homes, both because of the great distances that have to be covered, and
because in many cases the doctor is not called except as a last resort. One
of Dr. Hü's reports reads: "I am very sorry that we do not yet have foreign
vehicles, railroads, or street cars. It takes much time to go from one
place to another. Fortunately my Chinese people live near together, with
their relatives, so when I am invited to go to see one case I often have to
prescribe for sixteen or twenty cases before my return." Often when the
doctor answers a call she finds that the patient has been ill for a long
time, while the relatives have been seeking to obtain help from the Chinese
doctor or from idols. She herself shall tell the story of an experience of
this kind:
"Last week I was called to see a woman very ill with cholera. Her
people had had all known doctors, both in and out of the city, and
had consulted with and begged many idols to heal her, but the woman
had grown worse and worse, until, when she was apparently hopeless,
having been unconscious for two days, one of the doctors suggested
to try me. I went at once, and found the room crowded with friends
and relatives. They could not tell me fast enough what a good and
filial woman she was, but that the idols had said certain spirits
wanted her, and no amount of offerings could buy her back again. I
told them that the woman was _very_ ill, and that I feared it was
too late for my medicine to help her. Many voices replied, 'We
know, we know, and if she dies we will not blame you.' With a
prayer, and three doses of medicine left for the woman to take, we
left them."
"That afternoon her husband came to report that she was better. I
went to see her and to my great surprise she _was_ better. While
there a famous idol arrived to drive out the evil spirit. I said,
'Do you want me, or do you want the idols? We cannot work
together.' They insisted that I continue to prepare my medicine and
said that the idol could wait. He did wait twenty minutes, and I
have been told since that no one ever dared to ask an idol to wait
before. Before leaving they promised me that the idol should not go
near, or do anything outrageous to the woman. This is now the tenth
day and the woman seems to have quite recovered."
"The woman's husband came yesterday and told me that not only he,
but many friends and relatives, were convinced that the idols were
false; for one idol would give one cause for the illness of his
wife, and another idol would give another cause; while once they
did not give the medicine sent by an idol and he (the medium) said
later, 'The medicine has done her good.' The husband said, 'We see
plainly that my wife was saved by your God, by you, and your
medicine.'"
While Dr. Hü has done a great deal of work for the poor, her practice is by
no means limited to that class, for she is often called to the homes of the
official and wealthy classes. One grateful husband, whose wife and baby Dr.
Hü had saved, told her that he would not only give money towards her new
hospital himself, but would also help her to obtain subscriptions from his
friends. "Chinese doctors have learned to use clinical thermometers," he
observed, "but the Chinese medicine does not seem to fit the foreign
thermometer, for the patients do not seem to get well as with the foreign
medicine."
The first student to receive a diploma from the Woolston Memorial Hospital
was Dr. Hü's sister, Hü Seuk Eng, who graduated in April, 1902. The
graduation exercises, held in the Sing Bo Ting Ancestral Hall, which was
willingly loaned for the occasion, created a keen interest, and numbers of
the city people gathered to witness proceedings so unusual. Many of them
said, "This is the first time a Christian service was ever held in a
temple." But what was even more wonderful to them was the revelation of
the possibilities of Chinese young womanhood which they received. Dr. Hü
wrote that after the exercises an official who lived near by announced: "I
will buy a girl seven or eight years old and I will have a tutor for her.
Then I will send her to the Girls' Boarding School to study, and then she
may go to Dr. Hü to study medicine. Then she will go to Sing Bo Ting
Ancestral Temple, too, to receive her diploma. Besides, we will all be
Christians." Others were heard to exclaim, "Who knew girls could do so much
good to the world--more than our boys!"
When the exercises were over, greatly to Seuk Eng's surprise, her sedan
chair was escorted all the way back to the hospital, to the accompaniment
of the popping of hundreds of fire-crackers, set off in her honour. A
Chinese feast was prepared for the guests in the hospital, after which
another unexpected explosion of congratulatory fire-crackers took place.
Thus ended in true Chinese fashion, amid noise and smoke, the first
graduation exercises of the Woolston Memorial Hospital.
