Six or eight women and many children came in. They 
 
IN LABOES MOEE ABUNDANT 249 
 
 talked and asked questions, and then for a while you 
 could have heard a pin drop, — they were so still while I 
 spoke. It seemed so strange. Presently a Manchu, the 
 landlord, came into the court and talked angrily. Some- 
 thing was the matter, and I rose to go. He had as good 
 as ordered me off, but they did not tell me until we were 
 outside his court. One woman, an elderly one, who had 
 listened all the time, said, ^ Stay, stay ! ' A dear little 
 girl listened all the time, too.'' 
 
 ^^ Saturday J Sept. 3d. 
 
 *^ To-day I went to five houses, first to see an ailing 
 woman. I told her to go on Tuesday to Dr. Murdock, 
 but gave her some medicine to use till then. I spoke to 
 her of our Saviour. I visited next He Wan Cheng's 
 house, and saw the old man and his Jm-fer. The sons 
 came in. I talked with all of them of Jesus. The father 
 said, ' You came in the spring to see my wife. Now you 
 have come again, but she is not here.' The youngest son 
 promised to come to our school next year. I will send 
 him our Christian primer, the San Tzu Ching, and have 
 him begin it now. 
 
 ** I went back a few steps, at the call of two or three, to 
 another court. Two men asked for medicine and I told 
 them of our dispensary. Next I went to see Ma Tzu Fu's 
 sister, a kind and cordial woman. I had an urgent invi- 
 tation to go into another home in the same court, the 
 home of a woman who had been to see me several times, 
 years ago. She was very friendly. She remembered 
 Etta and Stephen, and was disappointed that I did not 
 recognize her. Will God in very truth use me to plant 
 seeds?" 
 
 ^^ Sunday, Sept. J/th. 
 
 "Three calls. Went to Chin Niu's. Several young 
 women came in. I had with me the pictures of the Na- 
 tivity and the Crucifixion, which helped me tell the story. 
 
250 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 Loa Tsai Feng's wife invited me in. Also went into Mrs. 
 Hang's. I showed the pictures and told their story in 
 both houses. Did not have time to go to Min Nai Nai's. 
 
 I must go again.'' 
 
 ^^ Monday, Sept. 5th, 
 
 "Our landlady is cultivating a friendship with me. 
 She brought in a nice young woman to-day, saying, 
 ^She can read. Tell her about Jesus. I will listen.' 
 The young woman read slowly and correctly a few verses, 
 ending with * Thou shalt call His name Jesus, because He 
 shall save His people from their sins.' I read and told 
 of the feeding of the five thousand ; of the raising of the 
 dead, Jairus' daughter, the widow of Nain's son, and 
 Lazarus, — then of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection — 
 (I never tell of one unless there is full time to tell of the 
 other). 
 
 " I was so glad of only two women. A houseful is des- 
 perate, — what can one do ? But the Pei Kwo Tai-tai 
 came in. We were at her house last week. Perhaps I 
 did not pay her quite enough attention this time. But 
 she will come again. She is one of my friends." 
 
 " Tuesday, Sept 6th. 
 
 "I was sick and could not go anywhere. The cook's 
 wife went in my place to see Er Ku Tzu's mother. She 
 was busy making shoe soles, and did not read as she did 
 on Sunday, but she listened while her son read. The 
 father listened well. He can read and write and is teach- 
 ing his son the San Tzu Ching and Pai Chia Hsing. 
 These people interest me." 
 
 ^^ Thursday, Sept. 8th. 
 
 " Pei Kwo Tai-tai came in to sit a while, bringing her 
 grandchild. I was rushing some sewing." 
 
 ^''Saturday, Sept. 10th. 
 
 " I have been planning all week to go to Wang Mn 
 Chiang's, and at last accomplished it. Visited three 
 
IN LABORS MORE ABUNDANT 251 
 
 families and was treated well. This afternoon, while I 
 
 was getting ready to go to a funeral, I had a call from a 
 
 woman and her two children. A pleasant woman, but 
 
 such a talker ! No use of my trying to get in a word 
 
 edgewise 1 
 
 " I have learned two Chinese proverbs : — 
 
 ^*^Ren ai, Shen ai,^ ('Whom men love, the gods 
 
 love,0 and 
 
 *' *Hao ti hwo pu chang. Lao ti hwo chien nien.' 
 
 (^The good live not long. The bad live a thousand 
 
 years-O'^ 
 
 " Tuesday^ Sept. 13th, 
 
 "Yesterday I made and received no calls, but read 
 eight chapters in Eomans with the teacher. Too tired 
 to do anything else. This morning we had our second 
 breakfast for the schoolboys. We invited eight boys 
 this time. It is so much better to have only a few each 
 time. I cannot control, or instruct, or amuse twenty-seven 
 boys at once. 
 
 *'Two girls came to call. One promises to go to the 
 Bethel School. This afternoon I have had my geography 
 class of six boys and singing class afterwards. Too tired 
 to eat supper, but managed to take enough to keep from 
 being faint." 
 
 ^^ September 16th. 
 
 "Singing class." 
 
 ^^ Saturday, Sept 17th, 
 
 " Had a good review in geography with my boys this 
 morning. I am glad to find that I can teach geography 
 if it is in Wen Li. (The language of the Chinese scholar 
 and official.) " 
 
 ^^ Sunday, Sept. 18th. 
 
 "I read with my old friend, Martha Gulick's mother, 
 to-day. She is making wonderful progress in her Bible 
 Primer. I hear her recite, and explain it to her, and 
 she listens so eagerly." 
 
BY THE GEEAT WALL 
 
 (Years before, Mr. and Mrs. Gulick, on one of their 
 tours, had been given a baby girl. The mother was so 
 wretchedly poor that she was glad to have the mission- 
 aries save her child from starvation. The little girl, 
 Martha, grew up in the Gulick home, was sent to 
 America and to Mt. Holyoke College and has been an effi- 
 cient mission worker in Japan for many years. At 
 her request, Mrs. Williams went to the little mountain 
 village, and brought the old mother to Kalgan. She had 
 never forgotten the ''Jesus People,'^ and her eager and 
 whole-souled acceptance of Christ was beautiful to see. 
 Her son, the "Golden Boy," was supported in the mis- 
 sion school by the daughter in Japan. The daughter's 
 love in seeking her out after so many years was a revela- 
 tion to the old mother, and helped her to understand the 
 divine love. Mrs. Williams wrote of her afterwards : — 
 *'I wish you might have known Martha's mother. 
 When I was first teaching her to read, one day we came 
 to the fourteenth chapter of John. She read the second 
 verse, 'In your Father's house are many mansions.' I 
 showed her that it read, ' In my Father's house,' — and told 
 her that we, as well as Christ, had the right to say ' my 
 Father.' It was wonderful to her, and she kept repeat- 
 ing, ' My Father, my Father ! ' She was very intense, 
 very true and honest, and most independent, willing to do 
 anything for an honest living. Her feet were bound, but 
 were quite large, as she had always worked in the fields, 
 and she made nothing of walking three miles to church 
 every Sunday. She used to come into my house like a 
 breeze, talk very fast, and bustle out again. She was 
 very poor, but there were others who were poorer, and 
 she gave to them, and cooked food for them, even after 
 her last sickness had come upon her. ' How I should 
 love to go to church again ! ' she would say to me. ' I 
 used to run there, and run home again, but I'll never do 
 
IN LABORS MORE ABUNDANT 253 
 
 it again. It is better to go to Christ. Yes, much 
 better.' ") 
 
 ^^ September 19th. 
 
 ** One of the boys who has not been here for a long 
 time came to our morning Sabbath school. The lesson 
 was the parable of the hundred sheep, and I was truly- 
 helped in putting it plainly before them. 
 
 ^^I made no visits last week, for there was sewing for 
 the children which had to be done. But I had more 
 classes than usual.'' 
 
 ^^ Tuesday^ Sept. 20th. 
 
 *^Chia T'a Niang came to-day. She is in great 
 trouble over her son, who is an opium user. She has 
 four good sons, and one bad one. She loves the bad one. 
 I was glad to see and talk with her. Years ago, she had 
 dropsy. I studied up and put together the right things 
 for her, and she was a most grateful woman." 
 
 ^' Wednesday y Sept. 21st. 
 
 ''' We are going to visit the house north of ours. It is 
 best not to go before noon, for they will not have things 
 quite in order for company, and we should not be 
 welcome." 
 
 ^^ Afternoon. 
 
 "Another old acquaintance called with two of her 
 daughters. They came for a good-bye, spent several 
 hours, and then stayed to prayer- meeting. I showed my 
 album and photographs, and we had a good, friendly 
 time." 
 
 *^ Thursday^ Sept. 22d. 
 
 *^ Our lame scholar, Bai Le, came to-day to make the 
 picture book I promised him. His mother is said to 
 have a familiar spirit, but we understand that she has the 
 repute of morality. He has a pleasant face. This is my 
 second,— no, third attempt at getting acquainted with 
 
254 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 him. At first he felt shy, but pictures and paste soon 
 broke the ice (or thinned it), as they always do. His 
 book is made up of seven Child's Papers^ and is filled 
 with pictures. It takes a good many, but he did nicely 
 at pasting, and we talked about many of the pictures. 
 This is the prettiest scrap-book made yet. It is the eight- 
 eenth. Before we move to Bethel, each one of the twenty- 
 seven boys of our school here is to have a scrap-book 
 which he has made. I enjoy having only one boy at a 
 time, as it is a good chance to get acquainted. This after- 
 noon the lad became sociable, and we had a pleasant 
 talk together. 
 
 " We are busy packing these days, but I must go to 
 four more places, positively, and to ten more, if I can find 
 time. A week or so ago, we could manage our calls by 
 my getting up to pack and work at everything before 
 breakfast. It is very cold now to work then. Now I 
 must get ready for my geography class to-morrow. We 
 have singing classes afterwards. I have two Chinese 
 women sewing for me to-day, mending our old carpet. 
 The children have all done some ironing this week. 
 They do nicely." 
 
 (To her boy Stephen.) 
 
 " Kalgan, July 7, 1888. 
 
 "I was thinking of you in the night, and I saw plainly 
 that at this rate, you will not have many letters to re- 
 member your mother by. I'm sure there'll be a by and 
 by in heaven when we shall see each other, and be happy 
 together, without any need of letters any more. 
 
 ** I have been much pleased to hear about your exercise 
 and play. It is worth while to be a real boy, and to stay a 
 boy in some things as long as you can. It is God's way, 
 His plan, that though the various thoughts of a man may 
 be growing in a boy's mind, there should also be room 
 for the thoughts, the play and the joy of a boy. 
 
IN LABORS MORE ABUNDANT 266 
 
 " We are to have tomatoes and corn this summer. It 
 is very nice to live here at Bethel, out of the city, where 
 we have room for things to grow. Life and growth are 
 always wonderful. 
 
 "Good-bye, my son, my one only son. 
 
 " Your affectionate 
 
 " Mother." 
 
 " Kalgan, July 5, 1889. 
 " Dear Anna : 
 
 " We are spending the summer in our Upper City 
 home, and have with us Dr. Marion Sinclair and Miss 
 McKillican from Peking. I feel very happy to have them 
 with us. 
 
 ** We were very busy moving before they came. Mr. 
 Williams was away at mission meeting, and my right- 
 hand man, Chang Ming, was stung by a scorpion. His 
 hand swelled fearfully, and he cried with the pain, one 
 day, from morning till noon. So the work was very 
 heavy. My Bible verse those days was, ^ By love serve 
 one another.' 
 
 " It is raining a little to-day ; our parched time is over. 
 While it was burning and blowing day by day, our chief 
 thought was a prayer for rain. A rain came the day our 
 goods were being moved, and then again the sun burned, 
 day after day. The people were called upon to pray for 
 rain, and the meat shops were closed. Our Manchu 
 friends had laid up meat in readiness, and said they were 
 going to eat all the more, which was very saucy of them. 
 We ate eggs and chickens and dried beef, and did com- 
 fortably well ourselves, but the Kalgan cats were well- 
 nigh famished ! Several strange cats prowled through 
 our house nightly, and they, with the three which the 
 children own, lapped the milk pans clean ; tipped over 
 the canned milk, and nibbled its edgesj ate up and scat- 
 
256 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 tered dry bread ; devoured huge pieces from the fresh 
 loaves j licked the butter at any chance opportunity ; 
 and worse than all, waked me, and kept me awake and 
 up and down in chase of the disappointing cat tails ! I 
 was aging rapidly, and really becoming feeble, when the 
 butcher shops oi^ened again without waiting for the peo- 
 ple's prayers to be answered. The mandarins were not 
 doing much praying ; they had porkers killed for their 
 table. 
 
 ^^The twins eat nothing these days. I shall have to 
 feed them as the Chinese do the baby larks, by stuffing 
 wads of oatmeal down their throats. 
 
 **Dr. Sinclair and Miss McKillican have a Peking 
 woman here as their teacher. I can hear their merry 
 laughter from across the court, as she explains some 
 peculiar mistake they have made in their new tongue. 
 Their cheerful table-talk brightens us up. Dr. Sinclair 
 is such a blessing to my sick people. I interpret for her. * ' 
 
 Some memories of that summer, and of the friendship 
 thus begun, are given in a letter from Mrs. Marion Sin- 
 clair Headland, to one of the daughters. 
 
 **When you wrote of your mother, there came before 
 my mind a vision of a little room in a Chinese house in 
 far-off Kalgan. It was twilight, and at the organ sat a 
 woman singing. She sang with radiant face, and her in- 
 spired eyes seemed already to see that ^ Jerusalem the 
 Golden ' of which she sang. 
 
 " I had gone to her for the summer from my home in 
 Peking, — Peking, with its heat and dirt, to Kalgan with 
 its cool mountain breezes and its fresh grass and flowers. 
 I found there also, for the first time, a dear friend, who 
 was always afterwards so interested in my study, my 
 work, my life. 
 
y 
 
 IN LABOES MORE ABUNDANT 257 
 
 " It was during that summer that often in the evening, 
 after the lessons in Chinese were over, while we sat to- 
 gether in the twilight of that little court, she would sing 
 to us, or she would tell us of the early missionary days in 
 Kalgan, when she was often alone, — no other white 
 woman within five days' journey, no doctor to care for 
 her little ones when ill. I remember her telling how 
 when one of her children was born, Mr. Williams was ill 
 with fever, and she had no one with her but an old 
 Chinese woman. Often she would tell us of her girlhood 
 experiences, when in her father's home she lived among 
 the Indians, and as she talked we would be thrilled with 
 fear, as she told of the Indian Outbreak when they were 
 all fleeing for their lives before the cruel savages. But she 
 liked best to tell quaint little tales of this or that Indian 
 child who learned to love the missionary, and who came to 
 the school, and afterwards became a good man or woman. 
 
 " She always saw so much good in every one. There 
 were times when others felt that she was being imposed 
 upon, but she wished to give every one all the chances 
 possible. Her hands were ever open to help, — unselfishly 
 help every one whose life she touched. It was she who 
 took in the man with typhus fever, after his family, fear- 
 ing the contagion of the disease, had cast him in his sick- 
 ness upon the street. He crawled to the mission gate, 
 and the doctor being far away in the country, she had a 
 room prepared for him, and cared for him herself until 
 the doctor's return. 
 
 *' In her, more than in any one I have ever known, was 
 embodied the mind of a poet with the heart of a little 
 child. Of such is the kingdom of heaven, both upon 
 earth, and in those celestial regions where she has gone 
 to be forever with the Lord. 
 
 " By her friend, 
 
 * ^ Marion Sinclair Headland. ^ ' 
 
258 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 ^^Kalgan, July 23, 1889, 
 "My Dear Boy Stephen : 
 
 "We are so glad always to get your letters. Yes- 
 terday we were greatly excited over the coming of the 
 mail. It brought a letter from Mary from San Francisco. 
 She is with you by this time. In reality she has been 
 gone from us only a short time, but it seems very long. 
 
 " . . . Miss Andrews has sent me a book-mark hav- 
 ing the verses, 
 
 " * Looking unto Jesas— ' (Heb. 12 : 2). 
 '' ' That I may know Him ' (Phil. 3 : 10). 
 
 " The first verse has been one of my precious ones ever 
 since the time when I was away at school, and my father 
 sent me a gold dollar, folded in a bit of paper on which 
 was written that verse. I remember just how it looked, 
 in his plainest handwriting. . . .'^ 
 
 ^^Kalgauj March 8, 1890, 
 " My Dear Sister Mary : 
 
 ". . . I feel as though I had lived my life, and 
 had already had my share of its happiness. * I have lived, 
 I have loved. ^ Now I am content, yes, quite content, to 
 wait for that which will be mine in the home above. 
 Strangely enough, when my mind has come to that state, 
 I am in circumstances to receive more of friendship and 
 appreciation than for years previous. This winter of 1889 
 and ^90 has given Mr. Williams and myself some new 
 work, and we are very happy in it. (I am also the freer 
 to do it, now that I have but the two children with me.) 
 This new work of regular Bible teaching takes the time 
 which used to be spent, in our Upper City home, in en- 
 tertaining visitors, and it is more satisfactory, for I feel 
 that it is striking blows in one place, and not scattering 
 them. Our pupils are young men from the country, who 
 come to study the Bible during the winter months. We 
 
IN LABOES MORE ABUNDANT 259 
 
 have had twenty-four in all, but never more than eight- 
 een at one time. Our accommodations for them are very 
 small, and one wonders how they have succeeded in being 
 peaceful and harmonious in such cramped quarters. 
 
 "I must tell you the odd dream I had about them, early 
 in the winter. Dr. McBride went to inspect their room, 
 and came out very earnest on the subject of microbes and 
 crowd poison, and suggested plans for ventilation. That 
 night I thought I waked up underneath a heap of human 
 beings, and found it was our class of young men. They 
 were talking rapidly, and all at once. ^ This is your 
 Christianity, — this your science, — this your Golden Eule, 
 — this your love of your brethren ! Your little girls have 
 a room to themselves, and see what we have ! Thisia 
 your Christianity, this your law of love ! ^ Such scorn as 
 there was in their voices ! I was utterly humiliated and 
 condemned, but seemed to escape from beneath the berat- 
 ing heap, only to fly before them, — they following in hot 
 pursuit, with blue gowns and long queues streaming out 
 behind, while their scornful voices still shouted, — ^Chris- 
 tianity, — science, — rule of love — your children — room of 
 their own ! ' over and over, in a constant whirl of sound. 
 I have only to shut my eyes, and I can still be flying be- 
 fore those blue- clad avengers. ^ Am I my brother^s 
 keeper ? ^ I have said often to myself, since that. 
 
 ^^Well, what result of the dream? I could not give 
 them any other room, but in other ways I have been try- 
 ing to keep my brothers. The first gain is that I know, 
 in every fibre of my being, that these are my brothers, 
 and for this, let me thank God. 
 
 "I have an occasional evening for reading with my class 
 in Mark. We took that because it is the briefest of the 
 Gospels, and we have read ten chapters. I sing occasion- 
 ally with our boys, but my voice is weak this winter, and 
 does not answer very well for leading. It is quite touch- 
 
260 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 ing to notice how softly the young men sing, when we 
 practice together, so that they may not drown my feeble 
 tones. 
 
 "It is good to have this work. I am more than glad 
 to have a share in it. It has never seemed dry or tire- 
 some, but delightfully full of interest. And with it has 
 come an intense realization of the value of souls, and of 
 these in particular, so that I believe some of my pupils 
 have gained something of the same. I want them all to 
 know Jesus Chrisf 
 
 *^Kdlganj April 12, 1890, 
 " My Dear Sisters : 
 
 ". . . The great event here is the building of 
 the new house, Mr. Williams' gift to the Station. It is 
 going up as rapidly as such things can in China. The 
 windows and doors came from Tientsin per camel, yester- 
 day. They were sent from San Francisco. 
 
 "I go this afternoon to the dispensary with Mrs. Mc- 
 Bride, who is a physician as well as her husband. Yes- 
 terday I spent the day interpreting for her. Then Mrs. 
 McBride and the babies took tea with us." 
 
 ^^ April 23d. 
 *^ Since I wrote last, the school matron has been alarm- 
 ingly ill, and I watched with her four nights. This, with 
 the care of the little girls who are sick, made me an easy 
 victim to the grip which is going the rounds. Following 
 that, I had tonsilitis, for variety, and have shivered and 
 burned by intervals, but am through the worst now. The 
 school patients are all better. These few days I could 
 have done nothing for them, unless they had been dying. 
 I went to Chinese prayer-meeting to-day, and to morning 
 service last Sunday, since there would have been no one 
 to play the organ had I stayed at home. I think I shall 
 
IN LABORS MORE ABUNDANT 261 
 
 have to plan my attacks of tonsilitis when Mrs. Roberts 
 is at home ! 
 
 "I will hear my classes to-morrow if it seems best. 
 One in each class can give out the questions, and I will 
 listen. One class is doing very well in geography and in 
 arithmetic also. The other is grovelling continuously in 
 the very beginnings, which grows monotonous. 
 
 "If it will interest you, I'll tell you we have made our 
 spring soap, — two tins of lye were used. Nearly half 
 of what we made wiU go to the dispensary, for use 
 there. . . .'^ 
 
 In the spring of 1891 the annual mission meeting was 
 held at Tientsin. It was a time of pleasant reunion, es- 
 pecially as the London society was meeting there at the 
 same time, with James Gilmour as its chairman. Strong, 
 enthusiastic, full of boundless energy and spiritual power 
 as he was, how little they realized that this was to be their 
 last glimpse of him this side of heaven. His last letter, 
 already known to readers of his life, was one written to 
 Mrs. Williams. 
 
 " Tientsin, Friday , May 8th. 
 '^ My Dear Mes. Williams : 
 
 "Thanks for returning the photos. Not having 
 delivered them to you personally, I feared that in the 
 present whirl of people and business they might have 
 been mislaid, or even not reached you. 
 
 "It is a great pleasure to see you here at this time. 
 Many memories of past times and days come up. Though 
 never again likely to see Kalgan, I often in thought go 
 along its narrow, hard streets, and its up and down side- 
 ways, call in at your house, see all your faces, even that 
 of the youthful Stephen, and the studious Etta ; and often 
 go up over the Pass into the grass-land. 
 
262 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 " It is like a rest for a little while beside the palms and 
 wells of Elim to meet you all here. Your peaceful, 
 happy family fills me with gratitude to God. May He 
 bless them all (your children), and lead them not only 
 into paths of pleasantness, but of useful service for Him ! 
 You and your husband seem well. May many useful 
 years of ripely experienced labor be yours ! 
 
 *"' Lately I am being more and more impressed with the 
 idea that what is wanted in China is not new ^ lightning^ 
 methods so much as good, honest, quiet, earnest, persist- 
 ent work, in old lines and ways. 
 
 " With many grateful memories of all old-time Kalgan 
 kindness, and hoping to see a note from you or Mr. Will- 
 iams, say once a year or so, and with prayers for you, and 
 all Kalgan-ward Mongols, 
 
 " Yours, cheered by the vision of you all, 
 
 *^ James Gilmoue.^^ 
 
 ^^Kalgarij Oct, 2, 1891. 
 " Dear Sisters : 
 
 " Sabbath morning, from ten to eleven of the upper 
 town schoolboys are usually here to be sung with, and to 
 be told Bible stories. Sometimes only one boy comes, 
 sometimes fifteen or twenty. We used to send them 
 home in a cart, fearing some of the small boys would find 
 it hard to walk both ways, but this has been stopped be- 
 cause our winter class are expected to walk from their 
 homes (and return) — fifty, sixty, or a hundred miles, as 
 the case may be. 
 
 **We try to fish for them. One week sixteen little 
 scalloped pies were ready for them, and it was amusing 
 to see how quickly a pie went up in each boy's sleeve. 
 The week after, there were sixteen little cakes, but the 
 day was unpleasant, and but twelve boys came. For two 
 weeks we have had small packages of raisins made ready 
 
IN LABORS MORE ABUNDANT 263 
 
 previously. This week we invited the Lower City school- 
 boys and sang with them. We hope these little atten- 
 tions may help in gaining the boys' hearts, and I try to 
 use all the opportunities gained in the best -^ay. 
 
 *' I want to tell you of a little boy in whom I am greatly 
 interested. His father, a teacher by the name of Chang, 
 is miserably poor, and we suspect, an opium user. One 
 day the father got angry with his boy, beat him with a 
 table, and broke his back. The poor little fellow is a 
 cripple for life. When he is able, he takes care of his 
 baby brother while his mother goes out to work. When 
 we chloroformed our kittens because of broken legs, the 
 mother said, * It surely would be a noble thing to give 
 that to my poor boy. He suffers so much, and he can 
 never get well. And his father hates him so. There is 
 no one to care for him or wait on him but me. Every 
 day I carry him out in the court on my back.' Dr. Mur- 
 dock kept the little fellow at the hospital for some weeks 
 and taught him to read. Now we feel that the boy is a 
 Christian. I try to think of pleasant little things to send 
 him every week. 
 
 ^^I found out something of interest the other day. 
 My cook told me that with the Chinese, 250 is a number 
 of despicable meaning. To call a man 250 would be 
 cause for quarrel. On this hangs a tale. There was an 
 old skinflint and curmudgeon who was as mean as he 
 could be to his wife, and to show his scorn of her, he al- 
 ways called her by this despised number. He was buy- 
 ing coal one day, and weighing out the bags. ^190, 
 212, 239, 250 (Er pai wu!)^^ he called out very loud. 
 His wife appeared, — 'What do you want?' So he was 
 laughed at unmercifully by the men of Kalgan, because 
 a man shouldn't call his wife by any name at all ! If he 
 has children, he should say, ' The boy's mother,' or 
 *Tell your mother so and so.' Failing that, he should 
 
264 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 speak of * her,' or he could speak to her by calling out 
 ^ Hay ! ' when every one would look up to see that she was 
 the one meanf 
 
 The winter and spring of 1892 were full of plans for the 
 homeward j ourney to America. Mr. Williams had started 
 in November, taking the longer trip through India and 
 Palestine, but during his absence the Kalgan Station was 
 reinforced by Dr. and Mrs. Wagner, and Mrs. Wagner's 
 companionship was a great delight to Mrs. Williams. 
 One of Mrs. Wagner's letters written later to Henrietta 
 gives a glimpse of these months. 
 
 *^ . . I have wanted so much to see your mother- 
 She was one of the dear friends I felt I was sure of al- 
 ways. During the winter we were at Kalgan when she 
 was preparing for the journey home, she seemed to take 
 real comfort in sharing with me many of the letters and 
 treasures she found. And to me, such confidence brought 
 much pleasure and help. Sometimes it was a letter 
 written as long ago as when the little Isabella was a baby, 
 sometimes the last letters from her dear ones in America. 
 I never had a friend who made me know every member of 
 her family and her father's family, as she did. It was 
 partly her father's book, ^Mary and I, or Forty Years 
 among the Sioux,' that helped make all so real. I felt as 
 if I were getting a sequel to ' Mary and I,' and used to 
 say to her, ^ How often we close a volume with keenest 
 disappointment because there is no more. But this time 
 I am getting more in a special way, and I do appreciate 
 it so much.' 
 
 ^ * It was very hard for your mother to leave Kalgan. It 
 seemed as if she could not tear herself away. She seemed 
 so frail sometimes, we could but wonder if she would have 
 the strength to return again. God is good, who has 
 granted her this joy." 
 
VII 
 
 REST BY THE WAY 
 
 I halt to-day ; be love my cheerful cmtch, 
 My feet to plod, some day my wings to soar : 
 Some day ; but, Lord, not any day before 
 
 Thou call me perfect, having made me such. 
 
 This is a day of love, a day of sorrow, 
 Love tempering sorrow to a sort of bliss ; 
 A day that shortens while we call it long : 
 
 A longer day of love will dawn to-morrow, 
 A longer, brighter, lovelier day than this, 
 Endless, all love, no sorrow, but a song. 
 
 — Christina Bossdti. 
 
 ** Kalgan, February 3, 1892. 
 *^ My Dear Children : 
 
 ''Doesn't it seem as if we might see each other 
 soon now ? Only a month and a half till we leave Kalgan, 
 if God will it so. Pray for us all the way. 
 
 "I have not been well this winter. My voice, es- 
 pecially, has been weak and on the edge of complete 
 breakdown all the time. It has been so partly from my 
 constant shouting of Bible words in Hsin Wu's best ear. 
 I hope the journey home will be a renewal of my strength. 
 
 '*We call a station meeting, whenever letters come 
 from your father on his journeyings, and all enjoy them. 
 Our Chinese are very much interested. He will soon be 
 in Palestine now, and then on his way home to you. 
 Soon we shall all be together ! . . ." 
 
 In March the long journey to America was begun. 
 There were delightful sojourns by the way, — in Japan, 
 
 205 
 
BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 with Eev. John T. Gulick and his wife, and in Los An- 
 geles, with beloved fellow-missionaries of earlier years, 
 Eev. and Mrs. L. D. Chapin. 
 
 Oberlin, Ohio, was chosen to be the family home, and 
 Thanksgiving Day, 1892, was a memorable one, in that 
 the family, having been separated for nearly twelve years, 
 was once more gathered together under one roof. But 
 such days together were rare, for many calls came from 
 the churches eager to hear of the work in China. Mrs. 
 Williams wrote, ^'When I think of my poor Chinese 
 women, I long to speak for China. It is sometimes a fire 
 in my bones.'' 
 
 Some notes of her missionary talks of this year have 
 been preserved. 
 
 " Memories 
 
 " I see a little mud- walled, mud-roofed house opening 
 on an obscure and dirty street. There are two mission- 
 aries there, Eev. John T. Gulick and his wife. They 
 have been stoned and driven from another house in the same 
 city. They are the first missionaries the people of the city 
 have ever seen. Curious neighbors come in by threes 
 and fours, and then by dozens. My husband and I come 
 to Kalgan, and share the shelter of that mud roof. A 
 high wall reflects heat into the narrow court, and a school 
 of twenty boys sing out their lessons all day long. 
 
 " The autumn comes, and we four missionaries go on a 
 tour to the city of Yu Cho. Here our sojourn is in a 
 Buddhist temple. In this city, from which some of our 
 best Christians have come, men and boys climb the wall, 
 and attempt to stone us on this our first visit. 
 
 *^ These were the beginnings. Let me tell you of our 
 work now, in the city of Kalgan, so dear to us, a city of 
 80,000 people, so few of whom know the Lord Christ. 
 How can I tell you of all ? — our schools for boys and 
 
REST BY THE WAY 267 
 
 girls J our winter Bible classes for men ; our many visitors, 
 who come in curiosity, but often leave with a longing for 
 this new ^Jesus-doctrine' ; our medical work, and our 
 touring, when the missionary ^ Shepherds ' come back 
 very brown and dusty, but full of thanksgiving for what 
 God has wrought. 
 
 "A year ago, our winter Bible class was about to begin. 
 For lack of room, we had to refuse as many as we received. 
 One day two young men came, who begged so earnestly 
 to be allowed to join the class, that it was almost impos- 
 sible for me to tell them there was no chance until next 
 year. I sat there with the tears rolling down my cheeks. 
 
 " To this school men and their sons come, — rough coun- 
 try lads, stupid-looking outwardly, but eager to learn, — 
 worn old mountaineers, as eager as their sons, and even 
 more pathetic. They come so clean and happy, but 
 many are so poor that they have no change of clothing, 
 so we get a good old woman to wash and mend their 
 stockings, while they go barefoot, and their other cloth- 
 ing, while they go to bed ! 
 
