Lights and shadows of mission work in the Far EastSamuel Hall Chester





t


LIGHTS AND SHADOWS
OF
Mission Work
IN
THE FAR EAST:
BEING THE RECORD OF OBSERVATIONS MADE DURING A
VISIT TO THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTEKIAN MISSIONS
IN JAPAN, CHINA AND KOREA IN THE YEAR 1897.
BY
S. H. C.HESTEE, D. D,
Secretary of Foreign Missions in the Presbyterian Church
in the united states.
RICHMOND, VA.:
The Presbyterian Committee of Pcblioation.


"X)SG.o 630836 U>
TO MY FRIEND,
WILLIAM HENRY CRANT,
WHOSE GENEROUS KINDNESS MADE THE EXPERIENCES
HEREIN RECORDED POSSIBLE;
AND TO THE
missionaries IN CHINA. JAPAN AND Korea,
whose.warmth of welcome
MADE THEM ALTOGETHER DELIGHTFUL.


PREFACE.
In the autumn of 1897 the author made a
visit to the missions of the Southern Presbyte-
rian Church in Japan, China and Korea. The
visit was too hurried to admit of very extensive
taking of notes, and the plan was adopted of
jotting down mnemonics that would serve to re-
call such things as, on a first view of them, spe-
cially interested him, and were in some way con-
nected with the missionary problem and mis-
sionary life. An account of these observations
has been given in a series of addresses made in
a few of our churches and church courts. The
renewed interest in missions that has seemed to
be awakened by these addresses where they were
delivered, and the impossibility of reaching
more than a small section of the church in that
way, has led to the preparation of this little
volume, which, it is hoped, may find its way into
missionary libraries and homes in all parts of
the church.
Of the books which the author's happy ex-
emption from sea-sickness enabled him to read
5





Mission Work m the
Far East.
CHAPTER I.
To the Far East.
Those of my readers who may be medi-
tating the possibility of a foreign tour will do
well, before determining the direction of their
travels, to consider carefully the relative claims
of Europe and Asia. The one advantage on the
side of Europe, it seems to me, is the shortness
of the time required for the journey. For the
same length of time the expense of the Asiatic
tour is far less. The things seen are more in-
teresting because so utterly unlike what one has
ever seen before. The flavor of immemorial an-
tiquity and of associations connected with the
infancy of our race lends an added charm. And
one interested in the triumph of God's kingdom
on earth will find in the Far East especially the
place where the battle is now on which is to de-
termine whether the gospel is stronger than the
9


10
Lights and Shadows of
powers of evil intrenched in their most ancient
strongholds.
Looking at the matter from a more worldly
and prosaic standpoint, it is doubtful whether,
The voyage ^or PurPoses °f absolute rest, human
experience furnishes anything quite
equal to a voyage across the Pacific in the month
of August. Our good ship is indeed a "lodge in
a vast wilderness" of waters, where no rumor of
business cares can reach us; the sea is even mo-
notonously placid, and we grow just weary
enough of the "boundless contiguity" of sea and
sky to experience the full effect of the vision of
green hills and purple waters when the island
Oumewpoa- of Oahu first greets us through the
sessions. morning mist. On this island is the
city of Honolulu, the metropolis and seat of
government of the Hawaiian group. Although
it is within the tropics, the climate at Honolulu
is so modified by a cold current from our north-
western coast that the maximum temperature
in summer is only 87° Fahrenheit. The mini-
mum in winter is 55°. Whether viewed from
the outside, or entered and explored, it presents
us everywhere with views of enchanting loveli-
ness. Looking down from the top of the Punch
Bowl or the Pali, one might imagine himself, as
Bayard Taylor says, "standing on the Delectable






HAWAIIAN FISHERMAN.


