In casting about for a location for the Anglo-Chinese college, the choice

narrowed down so that it lay between Canton, Nanking, Shanghai, and

Tientsin. Chefoo was mentioned, but not seriously considered, yet even

the possibility of location there, although remote, was so important a

matter to the Shantung College that it compelled the men at the head

of that institution to be on the alert so long as the question was

undetermined. By and by Dr. Happer became disposed to turn over the

management of his projected college to some other person, and he wrote to

Dr. Mateer, sounding him as to the vacancy, should it occur. The scheme

at that time seemed to be to locate the new institution at Shanghai, and

to unite with it the Shantung College; and in a long letter in response,

written January 9, 1890, Dr. Mateer went very candidly over the entire

situation. Among other things he said:

It will be necessary, however, to settle the policy of the

college, and also its headship, before making any definite

move. Whoever undertakes to make English and self-support

prominent features, and then aims at a Christian college, has,

as things are at present in China, a difficult contract on

his hands. I for one do not feel called to embark in such an

enterprise, and my name may as well be counted out.... Nor can

the school at Tengchow be moved away from Shantung. We might

go, and the apparatus might be moved; but not the pupils. It

is futile to talk of them or any considerable number of them

coming to Shanghai; nor will pupils go from central China north

to be educated save in exceptional cases. The distance and the

expense are both too great. Each section of China must have its

own schools.

Not long afterward the situation was such that Dr. Mateer and Mr. Hayes

addressed to the trustees of the endowment a paper in which a suggestion

was made that under certain conditions the fund raised by Dr. Happer

should be turned over to the Shantung College. In that paper there was

a frank statement of their attitude as to English. They were entirely

willing to introduce that language, but only under such conditions that

it could not seriously alter the character and work of the institution.

The paper is too long for introduction here. It will suffice to quote

from a letter sent by Dr. Mateer at the same time to one of the

secretaries of the Board, and dated February 9, 1891:

There are one or two things I want to say in a less formal way.

One is that in case our proposition in regard to English is not

satisfactory, you will take care that the proposed school is

not located in Chefoo as a rival of the college in Tengchow. It

would be nothing short of suicidal for the Board to allow such

a proceeding, and would be a great wrong, both to myself and

to Mr. Hayes. We do not propose to engage in such a contest,

but would at once resign, and seek some other sphere of labor.

Again, I wish to call your attention to what is the real

inwardness of our plan for English; namely, to teach it in such

a way, and to such parties only, as will insure its being used

in literary and scientific lines. We will not teach English

merely to anyone, nor teach it to anyone who wants merely

English. We will teach it to men, not to boys. Lastly, Mr.

Hayes and I have for several years had in mind the idea of a

post-graduate course in applied science, and have been waiting

for my visit home to push it forward; and even if the present

endowment scheme fails, we will still feel like pushing it, and

introducing some English as already indicated.

Nothing came of the suggestion that the money should be turned over to

the Shantung institution.

Dr. Mateer still continued to help in the college at Tengchow, as he had

time and opportunity. Early in the “nineties,” and after the movement

just considered had failed to materialize, he solicited from the Board

the privilege of seeking to raise an endowment fund, but at that time he

was unable to secure their consent. At the beginning of 1900 the Board

changed their attitude, and authorized an effort to be made to secure

contributions for this purpose. Of course, in order to be successful in

this undertaking, a satisfactory plan for the control of the college was

a necessity; and as to this Dr. Mateer was consulted, and he gave his

opinions freely. His preference was expressed for a charter giving the

endowment a separate legal status, but providing that the members of the

Board of Foreign Missions, acting in this distinct capacity, should be

the trustees. The general oversight of the institution he thought should

be assigned to a “Field Board of Directors,” composed of members of the

Shantung Mission. This was not a scheme that entirely satisfied him. The

specter, on the one hand, of a diversion of the college into a school for

teaching English, and, on the other, of making it a theological seminary,

would not altogether down; but in the ultimate appeal to the members of

the Board of Foreign Missions he recognized a safeguard that was not

likely to prove inadequate. When he was on furlough in 1903, he spent

a considerable part of his time in soliciting permanent funds for the

college, then already removed to its present location; but he was unable

to secure much aid. Ada was with him; and she says of his experience in

this work, “He was so accustomed to success in whatever he undertook that

it was hard for him to bear the indifference of the rich to what seemed

to him so important.”

The transfer of the college to another location was a question that

would not permanently rest. So long as it was whether it should go from

Tengchow to Chefoo, or be swallowed up in another more pretentious

institution at Shanghai, and not yet in existence, it was comparatively

easy to silence the guns of those who talked removal. But at the opening

of the twentieth century, even out there in north China, important

changes indirectly affecting this problem had occurred. The missions had

been strengthened by a number of new men, who came fresh from the rush of

affairs in the United States, and eager to put their force into the work

in China in such a way that it would tell the most. Even China itself

was beginning to awake from the torpor of ages. In Shantung the Germans

were building railroads, one of them right through the heart of the

province, on by way of Wei Hsien to the capital, and from that point to

be afterward connected with Tientsin and Peking. It is not strange that,

under the new conditions, the young members of the mission especially

should desire to place the college which loomed up so largely and

effectually in the work to which they had consecrated their lives where

it could be in closer touch with the swarming millions of the land and

with the movements of the new times. February 26, 1901, Dr. Mateer wrote

to the Board:

At a meeting of the Shantung Mission it was voted to remove the

Tengchow College to Wei Hsien, and then give up the Tengchow

station. Being at Shanghai, engaged in the translation work,

I was not able to be present at the mission meeting, and it

seems incumbent on me to say something on a matter of so much

importance, and that concerns me so much.... First, with

reference to the college. The major part of my life has been

given to building up the Tengchow College, and, of course, I

feel a deep interest in its future. As you can easily imagine,

I am naturally loath to see it moved from the place where

Providence placed it; and to see all the toil and thought given

to fitting up the buildings, with heating, lighting, and the

other appliances go for nothing; as also the loss of the very

considerable sums of money I have myself invested in it. The

Providence which placed the college in Tengchow should not be

lightly ignored, nor the natural advantages which Tengchow

affords be counted for nothing. It is not difficult to make out

a strong case for Wei Hsien, and I am not disposed to dispute

its advantages, except it be to question the validity of the

assumption that a busy commercial center is necessarily the

best place to locate a college. In view of the whole question,

it seems to me that unless an adequate endowment can be

secured—one which will put the college on a new basis—it will

not pay the Board to make the sacrifice involved in moving the

college to Wei Hsien.... However, I would rather go to Wei

Hsien than be opposed strongly at Tengchow.

On that part of his contention he lost; and it would be useless now to

try to ascertain the respective merits of the two sides to that question.

The second part of the letter just cited discussed the abandonment of

Tengchow as a mission station. The plan of those who took the affirmative

of this debate was to leave that city to the Southern Baptists, who

almost forty years before had preceded the Presbyterians a few weeks

in a feeble occupation, but who had been entirely overshadowed by the

development of the college. For the retention of the station Dr. Mateer

pleaded with his utmost fervor and eloquence. Though the decision

remained in uncertainty while he lived, and the uncertainty gave him

much anxiety, large gifts, coming since, from a consecrated layman, have

rendered the retention of the Tengchow station secure. The wisdom of the

decision is vindicated by present conditions. At the close of 1909 the

station reported a city church with three hundred members; a Sabbath

school which sometimes numbers five hundred pupils; thirty out-stations

with about five hundred members; twenty-four primary schools, giving

instruction to three hundred and sixteen boys and girls, and taught by

graduates of the higher schools of the station; a girls’ high school with

an average enrollment of forty-six pupils, and for the year then closing

having twelve graduates, nearly all of whom became teachers; a boys’ high

school with an attendance of forty, and sending up a number of graduates

to the college at Wei Hsien or to other advanced institutions, and having

a normal department with a model primary department; and also a helpers’

summer school; besides other machinery for reaching with the gospel the

three millions of people gathered in the neighborhood of Tengchow. Nor

has the work of the Presbyterians in the least hampered that of the

Southern Baptists.

The actual removal of the college was not effected until the autumn of

1904. In the interval between the time when it was determined to take

this step and when it was actually accomplished a number of important

things affecting the course of Dr. Mateer’s life occurred. Mr. Hayes, as

elsewhere stated, resigned the presidency; and Rev. Paul D. Bergen, who

had come out to the mission in 1883, was chosen in his place. Dr. Mateer

had been so closely associated with Mr. Hayes, and had such complete

confidence in him, that the resignation came almost like a personal

bereavement; but he rose nobly out of the depths, and wrote home to the

Board: “Mr. Bergen is clearly the best man that our missions in Shantung

afford for the place. He is very popular with the Chinese, which is much

in his favor. The time is as auspicious as it is important. Educational

affairs are taking a great boom, and it looks as if Shantung was going to

lead the van. If it is properly supported the college should do a great

work.” During the interval here covered Dr. Mateer came to the United

States on his third and last furlough, reaching China again in the autumn

of 1903, and bringing with him some substantial fruits of his efforts for

the college.

On his arrival he was confronted by another great problem as to the

institution. A combination had already been almost effected by the

American Presbyterians and the English Baptists in Shantung for a

union in the work of higher education in the province. The matter had

already gone so far that, although he feared that the scheme would

bring about such radical changes as to endanger the real usefulness

of the institution, yet he made no serious opposition, and it went

steadily forward to consummation. Under the plan adopted the Shantung

Christian University was established; and provision was made for a

joint maintenance of three distinct colleges in it, each at a different

location, chosen because of mission and other conditions—a college of

arts and science at Wei Hsien, a theological college at Tsingchow fu, and

a medical college at Tsinan fu. The plan also provides for a university

council, to which is committed the general control of the institution,

subject, of course, to certain fundamental regulations; and of this body

Dr. Mateer was one of the original members. The first meeting was held

at Tsingchow fu near the end of 1903. Writing to one of the secretaries

of the Board of Missions concerning this, he said: “All were present.

