EARLY MISSIONARY EXPERIENCES
ON landing in Shanghai on 1st March 1854, I found myself surrounded with
difficulties that were wholly unexpected. A band of rebels, known as the
"Red Turbans," had taken possession of the native city, against which
was encamped an Imperial army of from forty to fifty thousand men, who
were a much greater source of discomfort and danger to the little
European community than were the rebels themselves. Upon landing, I was
told that to live outside the Settlement was impossible, while within
the foreign concession apartments were scarcely obtainable at any price.
The dollar, now worth about three shillings, had risen to a value of
eight-and-ninepence, and the prospect for one with only a small income
of English money was dark indeed. However, I had three letters of
introduction, and counted on counsel and help, especially from one of
those to whom I had been commended, whose friends I well knew and highly
valued. Of course I sought him out at once, but only to learn that he
had been buried a month or two before, having died from fever during the
time of my voyage.
Saddened by these tidings, I inquired for a missionary to whom another
of my letters of introduction was addressed; but a further
disappointment awaited me--he had left for America. The third letter
remained; but as it had been given by a comparative stranger, I had
expected less from it than from the other two. It proved, however, to be
GOD's channel of help. The Rev. Dr. Medhurst, of the London Mission, to
whom it was addressed, introduced me to Dr. Lockhart, who kindly allowed
me to live with him for six months. Dr. Medhurst procured my first
Chinese teacher; and he, Dr. Edkins, and the late Mr. Alexander Wylie
gave me considerable help with the language.
Those were indeed troublous times, and times of danger. Coming out of
the city one day with Mr. Wylie, he entered into conversation with two
coolies, while we waited a little while at the East Gate for a companion
who was behind us. Before our companion came up an attack upon the city
from the batteries on the opposite side of the river commenced, which
caused us to hurry away to a place of less danger, the whiz of the balls
being unpleasantly near. The coolies, unfortunately, stayed too long,
and were wounded. On reaching the Settlement we stopped a few minutes to
make a purchase, and then proceeded at once to the London Mission
compound, where, at the door of the hospital, we found the two poor
coolies with whom Mr. Wylie had conversed, their four ankles terribly
shattered by a cannon ball. The poor fellows declined amputation, and
both died. We felt how narrow had been our escape.
At another time, early in the morning, I had joined one of the
missionaries on his verandah to watch the battle proceeding, at a
distance of perhaps three-quarters of a mile, when suddenly a spent ball
passed between us and buried itself in the verandah wall. Another day my
friend Mr. Wylie left a book on the table after luncheon, and returning
for it about five minutes later, found the arm of the chair on which he
had been sitting shot clean away. But in the midst of these and many
other dangers GOD protected us.
After six months' stay with Dr. Lockhart, I rented a native house
outside the Settlement, and commenced a little missionary work amongst
my Chinese neighbours, which for a few months continued practicable.
When the French joined the Imperialists in attacking the city, the
position of my house became so dangerous that during the last few weeks,
in consequence of nightly recurring skirmishes, I gave up attempting to
sleep except in the daytime. One night a fire appeared very near, and I
climbed up to a little observatory I had arranged on the roof of the
house, to see whether it was necessary to attempt escape. While there a
ball struck the ridge of the roof on the opposite side of the
quadrangle, showering pieces of broken tile all around me, while the
ball itself rolled down into the court below. It weighed four or five
pounds; and had it come a few inches higher, would probably have spent
its force on me instead of on the building. My dear mother kept the ball
for many years. Shortly after this I had to abandon the house and return
to the Foreign Settlement--a step that was taken none too soon, for
before the last of my belongings were removed, the house was burnt to
the ground.
Of the trials of this early period it is scarcely possible to convey any
adequate idea. To one of a sensitive nature, the horrors, atrocities,
and misery connected with war were a terrible ordeal. The embarrassment
also of the times was considerable. With an income of only eighty pounds
a year, I was compelled, upon moving into the Settlement, to give one
hundred and twenty for rent, and sublet half the house; and though the
Committee of the Chinese Evangelisation Society increased my income
when, after the arrival of Dr. Parker, they learned more of our
circumstances, many painful experiences had necessarily been passed
through. Few can realise how distressing to so young and untried a
worker these difficulties seemed, or the intense loneliness of the
position of a pioneer who could not even hint at many of his
circumstances, as to do so would have been a tacit appeal for help.
The great enemy is always ready with his oft-repeated suggestion, "All
these things are against me." But oh, how false the word! The cold, and
even the hunger, the watchings and sleeplessness of nights of danger,
and the feeling at times of utter isolation and helplessness, were well
and wisely chosen, and tenderly and lovingly meted out. What
circumstances could have rendered the Word of GOD more sweet, the
presence of GOD more real, the help of GOD more precious? They were
times, indeed, of emptying and humbling, but were experiences that made
not ashamed, and that strengthened purpose to go forward as GOD might
direct, with His _proved_ promise, "I will not fail thee, nor forsake
thee." One can see, even now, that as for GOD, His way is perfect, and
yet can rejoice that the missionary path of to-day is comparatively a
smooth and an easy one.
Journeying inland was contrary to treaty arrangements, and attended with
much difficulty, especially for some time after the battle of Muddy
Flat, in which an Anglo-American contingent of about three hundred
marines and seamen, with a volunteer corps of less than a hundred
residents, attacked the Imperial camp, and drove away from thirty to
fifty thousand Chinese soldiers, the range of our shot and shell making
the native artillery useless. Still, in the autumn of 1854 a journey of
perhaps a week's duration was safely accomplished with Dr. Edkins, who
of course did the speaking and preaching, while I was able to help in
the distribution of books.
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