"We are staying two days and two nights, until our boat starts for England.... In the evening when it was cool our friends took us to drive, and to call on some Christian people. We saw carriages and horses, so many, running so fast; and the roads and streets are so wide many carriages can go together on them. We passed many black people; nearly all the people are black. We saw many women and girls with their ears full and covered with ear-rings, and some in their noses too, and some men also wear ear-rings. I see the black people, I think how wonderful God's love must be, to give His Son to die for all the world, these black people as well as for us. The friends here said they were glad I was going to England to tell the people there about the heathen. They promised all to pray for me, and I want you also to pray that I may fulfil God's will, and do much for God's kingdom in England, and then come back quickly home."

"It is very hot here, but the evenings and early mornings are cool. Every one goes out to work, or walk, or drive, from daybreak until the sun is hot, and breakfast at ten o'clock. I want to know, when you write, what Heli is doing; and now I am away from home you will take great care of all the children. Please chang ang all friends and relatives, and Dr. and Mrs. Sites, and take great care of yourself, that when I return I may find all well. Tell me how the boys are, and don't allow Jimmy to climb the trees. Comfort my mother and tell her all I have written."

Mrs. Ahok was the second Chinese lady of rank to visit England, the first one being the wife of the Chinese ambassador. She was the first Christian Chinese woman England had ever known, and everywhere excited much interest and won warm friends. The Christian of London gives an account of a meeting held in the Parochial Hall at Clontarf near Dublin, at which the chairman proposed the following resolution:

"This meeting having assembled to welcome Miss Bradshaw on her return from China; and having learned the extraordinary friendship, tenderness, and devotedness of her Chinese friend, the Honourable Lady of Diong Ahok, mandarin of Foochow, who had at a few hours' notice decided to break through national customs and leave her home and family, rather than allow Miss Bradshaw to undertake the journey alone; hereby records its unbounded admiration of such Christian sympathy, and brave and generous conduct; and they trust that her own and her husband's desire that her visit may excite fresh Christian workers to go to China, may be abundantly fulfilled."

The report of the meeting goes on to say:

"This resolution being carried, Miss Bradshaw intimated to Lady Ahok the purport of what had taken place, and asked her to say a few words of acknowledgment. Accordingly, with the greatest simplicity and self-possession she said (each word of her sentences being translated by Miss Bradshaw) that she was very glad to meet them all, and was very thankful to have been brought to England; that her faith in God had enabled her to come."

The Tenth Annual meeting of the Church of England Zenana Society was held in Princes Hall, London, during Mrs. Ahok's visit to England, and she was one of the principal speakers. In spite of heavy and incessant rain the audience began to assemble before the doors were open. Numbers stood throughout, and many more failed to gain admission. Standing quietly before the large audience, Mrs. Ahok gave her message so effectively that when she sat down, the chairman, Sir Charles N. Aitchison, exclaimed: "Did you ever hear a more simple, more touching appeal under such circumstances? I never did."

Stating the purpose of her visit to England Mrs. Ahok said:

"I have come from China—from Foochow—and come to England for what business and what purpose? The road here was very difficult, sitting in a boat for so long! Very tiresome it was, to be on the rough sea, with wind and waves for the first time! My servant Diong Chio and I have come here. We are strangers! We raise our eyes and look on people's faces, but we can see no one we know—no relative, no one like ourselves—all truly strange! I left my little boy, my husband, my mother—all this: for what purpose, do you think? It is only entirely for the sake of Christ's Gospel that I have come."

"It is not for the sake of seeing a new place and new people, or any beautiful thing; we have in China quite close to us new places—beautiful places. I have never seen them yet; so why should I come so far to see other places? They may be very good to see, but not for this could I leave my household and people. I cannot speak your words, I do not know any one, and your food is quite different from ours: nothing is at all the same as that to which I am accustomed...."

"... It was God's Holy Spirit that led me to come. He wanted me to do what? Not to amuse myself, but to ask and invite you to come to China to tell the doctrine of Christ. How could you know the needs of China without hearing them? How could you hear unless I came to tell you? Now you can know, for I say the harvest in China is very great, but the labourers are so few. Now my great desire is that the Gospel of Christ may be known on earth as it is in heaven. It is not yet known in China, and because the great houses have not yet heard the Gospel, all their money is spent on the idols, sacrifices, and burning incense."

"In this country some help to spread the Gospel, some go to other countries to tell those who have never heard, but some (a great many) are not helping in any way: though they have all heard themselves, they are living here only to obey their own wills, for their own pleasure in this world! How pitiable! We all know the Gospel of Christ; let us then not follow the heathen (who have never heard) in caring for the things of this world. The Bible says, 'If a man receives all the riches of this world, and loses his own soul' (and the souls of many others), 'what can it profit him?'..."

"I am only here for a very little, then I must go back to Foochow, where there are so many large houses full of ladies; the workers are so very few now. At this time only one ku-niong is there to visit all the great city houses. She is not enough to visit so many; and it is said that in these mandarin houses their ears have never yet heard the doctrine.... Now I pray God to cause, whether ku-niongs (unmarried ladies) or sing-sang-niongs (married ladies), quickly to go and enter these houses with the Gospel. Now I ask you, raise up hot hearts in yourselves and quickly help us."

"First. Will you come back to China with me?"

"Second. If you cannot, will you cause others to come, by sending them and doing what you can to help them to come?"

Mrs. Ahok had planned for a six months' visit in England, but word came that her husband was ill, and she left in July, after a stay of a little less than four months, during which she had addressed large audiences in approximately one hundred meetings in England and Ireland. The impression she had made there may be gathered from a paragraph which appeared in India's Women and China's Daughters, after she had left:

"Those who saw Mrs. Ahok's earnest face, and listened to some of the most simple and heart-stirring words ever heard on an English platform, will recall the impression her plea for her countrywomen then made.... If God should open the way for Mrs. Ahok again to visit England, she will be welcomed as one who brought home the reality of missions to many a conscience in England, and revived the flagging spirits to zeal for the Lord of Hosts!"

Mrs. Ahok went home by way of Canada, accompanied by Miss Mead, one of the new workers for whom she had been pleading. She did not realize how seriously ill her husband was, for he had written cheerfully: "Tell Mrs. Ahok that I have been a little ill for some weeks and that now I am staying at the Ato house. I find it very restful staying quietly at the old home.... Tell Mrs. Ahok, please, not to worry at all about me." On saying good-bye to friends in England Mrs. Ahok told them that she hoped to come again, and that the next time it would be with her husband. She was thus spared the keen anxiety throughout the long journey which she must have suffered, had she realized her husband's condition. She wrote back to Miss Bradshaw from Montreal, telling of her safe arrival and expressing her gratitude that although she and her maid had both suffered severely from sea-sickness, they had been well taken care of by "a woman who was a worshipper of God." At Vancouver she had to wait some days for her steamer, and she wrote from there on July 26:

"All well, all peace. From the time I left England a month has passed away. I keep thinking constantly of the meetings in England which we had together. Now we are in this place waiting for the ship and therefore we had this very good opportunity for work. I have been invited by the minister of the church here to speak at meetings. I have done so six times. Because this is a new place, and there are men and women who do not at all believe the Gospel, but who like to hear about Chinese ways and customs, therefore they all greatly wish me to go to these meetings. I think this is also God's leading for us, that we could not proceed on our journey, but must spend this time here.... To-day is Saturday; this afternoon at half-past three we are to have another meeting; to-morrow we go on board ship to return to China.... When you have an opportunity, give my greetings to all my Christian friends."

After Mrs. Ahok was back in China, she had a letter from the minister of the Methodist church in Vancouver telling her that three new missionary societies had been formed as a result of her few days' stay. He added, "Your stay here has been an inspiration to us; the fortnight has been one of blessing to us all."



IV

PATIENT IN TRIBULATION

The long anticipated home-coming was a very sad one. During the hot summer months Mr. Ahok had grown steadily weaker, and he died almost three months before his wife reached Foochow. It was a great comfort to those who had been instrumental in arranging for Mrs. Ahok's trip to England to remember how fully her husband had approved of the plan. Miss Bradshaw said: "I shall never forget the bright way in which Mr. Ahok faced all the dangers and difficulties of the journey on which he was sending Mrs. Ahok. As he said good-bye at the anchorage, he said he did it gladly, for the sake of getting more workers for China." Not even when sick and suffering did he regret having let his wife go, although he missed her greatly. He wrote Miss Bradshaw, during his illness, "I realize how great God's grace is, in allowing Mrs. Ahok to visit England, and I am so thankful to all the Christian friends who have helped her and been kind to her."

Mrs. Ahok's brother, her nephew, and Dr. Sites, who had long been a friend of hers and of Mr. Ahok's, met her with a houseboat at the steamer anchorage; and during the twelve-mile ride up the river, the sad news was told. The shock almost stunned Mrs. Ahok at first, but with realization came heart-rending grief. Miss Mead, the young missionary who had come from England with her, wrote soon after their arrival: "Yesterday afternoon I went with three of the ladies to see her. The expression on her face was altered and according to Chinese custom she was very shabbily dressed. Her jewels were taken off. She keeps saying, 'If I could only see him once more and tell him all I have done in England!'"