They were by no means the last, however, for this department of work has
been steadily carried on ever since Dr. Hü took charge of the hospital. In
1904 she reported: "Our little medical school is getting on nicely. The
success of the school is mostly due to our good teacher and the students
themselves, who have a great desire to learn. They have had written
examinations this year; the highest general average was 98 and the lowest
85. Can any one dare to think, 'What is the use to teach these Chinese
people?'"
Dr. Hü wrote of the commencement exercises of the class graduating the
following year: "Quite a number of the gentry, and the teachers of the
government schools for young men, had asked to come to attend the
graduating exercises; and of course we were very much pleased to have them.
They did seem to enjoy it very much. Some of them have told my friends that
they were surprised and delighted to see that their countrywomen could be
so brave and do so well. They also wished that their students might have
come to see and to listen for themselves. One of the gentry decided that
day that his daughter should come to us to study medicine."
Up to this time no girl who did not have a diploma from a mission school
had been admitted to the medical course of the Woolston Hospital. But in
1906, yielding to the great desire of many other young women to take
medical training, Dr. Hü opened the course to any who could pass an
examination on certain subjects which she considered essential
prerequisites to a medical course. Four of the seven who presented
themselves for examination were passed; only one was a Christian girl, two
were daughters-in-law of officials, the other a daughter of one of the
gentry.
An extract from the examination paper of one of them shows the real
earnestness of purpose with which the work was undertaken. The first
question asked was, "Please give your reasons for coming to study
medicine?" "Alas, the women of my country are forgotten in the minds of the
intellectual world. How could they think of a subject as important as the
education of medicine! The result is that many lives are lost, simply on
account of no women physicians for women. Though mission hospitals for
women and children have been established for a number of years in the
Fuhkien province they are far less than we need. For this reason I have a
great desire for a medical education, hoping that I may be able to help,
and to save my fellow sisters from suffering. It is for this reason I dare
to apply for this instruction."
The graduates of the medical course are as yet not great in numbers, but
they are doing earnest, efficient work. Some of them have remained in the
hospital as assistants or matrons. Of a recent graduating class, one went
to the Methodist hospital in Ngu-cheng to assist Dr. Li Bi Cu, the
physician in charge; another went to a large village, to be the only
physician practising Western medicine; the third to Tientsin, as an
assistant in the Imperial Peiyang Woman's Medical College.
V
THE FAVOUR OF THE PEOPLE
As shown by the glimpses of Dr. Hü's work which have been given
evangelistic work is carried on in conjunction with the medical work.
Christian services are held each morning, and are attended by the
dispensary patients, those of the hospital patients who are able to be up,
the servants, and usually, also, by a number of visitors. The first year
after taking charge of the hospital Dr. Hü was able to report: "Not only
some of the in-patients, but also some of our morning dispensary patients,
were converted and joined the church on probation. We are rejoicing over
the fact that all the hospital servants, all my own servants, and also our
teacher, have given their hearts to Christ. They said before a chapel full
of patients in one of our morning services, that they would from that day
on try to be Christians and to live a good life. So far (six months) they
have proved themselves to be in earnest."
A few years later she writes: "In our morning prayers I have often looked
and seen a chapel full of people. I have carefully looked over the crowd
and I could easily recognize those who have just come to us, others who
have been here longer. You wonder how I know it? Well, their faces show.
Oftentimes our patients listen so attentively that they forget they are in
a crowd. Sometimes one, two, three, or even more, speak up with one voice,
'The Jesus doctrine is truly good. What the leader said is nothing but the
truth. Idols are false.'"
In addition to the morning services Christian work is constantly done by
the Bible women who work in connection with the hospital. They hold
meetings in the hospital wards, teach the hospital patients to read the
Bible, do personal work among those waiting their turn in the dispensary,
and visit in the homes. One of the missionaries who is a frequent visitor
to the hospital says: "No hour of the week brings more fully the joy of
service than the hour I spend in the City Hospital with the poor sick folk
there. They are always so glad to hear, and so responsive. No wonder the
Master loved to heal; and no wonder the Christian physician finds so many
open doors."
