A CASKET OF JEWELS
BEING AN ACCOUNT OF THE GIRLS' SCHOOL
MRS. HSI has never replaced the ornaments she sold thirty years ago. Had
she heard the story told of Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi, I fancy her
thoughts would have found expression, when she lately visited us and saw
the many courtyards occupied by women and girls, in the famous words of
the Roman matron: "These are my jewels." The interest on that first
small gift is incalculable, and can never be tabulated in human
statistics. An attempt to record the many activities of the Hwochow
Mission station as it now stands, would be incomplete without some
detailed account of the Girls' School and Normal Training College.
The schools occupy four courts, and the ages of the pupils assembled
range from the smallest, who is only five, to young women of over
twenty. The Teaching Staff consists entirely of women, all of whom have
been trained here, and we shall perhaps get our best view of them at the
Teachers' Meeting held weekly in the Principal's room. A glance will
reveal the strong individualities here represented, and these twelve
young women cover as many varieties of temperament. Here all matters
connected with the school are mentioned, and it is striking to see the
various view-points taken. The loving nature which would lead, but never
drive, a rebellious child; the puritan, who will smile at no
infringement of the law, and whose stern eye has been even known to call
the Principal to order; the quick glance of the woman whose type reveals
an inevitable leader, the stern disciplinarian, and the easy-going,
good-natured woman--all are here, their diversity of gifts revealing the
unity of the One Spirit. Ling Ai and I alone know how much we have to
thank God for the friendliness of their mutual relationships. As to
myself, the loyalty, love, and unity of my band of fellow-workers is my
joy and crown.
Thrice already has the staff been increased by graduates qualifying from
the Normal Training Class, and our students have included some from the
borders of Mongolia--a journey of twenty days--from Shensi, Honan, and
Chihli provinces, in addition to those from all the China Inland Mission
schools in Central Shansi.
The education given in the school is arranged to cover the double course
required by Chinese and Western standards. The capacity for memorising
possessed by the Chinese is well known. A Chinese classical scholar's
memory is so trained for retentiveness that one who became a Christian
was able, with ease, to commit to memory five chapters of the New
Testament each day. Were it not for this capacity the mastery of Chinese
would be an impossibility, for a small child of ten years old, in
addition to ordinary general subjects as taught in an English school,
is required in a term of three months to learn to write and recognise
five hundred new Chinese characters, and by the time she has completed
her course can repeat by heart the greater part of the New Testament,
Psalms, and the classical works of Confucius and Mencius.
The Chinese are extraordinarily observant, and it is difficult to
mention anything which has escaped their notice. Nevertheless, the
classification of their observations in a scientific form of nature
study is an entirely new method to them, though this gift, once
developed, should cause China ultimately to rank high in the world of
science. The girls' restricted surroundings have yielded new joys since
they learned the delight of an observation beehive, the ramifications of
an anthill, and the notes and habits of the birds which visit us. A
thorough knowledge of the Scriptures is considered of primary
importance, and only girls who by Christian character give promise when
trained of being missionaries to their own people, are accepted as
Normal Students. During the course outlines of Old and New Testament are
studied, with detailed work of selected books. The students are required
to prepare their own analyses of various books, following the system of
Dr. Campbell Morgan's Analysed Bible.
The many classes which constitute the Elementary and Secondary schools
form the training-ground for the necessary practice in teaching, which
aims at being very thorough. The first lesson, given in the presence of
a critical audience, is no small ordeal to the student who after
elaborate preparation with diagram, blackboard, plasticine, or
sand-tray, will realise when the moment of free criticism comes, that in
her nervousness she has omitted to make any use of that on which she had
bestowed so much labour. Gradually, however, a new class emerges from
utter helplessness into an encouraging self-confidence and
resourcefulness.
[Illustration: SOME KINDERGARTEN SCHOLARS.
_To face page 236._]
A visitor to the school could see ten or twelve classes at various
stages on the high road of learning, each under the control of a capable
young Chinese woman, before the Kindergarten room is reached.
Here, with merry shouts, the sixteen babies are all keen to display the
glories of the dolls' house, and all anxious to sing their action songs,
show their plasticine modelling, paper-plaiting, and fancy drill; still
possessing the child's heart, and therefore fearless of criticism. Each
one covets the role of spokesman to relate the travelling adventures of
the doll, which spends but little time in the house and is constantly
undertaking long and difficult journeys. From this intrepid traveller
they have obtained most of their geographical information.
Long hours of work are the order of the day in a Chinese school, the
terms being short owing to the exigencies of the extreme climate. The
wheat harvest falls in June, and it is necessary that wives and
daughters should fulfil their obligations to the home during this busy
season.