Our meeting was quite harmonious. We elected professors and discussed

and drew out some general principles relating to the curriculum and

the general management. Theoretically things seem quite promising; the

difficulty will come in practical administration. The buildings at Wei

Hsien are all up to the first floor. There should be no difficulty in

getting all ready by next autumn, at which time the college ought by all

means to be moved.” Early the next summer he wrote: “I started to Wei

Hsien about a month ago, overland. I spent over two weeks taking down

and packing my goods, and so forth, including workshop, boiler, engine,

dynamo, and so forth. I found it quite a serious undertaking to get

all my miscellaneous goods packed up, ready for shipment on boats to

Wei Hsien.... I remained in Wei Hsien twenty-four days, unpacking my

effects, getting my workshop in order, and planning for the heating and

lighting outfit.” In the same letter he expressed himself as follows

concerning the theological college at Tsingchow fu: “It was certainly

understood at the meeting of the directors last winter that it was to be

much more than a theological seminary in the strict sense of the word. It

was understood, in fact, that it would have two departments,—a training

school and a theological seminary proper. In this way only can the full

measure of our needs be supplied.... With this organization it is not

unlikely that the school at Tsingchow fu will be larger than the college

at Wei Hsien.”

This narrative as to Dr. Mateer and the Shantung College is now

approaching its close, and most readers probably will prefer that, so

far as practicable, the remainder of it shall be told in his own words.

December 21, 1904, he wrote to a friend: “The college is now fully moved

to Wei Hsien, and has in it about a hundred and twenty students. The new

buildings are quite fine,—much superior to those we had in Tengchow. Mrs.

Mateer and I have moved to Wei Hsien to live and will make this our home.

We are living in the same house with my brother Robert, making all one

family. This arrangement suits us very well. I am not teaching in the

college, but I would not feel at home if I were away from it. I hope it

has a great future.” In his report for himself and wife, for the year

1904-05, he says: “The greater part of the autumn was spent in overseeing

the building and fitting up of a workshop, and in superintending the

setting up of a new thirty-two horse-power steam boiler for heating and

lighting the college, together with a system of steam piping for the

same; also the setting up of engine and dynamo and wiring the college

for electric lights. I also set up a windmill and pump and tank, with

pipes for supplying the college and several dwelling houses with water.

I also built for myself and Mrs. Mateer a seven-kien house in Chinese

style, affording a study, bedroom, storeroom, box room, and coal room.”

This little, narrow, one-story house constituted their home during the

rest of his life in Wei Hsien, though they still look their meals with

the other family. They sometimes called this house “the Borderland,” for

only a narrow path separated them from the small foreign cemetery at the

extreme corner of the compound. In November, 1905, he wrote to one of the

secretaries of the Board: “The college is, of course, delighted at the

prospect of a Science Hall. I take some credit for having prepared the

way for this gift from Mr. Converse.” In his report for the year 1906 he

said: “During the early part of the winter I spent considerable time,

planning, estimating, and ordering supplies for the lighting, heating,

and water supply of the new Science Hall at Wei Hsien.”

We are at length face to face with the last stage in the active

connection of Dr. Mateer with the college. February 26, 1907, he wrote to

one of the secretaries of the Board of Missions:

I returned three days ago from the meeting of the College

Directors at Tsingchow fu. The meeting was prolonged and a very

important one. A number of important and embarrassing questions

were before us.... You will hear from others, of course, and

from the minutes, that Dr. Bergen resigned the presidency of

the college, and that in our inability to find a successor

I was asked to take the position temporarily, until other

arrangements could be made, and Dr. Bergen was asked to remain

as a professor, which he agreed to do. This provided for the

teaching, and makes it possible for me to take the presidency

without doing much teaching, which I could not do under present

conditions.

During the period of his service in this capacity the college not only

did well in its regular work; it also made some important advances. The

total attendance was one hundred and eighty-one, and a class of ten was

graduated at commencement. At Tengchow he had always valued the literary

societies very highly, and these now received a fresh impetus. Several

rooms of the new Science Hall were brought into use; two additional rows

of dormitories were built, one for college and personal teachers and

workmen, and one for students; not to mention lesser matters.

Nevertheless he found his official position in certain ways very

uncomfortable. Some of the reasons of this were casual to the internal

administration, and cannot now be appreciated by outsiders, and are not

worth airing here. Others were of a more permanent nature, and had to do

with the future conduct and character of the institution. The question

of English had been for a while hushed to sleep; but it was now awake

again, and asserted itself with new vigor. In a letter dated December 19,

1907, he said: “I am strongly in favor of an English School, preferably

at Tsinan fu, but I am opposed to English in the college. It would very

soon destroy the high grade of scholarship hitherto maintained, and

direct the whole output of the college into secular lines.” His fear was

that if English were introduced the graduates of the institution would

be diverted from the ministry and from the great work of evangelizing

the people to commercial pursuits, and that it would become a training

school of compradors and clerks. Later the intensity of his opposition

to the introduction of English was considerably modified, because of the

advantage which he perceived to be enjoyed in the large union meetings,

by such of the Chinese as knew this language in addition to their own.

He saw, too, that with the change of times a knowledge of English had

come to be recognized as an essential in the new learning, as a bond of

unity between different parts of China, and as a means of contact with

the outside world. Looking at the chief danger as past, he expressly

desired that the theologues should be taught English. At any rate he had

been contending for a cause that was evidently lost. At this writing the

curriculum of the college offers five hours in English as an optional

study for every term of the four required years; and also of the fifth

year. Dr. Mateer, besides, was not fully in sympathy with a movement that

was then making to secure a large gift from the “General Education Fund”

for the endowment of the institution. In the letter just quoted he says:

“The college should be so administered by its president and faculty as

to send some men into the ministry, or it fails of its chief object. I

am in favor of stimulating a natural growth, but not such a rapid and

abnormal growth as will dechristianize it. I do not believe in the sudden

and rapid enlargement of the plant beyond the need at the time. It would

rapidly secularize the college and divert it entirely from its proper

ideal and work.” These questions were too practical, and touched the

vitals of the institution too deeply, to be ignored by earnest friends

on either side. Some things as to the situation are so transparent that

they can be recognized by any person who looks at it from not too close

a point of view. The entire merits of the argument were in no case

wholly on one side; and as a consequence it is not surprising that wise

and good men differed as they did; and the only decisive test is actual

trial of the changes advocated by the younger men. It is also perfectly

plain that in this affair we have only another instance of a state of

things so often recurring; that is, of a man who has done a great work,

putting into it a long life of toil and self-sacrifice, and bringing it

at length to a point where he must decrease and it must increase; and

where in the very nature of the case it must be turned over to younger

hands, to be guided as they see its needs in the light of the dawning

day. He can scarcely any longer be the best judge of what ought to be

done; but even if he were, the management must be left for good or ill to

them. That evidently is the fight in which Dr. Mateer came ultimately to

see this matter. He courageously faced the inevitable. In this, as in all

other cases, no personal animosity was harbored by him toward anyone who

differed from him.

October 27, 1907, he wrote to an associate on the Mandarin Revision

Committee: “I have now dissolved myself from the management of the

college, and shall have very little to do with it in the future. It

has cost me a great deal to do it, but it is best it should be so. I

am now free from any cares or responsibility in educational matters.”

In a letter to Secretary Brown, dated December 21, 1907, he said: “In

view of the circumstances I thought it best to resign at once, and

unconditionally, both the presidency and my office as director. I have

no ambition to be president, and in fact was only there temporarily

until another man should be chosen. I did not wish to be a director

when I could not conscientiously carry out the ideas and policy of a

majority of the mission. It was no small trial, I assure you, to resign

all connection with the college, after spending the major part of my

missionary life working for it. It did, in fact, seriously affect my

health for several weeks. I cannot stand such strains as I once did.”

One of the striking incidents of his funeral service at Tsingtao was

the reading of the statistics of the graduates of the Tengchow College,

including the students who came with the college to Wei Hsien. These

have since been carefully revised and are as follows: Total receiving

diplomas, 205; teachers in government schools, 38; teachers in church

schools, 68; pastors, 17; evangelists, 16; literary work, 10; in

business, 9; physicians, 7; post-office service, 4; railroad service,

2; Y. M. C. A. service, 2; customs service, 1; business clerks, 2;

secretaries, 1; at their homes, 6; deceased, 22. These graduates are

scattered among thirteen denominations, and one hundred schools, and in

sixteen provinces of China. About two hundred more who were students at

Tengchow did not complete the course of studies.

The institution since its removal has continued steadily to go forward.

The large endowment that was both sought and feared has not yet been

realized, and consequently the effect of such a gift has not been tested

by experience; but other proposed changes have been made. A pamphlet

published in 1910 reports for the college of arts and sciences an

enrollment of three hundred and six students, and in the academy, eighty.

The class which graduates numbers seventeen, all of whom are Christians.

Down to that year there had been at Wei Hsien among the graduates no

candidates for the ministry, but during 1910, under the ministration of

a Chinese pastor, a quiet but mighty religious awakening pervaded the

institution, and one outcome has been a vast increase in the number of

candidates for the ministry or other evangelistic work. The pamphlet

already quoted speaks of more than one hundred of the college students

who have decided to offer themselves for this work. It is appropriately

added that “such a movement as this amongst our students inspires us with

almost a feeling of awe.... Our faith had never reached the conception

of such a number as the above simultaneously making a decision.” It has

recently been decided to bring all the departments of the university to

Tsinan fu, the provincial capital.

In the theological college at Tsingchow fu, according to the last report,

there were eleven students in the regular theological department and one

hundred and twenty-eight in the normal school. In the medical college

at Tsinan fu there were thirteen young men. The aggregate for the whole

university rises to five hundred and thirty-eight. On the Presbyterian

side this all began with those six little boys, in the old Kwan Yin

temple, in the autumn of 1864, at Tengchow. To-day it is a university,

and is second to no higher institution of learning in China.

It is said that Dr. Mateer never led in prayer, either public or private,

that he did not most earnestly ask that the Lord would raise up Chinese

Christian men, who as leaders would bring many to Christ. His prayers

during the forty-five years of his missionary life are receiving a

wonderful answer at Wei Hsien and at Tsingchow fu.