Added to her grief for her husband, Mrs. Ahok had to bear the taunts and reproaches of her non-Christian relatives, who told her that all this trouble had come as a just punishment of the gods, because she had forsaken the religion of her ancestors, and violated the customs of her country in leaving it for so many months to visit a foreign land. Not only this, but taking advantage of her refusal to perform certain rites of non-Christian worship which are a part of the legal ceremony connected with the inheritance of property, they seized Mr. Ahok's estate, and the dainty little woman who had always been accustomed to every comfort, and even luxury, was left with little but the house in which she lived. Moreover a fresh sorrow followed close upon the first one, as her mother lived only a short time after her return.

But in spite of these heavy burdens, the rare courage which had so often been evidenced before, soon began to reassert itself. Miss Mead was soon able to write: "Mrs. Ahok spoke a little at the Bible-women's meeting on Tuesday, and for the first time came here afterward and had a cup of tea, and saw my room. She is brighter, and I am glad to tell you that she was able to say that the peace of God was still hers. Jimmy Ahok (her little son) was present at Miss Davis' wedding." Nor was Mrs. Ahok too absorbed in her grief to remember her friend in her happiness, for little Jimmy carried with him a beautiful bunch of flowers for the bride.

As soon as the news of Mr. Ahok's death reached England, a letter of sympathy signed by nearly five hundred of Mrs. Ahok's friends in England was sent to her. Its closing paragraph must have brought her comfort in the knowledge that her journey had not been made in vain:

"We bless God for your coming to England. We have learned to know and love you. Your words are not forgotten. The seed God enabled you to sow is already bearing some fruit, and will, we believe, bring forth much more. One sister has gone with you; we send this by the hands of three more. We know others who were led by your words to offer themselves for Christ's work in China. Two of them are now being trained for the mission field. This will cheer your heart."

To this, Mrs. Ahok replied:

"I thank you all very much for your sympathy, and for sending such good words to comfort me. I rejoiced greatly to hear your words. When I was in England I was a great trouble to you, and I must thank you for all your kindness to me then...."

"After leaving England I reached Foochow at the end of the seventh moon, and then heard that my beloved husband had left this world and been called home by God to His kingdom in heaven. At that time I was very sad and distressed, and my distress was the greater because I had no one to carry on our business. Being anxious about money matters, therefore, these many days, I have failed to reply to your letter and to send you my salutations, and thank you all for your great love."

"Now because I cannot carry on trade myself, therefore I have determined to close our business and pay all debts; and the British consul has kindly acted for me in this matter. My hope is that God will enable me to sell this house in which I am living, and then I shall have a competency. It is because I fear that I shall not have enough to feed, clothe, and educate my children that I wish to sell this house. As soon as I have done this I think I shall be able, with the missionary ladies, to visit the houses of the gentry, and have worship with the Chinese ladies, and exhort them all to embrace Christianity. Thus I shall be doing the Lord's work. I trust you will all pray for me, and trust that in some future time an opportunity may be given me of again visiting England and America to work for the Lord. This is the true desire of my heart."

"At this time I seem to have no heart to write, but I send this letter to you to express my thanks. Another day I may write again. My two little children send their greeting, and I add my own. After my return home an additional trouble came upon me because my mother was called home to God. But so far as she is concerned death must be reckoned happiness. She with my husband, earlier than myself, are enjoying the eternal bliss of heaven. I will thank you to give my salutations to all the sisters and ministers whom I know."

Mrs. Ahok soon began again the work among the upper class women which had been her great joy, heartily co-operating with both American and English missionaries in their efforts for these women. Miss Ruth Sites, of the American Methodist Mission, was very eager to do something for the young girls of this class, and Mrs. Ahok gladly lent her influence, with such effect that Miss Sites was enabled to start a small school. Here a good education was given to the daughters of the official class, and Christianity was so taught and lived that by the end of the second year all but two of the pupils were Christians. Miss Sites wrote also of the help that Mrs. Ahok gave in taking her to call in the homes which it would otherwise have been impossible for her to reach.

The Church of England Mission had for some years maintained a school for the daughters of the Chinese Christians in Foochow; but a few years after Mrs. Ahok's return from England they began to feel the urgent need of another school, where girls from non-Christian families could be educated. When Mrs. Ahok's advice was asked, she heartily approved of the plan and advised that it be attempted, offering to rent her home to the Mission for a school building, and promising also to help in the teaching. Moreover she was invaluable in interesting her non-Christian friends in the school, and it rapidly grew from four to forty-five, with such prospects of future prosperity that the house next door to Mrs. Ahok's was also rented, and a new dormitory and dining-room were built.

Girls brought up in non-Christian homes are of course very different from the daughters of Christian parents, and Mrs. Ahok warned the missionaries at the outset that they would be very difficult to manage, and herself drew up the school rules. Her services were of the greatest value, both in this school and in the School for High Class Girls established by the Church of England Zenana Society a few years later, of which she was made the matron. "She makes the girls love her, and her influence over them is good," wrote one of the teachers. "A fortnight ago some money was stolen out of a drawer. I was very sad about it, and the girls were urged to confess, but until yesterday no one spoke. Yesterday Amy told Mrs. Ahok that she had taken it and asked her to tell me." Again she wrote: "Mrs. Ahok makes a very good matron of the school, and an excellent hostess to the many visitors who come to see the school. Whenever an opening is given Mrs. Ahok and I return the call, and usually get good opportunities of delivering the message."

Testimony is also borne to Mrs. Ahok's effective work among the mothers of the pupils of the school. One of her great joys is a weekly meeting in that wing of the Church Missionary Society's hospital which was erected in memory of her husband, and set aside for the use of women patients.

Throughout her life of whole-hearted service for the women and girls of her country, Mrs. Ahok has been a most devoted mother to her adopted son, Charlie, and her own child, who was always known as Jimmy. The latter inherited his mother's quick mind, and made such a good record at the college which his father's generous gift had founded many years before, that after his graduation he was asked to return as one of the faculty. The beauty of his life was the crowning tribute to his mother. At a meeting held in Foochow, an American, who had recently come there as an insurance agent, told how much impressed he had been by a young Chinese to whom he had been talking, and added that if the Christian schools turned out young men like that, he thought the work was indeed worth while. The young man was Jimmy Ahok.

In the summer of 1904 the young man's wife was very ill, and through the hot summer weeks he cared for her night and day with such devotion that his own health gave out. It was some time before he would admit that he was ill; but he was finally forced to succumb to a severe attack of pneumonia, which ended his life within a very few days. His only anxiety seemed to be that he had not done enough work for his non-Christian neighbours. "I have not tried enough to influence the neighbours," he told his mother. "When I get well I will have a service for them and teach them to worship God." His death was a great blow to his mother, but her work has again been her solace.

One of her friends wrote to England, at the time of her son's death, that the thought that her friends in England would be praying for her was one of the greatest sources of comfort to Mrs. Ahok. In the midst of her busy life in China she has never forgotten England nor her friends there. Some years after her return to China, she sent her greetings to her English friends by one of the returning missionaries, and bade her ask them: "Have you done, and are you doing, all you resolved to do for my sisters in China? So many missionaries have been called home, there can be no lack of knowledge now as to the needs of the heathen. With so many to witness to them, how great is the increase of responsibility to Christians at home."

She wrote to the women of the Church of England Zenana Society: "You rejoiced to help many ladies to come to Foochow to act as light-bearers and induce those who were sitting in darkness to cast away the false and embrace the true, and to put away all the wicked and evil customs. The work which these ladies are doing is of great value and has helped many. They have preached the gospel in all the region; they have tended the sick in the Mission hospitals; they have opened schools for women and girls in several places, and in my own house. In my own house there are now thirty-nine scholars, some of whom have unbound their feet; and some have been baptized. I myself every week teach in this school, and I also go to the hospital and talk to the sick people. I trust that this seed so widely sown will presently bear fruit, some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred fold. You will remember that when I was in England I told you of the state of things in China; and I hope you will not forget my words but will do your utmost to help China, that God's promised reward may hereafter be yours."

Mrs. Ahok is daily giving herself, in whole-hearted service, to her countrywomen. A fellow-worker has recently written of her:

"She is winning her way into the hearts of the people in the Manchu settlement. Always bright and cheerful, and ready to tell the Story, she is welcomed wherever she goes. When I think of her past life of ease as the daughter, and later the wife, of an official, I marvel at her spirit of consecration. Quietly she goes from house to house in search of those who are willing to listen. Miles she has walked over the hot stone pavements. 'If my people will only believe in Christ, I shall be well repaid,' she says."

A true Christian woman, whose courage has flinched at no sacrifice, who has borne the loss of husband, mother, son, and property, and the reproaches of non-Christian relatives, with a peace and a faith unshakeable and convincing, Mrs. Ahok is accomplishing much by what she does, doubtless even more by what she is.

* * * * *

DR. IDA KAHN

I. CHILDHOOD IN THREE COUNTRIES

II. AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

III. SEVEN YEARS IN KIUKIANG

IV. PIONEER WORK IN NANCHANG

* * * * *



DR. IDA KAHN

I

CHILDHOOD IN THREE COUNTRIES

By the time little Ida Kahn first opened her eyes in Kiukiang, China, little girls had become a drug on the market in her family. Her parents had long been eager for a son, but each of the five babies who had come was a daughter, and now this sixth one was a little girl, too. According to Chinese custom, they called in the old blind fortune-teller to declare her fate and give advice concerning her future. His verdict was discouraging for he told them that she must be killed or given away to another family, since as long as she remained in the home the long-desired son would never come to them. The parents were not willing to end the little life, so they determined to engage the baby to a little boy in a neighbouring family, and give her to the family of her betrothed to bring up. But when they called the fortune-teller again to ask his judgment on the proposed betrothal, he declared that the little girl had been born under the dog star, the boy under the cat star, and therefore the betrothal was not to be thought of. The family's perplexity as to what to do with this superfluous little daughter became known to the neighbours, and one of them, who was teaching Chinese to Miss Howe and Miss Hoag of the Methodist Mission, told them about it. That very afternoon they took their sedan chairs and went and got the baby. Thus, when only two months old, Ida was adopted by Miss Howe, whom she always calls "my mother," and of whom she says, "There is no one like her in the world."

