MRS. HSI'S SECOND GIFT
BEING AN ACCOUNT OF HER LIFE FROM WIDOWHOOD
ONE direct result of the lack of foreign workers was the appointment of
Mrs. Hsi to the oversight of the women's work in Chaocheng. During her
husband's lifetime she had been eager to learn all she could, and had
with difficulty mastered some of the Chinese characters. She often
expressed to him her desire to learn more, but he told her to remember
that the need for her to attend to the domestic side of the large
establishment at the Middle Eden was essential, and her life until his
death was largely a busy domestic one.
Not entirely, however, was this the case. When it became necessary to
open a Refuge for Women in the city of Hungtung, it was to his wife that
the Pastor looked for help, and she, there and in other places, did a
truly Christlike work. It was in the city of Hsugo that she accomplished
her most difficult task. It seemed as if the devil had a special power
there, and Pastor Hsi was almost in despair. Man after man, amongst them
some of his most trusted helpers, fell into sin, or were overcome by
difficulties in that place.
How to hold it at all was a problem. He solved it by sending his wife,
and alone she went to live six days' journey from the place where he
was, and for the first time the work in Hsugo was successful.
Almost immediately after her return home, Pastor Hsi developed the
illness from which he never recovered. He was at work on some Refuge
accounts when he felt unwell, and his spirit became conscious that the
messenger had come with a command "that he must prepare for a change of
life, for his Master was not willing that he should be so far from Him
any longer."
For nearly six months he lingered still, making preparations for the
journey ahead; he gave directions for the temporary closing of the
Refuges, recognising, doubtless, that the time while he was still on
earth, but unable to exercise control, might be an even more perilous
period than that which would follow his death. Mrs. Hsi herself fell
ill, and so seriously that her life was at one time despaired of. She
was barely able to stand the fatigue of the public funeral to which
hundreds gathered, yielding to their grief and sobbing as children who
had lost a parent. She herself was bowed with sorrow, for they had been
truly one in God's service, but strength was sent to her through a dream
in which she saw her husband, in glory beyond her imagining, and with
him the boy who had been their only son and had died in childhood. When
she desired to join them he rebuked her, saying: "Nay, but you must
return"; and obedient, she turned her back on the heavenly glory and
faced "the need of a world" of sin.
Mrs. Hsi was now to realise to the full the unfortunate position of a
childless widow. According to the custom of the country, the nearest
male relative on her husband's side should have been her protector, but
this duty devolved on a nephew who was an opium smoker, gambler, and
unregenerate heathen, and what should have been protection took the form
of persecution.
Elder Si, her brother-in-law, took over the control of the opium refuges
and the preparation of the medicine used. Days of prayer and fasting
always preceded the compounding of the drugs which were prepared in
Pastor Hsi's own home, and sent out in the form of pills. It was in
connection with the medicine that Mrs. Hsi's first difficulties
occurred. Large quantities of the various ingredients were stored at
Middle Eden, and the said nephew claimed possession of this stock,
declaring his intention of defending his rights by stabbing any one who
dared to touch it.
The time came when the drugs were required, and arrangements were
quietly made for the removal of the material to the home of Elder Si.
Before touching the goods, Mrs. Hsi called the young man to her, and
addressing him by name told him to fetch his knife, as she intended to
carry out her husband's wishes and supply the Refuges with the necessary
medicine without delay. Abashed, and half-ashamed by her self-confidence
and dignity, he muttered excuses and left her presence with an apology.
Nevertheless, it required all her wits and most of her time to prevent
this ne'er-do-weel from robbing her of all she possessed. Opium he would
eat, his gambling habits were strong, and how could she prevent him from
stealing that which, as one of the family, he could partially claim as
his own? The problem weighed upon her mind and she decided that division
of the land, each taking half the produce of the farm, was the only
solution. Even so she was not safe; there is a Chinese proverb which
says: "It is hard to deal with a thief who is one of the family," and
she proved it to be true. If she left home for a few days she would
return to find her door broken open, her clothes stolen, and her grain
visibly less. Although the Chinese law would offer her redress, she, by
reason of Christian principle and the example of her husband, never
appealed for help to an earthly tribunal, but daily prayed: "Lord, have
mercy on him, and change his heart."
In the early days of her faith, Mrs. Hsi had earnestly desired to unbind
her feet as witness that she was a Christian, but her husband, fearful
lest any should be misled to regard Christianity as conformity to
foreign customs rather than to a change of heart, was strongly opposed
to her doing so. He strictly forbade the binding of children's feet, but
saw no need for outward change of shoe in the foot already disfigured.
During his lifetime she yielded to his wish, but after his death refused
to let her mature judgment be held in abeyance by the dead hand of the
past, and did that which she felt was a testimony to many of her weaker
sisters. She unbound her feet and adopted a normal shoe and sock, and
many who had made her supposed attitude on the question an excuse, now
followed her example.
In order to give the Gospel to Hwochow Mrs. Hsi had parted with the most
valuable of her worldly goods, and when the call came for the second
great renunciation in response to the need for a woman worker in
Chaocheng, she was ready to move into that city, knowing as she did so,
that by leaving the family home she would finally close the way of
return. She well knew that no seal on the door would prevent her nephew
from stealing her goods, and her worst fears were realised when, a few
years later, on the occasion of the erection of a memorial stone to
Pastor Hsi, she revisited what had once been Middle Eden. All was gone,
and she was thankful to hurry away and leave the scene that could only
cause her pain.
On entering her new sphere of work, the missionaries at Hwochow assured
her that all the love and sympathy which she had promised Mr. Taylor
years before should be given to the first ladies who came to that city,
was now to be bestowed on her. The loyal affection of the Chinese Church
was hers, for she is regarded by them with an admiration and reverence
which they consider the right of so worthy a woman. She knew that she
could count upon a welcome, but it was a costly step.
City and village visiting, weekly classes for inquirers, and a Women's
Opium Refuge occupy Mrs. Hsi's time in Chaocheng. A sentence easy to
write, but only He to Whom the offering is made can know the cost at
which ladies, with the refinements of their class, give themselves to
the Christlike work of rescuing the opium sots who find their way to
the Refuge. Women of the lowest moral type at times appear, dirty,
coarse, and repulsive, and yet gladly and graciously they are received.
The lady in charge will sleep with them in order to comfort and pray
with them during the night watches, and no service is too menial for
these saintly women to render. The impression made is never forgotten by
those to whom they minister; and even if they return again to the ways
of sin, the vision of that gentle lady with her kind heart will remain,
a reflection, faint it may be, yet a reflection of the love of God, ever
ready to welcome the wanderer from the far country.
[Illustration: A WOMAN OPIUM SMOKER.
_To face page 82._]
THE STORY OF AN OPIUM SMOKER
"I know that, because of this money-grasping,
trade-compelling feature of England's dealings
with my country, millions of wretched people of
China have been made more miserable; stalwart men
and women have been made paupers, vagrants, and
the lowest of criminals; and hundreds of thousands
of the weaker ones of my race--mainly among the
women--have been sent to suicide graves. All this
because gold and territory are greater in the eyes
of the British Government, than the rights and
bodies of a weak people."--H. E. LI HUNG-CHANG.
"O my brothers and all my friends,
If you would hearken to good advice,
Avoid the poppy juice for ever and aye,
As it is a plague most noxious and vile!
It will eat out your minds,
It will rot away your vitals,
It will shrivel up your bowels,
It will make you walk as a leper,
It will cast you into prison,
It will send you to your death!"
H. E. LI HUNG-CHANG.