Mission Work in the Far East. 11
Mountains, with the valleys of the land of Beu-
lah spread out before him." Standing in the
valley and looking at the mountains shrouded in
mist, and the gorges arched over with rainbows,
the suggestion is of Bunyan's dream of the gates
and towers of the Celestial City. Royal palms,
cocoanut trees, spreading banyans, oleanders,
the pomegranate, the orange, mimosas, banana
groves, all manner of trailing vines, with flowers
of every hue, are everywhere. All this flora has
been imported, the soil, of volcanic, origin, being
originally devoid of such vegetation. But, once
planted, it flourishes in the richest tropical luxu-
riance.
The physiognomy of the native strongly sug-
gests the East Indian origin which tradition also
ascribes to him. He has a fairly well-shaped
head well set on broad, square shoulders, a large
.and muscular-looking physique, and an attrac-
tive face. But he is lacking in toughness of
fibre, his eyes are dull and his brain is pulpy.
The women especially show an early inclination
to obesity, for which they are only the more ad-
mired. The first civilized dress introduced
among them was the "Mother Hubbard" wrap-
per, and to it they still almost universally ad-
here. One good of it, considering'the sudo-
rific qualities of the climate, is that is does not


12 Lights and Shadows of
adhere much to them. In spite of their wealth
of black hair and the beautiful flower wreaths
worn on their hats, they do not achieve much in
the way of picturesque appearance, except when
riding a bicycle or on horseback astride.
I expected to see an exhibition of barbaric
splendor in the Government House where the
representative of our government now sits in
the chair of the ousted Queen. But it is simply
a neat stucco building, with tasteful interior
finishings, but nothing loud or gaudy about it.
In the Bishop Museum one may still see the
gorgeous feather cloaks once worn by the Kame-
hamehas on occasions of state, the large circular
wooden "calabashes," or trays, dug out and pol-
ished to a wonderful smoothness by stone imple-
ments, and the ropes, some with stains of blood
still on them, once used in strangling human sac-
rifices, and the large hooks once vised to fish for
sharks, with a piece of a Hawaiian for bait. But
these now possess even for the native only an
antiquarian interest.
The Americans who have found a home in this
"Paradise of the Pacific," about three thousand
American in number, have first civilized it,
enterprise, then appropriated it, and then gener-
ously donated it to their home government.
Without raising the question of abstract right


14 Lights and Shadows of
of land again. Presently our ship casts anchoT
in Yokohama Bay, and we hasten ashore to see
the things new and old which the wonderful
Sunrise Kingdom has to show us for our in-
struction and delight.


16 Lights and Shadows of
meria lead back to picturesque little shrines, or
to great and gorgeous temples, in dark shaded
groves. The cherry blossoms in the spring, the
azaleas in summer, the maple leaves in autumn,
or the ice crystals on evergreen trees in winter,
light up the glens and gorges with a perennial
blaze of glory. ~No wonder the people love their
beautiful islands with a devotion so intense that
some esteem it to be even foolish, and call them
"the land of the gods."
But there is an element of terror also mingled
with the beauty in the aspect of nature in Japan.
Among these lovely mountains there are hun-
dreds of extinct volcanoes and about twenty that
are still alive. The tradition of Fuji is that it
was heaved up from the ocean in a single night
about three thousand years ago, and its history
is that one night, about three hundred years
ago, the whole top of it blew off with a great ex-
plosion, scattering broken rocks and lava far
and,wide and covering the streets of Tokio, sixty
miles away, with ashes. In the autumn that
most extensive and violent form of the cyclone,
known as the "typhoon," sweeps across both land
and water, leaving wreck and ruin in its track.
There is an average of one earthquake a day,
some of them mere tremors, but others so violent
as to reduce whole villages to ruins. Accom-





Mission Work in the Far East. 17
panying the earthquakes huge tidal waves some-
times sweep over the coasts, in one of which, a
few years ago, more than 30,000 lives were de-
stroyed. The rivers which up in the moun-
tains arc little rivulets, playing and cascading
over beautiful white rocks, are filled in the
spring by the melting snows with floods that go
raging down into the plains, sweeping away
dikes and bridges and covering thousands of
acres of prosperous farms with silt and gravel.
Character- The character of the people is
istics. plainly marked by both of these fea-
tures of their environment, being a combination
of tragic moodiness with a sort of playful £es-
theticism.
The aesthetic faculty is strong in all classes.
The wealthy spare no pains or expense on their
gardens of ornamental shrubbery and flowers.
In the back yard of every house, important
enough to have a back yard, flowers of many
kinds, and especially the royal chrysanthemum,
are cultivated in their highest perfection. The
school boy's table is adorned with flowers, and
the farmer returning from his day's work in
the field will stop by the way to admire the
beauty of a budding peach tree. In the spring
when the cherries are in bloom they go out in
great pic-nicking crowds to see and enjoy them.