The same year that little Ida was born, Miss Howe and Miss Hoag had succeeded in starting a school for girls in Kiukiang, the first girls' school in that part of China. In this school, as soon as she was old enough, Ida began to study. When she was nine years old Miss Howe went to America and took the little girl with her. They were in San Francisco at this time, and there Ida attended a mission school for the Chinese girls of the city. As most of the other pupils belonged to Cantonese families, and spoke a Chinese dialect very different from that of Kiukiang, she did not learn very much at school; but her stay in America, at the age when it is so easy for children to acquire languages, helped her very much in learning English. On her way back to China Miss Howe stayed in Japan for several months, and there again Ida attended school.

On returning to China, Miss Howe was asked to work in a newly opened station of the Methodist Mission at Chung King, a city of western China, located on the Yangtse River many miles above Kiukiang, and many days' journey into the interior. During their stay there, Ida continued her studies, tutored by Miss Howe and Miss Wheeler, of the same mission. The stay in Chung King lasted only two years, for in 1886 the mission compound was completely destroyed by a mob, and the missionaries had to flee for their lives. For two weeks Ida, with some other Chinese girls, was in hiding in the home of a friendly carpenter, while the missionaries were hidden in the governor's yamen. At the end of that time they all succeeded in making their escape from the city, and the little girl, who had already had so many more experiences in her short life than the average Chinese woman has in threescore years and ten, had the new adventure of a trip of several days through the gorges of the Yangtse River. The river is always dangerous at this point because of the swift rapids, but was so unusually so at that season, when the summer floods were beginning, that only extraordinary pressure would have induced any one to venture on it. The trip to the coast was made in safety, however, and after another stay of a few months in Japan, Miss Howe and her charge went back to Kiukiang, and Ida again entered the school there.

Miss Howe was desirous that the people in America who were interested in the Kiukiang school should be kept informed of its progress; but with her many duties it was difficult for her to find time for frequent letters, so she sometimes asked Ida to write for her. Extracts from one of these letters, written when Ida was fifteen, and sent with no revision at all, show something of this little Chinese girl's acquaintance with English:

"DEAR MRS. ——:"

"We have at present twenty-four scholars and four babies. We are not many in numbers, but we hope that we may not prove the works of missionaries in vain. The rules of this school are different from others, since only girls of Christian families are allowed to study. Girls of non-Christian families are allowed to study if they are willing to pay their board. They also furnish their own clothes. For these reasons our school contains girls from many places since Christian girls are few.... In Kiukiang only one Christian family have their girls at this school. The pastor of the church over the river sends his eldest daughter. She has been my companion from babyhood, and we were only separated when she went to Chin Kiang and I to Chung King. She and her sisters never had their feet bound. She is the first girl in Kiukiang who never bound her feet. Her name is Mary Stone. She and I study together both in English and Chinese."

"Her mother came a few weeks ago and stayed with us one week. One day Mary and I went with her to visit the homes of missionaries; when we came back Mrs. Stone suggested that we should go and see her uncle. Mary and I hesitated a little; for we were not used to visiting Chinese homes, especially after New Year when people are very ceremonious. When we arrived at the home we found that they had a New Year's party there, although it was the second month. The reason was this; at the time of the New Year Chinese ladies do not step outside their houses till they are invited to a party, and as invitations do not come until nearly the end of the first month it is common to continue to the second month."

"Mrs. Stone's friends were very glad to see her, for they had not met for a long time. The party consisted of three elderly ladies, besides the hostess, and three young girls besides the young daughter of the house. They were dressed principally in bright blue, green, and red, and were painted to the extreme. The young girls hardly tasted their food, but looked us over from head to foot, especially our feet. The room was hot, and presently one of the girls tittered to another and said, 'Your face is streaked,' meaning that some of her paint was off and showed dark lines; whereupon all the girls declared that they were going to wash their faces. After a while one of the girls came back and said, 'My face is clean now, is it not?' Mrs. Stone told us that they saw we had no paint on and were ashamed of theirs. The girls' only talk was about their jewellry, clothes, and other gossip. Mary and I were very much disappointed, for we hoped to learn some Chinese manners. Mrs. Stone advised me not to wear spectacles, for I attracted many remarks. I told her I was only too glad to draw attention from our feet."

"We always remember the friends in America who for His sake sent missionaries to help us. Yours affectionately,"

"IDA KAHN."



II

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

When Miss Howe went to America on furlough in 1892, she took with her five young Chinese people, three boys and two girls; the latter, Ida Kahn and her friend, Mary Stone. Growing up in China, under singularly sheltered and happy conditions, Ida had been greatly impressed with the misery of many of her countrywomen, and early formed the purpose of becoming a physician and giving her life to the alleviation of their sufferings. Mary Stone had the same desire, and Miss Howe, coveting for them a more thorough medical education than was then available in China, took them to Ann Arbor to enter the medical school of the University of Michigan. Both girls passed the entrance examinations successfully, even to the Latin requirements; in fact their papers were among the best of all those handed in.

The four years in Ann Arbor were very busy ones. In addition to their college work, they did their own housekeeping in a little suite of rooms in the home of Mrs. Frost. She says that they excelled many American girls at housekeeping, having regular days for house-cleaning, and always keeping their reception room in good order to receive their girl friends, of whom they had many. Occasionally they even entertained their friends at a little Chinese feast. Mrs. Frost recalls that the only flaw in Ida's housekeeping was that when the girls stopped in her room, as they often did for a little visit on their way home from college, Ida would pick up a book or magazine and become so absorbed in it that she would forget all about the domestic duties awaiting her.

But in spite of college and housekeeping duties, they were not too busy to take part in the Christian work of the church which they attended. Mrs. Frost pays them the following tribute: "They were lovely Christian characters, ready to respond and assist in any Christian work where their services were solicited. While they were in Ann Arbor they assisted me in my Sunday afternoon Mission Band work with the small children of our church, singing, or offering prayer, or telling interesting stories to the little ones. On different occasions they, with the Chinese boys that came with Miss Howe at the same time, assisted me in the public entertainments given to help swell the funds of the Mission Band and raise enough to support an orphan, or for other missionary work. They were very efficient, consecrated Christians, very lovable and loving, highly respected by every one with whom they came in contact. I have very pleasant memories of our little Chinese doctors, and they have a very warm place in my heart and affections."

Both the girls won many friends among both students and faculty. Ida was elected to the secretaryship of her class in her Junior year. Their record for scholarship was so enviable that the assertion was often made, "They must either be remarkably clever, or they must have applied themselves with unusual devotion." They led their class in their Junior year, and in their Senior year were surpassed by only one student. Dr. Breakey, specialist in skin troubles, on whose staff they worked during their Senior year, speaks warmly of their earnestness and devotion to their work. Another professor said at the time of their graduation, "They will be a credit to the University of Michigan. The society which provided for their course will never regret having done so."

As their study at the University drew to a close, the young physicians received many evidences of the appreciation that was felt for the work they had done. Before commencement a reception was given them in the Methodist church of Ann Arbor, at which each of them received a case of valuable surgical instruments. Many other gifts were also showered upon them,—from medical cases, cameras, clocks, and bedquilts, to books and dainty handkerchiefs.

In order not to attract attention they had adopted American dress during their stay in Ann Arbor; but their graduation dresses were sent from China, made in Chinese style, of beautiful Chinese silk, with slippers of the same material,—Ida's blue, Mary's delicate pink. Seven hundred and forty-five students received their diplomas at that commencement, but to none was accorded the universal and prolonged applause which broke forth as the two young Chinese women stepped on the platform to take their diplomas from President Angell's hands. Even the medical faculty applauded heartily, the only time that the staff joined in the demonstrations of the audience. One who was in the audience says, "Their bearing and dignity made us very proud of them." President Angell was much interested in them and said to their friends, "Their future career will be watched with every expectation of eminent success."

The two months succeeding their graduation were spent in Chicago in hospital work, and in the autumn they sailed for China. While they were in America an old gentleman said to Ida, "I am glad you are going back to your country as a physician. Your people need physicians more than they need missionaries." The Chinese reverence for old age was too great to permit Ida to contradict him, but turning to her friends she said quietly, "Time is short—eternity is long." So it was not only as a physician, but as a regularly appointed medical missionary that she returned to China.