It is not to be wondered at that those who have been ministered to by this
tender, skilful Christian woman, and have watched her happy, busy life
poured out in the service of the suffering ones about her, have become
convinced that the beautiful doctrine which she teaches and lives is true.
Every year the hospital reports contain a record of those who have become
Christians during the year as a result of the medical work. Moreover, the
seeds sown in the early years of the hospital, some of which seemed to have
fallen on rocky ground, were not all in vain. Dr. Hü's sister, reporting
the work of 1908, writes: "After careful investigation we found that those
seeds were sown deep enough, and with such attention, that even though
seven, eight, or nine years have passed they are to-day still germinating,
growing, and bearing fruit. After hearing and accepting the gospel, their
lives are changed. They become brighter and more straightforward, and have
a love for other people."
Christmas is a great event in the Woolston Memorial Hospital, not only for
the patients and workers, but also for as many of the neighbours as can be
accommodated in the chapel. There is never any difficulty with regard to
unwilling guests; on the contrary, the neighbours invariably respond with
almost disconcerting enthusiasm. The first year that they were invited
to the Christmas exercises, red Chinese cards, reading "Admit one only,"
were distributed to one hundred and twenty families, one to each house, the
choice of the member who should use it being left to the family. Careful
explanations as to why all could not be invited were made; but in spite of
this, during the days preceding Christmas, the doctor was besieged by the
non-elect with requests for invitations.
[Illustration: Dr. Hü's Christmas Party]
The guests were invited for half-past seven Christmas evening, but the
great majority of them were on hand at four o'clock waiting for the doors
to be opened. When they were opened, and the guests began to pass in,
presenting their red tickets, a new predicament arose; for it was
discovered that many of these tickets were of their own manufacture, the
number of those which were passed in far exceeding the number of those
which had been given out. But when the doctor looked over the crowds, and
saw how eager they were to get in, and how good-natured they were, she had
not the heart to turn them away, so told the gatekeepers to let them in as
long as they could find a place in which to stand. And although the chapel
was crowded to its utmost seating and standing capacity, even the basement
and the yard outside being filled, Dr. Hü said that no better behaved or
more quiet crowd could have been desired. They listened attentively to the
exercises, which were fully two hours long, and at the close, group by
group, they all went up to thank the doctor for the pleasure she had
provided for them, and then quietly dispersed.
Tea, cakes, and oranges had been provided for the invited guests, but as
more than twice the number invited had arrived, it was found necessary to
omit that part of the entertainment. However, the doctor sent her servants
the following day to distribute the cakes and fruits among those for whom
they had been provided. That the guests had enjoyed themselves was evident
when the next Christmas drew near, for many either sent to Dr. Hü, or came
themselves, to remind her not to forget to invite them to the Christmas
entertainment. Nor did a single guest fail to appear on Christmas evening.
If a physician's chief reward is the gratitude and appreciation of those
among whom he works, Dr. Hü is indeed rewarded for her self-forgetful
service of those whom she lovingly terms "my Chinese." Appreciation of the
work she is doing is convincingly shown by the way in which the people
flock to her, and in their great eagerness to have the hospital kept open
the year around. This has proved to be impossible, although every summer
Dr. Hü has made an effort to continue the work, being willing to toil even
through the intense heat of July and August, and, since the students must
be given a vacation, with only half her usual corps of assistants. One
summer she wrote with gratitude that the thermometer in her bedroom
registered only 93° that day, after two weeks of 99° and even 100°, and
added, "It would do you good if you could see how grateful these people are
to see us keeping our hospital open; and we are very glad to be able to do
something for them in this very trying hot season."