18 Lights and Shadows of
On the other hand, in the summer, bands of pil-
grims, dressed in their white mourning cos-
tumes, go to the top of Fuji to worship there
the gods of the storm and earthquake. Suicide
is their refuge from trouble, about 7,000 a year
being regarded as a conservative estimate of the
number. The favorite method in the olden time
among the soldier class was that known as "hari-
kari" (belly-cutting.) Before the weapons of
modern warfare were introduced every soldier
wore two swords, a long one for his enemies and
a short one for himself. When defeat or calam-
ity overtook him he would sit on the floor of his
hall with his friends around him and insert the
short sword into his side and draw it across the
abdomen, after which a friend would complete
the operation of hari-kari by cutting off his head.
This was indeed a "shuffling off" of the mortal
coil, and reveals a strong element of the tragic
in those who would choose that method of mak-
ing their exit from the world.
The Japanese present a commendable contrast
with other Orientals in the matter of personal
cleanliness. Rumor says that, about the first of
October, the average Chinaman takes his fare-
well bath until the return of warm weather the
following spring. But he is regarded as un-
worthy of the name of a Japanese, whether he


Mission Work m the Fab East. 19
be nobleman or peasant, who does not bathe once
a day in water just below the boiling point. The
unpainted woodwork of their houses is all thor-
oughly scrubbed once a year. Their floors are
covered with beautiful white straw matting,
always kept immaculately clean. To this end,
on entering a house, all shoes must be left at the
front door. This does not greatly incommode
the native whose shoe is a wooden or straw san-
dal that can be readily shuffled off or on, but it
tends to make life a burden to the foreigner with
laced gaiters, and also to the development of end-
less colds and catarrhs and influenzas. The
only heating apparatus is the Hibachi, a small
jar filled with pulverized ashes with a few
lumps of live charcoal on top, by which one can
warm his hands after a fashion, but which gives
off more carbonic gas than heat to the atmos-
phere of the room. Natives and missionaries
keep their feet warm by sitting on the soles of
them turned up behind. The transient travel-
ler whose joints have not been educated to this
posture must make the best he can of cold feet,
unless he is able to effect a compromise with cus-
tom, as I did, by means of a pair of crocheted
over-slippers furnished me by one of the ladies
of our mission. By the discreet use of these
both the traveller's health and reputation for


20 Lights and Shadows of
politeness may in some measure be saved. Since
the days of Abraham and Ephron the Hittite,
at least, we know that dignity and politeness of
demeanor have been characteristic of Orientals.
But in these qualities also the Japanese stand
pre-eminent. When a visitor enters a room
they bow, usually three times, until the body and
legs are at right angles. If sitting, they lean
over three times until the forehead almost
touches the floor. The use of multiplied hon-
orifics and self-depreciations, and the constant
iteration of deferential grunts and inhalations
is a serious hindrance to rational conversation.
This politeness is characteristic of all classes,
and any common coolie among them would lay
the courteousness of our "old time gentleman"
entirely in the shade. They are the Frenchmen
of the East, and, like the Frenchmen of the
West, very much of their overdone politeness is
only surface deep. But on the whole they are
to be commended for it, and one feels the con-
trast painfully on coming immediately from
Japan to America and coming in contact with
the railroad manners of our great west.
The people are almost dwarfishly small of
stature, but have great power of physical endur-
ance. I tested some of them—as well as my-
self—thoroughly in that respect on an overland


Mission Work in the Far East. 21
journey of 110 miles from Kochi to Toku-
shima, which, in company with Kev. J. W.
Moore and Eev. S. R. Hope, of the Southern
Presbyterian Mission, was made in two days.
Our vehicle was the famous j'in-rich-sha, a com-
fortable little sulky pulled by a man instead of
a horse. Tbe name means literally "Pull-man-
car." The way was over one of the old military
roads found throughout the Empire, some of
*hem said to date from the second century of
our era, and was graded for more than half the
way through a mountain pass. It was about
eighteen feet wide, the mountains rising sheer
up on one side and a mountain torrent foaming
over the rocks at the bottom of a precipice about
one hundred feet deep on the other. An inci-
dental discovery of the journey was that one of
the many things the Japanese have no fear of
is a precipice. Houses were built all along the
edge of this one, with no barriers to keep the
children from falling over, and no one manifest-
ing any anxiety lest they should fall. Small
children with other small children on their backs
were frequently seen standing on its edge and
peering over into its depths. In going around
holes and ruts, in spite of our protestations, our
men would go every time on the side of the preci-
pice instead of on the side of the mountain.