III

SEVEN YEARS IN KIUKIANG

Quite a little anxiety was felt concerning the reception which the young physicians would receive from the Chinese on their return to Kiukiang. A foreign-trained Chinese woman physician had never been seen or heard of in that section of China, and, scarcely, in all China, since Dr. Hue King Eng, of Foochow, was the only other in the Empire at that time. The doctors' own friends had long been asking when they were coming back, and when at last the time arrived they had their plans all laid for welcoming them. The missionaries had some doubts as to the propriety of a public ovation to two young women, but the Chinese were so eager for it that they at last consented, and from the moment the young doctors left the steamer until they arrived at the gate of the mission compound, they were saluted with an almost continuous fusillade of fire-crackers. Of course the noise attracted curious crowds, and by the time they reached the Bund they were surrounded by a host of their townspeople who were eager to get a glimpse of the "women doctors." Some of them were heard to say, "Why, these girls are receiving more honour than was shown to our commandant when he arrived!" As the company slowly proceeded up the Bund, the missionaries were besieged with eager questions: "Are they Chinese women?" "Is it true they have been studying for four years in a foreign land?" "Can they heal the sick?" "Will they live in Kiukiang?" When all these questions were answered in the affirmative there was a vigorous nodding of heads, and "Hao! Hao! Hao!" (Good, good!) was heard on every side. It seemed remarkable that in so dense a crowd the universal expression of face and voice indicated only favourable interest.

Shortly before the doctors arrived one of the missionaries wrote, "We are expecting 'our doctors' back this fall, and after they have several months of hospital practice in other mission hospitals in China, we hope to have a place ready for them to begin work." The doctors had expected, too, a little time for resting, and visiting with the friends whom they had not seen for so many years. Moreover it was thought that some time would have to elapse before they could gain the confidence of the people sufficiently to begin practice. But on the third day after their arrival four patients appeared and asked for treatment; on the following day the same four returned and six newcomers arrived; and so it went on, until dispensary quarters had to be hurriedly rented and regular work begun.

They had been back only about a month when they were sent for one evening to visit a woman who was in a very serious condition. On arriving at the house they found there the best known native doctor in the city, richly dressed in satin and silk, and accompanied by four chair-bearers. He had told the woman's family that he could do nothing for her, and after welcoming the young women physicians very pleasantly, he took his leave, advising the family to put the patient into their hands, saying, "They have crossed mountains and seas to study about these matters." The family wanted the doctors to guarantee that the woman would live, but they, of course, refused to do this, and after some discussion turned to go. But at that the older members of the family fell on their knees, and begged them to stay and do just whatever they thought best. Their treatment was so successful that three days later the grateful family invited them to a feast, after which they were wound about with red scarfs by the old grandmother, and presented with gifts. The entire family then escorted them home amid the explosion of many fire-crackers.

The China Medical Missionary Journal of December, 1896, in commenting upon the work of these young women, says: "They have not, up to the present time, had to endure the pain of losing a patient, although they have had several very serious cases. When that does come, as of course it must, there will doubtless be some reaction, and present faith may be changed to distrust for a time. But the most hopeful had not dreamed of their commencing work without some opposition, and that they actually sought, before making any efforts to secure patients, has been a great surprise to all. Their early success is doubtless due largely to the fact that they are back among their own people as true Chinese, and while they have gained much in culture and intellect, love and sympathy for their race have ever been present; while the ruling motive in all their efforts has been how best to prepare themselves to help their countrywomen. The native women do not stand at a distance to admire them, but familiarly take their hands and feel their clothing; and while acknowledging their superiority do not hesitate to invite them as guests to their humble homes."

Nor was the reputation of the young physicians limited to Kiukiang. At about the time of their return, the young emperor, Kwang-hsi, had issued edicts to the viceroys of the various provinces, ordering them to search out and send to Peking, young men versed in modern affairs, who could act as advisers to him. Several of these young men held a meeting in Nanking before proceeding to Peking. Two of them had heard of the young doctors just returned from America, and, on their way to Nanking, stopped at Kiukiang for the purpose of calling on them. The doctors, however, felt it wise to adopt a conservative attitude in regard to receiving calls from young men, lest their influence with the women with whom they were to work should be weakened, did they violate Chinese custom in this matter. Miss Howe therefore received the guests in their stead, answered their questions, gave them such information as they desired, and presented them with the diploma of one of the doctors. They displayed the diploma at the meeting at Nanking, where it created much interest. The son of Governor Tang of Hupeh, who was at the meeting, spoke for two hours on the desirability of educating women, and suppressing the custom of foot-binding. Then and there a society was organized in which these men pledged themselves to marry their sons only to natural-footed women, and their daughters only into families whose girls were allowed to grow up with natural feet.

At about this time, also, Chang Chih Tung, one of the most eminent and public spirited viceroys of his time, sent a representative to wait upon Miss Howe, with the request that she and the young physicians accept positions in a school which he wished to establish in Shanghai. His aim was to develop a University for women which would train women teachers, and he wished also to have a medical department in connection with it. Foot-binding concubinage, and slavery were dealt with directly in the prospectus; Sunday was to be observed as a holiday; and liberty of conscience in the matter of religion was to be allowed. While no religious books might be taught in the school, no objections were raised to religious work being done privately. When this request was brought to the Women's Conference of the Methodist Mission they passed a resolution expressing their sympathy with the proposed plan, and advising the acceptance of the positions by Miss Howe and one of the doctors, "if in the process of the development of the plans they feel it best to do so." Although as the plans developed Miss Howe and the doctors finally decided that they could be more useful in Kiukiang, the offer shows the interest felt in the work of the young physicians, even in the highest official circles.

At the close of the first year, Dr. Kahn reported:

"With the exception of a month spent at the Nanking Memorial Hospital we have kept up our work steadily ever since our return to Kiukiang. At present we have regular dispensary work, and our Bible woman spends her time faithfully teaching the women. As she is quite an elderly woman, has been very well trained and educated, and above all is an earnest Christian, we are sure that her influence will not be small on those with whom she is brought in contact. Then again, she is a good chaperon to our girls who are preparing to be nurses. There are three girls who have been in the girls' school from five to six years, and now choose to take up nursing as their life work. They assist in the dispensary, help make up the drugs, attend to the hospital patients, and recite two lessons to us every day. Later on we hope to have them assist in our operations and go out with us when we need them."

"At present we have six patients in the hospital, and although the number may seem small, yet our hospital has been opened scarcely two months, and it is so tiny that it appears quite full. The hospital is merely a Chinese dwelling, heightened and improved by floors and windows."

"During the year two or three interesting trips have been made by us into the country. The first one was made by Miss Stanton and myself to the capital of the province, to attend the wife of an official. We brought her home with us, and while here undergoing treatment she studied the Bible every day and enjoyed it very much. Later, when she returned home, she recovered completely, and now two of her sons are in our mission school. Her husband gave one hundred dollars for the dispensary and two merit boards or tablets to us, and he said he would help us in raising money for the hospital...."

"One thing which pleases us very much is that those whom we have treated outside, when they get well almost invariably come and call on us, and even go with us to church."

The following year she wrote:

"The time has come again for us to give our yearly report and we are very glad to be able to say that the work has advanced in every direction. The year has been a very unhealthy one and fevers have simply flourished, so that our nurses have been kept very busy caring for patients often in a critical condition. During the year we were enabled to make four visits into the country. Miss Stanton has been more free to do evangelistic work and take long trips than previously, and it has been a privilege for one of us doctors to accompany her on the journeys. By taking turns, one of us could always attend to the regular work. People are awakening everywhere, and crowds flock to us to hear the truth and receive medical treatment. Sometimes we dispense medicine to one or two hundred people a day. Our stock of medicine usually gives out, and many people have had to be turned away for lack of drugs. Everywhere they begged us to come and visit them again. At one place a party of women came at night to the boat where Miss Stanton and I were staying, inviting us to go ashore and organize a church. They told us: 'Men can hear preaching sometimes on the street; but we women never have an opportunity to hear anything except when you ladies come to teach us.'"

During that year, the second of their practice, the young physicians were able to report 90 patients treated in the hospital, 134 in homes, 3,973 in the dispensary, and 1,249 during country trips, making a total of 5,446.

Their third year was also a very prosperous one, not only in their work among the poor, but also in the number of calls which they received from the class of people who were able to give them ample compensation for their services. This money was always turned into the mission treasury by the young physicians, who also, for four years, gave their services to the Woman's Missionary Society without salary, in return for the four years of training which they had received at Ann Arbor. An interesting glimpse of the impression they made upon their fellow-workers is given by a letter from one of the missionaries written at this time: "None who know our beloved doctors, Mary Stone and Ida Kahn, can do otherwise than thank God for raising up such efficient and faithful workers. It is difficult to think of any desirable quality which these two ladies do not possess. To this their growing work gives witness."

Dr. Kahn was honoured in the latter part of the year by being appointed as the representative of the women of China to the World's Congress held in London, June, 1899.

The hearts of the doctors were gladdened during this year by the prospect of a hospital building in which to carry on their work. Early in 1900 Dr. Kahn wrote happily to Dr. Danforth, whose gifts had made the building possible:

"Work on the building is going on merrily, and the results are pleasing so far.... As to our work at present, we can truly say that never before has it seemed so encouraging. This being the Chinese New Year month we have usually had scarcely any patients, and at least for a number of days no patients at all; but this year we had no day without patients, and often had thirty, forty, and even over fifty patients a day, which is certainly unprecedented. You cannot imagine how strong a prejudice the average Chinaman has against doing work of any kind too soon after New Year's. Not only is it the only holiday of any duration they have during the year, but it is ill luck to work too early."