But the intense heat of a South China summer and the things that it brings
with it, make it impossible to keep the work going continuously in the
present crowded quarters. Often it is the dreaded plague which necessitates
the closing of the hospital doors. One morning Dr. Hü heard that the
neighbour directly across the street from the hospital had been stricken
with this fatal disease. She closed the hospital at once, and put up a
notice telling the patients why it was necessary to close, and assuring
them that she would begin work again as soon as it was safe to do so. The
next morning the notice had disappeared, and another one which was put up
disappeared as promptly. An explanation of this was afforded Dr. Hü, by a
remark which she overheard: "How can we stand having this hospital closed?
We took the notice down in hope that the hospital would be opened." But
when the plague is prevalent, the closing of the hospital is the only safe
course to pursue; for one person, coming into the dispensary suffering from
this disease, may do more harm in a few minutes than could be undone in
many weeks.
A common and gracious way of expressing appreciation in China is the
presentation of an honorary tablet, to be set up in one's reception room,
on which is written an appreciation of the achievements of the recipient.
These are constantly bestowed upon Dr. Hü by those patients who are wealthy
enough to express their gratitude in this fashion.
A few years ago fire broke out in the middle of the night not far from the
hospital. It burned up to the west wall of the hospital and all along the
length of the wall, completely destroying all the houses in front of it.
Then it was that the Chinese gave expression in very concrete form to their
appreciation of their fellow-countrywoman, and the work which she was doing
in that hospital. Dr. Hü says that the building might have been reduced to
ashes in a moment had it not been for the faithful efforts of those who
"were more willing to have their faces scorched and burned than to leave
their work undone," and who laboured to such effect that nothing but the
roof was seriously damaged. After the danger was over the people poured in
to express their sympathy, and offer their congratulations that the damage
was no greater, some of them bringing pots of tea and dishes of food. "This
may not seem very wonderful to the people in a Christian country," says Dr.
Hü, "but if you knew how the people usually are treated at such times you
will agree with me when I say 'Wonderful.'" Fire is usually interpreted as
an expression of the displeasure of the gods, and it is considered discreet
not to interfere.
Appreciation of Dr. Hü's work is not limited to any one class of people.
One day when she was watching the laying of the foundation of her home on
Black Rock Hill, many of the people who lived near were gathered around,
and she thought it would be a good opportunity to see how they felt about
her coming there. So she asked an old "literary man" standing near her,
"Ibah, are you glad to see us building? We will soon be your neighbours."
Without any hesitation he replied, while the others signified hearty
approval of his remarks: "We are all delighted. It is a hospital, and very
different from building a church. _I-seng_ (doctor), you have made many
cures in our families. Of course you don't remember us, but even after the
transmigration to either dog or hog we will remember you. You may be sure
you are welcomed, only we are not good enough to be your neighbours." After
the doctor had left, her chair-bearers told her that the people really
meant what they said; for they had heard them say similar things when she
was not there. Dr. Hü added, "I do feel very sorry that these people are
still ignorant that a mission hospital is a part of the church, but they
will know some day."
Nor has appreciation of the work been limited to words. From the
magistrates down, the Chinese have readily subscribed gifts of money to the
hospital work. Even the Chinese physicians, who have found Dr. Hü's
scientific training so formidable a rival to their practice, have exhibited
a most friendly spirit. Dr. Hü says of them: "The Chinese doctors have
bravely brought their patients for us to heal. Some of them are well-known
doctors in the city here, so their coming to us helps our work a good
deal. These doctors are not at all conceited. They talk very openly and
frankly before everybody."
That Dr. Hü is genuinely loved by her patients, and not valued simply as
one from whom benefits are received, was evidenced during her mother's long
last illness. During the many months when her mother was so ill, the doctor
made the long trip of several miles, from her hospital to her home, almost
every night, returning each day for her morning clinics. This, and her care
of her mother, added to all her other work, made such heavy days that the
patients often said: "Dr. Hü must be very tired. We must save her from
working too hard."