22 Lights and Shadows of
They continued this perverse line of conduct in
the same non-chalant and half-amused way even
after Mr. Moore's vehicle had actually capsized
and pitched him over the precipice, fortunately,
however, at place where there was a ledge a
short distance below the road that caught him.
We travelled forty-five miles the first day with
no change of men and sixty-five miles the second
day with three changes. The ricksha man in
costume looks much like a college athlete equip-
ped for the running match, is very proud of his
muscle and speed, and always assumes a rapid
and high-stepping gait when passing through a
village. A good one will easily cover a distance
of fifty miles on a good road in ten hours. What
the Japanese lack in size they also make up in
spirit and courage. The Chinese contemptu-
ously call them "ivojen"—island dwarfs. But
as the Chinese have more than once found, to
their sorrow, they have ever been a most unsat-
isfactory people for enemies to encounter in war.
Zinghis-Khan, with his Tartars, overran China,
and his grandson, Kublai-Khan, thought to do
the same thing with Japan, supposing, no doubt,
that he would have quite a holiday time with the
little islanders. The expedition, fitted out with
much pomp and circumstance, reached the shores
of Japan, but never landed. It would have re-








Mission Work in the Ear East. 23
turned much wiser than it came except that only
three men of it survived to tell the tale. The
war-like propensities of the Japanese seem to
have been among their original and permanent
traits and not a recent development. Each pro-
vincial city has its ancient castle, the strong-
hold of the old Daimio, who held fief of the
Mikado to rule the province. A fine specimen
of these is the one at Nagoya. It is built of huge
blocks of stone, its two main towers being 170
feet high and crowned with figures representing
dolphins of enormous size and covered with
beaten gold. It is surrounded by a moat that
can be filled with water or emptied at pleasure.
Its base is large enough to furnish storage room
for several months supply of provisions, so that
the old feudal lord, even though he might not be
strong enough to come out and fight in the open,
could look out from his observation tower and
smile at all his foes. In the old days of fighting
with swords the sword of the Samura had the
temper of a razor, and the enemy who came
within its sweep was almost sure to emerge
from the encounter minus a head. Erom the
earliest days of their recorded history to this
day the soil of Japan has never been successfully
invaded by a foreign enemy. They have now an
army of about 250,000 men, including reserves,


24 Lights and Shadows of
drilled and equipped after the latest models,
and, except in the cavalry wing of it, hardly
less formidable, man for man, than that of any
western power. They have a navy that is second
in fighting; power only to that of England in the
waters of the Far East. And in the light of
present day developments one wonders some-
times if we may not some day see them united
with England and America in an invincible alli-
ance for human freedom, not only in the Orient,
but in the world.
The old national religion of Japan is Shinto-
ism—"tbe way of the gods." It is a strange re-
Moraisana ligion with a strange name, inasmuch
religion. as takes no account of any gods,
nor of morality in any form. Its moral postu-
late is that obedience to the Emperor is the
whole duty of man, and that, as for the rest, all
a Japanese heeds to be perfect is to follow the
bent of his nature, which will always lead him
right. In later times it entered into a fusion
with Confucianism, with which it had some
things in common, the resultant combination
being a sort of apotheosis of patriotism, loyalty
and obedience to "the powers that be." This is
to a largo extent the religion, or substitute for
religion, of the upper and educated classes.
Buddhism prevails among the masses, and is