"While standing at the gate on the second day, watching the patients straggling in, I saw one of them brought on a stretcher. It was a pretty little girl who had been badly burned by the upsetting of a foot stove under her wadded garments. As they came up an old woman who carried one corner of the bamboo bed called out, 'Doctor, have you opened your accounts yet?' meaning have you begun work yet. I answered, 'Why, our accounts have never been closed, so we did not need to reopen them!' 'Yes,' she said, 'I know, and I wish you many congratulations for the New Year, and may you have much custom during the year.' Think of what that implies! Then she went on volubly describing what a time they had in getting people to carry the bed, for no money could induce them to come, and finally she and a few boy cousins had to bring her. A few days ago her people came and fired lots of crackers, as well as hung up long strips of red cloth outside our gate, in order to show people that we have accomplished a cure for them and they wish to express their gratitude in public."

A few months later the Elizabeth Skelton Danforth Memorial Hospital was completed; but just as they were about to occupy the new building the Boxer uprising assumed such serious proportions that all work had to be dropped, and the women were forced to leave the city. The doctors accompanied the other missionaries to Japan, and remained there for a few months; then came back to China and spent a few weeks in Shanghai, until the country had quieted down sufficiently to make it safe to return to the interior. The weeks in Shanghai were not idle ones, for they found plenty of patients to treat during their stay there.

There were many missionaries from various parts of China gathered in Shanghai at this time, and the women improved the opportunity thus afforded by the presence of so many workers for a conference on the various phases of women's work. Dr. Kahn was asked to give an address on Girl Slavery at this conference, and made a great impression by her powerful plea for the abolition of this wicked practice. Her appeal had added force because she was a Chinese woman herself, and this evil custom had come close to her life. "She was my best friend in school," she said of one victim, "and her mind was as beautiful as her person. We were baptized together and she confessed to me that she would like to devote her life to Christian work, adding so sadly that she must try first to help her opium-smoking father. Where were gone her longings and aspirations when she was sold by him to be the concubine of a man sixty years of age! Surely on this eve of China's regeneration, we, the more favoured ones, must plead with all our might that all these unnatural customs shall be swept away with the last relics of our country's barbarism."



The doctors were soon able to recommence work in Kiukiang, and with their fine new hospital they worked under far more favourable conditions than heretofore. A letter from Dr. Kahn tells of their enjoyment of the new building: "It is now a pleasure to see the little crowds of women and children sitting comfortably in the easy seats of the dispensary waiting room, and to notice how they enjoy the talks of the Bible woman. In former years they were always huddled together in a dark room, or else were scattered here and there in our front yard, and the Bible woman had great difficulty to get them to listen quietly. The new drug room is a constant delight. The operating room, too, is our pride, because it is so light. The confidence which people had in our work before last year's troubles broke out, appears to revive again."

The following summer, Miss Robinson, of Chinkiang, visited the doctors in their new quarters. A letter written from their home reads: "We find them as skilful in housekeeping as in hospital-keeping, and excelling in the happy art of making their guests at home. Such all-round women are a priceless boon to their native sisters. I want to have our graduates attend the coming annual meeting in Kiukiang, improving this opportunity of bringing them in contact with the doctors, who have long since become the ideals of our school girls.... Referring to the fear some native Christians have shown of sending their girls to a school having manual labour in its curriculum, Dr. Ida exclaimed hotly, 'This fear of work is the bane of China.' Here are two doctors of exalted privileges, educated abroad, honoured alike by native and foreigner, and yet putting their hand to cooking and housework of every kind, as the need may be, without a thought of being degraded thereby; a glorious object-lesson to accompany the teachings of the mission schools."



IV

PIONEER WORK IN NANCHANG

In the first year of the young physicians' practice in China, a launch had been sent to Kiukiang by one of the high officials of Nanchang, the capital of Kiangsi province, with the request that one of the physicians should return to Nanchang in it and treat his wife, who was very ill. Dr. Kahn went, and brought the woman back to Kiukiang with her. After a few weeks under the doctors' care she returned to Nanchang completely recovered, and gave such glowing accounts of the benefit she had received that many of the wealthy ladies of the city followed her example and went to the Kiukiang hospital for treatment.

At that time no American missionary work was being done in Nanchang; but the successful treatment of the wife of the official is said to have "opened the gates to Protestant missionaries." The Methodist Mission soon established a station there, and the work grew rapidly in spite of the fact that Nanchang was not an altogether easy place in which to work. As it was in the interior and off the highway of travel, little was known of foreigners. Moreover, there was a rowdyish element of the population which was very hostile to them and everything connected with them, as Dr. Kahn had good cause to know. Soon after the work in Nanchang had been begun by their mission, she and Miss Stanton made a trip there, the latter to do evangelistic work, Dr. Kahn for medical work. Dr. Kahn shall tell the story of their experiences:



"One afternoon, Miss Stanton and myself went to call on some ladies of the Plymouth Brethren Mission, the only other Christian mission besides our own in the city. The day being warm Miss Stanton had the rain cover of her sedan chair removed. Unfortunately it was a hired chair and there were no side curtains, neither was there an upper curtain in front. When we had gotten fairly started boys began to follow us, and by the time we had reached our destination quite a crowd was with us, and rushed into the compound ahead of us. Once in, we planned to cover the chair; and also waited till dark for our return, hoping that by that time the crowd would have dispersed."

"However, when we got ready to start, there was a large crowd still clustered around the court and door. They allowed Miss Stanton to get into her chair first and start off, but when I followed, then the fun began. The coolies would take a step or two, then the chair would be pulled almost down. Yelling at them was of no avail. Finally a stone was thrown and one of the windows broken, so I thought it was time to walk. The crowd called out, 'A foreigner! a foreigner!' I was almost ready to cry with vexation, and could not help telling the people that they were cowards and barbarians. One or two of the bystanders now began to take my part, and administered a blow or two to those who seemed to be too obstreperous, telling me at the same time not to be afraid. I started to enter the largest residence near me, but the gatekeeper slammed the door in my face so I went on ahead. One of my volunteer helpers said, 'There is the residence of the official Yang, where you can find shelter.' So he led me into a house where a couple of women were sitting in the great room. Rather abruptly I told them that I was pursued by a crowd, and asked if I could find shelter there until I could send word to my people. My guides also explained that the people took me to be a foreigner. To my surprise the ladies welcomed me cordially, and ordered the doors to be shut on the crowd. Now all my friends will be ashamed to know that I could not repress my tears, but after a good cry I felt relieved. The people in the house urged me not to be afraid. I told them I was not afraid; I was disgusted that my people could be so mean. My hostess related several instances where ladies coming home alone in their chairs had been pulled about, and deplored the fact that there were so many rowdies everywhere."

"Very soon the church members heard of my trouble and came to escort me home. As we wended our way homeward fresh members joined us till we formed quite a procession with lights flashing everywhere. Indignation was felt by all, so some of the party went back to demand the arrest of the ringleaders. How thankful I was to get back safely to our mission compound. Miss Stanton's chair coolies had assured her that I was following behind, and she thought everything was secure. The church members were at prayer meeting and did not notice my non-arrival. The delay I think must have been providential, for had the members rushed there and found a crowd, I fear more trouble must have resulted."

"Very soon the husband of a wealthy patient came and offered many apologies for the bad conduct of the people. How do you suppose he found out about the matter? He was returning home from a feast, and seeing so many Methodist lanterns (please do not smile, for the lanterns have 'Methodist Church' written on one side, and 'Gospel Hall' on the other) asked what it meant, and learned of the trouble.... Certainly the devious ways of my own countrymen never struck me so forcibly before. How much we do need the truth to shine in upon us and change us completely."

Yet it was to this city that the Christian physician's heart went out in such compassion that, for its sake, she was not only willing, but glad to leave her home in Kiukiang, the prosperous work which she had been doing in fellowship with her lifelong friend, Dr. Stone, and the beautiful new hospital to which she had long looked forward with so much eagerness.

"This old city of Nanchang with about three hundred thousand inhabitants, and surrounded by a thickly settled country, has not a single educated physician," one of her letters reads. "Do you know what that means? The people realize their need and asked us to go and live among them. One of the church members offered to give us, free of charge, a piece of land situated in a fine part of the city, for either a hospital or a school lot. The pastor said he could raise $1,000 among the people if we would only begin medical work there. Do you think we ought to refuse that offer, which is a wonderful one, because the church has only just been established there? 'And when they came to Jesus they besought Him instantly, saying that he was worthy for whom He should do this.'"

The people of Nanchang, both Christian and non-Christian, pleaded so eagerly for medical work, and promised to do so much toward its support, that the missionaries agreed with Dr. Kahn in feeling that a door to great opportunity was open before her, which it would be a serious mistake not to enter. Accordingly, early in 1903, she responded to what Dr. Stone termed "the Macedonian call," and began work in Nanchang.

The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society did not feel able to assume any responsibility for the financial support of the medical work in the new field, beyond that of the doctor's salary. But Dr. Kahn firmly believed that missionary work should be just as nearly self-supporting as possible; and since many of the urgent invitations from Nanchang had come from homes of wealth, she was very willing to attempt to carry on medical work there on a self-supporting basis. In an article on the subject of self-supporting medical missionary work, written for the China Medical Missionary Journal, she gave some of her reasons for believing in self-support, and her theories as to how it might be carried out.