The month of September brings the eagerly looked-for day when by cart,
donkey, litter, or even on foot, from north, south, east, and west,
the small travellers wend their way to Hwochow. The babies of the
Kindergarten not infrequently sit in the panniers, slung across a
donkey's back, or in baskets which a man will carry balanced on his
shoulder. Each party on arrival passes through the room where Mr. Gwo, a
capable deacon, sits at the receipt of custom, and thence to the
guest-room where a respectful bow is made to the missionaries and head
teacher.
The next visit is to the dispensary where Fragrant Incense, my head
assistant in this department, conducts a strict inquiry into personal,
family, and village health, and where newcomers are being vaccinated.
"I hear that your uncle has smallpox," may be the alarming accusation.
"It is not worth speaking of," answers Snowflake.
"Have you been to the house?"
"A few times," says the puzzled scholar, quite unable to trace the
connection between her uncle's attack of "heavenly blossoms" and our
unwillingness to admit her to the school court.
Once a girl has entered the school premises it is not to leave them
again for the period of the term, and all that is necessary to fulfil
the conditions of her life is supplied in this little world.
One of her first visits will be to the bank where an account is opened
in her name, it being one of the school rules, in order to avoid loss,
that no girl may keep her own money; any found on her person or in her
box being forfeited. Every Saturday afternoon eager young depositors can
be seen drawing sums varying from one to fifty cash for shopping
purposes, or with a view to the Sunday service collection. At the same
hour the school shop is open, under the care of a teacher with a senior
pupil as assistant.
"What do you stock?" a newcomer will ask the young saleswoman.
"Everything," is the bold answer, and indeed the few necessities of a
Chinese schoolgirl may all be supplied. Materials needed for shoemaking,
hemp for making string which is required in attaching soles to uppers,
pretty silks for embroidery, thimbles, needles, hair ornaments,
safety-pins, bright-coloured cord with which the Chinese girl holds
every hair in place at the top of a long thick plait, which is her mode
of head-dress; chalk, with which to whiten her calico socks, and the
acacia pod, the bean of which serves as soap. All the requisites in
stationery can be purchased, and it is amusing to see the Chinese
brush-pen being carefully tested by minute prospective buyers. A
newcomer will try in vain to get goods on credit, relying upon her
father's generosity at an early date. "No," is the answer; "come again
when you have the cash."
In another room the lending library is attracting large numbers. Here
again a teacher, helped by a pupil, is changing or renewing books. With
surprising skill any blot, stain, or torn page is discovered, and for
years the books will pass from hand to hand with but little damage done.
The range of literature is fairly comprehensive, extending from
world-wide favourites such as _Little Lord Fauntleroy_, _Christie's Old
Organ_, _Just So Stories_, and the _Wide Wide World_, which are eagerly
passed from hand to hand--for every one reads them several times--to
such works as _The History of the Dutch Republic_, _Biographies of Great
Men_, Works on Social Economy, and many books of reference. For the
translation of these, and many other works into the Chinese language, we
are indebted to the Christian Literature Society. At the sound of the
head teacher's gong, all business ceases, and the girls proceed to the
playground, where all enjoy swings, seesaw, and games.
Sunday opens with the delight of an extra hour in bed, and the wearing
of best clothes. Sunday school and Public Service are enjoyed even by
the smallest, and precede the happy hour when parents and near relatives
may see the scholars. At its conclusion all are hungry for the dinner,
which, though later than usual, proves well worth waiting for,
consisting as it does of the popular white bread and vegetables. The
afternoon closes with a service of praise.
Three times a day the children assemble in the large dining-hall for
meals. Over one thousand pounds of flour are used each week, and about
one hundred pounds of vegetables, in the preparation of the food. The
bread is steamed and eaten hot, and the midday meal generally consists
of flour and water, made into a paste, rolled out very thin, and cut
into long strips which are boiled for a few minutes, and when cooked
resemble macaroni. If a man's greatness consists in the small number of
his needs, the Chinaman must rank high. A bowl and pair of chop-sticks
is the sum total of the table requirements of each girl; a cotton wadded
quilt and a small, bran-stuffed pillow comprise her bedding, and a
cotton handkerchief will hold her neatly folded wardrobe. A child
usually owns no toy, and many have never thought of an organised
youthful festivity until they spend their first Christmas Day in school.
With bated breath they hear from their elders of the joys in store, and
watch secret preparations for presents to class teachers and
missionaries. Excitement reaches its highest point when, with silent
footstep, they creep into our courtyard in the winter dawn to sing
Christmas carols, and in place of the temple gongs and weird music of
heathen rites, the air rings with joyful strains as class after class
takes up the refrain: "Oh come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!" The
reputation of the evening illumination and Christmas-tree is so
widespread, that two small newcomers were heard encouraging each other,
eight months before this event, to endure with patience in hopes of
seeing the glorious sight, and becoming the possessors of a threepenny
doll.