26
Lights and Shadows of
has been found necessary to employ Chinese in-
stead of Japanese in positions of trust. Japa-
nese trade will have a more permanent prosper-
ity when their silk, which they sell by weight,
is found on inspection to have less chalk in it,
when a larger' proportion of their matches will
strike, and when the repudiation of contracts
discovered to be unprofitable becomes less com-
mon. Judged even by Oriental and heathen
standards, it seems to me that the Japanese must
be pronounced to be rather below than above
par in the matter of every-day morals. On the
other hand, their riddance of the curse of a pro-
fessional official class, like the Mandarins of
China and theYangbans of Korea, their national
pride and desire to appear well in the eyes of
civilized nations, and the subjection of rulers to
the criticism of an active and out-spoken public
press have lifted them far above all other east-
ern nations in their political morality. At pres-
ent, by the operation of the revised treaties, they
are just coming into the fraternity of civilized
nations on terms of recognized equality. It
will mean much for the welfare of other coun-
tries in the Far East as well as for herself if
Japan shall so deport herself in this new role as
to justify the action of the powers in yielding
her this recognition. The missionary body, who


Mission Work m the Far East. 27
constitute quite a large portion of her foreign
residents, will rejoice, for her sake as well
as for their own, if she succeeds in doing so. It
is they also who have done most in the past to
make such recognition possible, and who will do
most in the future to make her worthy of it.
And it is a hopeful sign that this is now being
acknowledged by some of her leading statesmen.


28 Lights and Shadows of
CHAPTER III.
New Japan and Christian Missions.
The Japanese are intellectually bright and
quick, with a consuming thirst for knowledge,
especially of things that are supposed to be new.
They have never been characterized by the false
pride and conservatism that have well nigh pet-
rified and mummified China, but have always
been ready to examine new ideas, and to wel-
come them if they seemed better than what they
had, from whatever source they might come.
They readily exchanged their old barbarism for
the civilization of China when it was brought to
them, and no more hesitate to acknowledge their
obligations to Confucius than if he had been a
native Japanese. So, when our western civiliza-
tion was brought to them they had an open eye
for its advantages, and, after a little preliminary
dallying, made such a rush for it as has no paral-
lel in the history of civilization. In thirty years
time they have set up and put in full operation
a system of parliamentary government under a
written constitution. The Emperor, though
still nominally absolute, rules practically through
his cabinet and parliament, like the constitu-


30
Lights and Shadows of
What then lacks she yet? Much every way,
and especially she lacks yet the infiltration of
true civilization into the character of her people;
and she lacks the srjirit of it ivhich is Christi-
anity.
In the streets of Nagasaki I met a native gen-
tleman dressed in a Derby hat, a steam laun-
dered shirt and collar, a silk cravat, and over
these a linen duster. The upper half of him was
thus Christianly arrayed, but the lower half of
him was not arrayed at all. He was a walking
allegory. Japan is civilized at the top, but not
at the bottom. Out in the country among the
common people one sees many more relics of
primitive savagery than among the Chinese, or
even the Koreans. She is also civilized on the
outside, but not yet on the inside to any great
degree. And whether this external civilization
of ours will in the long rim do her more good
than evil, depends on whether we shall succeed
in our effort to give her along with it our Chris-
tian religion, which alone can effect that regen-
eration of character which can make Japan or
any other nation truly civilized and great,
christian Among the other Western things
missions. japan rusne(j at for a time was
Christianity. When the feudal system was over-
thrown the feudal retainers, who were soldiers,


Mission Wobk in the Fah East. 31
scholars, and gentry all in one, found themselves
in the new order of things without a reason of
existence. Some of them went abroad and
studied in foreign schools. Of these some be-
came real Christians, and others, finding a con-
venient mode of subsistence in lecturing in
churches and practicing on the credulity of the
Christian public, became Christians for the sake
of the loaves and fishes. On their return they
naturally became associated with the mission-
aries from the countries they had visited, and
found at once a sphere of usefulness and a means
of livelihood as the missionaries' teachers, inter-
preters, and helpers. They reported also to the
men of their class that the civilization they so
much admired was allied in the West with
Christianity. Christianity thus gradually be-
came popular with the Samurai. Meanwhile
many of them had also turned politicians, and
come to occupy positions of influence in the gov-
ernment; and as churches grew and multiplied
they were found to have a goodly number of
lawyers, judges, and members of parliament on
their rolls, and there was even some foolish talk
of having Christianity adopted as the national
religion. The churches and missionary boards
were very naturally, but, as it seems to me, not
very wisely or scripturally, elated, and much