 ** The Romish church has money to meet its needs. It 
 can provide for students. The little babies that are laid 
 out to die are gathered up and taken care of until they 
 are ready for the convent schools. During the twenty-six 
 years I have been in China, I have known of many such 
 girls who have been thus saved, educated, and married. 
 Shall our Christian missions lose this opportunity for 
 want of money? At Kalgan, one of our missionaries 
 saved five children thus. Two years ago, a wee Chinese 
 baby was left at our door, wrapped in coarse blue cotton 
 rags. Her mother was a Christian, and died at the baby's 
 birth. The father, a heathen and an opium user, left the 
 baby on our steps, in the dawn of a cold winter morning. 
 We took the wee, black-eyed girl, as pretty a Chinese 
 baby as one ever sees, and put her in charge of one of our 
 
BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 young Christian women, who had a baby girl of her own. 
 This young woman, Ying Ying Tzu, when not more than 
 a girl, had married a promising young man, who came 
 under the curse of opium which led him to choose evil, 
 and finally death. These few sentences mean so little to 
 you, but oh, how much they mean to me ! The young 
 man I had known and loved from childhood. Prayers 
 and tears did not avail to bring him back from his sin. 
 He chose death, not without relentings, not without 
 struggles. But it was the awful reality of choice. Here 
 was one who might have been like Gabriel for glory : he 
 chose to be like Lucifer. 
 
 "You hear of the opium curse, but you cannot know 
 it unless you go to China. A current proverb concerning 
 one of our neighboring cities is that eleven out of ten of the 
 beggars there use opium. It would break your heart to 
 see them, — so gaunt, — mere skin and bone. They sell all 
 that they have, — wife, children, and their own souls, for 
 the dreadful drug. Some of the physicians are working 
 for opium users. It is more hopeful to work for the chil- 
 dren. 
 
 ** The salvation of the soul is precious, and it ceaseth 
 never. In all their poverty and filth, I see God's chil- 
 dren.'^ 
 
 In the spring of 1893, word came of Miss Diament's 
 death, and Henrietta was appointed to fill her place at 
 Kalgan. In August, the father and daughter sailed for 
 China, and with this parting the family was separated, 
 never to meet together as a family until heaven brings 
 the ' * perfect round. ' ' The mother, remaining for another 
 year, as she thought, wrote : — "I hope to gain in strength 
 so that I may be able to return to China next summer. 
 While I am here, it is a joy to me to be able to make a 
 pleasant home for the children. Yet I often feel like one 
 
REST BY THE WAY 
 
 of our Peking missionary ladies, who said that she had 
 come to this country to find that she was ' neither a good 
 cook, nor a dressmaker, nor a saint.' I accomplish but 
 little these days. A few letters, and the dinners ; some 
 biscuit, a pudding or so ; a little reading ; the meetings 
 of the week of prayer j — and my life is nearly told. 
 Some praying and many thoughts of my dear ones here in 
 America and over the sea, thoughts which are prayers, 
 both for them and for our dear people in China." 
 
 " Oberlin^ Oct, 26, 1893. 
 " Dear Anna and Cornelia : 
 
 ^ ^ ^ I have seen New England in its glory, ' as Martha 
 wrote to Stephen. She said, too, that she had never seen 
 such beautiful foliage anywhere, and I believe I must say 
 so too, although Henry and I agreed that our Minnesota 
 foliage was about as fine. You remember the sumach, 
 how brilliant it was ; but I fear I must allow that the 
 New England oaks are matchless. The trees with yellow 
 leaves I think may be equalled in Minnesota. . . . 
 
 *^ I had a lovely visit with Miss McKeen. I have not 
 seen her since I was eighteen years old, but we have cor- 
 responded occasionally, and I have her photograph and 
 that of her sister, Miss Phebe McKeen. 
 
 " Sunday we went to the chapel where the theological 
 students and the Phillips Academy boys go, then we 
 walked by the professors' houses. I picked a late clover 
 under the trees just in front of Professor Phelps' house — 
 the house which was his. 
 
 " Saturday evening I had spoken in the Abbot Academy 
 Hall to the young ladies. Mr. and Mrs. Draper came 
 over to hear me. . . . 
 
 " When I went down to Hartford we found Mrs. Eob- 
 erts very glad to see me, and to keep me with her as 
 long as I could stay. Bob and I walked out to Trinity 
 
270 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 and saw his room, and the view from the bedroom win- 
 dow. Our Eastern friends have ' views ' to show in al- 
 most all cases. Imagine me speaking of the view from 
 my back porch — there isn't any ! New England is better 
 off certainly. . . . 
 
 ^*The strangest story-book kind of a thing occurred 
 while I was East. I had decided to sell my Siberian 
 squirrel skins for the benefit of the Woman's Board of 
 Missions for the Interior, and to help in educating a boy 
 in North Carolina in whom Miss Le Due is interested. 
 You may know I was surprised when Mrs. Thompson 
 said she could not use her squirrel lined cloak, and was 
 just going to send it away in a box, but she would rather 
 I should have it ! . . . 
 
 *^ Very affectionately your sister, 
 
 ^^ Isabella. ^^ 
 " Dear Sister Anna : 
 
 "Last Sunday I wore my new black dress for the 
 first time. I thank you all so much, and I shall remember 
 you each one, every time I wear the dress. I like helps 
 for remembering. Years ago, the pigeons' whistling was 
 always for me the call to prayer. Do you know about the 
 pigeons' whistles of bamboo, which are tied on, and as the 
 birds fly up, a ringing or whistling sound is made ? For 
 two years or more there were two persons for whom I 
 prayed at that signal. I think the Mohammedan call of 
 the muezzin is certainly a help to remind those of that 
 faith that they should pray. Nor can I doubt but that 
 they do often pray acceptably to God. What do you 
 think 1 
 
 " This is, and yet is not, a digression. I shall remem- 
 ber you, and remembering means loving, and loving 
 means praying for. As we come nearer life's end, we 
 need to be in haste, lest the time and opportunity be gone 
 only too soon. The time is short, at best.'' 
 
REST BY THE WAY 271 
 
 *^ Oherlirij March 29^ 1894.. 
 " Dear Cornelia : 
 
 ^'I was much pleased with Julius' article on the 
 Dakota Dictionary. I only wish I could remember a 
 large part of it. I should have liked to have a little 
 more said in recognition of Mr. Samuel Pond's work. I 
 do think it was an advantage to our father that Mr. Pond 
 could help him at the start, both of them having really 
 fine linguistic abilities. If our father had come first 
 among the Indians, he would have helped Mr. Pond just 
 as he was helped by him. I know Mr. Pond would have 
 liked to do the work on the dictionary which our father 
 did, and he would have done it equally well, but his cir- 
 cumstances at the time it was done were not so favorable 
 to that kind of work. That made all the difference in the 
 world. I know how father dreamed dictionary and 
 lived dictionary during the years he was working at it. 
 Yet he never neglected anything for it. The wood was 
 chopped, the water carried, the fields plowed for the In- 
 dians just as if there never was to be any dictionary, — 
 and all the while, in his faithful, persistent, brooding 
 way, every hour was telling for its progress to comple- 
 tion. . . . 
 
 ^^I am just writing to Mrs. Pettijohn, ^ Aunt Fanny. ^ 
 I was her little girl for a year (1842), and Anna and I 
 lived with her for three weeks in 1848, while our family 
 went to Kaposia. She taught me to knit more than I knew 
 before,— had me knit striped mittens, blue, red and yel- 
 low. I loved them so, and hated the old white stocking 
 leg which I had been at so long. And she told me Bible 
 stories. . . . Your own 
 
 *' Isabella." 
 
 " My dear little Keil, do pray for your boys. Oh, it is 
 snch a deciding time for them now. I always think so 
 
272 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 wistfully, so yearningly of mothers who can keep their 
 children with them. Be awake to your high privilege. 
 A mother of three sons. My dear, yon ought to be very 
 proud, and very humble and prayerful too. . . . 
 Train yourself to self-denial for their sakes. I don't 
 mean to deny yourself that they may have indulgences, — 
 not at all. I mean that by having high ideals for your- 
 self, you may win them up higher. Be sure to mn them. 
 That is my great fault, — I don't work long enough to win. 
 If I think a thing is so, — is best, is noble, — I think others 
 will see it for the saying. 
 
 *^ . . As for the darling whom I may not see now, 
 we shall all meet her by and by. Dear sister, you are to 
 be rejoiced with, you who are the mother of a Shining 
 One. It may be that her special work is to lead all our 
 minds the more to look upward, so that heaven may be 
 really the place of all which we shall surely feel to be most 
 like home. Oh, it is so different to me now from what it 
 was once. Where our dear mother and father are, and 
 where Jesus Christ is, cannot be a strange place at all to 
 me. 
 
 " Grood-bye, my dear ^ little sister.' 
 
 ^* Affectionately your 
 "Isabella.'' 
 
 To her little nephew, Karl, she wrote: — "Are you 
 making ready to shine on earth, — shining God's way ? I 
 will pray for you Sunday mornings. No kind of remem- 
 bering is worth much except the praying kind." 
 
 " Oberlin, April 17, 189J^, 
 "Dear Cornelia : 
 
 '^ . . About our mother's letters — I am not 
 sure whether I have sent you the best. In some of them, 
 because I knew her when she was younger than when you 
 knew her, I can read between the lines as much or more 
 
REST BY THE WAY 273 
 
 than is written on them. The style of the day had much 
 to do with her way of writing — she had been trained. I 
 think our father had not been at all, except as study of 
 grammar in connection with language always trains one. 
 As we look at it, his measure of training was of more 
 value than hers. But if you and I could understand New 
 England women of that time better, we should see clearly 
 how this kind of training came about. Women awoke to 
 a desire for education, and they had to think out the 
 whole matter. ^ If women are to be educated, how and 
 how much ? ' Men went to the colleges, and took Latin, 
 Greek and mathematics. There was not money for the 
 women to do the same, and no college to go to. It seems 
 to be a wonderful thing, how in the main, they decided 
 on the best things — the most practical. Education for 
 the wealthy had not been of the best — too many had but 
 a smattering of anything. Of course there has always 
 been one here and there who was educated with her 
 brothers, but one here and there doesn't count. So in the 
 days of Miss Grant and Miss Lyon, the serious, thought- 
 ful girls desired education with a great desire. If their 
 models in composition were not of the best it is not strange. 
 The Grandisonian, Johnsonian, Hannah More-ish style 
 was the best they knew. Hannah More, had she lived 
 to-day, would have written as well as Margaret Deland, 
 Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, or Sarah Orne Jewett, but John- 
 son would have been somewhat Johnsonian in any case. 
 " My dear child, — to put an end to this lecture, of which 
 you must be tired, — our mother was just like our- 
 selves. . . . Lovingly yours, 
 
 ^'Isabella.'* 
 
 In the spring of 1894 the two years' furlough was over, 
 and she wrote to her brother Eobert : — 
 
 ** Yes, I am expecting to go back to China this summer. 
 
274 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 When I think of the work in Kalgan, I simply must go ; 
 when I think of the children, I feel as if I must stay 
 another year. The decision tears me apart. I think 
 probably I shall go to Clifton Springs for a short time, 
 and get the opinion of the doctors there as to whether I 
 may go this year. I have been under Dr. Noble's care 
 here, but he is east at present. I cannot write letters, — a 
 great sinking at heart comes. The letters ought to be 
 farewells for a while, and I think of my dear ones, and it 
 is more than I can bear. ' ' Again she wrote : — "It is only 
 by not letting myself think about — everything — that I 
 can keep up. But the more I must fly to God." 
 
 In April she wrote to her sister Anna : — " We shall be 
 delighted to see you any time. My health is not brilliant 
 these days, and people say I ought not to go to China this 
 year. It would be a shame to put you to all this trouble 
 over my sewing, and then not go ! I was hoping to look 
 a little better soon, so that you would think I could go to 
 China!" 
 
 In spite of her hopes, the doctors' decision deferred her 
 return for another year. These years at home were filled 
 with much that had been denied her, in her life in China. 
 To her music-loving nature, the opportunity to hear the 
 great oratorios of ''The Messiah" and ''The Elijah" 
 was an especial delight. And she always wanted to share 
 her pleasures. To her friend, Mrs. Drake, who was 
 obliged to give up a promised visit to the home in Ober- 
 lin, she wrote : — " My heart was set on your hearing the 
 'Messiah,' at this Christmas season. Never mind, you 
 and I are going to hear far finer chorus singing and help 
 in it as well. It may not be so very many years till then. 
 The choruses will be all the sweeter to us because some 
 from among the Indians and Chinese will be singing 
 there, and we shall remember that we helped them to 
 <5ome." 
 
REST BY THE WAY 2Y5 
 
 A little note written to one of the soloists after the 
 Christmas concert of 1893 shows what the music meant 
 to her. 
 
 " "We see Mary toiling over the weary hill. Joseph has 
 a bundle of rugs for the night's rest upon his back, for 
 to this day, travellers in the Orient are wonted thus to do. 
 Night is falling ; there is but one star in the sky. Cour- 
 age, Mary, Bethlehem is not far away. She needs not 
 your word of cheer, serenely she walks on, overshadowed 
 by the power of the Highest." 
 
 ** Surely there are good tidings for thee, O Zion ! This 
 babe is my King and thy God, and the glory of the Lord 
 is risen, is risen upon thee ! " 
 
 *^And now we see the flock by quiet waters, in sunny 
 meadows. Some of those whom Thou dost gather are 
 our lambs. Many times hast Thou gently led us, O Shep- 
 herd of our souls ! " 
 
 " The sunny streams, the green pastures are gone j there 
 is darkness over the land ! 
 
 **0 Lamb of God, is it Thou, who art despised and re- 
 jected, who art wounded and bruised for us ? 
 
 ^^ Break, heart of stone, and yet be silent in His pres- 
 ence ! ' ' 
 
 "May God bless the singer. We thank her with all 
 our hearts. I. E. W." 
 
I 
 
 VIII 
 
 LOVE NEVER FAILETH 
 
 But if impatient, thou let slip thy cross, 
 
 Thou wilt not find it in this world again 
 
 Nor in another ; here and here alone 
 
 Is given thee to suffer for God's sake. 
 
 In other worlds we shall more perfectly 
 
 Serve Him and love Him, praise Him, work for Him, 
 
 Grow near and nearer Him with all delight, 
 
 But then we shall not any more be called 
 
 To suffer, which is our appointment here. 
 
 If He should call thee from thy cross to-day. 
 
 Saying, " It is finished ! " — that hard cross of thine 
 
 From which thou prayest for deliverance, 
 
 Thinkest thou not some passion of regret 
 
 Would overcome thee? Thou wouldst say, "So soon? 
 
 Let me go back and suffer yet a while 
 
 More patiently ;— I have not yet praised God." 
 
 — " Ugo BassVa Sermon in the Hospital,** 
 
 N the Slimmer of 1895 the Oberlin home was broken 
 up, and in August the long journey to China was 
 begun. 
 
 ^^ Chicago, 111, Aug. 5, 1895, 
 "Dear Ones: 
 
 "I passed a patient and dusty day, and did what 
 I thought would please you most, — read some in Mrs. 
 Paton's ^ Letters from the New Hebrides.' I enjoyed all 
 I read. That was not until the train had passed the 
 Western, where Margaret and Anna are going to live. I 
 
 276 
 
LOVE NEVER FAILETH 277 
 
 prayed for the school, for you two, and for you all ; — that 
 is my best help just now, for my Father and your Father 
 knows all about this parting, — how sorrowful and yet 
 not all sorrowful it is. I listened for your voices all day, 
 and thought how they sounded. Your Uncle Thomas 
 met me and took me to Glencoe. I have had such a good 
 visit. '^ 
 
 " Beloitj Wisconsin, Aug. 6th. 
 "What precious letters have just come, and I have 
 read them. How can I ever go to China and leave such 
 dear children ! But if I couldn't go to China and leave 
 you, I don't believe you would love me as well as you do. 
 How delightful to get your letter written Monday, and 
 receive it here Tuesday afternoon ! We are not far apart 
 yet, are we ? I still keep listening for your voices, but I 
 will be brave, as brave as lean.' ^ 
 
 (To a sister.) 
 "My most precious visit was at our graves. Father's 
 stone is a noble one. I knelt there and thanked God that 
 our beloved ones had been resting from their labors for 
 all these years, and that joy unspeakable is their constant 
 portion now. I prayed for every one of our family by 
 name. I hope God will help me to do it more often." 
 
 (To her friend Mrs. Drake.) 
 " I value your letter very much, and am glad to have 
 it here in Beloit to read to those who love you as a mem- 
 ber of the mission band of those long ago years. I am 
 with Mother Eiggs and Edna. The next whom I hope to 
 meet are Martha and Alfred. 
 
 "I have had a letter from Mrs. Holtsclaw. She says 
 of late years she has rather avoided saying good-bye to 
 friends, but looks forward, hoping ^ in some brighter clime 
 
278 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 to say good-morning/ . . . May God bless you and 
 help you to bear the pain which comes, holding close to 
 His hand. May His words be of great comfort to you. I 
 have been helped to bear the parting from my precious 
 ones. I cannot tell how precious they are." 
 
 ^^Santee Agency, Nebraska, Aug. 19, 1895, 
 " My Precious Sistee Coknelia : 
 
 " Your letter was and is a great pleasure to ma I 
 have read it over many times. You will be glad for me 
 that Martha is going to Oahe and to Minneapolis with 
 me. I thought it was almost tragic for this poor little bit 
 of a me to go all these miles alone, especially as I shall 
 have to go alone to Vancouver. 
 
 " My heart is full of love and prayer for you. I want 
 you to be one of the most loving, and yet wisest mothers 
 in the world. It is easy to live in a dull way, letting the 
 routine of every day quiet the souFs most precious living 
 and loving. I know that I have failed in love and un- 
 doubtedly in wisdom often. Do not let the time pass by 
 until you know your three boys are safe for eternity. 
 
 *'My darling children write such good and comfortiDg 
 letters to me, that I go on my way cheerfully and happily, 
 for the most part. The tears are not far away, but I do 
 not yield to them much. If I am to be of service any- 
 where, I must keep my strength. 
 
 " Kiss the children at night for me. 
 
 *^ Your own loving 
 
 *^ Isabella." 
 
 " Santee Agency, NebrasTca, Aug. 21, 1895. 
 " My Dear Children : 
 
 ^*I was delighted to get this new letter to-day. 
 The other is good enough to read over a great many more 
 times. You will try hard and not feel lonely without me. 
 
LOVE NEVER FAILETH 279 
 
 Pray a good deal and read the Bible every day, for you 
 cannot live near God unless you do. My darlings, I kiss 
 you in my heart. 
 
 " My cousin, Mrs. Green, of Pittsburg, has sent a doll 
 for our little Li-ya. I can hardly tell you how glad I am 
 to have you sewing ; it is much more important than you 
 know. I want you to sew nicely ; to try more and more 
 to do nice, smooth work. Next year perhaps you can do 
 things for somebody else. I am pleased about Mary's 
 new waist ; send a bit in a letter, will you, dears ? 
 
 " Dear children, I still think it is true that you love 
 me better because I am going out to China than if I said 
 weakly, ^No, I cannot go, I cannot leave my children.' '' 
 
 (To her sister Anna.) 
 " Odhe, South Dakota, Aug. 29, 1895, 
 
 " I have you in my heart during all these days of my 
 journeying. It was harder than I thought it would 
 be, even, to part from the children, and it was very hard 
 for them. They were very good and brave for my sake, 
 and cheered me up in all nice ways possible. And now 
 it is good to be here with Emily. And Martha is one of 
 my blessings. Pray for me all the way. 
 
 * ^ It has been a great pleasure to meet the Indians. There 
 are so many strong faces among them, — let us pray much 
 for this people. May God bless all these who work for 
 the Indians here and at Santee and in all places. 
 
 * ' Have I not yet told you the name of the steamer ? It 
 is the Empress of China, — quite appropriate ; she sails 
 the sixteenth of September. May God bless you and each 
 of your dear ones. Your own 
 
 ^'Isabella." 
 
 (To her children.) 
 "While we were at Santee, our room looked towards 
 the East, and I looked out that way, and thought of and 
 
280 BY THE GEEAT WALL 
 
 prayed for you all, — all our family at Shandon, not you 
 four only. It seems as if I'm thinking of you nearly all 
 the time, — when I see the spool-box or use my little knife, 
 or take out the pen Stephen gave me. 
 
 '^ Good-bye, — does it mean 'Good be to you,' or 'God 
 be with you ' ? Probably the latter : it is my constant 
 prayer. These days of travel, and of stress and strain of 
 heart make me fly the more to God. It is the only way." 
 
 "J^Vom Minneapolis to Seattle, The ^ Great Northern^^ 
 
 ''Sept 10, 1895, 
 *^My Dears : 
 
 *' We are in sight of the snow-capped mountains. 
 They look like our mountains on the way to Kalgan. How 
 the view changes ! Now we are passing a great forest of 
 tall, dead tamaracks, now a swamp with dead trees in stand- 
 ing water, now the great, bare rocks, aslant, more gray, 
 skeleton trees, and high over all, the snow peaks. We 
 are going down the Rockies ; now we are in the river bed 
 at Nyack. This is the Kootenai Eiver. Its rapids and 
 falls are exceedingly beautiful. Islands of rock rise here 
 and there from the pale green water. I cannot see them 
 too much ! " 
 
 ''Seattle, Washington, Sept, IS, 1895, 
 " My Dear Stephen : 
 
 " I'm so far safely on my way. To-day we crossed 
 the Cascade Range. What mountains with mist at the 
 tops ! I have never seen anything so fine. 
 
 " I have been quite cheerful, having so much to thank 
 God for, who has given me such dear ones all. One 
 Friend has been with me, nor will He leave me ; should 
 any untoward thing happen, it would not be that He had 
 left me, but only that He saw best. Of my journey I will 
 say, God has kept me from dangers seen and unseen. 
 To-morrow I start for Vancouver. . . ." 
 
LOVE NEVER FAILETH 281 
 
 ^^E, M. Steamer ' Empress of China,'' Sept. 16 j 1895. 
 "My Dear, Dear Maey : 
 
 " We are beginning to jar with the motion of the 
 engines. I think I can send this note from Victoria. 
 You dear children have been such a joy to me with your 
 loving letters. I am very glad of our three years together ; 
 it will help us even in heaven j and if in the ways where 
 we may have a few times failed to do our best, we try 
 now, in the time that comes next, to do better, — God will 
 help us. 
 
 "Now I am on the steamer it seems easier to go to 
 China than before. This is our home, if God is willing, 
 until we touch China's soil. These are beautiful shores 
 through which we pass, with foliage close to the water's 
 edge. It is ^ God save the Queen,' for this is British do- 
 minion. . . . 
 
 " Good-bye for this time, my precious child. I keep 
 your rose very carefully. 
 
 "I am always your loving mother, 
 
 " Isabella R. Williams.^' 
 
 (To her sister Martha.) 
 " The ^Empress of CMna,^ Sept. ^7, 1895. 
 
 "Two days more, and the third day we shall beat 
 Yokohama. It is only noon, but you notice I do not 
 count to-day ! That is the cheerful way of taking it. We 
 had an excellent lesson this morning, — ^ The joy of the 
 Lord is your strength.' Dr. Hartshorne led us in our 
 Bible hour, and we had a time of real spiritual uplift. 
 (He is the author of the small medical book which has 
 been my chief stay for the last twenty years.) There are 
 forty-two missionaries on board, thirty-four of whom are 
 for China. 
 
 " I have read ^ The Stickit Minister ' over again. One 
 day I picked up ' A Social Departure ' by Sara Jeanette 
 
282 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 Duncan. I read in it an hour, and had a good deal of 
 amusement over it. The heroine was getting scalded in 
 her Japanese bath tub when I left her, because she had it 
 heated with coal instead of charcoal.'' 
 
 ^' September 29th. 
 ** Land in sight ! Little boats with sails, a lighthouse, 
 and still a lovely smooth sea. We have had service and 
 a good sermon by Archdeacon Warren." 
 
 ^^ On the *Pei JTe,' out from Tientsin^ 
 ''Oct, 18, 1895. 
 ** My Dears: 
 
 ** Here we are on the river, coming down to Tung- 
 chou. As our dinner is a-cooking the fumes of charcoal 
 drive us out on the front of the boat. We are not very 
 far from Tungchou, though we cannot see the Pagoda yet. 
 The beautiful blue Western Hills ! they rejoice my eyes. 
 We saw them almost all day yesterday, and to-day they 
 are very lovely indeed. It has been a pretty sight to 
 watch the six boats ahead of us rounding a curve of the 
 stream, and it seems all curves and angles ! '' 
 
 '' Peking J Oct. 22, 1895. 
 " It was a great pleasure to meet all the Tungchou 
 friends, especially Mrs. Sheffield, Miss Andrews and 
 Abbie. I came first to the city house, and then walked 
 out to the new grounds with Miss Miner. Your father has 
 probably told you of our delightful luncheon yesterday 
 with Professor and Mrs. Headland. 
 "Good-night, my dear, dear children. 
 
 "Lovingly your 
 
 "MOTHEB." 
 
LOVE NEVER FAILETH 283 
 
 ^^KalgarijOct, SO, 1895. 
 '* My Deab Stephen : 
 
 *^ I thought of you all, all the way up from Peking, 
 and there were bits of interest by the way which re- 
 minded me of those who used to be my companions on the 
 journey over this road. And here we are at home again. 
 I am very glad to be here j although I cannot be of much 
 use, yet there will be little ways in which I can help. I 
 hope to be of comfort to Etta, who has her hands full of 
 work. She has her school, which of itself is enough, and 
 then she has Bible women to oversee and calls to make. 
 
 " . . . I miss you all. I should be glad that I miss 
 you, as I could not if we had not been a family together 
 for these years." 
 
 ^^ Noveniber 6j 1895. 
 
 " I went to prayers at the school with Etta this morn- 
 ing. I shall try to get acquainted with the girls, and so 
 may begin to have influence with them. Leah, our 
 * Butter Baby,' lives with Mrs. Sung in our yard. She 
 is a cunning little thing, quite plump, and Mrs. Sung is 
 very good to her. To-night I am to take the girls to the 
 Anti-Foot-Binding Meeting, the new Peoples' Society. 
 
 *'The Station Class has been gathered together by Mr. 
 Sprague, and the students have come all at once. The 
 boys and men came and bowed to me in great shape. It 
 was too dark to see if I knew any of them. A woman 
 has picked camel's hair in my room for a few days, and 
 she is sewing to-day on felt door-curtains for the Girls' 
 School. Her husband is an opium user, and she says he 
 wants to leave off. She saw my bed and said, *What 
 nice, thick bedclothes you have ! ' I asked, * How many 
 comfortables would your husband's opium buy in a year f ' 
 She replied, '• Oh, as many as six to ten big ones ! ' 
 
 ** Etta has twenty girls now, and it is no fun to manage 
 
284 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 them without a good matron. I hope to be well enough 
 to help soon. The best woman we can get is very poor 
 for that place. To-night Teacher Choa read constitution 
 and by-laws of the Girls' School to the assembled wise 
 men of Kalgan, Feng Ke Hsien Sheng, the two Gao 
 brothers, young Mr. Pan and Loa Su Tang.'' 
 
 ^^ December 22, 1895. 
 *^I look up and see your photographs and say *My 
 darlings!' many times a day. I am enjoying Mary's 
 high school picture much. I look first for my Lark's 
 dear eyes. ... I am remembering my promise to 
 you to try to have a nice Christmas, and have been doing 
 things all day, — putting the rooms more as you would 
 like them, making your father a neck-bow, and other 
 pleasant little Christmas things. We are all to have 
 prayers together on Christmas morning." 
 
 '^Kalgan, Jan. 4, 1896. 
 *^ My Dear Stephen : 
 
 ^^ We are looking for letters every day. I am not 
 writing you children many letters, but I hope you will 
 keep up your share of the writing, — the letters do us so 
 much good when they come. Your father, at least, is 
 faithful to his part. Our life is less varied than yours ; 
 there seems little to tell, and of course to me things are 
 changed, and I miss the rest of you. How nice it would 
 be if you could step in and hang up two or three pictures 
 for me ! Our servant is cross-eyed and has a bad memory, 
 and I have had to labor with him to remember to rub up 
 my stove so continually that I haven't yet attempted to 
 try him at picture-hanging ! 
 
 '' I think if I were stronger, I would go slumming, as 
 do the Salvation Army people. I have a good oppor- 
 tunity. Hsin Wu comes to see me as often as once a 
 week, and I am trying to do what I ought for her. I 
 
LOVE NEVER FAILETH 286 
 
 hope she is a Christian, and know that I must not let go 
 hold of her. She is a beggar, and dresses as one, but she 
 does not go on the street to beg much now. Not long ago 
 I helped her make a comfortable for herself. It cost 
 about fifty cents gold. I shouted in her best ear that I 
 wanted her to pray and repeat some Bible verses when 
 she sleeps in the new warm comfort, and she will do it. I 
 have had the Lord's Prayer written in large characters 
 for her. I know I pay her more than her work is worth 
 sometimes, and I give her house rent outright, — fifteen 
 cents a month. But I am trying to help her to work for 
 herself. God has given me everything, — some of His 
 children have given me much. ^ Freely ye have received, 
 freely give.' I do hope she is a Christian. We read to- 
 gether every time she comes." 
 
 ^'•January 7th. 
 " Your letters came yesterday, and it is great joy. We 
 had been waiting for them, and they were worth waiting 
 for ! I wish you could come in and sing out ^ Beetle Pie,' 
 and snatches of various things. I have sung a few bits 
 from the Messiah once in a while, especially the week 
 before Christmas, and it made me think of you. . . ." 
 
 ^^Kalgan^ Jan, 29, 1896, 
 *'My Dear Sisters, Anna and Cornelia : 
 
 ^^ It seemed for a while after I reached here that 
 life had come to a standstill. I found the journey trying ; 
 the first week on the ocean and the last week of the land 
 route were very cold, and this last was especially hard as 
 we were obliged to be up and eat a few morsels so very 
 early. The days were short, and if we were not off by 
 six we were too late reaching the inns by night. How- 
 ever, that is long past. 
 
 "It takes quite a while to become used to changed con- 
 ditions. It is not easy to fall into home life where the 
 
286 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 dear ones for whom their father and I have both lived, and 
 who did so much to make the life comfortable and joyful 
 are not here. Everything reminds us of them — the old, 
 because our children used to be caring for those bits of 
 furniture or pictures or books j the new, because the later 
 home life was set in these, — this picture was for Christ- 
 mas, or that for my birthday, — these books speak of our 
 last holidays together, those of the one before. It is joy 
 that we had ^ joys^ together. Perhaps we had more than 
 the common lot of people, because the shadow of this 
 separation hung near us, constraining us to be more care- 
 ful — more gentle and loving. 
 
 ** I think of you and love you, and remember so many 
 things. Lovingly your sister, 
 
 *^ Isabella." 
 
 ^^Kalgauj Feb, 5, 1896 
 " My Peecious Deaes : 
 
 " We enjoy your letters so very much, — those from 
 all of you. Indeed they are our one great j oy . I have j ust 
 brightened up my glasses with my Valentine wiper, and 
 the stove holder which you sent your father lies by me as 
 I write, as he prizes it so much he keeps it for a desk 
 or table ornament ! Next winter perhaps it will see serv- 
 ice, — unless, indeed, we frame it ! Our organ is now in 
 the sitting-room. The schoolgirls come and sing with me 
 about twice a week." 
 
 '^February 21st, 
 
 " It is a long time since I began this letter. Etta has had 
 an attack of diphtheria, and was quarantined in her room 
 at the schoolhouse. I did most of the waiting on her, 
 but towards the last your father helped, as I seemed to be 
 too tired for safety. 
 
 "Your Christmas letters are a feast for us ; we feel just 
 how it all was, just as if we were there. I can see you at 
 
LOYE NEVER FAILETH 287 
 
 the table, each one, and then again by the fireplace, and 
 again, I hear you singing in the parlor. I feel like a glad 
 shadow, flitting here and again there, conscious of every- 
 thing and every one, although not seen by any one. 
 
 " Hsin Wu comes to see me quite often. She feels that 
 I am the best friend she has, and I feel that I must not 
 give her up, but must fight to save her for heaven. * We 
 wrestle not with fiesh and blood, but with principalities 
 and powers. ^ This is one reason why I write few letters. ' ' 
 
 '^ March 11, 1896. 
 