This, however, is more easily said than done; for Dr. Hü's sympathetic
heart makes it very hard for her to spare herself as long as any one needs
her help. For nine years after taking charge of the Woolston Memorial
Hospital she worked almost unceasingly, with practically no vacations
except those caused by the necessity of closing the hospital in the summer,
and these she made as brief as possible. But during all this time the work
had been steadily increasing, until finally, in 1907, when the number who
thronged the hospital and dispensary was greater than ever before, the
doctor's health broke down under the strain, and, although with the
greatest reluctance, she was forced to stop work. Her fellow-missionaries
insisted that she leave the city during the terrific heat of summer, and go
to Sharp Peak for some rest. She had been there only two days when she was
taken dangerously ill, and for weeks and months the gravest anxiety was
felt concerning her. But she received the best of care and nursing, and
finally, in March of the following year, she began gradually to recover.
Some advised that the hospital be closed. But Dr. Hü's younger sister, Hü
Seuk Eng, who had received her medical training in the Woolston Memorial
Hospital under Dr. Hü King Eng, and had been associated with her sister in
the hospital work for some years, said that to close the hospital would be
a great shock to Dr. Hü, and a bitter disappointment to the people, and
that she would undertake to keep it open. "The load was indeed very heavy
and my heart was truly frightened," she admitted afterward. "Every day I
just repeated that comforting verse, 'He leadeth me,' and marched forward."
At first the people did not have the confidence in Hü Seuk Eng which they
had in Dr. Hü King Eng. Hü Seuk Eng tells of their great eagerness to see
her sister: "The faith of many of the patients has been so strong that they
thought their illness would at once be cured, or at least lessened, if they
could only touch Dr. Hü's garment or hear her voice, or merely look into
her face. During these months of sickness many people came wishing to see
'the great Dr. Hü.' They did not want to see me, whom they termed 'the
little Dr. Hü.' Some of the leading gentry pleaded with the hospital
servants to present their cards to Dr. Hü, and she would be sure to come
out to see their sick friends. For it is fully nine years since she was
appointed to take charge of this city work, and never once has she been so
ill. Indeed, it is the first time she has not been able to respond to
pressing calls for medical treatment. So often were heard the words, 'I
want the doctor whose hair is dressed on the top of her head and who has
graduated from an American college,' that my fellow workers advised the
same coiffure in order to avoid trouble; but I told them when the question
was asked again just to answer, 'This is Dr. Hü's younger sister, and she
will do the best she can.'"
As Dr. Hü grew stronger she was able to consult with her sister as to the
hospital work; the nurses and students gave the young physician
whole-hearted co-operation; and in time of need Dr. Kinnear, of the
American Board, whose hospital is not far away, was always ready to advise
and help. Thus the hospital work was successfully carried on under the
"Great Dr. Hü's sister, Dr. Hü No. 2," until Dr. Hü King Eng was again able
to take charge of it.
As busy as ever, Dr. Hü is back at her work with renewed strength. "I just
'look up and lend a hand,'" she says, in the words of the motto of The
King's Daughters' Society of her college. But hundreds and thousands of the
suffering ones of her country rise up to call her blessed for the loving,
skilful ministry of that hand which has been lent to their needs untiringly
for many years, and which they hope will be their strength and comfort for
years to come.
That her friends in America recognize the splendid service she is rendering
in China, is evidenced by the fact that at its last Commencement her Alma
Mater, Ohio Wesleyan University, conferred upon her the honorary degree of
Master of Science.
* * * * *
MRS. AHOK
I. THE MISTRESS OF A HOME OF WEALTH
II. WORK AMONG THE WOMEN OF THE UPPER CLASSES
III. A JOURNEY TO ENGLAND
IV. PATIENT IN TRIBULATION
* * * * *
[Illustration: Mrs. Ahok and Her Two Granddaughters]
MRS. AHOK
I
THE MISTRESS OF A HOME OF WEALTH
One of the most prominent men in Foochow during the latter half of the last
century was Mr. Ahok, a wealthy Chinese merchant. One who had known him for
years speaks of him as "a man of remarkable business integrity and
generosity of nature." He was very friendly to the Americans and English
living in Foochow, and Dr. Baldwin, of the Methodist Mission, was, during
all his stay in China, Mr. Ahok's most trusted friend and adviser. Mrs.
Baldwin gives a very attractive picture of this Chinese gentleman: