celebration at St. John’s University of the Protestant Episcopal
Mission. Early in the afternoon guests began to arrive, for the
first number on the programme was the military drill, set for two
o’clock, something no one wanted to miss. Promptly at the hour the
students in trim uniforms assembled on the parade-ground and lined
up for inspection. The tactics over, and enthusiastically applauded,
every one hurried to the Assembly Hall to listen to speeches in
English and Chinese, and witness the crowning event of the day,
which was the presentation to the President, Dr. F. L. Hawks Pott,
for the University, of a generous gift of money from the alumni
in commemoration of this twenty-fifth anniversary of Dr. Pott’s
incumbency. An alumni supper followed, and then, as evening shadows
fell, the spacious grounds were transformed into a sort of fairyland
by the soft light from countless Chinese lanterns, hung in graceful
festoons from tree to tree and building to building. Fireworks brought
to a close a notable anniversary that will not soon be forgotten by the
people of Shanghai.
St. John’s University and campus, covering forty-nine acres, is
undeniably the most charmingly picturesque spot in the city. It lies
five miles out from the centre of the town in the suburb of Jessfield.
A more ideal location could not have been found, and the wonder is that
when the larger part of the property was bought as early as 1878, the
bishop who made the purchase had the foresight to choose so well.
Like most great enterprises, the University had a small beginning and
developed gradually, through successive stages. The work really started
back in 1845 with some little day schools for boys, for it must be
remembered that while the London Mission pioneers were the vanguard
of the missionaries to enter Shanghai, they were soon reinforced
from America by the Protestant Episcopalians, the Presbyterians and
the Southern Baptists. The day schools grew into successful boarding
schools, chief among them one for older boys,--seventy youths so poor
that tuition, board, and clothing were furnished them free of charge.
Soon a call came for an English department and it was added. By and by
a few ambitious students begged for college work, and finally, in 1906,
by an act of Congress at Washington, D. C., St. John’s was formally
incorporated as a University and empowered to grant degrees. Her
alumni are now privileged to enter institutions in Europe and America
for post-graduate work without examination, and she has the honour of
sending more students abroad than any other mission college in China.
Including all departments the student body numbers over five hundred,
whose fees make the work in large measure practically self-supporting.
A five-story brick building was opened last year in one of the
busiest sections of the down-town district, not in itself a singular
occurrence, but in this case of unusual purport, for it is the
headquarters of the Chinese Boys’ Branch of the Young Men’s Christian
Association. This is the only building of its kind in the Far East,
and it is certain that nowhere in the world is the kind of work it
stands for more needed than in Shanghai, where the boy problem is one
of the gravest. Figures are often dry reading, but in this connection
a few will tell in a nut-shell a story of remarkable progress. The
Boys’ Branch was started less than three years ago, and now what
does the first report record? Seven hundred members, five hundred in
the schools, three hundred voluntary members of Bible classes, one
hundred regular boarders, two hundred at meals each day, and forty
scouts, the scoutmaster being one of the Chinese secretaries. In the
city are altogether no less than five hundred Chinese scouts. The
organization among the Chinese is quite new but it may be called a
“howling success,” the boys taking to it like ducks to water, and it is
doing much for them in numberless ways. The Y.M.C.A. boy scout, who is
taught reverence toward God, kindness to women, children, the aged, and
animals, truth, honesty, courage, faithfulness without pay, loyalty and
obedience to all in authority, and who stands for clean thought, clean
speech, and clean habits, is bound to grow up into the kind of man
that China has dire need of to-day. The new Boys’ Building is finely
equipped from top to bottom and connects with the local headquarters of
the Y.M.C.A., which fronts on Szechuan Road.
The National offices are likewise in Shanghai but in rented quarters.
An eligible building site has been secured, and as soon as money is
a little less scarce the work of construction will begin. The local
headquarters is a centre of ceaseless activity, with day and evening
schools offering all kinds of practical courses, gymnasium and swimming
classes, athletic and reading clubs, “movies,” lectures, socials, Bible
classes, and evangelistic meetings. A busier hive can not be imagined.