"To the many of us, no doubt, the thought naturally arises that we have enough problems to deal with in our work without having to take up the irksome question of self-support. Yet at the present time, when every strenuous effort is being made to evangelize the world in this generation, any plan which can help forward such a movement at once assumes an aspect of vital importance in our eyes. Let it not be presumed that self-support is to be recommended as possible to every medical missionary. On the contrary, I fear, only by those fortunate enough to be located in large cities could the effort be attempted with any hope of success. Yet in a measure the question concerns every one of us, because in its different phases self-support is sure to be pressed upon all of us with more or less force. Personally, my work was undertaken in Nanchang partly from faith in the principle, partly because there were no funds available to institute medical work on any other basis. My faith in the principle is founded upon the belief that anything of value is more appreciated when something has been asked in exchange for its worth, from those perfectly able to effect the exchange.... The ordinary people who seek help from the missionary will retain a higher measure of self-respect, and also suspect less the motives of the benefactor. The rich will appreciate more highly the services received, besides having the added glow of satisfaction in helping forward a worthy charity...."

"There should be no ironclad rules, however; each case must be counted on its own merits. Generally speaking, it might be well for the physician in charge to state plainly that the very poor are to be treated free of charge and have medicines, and occasionally food supplies, gratis. Those a little better off may help a little in paying for the medicines. The next step above that is to pay partly for the treatment as well; while the highest grade is to pay in proportion to the amount of help received. All this means a good deal of thought on the part of the physician and assistant, but gradually it will become routine work and so demand less labour."

"Is self-supporting work a missionary work? Assuredly yes; for is not the money thus gained used in giving relief to the poor?... And if all money received goes again into the work, to increase its efficiency, why may it not be counted missionary? Part of it is given as thank-offering by those who are not Christian, and all is given for value received from Christian effort. Our Lord healed diseases without money and without price. If we ask, 'What would Jesus do?' under our existing circumstances, the suggestion comes to my mind that it would be something different in form, but not in principle, from what He did in a different land, under far different circumstances, nineteen hundred and more years ago. Someone says we are to follow Jesus, not to copy Him; and the principal thing, it seems to me, would be always to abide in the Spirit of the Christ, by whatever method we feel constrained to render our little service."

Although the new step was taken so bravely, it was not an easy one. Some idea of the courage it required is shown by the doctor's report of her first year in Nanchang; "The very thought of making a report causes many poignant memories to rush upon us. With what hesitancy and timidity did we begin our work in the new field! Knowing our own limitations, it was not with a light heart that we began the new year. Yet," she was able to add, "as we toiled on, we could but acknowledge that we were wonderfully led along 'The Pathway of Faith.'"

Enough money was contributed by the Nanchang people to enable Dr. Kahn to rent a house in the centre of the city, in which dispensary work could be carried on, and in which she lived. They also supplied her with a small stock of drugs with which to begin work, and she treated something over two thousand patients during the first eight months. The number seemed small after the work to which she had been accustomed in Kiukiang; but she was becoming known in the city, and in addition to her patients several of the women of the city had called on her in a purely social way, many of them educated women of the official class. Dr. Kahn says of them:

"As the wives and daughters of expectant officials they are representative of the better class of the whole country, for they are assembled from every province. It is pleasing to note that dignity and modesty are often combined with real accomplishment among them. It is amongst these that there is a marked eagerness to learn something better. They talk about their country incessantly, and deplore with real sincerity her present condition, of which many of them have a fairly good knowledge. To these we tell over and over again that the only hope of China's regeneration is in her becoming a Christian nation, and that only the love of Christ can bring out the best qualities of any people...."

As to the financial side of the work, Dr. Kahn reported: "The outlook is most promising. During the eight months I have received over $700 from the work, and as much more has been subscribed."

During the succeeding two years the work developed steadily. The number of patients treated at the close of 1905 was almost three times the number reported in 1903, and Dr. Kahn wrote, "We have tried to check the number of patients, simply because we did not feel financially able to treat so many." The rent which she had been obliged to pay for her building in the city had been a heavy burden financially. Great was her delight therefore to be able to report, at the end of this year, a new $2,000 building for dispensary purposes, the money for which had been secured partly from fees, partly from subscriptions. "With the incubus of a heavy rent off our shoulders we may be able to relieve more patients, as we would wish," she wrote.

The dispensary building was not the sole cause for rejoicing that year; for in addition to it a fine, centrally located piece of land, worth $3,600, was given for a hospital site. "All the assistance received has been from the gentry and not the officials, and therefore it really represents the people and we feel much encouraged by the fact," reads Dr. Kahn's report. The gentry wanted to make over the deeds of the property to the doctor. This, however, she would not permit, but insisted that they be made in the name of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Church, assuring the donors that the work would then be on a permanent basis, as it could not be if the deeds were made out in her name.

It would not have been just cause for discouragement had the work dropped off the next year; for a dispute between some French Catholic priests and the Nanchang magistrates led to such serious disturbances and bloodshed that the missionaries were obliged to flee for their lives. Dr. Kahn refused to leave her work until the last possible moment, and returned just as soon as it was at all safe to do so. At the end of the year she was able to report that although it had been necessary to close the dispensary for three months, fully as many patients had been treated in the nine months as in the twelve months of the year previous. Another gift had also been received from the gentry, a piece of land near the hospital site, on which a home for the physician was already in process of building.

During 1907 the work continued to grow steadily in scope and favour. Dr. Kahn's annual report for that year shows something of its development: "My practice has increased steadily among the foreigners and Chinese, until now we have patients come to us from all the large interior cities, even to the borders of Fuhkien. You would be surprised to know how many foreigners I treat in this out-of-the-way place. During the year we have treated over eight thousand patients. The evangelistic work among them has been better undertaken than ever before, and I am sure we shall see results in the near future. Several inquirers have been accepted, and seven women have been taken in as probationers."

Although the demands of her work in Nanchang are constant and absorbing, Dr. Kahn has never become provincial in her interest; while working with whole-hearted devotion in her own corner, she still keeps the needs of the entire field in mind. At the fifth triennial meeting of the Educational Association of China, held in Shanghai in the spring of 1905, she gave an address on "Medical Education," in which she said in part:

"Turn the mind for a moment to the contemplation of China's four hundred millions, with the view of inaugurating effectual modern medical practice in their midst. How many physicians are there to minister to this vast mass of humanity? Barely two hundred! Such a ratio makes the clientele of each physician about two million. What would the English-speaking world think if there were only one physician available for the cities of New York and Brooklyn! Yet the people of these cities would not be so badly off, because of the steam and electrical connections at their command."

"We as missionary physicians recognize our own inadequacy and the imperative demand for native schools. How can we undertake to help spread medical education in China with the limited means at our command? Shall we simply take unto ourselves a few students as assistants, and after training them for a few years turn them out as doctors? By all means, no! Take us as we are generally situated, one or two workers in charge of a large hospital or dispensary, is not the stress of our professional work almost as much as we can bear? Then there are the people to whom we ought to give the bread of life as diligently as we minister to their bodily needs. Add to this the urgent need of keeping up a little study. Where comes the time and strength to teach the students as they should be taught? Certainly to the average missionary such work as the turning out of full-fledged doctors ought to be debarred. It seems to me that what can and ought to be done is to single out promising students who possess good Christian characters as well as physical and mental abilities, and send them to large centres such as Peking, Canton, Shanghai, and Hankow, where they might take a thorough course in medicine and surgery. In these large cities the case is altered; for hospitals and physicians are comparatively numerous, and much could be done in a union effort. I am glad one or two such schools have been inaugurated."

"As stiff a course as possible ought to be arranged and if it is thought best the whole thing might be outlined by the China Medical Missionary Association. For entrance requirements there should be presented a solid amount of Chinese and English, with some Latin and perhaps one other modern language. That may seem a great deal to ask at present, but our higher schools of learning ought soon to be able to supply such a demand, as well as the necessary training in mathematics, physics, chemistry, etc. In other words the student must be equipped in the very best manner for his lifework."

"During the present generation at least, if not longer, the women of China will continue to seek medical advice from women physicians, and to meet the demand we must confront and solve another problem. Co-education is impracticable just at this juncture. We must have either an annex to the men's college, or a separate one entirely. Whichever plan is adopted it matters not, barring the 'lest we forget' that it is just as important to establish medical schools for women as for men."

"In the golden future when schools abound we shall have to think of state examinations; but at that time we shall expect to be ready to greet the blaze of day in this wonderful country of ours, when she has wakened from the long sleep we often hear about, and taken her place among the nations of the world, and God and man shall see 'that it is good.'"

At the close of 1907 Dr. Kahn had been back in China for twelve years, years of arduous, almost unremitting labour; and her fellow missionaries felt that before the work on the new hospital building began she ought to have a vacation. Certainly she had earned it. Not only had she worked faithfully for seven years in Kiukiang, but she had, within the five succeeding years, established medical work in a large city, where she was the first and only physician trained in Western sciences. Assisted only by two nurses whom she herself had trained, she had kept her dispensary running the year around, all day and every day. Moreover, she had kept the work practically self-supporting, in spite of the fact that she had refused to economize by using inferior medicines, or bottles of rough glass which could not be thoroughly cleansed. She had insisted that her drugs be of the purest, and dispensed in clean, carefully labelled bottles, and had often furnished besides the food needed to build up strength. In addition to all this, she so commended herself and her work to the people of the city that in 1906 she was enabled to hand over to the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, a dispensary building and two fine building lots, to be used for a hospital and physician's home.

She was finally persuaded to go to America for a period of change and rest. "Rest" for Dr. Kahn evidently means a change of work; for she went at once to Northwestern University to take the literary course which she felt would fit her for broader usefulness among her countrywomen. Eager to get back to China she did three years' work in two, studying in the summer quarter at the University of Chicago, when Northwestern closed its doors for the vacation. In addition to her University studies, she undertook, for the sake of her loved country, a work which is peculiarly hard for her, and almost every Sunday found her at some church, telling of the present unprecedented opportunities in China.