XII

WITH APPARATUS AND MACHINERY

“The things most likely to be needed in China, are first,

electrical engineering, especially telegraphy, and second,

civil engineering, especially surveying and laying out of

railroads. Special preparation in one or both of these

things would be very valuable. But what is more necessary

for immediate use, and as a preliminary to these things, is

a practical knowledge of scientific apparatus,—how to make

and how to use it. I have myself picked it up from books,

without any instructor, but only at a great expense of time and

labor.”—LETTER TO A PROSPECTIVE TEACHER, October 29, 1888.

Whenever a group of the early acquaintances of Dr. Mateer talked together

about him, one thing certain to be mentioned was his achievements with

apparatus and machinery, both with the making and with the using of

them. Out in China his reputation for this was so great that it at

times came near to being a burden to him. We have already seen that

the temporary superintendence of the mission press at Shanghai was

thrust upon him, contrary to his own preference, and because, as he

expressed it in a letter at that time, the men in control considered

him a “Jack-of-all-trades,” able to do anything at which he might be

put. If they then did really think of him as no more than a man who

with machinery could do a great many things without performing any of

them thoroughly well, they did him a great injustice, which their

subsequent knowledge amply corrected. As the years went by, and in this

sphere of his multifarious activity he rose to larger and more difficult

achievements, his fame as to this spread far and wide among both natives

and foreigners. At no time, however, did he permit his efficiency in this

line to loom up in such a form or in such a degree as to seem even to

others to put his distinctively missionary labors into the background.

It is a significant fact that in the eulogiums pronounced on him at his

death this feature of his character and work is seldom even mentioned. He

was—first, last, and all the time—a man whose life and whose abilities

were so completely and so manifestly consecrated to the evangelization

of the Chinese that when those who knew him best looked back over the

finished whole, his remarkable achievements with apparatus and machinery

scarcely arrested their attention.

Dr. Mateer himself regarded his efficiency in this sphere as due in

some measure to native endowment. He had an inborn taste and ability

for that sort of work; and stories have come down concerning certain

very early manifestations of this characteristic. It is related that

when he was a little boy he was suffering loss through the raids made by

the woodpeckers on a cherry tree laden with luscious fruit. He pondered

the situation carefully, and then set up a pole, close by, with a nice

lodging place for a bird at the top, and armed himself with a mallet down

at the foot. The woodpecker would grab a cherry, and immediately fly

to the pole in order to eat it; but a sharp blow with the mallet would

bring him from his perch to the ground. So the boy saved his cherries.

It is also related of him that when a mere boy he had a friendly

dispute with his father over the question whether a sucking pig had the

homing instinct. He maintained that it would return to its mother under

conditions that proved the affirmative; and in order to satisfy himself,

he placed a pig in a sack, and took it a long way from its familiar

haunts, and turned it loose. It had been agreed that the result was to

decide the ownership. To his delight, immediately the pig started on a

bee line for home, and never gave up the race until it was back in its

old place.

For the development and application of this natural gift he received

almost no help from others. Probably if that old workbench in the barn

at the “Hermitage” could speak, it might tell something as to oversight

and guidance of the boy by his father, in making and repairing traps

and tools for use in recreation and in work; but beyond this he had no

instruction. In his day at college a chemical or physical laboratory was

supposed to be exclusively for the professor to prepare his experiments;

the student was expected only to be a spectator in the classroom when

the experiments were shown. The man who occupied the chair of natural

philosophy at Jefferson when we were there had a gift for supplementing

his scanty outfit of apparatus with the products of his own skill and

labor, and if the student Mateer had found his way down into the

subterranean regions where these were wrought, he and Professor Jones

would have rejoiced together in sympathetic collaboration; but no such

unheard-of violation of ancient custom occurred. In the academy at Beaver

he first turned his hand to making a few pieces of apparatus which he

craved as helps in teaching. But it was not until he reached China that

this field for his talent opened before him, and continued to enlarge

all the rest of his life. In fact, even when he was absent from China,

on his furloughs, he did not get away from his work with apparatus and

machinery. During one of his earlier furloughs, while he was looking up

everything that could be helpful to his Chinese boys, he spent some time

in the Baldwin Locomotive Works, by special permission, in studying the

construction of locomotives, so that he might be able to make a model of

one on his return to China. In connection with this he showed such an

acquaintance with the structure of these engines that he could scarcely

convince some of the skilled mechanics that he had not been trained to

the business. Dr. Corbett wrote concerning him, after his death: “It was

my privilege to meet him at the World’s Fair at Chicago in 1893. He had

spent nearly a month there examining minutely many things of special

interest to him. As my time was limited he kindly became my guide for

a while, and gave me the benefit of his observations. We first visited

the department of electricity, which he had carefully studied in all its

various applications. We next went to Machinery Hall, where he had spent

days making drawings, measurements, and so forth, of the most complex

machinery. He seemed to understand everything as though this had been

the work of his life.” Dr. Hayes says: “Dr. Mateer’s ability to meet

exigencies was well shown a few years ago in Wei Hsien, when suddenly the

large dynamo failed to produce a current. He unwound the machine until he

located the fault, reinsulated the wire and rewound the coil; after which

the machine furnished its current as usual.... Electrotyping was hardly

in general use in the west until he secured an outfit of tools and taught

a class of native artisans. When electric fans came in vogue he purchased

a small one as a model and proceeded to make another.”

The time came when Dr. Mateer had a shop equipped to do a great variety

of work; and though not on a large scale, yet big enough to meet his

needs. Already in 1886 in a letter to his brother William he said: “In

order to repair apparatus, and in order to make many simpler articles,

I have fitted up quite a complete workshop, entirely at my own expense.

I have invested in the shop, in tools and materials quite one thousand

dollars. I keep a workman at my own cost, whom I have trained so that he

can do most ordinary kinds of work. There are a great many small articles

we can make here more cheaply than we can buy them. There are, however,

many articles we cannot make, especially those that involve glass or the

use of special machinery, or special skill.” That shop continued to

grow, and the variety of its output increased. Writing of this, Mrs. Ada

Mateer says:

So soon as possible in addition to the room used for carpenter

work, a side house was devoted to the purposes of a shop, which

grew in completeness as time went on. An upper story was used

for storing finished apparatus, for a painting, varnishing,

and drying room. The lower story was the shop proper, with

well, smithy, a long workroom, private room for chemicals and

so forth. Every conceivable amount of space in the shop—above,

around, and below—was occupied with materials, on boards hung

from above, in cases made of old boxes lining the walls, and

on the floor. The shop contained not only materials for things

that are to be, but became also a tomb of things that were, but

are not, as well as a hospital for things disabled. What old

histories were unearthed when, after forty years, this shop had

to be moved to Wei Hsien!

Up there it was perpetuated, the main difference consisting in larger and

better quarters, with some improved conveniences. His wife continues:

For every machine bought, the market was canvassed by

correspondence, and the best selected. Especially was this

true with reference to any tools or machinery used in

the construction of apparatus,—as machines for turning,

blacksmithing, plumbing, screw-cutting, burnishing,

electroplating, casting, and so forth. His shop was thoroughly

fitted with all appliances for the making of apparatus, or

electric or steam outfitting, so that he was ready to do

anything, from setting up a windmill or water system, or

installing an engine and dynamo, to brazing broken spectacle

frames or repairing a bicycle.

So far as it was practicable he turned over the actual mechanical labor

to Chinese workmen,—a skilled foreman and apprentices under the foreman’s

direction.

Why, though a missionary, did he employ so considerable a part of his

time in this way? Especially at the outset of his missionary career

stern necessity to meet his own needs and those of his associates drove

him to this line of work. Had he been set down in China at some such

place as Shanghai, where foreign articles could be purchased, very

likely his mechanical gifts would have remained largely dormant. But at

Tengchow he helped to make a stove out of odds and ends, because one

was indispensable in order to keep warm. For the same sort of reason he

extracted teeth and made false sets, cobbled shoes, and acted as master

workman of all the building trades in the erection of the “new home.”

Sometimes he was thus compelled to do things which seemed strange even to

him. When, in 1865, little Katie Mills died, he had to act the part of

undertaker. He said:

It fell to me to make the coffin, which I did as well as I

could from memory. I could not tell the carpenter, and I

had to do the work myself. He did the rough work, and I did

the cutting and fitting. I had to go entirely by my eye,

and I found it no easy matter to get it in every respect in

proportion. We covered it with black velvet outside, and

inside with white linen. It looked very well when finished,

and pleased Mr. and Mrs. Mills very much. It is a work I never

thought of doing.

At one point on the way through Siberia when homeward bound on his

last furlough the train was halted by some defect in the working of

the mechanism of the locomotive. Dr. Mateer, on account of the delay,

got out of his compartment and went to see what was the matter. He saw

that the locomotive was a huge Baldwin, with whose construction he had

familiarized himself when in the United States on a previous furlough,

and he quickly discovered the cause of the trouble. He could speak no

Russian, and the men in charge of the engine could speak no English,

but he managed to show them the cause of the defective working of the

mechanism, and how to remedy it; and soon the train was again speeding on

its way.

The time never came during his long residence in China when a necessity

did not occasionally force itself on him to utilize his mechanical gifts,

and not infrequently on the common utensils of life. In Wei Hsien he

often spent hours directing in such repairs as were needed for furnaces

and the like.

Few of his later and larger achievements in this field could be fairly

regarded as works of necessity, strictly speaking; they rather were meant

to be aids in the great enterprise of evangelizing the Chinese Empire.

He was thoroughly convinced that one of the most powerful agencies that

could be employed for this purpose was the school and the college.

He was equally sure that of all the studies that could be introduced

into the curricula of these institutions, none could be so effective

in opening the way for the gospel as that of the natural sciences, and

especially physics, inclusive of modern mechanical appliances of its

principles. He believed that if bright young men were educated in that

kind of knowledge, and sent out under Christian influences among their

own people, if they were also converted to Christianity, the outcome must

be the dissipation of the existing blind adherence to the superstitions

and ideas of centuries long remote in the past; and that with this must

come the opening wide of the door for the entrance of Christianity. That

was his forecast; and the present situation in China goes far toward

vindicating the wisdom of it. But to teach effectively the natural

sciences he must have apparatus. The only way he could secure this was by

buying what he could, and by utilizing his own ability to set this up,

and to add as much as possible for the outfit yet needed. Such was the

prime object not only of what in a more limited sense constituted the

apparatus of the school and college, but also of such larger appliances

as the plant for heating and lighting the premises. These were far more

than conveniences that helped to better work; they were themselves

constant exhibitions to the students and to the people at large of the

principles of natural science, and of their value in the affairs of

actual life.