Nearly five hundred girls have already passed through the school, and
every few years we have made an attempt to gather them together for an
informal conference; unfortunately, the distances are so great, and
family claims so many, that only a very small proportion have been able
to attend, and we have supplemented these by instituting an Old Girls'
Guild which includes a prayer union whose members receive a quarterly
circular letter.
The postal system does not reach most of the villages, so the letters
must be entrusted to reliable messengers who may be going that way, and
who are requested by words on the envelope: "Be so kind as to trouble
yourself with this letter and deliver it into the hand of the Mother of
Heavenly Bundle." The young woman whose identity is thus hinted at is
but one of perhaps twenty, whose offspring bear this name in the one
village. Below are the mystic words: "The name is presented inside." On
the left side of the envelope is the urgent command: "Quick as fire!
Quick as fire!" Thus nothing is omitted but the name of the addressee.
From early days an effort has been made to impress upon the students
that a Christian community is only justified in so far as it partakes of
the nature of a centrifugal force, extending its influence in every
direction. The interests of students have been much enlarged by the
residence in their midst of girls from other provinces, who are followed
with prayerful interest when they leave us to enter their varied spheres
of work. Beyond this, the scholar's widened sympathies find their
expression in the zeal with which they follow missionary activity in
other lands. Most earnest thought is given to the choice of destination
of the sums reported in hand by the missionary treasurer. The
Evangelical Union of South America, British and Foreign Bible Society,
Pandita Ramabai, and Dr. Zwemer in Cairo have all received
contributions, and latterly money has been sent to supply Testaments for
the soldiers on active service. Nevertheless, the consensus of general
opinion is, that the Moslem situation is at present so critical that all
available funds must go to meet that need. Small indeed the sums may
appear on a subscription list, but few gifts are, I think, more
thoughtfully given and more prayerfully followed.
The money is contributed in various ways, the two most important being
the school working party and the takings of the Debating Society, where
debates and lectures are always sure of a full house.
The instinct for personal aggressive Christian work finds an outlet in
the following ways: The annual fairs and idol processions held in the
town bring large crowds of women visitors, and afford a great
opportunity for the senior scholars to take their part in preaching, as
also the evangelistic service held each week for Dispensary patients.
The Sunday School classes of small children are taught by elder girls,
and the annual Summer Campaign has provided scope for all those who have
a will to work. At the close of the spring term, every girl who so
desires is entrusted with a printed Course of Study, suitable for the
elementary instruction of village women. At Sunday and weekday classes
these are taught by the elder scholars of the village, even the younger
children being able to take their part in helping the women to memorise
a verse.
* * * * *
In order to secure the highest spiritual and mental efficiency amongst
those who, by the nature of their calling, are constantly responding to
the claims made upon them, we have instituted a Teachers' Summer School,
to which are invited all former students now holding posts as teachers
in Mission Schools. The month of August is devoted to this delightful
gathering when, on the footing of fellow-workers, free from the
restrictions attendant on school discipline, we meet for Bible and
secular study. The curriculum of the coming term is discussed,
difficulties considered, some new educational subject is studied, and an
invaluable atmosphere is created.
In the silence of the moments of spiritual communion, lives are
dedicated afresh to the service of God; by contemplation of the Word,
fresh ideals are apprehended and more of the wisdom that winneth souls
is learned, by which a band of workers is equipped anew for any manner
of service, wholly at His command. The various activities recorded above
each contribute a part to the upbuilding of character and the training
of those who will be the future missionaries, mothers, and teachers of
their people.
We desire that, rejoicing in the abundance of life which Christ came to
bestow, they may by sacrificial service gather around them many who will
say: "Happy the people whose God is the Lord!"
THE TREASURE HOUSE
"Who ranks higher than others in the Kingdom of
the Heavens?"
"In solemn truth I tell you that unless you turn
and become like little children you will in no
case be admitted into the Kingdom of the Heavens."
"Whoever shall occasion the fall of one of these
little ones who believe in me, it would be better
for him to have a millstone hung round his neck
and be drowned in the depths of the sea."
"Their angels in heaven have continual access to
my Father in heaven."
The words of the Lord Jesus Christ.
"The hope of the glory of God includes the
responsibility of rejoicing. If we really have the
anointed vision which sees through the travail to
the triumph, and is perfectly assured of the
ultimate triumph of God, it is our duty in the
midst of the travail to rejoice evermore, to cheer
the battle by song, and shorten the marches by
music."--Dr. G. CAMPBELL MORGAN.