 "The Board has been obliged to cut down our appro- 
 priations. It cuts off ten per cent, from our salaries. 
 All the work is cut down in the same way, and it is dread- 
 ful to have the helpers^ small allowances made smaller. 
 One helper has to be dismissed, also a chapel-keeper, a 
 good man, Li He Lin, who was in the Station Class when 
 you were here. We women cannot bear to have it so, 
 and we are going to make up what they lose for two 
 months, at any rate. After that we shall see. We all 
 know we can find ways to save a little. Cora says going 
 without one dinner a week will do it. I say we shall not 
 need to go without any meals, but cut off on some of the 
 more expensive things. One of the helpers suggested 
 that the missionaries do without chickens. One said, 
 * Isn't a helper better than a cow ? ' I do not feel as if I 
 ever wanted anything for myself anymore ! 
 
 ". . . I am glad that there is still a little left of 
 what I call * God's money' which we can draw on in an 
 emergency. You will be interested in the whole history 
 which those forty-four dollars represent. It is quite in- 
 teresting ; starting twenty and more years ago with $500. 
 Your father gave it to me as my share of money we had 
 saved by economy. I lent it to several friends for a few 
 years ^ then it went into the Minneapolis lot, which was a 
 
288 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 good investment, leaving $1,000 instead of $500. The 
 Girls' School houses were built with it ; three rooms for 
 the Station Class, 200 taels put into the Upper City house, 
 and the Mongol land bought for Hsin Wu and her chil- 
 dren. I hope she has not been helped in vain. The 
 money is the Lord's. I gave back to Him what He gave 
 us, and have tried all the time to do just what He would 
 have me do. I have given the history in brief. God has 
 been very good to me, and has yet blessings in store for 
 us all. . . . Dear Stephen, I remember our times to- 
 gether with joy. God was good to us. I thank Him. 
 . . . Good-night to you all." 
 
 " Kalgarij April 4, 1896, 
 "My Dears : 
 
 " The schoolgirls cleaned house to-day, and I went 
 down to ^ gwan ' them. Some lazy girls found it hard to 
 take their ease, yet all the same, I got not much out of 
 them. I am not fond of shirks. Those who worked well 
 I was pleased with. 
 
 "Margaret and Anna will be pleased to know that the 
 sixth * K'an-chien-tz ' has been made from their ^ rain- 
 bow dresses ! ' The last are for Liya and San Kai-tz. 
 San Kai-tz is the cunningest little dear, but exceedingly 
 ragged. These last K'an-chien-tzs are triumphs of piec- 
 ing." 
 
 ^^ April mh. 
 
 "We took all our blossoming plants to the church on 
 Easter Sunday ; Etta's and my calla lilies, my lovely 
 pink geranium, and her Japan lily. 
 
 "We have been feeling terribly the reduction of allow- 
 ances for the work in general. I think about this, — we 
 all do, — a great deal. The Chinese Christians are going 
 to help ; our church contributions have accumulated so 
 that there is enough to pay one helper. The Christian 
 
LOVE NEVER FAILETH 289 
 
 Endeavor Society is going to pay another helper's salary. 
 Even then there is not enough to go round. The Pe- 
 king Christians have taken up a contribution for the 
 Armenians. 
 
 *^ Tsai Ching, the first Christian received into our Kal- 
 gan church, has died lately. He has been feeble for 
 some years. His son, Tsai Fu Yuan, is one of our best 
 helpers. '' 
 
 (To Mrs. Green, of Pittsburg, who was supporting little 
 Liya, the '' Butter Baby.") 
 
 ''May 9, 1896, 
 '' My Dear Cousin : 
 
 ** There are some pleasant bits to tell you of the 
 little sister Liya. We say it with a pretty toss up of the 
 last syllable and quick emphasis, — Li-ya. She is a quiet 
 little thing, but chatters merrily to any one of her friends. 
 She sings a number of tunes very well for a wee tot only 
 five years old. We hope she may learn to play the organ. 
 Our plan for the schoolgirls whose feet are not bound is 
 that they shall be given organ lessons. If they will deny 
 themselves jewelry, I think many of them can have a 
 baby-organ at the time of their marriage. There are 
 three ready to begin now ; the others are too young. It 
 will be a good thing if our girls will stop wearing tin 
 finger-sheaths. One of them said, ' Am I really to prac- 
 tice on the organ 1 I'll have my long finger-nails cut off 
 to-day ! ' The other two girls had no long nails, but 
 wore the sheaths for beauty's sake ! 
 
 '' Liya is proud of being a pupil in the school. She 
 has a book, a San Tzu Ching, and looks wise and impor- 
 tant while carrying it about. She takes a great deal of 
 delight in the doll you sent her. I have one doll dressed 
 in Chinese clothes. It is for a little girl who has no 
 pleasures and cannot come to school. . . ," 
 
290 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 '^ Kalgauj May 18, 1896, 
 ** My Dear Children : 
 
 " I am trying outdoor life these days. This morning I 
 was up at four to water the flowers, and transplanted 
 twenty-five little tomato plants. I have three string 
 beans from Macalester, St. Paul, for whose uprising I 
 look anxiously. My glory flowers are up and my sweet 
 peas. Nothing will come up unless watered every day. 
 We have a new man for gardener, — Chang, six feet high. 
 Etta has been calling Wang our * henchman,^ so we have 
 dubbed this man the ^ trenchman.' He waters the trees 
 and grape-vine, carries the water for my flower beds, digs 
 all the trenches for me and makes himself generally very 
 useful. Just now I see Mrs. Sung and the schoolgirls out 
 picking clover for a relish for their morning meal. I'll 
 have some clover cooked too, — the tender ends I shall 
 try! 
 
 ^^Dr. Waples left for Peking this morning, so Cora and 
 ^ Dorothy Delight ' are alone. To-morrow Mr. and Mrs. 
 Sprague and Etta start for mission meeting, ^ my Fin- 
 nette' on her horse. I hope to take the schoolgirls 
 home to Ching Ke Ta next week." 
 
 ''May 25, 1896. 
 '' Think of it ! We have had six Swedish guests and a 
 wedding ! The eventful day is over, and Miss Brulin and 
 Miss Ericsson are now Mrs. Lundberg and Mrs. Bing- 
 mark. Saturday morning brought the Swedish mission- 
 aries here, and to-day was chosen for the wedding. We 
 took all our flowers to the church ; Etta's Japanese lilies 
 have had a marvellous number of buds, and to-day six of 
 them bloomed at once, as if they knew there was to be a 
 wedding ! Cora played the organ, and Mrs. Mateer and I 
 walked with the brides to the church door, when we 
 stepped aside, and the gentlemen took our places. The 
 
LOVE NEVER FAILETH 291 
 
 bell rang at 3 : 30, and again at 4 : 00, so it was very 
 cheerful, and after the ceremony, when we were giving 
 our congratulations, Mr. Lundberg said gratefully, *It 
 was very nice, — the bell ringing, and organ playing, and 
 the flowers so beautiful.' 
 
 " This evening, two more Swedish brethren, who belong 
 to the China Inland Mission, have arrived, and it is 
 seven people who are to take breakfast with us to-mor- 
 row morning, ma'am ! I have my pretty gray dress on 
 in honor of the wedding, and my old gray shawl, in 
 honor of the severe weather. The bracing effect of snow 
 on Mt. Gilmour makes me domestic in my tastes, and I 
 read Alexander on the Psalms while hovering at one side of 
 the kitchen stove. I have been dipping into the life of J. 
 Addison Alexander, Professor at Princeton. He was an 
 exceedingly learned and gifted man, but the life is not 
 well written, — the nephew who wrote it must be a lawyer, 
 — ^he brings people up as witnesses to prove that J. A. A. 
 was learned and witty, enthusiastic and affectionate and 
 so forth, and so forth, — which I never doubted ! The 
 Commentary on the Psalms is to me the best possible. I 
 have spent hundreds of hours with it at hand, when 
 studying the Psalms. . . .'' 
 
 ^^Kalgan, May 30,1896. 
 " My Darlings : 
 
 ^^ I must write you a birthday letter to remind you 
 again how glad I am that God gave you to us, to me, — 
 and how glad I am that you have been kept for me, and 
 for each other, and for the rest, so far on life's road. It 
 cannot always be so ; one by one we shall go, but keep in 
 mind beforehand that as we go away, we go to the dear 
 Saviour and to our Father in heaven, not to be alone 
 and lonely, and not to be separated from each other for 
 what will be a long time really. 
 
292 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 '* I miss you all the time, yet for your sakes I am always 
 glad you are not with me. It is your time for study and 
 improvement in every way. My dears, my dears! be 
 sure not to forget the good things Tve taught you." 
 
 " June 2d. 
 
 "We cleaned house to-day. I read two chapters of 
 A. L. O. E.^s ^Giants' with the teacher while the tacks 
 were being taken out of the carpet. I like these books 
 in Chinese, — ^Gwen,^ ^Christie's Old Organ,' 'Jessica's 
 First Prayer,' the 'Woodcutter of Lebanon,' the 'Gar- 
 den of the Cross ' and this ' Giant Killer ' better than in 
 English ; — they are more fun ; the different language 
 adds a charm. 
 
 " Such good letters came to-day, — from all of you chil- 
 dren, and from your aunts Martha and Cornelia and your 
 Uncle Thomas. We read and read ! I ate my hsi-jo 
 quickly, and read by snatches, and we kept on reading 
 afterwards." 
 
 "It is so good to have Miss Andrews here with us this 
 summer. We take knowledge of her that she has been 
 with Jesus. The sight of her makes us all want to grow 
 in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 I like to take that verse by parts, — 'grow in the Jcnoicl- 
 edge of our Lord Jesus Christ.' I am glad we have as 
 many commentaries on the Bible as we have. I well re- 
 member my joy in reading Bush's Notes on Genesis, 
 Exodus, Joshua and Judges. We get good from Miss 
 Andrews whenever she speaks of a Bible verse or pas- 
 sage. She has the Holy Spirit as her teacher, and He 
 takes of the things of Christ and shows them to her with 
 a beauty and clearness which we do not all receive. But 
 we may yet have this clear vision if we long for it and 
 pray for it as she has done, — not for her own joy, but 
 
LOVE NEVER FAILETH 
 
 that she might better do God's will, and better teach it 
 to her beloved Chinese people.'' 
 
 ^* July 6, 1896. 
 "Dear Ducks : 
 
 ^*If you were here I would rightly call you that, 
 for you would be off in the rain to see the torrent bed ! 
 My lovely glory flowers have their poor heads bent down 
 with a weight of rain-drops. The rainbow is glorious ! 
 
 " Such good letters came to-day ! We like to pay ten 
 cents extra on your letters, — we really do, — and it was 
 well worth it. Still for economy's sake (I'm getting to 
 hate economy sometimes), if you would have your letters 
 weighed every time you send them, it would be well. I 
 dislike the present postal arrangement by which your 
 five cent stamp goes for nothing if the letter is the least 
 bit over weight, and a red ten cent * Postage Due' is 
 clapped on ! It is not quite fair, but when I think that 
 our ten cents help to support the United States govern- 
 ment, I feel quite pleased and Fourth-of-July-like and 
 Star-Spangled-Banner-y ! We have just celebrated the 
 Fourth, and made quite a success of it. Miss Hinman 
 had a sonnet, which made us all feel Uike folks' ! 
 Something original for the occasion sounds really well. 
 
 " I weed and transplant in the mornings before break- 
 fast, getting up at five or earlier. I have watermelons 
 and muskmelons growing from seeds brought from Oahe. 
 My locust trees, Robinia Pseudacacia, are as tall as two 
 pins ! I do delight in seeing them grow. There is one 
 thing I'd like for a birthday present, — seeds, — white and 
 scarlet verbenas especially. The ants have eaten up all 
 my young seedlings. We have small and lai'ge ants, 
 regiments of them, working to improve this soil. One 
 should not grudge to laborers their food, but they choose 
 very tender salads ! My mornings out-of-doors do me 
 
2U BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 great good. I am truly stronger than last year at this 
 time. 
 
 " I am rejoicing over the copy of the ^ Elijah ' which you 
 sent. There is not much that I can try except ' O Rest 
 in the Lord/ and ^He watching over Israel,' but I think 
 about it all ! 
 
 '* Hsin Wu is sick. I am going to see her to-morrow. 
 Her little daughter came to ask me this evening. Good- 
 night. God bless you all.'' 
 
 ''July 21, 1896, 
 '' My Dears, All of You : 
 
 *'I always prepare to write by reading your last 
 letters over. It is one of my very nicest times. To-day 
 while I was reading, two women came in to visit, and I 
 told them of you all and we had a nice talk. These days 
 we have many women visitors ; yesterday as many as a 
 dozen came, and the day before thirty and over. I sing 
 a hymn for them. They like it best of anything. I re- 
 member how you used to help me sing ! 
 
 "The wild pink morning-glories are all a-bloom. I 
 shall send you some forget-me-nots which we gathered 
 after a mountain climb." 
 
 ''July 22d, 
 
 " Fve been moiling in the garden this morning, trans- 
 planting portulacas. It is restful to be out among the 
 flowers before breakfast, and it is a good time to pray. 
 Do not forget us in your daily, private prayer. Satan is 
 keen to hinder us in every possible way, — in our growth 
 towards God, in our work for this people. It seems as if 
 no temptation could keep us from doing with our might 
 what we can to save souls, but the most wily and subtle 
 ones do come to us. The care of finances to some ; the 
 lack of money to others ; even very proper and necessary 
 recreation passes over its proper time and is a tempta- 
 
LOVE NEVER FAILETH 295 
 
 tion. The poor use of Chinese hinders others. Our 
 separation from other missionaries helps to accentuate 
 the difficulties. Pray much for us, and if you find your- 
 selves not so near to God as it is your privilege to be, 
 win your way back to His feet, that your entreaties may 
 help us. . . ." 
 
 ^^ August 1 J 1896. 
 " Dear Sister Martha : 
 
 ** . . . I am doing very little missionary work, 
 but am trying to win back strength before our school be- 
 gins. I appear to be gardening, but that is not my chief 
 end, I hope. This week I have gone once to the Bible 
 woman's home, and the day following, with her to four 
 homes, where we told the story of Christ to a number of 
 women. 
 
 ^* I am just as I was when with you, except possibly a 
 little stronger, not being under so great a stress of feeling 
 as then. When I think it over, it seems as if every- 
 thing was made so easy for me then. I enjoyed so muchy 
 and so many things, — the quiet time at San tee with its 
 leisure for writing and resting, — our lovely visit at Oahe, 
 — the great kindness of all our friends at St. Paul and 
 Minneapolis, — and all the dear between-times, which were 
 yours and mine together. ..." 
 
 ^^ Kalgan, Aug. 3j 1896. 
 " My Dear Mary : 
 
 ''We have been keeping your birthday in antici- 
 pation for several days, thinking of you, and being glad 
 in the thinking. I am wondering if it will ever be our 
 joy to have you out here with us. Perhaps some other 
 plan of life is God's choice for you. Keep on writing 
 your cheery letters. We fairly live on the letters from 
 you all, — perhaps too much so. As I wrote that, the 
 
296 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 verse came to mind, ^Christ, who is our life.' Pray for 
 us still more and more. I am lonely, missing you all, 
 though I ought not to be, and need not be. 
 
 " Mrs. Sprague, Mrs. Mateer and Miss Andrews will 
 take tea with us to-night, in honor of your birthday. 
 How nice if you five could all fly and be here too ! I 
 know, dear child, you have thought of us many times 
 to-day. I shall look at the rose you gave me last birth- 
 day, the day we parted. Good-bye, and may God bless 
 you this and every day." 
 
 August 19th, 
 ^^Etta had a picnic for a few of our women and girls 
 yesterday. They went to the pine grove at Yung Feng 
 Pu. Do you remember Huan Huau, the only girl who 
 had unbound feet when you were here ? She is a nice- 
 looking girl, even pretty, and she is good. She has just 
 been betrothed to Een Te Ming, and he was there to-day, 
 — courting, do you suppose ? Professedly, he was there 
 to study witii the up-town school-teacher ! " 
 
 ^^ August S 1st, 
 " Etta has been away on her tour to Ching Ke Ta and 
 neighboring villages since the twenty-fifth of August, 
 and these rains will prevent her from returning for some 
 days at least. Fords are impassable, and the mud roads 
 are Sloughs of Despond. 
 
 "Kao Yueh's little baby died to-day. We lined the 
 little box, and picked the prettiest white flowers, — sweet 
 peas and fragrant pinks, — with mignonette. Then we 
 put the baby boy into the tiny cof&n, and laid the flowers 
 in his hands, and he looked very sweet, as if asleep. 
 Mrs. Sprague' s tuberoses blossomed just in time to use. 
 To-night I saw Kao Yueh picking a bouquet, which I 
 thought was to lay on the grave. I told your father so. 
 
LOVE NEVER FAILETH 297 
 
 He said immediately, 'It is for his wife.' 'No China- 
 man would pick a bouquet for his wife,' I said, but your 
 father replied, ^No Chinaman only one generation re- 
 moved from throwing babies uncoffined away, would pick 
 a bouquet for the grave.' It proved that the bouquet was 
 for his wife ! 
 
 ' ' I am helping Hsin Wu these days by letting her dig 
 up weeds for me and help me in the garden. My flowers 
 are a delight. I have four-o' clocks which I love in secret, 
 and mignonette which I dote on publicly, a few decent 
 portulacas, two stalks of coreopsis and some snapdragons 
 as my old friends, besides the blossoming peas from the 
 Shandon garden and my Kalgan rose-balsams. 
 
 ''Miss Andrews has prayers with our men while Etta 
 is away. I'm glad that she does, for it is a bit of heaven 
 to be where she is, and must do them good. . . ." 
 
 ^' September 11, 1896, 
 "Fm putting up catsup nowadays, and to-day for a 
 cork I whittled down the last of Stephen's checker-men 
 which Mr. Thompson gave him many years ago. A few 
 of the kindergarten cubes which Miss Simmons of Beloit 
 gave to the twins, and which have faces drawn on them 
 with ink, I keep with a motley collection of blocks for 
 Liya to play with when she comes in with San Kai Tzu 
 and Lao Ku Tzu and the (almost) blind baby. 
 
 "The seventh and last 'K'an-chien-tz' of rainbow 
 make is done. I presented it to Wang Shih Te, and he 
 was struck dumb, so I did not give it to him (except in 
 an Indian manner), and shall keep it in the dining-room 
 for his eyes to gaze upon until he gets his voice. It's 
 rare to find any one who cannot say thank you ! Kai 
 Tz (Mrs. Wang T'ang) is sewing for me, and Stephen's 
 baseball suit is fast turning into little Liya's winter 
 gown. Mrs. Sprague has given an old dress which makes 
 
298 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 a suit for Tsung Mei Tz, and some of your dress-pieces 
 Jiave patched poor Lao Ku Er up, so that she feels very 
 proud ! I am not a bit satisfied to let these children be 
 so ragged and dirty. It makes me miserable. Now is 
 the time for cotton to be picked over and pulled out and 
 patted down, — much of it is black with age, but it keeps 
 on being useful. Hsin Wu has been doing some for our 
 littlest girls ; I have also had her wash the school bedding 
 which is to do duty next winter. Arthur Smith said if 
 it were not for mud, China would go down. If it were 
 not for rags, I say China would do the same. Eags are 
 used for patching, the next worse for shoe-soles j along 
 rivers the felled seams of clothes which have lost useful- 
 ness are cut out and used for mops on the boats. The 
 final refuse may be saved for the beggars (or picked up 
 by them), to sell to the felt mattress man, who puts such 
 between the thicknesses of felt. 
 
 ** We have fine tomatoes now, and I take them over to 
 Mrs. Wang, Mrs. Yen and Chin Ch'un Te's wife. It's 
 nice to have something to give away. 
 
 "Etta came home last night, having ridden 180 li over 
 the very worst roads of the whole way. She had many 
 adventures to tell us.'' 
 
 " October 6, 1896, 
 " I am down in the schoolhouse with several of the girls 
 around me while I write. I do not stay here much, but 
 Mrs. Sung is away, and I have the henchmen here cutting 
 grass, so I have come down to look after the proprieties ! 
 "Kao Yueh preached a good sermon, Sunday, and 
 gave a good talk to-day. I spoke at the close, telling 
 them of some poor people who give to the American 
 Board, and while they could not go to the Toledo meet- 
 ing, would be praying much for the Chinese and other 
 heathen nations, to-day, to-morrow and Friday. This 
 
LOVE NEVER FAILETH 299 
 
 was really about my first speech in prayer-meeting this 
 fall, because we wish to keep the women modest." 
 
 *^ October 21st. 
 " I have a hard cold, so that I^m not able to write, but 
 when you see the glory flower seeds you'll know that I've 
 thought of you. I am always thinking of you five, — per- 
 haps I think about you too much of the time ! 
 
 " A bright morning ! Love to you, to each dear one. 
 " Your always loving mother, 
 
 ''I, R. W." 
 
 ^^Kalgan, Nov, 5>, 1896, 
 ** Dear Stephen : 
 
 " I think about you a great deal these days. We 
 shall be so greatly interested to know what your impres- 
 sions of the East are, and what you find which you can 
 take hold of, — learn better there than out West. There 
 is a difference, and that is much ; one has a wider out- 
 look after mingling with people from different parts of 
 the world, or even of a country. 
 
 ^' I keep yet glad for our time together in Oberlin. I 
 did not do some things which I ought to have done, and 
 hoped to do. Before I went home, the thing I hoped 
 most was that I might help some of you on in the spirit- 
 ual life, that I might share some of the precious and 
 wonderful things in the Bible which God had shown to 
 me. But God seemed to show me that you were not 
 ready, and also that He would gradually teach you Him- 
 self. I felt sure you were then gaining, and so was glad, 
 because it is better to learn directly from God than 
 through any other. Yet it has been such joy to me to 
 learn many precious truths through others, that I always 
 want to find some one to share my joys with. I have al- 
 ways wanted to share everything nice and pleasant with 
 somebody who needed it. So I keep on praying, * Dear 
 
300 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 Lord, I want you to teach my children all which you 
 have taught me.^ For many years it was my daily 
 prayer, ' Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold won- 
 drous things out of Thy law.' Law means the whole 
 revelation of Himself in the Bible and out of it. These 
 last, the things of Nature, are easier to see ; so when I 
 pray, I mean largely the Bible teaching. 
 
 ^' Nature's showing forth of God is wonderful, from the 
 Pleiades to the tiniest flower seed. The power of life in 
 the seed is marvellous,— so small it is, but it has life, it is 
 a living thing by God's power in it. The Pleiades, a 
 system of mighty suns set in thick star dust, and moving 
 on their ordained path, also by God's power in them, — 
 so wonderful ! But I have often wondered more joyfully 
 over some little sentence of counsel or comfort coming 
 with such wise, gentle, and loving touch, that I feel like 
 saying, * How could you know, O God, how much that 
 would help me ! ' When my heart has been bitter and 
 hard, just a touch, a word, and the Holy Spirit with un- 
 speakable kindness has taken away the hardness and the 
 bitter thoughts. 
 
 ^' There are hours of high access to God which are 
 worth more than weeks of common, dull life. Yet it 
 seems as if the common life had to be the most of what 
 there is. We do not strive enough for the better part ; 
 we are too easily satisfied. The common part of life is 
 where temptations come in to be fought with, and that 
 shows it not unimportant, — and while we strive to do all 
 to God's glory, the common things need not be dull." 
 
 ^^ November 10th, 
 " I have just been rereading the letters of August and 
 September. You dear children, — that is all I can say. I 
 will ask the Lord to keep me worthy of my children's 
 love. 
 
LOVE NEVER FAILETH 301 
 
 "This is my mother's birthday, and March 22, 1869, 
 was her heavenly birthday. Good-night, with love, 
 "Your mother, 
 "Isabella E. Williams." 
 
 ^^Kalgauj Nov, 10, 1896. 
 " My Dear Children : 
 
 " Tve been reading over your letters of August, the 
 last we have had. They tell of the family dinner for 
 Cousin Anna Jones before she started back to Constanti- 
 nople. And of Mary's and Spencer's home-coming, — 
 how delightful to see Mary back again. I shut my eyes 
 and see her, and I can see the joy in your Aunt Mattie's 
 face, so that I'm glad too (though the timfe is past, and 
 many other things are past too). But it's pleasant to 
 imagine it all. If I didn't read the letters over and over, 
 I'm afraid I shouldn't have spirit to write. I'll go back 
 to the imaginings, and think I hear George Harding play." 
 
 " November 11th, 
 "I haven't written since your father's birthday. I 
 made a very best cake that day. We took dinner with 
 Cora and Dr. Waples and invited them for tea, but they 
 had to put it off till yesterday, when Dorothy Delight 
 and her high chair came too. 
 
 " I have just come back from morning prayers and rec- 
 itations at the school. The girls come here to sew in the 
 afternoons. They are making such cunning baby clothes, 
 and the older girls have made two little brown gowns for 
 Liya, stockings and a Kanchier for the blind boy, and a 
 pair of fao Wus from Stephen's old gymnasium suit. 
 We quite look down on patchwork now, but will have to 
 come to it for the little girls, at least. I have plenty of 
 work for the older girls. The baby clothes we shall give 
 to Qur Chinese friends as need comes. 
 
302 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 " Last school year we had so many poor girls, and they 
 were very ragged. Most of them were nice girls, and I^d 
 be glad to get them back, rags and all. I find work for 
 Hsin Wu three or four days in the week. She needs 
 help of every kind, — but mostly from God. • • ." 
 
 " November 18, 1896. 
 
 "I must tell you how much we like the samples of our 
 new dresses. It was nice of you to send them, so we 
 could be anticipating, and think how they will look. 
 
 ^* We are having the loveliest of weather, but know the 
 cold must some. The snapdragons in the garden still 
 hold up their heads, but everything else is frosted. 
 
 *' Chin Ch'un Te is back to-day after a sixteen days' 
 absence in Mongolia in search of a cow for the doctor. 
 We have been alarmed about him, and had thoughts of a 
 lonely ravine and a torn skin coat, but the Chinese have 
 said ^ P'ai pu tza' and so we have kept our visions of 
 coat and ravine to ourselves. Yu Fu has brought his 
 wife and baby up from Ching Ke Ta. She is going to 
 study some, but with two little children she will not have 
 much time. The blind boy has been a good deal of care 
 in the school, and his sisters have perhaps done their best, 
 which was not good. They are bright girls, but they 
 have come from a slatternly home. Now their home is 
 moved into our yard, we shall see if we can change it 
 somewhat. I like the girls very much. . . ." 
 
 " December i, 1896, 
 "Etta will tell you of our new schoolgirl who has come 
 so cheerfully to have her feet unbound. Thereby, how- 
 ever, she gets a husband ! And Etta helps with the be- 
 trothal money. (I am glad to say that I do not yet worry 
 about betrothing Liya !) 
 
LOVE NEVER FAILETH 303 
 
 **We dined at the Eussian postmaster's to-day. 
 Caviare, sardines and bread, cold tongue and pork, first 
 course ; — soup and a new kind of fritter the second. 
 Fried chicken, pickled mushrooms, crab-apples and pears, 
 and rye bread from Kiachta, the next, and a grand finale 
 of sponge cake with delicious fruit between the layers and 
 Eussian candy. 
 
 *^I was much pleased with the flower seeds, and am 
 going to plant sweet alyssum in a pot, now. Such lovely 
 things as we shall have next year ! My English violets 
 are beautiful and fill our rooms with fragrance. 
 
 " The two pictures of Oxford girls and your last letters 
 lie beside me as I write. I've just been hunting out the 
 girls you've written about, and have fallen in love with 
 quite a number of them in your freshman picture. 
 
 " With love to all my dear ones, 
 
 "Your mother, 
 
 "Isabella E. Willl^ms." 
 
 ^'Kalgan, Bee, 16 ^ 1896, 
 "Deae STEPHEIf: 
 
 "You put your case very well. For college work 
 I have no doubt you are doing the right thing, if you 
 never let study overtop the thought of work for God and 
 men. Think of our great Western America, and pray 
 that you may be one to build there the kingdom of God. 
 I believe there is great danger in such special education, 
 unless one is continually watching. If you keep close to 
 God, He will show you that all education should be 
 striven for that you may best serve His children. Else 
 the education will seem greater than it should, and the 
 need of the world less. 
 
 * * Just now we need that you pray for us, Moses' hands 
 were heavy ; when he let them fall, Amalek prevailed, 
 but when Aaron and Hur held them up, Israel prevailed. 
 
304: BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 This tells as well as anything why we need your prayers 
 so much, — and it is but for a few years, at the most. 
 
 *'It is of no use to advise unless one is very gifted in 
 that line, but I should like to bribe you not to work so 
 hard ! A fever will come by and by, and take out four 
 to six months of life, and your gain from working so 
 hard will be gone several times over. I think you feel 
 because you will have to borrow a part of the money for 
 your course at Harvard that you must work exceedingly 
 hard. When my ship comes in, you shall have a share ! 
 (I wish I had a ship !) My little share of a canoe, that is 
 to say, the rent of the house in the Upper City, I have 
 given for a year to the Board, or I could send you that. 
 
 "The surgical hospital was dedicated to-day. We 
 have had money to buy land for some time, but nothing 
 for building, and we knew in the present state of the 
 Board^s finances, it would be years before they could give 
 us an appropriation. The Santee friends and the Indian 
 children sent us fifty dollars ; we had some help from the 
 friends in Peking, and then we made up the amount, all 
 giving what we could, and the house is built. We thank 
 God. This house, small as it is, we rejoice in exceed- 
 ingly ; it gives Dr. Waples a real opportunity in work. 
 He is growing in Christian earnestness ; it is a joy indeed 
 to watch him. At the service to-day he said to the peo- 
 ple, that ' if only men's bodies were cured, the house 
 would have been built in vain. It is built to save men's 
 souls.' " 
 
 " Kalgan, Dec. 28 y 1896, 
 " My Dear Children : 
 
 "I'm writing on some of the nice paper which 
 Etta gave me for Christmas. She gave to your father 
 and me a book, * Friendship the Master Passion ' by 
 Henry Clay Trumbull. T look forward to pleasure in 
 
LOVE NEVER FAILETH 305 
 
 reading it. Christmas morning I gave cards with verses 
 written on them to the schoolgirls, and at night they had 
 other gifts from the tree. For we have really had a 
 Christmas tree ! Cora trained the girls to sing ^ Merry, 
 Merry Christmas ^ which is in our new hymn-book, and 
 she took so much pains with them that they did very well, 
 and we were all much pleased. Your father and I had 
 the boys practice ^ In a Manger laid so lowly ' for Chi'ist- 
 liias evening. ..." 
 
 ^^ January 6 J 1897, 
 " This takes my most loving wishes for a happy year 
 for each of you. I shall be well in a few days. Please 
 write a letter to your Uncle Eob and tell him anything 
 that^s nice to write from any of my letters. 
 
 ^'Good-night, dear children all, — God bless you each 
 one. Your loving 
 
 ''Mother.'^ 
 
 ^^Kalgauj Jan. 15, 1897. 
 "Dear Stephen : 
 
 ' ' Two weeks ago I took a very bad cold, and after a 
 few days I had to give up and stay in the house. For a 
 good many days I have been coughing, lying in bed and 
 suffering, but now I am getting a little better. Dr. 
 Waples takes very good care of me, and Cora sees that I 
 have something to eat three times a day. Some one has 
 had to stand over me to make me eat ! But I am improv- 
 ing in that respect. 
 
 * * A new little girl has come to our school. Her mother 
 did not know that her feet must be unbound if she were 
 to stay. . . .'- 
 
 This letter, her last, was written for her by Mrs. 
 Sprague. She had said, '* In a few days I shall be well." 
 
306 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 The few days went by, and she was " well " indeed. Mrs. 
 Sprague wrote, ** I remember her saying, * Whatever is 
 done is of God.^ It was hard for her to talk. She said 
 once to your father, * Gx)d is good.^ The last night, the 
 doctor was going to stay with her, but she seemed to wish 
 your father near her.'^ 
 
 To the brother and sisters in America, Henrietta wrote 
 on January twenty -sixth : — 
 
 " My Dear, Deak Brother and Sisters : 
 
 * ^ Dear mamma died this morning. I was alone with 
 her. . . . Last night I read two letters of hers writ- 
 ten after grandfather's death. In one of them she said, 
 * For me the earth seemed glorified by the passage of my 
 saint to heaven.' It seemed as if she was having me read 
 them for her own good-bye. It was hard for mamma to 
 talk or think connectedly these weeks of her sickness, so 
 she couldn' t send special messages to you. Once she said, 
 ^ Give away the things the dear twins sent me in the 
 Christmas box.' On January twenty-third she said, 
 ^ Give my best love to my children. I tried to write to 
 them, but it was too hard.' 
 
 " Don't feel badly because she sent no special messages 
 to each, but read her letters,— they are messages." 
 
 ^^Kalgan, Feb. 3, 1897. 
 " My Dear, Dear Ones : 
 
 ^ ^ I have been looking over a little desk of mamma's, 
 and found several things which made me think she meant 
 the writings and clippings to say a good-bye message 
 from her to us, if she couldn't give us one at the time of 
 her sickness. 
 
 "An old letter from her mother, several from Grand- 
 father Riggs, several from her brothers and sisters, written 
 at the time of grandfather's death or after, and some that 
 
LOVE NEVER FAILETH 307 
 
 mamma wrote at the time of his death. There is a little 
 account-book of mine, where I pencilled, * One cash for 
 putting Emmy to bed ^ ; some locks of baby hair in an 
 envelope ; a little note of Daisy's saying, 'Mamma, I am 
 trying to be a good girl, and Anna is trying too ' j and 
 a short, pencilled note of papa's written when he was on a 
 tour. There is that little poem of Eugene Field' s, ' Some- 
 time,' and a most beautiful one by Susan C5oolidge, — 
 ' Hereafter.' The first lines are : — 
 
 " * When yon are dead, when yon and I are dead, 
 Are dead, and cast aside each earthly fetter, 
 I think that we shall know each other better.' 
 
 Then two lines : — 
 
 " * Pnzzle and pain will be behind ns then, 
 ' AU will be known, and all will be forgiven.* 
 
 There is a note speaking of the death of Miss Diament's 
 mother : — * " Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, for 
 their works do follow them." We have to work so hard 
 to keep up our vantage ground, to follow up our work, 
 but their works follow them, — He sees to that.' 
 
 *'. . . You must be brave and loving, because our 
 mother was so brave and loving. Some of the letters she 
 wrote about grandfather's death will make you under- 
 stand better how she bore up, and how she would like 
 you to feel about her going away." 
 
 In a volume of poems by Helen Hunt Jackson, a birth- 
 day gift to her daughter Mary, on the day of their part- 
 ing, these lines were found marked : — 
 
 " Dear hearts, whose love has been so sweet to know, 
 That I am looking backward as I go, 
 Am lingering while I haste, and in this rain 
 Of tears of joy, am mingling tears of pain, — 
 
308 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 Do not adorn with costly shrub or tree 
 
 Or flower, the little grave which shelters me. 
 
 Let the wild, wind-sown seeds grow up unharmed. 
 
 And back and forth, all summer, unalarmed, 
 
 Let all the tiny, busy creatures creep ; 
 
 Let the sweet grass its last year's tangles keep ; 
 
 And when, remembering me, you come, some day, 
 
 And stand there, speak no praise, but only say, 
 
 * How she loved us ! 'Twas that which made her dear ! ' 
 
 These are the words that I shall joy to hear." 
 
 Of the maDy letters written to her children in America 
 after her home-going, some must claim a place here, 
 although it be like taking from an exquisite wreath a few 
 fragrant flowers. Her friend, Miss Andrews, wrote : — 
 
 "I remember well the dear mother as I saw her first 
 in the spring of 1869 when we gathered in Peking for the 
 mission meeting. And I remember, too, the dainty little 
 blossom of a girl clingiug to her, your sister Etta, then 
 two years old. Your mother's sweet face charmed me, 
 and so did her voice in the singing which followed the 
 evening prayer-meetiugs. I loved her, and looked for- 
 ward to a time when I should come to know her better. 
 It was in 1885 that I made my first visit to Kalgan. I 
 remember the three or four happy days spent in your 
 city home, when I saw your mother in her home life, in 
 her intercourse with her children, entering into all your 
 simple pleasures and helping to make a happy life for 
 you, — and in those days I learned to love her more. 
 
 ** But it was in the last year of your mother's life, when 
 I was again spending the summer at Kalgan, that we 
 drew closest together. (You were all in the homeland 
 then, except Henrietta, who had come out to share in our 
 work here.) We were together beside the death-bed of 
 Kang Wen Yuan, Martha Gulick's brother; together, 
 too, when Kao Yueh's little baby was laid to rest ; and 
 those are scenes that draw hearts close. Then neither of 
 
LOVE NEVER FAILETH 309 
 
 us was strong enough for the long rambles which others 
 took, but often we contented ourselves with little walks 
 over the nearer hills, or seated in some quiet graveyard, 
 we shared our home letters, and talked of the precious 
 things. For she was one with whom it was easy to talk 
 of sacred things,— of the things which lie nearest our 
 hearts. And so the love between us grew and grew. I 
 think there was nothing in your mother's character which 
 so impressed me, as the steadfastness of her love. Those 
 whom she took into her heart held their place there for- 
 ever. 
 
 *^I remember some of the Chinese whom she loved, 
 who proved so ungrateful for that love, and so unworthy 
 of it, — who wandered so far from the right. But her 
 love still followed and clung to them, and would not give 
 them up. She was Christlike in the unchangeableness 
 of her love. And the love shone out from her eyes, and 
 her face beamed with the happy-heartedness which was 
 one of her great charms to me." 
 
 In a memorial published in the Chinese Becorder, 
 Dr. Goodrich wrote : — ^* Nothing impressed me more in 
 Mrs. Williams' character than the depth and persistency 
 of her love, and nothing so much, unless it be the genu- 
 ineness of her character and the sensitiveness of her con- 
 science. How generous she was in her nature and acts ! 
 How quick and responsive were her sympathies I 
 
 " * As ready to fly Easfe as West, 
 Whichever way besonght them. * 
 
 And what a wealth of love she poured out upon her 
 pupils, a love which has followed them ever since, some- 
 times in their squalor and rags and sin, never giving 
 them up." 
 
 Of one Chinese woman who had been in the home at 
 
310 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 Kalgan, Mrs. Whiting wrote : — *^ Wu Ma will never for- 
 get all your mother has done for her, and more than that, 
 what she has been to her. I have sometimes thought that 
 if, after laboring long in China, there was orie woman who 
 could speak of me as Wu Ma does of your mother, I 
 would think I had done a good work.'' 
 
 In a letter from Mrs. Ament of Peking came this 
 tribute : — " One could not be long in the company of your 
 mother without realizing that she drew water from the 
 unfailing spring. Her happiness seemed so little de- 
 pendent upon material things that one feels her entrance 
 into the unseen world could involve no startling change. 
 
 *^ She loved beauty of form and color, and was the soul 
 of the party when we climbed the hills together. No day 
 was so busy with the routine of little, weaiying, household 
 cares, but that she found time to read something beauti- 
 ful, or to say something which should inspire those near 
 her. Tender sympathy with the young, feeble, and un- 
 fortunate, was as natural to her as breathing, and she 
 gladly gave of her best thought and strength to the 
 Chinese about her." 
 
 The following memorial sketch was written by Dr. 
 Henry Porter of P'ang Chuang : — 
 
 ^'Isabella Riggs was born into the missionary inherit- 
 ance. The beautiful Indian country of Minnesota was her 
 childhood home. She shared in the early simplicity and 
 hardship as well as terror of the early days. These 
 wrought in her intensity and strength. She inherited from 
 her father much of that mental clearness, strength and pre- 
 cision which made his work the foundation for the upbuild- 
 ing of the Sioux nation. To some it seemed unwise to 
 devote all this vigor and enthusiasm of thought and pur- 
 pose to a work of beginnings in the interior of China where 
 heathenism was so deeply intrenched that the results of 
 patient seed-sowing must needs come slowly. But if 
 
LOVE NEVER FAILETH 311 
 
 there was ever a regret or a feeling that life had not held 
 all of joyful success longed for, none ever knew it. 
 
 **To some of us now on the mission field comes the 
 memory of that day in February, 1866, when Isabella 
 Eiggs and Mark Williams were married in the home 
 church at Beloit. A merry group of lads and lassies from 
 the old academy and the schools gathered in the galleries 
 of the church to witness the ceremony. How distant and 
 unapproachable it seemed to us then, — the China of a gen- 
 eration ago. I was permitted to read the daily journal of 
 the long voyage, which took them from New York far 
 around the Cape of Good Hope to Canton, in a sailing 
 vessel. Four long months of weary drifting on the seem- 
 ingly endless tide brought them at last to the shores of 
 China. This was the last of those long voyages. The 
 very next year, the Great EepubliCj the first of the 
 splendid steamers of the Pacific Mail line, began that 
 career which has opened up the Pacific trade with the 
 Far East, and brought China and Japan to be neighbors 
 but a trifle farther away than England and France. 
 
 " On the border between China and Mongolia stands the 
 city of Kalgan, a beautiful warder upon the Great Wall, 
 the gateway upward towards the Grass Lands. Attracted 
 alike by the beauty and healthfulness of the country, as 
 well as by the pitiful need of the commingling peoples of 
 the border town, Rev. John Gulick had begun mission 
 work in the city in 1865. Full of determined enthusiasm, 
 Mr. Gulick and his wife came down in the spring of 1867 
 to secure, if possible, a fellow worker for the distant 
 station. A meeting of the mission was called in Tientsin, 
 where Mr. and Mrs. Williams were just beginning their 
 mission life, and these two young and happy workers 
 were swept into the current of the new effort. They went 
 at once to the outpost on the Great Wall. 
 
 " The dialect of the Kalgan region is a quaint mixture. 
 
312 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 Most of the people have come from Shausi. Their speech 
 is harder and more varied than the mandarin of the 
 plains. To one accustomed to the soft sibilants of the 
 Tientsin speech, or to the clear, rapid speech of the capi- 
 tal, the Kalgan speech seems rough. Mrs. Williams 
 used it with rare accuracy and force, and through these 
 thirty years she wielded it with the ease of one born to 
 its use. The difficulty of speech was again proved to be, 
 as so often in these missionary experiences, the least of 
 the difficulties in the midst of which so many labors must 
 be wrought. Of that other difficulty, the touching of the 
 lives of men and women with the melting and moulding 
 influence of sympathy and unabating care, the record is 
 chiefly written in the hidden struggles of the hearts of 
 those who work for men. 
 
 ^ ' There is a touch of the sublime when a life works itself 
 to its end, undisturbed by every difficulty, confident that 
 each life has its special work to do ; filled with a secret 
 joy that the allotted work, large or less, is enriched 
 through God's blessing. 
 
 ** The world grows cold to us when the strong and brave 
 hearts of men and women who have wrought righteous- 
 ness are silent before us. The life more abundant is il- 
 lumined once again when the gates are lifted, and we 
 catch a glimpse of that which is beyond. Isabella Eiggs 
 spent these thirty years at Kalgan, *the gate' of the 
 higher country. There was another Gate, more rich and 
 beautiful than even an earthly temple might possess. 
 Beside that Gate, into the higher and beautiful land, she 
 was always sitting. Through that Gate she has passed 
 ' into the City.' '' 
 
IX 
 
 POOR DUMB MOUTHS 
 
 Sketches of Chinese Life 
 
 " In all their poverty and filtb, I see God's children, — ^immortal 
 souls."— J. B, W. 
 
 '' T^ ^ADAM, liave you heard what happened 
 \ /■ last night at the first house by the Big 
 
 X tX Trees r' 
 
 " 1^0, what was it?'^ 
 
 '* You remember they married a new bride there a year 
 ago ; a good-looking girl she was, — her feet werefeetj—a, 
 nice face she had, some pockmarked to be sure, but you 
 didn^t notice it much when she used mien fen. Her aunt 
 said this morning that she had a bit of a temper ; such a 
 pity, too, the way it has turned out. They say she could 
 sew well, and was tidy about the house. I wish I could 
 get such a wife for my son ! Well, her mother-in-law is 
 a fussy woman ; she has to be first anyway, and of course 
 in her own home she ought to be. She took a dislike to 
 the new bride, and nothing she could do would suit. If 
 she made shoe soles, it was, ^ Didn' t your mother teach you 
 to do a better job than that?^ — if she starched the 
 clothes, it was, ' Who can wear such boards ? ^ or * So 
 limp, Tm ashamed to let him go on the street with it 
 on P or * You malleted the gown to rags, I do declare ! ' 
 
 ** The bride ought to have been patient ; she didn^t say 
 anything, but just looked. She ought to have pitied her 
 mother-in-law, — she has a bad foot : it was hurt some 
 way, and she can hardly hobble around. Bits of bone 
 
 313 
 
3U BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 come out now and then, and she's too cross to live with. 
 The bride's mother is a good-natured sort of body, with 
 large-bound feet, — (she is ashamed enough of them,)— and 
 they have a happy, jolly time at their house. You know 
 where they live, — at that village where you went to see 
 the fever patient last week. 
 
 * * Poor child, she couldn' t stand it. * Tell her husband, ' 
 you say I No use to do that. He would beat her and go 
 off and tell his mother. If my girl gets a husband like 
 him, I shall pray God to have her die. The girl bore it 
 as long as she could, then after her baby was born, — (it 
 was a boy, and they were all so pleased,) — it was sick 
 two months and she got worn out taking care of it day 
 and night and towards the end, working when it slept. 
 One night it was better, but very weak, and she overlaid 
 it. She cried herself sick, and they all scolded her. If 
 they had stopped after a little, — (she ought to be scolded 
 some, so careless)— but there are people who can't stop 
 with enough ! 
 
 ^^ Poor child, she made up her mind to end it all. Her 
 father-in-law smoked opium: (did you guess that, the 
 day we were there ?) and she always had to make it ready 
 for him. She saved out a very little for a good many 
 days, and last night she hurried through the work, and 
 went to bed early. Her husband was off on business. 
 She had a cup of hot water and a biscuit, and went into 
 their little room openiug off his mother's. She slipped 
 the bolt softly, and they did not know. 
 
 ^'This morning she did not get up nor answer, and 
 they were very much vexed. They tore open the paper 
 window, but she didn't stir, so they took out the windows 
 and found her dead. Then they had a time ! The other 
 families of their court came flocking in, and a few min- 
 utes more, and all the street knew it. They sent for her 
 husband, and for her father and mother. The officers 
 
POOR DUMB MOUTHS 316 
 
 from the Yamen came at once to look into the affair. 
 Yes, a hard time they are having ! Her mother wailing 
 all day, and saying all sorts of bad things about them ! 
 It will cost them a lot ! The city governor will make 
 them buy the finest coffin in town, and her brothers will 
 see to it that all her nice bride-clothes and her jewelry 
 are put on, and then there'll be a grand funeral. Be- 
 sides that they will have to pay out a lot of money to the 
 Yamen to let them off with nothing worse. When alPs 
 done, they will be as poor as rats at the Beggar's Inn ! ^' 
 
 The day set for the funeral comes. Musicians play 
 dirges, the procession goes forth under a sunny sky ; beg- 
 gars carry the bier, and banners float gaily. 
 
 Sky, weep tears ! Earth, bemoan the dead ! Alas, 
 no ! The sun still shines on the beautiful burial ground ! 
 
 In the late afternoon, some Chinese women come to sit 
 a while. 
 
 "Madam, are you well, and are the children wellt 
 Does the madam know about the funeral to-day ? Such 
 a pity for the young life gone ! And the family really 
 hadn't paid up all that they borrowed at the time of the 
 marriage. They will have to sell their house to pay their 
 debts. 
 
 " I knew a thing like this long ago when I was a girl. 
 The bride was a cousin, — not near, — but we called her 
 ' Elder Sister. ' She was a farmer s daughter, and married 
 into a farmer's family. Their work, however, was heavier 
 than she had been used to. There were eighteen or nine- 
 teen in the family to cook for, to make and mend for. The 
 daughters-in-law had their hands full with their babies, 
 — the cooking, sewing and field-work too. They were a 
 little close, that family, and didn't hire help, but farmers 
 don' t make much, that' s a fact. This bride got into a quar- 
 
316 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 rel with her second sister-in-law. It was about her boy, 
 — (spoiled child, he was to blame !)— the second son's wife 
 thought her children were perfect, and so did their grand- 
 mother. The quarrel kept on, and the husband got in it, 
 and their mother scolded right and left. The boy jeered at 
 his third aunt, when she was being scolded the worst, and 
 her husband gave her a beating. Of course he was most 
 angry at the others, but she was the only one he could 
 beat. She had been a good girl at home with her mother, 
 and hadn't been beaten since she was little and unbound 
 her feet because she couldn't sleep nights. (A good many 
 little girls have to be beaten for that.) She wasn't used 
 to many children either. She was her mother's ^ child of 
 old age.' (That was the pet name for her.) So now she 
 asked to go home. She ought not to have asked ; it was 
 neither the Middle of the First Month, nor any other fes- 
 tival. They wouldn't let her go, and the boy jeered more. 
 She was very quiet and nobody suspected anything, but 
 when they all came in from the field she wasn't there. 
 They looked in the stable to see if she had hung herself, 
 and then they looked in the well and found her. Such a 
 trouble ! They got her out when my uncle and cousins 
 went down with the magistrate. Oh, they made it hard 
 for them ! Such a burial the countryside never saw, 
 and the girl only nineteen, just the age of that poor young 
 wife down the street here. Her brothers made her hus- 
 band buy piece after piece of cotton cloth, and piece after 
 piece of silk, and fill up the coffin. Then they poured 
 oil and thin melted glue all over the silks and beautiful 
 clothes. Anybody opening that coffin wouldn't find a 
 thread worth stealing. The family sold their best land, 
 and have been poor ever since. 
 
 " Well, after all, girls shouldn't have tempers ; it isn't 
 worth while to make so much trouble for every one. We 
 all have to endure." 
 
POOR DUMB MOUTHS 317 
 
 "Yes, sister, but you know that the women who are 
 good to their brides are the sensible ones; they have 
 grandchildren to keep up the family, and it is better to 
 be kind." 
 
 "Madam, how is it with the Christians? Is it true 
 that you are all kind to your brides! " 
 
 The Stoey of the Socks 
 
 "Tell them about the stockings," said a friend. For 
 my own part I was quite willing to let it remain untold, 
 but she insisted, so here it is. 
 
 It was arranged that eight from the winter class were 
 to recite to me after morning prayers. We have no class- 
 rooms, but my sitting-room, or parlor, was quite at their 
 service. "How about their shoes, full of hobnails, and 
 in wet weather, so dirty, with snow and gravel clinging 
 to the cloth soles?" "They can slip them off outside 
 the door, and come in stocking-feet." " But their stock- 
 ings are so dirty !" "Then it is time they are made 
 cleaner." 
 
 The boys and men recited to me for a week or more 
 before I thought best to say anything, and then I said, 
 "I want you to have clean stockings. How many have 
 two pairs?" "Three of us have." " Their folks are 
 well off," one of the other boys confided to me afterwards. 
 
 Said I, " Here are two or three pairs of large socks, and 
 some smaller ones, enough to go around for you, and 
 you, and you. Wash yours at noon recess, and bring 
 them to Mrs. Chang when dry." " Such black things," 
 she laughed, and carried them off for another rubbing. 
 Finally she patiently patched and mended them, inside 
 and out. After that, some one washed, as well as mended 
 for the small boys ; the older ones and the men washing 
 their garments and sometimes mending them. The boys 
 held up their heads straighter when they came in with 
 
318 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 even one clean article on. The stockings and socks lent 
 to them (which had been donated by nearly every mem- 
 ber of the Kalgan station) were washed and ready for 
 use again. One young fellow said his weren't worth 
 washing, but being encouraged to try, he got a pailful of 
 suds from my washerman, and gaily rubbed away until 
 soles and uppers had parted compauy. He brought them 
 to Mrs. Chang and Mrs. Hsi with perfect faith in their 
 ability to renew them. We had no choice ; the only way 
 to mend was to buy a new pair. After I gave them to 
 him, he was the happiest fellow alive, sitting day after 
 day through the recitation hour, gazing with satisfaction 
 at his trim feet; no country boy in his first town suit 
 could be more full of joy. One after another of his gar- 
 ments which could be cleansed, were washed, and his 
 face he scrubbed till it shone. Ears and neck were not 
 so shining, but at last, one day, he actually came to them 
 in his attempts for cleanliness. 
 
 My class had additions till they numbered fifteen. It 
 was plainly the favored class ! its members were getting 
 a bit of mothering. So the rest asked if their things 
 couldn't be mended too ; the eight or nine pairs of Amer- 
 ican socks and stockings were kept going, and had to be 
 patched till one could hardly tell the original fabric. 
 Week after week the patient women worked, glad to get 
 employment. The repair of clothing for some fifty per- 
 sons came into the hands of a number of them, as well as 
 the washing for the younger boys. Such pitiful clothes 
 as we saw sometimes ! 
 
 " Madam, I want to go home to my mother," said one 
 lad. " My trousers are so ragged I can't wear them any 
 longer. The cotton wadding has all fallen down into my 
 legs, and is very bunchy, — ^not comfortable at all." 
 
 " Perhaps we can mend them here." So the lad went 
 to bed, and sent his trousers in to me. There is always 
 
A GROUP OF BUDDHIST PRIESTS 
 
 i ^ 
 
 1 
 s 
 
 
 A CHINESE K'ANG 
 
POOR DUMB MOUTHS 319 
 
 opportunity to learn something in China. I was learning 
 about dirt. The garment, ragged and filthy to the ex- 
 treme ; — ^how could I ask my woman to touch it 1 With 
 sharp scissors I cut off the vilest rags, burning them, and 
 basted large pieces over the holes ; then my woman came 
 in, and 'twas easy to enlist her kind heart on the boy's 
 behalf. The labor of love accomplished by those women 
 was not small. Often have I said, ** Remember them, O 
 my God, for this." 
 
 Single or double garments — ^the rule was rigorous — 
 must be washed before mending, but wadded clothes for 
 the little fellows often had to be mended as they were. 
 The men mended their own, so it was for the thirty or 
 forty younger ones that the women did most work. The 
 boys were expected to bow, and thank the women who 
 worked for them. The waist-coats worn next to the 
 body we insisted on having scalded, and sometimes it 
 was necessary that I should see it done. 
 
 '^ How can you bear to do such things ? " " It is easy 
 when one says over and over, ^ Inasmuch— one of the 
 least of these— ye have done it unto Me.' '^ 
 
 A Dream 
 
 I will dream that one of these dear girls is carried in 
 the twinkling of an eye to China. Presto, change ! and 
 she is a Chinese girl. 
 
 This court fifteen feet square, surrounded by mud 
 houses is her home, and that of five other families. She 
 cannot go to church or Christian Endeavor meetings ; she 
 cannot go to school, or have any kind of an outing more 
 than a dozen times a year. When she was younger, she 
 could go on the street for small items of marketing, but 
 now her mother is watchful of her, — it is time to plan for 
 her marriage, — she is twelve years old, and tall for her 
 
320 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 Let us see how her day goes. There is a round of 
 washing bowls and pots, sweeping the one or two family 
 rooms, and squatting on a bit of old mat outside the door, 
 to wash, with a brick for wash-board, and soda instead of 
 soap. She rubs away patiently at white stockings that 
 are nearly black, and the boys' ragged trousers besides 
 her own, for girls as well as boys are out at seat and 
 knee. The mat on the kang wears out clothes unmerci- 
 fully, and there is an unceasing round of washing and 
 patching. 
 
 "Well, girl,'' her mother says, **work away, for to- 
 morrow is the ninth of the Ninth Month, and if you are 
 diligent to-day, you may go with your aunt and me to 
 the missionary's home. Oh, of course we go to the temple 
 first. 
 
 " Bind your feet a little more tightly, child ! Who do 
 you think will marry you with such feet? You know 
 I've always told you that a woman should have head and 
 feet nice. Eub a little easier, and be saving of the soda. 
 I spent three cents for it, and it will be long enough be- 
 fore I can get more. I shall save up quite a while to get 
 thirty cents, so I can buy cloth for the baby a suit. It's 
 getting cool, and the missionary lady says it's because he 
 goes bare, that he's sick all the time." 
 
 "Mother, can't you buy cloth for me some shoes f 
 Mine have had these bits of cloth glued on the toes for a 
 long time, and they're not very nice." 
 
 " Dear, dear, how you children do wear out your 
 things ! Well, if you help with the fur-sewing, and we 
 earn ten cents a day regularly, you can buy the cloth 
 next month." 
 
 " I need ankle-cloths too." 
 
 "Kow child! what a girl you are! Have you gone 
 and washed yours all to pieces ? If I was as strong as I 
 used to be, I'd do the washing all myself ! Go to the 
 
POOR DUMB MOUTHS 321 
 
 gate and if your brother is there, tell him to come 
 quickly and bring argols to cook supper with. It's well 
 for us that the grocer trusted me for the millet. We 
 shall not go hungry to-night as we did last night." 
 
 The father comes in with two cents' worth of carrots for 
 supper. He says, " The new foreign doctor is a man of 
 great skill, I hear. Quite a wonderful case they are tell- 
 ing of all over town. But I liked the other doctor j she 
 was very kind to us. I've always thought that when I 
 had time I would go and learn about Jesus." 
 
 Christ or Buddha ? 
 
 Siddhartha — who is he, when compared to Jesus, 
 thorn-crowned, mocked, forsaken, *' bearing our sins in 
 His own body on the tree " ? 
 
 A reviewer says, ^'Buddhism may possibly prove a 
 rival to Christianity." Strange to write thus now, when 
 Christ is going forth conquering and to conquer. It is 
 late in the day. 
 
 Let that writer go to teach Buddhism to Buddhists, for 
 truly there is need. Let him go to China, and when he 
 has reached the heart of the people, and at the core of 
 the deepest ignorance and the grossest darkness he finds 
 the idea of merit, will he not retract that sneering word f 
 
 ^' Lo, I am holy ! For ten years I have killed neither 
 louse nor flee. See them swarm upon my garments. 
 Nor have I eaten flesh. Omito Foa ! remember thou me 
 for good.'^ Thus speaks the Buddhist saint ! 
 
 How interesting is the newly revived sect of Buddhists 
 in Japan, who disclaim all self-saving, and hold that 
 faith in Amita Buddha's boundless merit brings salva- 
 tion ! This shall prove a stepping-stone to faith in 
 Jesus. Instead of Amita Buddha, shall be worshipped 
 ** the Living God, the King of eternity." 
 
 **The gods that have not made the heavens and the 
 
322 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from 
 under these heavens." 
 
 Are you praying for Japan ? for China ? The work in 
 Japan is wonderful ; it is like the flower bursting into 
 bloom. China is the tree of the ages ; Japan, as it were, 
 its blossom. 
 
 A Pagan Suckled in a Creed Outworn 
 
 It is noon in North China. Through the oasis near 
 Hsuan-Hua Fu, tea-laden camels pass in trains, the 
 sound of their slow bells filling the air among the willow 
 trees. Now they go up towards *^ the City," so called by 
 the people of the place. It was a capital town in the 
 days when ^* there was a king for every thirty miles." 
 A Peking man, who knows there is but one city under 
 heaven, smiles with curling lip, ^* The city, indeed!" 
 and his swift donkey trots past the camels, overtaking a 
 litter whose driver has slept on his animal for a couple of 
 hours. They go over a massive bridge, which has, how- 
 ever, more than once during the century, been partially 
 swept away by the terrible torrents from the mountains. 
 Huge stone slabs lie here and there, where the floods left 
 them. 
 
 Up go the string of camels, the litter still ahead, and 
 now it is passing the temple outside the city, — a temple 
 dedicated to the river god ; yet more than one deity has 
 its shrine here. 
 
 A priest strikes his gong asking much-needed gifts. 
 One of the temple roofs has fallen in since the heavy rains 
 began, and the silent idols are exposed to rain and wind. 
 Not quite so ; if you look in, you can see mats stretched 
 over their heads. The priest strikes more rapidly; a 
 Chinaman in the litter throws three or four cash into the 
 basket held out by a little boy. The driver gives noth- 
 ing. He is a Mohammedan. Our friend from Peking 
 
POOR DUMB MOUTHS 323 
 
 and the camel drivers give, — one taking a easli from his 
 ear, but the last man gazes on the landscape in an oppo- 
 site direction. The gods are richer by three-fourths of a 
 cent ! All day it goes on ; the trains passing north or 
 south ; the call of the gong is sounded and the contribu- 
 tion basket passed ; at night the gods and their servitors 
 are in funds to the amount of sixteen cents. 
 
 The priest is one of the few who are in thorough ear- 
 nest about religion. He revolves a plan in his mind. 
 "If I were to go away, the old priest and the little one 
 could care for the temple. I will go on a pilgrimage 
 asking money, for shall the house of our god lie in 
 ruins ?^' 
 
 To the lad he says, " When time for travellers to pass, 
 in storm or shine, keep striking the gong. The people 
 will give enough for you to live on." 
 
 He starts out next day, and up and down over moun- 
 tains, across the stony wastes he goes, until every man, 
 woman and child has heard his bell. See his gaunt, 
 filthy figure slowly passing through city streets, over and 
 over chanting the same request. Month after month, 
 year after year, he journeys on. Sometimes, but how 
 rarely, he receives a large gift. 
 
 Going from place to place, he prays, "Buddha, re- 
 member me for this. Eiver god, protect us at Hsuan 
 Hua for this ! Gods, ye know I go through cold and 
 heat, through wind which blows sand like knife-points 
 on my face, or rain alone which washes my clothes and 
 body, or snow, how bitter to me so thinly clad ! I climb 
 these rocky passes, and wade the streams, going to every 
 hamlet, that all may share in giving." 
 
 Year after year, year after year, strange that he does 
 not tire ! The money grows slowly ; twenty cash here 
 and fifty there, — one thousand, two thousand, a tael of 
 silver at another place. Five years, ten, fifteen, have 
 
324 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 passed. These last years have seen the priest with a 
 spike thrust through his upper lip, and now the money 
 conies faster. ^^Oh, Buddha, remember me for this ! I 
 do it for the temple's sake. How else may I know that 
 I shall see it rebuilt ? See how they give us more, and 
 prosper them ! " 
 
 At last, bent and old from hardship and scanty food, 
 he takes back to Hsuan Hua the final installment of the 
 fund necessary for repair and rebuilding. Masons and 
 carpenters are soon at work, and in time the temple i^ 
 finished. At last the gods are spick and span as fresh 
 mud and stones and plenty of paint can make them. It 
 is a joyful day for this man who has accomplished his 
 purpose, and he tells his rosary, ^^Omito Foa, Omito 
 Foa, Omito Foa." 
 
 There comes a man who says, " Once I, too, was a priest, 
 but now I do not worship Foa. I worship the true God, 
 the Heaven-Lord, and His Son Jesus Christ who died for 
 us. Why should we bow down to these gods of mud and 
 stones and paint? Last week the god -maker was here. 
 How many strings of cash did he earn by forming these 
 images ? How many gods did he make ? Who is greater, 
 the man or the image made by him ? By the word of His 
 power the True God made the world, and His Son came 
 to save us from our sins. Who of us is not a sinner ? " 
 
 The toil-worn priest answered, "Foa will forgive me 
 because of the merit I have laid up." 
 
 " Agreed," says the other. " We have one man saved 
 by merit, then. But what of your brethren, are they 
 saved too?" 
 
 "Not without ages of purification. They have done 
 nothing. I only have labored these many years," he 
 answered. 
 
 " What about the priests at Nan Kou? " 
 
 ** Alas for them, they are vile. I dared not stop with 
 
POOR DUMB MOUTHS 325 
 
 them in my journeying ; my silver was not safe there. 
 Lord Buddha delights not in such as they. Only the 
 pure attain Nirvana." 
 
 "And those at Yu Cho? Brother, you have been all 
 over the land ; what are they ? " 
 
 "They care not for the worship. I, only I, remember 
 the hours of prayer." 
 
 The Christian man said, " Woe to the common people, 
 if such are the priests ! Our Master has said, ^ I came 
 not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.' 
 Perhaps those vile ones He could even now call unto 
 Himself!" 
 
 " They will not obey ; they care only to eat and drink, 
 and follow their wicked lusts. Oh, I hate them ! Go 
 thou to them ! They need repentance." 
 
 Teacher Chou turns away. The aged priest says within 
 himself : * * Why did I feel like listening to him ? Pleas- 
 ant words he spoke. * Peace and rest ! ' How little I 
 have had of either. I feel drawn to follow and find him. 
 But could I ever leave this temple ? It was my home 
 even during those years of wandering. He said the Mas- 
 ter required that we be ready to leave all. Oh, it is too 
 late ! I am too old ! All my life I have worshipped Foa ! 
 this message is for younger ones ; it is not for me. I 
 cannot follow now." 
 
 But he finds the Christian on the morrow. " How was 
 it that you, a priest, left the worship of Foa I " The con- 
 versation which follows is deeply earnest. Teacher Chou 
 tells him of Jesus, a Saviour. Finally he speaks of those 
 who once were devout Buddhists, but now have accepted 
 the true Light, the Light of the world. "It is almost 
 thirty years since a man named Ts'ai Ching and his 
 father heard the good news and believed it, giving up 
 their dreams of accumulated merit. All who knew them 
 called them true men. There is one sumamed Djou, a 
 
326 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 younger man j he, too, was a faithful worshipper of Poa, 
 and is one of a thousand. He has turned to the Saving 
 Lord with all his heart.'' 
 
 * * I have seen him, ' ' said the priest. * ' We once stopped 
 at the same inn. He had with him an image of Foa, the 
 compassionate one, to whom he prayed at night when 
 the travellers and innkeeper were asleep. Yes, he is a 
 good man. And has he gone over to this new religion ? 
 Is it not strange?" 
 
 '•'' I will tell you of others," said the teacher. 
 
 ''Not to-day," answered the priest. '^ It is a wonder- 
 ful story you have told me of one Jesus. Let us not speak 
 more of common men. I will think of these things. Yet 
 surely it is too late to change." 
 
 * ^ It is never too late, ' ' said the Christian. ^ * There was 
 a dying robber who turned to Jesus at the last, and not in 
 vain, for He saves unto the uttermost." 
 
HENRIETTA B. WILLIAMS 
 
328 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 spoke no English at all, until the mission meeting when 
 she was taken to Peking at five or six years of age. 
 Martha Gulick, the Chinese child adopted by Dr. and 
 Mrs. J. T. Gulick, was there too, and spoke nothing but 
 Euglish. The sight of an American child speaking only 
 Chinese, and a Chinese child speaking only English ex- 
 cited wonder and comment, and after that Etta learned 
 English. Miss Diament taught her her letters, and the 
 little girl began reading almost on her own initiative. 
 
 At eight years old, her education was taken in hand by 
 her father, who set simple tasks, and saw to their per- 
 formance in spare moments of his busy days. But when 
 Etta had learned to read there was no trouble to find oc- 
 cupation. The key to a treasure house had been given her. 
 Among the books in the little Chinese home were the 
 old favorites and standards for all time in poetry, fiction, 
 history and travel. Etta roamed among them at will, 
 finding opportunity for that browsing among books which 
 Charles Lamb considers the best education a child can 
 have. 
 
 From now on, Etta is mentioned by all as absent-minded, 
 buried in books, reading omnivorously even the pai^ers 
 lining pantry shelves. James Gilmour of Mongolia 
 writes in one of his last letters of his wish to revisit Kal- 
 gan and the grass-lands, and see again *' the young Stephen 
 and the studious Etta." And Chinese friends say Etta 
 was always reading and forgot how to talk Chinese before 
 they took her to America. 
 
 In 1879 the family, now numbering six children, went 
 home to the United States, and after the parents' two 
 years' furlough, Etta and Stephen were left behind in care 
 of grandmother and uncle, and began study in the public 
 schools. New surroundings brought the need of devel- 
 oping the practical and social qualities which Etta in par- 
 ticular lacked at the time. 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 329 
 
 In 1883, Etta was sent to the Western Seminary (now 
 College) at Oxford, O., where her mother had studied. 
 She finished the course there in three years, went to Ober- 
 lin for further study, and graduated there in 1889. Three 
 years of teaching in the Santee Normal School at Santee 
 Nebraska proved invaluable experience. The Indian 
 scholars were very interesting to Etta, and they loved her 
 in return. She put enthusiasm into making her school 
 work attractive, and found time also to join in the chil- 
 dren's play hours. Other teachers tell how she helped 
 the little girls of the "Birds' Nest" to dramatize Red 
 Riding Hood, Cinderella, and other dear old favorites, 
 arranging costumes and playing stage manager with real 
 enjoyment. This was only play, but accorded well with 
 the modern educational theory of the value of acting out 
 stories with children. 
 
 In 1893, Miss Diament, who had been in charge of the 
 Girls' School in Kalgan, died. Etta was appointed by the 
 W. B. M. I. to take the vacant place. In preparation, she 
 spent several months at the Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, 
 in the fall of ' 92. The rest of the winter was spent with 
 the family in Oberlin. Father and mother were home, 
 and the family complete for a little time. 
 
 Here is a bit from Etta's diary. 
 
 ^' July SO, 1893, - 
 "My last Sunday in Oberlin for a long, long time per- 
 haps. 
 
 "How peaceful I have been here Sunday mornings, 
 making things ready for Sunday dinner. Sunday morn- 
 ing before church is so delightful, usually such a calm, 
 and the past comes before me as it did to the soldier in 
 Sydney Dobell's * Home Wounded.' The sun to-day was 
 so pleasantly warm, and the grass grew green. I felt at 
 home, and almost as if I didn't want to leave. The round 
 
330 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 of household duties in the morning has been so pleasant 
 to me, and I have felt so well and light-hearted. 
 
 " Will it come to me that way in China again, I won- 
 der I I have been so happy in Oberlin." 
 
 In August, 1893, Etta with her father sailed for China. 
 They were with a party chiefly made up of new mission- 
 aries, among them two childhood friends of Etta's, — Ab- 
 bie Chapin and Gertrude Stanley (now Mrs. George 
 Wilder) returning like her to the land of their birth. 
 And among those going out for the first time were Miss 
 Annie Gould and Miss Mary Louise Partridge, going to 
 Paotingfu and to T'aiku, Shansi. It would have been 
 hard to imagine at that time that these two were to have 
 but seven short years of work before being sent Home by 
 the swords of Boxers in 1900. 
 
 There are few letters from Etta that first fall in China. 
 The few we have speak of her pleasure in seeing the old 
 familiar places again, and in finding Chinese friends who 
 remembered her as a child. She began studying imme- 
 diately, and found that the language, though once forgot- 
 ten, was easier of attainment a second time. 
 
 A letter, written in November, gives us an amusing 
 glimpse of her first experiences with a Chinese teacher. 
 
 ^^ November 6, 1898. 
 " On November first, the mules brought our long-looked- 
 for trunks, and I found the package you had made ready 
 for me last summer. I am so pleased with all the pretty 
 things. And the aprons too ! I shall find them of great 
 use when I begin housekeeping actively. I am only in 
 the passive voice as yet. I came across a clever apology 
 written by Mrs. Arthur Smith when she had delayed 
 sending thanks for a gift. It begins : — * I must cry Pec- 
 cavi, peccavi ! but no, that doesn't express it. Nothing 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 331 
 
 but my dear stepmother tongue will do justice to my feel- 
 ings. Kai ta, Jcai ssu ! (I ought to be beaten, I ought to 
 be killed !) This is what you say when you have com- 
 mitted some horrible act of rudeness, such as mounting 
 your donkey while your friend remains on foot.^ 
 
 "There has been an epidemic of sore eyes in the Station 
 Class, and in some way I caught it. So for two weeks I 
 have not used my eyes at all. I am thankful that my 
 studying has not been interrupted, however. The teacher 
 has come in just as usual, and read Chinese to me. It has 
 really been good for me not to be able to use my eyes for 
 a while. I think I have learned to depend more on my 
 ears, which will help me with these varied Chinese tones. 
 And I have had time while lying around with band- 
 aged eyes to think of my pleasant experiences and past 
 pleasures. 
 
 " My Chinese teacher is peculiar. He comes early and 
 stays late. His hours are from nine to twelve and from 
 two to five, but he almost always gives me an hour more 
 all told. He is very different from a teacher with whom 
 Miss Garretson studied, of whom papa has told me. He 
 was always late, and sometimes wouldn't appear at all. 
 She would think up the Chinese in which to scold him, and 
 when he arrived he would sit there very calmly and cor- 
 rect her idiom as she heaped reproof upon his head. The 
 joke of it often compelled her to leave the room to have 
 her laugh out. 
 
 "My teacher has some peccadilloes. For instance, he 
 will scratch on my green table-cloth with the sharp brass 
 cap belonging to his Chinese pen. He is going through 
 the motions for writing the characters. When I think of 
 him being here six hours a day for three hundred and 
 fifteen days, I think, woe to the table-cloth ! And that 
 reckoning is only for one year. I may have him several 
 years. * Don't do that ' is so blunt. When I can muster 
 
332 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 up good Chinese to say, ^ Let not your honorable pen be 
 debased by such condescending contact with my mean 
 cloth,' then I may hope to save the table-cloth. '^ 
 
 The Girls' School was in charge of a good matron, and 
 Dr. Murdock carried on work among women, but Etta 
 was anxious for the time when she could speak enough 
 to take her part in what was to be done. Parts of her 
 letters home show how she began to take hold of work. 
 
 ^^ Janumi/ SOj 1894, 
 "To-day my schoolgirls came over and sang and 
 looked at pictures for an afternoon. Mrs. Sprague could 
 not come to play for them, so in my haggling way, 
 I played and tried to lead the singing. But as it was 
 hard to look at the Chinese characters and the notes 
 both, it wasn't a great success. So I finally played 
 * Where, oh, where are the Hebrew children ' very slowly, 
 and they sang. I am trying to break them of the 
 extra quavers they put in, and if I had the matron 
 trained, too, I might hope for success. 
 
 " After 'New Year's, I hope to be able to give explana- 
 tions of the Gospels in school, instead of merely hearing 
 the Gospels recited j also, teach geography from the 
 maps." 
 
 " February Uj 1894, 
 " The school matron comes in often to visit and teaches 
 me a little Chinese. I show her the old albums, and 
 learn the names in Chinese for relationships such as my 
 uncle on my father's side, uncle on mother's side, aunt 
 on my father's side, aunt on mother's side, and some 
 other intricacies. I go over to the school every day 
 either in afternoon or evening, and show pictures, some 
 of natural history, but mostly from Bible stories, and I 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 338 
 
 try to tell them about it. Of course rm very halting, 
 but they help me. So I get better acquainted with the 
 girls and practice Chinese also. Sometimes they teach 
 me to use the ^swan-p'an' (abacus, — a set of wooden 
 balls on sticks which the Chinese use in calculating). 
 They coax me to wear Chinese clothes, and I said I might 
 when my American dresses wore out, but at present I had 
 too many of them to afford Chinese clothes too. Perhaps 
 I may have one or two Chinese suits after a while, not to 
 wear all the time, but when Vm touring in the villages.^' 
 
 ^^ April 6, 1894. 
 
 "One of the oldest and brightest girls in school, San 
 Kaitzu, went home Friday. Her betrothed husband 
 came after her saying that her grandmother was sick. 
 Oh, how the poor girl cried ! She did so well in school, 
 and was so happy here. She is a good girl, too, and was 
 one of the five who joined the church a few weeks ago. 
 She was grieved mostly because she had good reason to 
 fear that she couldn't come back. Her betrothed is in 
 straits, and the school matron is afraid he will sell her to 
 some one. I have a picture of her as she heard the bad 
 news. She came in with her face working, and went be- 
 hind the door to cry and sob bitterly. The matron be- 
 gan to braid her hair for the journey, and she cried and 
 rubbed her eyes with her wadded upper garment. We 
 are so sorry to lose her, — poor child, — such a pleasant, 
 pretty girl. 
 
 " Another girl who was in the school for a little while 
 last year was drowned lately. She was sold by her 
 parents to some people in the police court. It is said 
 that she was told to roll up some tissue paper in a partic- 
 ular fashion. It is a task difficult for a grown person. 
 She was but a child, and didn't do it to suit her master, 
 so she was killed and her body thrown in the river. 
 
334 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 "My teacher amused me the other day by saying 
 < Good-bye ^ as he went out of the door. I suppose the 
 Pilgrims when they heard Samoset say ' Welcome, Eng- 
 lishmen ^ were surprised in the same fashion. 
 
 "Hearing recitations still confuses me, also the st(?an- 
 j^'^an (abacus). Tuesday I prayed in Chinese for the first 
 time at school prayers. 
 
 "The teacher is writing radicals and phonetics on 
 blank cards, and I make a word game with them to help 
 the schoolgirls remember characters. It is fascinating. 
 I can hardly leave it.'^ 
 
 ^^ August 2^ 189J^ 
 "I have climbed Mt. Williams and visited Yen Chia 
 Tung, since writing you last. My Yen Chia Tung visit 
 was on Monday. Dr. Murdock and I went on donkeys. 
 I took pictures to give to the girls who had committed to 
 memory some of the catechism. You should have seen 
 their delight over pictures of * Yinolia Soap,' and the lit- 
 tle gilt-edged boxes I gave them. We were entertained 
 in one of the homes, and while they offered us tea and 
 muskmelon, I showed the pictures in my Story of the 
 Gospel, and asked my Bible woman to read the passages 
 in the New Testament which explained them. 
 
 "You would be amused to see the First Eeader I am 
 getting up for the Chinese girls. I cut out leaves from an 
 old pamphlet with stiff covers, and pasted in pictures of 
 cats, dogs and horses, and advertisements of cod -liver oil, 
 and Mellin's Food, with the Chinese characters opposite 
 each. The cod-liver oil and Mellin's Food were to illus- 
 trate <fish,' and Uittle child.' " 
 
 ''Kalgan, Oct, 1, 189^. 
 "It is such a delight to get new phrases. I do almost 
 every day, not from books, but from people. I do like 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 335 
 
 to study Chinese so much. It^s fun and work too, but 
 work that gives so much satisfaction. 
 
 " r ve been to prayer-meeting to rest my eyes. I don^t 
 feel it my duty to go to all the Chinese meetings, but I 
 generally do, not for duty^s sake, but to help my Chinese. 
 The meetings themselves are not very profitable to me as 
 prayer-meetings yet. One can^t be in a devotional frame 
 and a language studying frame at once, — that is, at first 
 when one must be on the strain to catch words, and re- 
 member them while catching more. 
 
 "I am thinking of sending for an English-Russian 
 phrase book, so I can talk to the Russian ladies who 
 speak neither Chinese nor English. Of course what I say 
 will be very poor Russian, but it will bridge the yawning 
 gulf of silence by making them laugh, and feel a pitying 
 kindness to my attempts. Isn^t it queer, the comfortable 
 superiority we feel over another * person who makes 
 blunders in speaking our language ? 
 
 ^^ To-day, while hearing Yanna recite, I said, *You 
 have recited about Abraham. Now who was Abraham's 
 son?' She hesitated, though I don't know how many 
 times I have asked that question of the school together 
 and individually. So I prompted her, ^ Isaac. Now who 
 was Isaac's father ?' This question was a worse puzzle. 
 Yanna finally said, * Zebedee.' An older girl prompted 
 her, 'Jacob.' 
 
 "The girls memorize beautifully, chapter after chap- 
 ter, but they have hard times thinking out what it all 
 means. They would probably not have attempted any 
 answer whatever, if I had not been almost daily questioning 
 them on the relationships of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 
 I have also asked them when reciting about James and 
 John, the sons of Zebedee, ' Who was the father of James 
 and John ? ' They are completely nonplussed. When I 
 tell them, Tz Tz is the only one who sees anything funny 
 
336 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 in their perplexity. I have illustrated by naming schol- 
 ars, and fathers of the scholars, but we can^t seem to get 
 Abraham and Isaac on a natural comfortable basis. 
 
 "A thought has struck me ; I shall use 4ieh' instead 
 of ^Fu eh' in,' and see how they take it then. To trans- 
 late, say use *pa' or ^dad^ instead of 'father.' 
 
 " Every day Mrs. Sung's son John tells me Bible stories 
 which I repeat as well as I can. It helps me to under- 
 stand and talk, beside giving me Bible stories at my 
 tongue's end to tell the scholars and visitors. 
 
 "There is a young teacher in the city who, I think, 
 will make a good instructor for Cora and Dr. "Waples 
 when they come. I am planning to give him a few les- 
 sons on teaching, using Dr. Goodrich's * table method.' 
 I really think I know in some ways what a beginner 
 needs better than people who have been years in China, 
 for they forget what are the first difficulties, and it all 
 seems so easy then." 
 
 (In the fall of 1894, Dr. Murdock was transferred to 
 Pekiug, and Dr. F. A. Waples and his wife, who was 
 Cora Eiggs, Etta's cousin, aiTived at Kalgan.) 
 
 ^^Novemher i, 189Ji„ 
 "The teacher has commenced giving lessons to Cora 
 and the doctor. I tell Cora that she is pursuing the 
 Squeers' system of instruction. Mr. Squeers, you know, 
 had a boy spell window 'w-i-n-d-e-r,' and then go and 
 wash it. Cora and Dr. Waples learn a sentence, and im- 
 mediately try it on the second man or the nurse or whom- 
 ever they need to talk to just then. They are doing very 
 well. Cora has the best ear for language and gets her 
 sentences arranged best, but Dr. Waples is so persistent 
 he will be able to talk soon. I have done some trans- 
 lating when he talks to patients, and like it for the exer- 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 337 
 
 else. Sometimes it is very hard, and turns me pale at 
 the thought of turning it into Chinese. Doctors' direc- 
 tions are especially tough to put into Chinese, — so many 
 unfamiliar phrases. I go around it and use descriptions 
 and motions and the teacher helps us out. 
 
 " Yesterday I put down in my diary as a day to turn 
 one's hair gray. There were so many things to see to, 
 and I had to discharge the sewing woman for untidiness, 
 and tell the teacher that I had been paying him too much 
 salary and make it less. I can express common things 
 in Chinese, so as to be understood, and I can explain 
 parts of the Gospels, but as for putting unpleasant things 
 in the least unpleasant way, I give up at that point." 
 
 A letter of thanks, written in the fall of 1894 to a mis- 
 sionary society in Oberlin, Ohio, shows that Etta was 
 already beginning her crusade against foot-binding, of 
 which she writes so much later. 
 
 ". . . I have waited to write my thankfulness 
 until I could decide upon something especially nice in 
 which to use your money j some special object that you 
 could feel was your very own. I thought of using it to 
 pay the cheerful, smiling Bible woman who goes out 
 every day about Kalgan, telling Bible stories, and ex- 
 plaining and singing hymns in many Chinese homes. 
 Then I thought of using it for a girls' school in a village 
 five miles from here. I wish you could see those girls, — 
 almost street Arabs, bright, and often pretty, in spite of 
 their dirt. Then I thought you would like to buy shoes 
 and stockings for the girls with large feet. You see it is 
 very hard for parents to consent that their daughters' 
 feet should be unbound, and the shoes and stockings for 
 large feet cost more, so we help them by promising shoes 
 and stockings for an indefinite length of time. 
 
 *^ Now I have another plan which I will tell you of, and 
 
338 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 later I will write if it is carried out. There is a girl in 
 my school about eleven years old, who is a little * bride. ^ 
 She was bought by one of our Christian women as a wife 
 for her eldest son. She was not married to him, for she 
 was too young, but the * mother-in-law ' put the child in 
 our school. Last year the eldest son said he wouldn't 
 marry Anna (or Ya Na, as the Chinese say it), — she was 
 too ugly. The mother weakened, gave money for a 
 young and pretty woman, and said Ya Na would do for 
 the next sou, a boy of sixteen or seventeen. He told his 
 mother he wouldn't marry her if he could help it, and the 
 next boy, who is eleven or twelve, said he didn't want 
 her! 
 
 ^^Now, my plan is to pay Mrs. Yen, the mother-in-law, 
 the original price of the girl, and also the money she has 
 expended on clothing her. Then I can unbind her feet, 
 and keep her in school here till she is ready for the 
 Bridgman School in Peking, where she can be fitted for 
 a teacher. She is a bright girl, and if she is loved, and 
 given some tender care, she will grow quite attractive. 
 Now nobody loves her, and she is unhappy and sullen, 
 except when I speak to her. Then her face grows very 
 pleasant. I think after she has been at Peking and 
 comes back as a graduate, some one of our college stu- 
 dents will be glad to marry her, in spite of her natural 
 feet. . ." 
 
 ''Ti CM, Dec. 15, 189 J^. 
 "I am on a tour at present, sitting on a pile of my 
 comfortables and mattress in a corner by the window. A 
 few eyes show prominently in the window paper holes. 
 A woman is sitting beside me, and Mrs. Chang Mei is 
 telling her the parable of Dives and Lazarus. A man is 
 working the bellows getting ready the meal, not for us, 
 but for the people in the next room. When we came, we 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 339 
 
 took this room because it had a pot and cooking range 
 and we could get our own meals. But they killed their 
 pig to-day and put it into their pot, and now must use 
 our pot to cook all the food. I hope not long, but we 
 get no privacy anyway, so the cooking in our room makes 
 little difference. 
 
 ^' I started Thursday on my horse. My faithful Yu Fu 
 followed on a donkey. In the cart were Mrs. Yen, the 
 Bible woman, and Mrs. Chang Mei, wife of the water- 
 carrier. I was in my Chinese costume, — wadded purple 
 trousers, blue skirt, dark blue silk wadded gown and 
 long gown of squirrel fur. I felt so bulky I couldn't get 
 on my saddle without mounting the horse-block. 
 
 "At Ti Chi we found a small inn, and a comfortless 
 room with rafters hung with pieces of raw pork, and the 
 carcass of the lately departed pig adorning the chest of 
 drawers. It was bad enough without the crowd who 
 filled the yard and punched the door. 
 
 ("I wish you could see me now at Ti San, driven to bay 
 almost against the wall, while all the small girls and boys 
 the kang can hold are standing on the kang, and half 
 the male population of the village are on the floor admir- 
 ing my handwriting, and I count five boys on the pot and 
 range this minute. I have fears for the wooden cover, 
 and say plaintively, * If you break that, I shan't have any- 
 thing to eat.' Mrs. Yen is driving them off the stove, 
 and an athletic man has ascended the kang and is expell- 
 ing the children. One small boy has lost his shoe, and 
 can't get down to hunt it. Mrs. Yen is still unsuccessful. 
 I must go on telling about Ti Chi.) 
 
 *' The landlord's daughter was a thin-faced girl whom I 
 shall call the Marchioness. She suggested the pictures I 
 have seen of her and Dick Swiveller. She would fly out 
 at people and eject them with the greatest good- will in the 
 world, but when Yu Fu asked her to get a little fuel to 
 
340 BY THE GEEAT WALL 
 
 fire our kang, she said slie didn't know, — her ^dada,' — 
 (father — suggestive of our ' daddy,' isn't it ?) might get it. 
 Yu Pu said, ^ Your dada is busy making the oatmeal 
 "wo wo" (rolls).' But she wouldn't go. 
 
 *^She was clad in thin garments, and when we asked 
 her why she had no wadded clothes she said she was go- 
 ing to be married soon, and wasn't wearing much till the 
 event came off. 
 
 " It took all the efforts and tongues of the two women 
 and the Marchioness to keep the people out at meals. We 
 didn't let the Marchioness stay for the first meal, and she 
 flounced out in a pet, but afterwards she proved so useful in 
 reviling the small boys and ejecting those who opened the 
 door a crack that we enjoyed her company and kept her 
 with us. It was rather shocking to see her punch some 
 one's face through the window and she said a great many 
 things about the mothers of the boys which were not com- 
 plimentary. Perhaps my women who were kept by princi- 
 ple from reviling felt a kind of relief in hearing it done 
 so successfully for them. 
 
 " The first day after coming, the window paper was 
 quite ruined, and the next day we had to take advertise- 
 ment pages and the Child's Magazine and paste up a kind 
 of screen. The Marchioness was eager to learn and got 
 nearly a page of the Three Character Classic before we 
 went. I grew so tired sitting on the kang in the smallest 
 possible space that I had soon no spirit left to try to talk, 
 and left most of the preaching to the women, though I did 
 teach several girls the San Tzu Ching. 
 
 " Saturday Helper Kao Yueh came, and preached Sun- 
 day in the yard. I was glad to get out, and felt less like 
 an idol than before. When one has been sitting cross- 
 legged for a few days, one feels as if the Buddhas with so 
 many pairs of legs all crossed deserved canonization for 
 theii- mortification of body. 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 341 
 
 "Monday we started, leaving enougli money with the 
 innkeeper to help considerably with his daughter's wed- 
 ding. We went to Ti Pa passing An Chia Pu, though if 
 we had stopped there it would have saved us twenty li 
 (seven miles). When we got to the liver's edge at Ti Pa, 
 luckily another cart bearing wedding guests went in be- 
 fore us, and had a hard time. First a man waded in tak- 
 ing off shoes and outer trousers. The river was full of 
 ice and the day very cold. Their cart nearly upset going 
 in, and stuck in the ice at the other side. We saw them 
 getting out, all arrayed as they were in their wedding 
 clothes, to help get the cart up with pickaxes. The big 
 wedding cake was still on this side. Our cart was much 
 heavier and would certainly upset, so back we had to go 
 to An Chia Pu. There we decided to cross, though the old 
 woman at the inn entertained us with dismal tales of wed- 
 ding guests in carts breaking through the ice, and being 
 carried out on men's backs at a tiao (fifty cents) a head. 
 The carter was speechless with cold when pulled out, and 
 the cart stayed all night in the river. Also other tales 
 of mules falling through the ice and never appearing 
 again. 
 
 "But I was determined to cross, so off we started on 
 the ice. A heavy cart crossing before us was reassuring. 
 Once our cart mules slipped and the shaft mule couldn't 
 get up for some time. I walked, and enjoyed it, remem- 
 bering skating days. The winter day was so quiet, with 
 a blue haze over everything, and blue hills on the further 
 side. Perhaps all my recreation now must come in my 
 touring, — skating and sliding in the winter and wading 
 (involuntarily) in the summer. 
 
 " The Yang is a very wide river with sand-banks divid- 
 ing it into several parts. The road we took was circui- 
 tous and nearly one and a half miles over the ice. So Yu 
 Fu thought I ought to ride the horse after a while. I 
 
342 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 got on, and had my heart in my mouth several times, go- 
 ing over the smooth ice. The hoi-se was careful, and 
 planted his feet in the best places, so he didn't fall, 
 though he slipped often. 
 
 ^* We reached Ti San, and were welcomed at the gate 
 by small boys who knew me. The Bible woman's aunt 
 lives here and had a vacant room with a pot and stove in, 
 so we came here. 
 
 ''' We sold a great many books to-day. It was all the 
 rage to buy, and all the small boys entreated their mothers 
 for money to get books. Just now the men are reluc- 
 tantly leaving, and two women sit patiently on the kang 
 waiting to be taught. I have written all except the very 
 first page of this letter in the presence of forty or fifty 
 witnesses. 
 
 ^' On the wall I have nailed two pictures, — Christ Cru- 
 cified and the Prodigal Son. A woman bought a Luke, 
 and I read the fifteenth chapter to her, telling her to have 
 someone at home read it to her." 
 
 ^'Kalgan, Dec. 27, 1894- 
 ^^ The school matron's niece Hsi Hsi is to have her feet 
 unbound. She doesn't want to, and goes around with 
 her eyes red with crying, but my stony heart is unmoved. 
 You see, it isn't that she is of so much importance but 
 her aunt, as matron of the Girls' School, must not 
 have her influence against natural feet. As I told 
 Mrs. Sung, ' Every one says that you are opposed to un- 
 binding feet, and if you unbind Hsi Hsi's, no one can say 
 that' 
 
 " You ought to have seen the family consultation in my 
 room. Mrs. Sung, and Tz Tz, her daughter, and Wang 
 Ch'en, Hsi Hsi's brother, and Mrs. Sung's son John. He 
 is the bridegroom expectant and could speak with author- 
 ity, but he doesn't want to marry Hsi Hsi and wouldn't 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 343 
 
 speak. Now lie said, and Hsi Hsi's brother joined in, 
 that the trouble was in having to go home to Yu Chou, 
 where the people had never seen a large-footed woman. 
 I said, ^Hsi Hsi need not go home. She can stay in 
 Kalgan. If I should die and could not see to giving 
 the money to keep her here, my friends can do it.^ 
 John said, ^ If I should preach in Kalgan, it would be 
 all right, but I couldn't preach in Yu Chou. No one 
 would listen to me if my wife were a large- footed woman.' 
 I said, ' The doctor has a place for you here if you will 
 study medicine, and if you don't, a place can be made 
 for you to preach here or near here.' 
 
 " You should have been here to study the different ex- 
 pressions. John was sitting with his head down, looking 
 very serious, the matron was depressed, and Tz Tz and 
 Wang Ch'en felt so nervous that they giggled softly. 
 Wang Ch'en felt strange to be talking about feet and such 
 things before such a large assembly, — it is Chinese cus- 
 tom not to speak of bound feet before men. Tz Tz was 
 angry, and giggled convulsively as she said, * Come, 
 mother, let's go right home and unbind Hsi Hsi's feet.' 
 
 " That was Friday. On Thursday, Teacher Lo of the 
 Boys' School had called to read to me the resolutions he 
 had drawn up for an Anti-Foot-Binding Society. Then 
 the women and schoolgirls were called in, and he read it 
 to them and explained, and spoke of Confucius and 
 Mencius, whose wives had large feet. 
 
 "My circular letter came from the girls, Abbie and 
 Gertrude and Annie Gould and Mary Louise Partridge. 
 Miss Partridge is so happy in Shansi, and so pleased to 
 wear Chinese costume." 
 
 '^February 12, 1895, 
 
 " My dear family, please imagine me as a matchmaker. 
 I have lately blossomed out as such. You'll never tell, 
 but I am entrusted with seeking a large-footed wife for 
 
344 BY THE GKEAT WALL 
 
 ODe of the boys in school, Jen Te Ming. He is poor, and 
 I found out from the Boys' School teacher that he would 
 be willing to take a large-footed wife, if helped out on 
 the betrothal money. I am thinking of soliciting Helper 
 Kao Hsi for the hand of the fair Huan Huan. But Huan 
 Huan might come high, so perhaps a poorer girl might 
 do. Jen Te Ming said he would take any one not deaf, 
 blind or an idiot. The school-teacher has been telling 
 him not to look for outward beauty." 
 
 (While Etta^s youngest sisters were still in China, 
 they took charge of a foundling, daughter of one of Dr. 
 Murdock's best embroiderers, whom she called the Little 
 Artist. At the mother's death, the father had abandoned 
 the baby. Margaret and Anna saved money for her sup- 
 port by going without butter, so the child was often 
 spoken of as the Butter Baby. During the family's 
 absence in the United States, the little girl was in care of 
 neighbors in the country, and was just now brought back 
 to Kalgan to be put in the school.) 
 
 " February 20, 1895. 
 
 "The artist's little girl has come to school, — not to 
 study, for she is still too young by several years. She 
 was frightened by me, and inquired, ^ Na shih ke sa tung 
 hsi 1 ' — ' What kind of a thing is that ? ' I laughed over 
 the phrase a good many times. 
 
 " Now I have seven girls in school with large feet. So 
 I have hopes some time of supplying enough wives for 
 the boys in school who wish large-footed wives. Three 
 of my seven are engaged already, so the seven boys are 
 not all provided for.'' 
 
 ^^ Kalgan, April 2Sd. 
 "I'm coaxing Miss Hinman to come to Kalgan for the 
 summer. She is doing splendidly on Chinese, and is the 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 345 
 
 pride of Teng Shih Kou. I must study this summer. 
 And oh, there is so much that I want to do for the school- 
 girls, especially those who came last and know so little 
 of the Gospel or anything. One poor child without any 
 decent clothes— (what she wears was scraped up by the 
 school matron) — I am so sorry for her. She was naughty 
 while I was away, wouldn't comb her hair or eat or study, 
 and threatened to kill herself after they punished her. 
 
 ^' Three of our schoolgirls have no clothes, and Cho 
 Hsien Sheng thinks they should be sent home. Perhaps 
 I had better give my linen duster and calico Mother Hub- 
 bard to make clothes for them. I have mamma's letter 
 speaking about foot-binding. We are much farther ad- 
 vanced in that than when I wrote. Hsi Hsi has her feet 
 unbound. We have seven in all, and expect to have 
 more. God has blessed our faith that He would influence 
 the hearts of the people, for Teng Lao I writes there are 
 girls and women in Ching Ke Ta who are willing to un- 
 bind their feet. I have promised marriage gifts to Huan 
 Huan and others who are natural-footed. . . ." 
 
 ^^ May 28, 1895. 
 ^*Deae Mamma: 
 
 *'I have been looking forward so much to your 
 coming this fall. There are so many things I want to con- 
 sult you about, and so many things I cannot do alone. I 
 want to have a station class this year. And I'd like to 
 go out touring oftener. I cannot talk very freely yet, but 
 with the large Scripture pictures on the scrolls, I am able 
 to interest people and teach them something. 
 
 ^' You are quite right about matchmaking taking time 
 and money. It is not as matchmaking that I do it, but to 
 help the anti-foot-binding movement to start here. There 
 are few things that I care to use my money for more 
 than that. Still I don't want to hurt the spirit of self- 
 
346 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 dependence, what there is of it, among our Christians. 
 And 1^11 try to be very careful, and consult older and 
 wiser people. 
 
 " Yesterday I went with the Bible woman to two houses 
 near here with my scroll pictures. The Bible woman did 
 most of the talking, but I explained some pictures. A 
 little boy listened attentively, and I offered to teach him, 
 as his mother lamented that he was too poor to go to 
 school. At another place the mother-in-law, an active, 
 bustling, voluble person, remembered Miss Garretsonand 
 Miss Diament. *Ah, Miss Diament was a good lady. 
 She used to touch my feet and say, ^* Poor feet, they hurt, 
 don't they?" ^ 
 
 "This woman, when some one else came in who wanted 
 to see the pictures again, almost took the words out of 
 the Bible woman's mouth in explaining, so eager was she 
 to show that she knew it. And she did very well. She 
 is a clever woman.'' 
 
 ^^ June 29 y 1895. 
 
 "You ought to see the diminutive Liya come to my 
 window nowadays, and tap on the glass. She won't talk 
 yet, but comes in, and absorbs beans in her outside bib 
 pocket, and stands at a chair scribbling with a pencil I 
 lend her. She is really fond of me, for when the naughty 
 schoolgirls tell her I am dead, she rushes over to see 
 whether I am still in the land of the living. To tease her, 
 some of them will say, ^ I will hit Ma Kuniang ' and she 
 bristles all over and says, *You shan't touch myChieh 
 Chieh' (elder sister). She calls me sister, and papa, 
 adopted father. 
 
 " I have had such a nice time going out with the Bible 
 woman. We go to Chiao Tung (East of the Bridge) 
 usually, and the women and girls stand in the gates and 
 say * Aren't you coming in this time?' As yet I can't 
 say that I do much good, but it gives me practice talking 
 
LETTERS OF HENEIETTA WILLIAMS 34? 
 
 and I get acquainted with the women. I do like the 
 Bible woman very much. 
 
 *' A day or two ago, I intended to put eye- water in my 
 eyes and by mistake put in carbolic acid. It pained, and 
 the eye nearly closed. I had verses on the event ready 
 to read at Mr. Sprague^s birthday celebration. 
 
 " That ere eye, once so beaming and placid 
 Bunged itself up with carbolic acid. 
 
 " She of the aspect smiling and jocular 
 May be said to have vision, not bi — but monocular. 
 
 Or if Abbie Ohapin should not come, there was this verse 
 ready : 
 
 " She of the visage so melancholic 
 Damaged her eye with acid carbolic." 
 
 ^' July 18, 1895, 
 "Last Saturday I was examined on my first whole 
 year's work. That evening I tried to compose something 
 on the order of the ' Irish Christening.' 
 
 " 'Twas up in that province called Chibli 
 "Where it's so chilly and so hilly 
 And oh, it was wonderful, really 
 That they gathered such a crowd. 
 Poor Miss Williams an aspen resembled 
 As she trembled, and dissembled 
 For from highway and hedge they'd assembled 
 To hear this poor soul ' k'ao-ed * (examined). 
 
 " Vettie B. Sprague and Deborah Douw, 
 James A. Roberts, Examiner to-day, 
 Mark Williams, the senior at Kalgan now, 
 And Susan Fidelity 
 Far more than these were invited. 
 None were slighted, wrongs were righted. 
 Alas, if we'd been more far-sighted 
 We'd have known they wouldn't all come. 
 
348 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 " For there was the sickly gatekeeper. 
 And the late sleeper and the great teacher, 
 The school cook, water-carrier, tea steeper, 
 Why did they all stay at home ? 
 
 " I haven^t much start on the next verses which should 
 describe the examination. One line should be ^ And 
 they gave her showers of tzu haoerhs,' etc. But Mr. 
 Eoberts didn't give me any tzu haoerhs to recognize. 
 Tzu haoerhs are Chinese characters written separately on 
 slips of paper. It is harder to remember them that way 
 than when you see them in connection with other words. 
 Perhaps next year's examination will give me ideas to 
 finish this Ode, 
 
 " Miss Gowans is so good and helps me hearing recita- 
 tions, and took school prayers for me for a week before 
 my examination. She is such a dear, — one of the dearest 
 I ever knew. I wish we might keep her here always in- 
 stead of just a summer's visit. 
 
 " Mr. Larson, the ITorwegian missionary to the Mon- 
 gols, has been boarding at the Spragues'. He enjoyed 
 Miss Gowans and Miss Rodgers' society very much, I 
 find him very interesting. He is a Norse Viking and 
 ought to have a Saga written about him and his ad- 
 ventures." 
 
 ^^ Mongol Plains, Aug, U, 1895, 
 ^' My Beloved Family : 
 
 " This is Miss Hinman's beginning. I cribbed it, 
 as a taking title is half the battle. I shall not speak of 
 * prairies,' either, for her phrase sounds so much better, 
 — * billowy waves of grass.' 
 
 ** I must tell you about our trip, and about Mongolia. 
 We started early Wednesday morning. The carts had 
 to go through the city, but Miss Gowans and I on our 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 349 
 
 donkeys took the short cut across the mountains, past 
 Picnic Tower, and came out on the Russian Valley, 
 just opposite the great hole in the rock, through which 
 you know people say Genghis Khan shot his arrow j 
 
 " On reaching the valley, we waited half an hour for 
 the carts to come up. In the front cart were Mr. and 
 Mi-s. Sprague, and mattresses, pillows and truck. The 
 second had Miss Douw, who had a cold and was very 
 weak, and miserable, lying down, also Miss Rodgers and 
 mattresses, pillows and truck. Mrs. Chapin and Baby 
 Ralph were in the third cart with more mattresses and 
 pillows. Miss Hinman loathes carts, so she was walking, 
 and two Chinese preachers, who went to preach and sell 
 books at a fair, were walking most of the time. 
 
 "I gave my donkey over to Miss Hinman, and Miss 
 Rodgera and I and the baby and John, the school 
 matron^s son, all sat in Mrs. Chapin' s cart, while she 
 rode the other donkey. We talked English with John, 
 and taught him by asking questions, and he answered 
 pretty well. Next I went on to the Spragues' cart, and 
 interpreted the Chinese puns Teacher Lo was getting off, 
 to amuse Mrs. Sprague, — for instance, about Miss 
 Go wans. 'She is named Kao (high),' said he, 'but she 
 is really short.' 
 
 ''That afternoon, we younger ones walked up the high 
 Hanore Hill, enjoying the view from the summit. The 
 mountains we count high around Kalgan were so small 
 and far away from there, and there was a glorious sun- 
 set. 
 
 "Arriving at the Hanore inn, we secured two rooms, 
 and spread out bedding, and made supper ready when a 
 surprise came. Mr. Aiken's servant rode up to say that 
 the Aikens, baby and all, were not far behind. They 
 had rather envied our jolly appearance as we rode off, 
 so Mr. Aiken rushed out, hired a cart, and they packed 
 
350 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 and got started three hours after we did. They must 
 have had a time going up that terrible Hanore Hill in 
 the dark. 
 
 "We retired to rest, — (such was our hope) but our 
 roomful didn't rest much. Our room was next the 
 kitchen, and the kang was warm. It made the original 
 inhabitants of the room more than usually lively. The 
 mules and donkeys brayed till they were exhausted. 
 Then the men, who had no sleeping accommodations on 
 the kang, because of the crowd of visitors, sat outside the 
 window, and talked mules and horses, their good points 
 and selling price. The baby piped up a good deal of the 
 night, — cause, — Bugs. We tried everything to amuse 
 him. I offered him my mouth-organ, which did for a 
 while. He passed it to his mother, and then to me to 
 blow, and I congratulated myself on my ready tact, till 
 he dropped it on his nose. Then the wails that followed 
 were more bitter than before. The mouth-organ has four 
 sets of holes in four keys and is heavy. We got up the 
 next morning rather low in spirit. 
 
 " We went on up to the highest tower. Mount Pisgah, 
 but it was cloudy and the view not very fine. 
 
 " Going on, we stopped at Ta Hung Kou (Great Bed 
 Valley), where Abbie and I had such a pleasant time 
 last summer, and found so many flowers. Last year the 
 house was unfinished, and Mr. Sprague's sleeping room 
 had previously been occupied by two calves. We had 
 no partition last year but an oilcloth hung on a rope. 
 But this year it is quite elegantly furnished, and a parti- 
 tion wall built. I recognized ' Topsy ' the little Mongol 
 girl who was always racing after calves. I remembered 
 almost all, — the babies and the old lama (priestess) 
 grandmother, with her shaven head and strict ideas of 
 discipline. Last year she took a tent pole, and hit the 
 young hopeful (my Mongol teacher, so called) over the 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 351 
 
 head, wlien she thought he had been staring into our win- 
 dow too long. 
 
 " There was hardly any water there. After they had 
 made us a little tea, there was none left. None of the 
 Chinese had anything to drink, till we reached the Ta 
 Shao Yeh's. (The Ta Shao Yeh is eldest of a family 
 of Mongol princes. He is most kind to foreigners.) 
 There we were given rooms or large nice tents. We 
 watched the Mongols putting up another tent for our 
 Chinese, and it was an interesting combination of wooden 
 lattice work, which can stretch to any desired size, tied 
 with ropes to a frame something like a skeleton um- 
 brella. 
 
 ^'Saturday morning the cart was hitched up for a 
 pleasure drive. The donkeys went too. The gray 
 donkey developed a faculty for sitting down when being 
 ridden. The flies made him cross, — they bit his ears till 
 they were all bloody. Miss Douw's man took his big 
 handkerchief, and tied the ears together, to shield the 
 sore spots. Then the gray creature looked like an 
 eccentric unicorn. 
 
 ^ ' On our way home, three mounted Mongols came racing 
 after us, very angry. They had seen us on the sacred 
 hill, — 'oba,^ they call it, — and they said we had pro- 
 faned their holy place. Mr. Sprague told them we 
 didn't know, and wouldn't do it again. Miss Douw's 
 man lit his pipe from the Mongol's pipe, and talked 
 soothingly to them, till they were melted, and invited 
 everybody to come to their temple and drink tea. 
 
 ^* Monday it rained cats and dogs, and we sat in the 
 tent and wrote letters. Then we played Halma while 
 Miss Hinman sketched Miss Eodgers and her shoe. The 
 shoe sole was broken and flapping in the middle, and 
 Miss Eodgers wanted to send the picture home to her 
 mother^ who used to call her extravagant about her foot- 
 
352 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 wear. This was to show the point of missionary self- 
 denial to which she had come in China. 
 
 *' Tuesday it stopped raining, and we went to the Szti 
 Shao Yeh's. I rode Mr. Aiken's horse and enjoyed it, 
 but couldn't get him to gallop. His trot was damaging 
 to one's hair and feelings. The Szti Shao Yeh was not at 
 home, but the Living Buddha welcomed us in, first to a 
 room with a fire, where we admired the clock. It had a 
 figure of a lady playing a banjo, and her hand moved up 
 and down with the ticking of the clock, l^ext we sat in 
 a large reception room, where we had very nice cheese 
 and tea. They brought in the famous steel engravings, 
 enclosed in thick board covers, with * Given by the Em- 
 peror ' in large gilt letters on the varnished board. These 
 engravings, I should say, are 42x24 inches, and there 
 are over ten of them. They represent the campaigns of 
 the Emperor K'ang Hsi against the Mohammedans in 
 Hi, and against the Eleuth tribe of Mongols. They were 
 drawn by Jesuit missionaries, engraved at Paris from 
 1769 to 1773 (as the plates show), and are finely executed, 
 and really fine in conception. The Emperor gave them 
 to the father of the Szii Shao Yeh, and they would prob- 
 ably bring a high price in Europe. 
 
 ** While we were looking at these pictures, and Baby 
 Aiken making wild but fruitless attempts to get some 
 cheese, the Szii Shao Yeh came in. It threatened rain, 
 so we couldn't stay long, and stopped only to see their 
 family temple, — a beautiful building in buff color. A 
 great sound of worship issued from its walls, which we 
 found all came from one priest, who was chanting, pound- 
 ing cymbals, and beating a big drum with all his might. 
 
 "The rain poured down, and Mr. Aiken had to ride 
 home using the side-saddle I had used. He said he didn't 
 know what a feat it was for a lady to ride. 
 
 " That night Mr. Eoberts sang his famous song of * The 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 353 
 
 Torpedo and the Whale,' and made gestures, and would 
 have flapped his coat-tails at the point — * And he lashed 
 out with his tail,^ — but he wore a sack coat which had no 
 tails. Miss Hinman sang her song of ^ There was an old 
 Woman who had a little pig,^ and I, by request, sang 
 'McSorley's Twins, ^ but not knowing it well was much 
 flustered, and left out most of the words. 
 
 "I am writing a novel on missionary life in China, 
 and have a beginning about the Empress, and an end, 
 but no middle and no plot. At dinner Thursday I noticed 
 that there was a hole in Miss Gowans' handkerchief where 
 the name ought to be. She said her handkerchiefs all 
 wore out there, because of bad marking ink. I said, 
 
 * Some time some one will break his arm or bleed pro- 
 fusely. Miss Gowans will bind him up with one of these 
 handkerchiefs. He will search on the kerchief in vain 
 for the name of his fair benefactress, and will spend his 
 after years in making an indelible ink, which positively 
 will not injure the most delicate fabrics. He will say, 
 *'Ko one, if I can help it, shall lose track of the one he 
 adores, as I lost track. ^' ^ Mr. Aiken, hearing this, said, 
 
 * I move that Miss Williams be appointed for an extem- 
 pore novel, to be read at supper to-night.' So I wrote 
 hard on my novel, but it wasn't finished by supper- time. 
 
 *'Oh, I forgot my gallop that morning. It was on 
 Mr. Aiken's horse, and he was willing to gallop. My 
 hair blew to the winds, my precious hairpins slid down 
 my back, and my big hat waved behind. Mr. Larson 
 said, as I came down the home- stretch, ^ I thought it was 
 a Mongol riding ! ' which was either a great compliment 
 to my riding, or the reverse as to my appearance. But 
 what fun it was to gallop ! It doesn't seem that a bicycle 
 could bring such exhilaration. 
 
 " Friday morning we started back to Kalgan. Part of 
 the time I rode Mr. Aiken's horse, but didn't enjoy it, 
 
354: BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 for he was too anxious to eat. He would crop away till 
 the carts were ahead, then with his agonizing trot get in 
 front of them, and begin to crop again. He was like that 
 prudent warrior Dugald Dalgetty, and believed in stor- 
 ing away provender at all times. Eiding the little black 
 donkey was better, and it was grand to see the mountains 
 coming into sight, as we came to the edge of the Mon- 
 golian plateau. That was a lovely bit of the journey, 
 and I had another in the afternoon, when we were ahead 
 and waited for the carts beside two great trees. I put my 
 head against the tree trunk and enjoyed the sky, and the 
 beautiful great trees, and was glad the donkeys could eat 
 and rest. I never thought so much before about the 
 comfort of animals as on this trip. The gray donkey was 
 quite used up, and the carter said, grinning, ^ Guess weHl 
 have to let him ride the cart a while. ^ 
 
 " Miss Hinman and I took the short cut, walking over 
 the mountains, and got home half an hour before the rest. 
 Everything looked strange and nice and clean, and the 
 ceilings so high, after our stay in tents. My flowei'S had 
 grown and so had weeds, making the front yard a per- 
 fect jungle. After a much-needed wash and supper, we 
 all went to bed and slept and slept. 
 
 ^' So ends the account of our trip." 
 
 In September, 1895, Etta wrote to her sisters who had 
 entered the Western College at Oxford, Ohio : — "Do tell 
 me about the dear old place, — the summer-house, the 
 lake, and the hill, and bridge over which I wandered 
 twelve years ago. This year I have been thinking more 
 of the seminary than I have for many years. It comes 
 back to me now, — the lovely grounds, the big pine trees, 
 and sweet green lawn. Shall I ever forget the woods and 
 brooks, the great trunks spanning the little stream, — the 
 flowers and birds ? It all seems like part of a romance. 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 355 
 
 I try to imagine English villages, and hedges, and leafy 
 lanes, and meres, and fens, but my memories of the 
 Oxford woods are as picturesque as anything I can im- 
 agine. Perhaps you wander by the summer-house and 
 old bridge and wonder if my name is carved there. I 
 regret to say I foolishly neglected to provide thus for the 
 pleasure of my sisters. 
 
 " It comes to me very freshly now, all about the mop- 
 ping on Wednesdays, the dish circle I was on, and the 
 different tables I sat at. What fun we had on that early 
 bread circle which was, alas, short-lived because our 
 lunches were too luxurious. We were allowed plain 
 bread and butter, but we toasted cheese, and took cream, 
 and, like the bad kittens in the ^ Cats* Arabian Nights,' 
 went where kittens never ought to go, and ate things 
 kittens never eat. I can see in my mind very vividly 
 the great dishwashing sinks and the great boilers which 
 I cleaned sometimes. They will tell you the story, as 
 they told me, of the small girl who was cleaning the big 
 boiler so vigorously that she leaned too far over the 
 edge, and fell in ! 
 
 *^In my dreams, sometimes, I go down those long 
 halls, perhaps from 43, Third Floor, North Wing. I 
 used to sit in the library, Sunday mornings, with my 
 commentaries on either side, and listen to the church 
 bells, and think long, long thoughts, enjoying the sad- 
 ness that is not akin to pain. 
 
 ^^Do tell me about the seniors, and which ones you 
 adore most. I know you will be madly in love with two 
 or three girls. It's the way of the girls at Wellesley and 
 Vassar and Oxford. I remember Frances Bishop was 
 one of my divinities. If I go back to the seminary, the 
 whole place will be full of ghosts, I'm afraid, — ghosts 
 that I'll see in place of the merry new students that 
 really are flying about the halls," 
 
356 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 ^^ September 11^ 1895, 
 " The summer guests are all gone, and papa has gone 
 down to meet mamma at Tientsin, so I am alone and eat 
 my meals in state, except when I eat with the school 
 children as I like to do. Friday I took the girls for an 
 outing to the Eussians. The Eussian ladies were so kind 
 to my children, serving tea and cakes, and picking a 
 bouquet of flowers for each. The Eussian children 
 brought out their toys, dolls whose eyes would open and 
 shut, wagons and jumping rabbits.'' 
 
 (From diary, same date. ) 
 *^ The kindness of the Eussians to my girls made my 
 heart warm and soft. How different it feels to have a 
 heart grateful to God, — a really loving heart." 
 
 ^^Septemher 18 ^ 1895, 
 "A new Swedish missionary has come, — Mr. David 
 Stenberg, who is to work with Mr. Larson in Mongolia. 
 He sang Swedish hymns at prayer-meeting, accompany- 
 ing himself on his guitar, and told how he was called to 
 the mission field, and how he went to America to find his 
 support here. 
 
 ** The school matron is quite worn out and says she 
 must have a rest. I think of getting Mrs. He to do the 
 cooking and washing for the girls this year. Six girls 
 come to my room every day to put up their own hair. I 
 have promised hymn-books to all who learn to comb 
 their own hair. This will lighten the cares of the matron. 
 "The girls are crazy about knitting. Miss Gowans 
 taught them, and bought the garters they made, and now 
 there are stacks of garters, and I don't know who will 
 buy them. Not being a hundred legged worm, I can't 
 take them all. Hsiangtzu knits lace really well." 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 357 
 
 " October 22, 1895, 
 
 " Mamma will be here Saturday, I hope. I have my 
 stove ready. It has been rainy, and this was a dreary 
 place, with the cold rain, and shivering children. The 
 sorghum stalks for their fires have not come yet. The 
 girls come to me evenings and say, '• Oh, do get us some 
 fuel.' I send Wang Shih Te off to scrape up or borrow a 
 few bundles somewhere, and the girls are silenced and 
 happy till to-morrow. 
 
 " Dr. Waples and Cora have showered blessings on me 
 in the shape of old woolen clothes which I can make over 
 for the girls. One girl already wears a vest. It looks 
 quite like a ^K'an chien er' without alteration. 
 
 " Did I tell you I have planned a novel about China 
 for fun ? It has no head and something of a tail. The 
 tail is about Mongolia. I have it divided as follows : 
 
 "Prelude, The Duchess of Connaught, and Eleven 
 Heroines. 
 
 "Book One, The War; Book Two, The Emperor 
 Kuang Hsi ; Book Three, The Litterateurs in Mongolia. 
 
 " Did I tell you about my nice trip to Ti San % They 
 want a girls' school there, and there are several women 
 who would like to study in a station class, but can't 
 leave home so long. I feel like pursuing the Misses 
 Wyckoff 's plan. They have station classes, but they go 
 to their classes, not the class to them. 
 
 "Mr. Roberts invited us all to supper Friday night. 
 It was a little bit cold, and we saw the stove beaming. 
 Mr. Roberts had put a lighted candle in the stove in imi- 
 tation of the immortal Colonel Sellers. Sunday, after 
 meeting, I had the women at my house for their meeting, 
 and I put a lighted candle in my stove, to repeat the 
 Colonel Sellers joke. There isn't much isinglass In my 
 stove and nobody noticed it. I forgot it myself till after 
 dinner. There was two hours' illumination all for noth- 
 
368 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 ing, and an elegant wax candle, too. The joke came off, 
 you see, but it was on me. 
 
 " My present dog who guards the school yard is very 
 fierce. He cultivates courage on a mixed diet of millet 
 and tin pan, as was said of the Scotch that they cultivated 
 literature on a little oatmeal. The dog is getting uppish 
 and will not allow the schoolgirls to chain him up 
 through the day as he always has done. Only foreign 
 biscuits have any effect in inducing him to submit to ty- 
 ing up. 
 
 **I have a very funny new scholar. She is rather 
 simply clad, and would have been more simply clad if 
 Huan Huan had not lent her trousers and an upper gar- 
 ment. She has no stockings, and her shoes have gaping 
 holes, displaying toes untrammelled by binding. Her 
 mother is dead, and no one looks after her. Her father 
 was very insistent that Mr. and Mrs. Sprague should 
 adopt her, saying if they didn't, he should give her to the 
 Eoman Catholics. 
 
 ^'I told her at the first that if she were not a good 
 scholar, we should send her back home. Her face lit 
 with joy, and she seemed determined not to be a good 
 scholar, so she could go home. But yesterday, she 
 seemed to look more favorably on the school when ar- 
 rayed in her new warm trousers and coat, and seeing the 
 advantages of education in getting food regularly.'' 
 
 ^^ December 4, 1895, 
 " My dear appreciative family, I haven't anything to 
 write you this time. I ^ traipse ' from my room to the 
 schoolhouse, and from the schoolhouse to my room. I 
 give the girls patches in a grudging manner and glue for 
 mending shoes more cheerfully. I wound the schoolgirls' 
 finer feelings by opening their wardrobes, and throwing 
 out the heaps at the bottom. I find long lost articles. 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 359 
 
 thus. I try to study by fits with the teacher, I read, and 
 jump up to see what the girls are doing, read again, and 
 the girls come in to recognize tzu haoerSj — and so wags the 
 day.'' 
 
 ^^ January 1, 1896. 
 " I hope the rest told you of Christmas Day and our 
 stockings, and how dear Mrs. Sprague gave us each such 
 nice gifts. I gave the schoolgirls pieces of calico, and 
 was so exercised by trying to make them equally attrac- 
 tive, that I was late to Christmas dinner. '^ 
 
 ^^ January 29^ 1896. 
 
 *^ These days I don't get time to write letters, since the 
 schoolgirls are with me so much. If writing were like 
 thinking, how much easier it would be. I think of so 
 many letters when I walk, and have the material all 
 ready, if I could only put it down. Some of my friends 
 haven't written to me, and I think they are busy too, and 
 think out many letters that don't get into the mail. 
 
 *^ In the December Century^ the story of the ^ Brushwood 
 Boy ' fascinates me, especially that map. I think it must 
 be a real experience of Mr. Kipling's, — all but finding the 
 girl who had the same dream. 
 
 ^' My two smallest girls are in my room all day outside 
 of study hours. They do patchwork, or write characters 
 or play. They like to come. 
 
 *'I give out medicine all the while, — cough syrup, cas- 
 tor-oil, eye medicine, mutton tallow for chapped hands, 
 etc. Dr. Waples gave me a large quantity of all of these, 
 and I am an independent practitioner now." 
 
 '' April 4j 1896. 
 " Dear Mary : 
 
 ^^ Such good letters have come from some of my 
 school Mends. They said nice things about me, and I 
 
360 BY THE GKEAT WALL 
 
 was pleased, but quite a little ashamed. As I am in 
 China, they cannot be undeceived. I shall write back to 
 them that they are all wrong, and I am not nearly so nice 
 as they think. Their answers will be full of praise for 
 my sweet unconsciousness. After all, it is nice to have 
 the friends you love clothe you with virtues you don't 
 possess. And it is stimulating. I shall be trying now to 
 be as good as they think I am. 
 
 ^^Dear little sister, people used to say that we were 
 quite alike. And we are alike enough so that I feel as 
 if I understood how you think about things often. But 
 there are some ways I don't want you to be like me, and 
 am glad you aren't. What I mean is this. I've been too 
 reserved in showing my affection. I am afraid often of 
 pushing myself forward, when really, if I were willing to 
 make advances, people might have liked me perhaps. It 
 is partly because I cared for books more than anythiug 
 else, and didn't find out ways of getting near people I 
 liked. Then when I first came to America, and wanted 
 girl friends, I felt as if I didn't know how to make them 
 like me. At the Western, it grew easier, and I had some 
 girl friends there. At Oberlin, I made some lasting 
 friendships. But I want you to make more than I did, 
 and that will be good." 
 
 ''April 30 J 1896. 
 "Lines to a young gentleman in America who com- 
 plained that it strained his mind to think back to the 
 muffins which his sister wrote about in her letter from 
 China. 
 
 Hi8 Complaint 
 '* The muffins of two months ago 
 Came cold in your letter to-day. 
 My intellect tires in the stretch, 
 Although you cheerfully say, 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 361 
 
 ' We had biscuits for tea last night, 
 Will have muflans for tea to-day.* — 
 My motto's * Look forward, not back * 
 And so I beg you to write 
 What you'll have for a meal in a month, 
 In the morn, at noon, and at night. 
 And then my mind will relax ! 
 Thus, thus, do I beg you to write. 
 
 Her Answer 
 " This is April. I hope that in June 
 As six strikes, we'll sit down to a spread. 
 Plates filled with fried chicken on toast, 
 Jam, apricots, butter, and bread. 
 Now is this future fowl crisp 
 As you read what I write of the spread. 
 When the railroad is built to this town, 
 Birds'-nest soup, sea-slugs, and what more 
 Of dainties from North and from South 
 Will quickly be brought to our door. 
 In struggling with concepts of such far-future food, 
 You will sigh, ' Let me look back once more !' " 
 
 " Chin Ke Ta, Aug. 27, 1896, 
 " My Dear Family : 
 
 ''There are a dozen women around me gossiping. 
 One just inquired after Miss Diament, if she were in 
 Peking, and was surprised when I told them she was dead. 
 They are telling me about Teacher Chou^s second wife 
 with her false feet. She has two pairs of shoes, the small 
 pair at the bottom, and real shoes inside, and can't walk 
 at all or stand to do her work. 
 
 "Yesterday Mrs. Chao the Bible woman and I went to 
 the little mountain village of Yao Tzu Chuang. We 
 climbed the hill to where Teacher Chou Tzu Pang lives, 
 and his wife gave us string beans and oatmeal. My lit- 
 tle Tsun Meitzu can't come to school, and she was very 
 sorry and sat by me holding my hand all afternoon. The 
 
362 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 grandmother of her betrothed doesn't wish her to go to 
 school, and gave the father meal and a roll of cloth, so 
 they won't let her go. 
 
 "There were some sweet little children in the yard at 
 Chin Ke Ta. One fat little sunny -faced Lai Ditzu I kept 
 at my elbow two evenings to help eat my supper. Yu Fu 
 has a four year old son who is nearly blind, — one eye 
 quite gone and one with a film over it. I petted him and 
 gave him ^ ma-huars ' (Chinese doughnuts), and held him 
 till he cried whenever I went away. Two days I went 
 and promised to come back, and he waited for me even- 
 ings, but the third day I started for Kalgan. I wanted to 
 take him with me and have the doctor operate on his 
 eyes, but his parents weren't willing yet. I miss the lit- 
 tle fellow. He used to put both his fat little arms around 
 my neck and call me ' Ma Goo Goo ' (for Ma Ku Niang). 
 
 " He cried so when I went away ! I stuffed his apron 
 pocket with ma-huars. He grabbed the ma-huars in his 
 right hand and reached blindly after me with the other 
 hand. Poor dear little fellow ! 
 
 "I'm ever so much happier than I was in America, or 
 a few months since. I don't dare say very much about it 
 for fear of being self-confident, but I do feel that sickness 
 could not change my happiness. I have clung to the idea 
 that I was a Christian before this, and I still think so, 
 but such a weak Christian. Now I don't think much 
 about my faults, for I feel that I am being made into 
 something that will be beautiful when God gets through 
 with me. 
 
 " If I feel differently, I will tell you, for it is hardly 
 honest to tell of our ups and not of our downs. Though 
 what difference would it make how I felt ? I would be in 
 the process of being made, whether I were sorrowful or 
 rejoicing. The thought that God is working on me 
 makes me glad so many times, as I freshly think of it." 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 363 
 
 (Mr. John E. Mott visited Peking in the fall of 1896, 
 and with others held a convention in the interests of 
 Y. M. C. A. work.) 
 
 ^^ Peking, Sept. 16, 1896. 
 