It was the Y.M.C.A. that led in the Mott and Eddy Evangelistic
Campaigns, it has inaugurated a health movement in the interest of
sanitation and the prevention of disease, it has attacked the problem
of social service which it is stressing by every available means,
and it brought to China the Olympic Games with their rejuvenating,
health-giving influences. Through its remarkable scientific lecture
department it is reaching men that could not be approached in any other
way. In short, the Association is a “live wire” and a tremendous force
for good.
The Sunday Service League was organized by the Y.M.C.A. for the
benefit of the large body of students from abroad who so easily slip
their moorings and go adrift on their return to China. There is a
well-attended five o’clock service in English for them on Sunday
afternoons which is often addressed by notable speakers passing
through Shanghai. Excellent music is furnished by the Chinese Glee
Club, composed of both men and women. The Returned Students Club
was a spontaneous outgrowth of the Sunday Service League. It holds
occasional socials during the winter in the parlours of one of the
foreign hotels, where music, conversation, a few simple games, and
light refreshments make a most enjoyable evening. The gentlemen, all
of whom wear foreign clothes, represent almost every profession and
calling. With scarcely an exception the women appear in Chinese dress;
wherein they show their good taste and good sense, for nothing becomes
them half so well. Most of them are happy young wives and mothers,
but there is sure to be a generous sprinkling of unmarried teachers,
specializing it may be in English, music, elocution, physical training,
or kindergarten work, with perhaps a doctor or two, a charming company
in short, such as only Shanghai can bring together.
The Young Women’s Christian Association is a younger organization in
China than the Young Men’s Christian Association, but it is doing on
a somewhat smaller scale the same efficient work. The first secretary
was sent to China in 1903 expressly to labour among the mill hands. It
was later felt, however, that this plan of campaign was too slow, and
that to win the upper and middle classes, make Christian leaders of
them, and then send them out to evangelize the multitudes, would yield
larger and more lasting fruitage. So this is the course being followed
now, and the outcome abundantly proves its wisdom. The consummation of
a long-cherished hope has been realized in the opening of a National
Normal School in Shanghai for Physical Training. The school is under
the direction of a foreign secretary of large experience, assisted by
a Chinese secretary, a graduate of Wellesley College who received her
professional training in Boston. One result of the interest aroused by
the work of the Normal School is the recent organization of a Young
Woman’s Athletic Association, with a charter membership of twenty-six.
Wonderful indeed!
The school classes are always popular, especially with young married
women who have been deprived of early school advantages. Besides
teaching from books there are classes in embroidery, plain sewing,
stenography, and cooking. Chinese girls are delighted to understand a
little about foreign cooking, especially if they are the wives of young
men who have been educated abroad, and it is a proud moment for them
when they are able to serve their husbands with some of the dishes the
latter have learned to relish during their residence in the Occident.
The first class in Scientific Chinese Cooking has just been started,
with a most gratifying show of interest.
The strongest emphasis is laid on student work not only in mission
schools, but as fast as opportunity offers, in private and government
schools as well. Many hundreds are converted and baptized annually
as a result of the evangelistic meetings conducted by the student
secretary. Six summer conferences were held last year with a far
larger attendance, and more encouraging manifestation of genuine
heart-awakening than was ever known before. The force of secretaries
for this vast field numbers in all thirty-three, eight Chinese, three
English, one Australian, one Swedish, and twenty American. The remark
is often heard regarding the staff, “What unusual young women!” And it
is true. Deeply and genuinely spiritual, broadly cultured, resourceful,
of wide vision and keen insight, they are pushing forward with
unwavering devotion a unique and regenerative work in China that but
for them would in large measure be left undone.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Transcriber's Notes:
Italics are shown thus: _sloping_.
Variations in spelling and hyphenation are retained.
Perceived typographical errors have been changed.