The question may perhaps be raised as to whether days could be crowded so full and yet work be done thoroughly. But Prof. J. Scott Clark of Northwestern University said of her, at this time: "Dr. Kahn is one of the most accurate and effective students in a class of eighty-four members, most of them sophomores, although the class includes many seniors. The subject is the study of the style and diction of prominent prose authors, with some theme work. Last year Miss Kahn attained a very high rank in the study of the principles of good English style during the first semester, and in that of synonyms during the second semester. In the latter difficult subject she ranked among the very best students in a class of over three hundred members. She is very accurate, very earnest, and very quick to catch an idea. In fact she is nothing less than an inspiration to her classmates."

In the spring of 1910 Dr. Kahn was a delegate to the Conference of the World's Young Women's Christian Association held in Berlin, and from there went to London for six months of study in the School of Tropical Diseases. She had planned to return to Northwestern University to complete the work interrupted by her trip to Europe, and to receive her degree. Her work had been of so unusually high a standard, however, that she was permitted to finish her course by correspondence, and was granted her degree in January, 1911. She completed her course in the School of Tropical Diseases with high honour, and in February, 1911, she reached Nanchang, where one of her fellow-workers declares, "she is magnificent from the officials' houses to the mud huts."

The new hospital was still in process of building, but the doctor began work at once in her old dispensary, and the news of her return soon spread. In a short time she was having an average of sixty patients a day, and several operations were booked some time before the hospital could be opened. It was ready for use in the autumn and in October Dr. Kahn wrote: "The work has gone on well, and patients have come to us even from distant cities clear on the other side of Poyang Lake. The new building is such a comfort. It looks nice and is really so well adapted for the work. I would be the happiest person possible if I did not have to worry about drug bills, etc.... It is impossible to drag any more money out of the poor people. Our rich patients are very small in number when compared with the poor. Yesterday I had to refuse medicines to several people, though my heart ached at having to do so. You see I had no idea that the work would develop so fast, and things have risen in prices very much the last few years."

At the time that this letter was written the Revolution was in progress, and Nanchang, with all the rest of Central China, was in a turmoil. Because of the disturbed conditions most of the missionaries left the city, but Dr. Kahn refused to leave her work. With the help of her nurses she kept the hospital open, giving a refuge to many sufferers from famine and flood, and caring for the wounded soldiers. None of the forty beds was ever empty, and many had to be turned away.

The close of the Revolution did not, however, bring a cessation of work for the doctor. She already needs larger hospital accommodation, three times as much as she now has, one of her friends writes. But Dr. Kahn delights in all the opportunities for work that are crowding upon her; for she says, "When I think what my life might have been, and what, through God's grace, it is, I think there is nothing that God has given me that I would not gladly use in His service."

* * * * *

DR. MARY STONE

I. WITH UNBOUND FEET

II. THE DANFORTH MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

III. WINNING FRIENDS IN AMERICA

IV. A VERSATILE WOMAN

* * * * *

Yours in His service Mary Stone]



DR. MARY STONE

I

WITH UNBOUND FEET

On the "first day of the third moon" of the year 1873, a young Chinese father knelt by the side of his wife and, with her, reverently consecrated to the service of the Divine Father the little daughter who had that day been given them. They named her "Maiyue,"—"Beautiful Gem"—and together agreed that this perfect gift should never be marred by the binding of the little feet. It was unheard of! Even the servant women of Kiukiang would have been ashamed to venture outside the door with unbound feet, and the very beggar women hobbled about on stumps of three and four inches in length. No little girl who was not a slave had ever been known to grow up with natural feet before, in all Central or West China. That the descendant of one of the proudest and most aristocratic families of China, whose genealogical records run back without a break for a period of two thousand years, little Shih Maiyue, should be the first to thus violate the century-old customs of her ancestors, was almost unbelievable.

Even the missionaries could not credit it, not even Miss Howe, whose interest in the family was peculiarly keen, since Maiyue's mother was the first fruits of her work for Chinese women, and had ever since been working with her. To be sure Mrs. Shih had said to her, "If the Lord gives me a little daughter I shall not bind her feet." But Miss Howe had made so many efforts to induce the women and girls with whom she had worked to take off the crippling bandages, without having been successful in a single instance, that she did not build her hopes on this. One day, when calling in the home and seeing little Maiyue, then five years old, playing about the room, she remarked, "My dear Mrs. Shih, you will not make a good job of it unless you begin at once to bind little Maiyue's feet." But Mrs. Shih never faltered in the purpose which she and her husband had formed at the little girl's birth, and promptly answered, "Did I not tell you I should not bind her feet?"

The first years of Maiyue's life were unusually happy ones. Her father was a pastor in the Methodist church, and had charge of the "Converting to Holiness" chapel in Kiukiang; her mother was successfully conducting a day school for girls. From her mother Maiyue received much of her earliest instruction and before she was eight years old she had studied several of the Chinese classics and memorized the Gospel of Matthew and the catechism in Chinese so thoroughly that she has never forgotten them.

But as she approached the age when custom required that her feet should be bound, the little girl discovered that the way of the pioneer is not an easy one. The unbound feet were a constant source of comment and ridicule, not only by older people, but by other children as well. She was stopped on her way to school one day by an older girl, who taunted her with her "big feet" and refused to let her pass unless she would kneel down and render obeisance to her own bandaged stumps. The small descendant of the proud house of Shih absolutely refused to submit to such humiliation; but it was only after her mother's assistance had been invoked that she was allowed to proceed on her way.

Relatives and friends protested vigorously against such apparent indifference to their daughter's future on the part of her parents. "You will never be able to get a mother-in-law for her," they declared. Mr. and Mrs. Shih felt, no doubt, that this was true; for who could have then prophesied that the time would so soon come in conservative old China when young men would not only be willing to marry girls with natural feet, but would decidedly prefer them! Maiyue's father and mother never reconsidered their decision that their daughter should grow to womanhood with natural feet; but they did try to devise some plan by which her life might be a useful and happy one, even though she might never enjoy the blessing of a mother-in-law. They were very much impressed with the service which Dr. Kate Bushnell was rendering the suffering women and children of Kiukiang, and when Maiyue was eight years old her father took her to Dr. Bushnell and announced, "Here is my little girl. I want you to make a doctor of her."

This was almost as startling as the unbound feet! A Chinese woman physician was unknown and undreamed of. But this young father's faith in the possibilities of Chinese womanhood was not to be discouraged. The necessity of general education, preliminary to medical training, was explained, and Maiyue was put in charge of Miss Howe, then at the head of the Girls' Boarding School of the Methodist Mission. In this school she spent most of the next ten years of her life, studying in both Chinese and English, and fitting herself under Miss Howe's direction for her medical course.

In 1892, Maiyue and her friend, Ida Kahn, accompanied Miss Howe to America, there to receive the medical education for which they had long been preparing. If America held much that was new and interesting to them, it was no less true that they were something new and very interesting to America. "What makes these girls look so different from the other Chinese women who come here?" the Government official who examined their passports asked Miss Howe. "All the difference between a heathen and a Christian," was her prompt response.

That there were Chinese girls who could successfully pass the entrance examinations to the medical department of the University of Michigan, in arithmetic, algebra, rhetoric, general and United States history, physics, and Latin, was a revelation to the people of America, and their college career was watched with the greatest interest.

While in Ann Arbor, Maiyue took pity on the professors who found it so difficult to pronounce her Chinese name, and decided to use the English translation of it, Mary Stone, during her stay in America. Accordingly one morning when the professor started to call on her, she announced, "I have decided to change my name, professor." The burst of laughter with which the class greeted this simple statement was most bewildering to her; but after she had seen the joke she often declared that she was "one of the products of Christianity, an old maid," for, as she pointed out, an unmarried woman is practically unknown among non-Christians.

During her medical course Mary became more strongly impressed than ever before with the evils of foot-binding. Her mother's feet had, of course, been bound in childhood, and although Mrs. Stone had never bound the feet of any of her daughters, she had not unbandaged her own. For she said that if she also had unbound feet people would say: "Oh, yes, she must be from some out-of-the-way place where the women do not bind their feet, and so she does not know how to bind the feet of her daughters. That accounts for such gross neglect." On the other hand, she reasoned that if she herself had the aristocratic "golden lily" feet, it would be evident that her failure to bind her daughters' feet was due to principle. But while Mary was pursuing her medical studies she became convinced that the time had come when her mother ought to register a further protest against the harmful custom, by unbandaging her own feet, and wrote urging her to do so. Mrs. Stone readily agreed to this. Moreover, at the annual meeting of the Central China Mission in 1894, when a large mass-meeting was held for the discussion of foot-binding, she ascended the platform and in a clear voice, which made every word distinctly heard to the remotest corner of the large chapel hall, told why she had never before unbound her feet, and why she was now about to do so. Her husband was so in sympathy with her decision that later in the meeting he added a few words of approval of the course she had taken. The last shoes worn before the unbinding, and the first after it, were sent to Ann Arbor to the daughter who had so long been a living exponent of the doctrine of natural feet.