Dr. Mateer utilized his outfit of apparatus and machinery as a means of

reaching others besides the students in his own institution, with the

influence of modern science, thus opening a way into their minds for the

gospel. As to one of his methods of accomplishing this object Ada gives a

graphic account:

At the time when the official examinations were held in

Tengchow, a large number of scholars came to town, hoping

to secure a degree, which should be the first step toward

official preferment. So many of these, having heard the fame

of the foreign machine, came to see and to hear, that Dr.

Mateer used to give up his time to them during the days they

were at leisure. Finally the opportunity to do good in this

way proved so great that a place was provided for the purpose,

which was also much used at the Chinese New Year, when all the

town and countryside give themselves up to recreation. After

the “Mandarin Lessons” began to bring in money, he devoted the

profits to the building of a large museum, with an entrance on

the street. One half was a big audience room, so arranged that

it could be darkened down for stereopticon or cinematograph

exhibitions. But it usually served as an audience room, where

the crowds could sit and listen to preaching, while the

detachment that preceded them was shown through the inner room

by expert assistants. What a chamber of wonders that inner room

proved to them! Here was a man, using a single hand to turn

a small crank, grinding corn as fast as a woman or a donkey

could do it on the millstones with much more labor. Here in

cases were birds stuffed, and on the walls pictures of strange

animals. Here was a man turning a large crank that in some

mysterious way made a little iron car overhead first send

out sparks, and then run all around the room on a circular

railroad. They wondered if it would not have been easier for

the man to drag the car around on the ground! There was an oil

engine at the end of the room, that was a wonder, no mistake;

and a “shocking” machine that shocked them indeed; and untold

other wonders. When the tour of the room was finished, the

crowd was let out by another door, their almond eyes quite

round, while a signal given by a steam siren showed it was time

for the next group to go in, and “open-open-eyes,” as they call

sight-seeing.

Occasionally a mandarin of high order came to witness the marvels. The

report of the Shantung Mission for 1909 says that through the agency of

the chapel and museum twelve thousand people were brought into touch with

the gospel during the year; so the work still continues.

Another good account to which Dr. Mateer turned this peculiar gift

was that of starting industries for native Christians and promoting

self-help among the needy. Now it was a loom for weaving coarse Chinese

linsey or bagging, or a spinning or a knitting machine, that he ordered;

again, he inquired for a roller press to be used for drying and pressing

cotton cloth after dyeing; and more than once he sent for a lathe for

a Chinese blacksmith. In 1896 he interested himself in procuring an

outfit for a flouring mill. He said: “The enterprise of starting the

mill was conceived by Chinese Christians, and they are going to form a

company to raise the money. I do not think that there is a roller mill

in China,—certainly not in north China.... We personally will not make

a cent out of it; but we are interested to get the Chinese Christians

started in an enterprise by which they can make a living, and introduce

improvements into their country.”

His apprentices went out in many instances master blacksmiths,

machinists, and electricians, and had no difficulty in finding places. A

Chinese general temporarily at Tengchow employed one of these men as a

blacksmith, and his order was so evidently filled according to western

methods that he paid a visit to the wonderful shop of this wonderful

master. The very last man for whom he obtained a place was his most

skilled electrician and his latest foreman. This man started a shop up at

the capital of the province, and for its outfit Dr. Mateer carried on an

extensive correspondence and procured large invoices of goods. Because

of the provincial university established there under the new educational

régime there was imperative need of such an establishment, and the

outlook for success was excellent. Unfortunately for the proprietor,

however, the Chinese officials were equally alive to the opportunity

and were jealous of a rival. So they managed to compel him to sell out,

though they broke the fall a little for him by retaining him as foreman.

It is said that the thought of this workman’s troubles lay heavy on the

heart of Dr. Mateer in his last illness. It was usually for the poor

that he interested himself after this practical fashion; yet he did not

refuse to lend aid to others in promoting enterprises that would be of

general advantage. For a wealthy Chinaman who owned a coal mine that had

been flooded with water he went to a great deal of trouble in order to

put him in the way of securing a suitable pump. But whether it was for

rich or poor that the opportunity came to render such services, he put

aside all thought of his own ease or name or profit, and did the best in

his power.

He had special satisfaction in the manufacture of electrical machines,

though it was no easy matter to cut and bore the large glass wheels

without breaking them, and to adjust all parts so that the greatest

efficiency was attained. Ada says:

When a machine was perfected, giving an unusually long spark,

he always liked to take me over at night to the shop to see it

perform. I well remember the last time,—at Wei Hsien. At one

end of the shop was the windmill. Here he stopped to show me

a way of equalizing the stroke of the windmill pump piston,

by hanging on an old kettle of scrap iron. Then he took me

into an inner room, where on one end of a long table stood the

newly finished machine,—a beauty, no mistake. Having forgotten

some necessary key, he took the lantern and went to get it,

leaving me in the dark. I noticed sounds, the dripping of water

in the well; but what was the ticking I heard? On the return

of the lantern I saw the cause,—a number of clock dials all

hung on the wall, and all to be run by one clock by means of

electricity. These were for the college recitation rooms when

they should be finished. Then Calvin made the new machine

do its work. Adjusting carefully the mechanism, and then

measuring the spark, he exclaimed with boyish glee, “There,

isn’t that a beauty!”

Dr. W. A. P. Martin, of Peking, related in the “Chinese Recorder” of

December, 1908, this incident as to Dr. Mateer: “It was once my privilege

to spend part of a vacation in his hospitable home at Tengchow. I found

him at work constructing scientific apparatus with his own hands and

wrestling with a mathematical problem which he had met in an American

magazine. When I solved the problem, he evinced a lively satisfaction, as

if it were the one thing required to cement our friendship.” The problem

was to find the diameter of an auger, which, passing through the center

of a sphere, will bore away just one half of its bulk. It is easy to see

that to a man of that sort his work and the scientific and practical

problems constantly arising in connection with the making of apparatus

and the adjustment of machinery must have been in themselves a rich

source of pleasure, though he never allowed himself to be so fascinated

by his shop as to break in on what he conceived to be his higher work.

Speaking of his last years, Ada says: “He would go out wearied with the

baffling search for a way of expressing clearly in Chinese a thought

none too clear in the original Greek, his forehead grooved with the

harrows of thought. He would come back from the shop an hour later, with

well-begrimed hands, a new spot on his long Chinese gown, a fresher pink

in his cheeks, a brighter sparkle in his eyes, and his lips parted with

a smile. Then, having washed, he would immediately set himself again to

the work of revision.”

He loved also to share this joy, so far as it could be done, with others.

At the Synod of China with his apparatus he gave several exhibitions

that were greatly appreciated. At Wei Hsien he rendered similar services

in the high schools, and at Chefoo in the school for the children of

missionaries. The Centennial Fourth of July, being quite an exceptional

occasion, he celebrated not with ordinary gunpowder, but by setting off

a considerable quantity of detonating chemicals. In the early days at

Tengchow a home-made electric fly whisk whirled above the dining table,

and a little pneumatic fountain playing in a bell glass rendered the room

and the meals additionally pleasant to the family and to the guests. Ada

writes:

But the thing that most of us will remember longest is an

illustrated lecture on electricity delivered to the college in

Wei Hsien, and afterward to the foreigners there. As we sat

in a darkened room in the college watching the long sparks

of fire, the twisting circles of many-colored light, half

illuminating a tall, white-bearded figure in a long black gown,

he seemed to us like some old magician, learned in the black

arts, now become bright arts, invoking to his aid his attendant

spirits. Nor was the enchantment diminished when afterward,

more wonderful than a palmister, he showed us by the x-rays the

bones of our hands. A few weeks later one of the ladies of the

compound gave an evening entertainment in which each one in the

station was hit off in some bright way, and we were to guess

the name. One number of the programme was this: A black-robed

figure with cotton beard appeared, leading a youth whom he

seated in a chair. Then the venerable personage proceeds to

examine the head of the stripling with a stereoscope covered

with black cloth, supposed to be a fluoroscope, while an

alarm clock in a tin pail near by supplies the crackling of

electricity. He gives a careful examination, shakes his head,

and pronounces the verdict in one word, “Empty.” In explanation

of the tableau it only needs to be said that between the

exhibition and the entertainment Dr. Mateer had given the young

men of the station their examination in the language.

XIII

THE MANDARIN VERSION

“I am mortgaged to the Bible revision work.... It cost me a

great effort to engage in it, but it will probably be the most

important work of my life.”—LETTER TO SECRETARY BROWN, June 13,

1896.

To tell this part of the story of Dr. Mateer’s life satisfactorily, I

must begin with the first general missionary conference, held at Shanghai

in May, 1877. For two years previous he had served on a committee to

prepare the way for the meeting, and in this capacity he had rendered

much valuable assistance. At that conference he read a paper in which he

elaborately discussed the subject of “The Relation of Protestant Missions

to Education.” The meeting was regarded as successful, and a second was

called, to assemble at Shanghai, in May, 1890. It was at this conference

that the movement for a revision of the Bible in Chinese took actual

measures toward realization.

For the sake of any readers not well informed as to the Chinese language,

a few preliminary statements concerning it may be desirable here. In a

very broad and general sense it may be said that as to elements, one

tongue prevails throughout China proper; but that there is also much

important variation in this general tongue. First of all, it needs lo

be noted that the language takes on two principal forms,—the classic, or

Wen-li, and the spoken, or Mandarin. The classic has come down through

the centuries from the times of Confucius and Mencius, and remains

comparatively the same as it is found in the writings of those sages.