32 Lights and Shadows of
was made in missionary magazines of the fact
that we had obtained a foothold among the "bet-
ter classes" in Japan, and much was hoped from
their influence for the rapid evangelization of
the country. In twenty years from the time the
first Protestant church was organized in Yoko-
hama about 40,000 converts had been enrolled,
the great majority of them being from this
Samurai class.
Just at this point a sudden and unexpected
turning of the tide set in, and now for some
years past our Protestant missions in
A reaction." A
Japan, instead of marching on to
swift and glorious victory, have found them-
selves hard pressed to hold their own. Some
writers express the opinion that this reaction
has spent its force, and that we may now expect
to see the native church enter on another period
of rapid growth. I cannot see that the present
situation has any such promise, nor do I think
it desirable that we see any more "boom times"
in the experience of our Japan missions. The
prosperity of the early years was in many re-
spects only seeming, and the present situation
is the natural outcome of some things that were
an element of that seeming prosperity. I think
a partial explanation of the reaction is to be
found in the following facts.


Mission Work in the Far East. 33
First, in Japan, as elsewhere, the better
classes are relatively limited in number, and, in
the nature of things, evangelistic effort directed
towards them will sooner find its limit than such
effort directed towards the masses. If all the
forty thousand communing members enrolled
by 1895, no matter from what grade in the
social scale they came, had been Christians
after the type of Joseph Neesima, they would
have made an evangelistic force that would
have been irresistible. But many of them
had simply come in on the popular wave, and
their motives were everything else but spiritual.
Many others, who were real Christians, were un-
fortified by any thorough instruction in Chris-
tian doctrine, and characterized by all the native
instability and love of that which was new.
Then "while men slept, the enemy came and
sowed tares among the wheat." Never was there
a more striking illustration of this devil's strat-
egy, and never was there a more fruitful soil for
tares to grow in than in the minds of these nim-
ble-witted, novelty-loving, vivacious, and vola-
tile Japanese. Rationalists from this country
and from Europe went over and made them
believe that they represented the new, the ad-
vanced, the improved phases of Christian
thought in the west, while the earlier mission-


34
Lights and Shadows of
aries, with their infallible Bible and their for-
mulated creeds, represented only what was old
and effete. The reason that these heresies, in-
stead of merely weakening the church's spirit-
ual power and checking its growth, did not work
utter havoc and devastation with it, is because
there was an element in it which had learned, in
.a genuine experience, and in the fires of persecu-
tion, the divine power of God's inspired word
and the preciousness of Christ's atoning blood.
But this element was not strong enough to over-
come all the reactionary tendencies, and did not
itself wholly escape being affected by them.
It was found also that the class spirit, which
is a trouble everywhere, but is peculiarly strong
in Oriental countries, began to assert itself and
to make our church of the "better classes" less
zealous than it should have been in carrying the
gospel to those below them. To expect that this
would be otherwise is more than the history of
even regenerate human nature warrants us in
expecting of it.
And so the history of our Japan missions,
looked at from the standpoint of the hopes once
cherished of them, has been somewhat disap-
pointing.
There has been disappointment also in an-
other direction from which much was once ex-


36 Lights and Shadows of
higher classes, it does not seem, in their case, to
have prepared the way for the gospel, but rather
for something even worse than what they had
before. The famous statesman, Count Ito, may
be fairly taken to represent this class. He says,
"I regard religion as quite unnecessary to a na-
tion's life. Science is far above superstition,
and what is any religion, Buddhism or Christi-
anity, but superstition, and therefore a possible
source of weakness to a nation."
Among the masses the old idolatries, instead
of disappearing, seem to be taking on new life
and vigor, and are seeking now to extend and
propagate themselves by methods they have
learned from the missionaries. At Kobe, in
company with Rev. lT. B. Price, I attended a
funeral conducted by two priests, one of whom
was a woman, at which there was a gorgeous dis-
play of flowers and much beating of drums and
various spectacular accompaniments. In reply
to Mr. Price's inquiry, we were told that the per-
formers represented ua sect of Shinto, somewhat
like the Salvation Army." At another place we
saw some handsome western style stone build-
ings which, we were told, were "a Buddhist
Theological Seminary," where several hundred
young men were being trained for the priest-
hood.


