An episode in connection with the visit to China in 1878 of Dr. Jacob
Chamberlain, of the Arcot Mission, is described in a letter to Dr. Goyn
Talmage, as follows:
"Dear Goyn: I suppose I told you about the pleasant visit we had from Dr.
Chamberlain and family. The Doctor went with me to Chiang-chiu. While
there his carpet-bag was stolen out of the boat. We reported the case to a
military officer, and told him that we wanted the bag very much, and if he
could get it for us, we should make no trouble about having the thief
punished. In a few days after our return to Amoy the bag was sent to us
with all its contents complete. We bought an umbrella--a nice silk
one--and sent it up to the officer as a present. Perhaps you would like to
see a translation of the letter he sent in reply. It will illustrate
Chinese politeness. The letter reads as follows:
"'When the flocks of wild geese make their orderly flight,--the glorious
autumnal season deserving of laudation,--my thoughts wander far away to
you, Teacher Talmage, whose noble presence is worthy to be saluted with bow
profound, and whose dignified manners invite to close intimacy. Alas, that
our acquaintance should have been formed at this late day!--and that, too,
when, by wafting and by the plying of oars, having arrived at 'the stream
of the fragrant grain fields' (poetic name for the region of Chiang-chiu),
you met with the mishap of doggish thieves taking advantage of your want of
watchfulness! Truly, the blame of this rests on me. How, then, can I have
the hardihood to receive from you a present of value! A reward of demerit,
how can I endure it! During the three stages of life, (youth, middle age,
and old age,) I shall not be able to repay. It is only by inheritance (not
by my own merit) that I obtained the imperial favor of office. Thus, my
deficiency in the knowledge of official laws and governmental regulations
has subjected you to fear and anxiety. Shame on me in the extreme! shame
in the extreme! Only by the greatest stretch could I hope to meet with
forbearance, how then could you take trouble and manifest kindness by
sending a present. Writing cannot exhaust my words, and words can not
exhaust my meaning. It will be necessary to come and express my thanks in
person. Such are my supplications and such is my sense of obligation. May
there be golden peace to you, Teacher Talmage, and will your excellency
please bestow your brilliant glance on what I have written!'
"Is not that a specimen of humility? The stealing was because of his
neglect of duty, and his neglect of duty was because of inability, having
obtained his office through the merit of his father or grandfather. Of
course he kept the umbrella."
August 18, 1887, marked the fortieth anniversary of Dr. Talmage's arrival
in China. He said so little about it, however, that it was not known by
the friends of the other missions until the very day dawned.
The members of the English Presbyterian Mission--ladies and
gentlemen--immediately concluded to secure some suitable memento expressive
of their regard for Dr. Talmage and his work. A set of Macaulay's History
of England, bound in tree calf, and a finely bound copy of the latest
edition of the Royal Atlas, were sent for. In connection with the
presentation the following letter from Rev. W. McGregor was read:
"Amoy, April 3, 1888.
"Dear Dr. Talmage:
"When on the 18th of last August we learned that that day was the fortieth
anniversary of your arrival in China, the news came upon us unexpectedly.
We wished we had had more forethought and kept better count of the years,
so that we might have made more of the occasion. Each of us felt a desire
to present you with some token of our regard, and it seemed to us for many
reasons best that we should do so unitedly as members of the English
Presbyterian Mission in Amoy. We had at the time nothing suitable to offer
you, but we agreed on certain books to be sent for,--not as having any
special relations to the work in which you have been engaged, but as being
each a standard work of its kind. The books have now arrived, and I have
much pleasure in sending them to you as something that may be kept in your
family as a memorial of the day and a small token of our high esteem for
yourself personally and of the great value we attach to the work you have
done in the service of our common Lord.
"I am, yours truly,
"Wm. McGregor.
"On behalf of the members of the English Presbyterian Mission, Amoy."
Dr. Talmage was blessed with a most vigorous physical constitution, but
years of struggle with one of the complaints peculiar to the tropics,
finally compelled his retirement from the Mission field.
