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
* * * * *
[Illustration: Dr. Ida Kahn]
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."