 " I am staying at home from the convention to rest. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Sprague, Miss Andrews, Miss Hinman and 
 myself reached here Friday. Saturday afternoon, Bishop 
 Joyce preached and Dr. Sheffield translated. The Bishop 
 did so well, — an easy, simple, inspiring sermon, and Dr. 
 Sheffield translated so well, with such ease, and even 
 imitated his gestures, and clapped his hands and hallelu- 
 jahed when the Bishop clapped his hands and hallelu- 
 jahed. The Bishop wiped his eyes with his hand to rep- 
 resent the grief of the prodigal son, and Dr. Sheffield 
 pulled out his handkerchief and wiped his eyes. It was 
 fine. The Bishop would burst in ^ Bless the Lord for you. 
 Dr. Sheffield, that^s just the way I want it said,' and he 
 was so happy at Dr. Sheffield's fervor and freedom in de- 
 livery that he let off some more ^ hallelujahs ' while the 
 translator was speaking. 
 
 ** Sunday, Mr. Mott spoke, and Mr. Owen translated, — 
 wonderfully well, but Mr. Owen had a harder time of it 
 The talk Mr. Mott had prepared for foreigners, on the 
 * Inner Life ' and ' degeneration of spiritual faculties,' and 
 he had longer paragraphs than the Bishop. The drops 
 of perspiration stood on Mr. Owen's brow, and he had 
 the appearance of a struggler. I enjoyed hearing the 
 translating, and learn lots from such things. 
 
 "Sunday night, Mr. Mott spoke again in the chapel 
 here about Y. M. C. A.'s — how they had grown and were 
 uniting throughout the world, — the English and Scandi- 
 navian and German associations. In India the students 
 had formed a union of several colleges. He hoped 
 Chinese students would do the same. 
 
 " I was very glad to have heard Mr. Mott. He has a 
 
364: BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 thoughtful earnestness, and a kind of hammering power 
 in clinching his addresses. I hope I can get all the good 
 from his addresses on ^ Bible Study for one's own spiritual 
 growth ' and ' Secret Prayer. ' I have failed in both those 
 lines. The Chinese were greatly impressed by him. 
 
 "Dr. Sheffield and Mr. Gamewell are delegates to 
 Shanghai where they wish to take steps towards the for- 
 mation of a Students' League of Asia, like the associa- 
 tions of other countries. The delegates' expenses are 
 raised by pledges made by the missionaries at the confer- 
 ence." 
 
 ^^Kalgan, Sept. 23d, 
 
 "I wrote last on the road from Peking. Monday 
 night, we reached a place thirty miles from Kalgan. 
 Mr. McKee wanted to get home the next day, and asked 
 if I didn't want to go. I wanted to try my endurance, 
 and also to get home sooner, so consented. We started 
 at four o'clock in the morning, I on my horse, Mr. McKee 
 on his pack-mule. It was still dark and we fell in with 
 a camel train, — strings and strings of them. It was a 
 very narrow road, and camels don't keep to one side 
 well, but slump here to right and there to left. So we 
 got tangled, and couldn't go by. At one place there was 
 a block, where a train of camels going south came against 
 these camels going north. It wasn't fun for me nor for 
 Mr. McKee. He might have got by quicker, but didn't 
 dare leave me far behind, and I was expecting a tea-chest 
 to jam up against me sooner or later. We got past in an 
 hour, and breathed freely again. The people here think 
 I took a very trying journey, but that was the only part 
 that was bad." 
 
 " October U, 1895, 
 
 "I have been spending my afternoons in teaching 
 school over the bridge. I go on the horse. The road is 
 most villainous and terrible, and when one knows there 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 365 
 
 has been no rain for some weeks, one feels inclined to 
 malign the people who live on the street and throw all 
 the slops out. Sometimes I make the beast go up a little 
 stone sidewalk, quite narrow, to avoid the mud. Once 
 the horse mashed my foot against the wall, but the 
 donkey, unlike Balaam^ s ass, is careful of my life and 
 limb.^^ 
 
 '^January 13 y 1897. 
 
 "The box you sent from home got here January 7th. 
 Mamma wants me to thank you for the nice things you 
 sent her. As for me, I went off proudly with my apron, 
 pink shirt-waist, ice-wool shawl, and so many more 
 things, I affirm that if I had had another thing, I should 
 have been too proud to walk, and could only have 
 waddled. As for the apron, though it might have been 
 a little large for me before, — when that box came, I 
 swelled so with pride that the apron is, if anything, a 
 little scant. I in future intend to devote myself only to 
 those pages of the Delineator which represent ' Patterns 
 for Elderly Ladies of Stout Figures.^ 
 
 " Pm stupid, and can't think of what to write. Papa 
 fears I shall defraud somebody or something by putting 
 less paper in the letter than I'm entitled to. But some- 
 times I love to donate to the government one sixteenth of 
 an ounce advantage in the way of mail. Far away from 
 my glorious country, I can do but little to help her, but 
 may they remember of me that I sometimes took one six- 
 teenth or one thirty- second less weight than my five cent 
 stamp entitled me to. 
 
 " Monday, I went to my little school over the bridge, 
 and found one scholar, a girl of fourteen, gone. The 
 family was too poor to keep her, so they sent her to her 
 future husband's home. There is no mother-in-law, but 
 the sister-in-law's mother lives there, and is possessed by 
 a fox, every one says, so she can heal diseases. I am 
 
366 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 sorry for the girl. They all take opium there, and the 
 sister-in-law is a 'smoke-dried stick,' — their expression 
 for an opium fiend, when they don't say * opium devil.' 
 
 '^ Mrs. Yu Fu is pleasant and bright, and reads Mark 
 with me. Last night she told me about her San Kaitzu, 
 my sweet little girl, and bright scholar. San Kaitzu is 
 engaged into a family where they want bound feet, and 
 the family say they will bind when she is eighteen, and 
 comes as a bride into their home. That will hurt so ! 
 
 " Tsun Meitzu, too (one of last year's girls), can't come 
 to school this year on account of her mother-in-law. 
 They wrote that she cried, and wanted to come very 
 much. Mamma yearns after her, and says, 'I want 
 Tsun Meitzu.' . . ." 
 
 This was the last letter written before her mother's 
 death. Two weeks of anxious watching followed, and on 
 January twenty -sixth, the dear mother was called home, 
 and Etta and her father were left alone. 
 
 ^^ February 12, 1897, 
 " Dear Mary : 
 
 '^I have been looking over mamma's things, and 
 the letters her sisters and her children wrote her. She 
 took great comfort in your letters. In her portfolio were 
 things she valued; — one was the letter Stephen wrote 
 her, urging her to go to Uncle Eob's wedding ; there 
 were flowers, and one rose, dark red, marked ' Mary's 
 rose, August 3, 1895.' 
 
 " I have been thinking of death more as a reunion 
 than a separation. Think of Thomas Hughes seeing Dr. 
 Arnold again ; of Tennyson putting his arms about 
 Arthur Hallam, the friend of his youth, dead years and 
 years ago ; of Eobert Browning and Elizabeth Brown- 
 ing:— 
 
LETTEKS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 367 
 
 " ' Then a peace out of pain, 
 Then a light, then thy breast, 
 Oh, thou Soul of my soul, I shall see thee again, 
 And with God be the rest.' — ^ Frospice.^ 
 
 I always loved that part of ^Tom Brown' where Tom 
 goes back to Rugby, and sees, in the evening, the 
 doctor's grave in the chapel. 
 
 ^^The last week of mamma's life is my sweetest, dear- 
 est remembrance. If I had no other reason for believing 
 in a personal, loving God, I would believe in Him be- 
 cause I had those last days with her." 
 
 '^ April 2 J 1897. 
 '^My Dear, Dear Ones : 
 
 *'I cried more after receiving your letters of Feb- 
 ruary 8th and 15th than I have since mamma died, but it 
 was good for me to cry. Tears help sometimes. They 
 keep one from feeling dried up, and having dull pain 
 with no outward sign. 
 
 "I feel just as you do about the great and joyous 
 change that has come to mamma, but for my own sake, 
 it would have been much harder to bear her going if I 
 had not been with her the last days. I thought of you 
 and prayed for you on those days, wondering when you 
 would know. ' The cablegram took nine days to Peking. 
 
 ^*The gatekeeper is very low. They think he can't 
 get well, and I have a desire to ask him to tell my mother 
 about the letters you wrote. I wanted so much to show 
 them to mamma. The pleasant weather comes now, and 
 I think if mamma could but have lived till now, and 
 planted her flower seeds and worn her pretty new dresses. 
 It does seem foolish to be talking about flower seeds and 
 such as things to make one wish mamma back, but I do 
 miss her. 
 
368 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 "Every once in a while I feel surprised again to think 
 of mamma being dead. When I was looking over her 
 dresses, I found a pin stuck in, that she had put in while 
 wearing it, just as one does so often. And now she is 
 gone. The Sunday before she died, she was better than 
 before, and so I went and taught her Sunday-school class 
 and kept thinking, ' Now, perhaps mamma will be well, 
 and come to teach here j I shall see her sitting on the 
 kang, with her black hood on, and all this time of anx- 
 iety will be remembered as a bad dream. ^ 
 
 " Now, sometimes I think just for a moment, ^ Perhaps 
 this is a dream, and I'll wake up, and find mamma still 
 here and sitting at her old place at table.' 
 
 "Sometimes one does dream long, long dreams where 
 years seem to pass in trouble. 
 
 " The Chinese think it very strange that I don't wear 
 mourning for mamma. I told them it was very hard to 
 make foreign dresses, and that we wore black for mourn- 
 ing instead of white, as they do. 
 
 "I have sixteen now in the Girls' School, and twelve 
 have natural feet. I help several on their clothing, and 
 some I clothe entirely. Those that I help I try to use up 
 old clothes on for economy. I alter old basques, putting 
 in pieces of goods where the darts were cut, so as to 
 make it hang straight. You may think it looks funny, 
 but it's a great improvement on giving them the old 
 basques as they are. The Chinese girls do look so 
 wretchedly awkward in basques, and they are too short 
 besides, so I put a piece on at the bottom after piecing 
 up the sides. The Chinese women, who are very saving, 
 say, ' Well, your skirts are good to make over into clothes, 
 but those short upper gowns you wear are so cut up with 
 slits, they are very little use.' 
 
 "I am preparing for my last year's examination in 
 Chinese at Tung Chou. After this, though I'm expected 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 369 
 
 to study Chinese still, I am not to be examined, or re- 
 quired to follow a particular course of study. 
 
 "We have had such an interesting lecture from Sven 
 Hedin, a famous Swedish explorer of Central Asia, who 
 stopped here on his way to Peking. He discovered a 
 city buried for ages in the sand, and manuscripts written 
 in unknown characters. He spoke, and Mr. Sprague 
 translated, so the Chinese could get the good of his story. 
 They were most interested in hearing about the felt roads. 
 He had to put felt over the snow so that the horses could 
 travel. If a horse slipped from the felt, it sank into the 
 moist snow and had to be dug out. Of course progres- 
 sion was very slow. Then when he told about the days 
 he lived on grass, and the days he went without water, — 
 that was thrilling ! My curiosity is satisfied on one point. 
 The boots in his story, with which he carried water to 
 his dying servant, are the identical ones he wears now ! 
 They must have been very good boots to last so long. 
 The shop where he bought them will have an advertise- 
 ment 
 
 ^^KalgaUj April 21, 1897, 
 " I send you a copy of the letter I have written to the 
 Christian Endeavor Societies of Iowa, who contribute 
 towards my support. I just wrote them about my school, 
 and every-day happenings. An old inhabitant like me 
 gets so used to the natives, that he can^t do any tall 
 writing about their enormities. 
 
 " I want to tell you about my little day school in the 
 garden suburb of Kalgan, and then about one girl who 
 was in that day school, but is now in my boarding school. 
 This little day school I taught myself for the main part, 
 and rode on an animal or in a cart. When I rode the 
 horse I attracted much attention, and, of course, heard 
 'foreign devil' many times along the road. Lately I 
 
370 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 have been wearing the Chinese costume to be less notice- 
 able, but heard, ^ A foreigner our clothes ! Our clothes ! 
 Not bad ! ' referring to my clothes. * Looks very well if 
 she didn't wear that wash-basin on her head,' referring 
 to my sailor hat, which is the shape of a Chinese wash- 
 basin. When one is costumed as a Chinese woman, one 
 ought not to wear anything on the head except cloth, or 
 a strip of ribbon, but a hat is rather a necessity to me. 
 
 **Eiding in a cart is, of course, less annoying but 
 much more painful and tiresome. Sometimes I thought, 
 
 * I'll go in the cart to-day and not be reviled,' but after 
 some astonishing bounds of the cart, which, perhaps, 
 knocked my head against the side, I would say to myself, 
 
 * Better be called names and hear your hat called a wash- 
 basin than hurt your head with these jars.' 
 
 * ^ I must say that along the dwelling houses I am usually 
 greeted politely by the children and others who know my 
 name. In the market streets by the shops I hear the 
 most reviling. 
 
 *^The house in which I have my schoolroom has a 
 beautiful, very large grape-vine in the yard. At the side 
 are grown tomatoes and other foreign vegetables, beside 
 the usual Chinese vegetables. 
 
 "Among the scholars I had was a large girl whose 
 accent was different from the Kalgan variety. Her family 
 came from the south of the Great Wall, were very poor 
 and so betrothed this girl as soon as they came to Kalgan 
 for the money they needed. Afterwards they found out 
 that the family were opium-smokers. An engagement is 
 a very sacred thing in China, so the poor girl must go 
 into that family no matter how bad they were. 
 
 "One day when she recited I saw tears in her eyes. 
 The next day I went to teach she didn't come. They 
 said, ' She has gone into the family of her betrothed. 
 She is not married yet, but they wanted some one to wait 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 371 
 
 on them and lier father and mother didn't have enough 
 to feed her and the other children too.' 
 
 *^ ^What kind of people are these?' I asked. *Do 
 they all smoke opium ? ' 
 
 " ^ Yes. There are two brothers. The older one has a 
 wife about forty years old. The younger is the one to 
 whom the girl is engaged. The brother's wife has a 
 mother, an exorciser of evil spirits, who lives with them. 
 They all smoke opium.' 
 
 ** A month passed. I could not do anything, but I 
 thought of the poor girl, and hoped what she had learned 
 in school would comfort her and save her soul. 
 
 " I saw her about Chinese New Year's. She had come 
 home for a few days. She looked very sallow and beaten 
 down, not as she did before when she led my horse and 
 held him for me to mount. I had admired the life and 
 vigor I saw in her, but now pale, dispirited, in wretched 
 clothes, and her head bound about in a faded black rag 
 — I hardly knew her. 
 
 " She seemed glad to see me. I heard them say, ^ Her 
 sister-in-law and the rest treat her badly. They make 
 her stand on the cold floor till midnight to hand them 
 their opium pipes and fill and refill them, while they are 
 upon the warm kang.' (A kang in winter is usually the 
 only place one can keep warm on in a Chinese house.) 
 They, being opium-smokers, need very little food or 
 sleep, and they wanted her to eat as little as they did. 
 
 ^^ The next time I came Mr. and Mrs. Jen and I had a 
 consultation. (Mr. Je^ is the owner of the house where 
 the school is. The name is pronounced like our English 
 *run.') 
 
 ^^The father and mother were called in and I said, 
 * You ought to break this engagement for your daughter's 
 sake.' I had previously placed the amount of the be- 
 trothal money in Mrs. Jen's hands, so that it might be 
 
372 BY THE GEEAT WALL 
 
 given to the opium-smoking family, if they agreed to 
 release the girl. The father and mother were much 
 frightened. ^ We promised to send her back yesterday, 
 but she wouldn't go, and they came for her to-day, and 
 we said, ^'She shall go to you this afternoon." ^ I said, 
 
 * Don' t send her. Let me take her back to my home in the 
 cart and tell them you don't want her to go back to them.' 
 
 " So I smuggled the girl in the back of the cart and we 
 went home and she went to the Girls' School house. This 
 was Saturday. The next day, Sunday, her father came 
 to meeting and told her to go back. I pleaded with 
 them and told them to brace up and not be afraid, but he 
 rolled with anguish on the brick walk and sobbed out, 
 
 * I am a poor man, a poor man, and dare not let her stay 
 here.' 
 
 " * Wait till Monday and she shall go in the cart.' He 
 went. About two o'clock that afternoon he appeared 
 again with Mr. Jen to say that the husband had hired a 
 cart and that the girl must go now. I still pleaded for 
 another day, and went to talk with the betrothed hus- 
 band. He made me sick to look at him or speak to him, 
 but I begged for one day more. He said, ^ I want my 
 wife. I have been told several days now, to-morrow, to- 
 morrow she will come, and I don't wish to be put off any 
 more.' I got the school-teacher to talk to him. The 
 school-teacher first shamed him by asking to see his 
 hands. When he concealed the right one in his sleeve 
 the teacher insisted, and then said, ^Ah! you take 
 opium, don't you ? I can see the marks on your nails.' 
 Then the teacher asked him, * Are you married to this 
 girl t She is too large a girl to be in your house unmar- 
 ried.' He said, * No,' he hadn't married her yet. Then 
 the teacher fairly dizzied him with a stream of eloquence 
 proving that Confucius and Mencius and the ancient 
 sages all would have let the girl stay till Monday. 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 373 
 
 "I went to say something to the girl which should 
 help her, but I found great difficulty in beginning. She 
 was sobbing, and I took her to my room and held her 
 hand and cried with her till I thought in distress, * The 
 time is going and I may never see her again or any 
 Christian have access to her. But what can I say ? ^ At 
 last I told her that where she was going Satan would be 
 near all the time to tempt her. I couldn't go with her to 
 help her, but God could and would help her. ^ You must 
 pray every day, O God ! help me to be good 1 Oh, God ! 
 take care of me, save me ! They won't let you be by 
 yourself, but you can pray these words to God in your 
 heart. And you must never try to kill yourself.' The 
 girl said she wouldn't. Before she had said to some one 
 that they treated her so badly she would take some of 
 their opium and end her troubles. 
 
 ^^The next day I sent her away in the cart. Her 
 father came to escort her. I remember the feeling I had 
 as of parting with some one about to die. I said, ' Don't 
 forget to caU on God. I can't do anything for you, bub 
 God can deliver you.' I never expected to see her again. 
 
 " The next Saturday after breakfast Mr. Jen came very 
 frightened, saying, * That girl has run away and we hid 
 her in our house. But the people will be there to find 
 her. Can't you take the doctor's cart and send her to 
 Peking ? ' I inquired the particulars, which were as fol- 
 lows : The girl had been treated worse than before after 
 coming back, and Friday overheard her sister-in-law 
 saying, ' She had better be married at once ; then if we 
 beat her to death the father can't say much, l^ow she 
 isn't married and we can't punish her to the utmost.' 
 The girl thought it her last chance to escape, so very 
 early the next morning she left the house and crossed the 
 river on the ice to Mr. Jen's house. Now I have named 
 the girl Eliza, after Mrs. Stowe's Eliza, who crossed the 
 
374 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 Ohio on the ice. Mr. Jen put a sheepskin coat over 
 the girl, who was in a little outhouse, and locked the 
 door. The pursuers of the fugitive thought Eliza was 
 with me. Men came all day to the gate-house threaten- 
 ing trouble and breaking down the walls if the girl was 
 not given up. The gatekeeper and my cook each solemnly 
 inquired if I had the girl in hiding, and said, ' You had 
 better give her up, or Christianity will lose in repute and 
 there will be trouble.^ 
 
 " Mr. Jen denied that the girl was in his yard, and 
 didn't allow any one to search the place. Men were 
 hanging about all day, trying to find out, but didn't dare 
 enter the yard. 
 
 "Sunday morning Eliza's father took the betrothal 
 money which I gave him back to these people. They, in 
 despair of recovering their strayed property, and of the 
 opinion I had dispatched said property away from Kal- 
 gan, were glad to settle amicably and get the money with- 
 out a law-suit. 
 
 " Now Eliza is in school. It is a great pleasure to see 
 her bright and smiling in the new clothes I have given 
 her, studying and working with a will. She is naturally 
 the opposite of a quiet, neat girl, but has tried very hard 
 to speak softly and not dispute with the others and do 
 her very best to please God and please me. 
 
 "I was asked to say something of the needs of the 
 work. We need another lady very much indeed. Last 
 fall I would have told you * A pocket folding companion ' 
 — ^in other words, a Bible woman who could be put in my 
 saddle-bags. To state this more soberly, I would say, a 
 Bible woman who could ride a donkey without much pain 
 afterwards. Carts nearly kill me, but my Bible woman 
 took a long time to recover from a short trip on a donkey's 
 vback. 
 
 "I hope those of you who read the Mizpah Calendar 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 375 
 
 have remembered me and the school at our appointed 
 times. This year I have appreciated the Calendar more 
 than usual. Since I lost my mother last January, so 
 many of the quotations in the Calendar seem weighted 
 with a message for me. I do not speak of my own per- 
 sonal loss here, but of the great loss our work here has 
 sustained in my mother's departure. 
 
 *^ God has kept me well and peaceful all this time. 
 
 *^Pray for China. 
 
 ^^ Your friend and missionary, 
 
 *^ Henrietta B. Williams.^' 
 
 '^ April 27, 1897. 
 "I don't feel much of a missionary these days, working 
 round with my sewing women. The children needed 
 clothes. I have fixed basques with insertions for little 
 Jade Ring, and her sister *Next-a-son,' and my old 
 skirts and a wrapper made good gowns for San Ya 
 T'ou and two others. Mamma's beggar woman Hsin 
 "Wu does sewing for me sometimes. She is a very 
 poor sewer, and it's hard to find work poor enough 
 for her to do. There are a lot of old shoes around 
 and I cut them up for patches and have her patch the 
 toes of the girls' old cloth shoes. There was one pair of 
 button shoes, which were good except for ripped side 
 seams. Hsin Wu sewed them up, and one rainy day I 
 told Lao-ku-tzu to wear them. She gasped, but obeyed. 
 I could see how muddy her stockings were from the holes 
 in the toes of the Chinese shoes. She looked so ridiculous 
 the next day with those button shoes put on wrong, but- 
 tons on inside of her leg. I took them away from her, 
 but bring them out every rainy day. I am keeping the 
 child on old shoes now as an awful warning to the rest. 
 ^ See what you must wear if you spoil your shoes too 
 soon!'" 
 
376 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 ^'' Later, 
 " I just took down ^ Mary^s Meadow ^ by Mrs. Ewing 
 to find that poem of George Herbert's, — 
 
 ** ' Who would have thought my shrivelled heart 
 Would have recovered greenness,' 
 
 it commences. It is quaint and yet I like it so much. It 
 expresses something I have felt often, the longing to be 
 put past the fear of falling, — not the fear, but the falling. 
 Some things touch me and seem to water my heart, which 
 was all shrivelled, — and then I shrivel up again. Pray- 
 ers don't usually do me the good they should, but some 
 people's prayers do refresh me like a shower. 
 
 "One of my friends wrote such a lovely letter after 
 hearing about mamma's death. She spoke of the com- 
 monplace things that help, — simple every- day comfort of 
 spring naturally following winter (it must follow), — 
 life, the real thing which persists through all. Her idea 
 is something like Herbert's when he speaks of the flowers 
 keeping house down beneath everything in the quiet. 
 
 "Well, 
 
 ** * Heart's loves remain, 
 
 Heart's love shall meet thee again.' " 
 
 ^^ At Mission Meeting j Tung ChoUj May 29 j 1897, 
 " I wish you could be here and see all the new people 
 and babies and nice children. 
 
 "Mr. and Mrs. Horace Pitkin are sitting against the 
 glass bookcase, taking in new things and us old mission- 
 aries. They are both fine looking. Mr. Pitkin is tall 
 with blue eyes and dark hair parted nearly in the middle. 
 Mrs. Pitkin looks very young, and has pretty curly hair. 
 Papa knew her father in school at Miami. We were a 
 little afraid that they might not be happy here, but they 
 seem deeply spiritual, and very much in earnest. 
 
 " Mr. Atwater is here from Shansi, dressed in Chinese 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 377 
 
 costume. Dr. and Mrs. Porter are here with two fair- 
 haired boys, Jamie and Chappell. Dr. Ingram's baby 
 Esther is rosy and beautiful, and Luther Goodrich is 
 growing a fine boy. Euth Ingram and Gracie Goodrich 
 have their hair done each in two cunning little tails." 
 
 ^^ June 23d, 
 "I am back at Kalgan. The days are lovely now. 
 
 Lovely summer weather makes me think of friends far 
 
 away, and of my sisters. 
 
 ** Cousin Marjorie wrote her opinion of Matthew 
 
 Arnold as a fine critic but inferior poet. I can't agree 
 
 there. Nothing sounds so like summer to me as : 
 
 ** * Soon will the high midsummer pomp come on, 
 Soon will the musk carnations break and swell, 
 Soon shall we have gold dusted snapdragon, 
 Sweet William with his homely cottage smell. 
 ****** 
 
 " ' Roses that down the alley shine afar 
 And open jasmine, muffled lattices, 
 And groups under the dreaming garden trees, 
 And the full moon and the white evening star. ' 
 
 **If you read ^Thyrsis' from which this comes, and 
 * The Scholar Gypsy,' you will care for his poetry. 
 
 "Soon my pinks will be bursting forth, my snapdragons 
 are already showing finely, my glory flowers are just 
 about to bud, and every blessed geranium is blazing with 
 bloom. I wanted them to bloom in winter, but the trifling 
 things put it all off till summer when there is plenty be- 
 sides. My sweet alyssum makes a nice white spot, and 
 is fragrant. So are the mignonettes. 
 
 " I felt as if I had no heart to plant flowers this year, 
 but now I am glad I did. Do you remember how mamma 
 said, ^ We are going to have a very pretty garden next 
 
378 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 summer^ f We have, and it almost seems as if she were 
 helping the garden grow so wonderfully. Every one says, 
 * Yours is the prettiest garden of all.' I wish mamma 
 could see it. It isn't painful to think of her now, but one 
 will regret, no matter how happy the one who is gone is 
 in her ^mansion.' 
 
 ^* ^ The day of our birth, and the day of our death, — I 
 see them as two great gates. There is a small court be- 
 tween them, where some of us play j we make our little 
 mud pies, and hoard up our little treasures, pieces of 
 bright china and glass that we cut our fingers on. Some 
 of us make playhouses for others who are to come ; some 
 clear away the mud, that others may walk better across 
 the court. We all look occasionally to the second gate, 
 the Gate of Death. Some put their hands over their eyes, 
 and will not see it, but go back to look for some more 
 broken pieces of bright china. Some declare they can 
 see wonderful things of the land beyond, when the Gate 
 is opened for others to pass through. 
 
 " ^ I myself, as a child, was filled with a great curiosity 
 to see outside of human life. I do not know how I 
 should feel, face to face with Death, but it seems to me 
 that I should not be afraid, but should wait for the Gate 
 of Death to be unlocked with a longing desire to see what 
 manner of land should be beyond.' 
 
 **I wrote this in my journal, long ago. The other 
 day, I read in the * Daily Light ' for the evening, *■ I 
 trust I shall shortly see Thee, and we shall speak face to 
 face.' And, ^ My soul thirsteth for God, for the living 
 God, when shall I come and appear before God? ' 
 
 " I never was so impressed before with that verse. It 
 is taken out of its connection to signify meeting with God, 
 but it is wonderful. How wonderful it would be to see 
 God soon, and speak face to face with our Lord Jesus. 
 
 " Prom impressions that have come to me while read- 
 
LETTEKS OF HENEIETTA WILLIAMS 379 
 
 ing my Bible lately, I have more belief than I used to in 
 the Lord Jesus' coming. It is so much more restful to 
 think of that than death. Death will bring us to the 
 Lord's presence too, if He does not come before that. I 
 want Him to come, yet I pray that He may abide in me. 
 It would be so good to see Him. I long daily that He 
 will come, and settle everything. 
 
 ^* Sometimes I think that I am not half enough in ear- 
 nest. If I believed with all my heart, I should be speak- 
 ing all the time to people, begging them to love Jesus 
 soon, — now. 
 
 "My dear sisters, I am missing all the good of being 
 with you, and knowing your little ways and bits of fun, and 
 sweetnesses and new dresses, — the little every- day nesses. 
 Do you remember ^ Peter Ibbetson ' ? Peter could dream 
 ;, over and over his former days, and carry his friends with 
 ! him into his own past, by holding them by the hand and 
 leading them into his dreamland. They could lead him 
 into their past experiences too. That's what I'd like you 
 to do for me." 
 
 ^^ September 24., 1897, 
 
 "I am keeping a bit of *tipsina' (like wild turnip), 
 which the Indians like. It reminds me of Santee, and of 
 the times I had wandering over the hills hunting tipsina 
 with the little Birds' 'Nest girls. It is * Auld Lang Syne ' 
 to me, though my top drawer gets disorderly, and I fear 
 the tipsina is a nucleus of disorder, as the Jollycumpop, 
 and the Prince and others were a nucleus for a city in 
 Frank Stockton's story of ^ Prince Hassak.' Do you re- 
 member Pleasance in ^What She Came Through,' who 
 named her bureau drawers Eupatoria and Balaclava be- 
 cause they were so much like the Crimean battle-fields, — 
 torn up, rent and devastated ? 
 
 " It's curious how putting one's things in order seems to 
 get one's brain and soul in tune. 
 
380 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 ^^ The other day I couldn't find my bank bills, and was 
 so afraid some one had taken the envelope. I thought of 
 Eliza's mother who is in here Sundays. Then I looked 
 again very carefully and found it in another place where 
 I had put it myself. I was so glad. It is so hard and 
 withering to one's soul to suspect people. I am always 
 glad, even at finding trifles. It seems to symbolize some- 
 thing deeper. The woman who hunts for her lost piece 
 of silver reminds one of the lost son who repented and 
 came back. I'm thinking now of Jen Te Ming, and hope 
 that the sin and attendant humiliation will make him re- 
 pent all over. Thorough repentance, — what can it be ? 
 I don't think I have ever repented in such a way, but I 
 dimly imagine it to be a breaking up of everything, — a 
 wrenching apart of the tenderest places, — and then ? — 
 then, I don't know what to say, except that it must be 
 like death, harder than some deaths, and then life again 
 as a different person. 
 
 *^I have just been giving Teacher Lo some money for a 
 poor teacher, a church-member who has come to Kalgan 
 to see after his sick son. I thought about my brother, 
 supposing he were sick and penniless, how glad I should 
 be to have some one slip a $50 bank note into his hand. 
 Mine wasn't $50, but three tiao which I slipped into Lo's 
 hand. However one can feel beneficent and inwardly ex- 
 panded over giving a much less sum in China than in 
 America." 
 
 " October 21, 1897, 
 
 " I'm just back from a tour of sixteen days, which I 
 enjoyed, though the days were pretty cold. Outdoor life 
 is good for me, and having a horse makes it easier. Mrs. 
 Peng welcomed me at Shui Ch'uan and made me feel at 
 home. She is a nice woman and foreign in her ideal of 
 cleanliness. I heard her six scholars recite, very well for 
 three days' study. She hopes to keep this little school so 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 381 
 
 that she can stay at home and yet be doing mission work. 
 The next day, I started for Chin Ke Ta. As we went 
 up a steep hill, a bridal procession followed us, mu- 
 sicians in high red felt hats and the red sedan chair in 
 which the bride was shivering, carried by panting men, 
 who often put the chair down to rest. I was pleased. I 
 like a little excitement on the road, and whether it is 
 bridal processions or soldiers riding to capture thieves, I 
 greet them cheerfully. 
 
 "Crossing the river, the water was almost over my 
 stirrup irons. It got dark, and we were still five miles 
 away. I made my horse run through two miles of coun- 
 try road with houses scattered near more or less, but the 
 last part of the journey it was very dark, and the horse 
 was tired, and looked suspiciously at everything. As we 
 went through the fields, I thought of wolves, and remem- 
 bered the girl at Yu Chou whose grandmother was eaten 
 by a wolf when she was working in the fields. The other 
 women fled for their lives, and when men ran with hoes 
 and pitchforks there was nothing left but a foot and some 
 bones. They got a big coffin and buried the foot and 
 leg bones with all the usual ceremonies. 
 