This is accepted as the model for all writing; and for that reason

Chinese students have been required to spend the greater part of their

time in memorizing those ancient books, so that they might not only

absorb their teaching, but also especially that they might be able to

reproduce their style. The classic Chinese is stilted and so condensed

that in comparison with it a telegram would seem diffuse; and though

many of the characters are the same as those used in writing the spoken

language, yet the meaning and often the sound of characters is so

different that an illiterate person would not understand it on hearing

it read. The spoken language, on the other hand, may be compared with

English as to its use. Good English is very much the same throughout

the countries where it is the vernacular, and though it takes on local

dialects, it remains everywhere intelligible. So, broadly speaking, is

it also as to the spoken Chinese in a large part of the empire. From the

Yangtse up into Manchuria, though the pronunciations differ very much,

the colloquial if put into writing is understood. In other words, with

differences of dialect and pronunciation it is the speech of perhaps

three hundred millions of people. The regions excepted lie along the

coast from Shanghai down, and inland south of the Yangtse, where the

distinct tongues are numerous and are largely unintelligible except in

their own localities.

It has been the rule in China that a mandarin must not be a native of

the province where he holds office; and, of course, it is essential that

he should be acquainted with the speech which constitutes the _lingua

franca_. Perhaps for this reason it is called Mandarin. But down to the

time when missionary publications rendered it common in print, it was

not employed in that mode. All books, business or government documents,

the one newspaper of the country, which was the court gazette, and all

letters were in the higher or, as it is called, the Wen-li form, the only

exception being some novels, and even these were streaked with Wen-li.

This, however, ran through gradations,—from the highest, which is so

condensed and so bristles with erudite allusions that only a trained

scholar can understand it, down to a modification which is so easy that

with a slight alteration of particles it is almost the same as the

Mandarin.

During the long period of the nineteenth century preceding the meeting

of the second general missionary conference, a number of translations of

the Scriptures, some of them of the whole, and some of parts, had been

made, and had come more or less into use. The men who did this pioneer

work deserve to be held in perpetual esteem, especially in view of the

difficulties under which they labored. Among the missionaries who sat

in that conference there was no disposition to withhold this honor, or

to disparage the value of these early translations; but there was so

widely prevalent among them and their associates at that time on the

field a conviction that no existing version was satisfactory, that they

recognized it as a duty to take up the subject, and to initiate steps

looking to the production of a better. An informal consultation as to

this was held by a few men, a couple of days before the conference

assembled; but inasmuch as Dr. Mateer had not been invited, he did not

attend. Another consultation was held the following day, and because

of his great interest in the subject of a Bible revision, he attended

without an invitation. The views expressed clearly indicated that there

was a general agreement that a revision was desirable, but it also was

made very plain that beyond this there was a wide divergence of opinion.

We will allow one of his letters to a representative of the American

Bible Society, under date of May 26, 1890, to tell the next step in this

great undertaking:

As I walked home from the meeting, and revolved in my mind

the difficulty of the situation, the idea of an executive

committee, to whom the whole work should be intrusted, came

across my mind. When I reached my room I sat down, and in a few

minutes and without consultation with anyone, wrote out the

plan, which without essential modification was subsequently

adopted. It seemed to strike all parties very favorably. On

the second day of the conference two large, representative

committees were appointed by the conference, one on Mandarin

and one on Wen-li. I was a member of both these committees.

Each committee had a number of meetings, in which the subject

was freely and fully discussed in all its bearings. It was

evident that there was a general desire for a version in simple

Wen-li, and, the difficulties being less in regard to the work

already done, a conclusion was first reached in regard to this

version. In Mandarin the difficulties were greater.

An agreement, however, was reached. The version in the higher classic

style then gave the most trouble, but a satisfactory basis for this also

was agreed upon; and the reports as to all three versions were adopted

unanimously by the conference. In the same letter he says: “I worked

hard for these results, and felt no small satisfaction in seeing such

perfect unanimity in the adoption of the plan proposed. I have never done

anything in which I felt more the guiding hand of God than in drawing up

and carrying through this plan.”

The selection of translators for each of the projected new versions was

handed over respectively to executive committees; and Dr. Mateer was

appointed on that having charge of the Mandarin, and made chairman of it.

He heard that he was talked of as one of the revisers for that version,

but as yet he had not decided what was his duty, if chosen. It will

again be best here to take up from one of his letters the thread of the

narrative. Under date of December 13, 1890, he writes to Dr. Nevius:

I can truly say that before I went to the conference I never

even dreamed of what has come to pass. It never occurred to me,

before the conference, that I should take any prominent part in

the matter of Bible translation. I felt that education was the

only field in which I should come to the front. I was never in

my life so providentially led as I was in this matter. I was

selected chairman of the Mandarin Executive Committee and have

been pushing the getting of translators. The first few months

were spent in corresponding and comparing notes as to men.

We took a ballot recently, which resulted in the election of

five, ... I being the only one who received a unanimous vote.

We are now voting for the others, to make up the seven.... My

book of “Mandarin Lessons” has no doubt brought me forward,

and its preparation has in a measure fitted me for the work.

My personal preferences are against the work of translation,

and I would fain decline it, but I don’t see how I can in view

of the circumstances. I feel my incompetency, especially in

Greek and Hebrew, and you may be sure I am very loath to give

up the educational and literary work on my hands. Much of it

is half finished. But if the Mandarin Bible is to be made,

some one must do it; moreover, the men who do it must have

the confidence of the missionary body; otherwise it will be a

failure. As it is, circumstances have led me to the position,

and the strong opinion of the men on the committee, and of

others, leads me to feel that I cannot lightly refuse.

In November, 1891, the revisers met at Shanghai. Dr. Mateer, in a letter

written in the following January, said:

The scheme for the revision of the Chinese Bible set on foot

by the conference is now fairly organized, and approved by

the three great Bible societies. The work of pushing the

organization has fallen largely on me, and I feel no small

sense of relief now that it is successfully accomplished.

Contrary to my own desire, I am compelled to lake a share as

one of the revisers in Mandarin; not that I do not relish the

work, but because it will of necessity interfere with many

of my cherished plans. We had a meeting of all the revisers

of the three versions, and it was a fairly harmonious and an

altogether successful meeting. A great work is before us which

I trust we may, in the good providence of God, be enabled to

accomplish.

The interval of about a year and a half between the general conference

and the organization just mentioned was required because of the

difficulty of selecting and securing the translators. These for the

Mandarin version, as that body was originally constituted, consisted

of Henry Blodgett, George Owen, Chauncey Goodrich, J. R. Hykes, Thomas

Bramfitt, J. L. Nevius and C. W. Mateer. During the years in which this

work was continued there were in the membership so many changes caused by

death, removal and other causes, that Dr. Goodrich and Dr. Mateer alone

continued from the beginning until the translation of the New Testament,

the part of the Bible first revised, was tentatively completed. Mr.

Baller of the China Inland Mission stands next in length of service,

having joined the committee in 1900. Dr. Mateer in the work of revision

had the assistance of two Chinese Christians whose services were so large

and valuable that they deserve more than a passing mention here. In a

recent letter Dr. Goodrich pays them the following just tribute:

Dr. Mateer, in the work of rendering the Scriptures into a

universal Mandarin colloquial, had two exceptionally fine

teachers. The first was Mr. Tsou Li Wen, an ordained pastor,

who left his parish to engage in this work. Mr. Tsou was

trained by Dr. Mateer in his college, receiving his theological

training under Drs. Nevius, Mateer and others. He was a man

of beautiful spirit, discriminating mind, and a fine sense of

language. He was also a man of indomitable perseverance. After

a strenuous day’s work of eight hours or more, he would often

toil by himself far into the night, seeking for some phrase

or phrases which expressed more exactly or more beautifully

the meaning of the original. And before the final review, both

he and my own lamented teacher (Chang Hsi Hsin) would bestow

the greatest pains, in the hours when they should have been

sleeping, in a careful inspection of the work. Thus did Mr.

Tsou toil, while separated from his family for long periods of

time; his work on Bible revision being as truly a labor of love

as that of any member of the committee.

But alas! Mr. Tsou’s life burned out all too soon in his

exhausting labors. But how I should like to see his crown, and

his shining face!

Happily for the work, Dr. Mateer had another scholar, trained

also in his school, Mr. Wang Yuan Teh, a young man of keen,

incisive, logical mind, who had read all the best books in the

Mandarin colloquial. Mr. Wang was quick to see any fault in

the structure of a sentence, and insistent on its being put

right. He also worked most faithfully in this translation,

refusing offers which came to him of a salary several times the

amount he received. I think he was held, partly by Dr. Mateer’s

personality, which drew him strongly, and partly by his own

love for the work itself. When the chariot of fire came for Dr.

Mateer, he left us, much to our regret and loss.

The work of these two men has entered largely into the present

translation of the New Testament, and the influence of their

work, as of Dr. Mateer’s, abides, and will continue to be felt,

till the great work of rendering the Bible into a universal

Mandarin is finished.

Dr. Mateer himself, in the preface to his “Mandarin Lessons,” makes

acknowledgment of the valuable services rendered in the preparation of

that work by Tsou Li Wen, and also by his own wife.

The Mandarin Committee, at the meeting in 1891, after organization,

proceeded to divide up the books of the New Testament among themselves

for work, and adopted a plan of procedure. Each man was first carefully

to revise or translate his own portion; and then to send it around to

the others, who were to go over it, and write their suggestions of

emendations, each in a column parallel to the proposed text. Next, the

original translator was to take these emendations, and with their help

was to prepare a text in Mandarin for submission to the entire committee.

Broadly speaking, this was the method pursued to the end, though with

some modifications compelled or suggested by experience. It was hoped

that comparatively rapid progress would be made; but in reality the

committee did not come together again until September, 1898; and even

then, only the Acts of the Apostles was ready for general revision. For

this delay there were various causes, such as the death of Dr. Nevius

and the resignation of others, and the absence of Dr. Mateer on furlough

home; but the chief cause was that every member was burdened with so much

other work that only a fraction of his time could be given to this duty.

Dr. Mateer, for example, found himself loaded down with other literary

and missionary labors. At the meeting held at Tengchow, in 1898, he

was elected chairman of the committee. This was an honor, but it also

carried with it peculiar duties which materially added to his burden.

The committee could muster only five members for that sitting, but they

proceeded with their work, and at the end of two months and a half they

finished the book of Acts; and then they separated.