In the summer of 1889, Dr. and Mrs. Talmage embarked on the steamship
Arabia for the United States. Dr. Talmage turned his face to the old
home-village, Bound Brook, New Jersey, all the time cherishing the hope of
one more return to China and his laying down the shepherd's crook and robe
among the flock he had gathered from among the heathen. That hope was not
to be realized. Though he had left Amoy, yet he ceased not to do what he
could for the work there. Though compelled to lie on his back much of the
time, making writing difficult, he sent letters to the Chinese Monthly
Magazine and to not a few of the pastors, encouraging them in their labors.
Chiefly did he devote himself to the completion of a Character Colloquial
Dictionary in the Amoy language, intended to be of special service to the
Chinese Christian Church. It was intended to facilitate the study of the
Chinese Character, especially those Characters used in the Chinese Bible.
It was also calculated to promote the study of the Romanized Colloquial
Version of the Scriptures as well as other Romanized Colloquial literature.
In the midst of multiplied duties and many distractions he had wrought on
it for upwards of a score of years. He was eager to make it thoroughly
reliable. He spared no pains to that end. He always felt very much out of
patience with any one who would give to the public an inaccurate book; and
it was the desire to make his dictionary as accurate as possible that kept
him from having it published some years since.
He consulted Chinese literary men. He pored over Chinese dictionaries. He
brought it home with him, requiring, as he thought, still further revision,
and his last labors were the completion of it with the valued assistance of
the Rev. Daniel Rapalje, of the Amoy Mission. It is now going through the
press and will soon be at the service of missionaries and native brethren
who have eagerly awaited its appearance for many years.
His strength gradually failed and on August 19, 1892, in his seventy-third
year, he quietly breathed his last at Bound Brook, New Jersey.
The mortal tent loosened down and folded was laid away in the family plot
near Somerville, New Jersey. Most of his living, working years he had
spent far away from the ancestral home. It was God's will that his dust
should find a place next to the kindred dust of father and mother, sister
and brother, in the peaceful God's acre but a few miles from the old
homestead.
Dr. Talmage left a wife, two daughters and three sons, and a goodly circle
of relatives and friends to mourn his departure. Mrs. Talmage has since
returned to the Talmage Manse at Amoy and taken up afresh her chosen work
in educating the ill-privileged and ignorant women of China. The two
daughters, Miss Katharine and Miss Mary, are rendering most faithful and
efficient service, too, among China's mothers and daughters. Rev. David M.
Talmage fills a pastorate with the Reformed Church of Westwood, New Jersey.
Mr. John Talmage is a rice merchant at New Orleans, Louisiana. Rev. George
E. Talmage ministers to the Lord's people at Mott Haven, New York.
When the sun of Dr. Talmage's life set, it was to the Chinese brethren at
Amoy, like the setting of a great hope. The venerable teacher had left
them two years before, but he had not spoken a final farewell. They and he
looked for one more meeting on earth. He was known to the whole Chinese
Church in and about Amoy for a circuit of a hundred miles. He sat at its
cradle. He watched its growth until within two years of the day when it
went forth two bands united in one Synod with twenty organized,
self-supporting churches, nineteen native pastors, upwards of two thousand
communicants and six thousand adherents.
In the many breaks that occur in the missionary constituency, his life was
the one chain of continuity. The Churches had come to feel that whoever
failed them, they had Teacher Talmage still. His departure was like the
falling down of a venerable cathedral, leaving the broken and bleeding ivy
among the dust and debris. The Chinese Christians had leaned hard upon
him. They loved and revered him as a father. Since he passed away his
name has seldom been mentioned in any public assembly of the Church by any
of the Chinese brethren without the broken and trembling utterance that has
called forth from a listening congregation the silent, sympathetic tear.
Great and good man, fervent preacher, inspiring teacher, wise and
sympathetic counselor, generous friend, affectionate father,--farewell,
till the morning breaks and we meet in the City of Light. "And behold these
shall come from far, and lo, these from the north, and from the west, and
these from the land of Sinim."
"Oh then what raptured greetings,
What knitting severed friendships up,
Where partings are no more."