 "The Chinese villagers don't dare go out at night for 
 fear of thieves and wolves. Thieves would not dare to 
 attack a foreigner, but wolves might not have known 
 enough to let me alone. I was glad finally to ride through 
 a lighted village, past the theatre where small boys and 
 others with lanterns sat ready to enjoy an evening per- 
 formance. I had reached Chin Ke Ta. 
 
 "I only stayed a day there, for the church-members 
 were worked up over a law-suit in one of the Christian 
 families. I stayed at the inn. As I rode into the yard 
 the inn children shrieked, ^There's a foreign devil 
 come ! ' I turned to the carter and said, ^ We won't stay 
 here. They reviled me.' 'Who?' ^ Children.^ ^Oh, 
 
382 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 children don^t know what they say.' The innkeeper 
 also said, *Oh, children don't know what's right.' I 
 said, *I'm not scolding them so much as you older 
 people. You ought to teach them better.' 
 
 "It was so cold at Chiu Huai An the next day, and 
 we had a cold room there. By this time I had two little 
 girls under my wing to take back to school. I was 
 really afraid they would be sick as they are used to 
 warm kangs. I shared one of my quilts with them and 
 hadn't enough to keep warm myself. The children 
 woke crying often, and we hadn't much sleep. If the 
 carter hadn't been kind enough to give one child a quilt 
 which he was bringing to some one, we could hardly have 
 managed. The children were so good, I was glad to care 
 for them and felt better than I should have done alone. 
 
 ^ ^ I have come back with my head full of gossip about 
 this one's ^Hsi fur' (bride), and that one's mother-in- 
 law. You will be tired of reading this." 
 
 ^'December 6, 1897, 
 "My California boxes came Monday, and I danced for 
 pure joy quietly in my room in the evening, and gloated 
 over the good things I could give the people for Christ- 
 mas dinner. They are invited over to our house this 
 year. 
 
 "There is only one thing I really long after now. 
 You couldn't guess, — a gramophone. It would be so 
 useful to entertain Chinese visitors and the school chil- 
 dren at New Year's and holidays when I entertain them. 
 I wish Stephen would look up prices for me, and see 
 if it's something really good. My other wish you'd 
 laugh over, — a telephone to connect my room and the 
 schoolroom, so as to save my running over there, and 
 keep the girls from running to my room. It would be 
 interesting to enlighten the Chinese on telephones, beside. 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 383 
 
 '* The girls are busy making paper dolls. I have torn 
 off the white covers on Western Oxfords and the green 
 covers of Mission Reports, and purple covers on other 
 things, till I vowed I wouldn't give them another thing 
 for doll dresses. 
 
 *^It is lovely of ^you-alls' to think of getting a box 
 ready to send me. I could use a lot of scrap pictures, 
 advertisements and other such, — flowers and pictures of 
 children preferred. The children learn to read texts 
 printed on cards like that. Dolls are very nice to send, 
 even if they are blondes. Perhaps I can educate them to 
 like blondes. What do you think of my success it I at- 
 tempt r' 
 
 ^^ December 2S, 1897, 
 ^^ My Dear Sisters : 
 
 ^'I have decided to make a reputation for myself 
 talking about a novel that I never need write. I read of 
 a Frenchman who owed his reputation to an essay on ^ The 
 Inconvenience of Conveniences,' which he only talked 
 about. The novel that I am going to talk about writing 
 shall have a heroine who has had no advantages of books 
 or teachers, but learns the modern languages by studying 
 the patent medicine wrappers and tin cans. She can 
 write ^Do not take spurious imitations' in Polish, 
 Swedish, German, French, Spanish and Portuguese. I 
 got this idea as I gazed at my Anglo-Swiss Milkmaid 
 Brand of condensed milk, which has Chinese and 
 Japanese directions as well as the others. 
 
 *^ The other morning near breakfast time, I felt a wild 
 desire for luxury. I could only think of using some ex- 
 pensive soap, so I charged into the bedroom for Pears 
 glycerine tar, but found nothing but Frank Siddall's. 
 The Pears Soap was all up attic, so I quenched my desire 
 for luxury, jgajld 'Pon't be a Clam' and took a bar of 
 Siddall's." 
 
384: BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 '^ January 26^ 1898. 
 
 "Some one has sent me ^ Merivale ' and Marzials' ^ Life 
 of Thackeray.' Mary spoke of trying to learn to like 
 Matthew Arnold, because I do. I like Arnold's poems, 
 but I don't feel so fond of him, I do love Thackeray, 
 and it seems more for himself than for his writings. I 
 haven't always cared to read ' Vanity Fair,' but I want 
 you when reading Thackeray to think of the loving 
 kindness of the man, chaperoning his little girls to 
 children's parties, helping unfortunate authors with 
 checks out of his own pocket when he couldn't spoil his 
 magazine by accepting their contributions. I have a slip 
 of paper on my ^ Vanity Fair ' flyleaf on which is 
 written, ^ Concerning Thackeray. ' 
 
 " One loved him almost as one loves a woman, — think- 
 ing of him when away from him was a source of joy 
 which cannot be analyzed but was full of comfort. One 
 who loved him, loved him thus because his heart was 
 tender as is the heart of a woman. 
 
 " I have been remembering all these days last year at 
 this time when mamma was dying. I am glad she is so 
 happy. Last year I prayed God to make me better. I 
 promised to change as far as I could what mamma saw 
 was faulty in me so I could please her if she lived. 
 Afterwards I added, ^ And even if mamma doesn't live, 
 
 God, do make me different.' " 
 
 "The blind child I wrote you of,— Yu Fu's little boy, 
 is here now. He is devoted to one of my dolls, — an ugly 
 patched one, but he lugs it and hugs it and hunts it when 
 
 1 hide it (in easy places). He sees better to walk now 
 than before. I gave him a bath once and often he comes 
 around saying, *Ma Ku, I want a bath.' But his little 
 sister didn't like the bath at all. Their mother, Mrs. 
 Yu Fu, invited me to eat dumplings yesterday. The 
 
.ETTEKS OF HENKIETTA WILLIAMS 385 
 
 blind boy and baby girl had shockingly dirty faces, and 
 while I waited, I yearned to wash them, but didn't know 
 whether it was etiquette, when invited out to dine, to wash 
 your hostess's children's faces. Mrs. Yu Fu is so bright 
 and good-natured. I am fond of her, but she is so slat- 
 ternly. I have talked to her gently, but it did no good, 
 and the Chinese have talked to her and about her with a 
 great frankness which I hadn't the courage to imitate, 
 but that seems to have done no good either. 
 
 "Thirteen of our seventeen scholars have unbound 
 feet. Two of the small-footed girls are very poor, and so 
 miserably supplied with shoes by their parents that they 
 act as awful warnings to those scholars who have un- 
 bound their own feet, but think small feet pretty. 
 
 "It seems harder than usual to keep the younger girls 
 looking tidy and clean this winter. They remind me of 
 boys, with the same fine facility for wearing out their 
 clothes and their shoes, breaking household articles, and 
 getting their faces and hands dirty. It is a great bless- 
 ing, however, that they are all well. Outsiders usually 
 comment on the scholars' appearance, thus : — * How fat 
 they look ! ' which is almost as great a compliment in 
 China as it is in Dahomey." 
 
 ^^ March 16, 1898, 
 "Dear Girls: 
 
 "There are so many old photographs in a box 
 upstairs. As I looked them over to-day, I was moved 
 to compose a few stanzas of a poem, on this style : 
 
 "Such stacks of pictures ! Here's for you 
 
 A nameless photograph. 
 And others heaped are nameless too. 
 
 What shall I do ? I laugh 
 At bonnet huge, and hoop-skirt vast. 
 
 I hardly know the half. 
 
386 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 **My father holding infant son. 
 
 Son wears an open smile. 
 This work is framed in plush and gilt. 
 
 I know him, but a pile 
 Of old and young of either sex 
 
 In 1870 style 
 Are quite unknown. Ah, here's a name, 
 
 A baby called ' Lenore. ' 
 I see it was in Pittsburg ta'en, 
 
 I may find out some more. 
 Perhaps it was our cousin's babe. 
 
 How many has she? Four? 
 
 ** And one has ' Mother from the oil 
 Painting. ' How can I tell 
 Whose mother 'twas? There are not few 
 
 Of them. Like merely writing ' jell ' 
 Upon the paper covered up. 
 You guess the kind — 'tis well." 
 
 ''March 18th, 
 " My Little Sister : 
 
 '* Mamma said once she wanted me to write to you 
 about coming to China. 
 
 '' I haven't asked you to, because I wanted you to de- 
 cide. I have ambitions for you. such as I had once for 
 myself. Yet let God lead you. If I had you with me, 
 all my own to walk and ride and talk with, I would be 
 happy, so happy. 
 
 '' But I am not lonely. While alone, God has come to 
 me. I have such wrong things in me, but God has not 
 left me a prey to them. My Master who bought me 
 does not let go of me. *Meet to be partakers with the 
 saints in light, partakers of the divine inheritance.^ Oh, 
 why can't we think always of these things ! " 
 
 ''April 16 J 1898. 
 "Mrs. Larson's friendship is such a comfort to me. I 
 have needed companionship this year. I've had so many 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 387 
 
 good rides lately, because Mr. Larson and Mr. Stenberg 
 were here and could go with me. It seems unusual to 
 thank God for letting them be here to take me riding, 
 but it has kept me in good spirits to have the rides and 
 to have their company. Don't you know, Mary, how 
 thankful we are for some little indulgence sometimes 
 that doesn't cost near so much as other things'? We get 
 our clothes and food with apathy, but are delighted with 
 some little ribbon or ring that comes in just right, and 
 we feel that we must be good a long time for the kind- 
 ness. 
 
 '' I have been so happy lately in thinking of Jesus as 
 the one who would make me what I ought to be. I shan't 
 worry about myself, about not keeping on. It seems that 
 God is going to keep me, because I am so weak. Yes- 
 terday I prayed especially for this. I said to God that 
 He knew how weak and unstable I was, that there was 
 no dependence to be put on me, so it was all for Him to 
 do. I asked that what He wanted me to do should be 
 made just staringly plain before me, just as He did for 
 the children of Israel. Other people are better, and can 
 stand periods of doubt and uncertainty and still trust, 
 but now I want to be led. I want to feel God is with me, 
 or I can't get along. Then I thought, *I believe God 
 means to save me, and I want to be taken care of.' 
 
 ** Ever since I have had it with me as a lovely support- 
 ing thought that Jesus is with me and is going to make 
 me into what He wants. I almost feel wrong as if I were 
 over bold, but some of the Bible seems to mean just that. 
 I feel perhaps as an opium-user might, who has put him- 
 self in a refuge where he knows he cannot get out and the 
 doctor will cure him. And just as he is shut in, he feels, 
 ^ I am going to be cured. Even though I cry and rave 
 for opium, I cannot get it. Though I strive to get out, I 
 cannot until I am cured. I am going to be cured I know, 
 
388 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 not because of anything I can do, except my coming here, 
 but because of the doctor.^ " 
 
 ^^ April 2Sd, 
 "I am so glad because one of my prayers is answered. 
 I prayed that I might love to read the Bible. Before 
 this, I loved it when I could get at it, but now I want to 
 read so much, and I think of so many nice places that I 
 want to read all at once.'' 
 
 ^^ April 
 
 "Yesterday I didn't feel so at peace, but to-day I got 
 a beautiful verse, Jeremiah 31 : 12. ^ And their soul 
 shall be as a watered garden, and they shall not sorrow 
 any more at all.' It was so beautiful to sit there and 
 think it over, — that my soul should be as a watered 
 garden. It lasted me all the morning, through the study 
 with the teacher, which I enjoy, and the walk to the hill, 
 where I could sit and see the snow-capped mountains 
 beyond the blue. There was that undercurrent of joy all 
 through. ^My soul shall be as a watered garden,— as a 
 watered garden.' 
 
 *'It means something very wonderful and beautiful, 
 and I know just a little bit, and the rest of the meaning 
 is going to unfold as I go on." 
 
 '^ May 20, 1898. 
 
 *^I am alone in the compound now, as all have gone 
 to mission meeting. 
 
 "Mr. and Mrs. Sprague went late, because there has 
 been sickness in our Girls' School. Six girls had it more 
 or less heavily. They had sore throats and headaches. 
 People outside the school had rash and were sick two or 
 three days, but the two girls I had in my room at the 
 schoolhouse where I slept and took care of them, were sick 
 two weeks in a kind of delirium. Er-tzu called constantly 
 
LETTEKS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 389 
 
 for the school matron, and after she had quieted down, 
 Tsu-tzu kept calling for her mother and brother. We 
 were afraid of typhoid or typhus. I read all the books I 
 could find, and tried all the remedies I dared. Mr. 
 Sprague thought to save criticism we ought to call in a 
 Chinese doctor. I examined the herbs he sent in to be 
 steeped. Caraway was among them, and sliced pears, 
 and turnips. I don't think it hurt them and it made the 
 Chinese feel safer. The Spragues stayed four days after 
 they should have started for the meeting, and the girls 
 were so much better it seemed that they ought to go. 
 May 18th I got a telegram from Peking with ' Loving 
 greetings, how the sick mission ? ' I telegraphed back 
 * All well.' The girls are all well now, though they did 
 manage to make quite a serious showing for a while. 
 
 * ' r m j ust back from prayer-meeting. I play the organ 
 now after a fashion for services. I do it to keep Helper 
 Feng Ke from playing. He has more confidence, but less 
 sense of time than I. To-day the congregation couldn't 
 sing St. Ann's, so I played a solo, first and fourth verses. 
 Feng always gives out the fourth verse early if the sing- 
 ing doesn't go well. 
 
 " I told you of Mrs. Larson's little Mary Louise, born 
 April 5th, didn't I? The baby is so well and good. 
 Tuesday we, baby and all, went up the mountain by the 
 Larson house. We found branches of such lovely yellow 
 roses. I am going to get some roots from there. The 
 branches are in a Chinese jar in Mrs. Larson's parlor and 
 look like an ^ Art Amateur Study,' only nicer." 
 
 (Etta's last letter, written in pencil in a wavering hand.) 
 
 " Tuesday, May 24, 1898, 
 *^ Dear Mrs. Larson : 
 
 " I am not very sick, but if you could come over 
 this morning, I would be glad. If it isn't convenient to 
 
390 BY THE GEEAT WALL 
 
 come, don't mind, for I have the water-carrier's wife with 
 me, and Mrs. Sung, the matron, is very kind and comes in 
 at evening and early mornings to inquire if I want any- 
 thing. Lovingly, 
 
 ^^Henkietta B. Williams. '' 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Larson's home was in the Upper City 
 of Kalgan, some two miles from the American Board 
 compound. Mrs. Larson had a little seven weeks' baby, 
 but on receiving Etta's note, she took the baby and went 
 over to be with her. Mrs. Larson has written of those 
 last days. 
 
 ^^ It had seemed to me that Miss Williams looked pale 
 after the strain of nursing her scholars. But she said it 
 was only that she had lost sleep, and would be all right 
 soon. When her note came Tuesday I took the baby and 
 went over immediately. I found her looking very ill, 
 but not in bed. Talking tired her and she spoke slowly. 
 I had her go to bed, and stayed with her until she died 
 on May 30th. She thought it a touch of pleurisy. I felt 
 sure it was the dreaded typhus fever, and lifted my heart 
 to the Lord Jesus to be with us. And He was. Do not 
 feel, dear friends, that it was accident that she should 
 give her life as it were for her girls, or that her death was 
 owing to lack of medical skill. It seemed to me that she 
 could not have recovered in any case. The Lord Jesus 
 just wanted her home, and took her. It was a terrible 
 disease. Many of the Chinese women were afraid to come 
 and help watch, but Mrs. Yu Fu and Mrs. Sung helped 
 all they could. I had my little baby in the next room, 
 and went from one to the other. Miss Williams gave me 
 commissions for different women, and wanted the school 
 closed and the girls sent home. In these directions she 
 was clear, but soon she grew delirious, and called for her 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 391 
 
 mother. For two days she caUed me ^ Mamma. ^ Thurs- 
 day she was quite wild, and no one could help, for the 
 Chinese women were frightened, and they could do noth- 
 ing with her. With me, she was docile, and a little talk- 
 ing would quiet her down. That night when no one 
 would help, Jesus came very near us in the sick-room. 
 Etta spoke of it, and I felt Him, and she slept all night. 
 She had not slept before. Friday noon, our nearest neigh- 
 bor Mrs. Soderbom from Hsuan Hua, twenty miles away, 
 came to help, and we took turns with her. Saturday she 
 was wild again and Mrs. Soderbom had hard work to get 
 her to lie down. She thought the house was burning and 
 the schoolgirls and her father being killed. Your father 
 will tell you the rest. Mr. Friedstrom had gone to meet 
 the returning party and hasten them, and Mr. Williams 
 reached here Saturday noon. That evening she knew 
 Mrs. Sung and others. I gave her a verse and she smiled. 
 She seemed to know that she would not live, but the fear 
 she had in the beginning was taken away. She spoke of 
 that. And after that she fell into a heavy stupor until 
 the end,— just breathed herself to sleep. 
 
 *^It seems wonderful to think of her being with Jesus. 
 She lived close to Him here, and seemed to become better 
 acquainted with Him in these last few years. ^^ 
 
 (Letter from her father.) 
 
 ^''KalgaUj June 7, 1898, 
 " Dear Children : 
 
 ''Etta passed away May 30th at 10.45 p. M., after 
 eleven days' sickness. It was the typhus of which Miss 
 Diament died, and she took it from her scholars as Miss 
 Diament did. When I saw her, it seemed certain that 
 no physician's aid could avail. I came Saturday morn- 
 ing, and she recognized me, and smiled. On Sunday she 
 
392 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 was in a stupor, sometimes speaking incoherently in 
 Chinese, but mostly quiet. 
 
 ^' The Chinese were afraid we were not giving enough 
 water, and the women and girls would slip in at the back 
 door to take water to her. It was hard to keep them 
 away. We had ice, and gave much water. The school- 
 girls were sent off in two carts. They were all crying. 
 By Monday evening it was all over. We held the serv- 
 ice Tuesday noon, and she was buried beside her mother 
 and Miss Diament. So now there are three graves side 
 by side, and three to rise together at the resurrection of 
 the just. 
 
 " Miss Diament and Etta both died at their posts, 
 caring for their scholars in a contagious disease. Etta 
 died on the day Margaret and Anna were born, — Decora- 
 tion Day. Like the soldiers, she died for others, and 
 may well be remembered with them. 
 
 "It was Providence that Mrs. Larson was near. 
 Though with a young baby she watched over Etta three 
 or four days when she was delirious. Then Mrs. Soder- 
 bom came and helped four more days till the end. God 
 was good to send such help. Doubtless a physician 
 could have done no more for her than was done vainly 
 for Dr. McBride. The disease is often uncontrollable. 
 Caution against contagion is the only sure help. The 
 children from whom she took the fever had it so lightly 
 that no one recognized the disease, thinking it scarlet 
 fever. And Etta found it difficult to find Chinese women 
 to wait on the sick ones properly. The Spragues stayed 
 till the girls were well, and Etta showed no sign of ill- 
 ness then. 
 
 "In her brief life, Etta had good opportunities for 
 being useful. At school she was loved. In her three 
 years at Santee, she won the affection of her scholars, and 
 in her five years here, she showed her interest in the 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 393 
 
 women and schoolgirls. She delighted in touring, and 
 the Chinese felt that she was born among them and loved 
 them. So that she has not lived or died in vain. I can 
 say that this is God's will and * His will be done.' 
 
 " Etta was of a sunny nature, never faultfinding, con- 
 tented in all circumstances, generous, making others 
 happy with her bright sayings. The Swedish ladies 
 loved her. Miss Haven said, when I spoke of Etta's 
 plan to spend the coming summer at the Western Hills, 
 * I do enjoy being with her.' 
 
 ** Hsin Wu mourned at the grave, feeling that she had 
 lost her last friend. We shall help her sometimes stiU 
 of course. 
 
 " Within a little more than a year have come two gaps 
 in our family. 
 
 "It is good to think of Etta and your mother together 
 with Christ. So all is well. 
 
 " Your loving father, 
 
 " Mark Williams.'' 
 
 Mrs. Sprague wrote in a letter to friends : 
 ''Etta was delightful company, always cheerful, with 
 something amusing to talk about. In her most trying 
 experiences with the Chinese, she always found some- 
 thing funny, and she had an inimitable way of telling of 
 her experiences which made her the life of our little 
 circle. And how she loved her schoolgirls ! She loved 
 to pet them and was only anxious to be quite im- 
 partial in showing affection. When she was nursing the 
 two little girls from whom she took the contagion, she 
 had no idea that their illness was anything alarming, 
 and told me that she quite enjoyed the girls' little sick- 
 ness for it gave her a chance to pet them, and give little 
 dainties and show little favors without making the 
 other children j ealous. ' ' 
 
394 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 Mrs. Goodrich wrote : 
 
 " I shall always think of her as one of those disciplined 
 oaes who take a great delight in heaven. . . . How 
 much I had hoped for her visit, personally, — how much 
 for the children's sake. She had such a sweet spirit, 
 and won the children so ! God knows, yes, God knows 
 all these ought- not- to -be things. He allows them, and out 
 of them, in His infinite mercy. He always works good." 
 
 (Etta's letter "To be Eead if I die.") 
 (This was written the night after her mother's death, 
 when Etta was worn with watching.) 
 
 " January 27, 1897. 
 
 " I felt a sinking at heart, and I trembled all over. It 
 seemed as if I were going to die. So I got up and lighted 
 a candle and wanted to write good-byes, and tell some- 
 thing of what was to be done for the large-footed girls to 
 whom I give clothes, and my little money which is to be 
 given to my brothers and sisters. My furniture bought 
 when coming out goes to the W. B. M. I. I have been 
 an unprofitable servant. 
 
 "I promised Mrs. Sung a place to stay if she should 
 become too feeble to work in the school. I would like 
 some of my money used to pay her rent in that case. 
 Also the gifts I promised to Jen Te Ming and Yu Ohien. 
 My books and pictures given as I have written below. 
 
 "I write this in a sort of pain. Since mamma has 
 died, I don't feel certain of life. I'd like to say good- 
 bye, especially to the nearest and dearest, — to ask their 
 forgiveness for anything I have done or omitted that I 
 should or should not have done, and if anything needs 
 my forgiveness, they have it fully and my love. 
 
 " Now I am going to bed, and I hope to sleep. ^ What 
 time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.^ Lord, I trust, 
 help Thou mine untrust. 
 
 " He]s:rietta B. Williams." 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 395 
 
 (Letter to Mrs. Bertha Harris Arnold.) 
 
 ^* These past months, I have been reaching out after 
 God as I cannot remember having done before. I want 
 to go to Him so much, though I am well, and not wor- 
 ried or in trouble. But it seems so good to think of 
 going to One who is perfectly noble and wonderful, who 
 wants me and cares for me. 
 
 *' I cannot think of anything better than to adore some 
 one who is worthy of worship, unless perhaps it is to be 
 of great help to some one in great misery. And this is 
 not better, but only a different kind of joy. 
 
 "I cannot quote the words of Erskine of Linlathen 
 concerning the Duchess de Broglie. That in the midst of 
 everything attractive, with beauty, position, intellect, ad- 
 miration of the multitude and love of many friends, she 
 cried out for God. That her heart craved the only Satis- 
 fier is the substance of the paragraph. I am not like her. 
 It is because I am lonely that I reach out for God, and 
 perhaps God made me lonely so that I should seek Him. 
 
 **I saw in Mrs. Prentiss' Life this quotation : 'Only 
 God can satisfy a woman.' 
 
 *' Do you know who said it? It is not given with any 
 allusion to the author. 
 
 *'I am so trifling about my reading. I reread some 
 paper or magazine when I would really like my Bible 
 better if only I had it in hand. And yet through all my 
 failings and smallnesses and forgetfulness, there is the 
 undercurrent thought, ' I belong somewhere else. I am 
 going to see Him surely some time, and be all filled with 
 gladness, and waves of joy and worship will pour over 
 me.' 
 
 ^'It's good to think God is going to let me live near 
 Him. I always imagined it would be easy to be good if 
 I had some one who was very good whom I loved very 
 much." 
 
396 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 With this letter to her college friend, Mrs. Arnold, it 
 seems fitting to place a poem written during her college 
 days at Oberlin, which is significant in its beautiful 
 allegory. 
 
 HALLO ! MY FANCY 
 
 " Hallo ! my fancy, where wilt thou lead me? 
 Give me good reason why I should heed thee. 
 "What new dwelling for me hast thou built ? 
 What sight to see of airy tilt 
 Between the Knights of the Table Round, 
 Where noble Arthur fitly crowned 
 Doth watch ? Or is it far from these, 
 In twilight woods, by massive trees, 
 Where each tree hath its fostering maid 
 Hiding from sight, with glance afraid ? 
 What one of these, my fancy ? " 
 
 ** O soul of my charge, it is none of these. 
 Neither thy castle in Spain, where the orange trees 
 Wave to and fro with perfumed breath, 
 And the nightingales sing of Love and Death, 
 And the sighs of sad lovers filled with unrest, 
 Are all in the plaintive night wind expressed ; 
 Nor thy cloud-castle, ever shifting, 
 Where the winds, like boatmen, send it drifting. 
 In this rare castle are countless halls, 
 Through which the north wind whistles and calls. 
 One hall is of rosy sunset cloud, 
 Where fairy treasures on thee crowd. 
 Red, gold, and yellow, thou hast in store, 
 Aladdin's self could boast no more. 
 One hall is made of a summer day's sky, 
 With all its fancied imagery ; 
 The great white throne we saw one day, 
 As under the trees, on the grass, we lay. 
 A flock of sheep, a ship at sea. 
 Are there as plain as plain may be. 
 When the sun's gone down, and the moon's away, 
 The stars are oar candles, so bright are they." 
 
LETTERS OF HENRIETTA WILLIAMS 397 
 
 " Then is it my garden, with encircling wall? 
 Against the stones, are my bookshelves tall, 
 I open the door, and there comes from the shelf 
 The Novelist, Poet, or Preacher, himself. 
 More to me will he confide 
 Than he uttered to all the world beside, 
 When with spoken words he tried their ears, 
 And they gave — not a laurel crown, but jeers. 
 He tells me the story of his life, 
 His loves, his hates, his work, his strife. 
 Is it this that shall entrance me ? 
 But thou sayest, ' No,' my fancy." 
 
 And where we went, I cannot tell, 
 
 Though it seemed that I saw all heaven and hell, 
 
 And then was taken back to earth. 
 
 But my shivering fancy had lost her mirth. 
 
 Her butterfly wings were bruised and broken ; 
 
 She sadly said it was a token 
 
 That our fair hopes and dreams so gay 
 
 Like morning-glories had withered away. 
 
 Poor fancy drooped her head, and bitter tears she shed, 
 
 For the orange trees were dead, and the nightingales had 
 
 fled 
 From the beautiful castle in Spain. 
 
 In all my house of clouds there were left only shrouds. 
 In which I laid away my dead hopes, now turned to clay, 
 Yet some time they will rise, 
 
 My fancy's wings so rare, will perhaps be yet more fair ; 
 She will castles build again, unseen by mortal men, 
 Almost to reach the skies. 
 
 The following memorial sketch was written by Rev. 
 W. P. Sprague, one of the senior missionaries at Kalgan, 
 who had known Etta from childhood. 
 
 In Memoeiam 
 Henrietta Blodget Williams 
 My earliest recollections of Etta, as she was always 
 called, were of a girl seven or eight years old, absorbed 
 
398 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 with her book, — at first, pictures, then anything readable. 
 She literally devoured everything within reach, including 
 encyclopedias and histories. 
 
 Her power of concentration was remarkable. When 
 reading, she was totally oblivious to whatever was going 
 on around her, even the loud calling of her name. And 
 sometimes her meals were sacrificed to her book. 
 
 She early learned the art of skimming through a book, 
 and yet gaining and retaining all its essential ideas, and 
 with a quick perception she grasped the aims, genius, and 
 characteristics of each author read. She thus became an 
 excellent judge of most of the writers of her day, and her 
 criticisms, while original, were seldom at fault. 
 
 Had she chosen to devote herself to literary work, her 
 rare acquaintance with others' writings, her vivid 
 imagination, and especially her keen sense of humor, 
 with her versatility of expression would almost certainly 
 have made her a successful and popular writer. But she 
 early determined to give herself and whatever talents she 
 possessed to the uplifting of her downtrodden sisters in 
 China. 
 
 To this end, on arriving in Kalgan, she attacked the 
 language vigorously, and applying to it her well-trained 
 memory and systematic habits of study, she soon recalled 
 the language of her childhood, and also gained familiarity 
 with the written character. When new missionaries 
 came to the station, she was a great help to them in learn- 
 ing the language. 
 
 What she learned, Etta began early to use in teaching 
 and preaching to women and children, and at once be- 
 came a great favorite with all. Improved methods of 
 study were introduced into her girls' school. She was 
 specially interested in the anti -foot-binding movement, 
 and in her school the number of girls with unbound feet 
 increased in three years from one to thirteen. 
 
LETTEES OF HENEIETTA WILLIAMS 399 
 
 But she could not rest in school work alone while so 
 little was being done for the women outside. She secured 
 an efficient teacher for the school, and gradually left some 
 of the routine work to others while she went out on horse- 
 back tours where there were Christian families, and her 
 missionary horse became known in many places. In 
 summer vacations, she rode to the most distant out- 
 stations, from fifty to one hundred miles away. And 
 everywhere she endeavored to teach the women and chil- 
 dren to read the Bible and pray and sing. I remember 
 meeting her on one of these distant tours. She was out 
 in the chapel court after a service, giving further instruc- 
 tion to those who would listen. She had one child on her 
 lap, held two others by the hand, while half a dozen 
 others crowded against her, and a dozen women sat 
 around, and all listened eagerly to her Bible stories, or 
 tried to follow her in singing. She seemed for a time one 
 of them. She wore the native women's costume, and 
 greatly enjoyed eating Chinese food with them. Her 
 visits were all too short for the people who clung to her 
 and urged her to come again soon. Often and often I 
 have been asked, ''When is Miss Williams coming 
 again ? " She pleased all by doing so much for them. 
 
 It was just this giving of herself unreservedly to others^ 
 wants that cost her her life. For when her schoolgirls 
 were taken sick there was nothing she did not do for 
 them. She was with them night and day. The school 
 room now became a hospital, for there were five girls 
 down with the fever at once. Every real and imaginary 
 want was attended to personally. 
 
 As there was no physician to be had (Dr. Waples had 
 gone to America two months before), she did not suspect 
 it was typhus until too late. As her father and Mr. and 
 Mrs. Sprague had gone to mission meeting, she was quite 
 alone with the girls except for the help of Chinese women. 
 
400 BY THE GREAT WALL 
 
 The Swedish ladies in another part of the city offered to 
 come, but she thought she did not need any help. And 
 even when she came down, she was loth to call Mrs. 
 Larson till she was barely able to write the word. In 
 three days another lady, Mrs. Soderbom, came to help, 
 and the next day her father returned. But then she was 
 scarcely able to speak, though she recognized him, and 
 expressed joy at seeing him. The third day after, her 
 spirit took its flight into the Heavenly Land. While she 
 entered into rest, and the reward of those who have given 
 their lives for others, we were left to mourn her absence 
 from us, and sorrow that one so well fitted and so much 
 needed should be called from earthly service in less than 
 five years from beginning work for these Chinese of her 
 native city. 
 
 Who knows but this short, earnest, self-giving life 
 may kindle the spiritual life of some, even many, who 
 perhaps because of this death may be used of God in 
 accomplishing great things in His kingdom ? And is not 
 this a call for some other self-denying volunteer to take up 
 the fallen standard, and from her gained vantage ground, 
 carry on this, the Master^ s work to a grand consumma- 
 tion! 
 
 *^ Greater love hath no man than this, that 
 a man lay down his life for his friends J*^ 
 
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