[Illustration: MANDARIN REVISION COMMITTEE AT WORK

DR. S. LEWIS (American Methodist Episcopal)

DR. GOODRICH (Congregational)

DR. MATEER (Presbyterian)

M. BALLER (China Inland Mission)]

That meeting by actual experience brought out distinctly not only the

difficulties of necessity arising from the translation of particular

books of the Bible, and indeed of every verse; but also others of a

more general character, some of which had previously been more or less

clearly seen. Should the new version take as its basis one or more of the

translations already in existence; or should it go back straight to the

original Greek, and use the existing translations merely as helps? In

any case, constant reference to the original was a necessity. For this,

which of the published texts should be accepted as the standard? The

meeting also disclosed a wide divergence of opinion as to the style of

Mandarin that ought to be employed. On that subject in 1900, Dr. Mateer

expressed himself fully and strongly, in an article published in the

“Chinese Recorder.” He said:

The Mandarin Bible, in order to fulfill its purpose, should be

such as can be readily understood by all when heard as read

aloud by another. The fundamental distinction between Wen-li

and Mandarin is that the former is addressed to the eye, the

latter to the ear. In all Protestant churches the reading of

the Scriptures has, from the first, constituted an important

part of public worship. In order that this reading may serve

the purpose intended, the Scripture must be so translated

as to be intelligible to the common people. Only thus will

they hear it, as they did its Author, “gladly.” It is not

enough that those who know “characters” should be able to

read it intelligently, but rather that those who do not know

“characters,” and who in fact constitute by far the greater

part of the Chinese people, should be able to understand it

when it is read to them. Here then is the standard to be aimed

at,—a version that represents the Chinese language as it is

spoken, and addresses itself to the ear rather than to the eye.

He summarized the chief characteristics of the proper style thus: that

words should be employed which the people who commonly use Mandarin can

understand; that sentences should conform to the model of the spoken

language; and, concerning both of these requisites, that such care should

be taken as to brevity, the order of words and clauses, the connective

particles, and the evident movement of thought as expressed, that the

Chinese would recognize in it a people’s book; and yet one that is free

from undignified colloquialisms and localisms. All this he held up as an

ideal, not likely to be fully realized by any set of translators, but if

distinctly aimed at, more sure to be nearly approached. Toward the close

of the work on the Mandarin version still another question of a general

nature arose. Throughout most of their labors the committee had before

them the revised easy Wen-li translation, and for a part of the time

they also had the revised classic Wen-li Bible. Ought the three revised

Chinese versions to be harmonized, so as to eliminate all variations?

That, of course, would be ideal. On this question the report of the

Mandarin Committee, which was as to substance prepared by the chairman,

took the negative. It said:

The differences are not great, and where they exist, the

versions will serve Chinese students as a sort of commentary.

There are a multitude of questions in Biblical interpretation

which no translation can settle once for all. Moreover,

ninety-nine out of a hundred of those who use the Mandarin

will never look at any other translation. Two versions in

perfect accord seem like a fine product, but it is difficult

of realization. An attempt at reconciling the present versions

would develop many difficulties. A Mandarin sentence

especially is not easy to tamper with. The change of a single

word would often dislocate a long sentence, and necessitate

retranslation and adjustment to the context.

The Mandarin committee of translators continued their tentative revision

of the New Testament until late in 1906, a period of fifteen years,

counting from the date of their first meeting for organization and

assignment of specific duties. They held eight different sessions,

being almost one each year after they were ready with actual work;

and none of the sessions were shorter than two and a half months, and

one of them stretched out to six months. They assembled at Tengchow,

near Peking, at Shanghai, and most frequently at Chefoo. In the final

report is the record: “The chairman can say for himself that he has

given the equivalent of about seven years all-day labor to this work.

He was present at every meeting, and first and last missed but one

day’s session.” Each of the meetings took on distinctive incidental

associations. The third was held at Shanghai, and from December, 1900,

ran over some months into 1901. At that time, on account of the Boxer

uprising, missionaries were temporarily there as refugees from all the

provinces directly concerned in the version. The sittings were in a small

upper room in the Union Church, which came to be called “the Jerusalem

Chamber,” and visitors were many. They saw two rows of men, one on each

side of a long table, yellow faces being sandwiched alternately with

white, as each translator had, as usual in this work, his Chinese

assistant at his side. Often the discussions were carried on in Mandarin,

so that these assistants might be able to understand and pass their

opinion. Incidentally it may be noted that besides his work on the

revision, Dr. Mateer often met with the refugee missionaries during this

period and greatly gratified them by participating in the discussion of

practical problems.

After the Mateers returned from their furlough, the sessions were all

held at Chefoo, first in one of the rooms of the China Inland Mission

Sanitarium, and later in a large upper room in the Missionary Home,

overlooking the bay. Usually at the commencement of their meetings they

sat together for three hours in the morning, and reserved the rest

of the day for such private study as they wished to make; but as the

time wore on they would increase the sittings to as many hours also in

the afternoon, and crowd the private review into such odd moments as

were left. To anyone, these protracted labors on such a work must have

become exceedingly tedious and almost irksome; but to no one was it more

so than to Dr. Mateer. He knew Mandarin almost as if it had been his

native tongue; but the Mandarin which he knew had often to be modified

and expressions adjusted, so that a Scripture written in it would suit

other regions of China as well as those with which he was familiar. In

writing his “Mandarin Lessons” and in preparing his educational books

he had only to ascertain to the best of his ability how to express his

ideas in Chinese, and that was the end of the search; but here he had

to do his best, and then submit his product to the opinion of others,

and often with the result of changes which did not commend themselves to

his preference. Yet, on his return home from the sittings he would say:

“I ought not to complain. I get my way oftener than any other man does.

Only I cannot help thinking of the work I have laid aside unfinished in

order to do this.” After each meeting the year’s work was printed, marked

“Tentative Edition,” and with a slip inviting criticism was sent to the

missionaries in north China and Manchuria. These criticisms were all to

be canvassed before the edition could be printed that was to be presented

to the Centenary Conference, to which they were to report.

The final meeting for the tentative revision of the New Testament lasted

for more than five months, and the work was pushed with even more than

the usual vigor. The Centenary Missionary Conference for China was only a

year ahead when they began. After the conference the revision was to run

the gauntlet of criticisms, and these were to be canvassed; and thus at

last the revision was to take its permanent form. Mrs. Mateer gives the

following graphic account of one of the closing incidents of that session.

Passage had already been engaged for the Goodrich family on a

steamer sailing north. The baggage was all carried down, the

family all waited on the upper veranda, with hats on, and the

Doctor’s hat was ready for him to seize as soon as he should

get out of the meeting. The “rickshaw” men were waiting, ready

to run with their loads. But still no sound of approaching

feet! Finally, as it got dangerously near the hour of sailing,

Mrs. Goodrich said, “I must go and hurry them up.” So she

marched boldly down the hall, listened a minute at the door,

and came back with her fingers on her lips. “Those dear men

are praying,” she whispered; and tears filled our eyes as our

hearts silently joined in the prayer. Of course, every morning

session was opened with prayer; but this was the consummation

of all these years of toil, the offering of the finished work

at the altar.

Although the committee completed their revision at that session, so

far as this was possible until the conference should meet and approve

or disapprove it, there was very considerable work of a tedious nature

left to Dr. Mateer to perform. The finishing touches yet to be put upon

portions of the version were not a few; but the thing that required of

him the most protracted and delicate attention was the punctuation.

For this he introduced a new system which seemed to him to be best

for the Chinese language, and which can be estimated fairly only by a

scholar in that tongue. To him also as chairman came the criticisms

which were invited from all quarters, most of which were welcomed,

but some of which touched him to the quick. At length, in the spring

of 1907, the conference assembled at Shanghai, and the report of the

Committee of Revisers was made to that body. He wrote to a friend in

the United States concerning it: “We had a grand missionary conference

in Shanghai, which, of course, I attended. There was more unanimity and

less discussion than in the former conference.” The report received a

hearty approval, and the version was started on its course of examination

by all concerned, as preparatory to its final completion. It was issued

from the press at Shanghai in 1910. It was called a revision, the aim

being to offer it, not so much as a rival to the older versions, as an

improvement upon them; but in reality it was an almost entirely new

translation, though in making it advantage had been taken of the valuable

pioneering done by the others. Writing to a friend after the conference

had adjourned, Dr. Mateer frankly said:

Please note that we still have opportunity for final revision,

in which many defects will be eliminated. There are places

not a few with which I myself am dissatisfied, many of which

I see can be improved. I refer especially to texts that are

excessively literal, and where foreign idioms are used to

the detriment of the style. It must also be remembered that

many terms and expressions that seem strange and perhaps

inexpressive at first will on further use seem good and even

admirable. Every new translation must have a little time to win

its way. That our version will appeal strongly to the great

mass of the Chinese church I have no doubt.

During the long years he was engaged in this great undertaking he learned

some valuable lessons concerning the translation of the Scriptures.

He came to speak of it as an art, for which special training and

experience are needed. In an article which appeared after his death,

in the November issue of “The Chinese Recorder” for that year, he gave

at length a discussion of “Lessons Learned in Translating the Bible

into Mandarin.” He pointed out difficulties that hamper the making of

a version in the Mandarin as compared with the Wen-li in either of its

forms. To appreciate these, one needs to be a master in those tongues.

But he also indicated others that lie in the way of a translation of

the Scriptures into any sort of Chinese. Many of the very ideas of the

Bible on moral and spiritual subjects had never entered the Chinese

mind, and consequently there are no suitable words or phrases to express

them. Just as western science has to invent its own terms when it enters

China, so also within limits must the translator of the Bible introduce

a vocabulary suited for his purpose. He believed that in the China of

to-day prejudice had so far begun to yield that this could be effectively

and wisely done. In fact, each branch of modern thought that has been

grafted on the stem of the Chinese has already brought with it new words,

so that hundreds of these have recently been coined and are on the

tongues of the leaders. Along with the lack of an adequate vocabulary

goes another thing that adds to the difficulty. In the translation of

other books the main need is to express the thought, and in doing this

considerable freedom is usually tolerated; but accuracy of expression,

because of the very nature of the Bible, is of the first importance

in a version. Besides, the Chinese Christians seem especially disposed

to insist on this quality. The tendency of a translator is apt to be

toward adapting the Scripture to what is conceived to be the taste

of the Chinese, to write up to the style with which the educated are

familiar, or down to the level of the uneducated speech. Another defect

is to magnify or to minify peculiarities of expression originating in

the region where the Scriptures were written. Dr. Mateer thought that he

recognized very distinctly tendencies of this sort in the older versions,

though abating in more recent times. His article concluded as follows:

The Bible does not need any doctoring at the hands of

translators. The Chinese church is entitled to have the Bible

just as it is, in a strictly faithful and accurate translation.