After four years at the University of Michigan, during which she and her friend, Dr. Ida Kahn, had won the respect and friendship of both faculty and students by their thorough work, Dr. Stone went to Chicago for the summer, in order to attend the clinical work in the hospitals there. It was at this time that she met Dr. I. N. Danforth of that city, who was ever afterward her staunch friend. He was about to leave for Europe, but found time before his departure to introduce Dr. Stone to many of the Chicago physicians and hospitals. He says: "She won the hearts of all with her charming ways, and got everything she wanted. When I took her to clinics she would often not be able to see at first, being such a little woman; but the first thing I knew she would be right down by the operating table. The doctors would always notice her, and seeing that she couldn't see would open up and let her down to the front." After what Dr. Danforth considered a thorough clinical training, including visits to practically all the good hospitals in Chicago, Dr. Stone sailed for China with Dr. Kahn, reaching there in the autumn of 1896.



II

THE DANFORTH MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

On their return to China, Dr. Stone and Dr. Kahn received a most enthusiastic welcome from the Chinese. It had been expected that it would be necessary for them to spend the first few months in overcoming prejudices and gradually building up confidence. But on the contrary, patients appeared the third day after their arrival, and kept coming in increasing numbers, until in December it became necessary to rent dispensary quarters and rebuild a Chinese house to serve as a hospital. Dr. Stone reported in July, 1897, that since October of the preceding year, she and Dr. Kahn had treated 2,352 dispensary patients, made 343 visits, and had thirteen patients in their little hospital, besides spending a month in Nanking visiting the hospitals there.

The following year the little hospital was presented with what was probably its first, though by no means its last, "merit board." One of Dr. Stone's letters gives an account of this event:

"Two days ago we had quite an occasion. A child had been sick for a long time, and the best Chinese physicians pronounced him incurable. Then it was that they gave us a chance. He is recovering and the parents, wanting to show their gratitude, gave us a 'merit board,' thinking in this way they would 'spread our fame.' Accordingly a day was selected to present the board to us, and we prepared tea and cakes for those who would come. On the day appointed at 2 P.M., we heard a lot of fire-crackers, rockets, and guns, and a band playing the flute and bugle at the same time. The 'merit board,' consisting of a black board with four big carved and gilded characters in the centre, and with red cloth over it, was carried into our guest hall by four men, and set on the centre table. The characters complimented us by a comparison with two noted women of ancient times, who were great scholars. I acknowledged the honour with a low Chinese bow, and a tall, elderly gentleman returned me a bow, without a word being spoken by either of us. Then I withdrew, and he took tea with two of our gentlemen teachers. The company stayed to see the board put up on our wall."

As the fame of the young physicians grew and their practice steadily increased, they found themselves greatly hampered by lack of a proper building in which to carry on their work. In 1898 Dr. Stone wrote back to America: "Our tiny hospital is crammed full. An observer might think that we carried home but a slight idea of hygiene. Our hospital measures on the outside 28 by 21 at Chinese feet (our foot is one inch longer than yours) and we have been compelled to crowd in twenty-one sleepers. The building being so small and not protected from the heat of the sun by any trees or awnings, by evenings it is fairly an oven, which is certainly not a very desirable place for sick people. We are looking forward all the time for signs or signals from the women of America to build our new hospital, but not a letter comes to bring us this kind of message. Still we are thankful for the hope of building some time."

This hope was realized almost at once, largely through the generosity of the friend Dr. Stone had made in Chicago, Dr. I. N. Danforth, who felt that no more fitting memorial could be erected to his wife than a hospital for Chinese women and children. Dr. Stone and Dr. Kahn drew their own plans and sent them to Chicago, where they were perfected in every detail by an architect of that city, and sent back to Kiukiang with the necessary specifications and instructions. These plans were carried out to the letter and in 1900 an airy, grey brick building, finished with white granite and limestone, plentifully supplied with comfortable verandas, and bearing over its pillared entrance the name, "Elizabeth Skelton Danforth Memorial Hospital," was ready for occupancy. But on the very day that the furniture was moved in, the American consul advised all foreign women and children to leave Kiukiang immediately. The other missionaries were so unwilling to leave the young doctors to face the possible dangers from the Boxers alone, that they finally prevailed upon them to go to Japan with them.

The hospital escaped any injury, however, and in her report for 1900, Dr. Stone said: "Our new hospital is a comfort and constant inspiration to us in our work. We were indeed grateful, after half a year's enforced exile, to come home and find it intact and ready for use.... During six months there have been 3,679 dispensary patients, 59 in-patients, and 414 visits."



The hospital was formally opened on the seventh of December, 1901, during the annual meeting of the Central China Methodist Mission, held that year at Kiukiang. The North China Daily Herald gives the following account of this interesting occasion:

THE OPENING OF A MODEL HOSPITAL IN KIUKIANG

"On Saturday afternoon the 7th instant, some foreign residents of Kiukiang, the members of the Methodist Central China Mission, and many native friends gathered together at the formal opening of the Elizabeth Skelton Danforth Memorial Hospital, of which two ladies, Drs. Stone and Kahn, are the physicians in charge. There were a number of Chinese ladies, whose rich costumes showed the official rank and wealth of husbands and fathers. The Chen-tai, prefect, assistant prefect and magistrate added their official dignity to the occasion. These were noticeably appreciative of the first hymn, 'God save the Emperor.'"

"Bishop Moore presided, formally opening the hospital; Mr. Clennell, H.B.M., Consul for Kiukiang, gave a very good address, to which Dr. Stuart, American Vice-consul of Nanking, made fitting response. Then followed short, pithy speeches by Drs. Beebee and Hart. The two heroines of the occasion kept modestly in the background, refusing to be introduced, much to the disappointment of the audience. The officials insisted that coming forward would be in entire harmony with etiquette and propriety, but the Chinese young ladies remained firm and were represented by their wise teacher, Miss Howe, who has planned with them and for them since their childhood. After refreshments guests were at liberty to saunter across verandas and through the various wards, the room for foreign patients, the convalescents' room, solarium, dark room, offices, reception room, etc., of this admirably planned hospital. The operating room with its skylight, its operating table of glass and enamel; the adjoining sterilizing room, containing apparatus for distilling, sterilizing, etc., are especially interesting to Chinese visitors. The drug rooms are well stocked and furnished with modern appliances, instruments, a fine microscope, battery, etc., and there is the nucleus of an excellent library. Everywhere one finds evidence of wise forethought and careful expenditure."



"The Chinese have a high regard for the skill and ability of these gifted young physicians. One sees this appreciation, not only in the commendatory tablets hanging in the entrance hall, but in their equally gracious and more serviceable gifts, which together with fees amounted this year to about $2,500. The doctors have had within the last twelve months, 7,854 patients and have made 531 out-visits. Their services have been requested by different official families of Kiukiang and Nan-chang, the capital of Kiangsi. Patients come to them from different provinces. The young physicians fearlessly make journeys far out in the surrounding country, crossing the mountains perhaps, but always in perfect safety, as they meet only with respect and courtesy. Sometimes after a successful visit their chairs will be draped with a red cloth and the physicians will be carried home in triumph through an admiring crowd, and accompanied all the way by fire-crackers. They hear only pleasant and complimentary remarks from passersby. 'We are afraid of foreigners, but you can understand our nature'—so the simple-minded country folk sometimes tell them."

Dr. Stone, describing the opening of the hospital to Dr. Danforth, wrote, "The Chinese were very much impressed with your way of commemorating your wife." Dr. Kahn added that one of the highest officials, who was being shown through the building, signified his approval by emphatically declaring, "It would make any one well merely to stay in such a pleasant place."

As a matter of fact, work had been carried on in the new building for some time before the formal opening. It had been ready for occupancy none too soon, for in the summer of 1901, the Yangtse River overflowed its banks, working great havoc among the crops and homes of the people living near it. Dr. Stone wrote Dr. Danforth: "Tens of thousands have been rendered homeless and destitute. Some of them are literally starved to death. The sick and hungry flock to our gates, and for several months we have had over a thousand visits each month to our dispensary." Some idea of the part which the hospital played in relieving the sufferings of the flood refugees is given by an article in Woman's Work in the Far East, written by Dr. Stone at about this time:

"Perhaps friends would like to know how we dispensed the clothes and quilts so kindly sent us. During the winter months very many needy refugees came to our dispensary daily for treatment. Of course we did not have enough clothes to distribute indiscriminately, but only for those who were the most helpless and miserable. We received them by hundreds, and not only had we to give out medicine, but rice, as well as clothing."

"One morning when it was raining outside, an old woman came into our dispensary all exhausted, carrying a child on her back, and another buttoned in front within her clothes. The older one was a boy three years old and the tiny baby in her bosom was only three months old. They proved to be her grandchildren, and the old woman said: 'Never in our lives have we gone out to beg before, and for the last three days we have not had a morsel to eat. Before the floods we were considered well-to-do people, and my son is forty years old and a literary man; so he is too ashamed to beg, but tries to help the family by gathering sticks for the fire. His wife is sick in bed with typhoid fever and now the baby has no one to nurse it, and the boy is sick, and I have to take care of them all and beg for a living.' The woman had on only a lined garment, so we gave her one of those wadded gowns that were sent us, and a tin of milk for the baby, and also sent a little rice to make gruel for the sick woman at home."

This was only one of many cases of need which the hospital sought to alleviate. A few days after Christmas of this year Dr. Stone wrote to a friend in America: "What a busy time we had getting ready to celebrate the joyful event! We gave a good square meal to the refugees, and let them take home what they could not finish here. It made me feel happy to see them so pleased, and gave us an opportunity to tell them of the greatest Gift to mankind. Although we were so rushed that we did not even sit together to eat our regular meals, yet we felt it was the happiest Christmas we have ever had."