This they demand of us who translate it for them. They do not

want to know what the writers would have said if they had

been Chinese, but what they actually did say. This is the

manner in which the Chinese who have learned English are now

translating foreign books into their own language, and this

is very evidently the spirit of the times. The English Bible,

especially the Revised Version, is a monument of careful and

accurate translation. Translators into Chinese cannot do

better than follow in the same line. I have a number of times

heard students when using commentaries, or hearing lectures

on various portions of Scripture, express their surprise and

dissatisfaction that the Bible had not been more accurately

translated. I have known Chinese preachers, when quoting a

text which had a marginal reading saying that the original

says so and so, to remark with strong disapproval, “If the

original says so, why not translate it so, and be done with

it?” On one occasion in our committee, when a question was

raised about giving a metaphor straight or paraphrasing into

a comparison, one of our literary helpers said with vigorous

emphasis: “Do you suppose that we Chinese cannot understand and

appreciate a metaphor? Our books are full of them, and new ones

are welcome.” If we do not give the Chinese the Bible as it

is, they will condemn us, and before long will do the work for

themselves.

In conclusion, it is worthy of remark that no one man can make

a satisfactory translation of the Bible. There are limitations

to every man’s knowledge of truth and of language. Every man’s

vision is distorted in some of its aspects. This is a lesson we

have been learning day by day, and are still learning. If any

man wishes to find out his limitations in these respects, let

him join a translating committee.

With regard to the difficulties in the way of this revision, Dr. Goodrich

thus expresses himself:

No literary work of such peculiar difficulty has been

undertaken in China since the first translation of the

Scriptures by Morrison. To produce a Bible whose language shall

run close to the original, simple enough to be understood by

ordinary persons when read aloud in the church or in the home,

and yet chaste in diction; this work to be done by a committee

chosen from widely distant localities,—from Peking on the

northeast, to Kneichow in the southwest,—might well frighten

any body of men. For the first years together the work was

almost the despair of the committee. Their efforts to make

themselves mutually understood and to unite on a rendering

were often immensely prolonged and exasperatingly amusing.

But they were trying to do for China what Wyclif did for the English

and what Luther did for the Germans,—to make a translation of the Bible

into a vernacular form of national speech which would be everywhere

intelligible; and they took courage and pressed forward slowly but surely

toward their goal. In doing this they not only have accomplished the end

immediately sought, but they also have put into the hands of the people

at large a model which will largely mold all their coming literature.

The conference at Shanghai in 1907 approved the report on the New

Testament and decided to proceed to the revision of the Old Testament,

and appointed an executive committee to select the men to do this work.

The members chosen were the same five who had served toward the close of

the revision of the New Testament, with the exception of a new translator

needed because one of the old committee had gone home. Dr. Mateer was

especially anxious that they might be saved from the necessity of

breaking in and training several inexperienced members. Of course, he

had foreseen that he would probably be selected, but when informed that

this had been done he reserved his decision until he knew of whom besides

himself the committee was to consist. To Dr. Goodrich of the American

Board, with whom he had been so intimately associated, he wrote several

times, urging him to accept; and in one of these letters he said: “There

is a variety of reasons why I am perhaps as loath as you are to do this

work. So far as money, reputation, or personal taste goes, I should

rather do other work. But then it seems as if duty calls to this. Neither

you nor I can ignore the fact that the experience and training of all

these years have fitted us in a special manner for this work. We can do

it better and faster than new men.” He was again made chairman, and as

such he proceeded to distribute the first of the revision work, for which

he selected Genesis and certain of the Psalms. He began his personal

labors at the opening of the year, and in the summer the committee

assembled at Chefoo to consider what had then been accomplished. The

Goodrich and the Mateer families went into residence during their

projected stay, and took for this purpose a house occupied usually as

headquarters for the school for the deaf, Mrs. Goodrich, because of the

condition of Mrs. Mateer’s health, having charge of the housekeeping. The

meetings were held in a little chapel of the China Inland Mission, in the

neighboring valley. It was while so situated that Dr. Mateer was stricken

with his fatal illness.

In a letter which he addressed “To the dear ones at home,” on the

occasion of his seventieth birthday, he said:

God has also blessed me in enabling me to accomplish several

of the leading purposes of my life. From my boyhood I longed

for a liberal education. My next great desire was to give at

least forty years to work in China. Soon after I came to China

I began educational work on a very small scale, but aspired

to raise up a college that might be a power for good. I early

formed the purpose of becoming an adept in the spoken language,

and in aiming at this saw the need of a text-book for learning

the language, and set about making it. All these purposes I

have been enabled, by the blessing of God, to accomplish. My

great work for the last ten years has been to lead in the

translation of the Bible into Mandarin. This has been a most

trying and laborious task, which is not yet completed. The New

Testament is nearly done, but whether the Old Testament will be

completed, who can tell? My desire and hope is to complete it.

To prepare a mature and approved translation of the Bible for

the use of two hundred and eighty millions of people will be

for the glory of God in China.

XIV

INCIDENTS BY THE WAY

“There are many trials and self-denials in missionary

life, but there are also not a few compensations and some

advantages.”—LETTER “TO THE DEAR ONES AT HOME,” at his

seventieth birthday.

The statement just quoted is general, and admits of application in the

case of every faithful foreign missionary; but Dr. Mateer meant it

especially as an expression of his own experience. In the story of his

life work as already here told we have seen it constantly exemplified.

There, however, still remain other instances that deserve permanent

record. In speaking of them as “incidents by the way,” and in gathering

them into a single chapter, I do not mean to indicate that they are

unimportant. Some of them concerned the depths of his life. But his work

after he reached China was chiefly along the lines that have been traced

in the preceding chapters, and those matters now to be related, however

important, were incidents by the way.

Of the trials that overtook him, none were so keenly felt as his

bereavements. Only two or three of these can be mentioned here,—such

as occurred within the circle of his own relatives out in China. The

first was the death of Mrs. Capp, the sister of Mrs. Julia Mateer.

This occurred on February 17, 1882, at Tengchow. She went down into the

shadows with the tender ministrations of her sister and of Dr. Mateer. In

writing to a brother of her deceased husband, he said:

On Sabbath afternoon,—yesterday,—we buried her on the hill west

of the city, with other missionary friends who have gone before

her. She was greatly beloved by the Chinese, and there were few

of the Christians here who did not weep to part with her. Mr.

Mills conducted the funeral service in English, and made some

excellent remarks, admirably adapted to the occasion. One of

our native elders made a very effective address in Chinese. Her

work is done, and it is well done. Her memory will not soon die

amongst the Chinese in this city and neighborhood. We will miss

her, oh, so much,—her help, her counsel, her genial society,

her spiritual power! Her school will miss her the most: her

place in it cannot be filled. She was ready to die, and strong

in faith, yet she longed to live, not that she might enjoy

life, but, as she several times said, that she might save some

more souls. She repeatedly assured us of her joy that she had

come to China, and declared that she had never counted it a

sacrifice, but a privilege. I told the Chinese over her coffin

to imitate her as she did Christ,—her zeal and earnestness in

all duty, and her untiring endeavor and desire to save souls.

Sixteen years later, almost to a day,—February 16, 1898,—Julia finished

her earthly work and entered into the heavenly rest. I have already

mentioned that sorrowful event in the life of Dr. Mateer, and said

something of her character. Her biography is soon to be given to the

world in a distinct volume. Under these circumstances it would be

superfluous to make any extended record concerning her here. It is due,

however, to her husband to quote at least a part of one paragraph from a

brief memoir of her written by him shortly after her death. In telling of

her varied labors and achievements he said this, which so far as it was

known to her in life, must have been an immeasurable satisfaction:

Before the end of her first year in China she look an active

part in opening the little school which ultimately grew

into the Shantung College. To this school she gave the best

energies of her life, and to her in no small degree is due its

continued success. She was an accomplished teacher, especially

of young boys.... She did far more than teach, during the

earlier years of the school; she did fully two thirds of the

work involved, giving her time day and night to every detail.

She kept the accounts, looked after food and clothing and a

hundred nameless things. To the end she was the confidante

and adviser of all, in their troubles, trials, and plans, in

their marriage alliances, and in their spiritual exercises.

The thoughtful care she gave to all her pupils when they were

sick endeared her to the hearts of all who were in the college.

She studied medicine on her own account, and had no mean skill

as a physician. All the sick in the native church, and all

the sick in her own neighborhood, heathen and Christian, came

to her, and she never refused a call. There is no graduate

of the Tengchow College who does not have a place for her

in his heart, close by the side of that of his own mother.

During her illness there is probably not one of these young

men, scattered as they are over all north China, who did not

pray earnestly for her, many of them in public as well as in

private; and many of them have written her the most anxious and

affectionate letters. On her sixtieth birthday, last July, the

students of the college and graduates with their most imposing

ceremony presented her with a decorated silk gown, and placed

a large title, or sign, in gilt letters over the front door of

the house, “_Character-nourishing aged mother_.” It was the

proudest day of her life when these young men presented her

with this most fitting token of their loving reverence and

esteem.

In view of the hatred and prejudice which confronted her and her husband

when they arrived in Tengchow nearly thirty-five years before, it must

have almost seemed to her like the illusion of a dream.

We have previously seen that Dr. Mateer’s brother John became the

superintendent of the mission press at Shanghai in 1872. He continued in

that position until 1876, when he returned home. For a good many years

he was in business in the United States, and then he returned to China

and took charge of the mission press of the American Board at Peking. In

April, 1900, Dr. Mateer was called by telegraph to come to that city as

quickly as possible, on account of the dangerous illness of his brother;

but John died the day before his arrival. In a letter to the surviving

brothers and sisters Dr. Mateer, after describing the funeral services,

added:

It is evident that his work here in the press was highly

appreciated. He was also held in high esteem by the members of

the other missions, and was well and favorably known in the

American legation. Several of the speakers said that John’s

life was a well-rounded and successful one, achieved in the

face of great difficulties. From the standpoint of worldly

wisdom his life could scarcely be called successful; but from

the spiritual, it certainly was. In this regard he was probably

superior to any member of the family. His mind was clear to

the end and filled with confident hope. As his disease grew

more serious he showed no fear, and to the last he faced death

without a tremor. May God give unto each of us who remain grace

to face the king of terrors with the same triumphant faith. We

buried him in the foreign cemetery, just north of the city, in

the most beautiful spot in that cemetery, and just by the side

of Rev. Mr. Morrison of our mission.

It did not fall to the lot of Dr. Mateer to have any experience of

perilous adventure and of hairbreadth escapes such as have come into the

lives of missionaries in uncivilized lands, and even in China. Still he

by no means escaped serious risks. In his earlier itinerations he was

several times threatened with attacks from individuals or crowds, and

sometimes he armed himself in order to defend himself from assault. The

second year of his residence in Tengchow, because of negotiations going

forward for the renting of a house near the south gate, a meeting of as

many as a thousand people composing the most influential clan in the

city assembled in one of the temples, and demanded of the officials

permission to kill the man who controlled the house, and the foreigners;

but the excitement passed away without any open outbreak. In the summer

of 1867 there was a great scare at Tengchow over the approach of a body

of “rebels.” These were in reality robbers, consisting of the dregs left

behind at the suppression of the Tai-Ping rebellion, who burned and

laid waste large districts of country, and mercilessly slaughtered the

people. Their approach to Tengchow had so often been reported that nobody

knew what to anticipate; but at length they, sure enough, made their

appearance in the neighboring country. The inhabitants crowded into the

city by thousands, bringing with them donkeys, cattle, and everything

that could be hastily removed, so that not only the houses, but the

streets and vacant places were crammed with them, the mission premises

not being excepted. Julia found in the situation a fine opportunity to

give the gospel to the women; and her husband was equally diligent among

the men, though he was unfortunately hampered by the absence of his

Chinese assistant. A British war vessel called early in the scare and

offered to remove the missionaries to a place of safety; and later the

“Wyoming,” a United States naval vessel, anchored out in the bay, where

she could bring her guns to play, if necessary, for the protection of

American citizens. Happily, after five days of this state of things the

rebels again vanished, but not without leaving in their trail sickness

and desolation. The missionaries do not seem to have been much alarmed

at any time during the excitement, though no one could tell what might

happen.

In 1870 there was a cruel massacre of a large number of French Roman

Catholic missionaries and of some others at Tientsin, and much valuable

mission property was destroyed. The news of this spread rapidly over

north China and kindled the animosity of the natives against foreigners

to such a degree that the situation in many localities became very

dangerous. At Tengchow rumors of plots to wipe out the missionaries there

were frequent, and the native Christians and others who were friendly

communicated to them information that justified serious apprehension.

A meeting of all the members of both the Baptist and the Presbyterian

station was called, and then another the next day, and by an almost

unanimous vote it was declared that it was the duty of all to take refuge

in Chefoo or elsewhere until the danger was substantially ended. Dr.

Mateer in these meetings advocated brief delay and further inquiry, but

when he found himself in a minority of one, he yielded his judgment to

that of all the others. Just as soon as possible a message was sent to

Chefoo for a ship to come up and take the families to that place, and a

couple of British vessels promptly responded. All valuables that could

be quickly packed and easily removed were shipped; and the premises at

Tengchow were placed in charge of as trusty Chinese as could be obtained

for the purpose, and a promise was given by the chief official of

the city that he would see that constables watched the property. Dr.

Mateer did not go on the ship, but remained a day along with a Baptist

missionary in order to complete the arrangements required for the proper

keeping of the houses and goods, and then he followed on horseback down

to Chefoo. The prompt appearance of the ships in the harbor and the

removal of the missionaries seem to have made a most wholesome impression

on the people, and the excitement soon subsided, and a rather general

desire prevailed, even among the non-Christian Chinese, that they should

return. The American minister at Peking also greatly gratified the

refugees and their fellow-laborers from the United States by the to them

somewhat novel experience of his taking an earnest practical interest

in their welfare. He advised them to return to Tengchow, and solicited

the privilege of sending them back on an American warship. After an

absence of about a month Dr. Mateer went thither on a preliminary trip,

and was pleasantly surprised at the friendly altitude of the people. In

due time the other missionaries and their families followed; but at the

meeting of the synod which ensued a little later he was compelled, after

a brief sojourn at Tengchow, to go down to Shanghai and remain there for

a year and a half in charge of the mission press. Just how real was the

danger that caused this temporary flight to Chefoo, and how imminent,

is a secret that perhaps no man clearly knew, and which certainly the

missionaries never ascertained. Writing in his Journal, just after his

return, concerning his reluctant acquiescence in the vote of all except

himself in favor of going, he says:

Nevertheless acquiescence was one of the hardest trials of my

life. My mind was filled that night with a tumult of emotions;

and I did not sleep a wink till the morning light dawned. I did

not know how much I loved Tengchow, and perhaps I overrated the

damage our leaving would do to our own cause here, especially

to our schools. I am not sure, however, that I did. The future

remains to be seen. God may, and I trust he will, turn it to be

a blessing both to us and to the native Christians. Aside from

the question of the actual amount of danger at that time I felt

a strong aversion to going in any case, unless when my life was

in such instant peril that there was no possible doubt.... I am

not yet convinced, however, and though I do not wish to make

any rash vows, yet I think that I will not fly from Tengchow

again unless there is a great deal more imminent danger.

When, in 1894-95, the war between Japan and China raged, Tengchow being

a port on the sea, and not far from Japan, was of course likely to be a

place directly involved in the hostilities. The missionaries elected to

remain at their post, and asked the consular agent of the United States

at Chefoo to notify the proper military official of their presence,

number, calling, and nationality, and to say that in case of attack they

would hoist the American flag over the mission premises, and that if the

Chinese found themselves unable to defend the city they would exert

their influence to have it surrendered without loss of life. The Japanese

did come, and they, as a diversion from the seizure of Wei-hai-wei,

bombarded the place on three successive days. As to this, Dr. Mateer says

in his autobiographical sketch for his college classmates, “I watched

the progress of affairs from the lookout on top of my house, but escaped

untouched, though eight shells fell close around the house, and one went

over my head so close that the wind from it made me dodge.”

During the Boxer uprising of 1899-1900, though the movement originated

in Shantung, the missionaries and native Christians of that province

suffered less than in adjacent provinces. The reason for this is that

after the murder of Brooks in 1899, the anti-foreign governor, Yu Haien,

was at the solicitation of the missionaries and the Foreign Office

removed. Unfortunately he was not deposed, but was merely changed to

Shansi. This accounts for the terrible carnage there. The new governor

of Shantung, the since famous Yuan Shih K’ai, did his best to hold the

Boxers in check in his own province, and in the main was successful. The

prompt and efficient action of Consul Fowler, of Chefoo, in removing the

missionaries from the interior also helped to save life. Still it was

bad enough in the western parts even of Shantung. The native Christians

in many places were robbed, beaten, and so far as possible compelled by

threat of death to disown their faith. The story of the destruction of

the property of the mission at Wei Hsien, and the narrow escape of the

missionaries, through the courage of one of their number, is about as

thrilling as any that is told of that period of widespread burning and

carnage. In the eastern side of the province, beyond ominous excitement

at such places as Tengchow and Chefoo, there was no serious disturbance.

Probably this was due in part to the wholesome respect which the Chinese

living not too far from the sea had come to feel for foreign war vessels,

and for the troops which they could promptly disembark.

Just before the siege of Peking began Dr. Mateer had made his visit to

that city, to bury his brother John. The earlier part of 1900 he remained

at Tengchow quietly at his work, and sending his orders just as usual

for supplies needed by the college and personally. In July, by order

of the American consul, the missionaries were brought down to Chefoo

on a gunboat. Dr. Mateer and Mr. Mason Wells, however, lingered behind

for a while. It was vacation, and Dr. Mateer occupied his time with the

Mandarin version. Among the Chinese a wild rumor gained some currency

that he was leading an army of many thousand men to relieve Peking; and

the fact that his _fiancée_ was shut up there gave at least piquancy to

the report. Later he went on down to Shanghai, and there spent six months

on the Revision Committee; and so he did not get back to Tengchow until

June, 1901, when the Boxer uprising was at an end.

In a communication which he published in “The Herald and Presbyter” later

in 1900, he gave at considerable length his views as to the causes of

that dreadful outbreak. These do not differ essentially from the ideas

which have come to be generally accepted in the United Stales. The

missionary propaganda he frankly acknowledges to have, by the very nature

of its message, aroused the malignity of evil men; and this also to have

been much aggravated by the habit of Roman Catholics of standing between

their converts and the enforcement of Chinese laws; but he denied that

this was the main cause. He holds that the outbreak was chiefly due to

the traditional hatred of foreigners; to the territorial aggressions of

the western nations in China; to the ill treatment of Chinese abroad and

in their own ports by foreigners; and last, but by no means least, to the

German operations in Shantung, consisting of their revenge for the murder

of some German priests, the occupation of Kiao-chow, and the survey and

building of a railroad through the province. The high-handed encroachment

of Russia in Manchuria and the construction of a railroad through that

province, and the guarding of it by Russian troops, added fuel to the

flames. Summing up, he says: “The whole movement is anti-foreign,—against

all nationalities and occupations, ministers of governments, consuls,

merchants, missionaries, teachers, and engineers, railroads, telegraphs,

churches, schools, and Christian converts,—everything in short that is in

any way connected with the detested foreigner. It is the conservatism of

old China rising up and bracing itself for one last desperate struggle to

suppress the new China that is supplanting it.”