Mission Work in the Far East. 37
At Kioto there has just been completed the
finest temple ever built in Japan, at a cost of
about $2,000,000, which was all met by private
contributions, chiefly of the common people.
The great wooden pillars of the portico were
reared by ropes woven of the hair of many thou-
sands of women, the most precious thing they
had to offer, devoted to the purpose. In the en-
closure of another great temple we saw some
very modern looking machinery at work, which
we found was an electric light plant that was
being used to furnish light to some carpenters
who were repairing the roof of the temple. At
Tokio I saw great crowds of people going out on
electric cars over a road from which school
houses, law courts, parliament houses, steam fac-
tories, and all kinds of things belonging to west-
ern civilization were in full view to the magnifi-
cent and well-kept temples on the outskirts of
the city, where they stood, some of them dressed
in cut-away coats and Derby hats, and bowed
and clapped their hands before the idols of
bronze and stone. Some of them chewed wads
of paper on which prayers were written and
threw them at the idols. If the paper wad stuck,
the prayer was supposed to bo efficacious; if
otherwise, it was offered in vain.
So, as for beautiful and progressive Japan,


38 Lights and Shadows of
the old idolatries are still there; and a much
more formidable enemy, educated atheism, is
also there; and a Christian church is there
which is in many respects other than we wish it
might be; and this is the missionary problem
that now confronts us in that most interesting
country.
And now the question is, what is to be done
about it?
First of all, it seems to me, some useful les-
sons lie on the surface of this history that greatly
need to be learned, and yet which the church
is very slow to learn. Our Master tells us that
the missionary anointing he received was, first
of all, "to preach the gospel to the poor." If the
situation in Palestine in his day had been, as it
was in the beginning of our Japan missions, that
he had no access to the poor and did have access
to the better classes, he would have preached the
gospel to them. But we do not think he would
have felt any elation at such a state of affairs,
nor counted on any special advantage to his
cause from their financial, social, political, or
other forms of worldly influence. Through the
whole course of Christian history whenever the
church has leaned upon this broken reed its hand
has always, sooner or later, been pierced. In
building the church, as in building a house, the


40 Lights and Shadows of
lowed providential lines; and, although the situ-
ation as thus developed be a difficult one to deal
with, the very last thing we ought to do is to be-
come discouraged about it. There are some
features in it that are full of encouragement and
Encouraging cheer. While the church there at
eatures. present contains a good deal of chaff
and tares, it also contains many earnest, spirit-
ual, and praying men, who, in the battle that is
now fully on, will not be found wanting. And
while it contains some native preachers who are
not as sound and evangelical as they should be,
there are also a goodly number who are aware
of and mourn over the things that are wrong,
and who are ready to be used for the new and
different kind of work that is now waiting to be
done. I heard one preach on the text, "I am
come that they might have life," and the outline
of the sermon as given me by Rev. R. E. McAl-
pine, of our mission, differed from the sermon
outline we often see published in our Monday
morning papers as a piece of bread differs from
a cake of sawdust. The points emphasized were:
(1), The high aim of Christ towards men—to
give them life—as contrasted with Confucius
and other teachers. (2), The necessity of this
life, men being spiritually dead. (3), The char-
acter of it: it is spiritual, penetrating, and satu-
rating the soul, working from within outwards


42 Lights and Shadows of
will necessarily be slow and toilsome, largely
hand to hand, and unattended by any brilliant
and spectacular results. The true kingdom of
God will no more come in Japan than it has ever
'lone elsewhere "with observation." But if we
.vill do the will of God in this matter, in faith
and patience, then after we have done it we shall
inherit the promise. Not by western science and
education, nor by political or social influence,
nor by any other human influence whatsoever,
but only by the foolishness of preaching that
gospel which is the wisdom and the power of
God, will the old idolatries be finally over-
thrown, and the idols be cast to the moles and
the bats, and Japan become in deed and in truth
a Christian nation. On the whole it seemed to
me that the conditions that confront our mis-
sionaries in Japan are more trying, and their
work more difficult, than those of any of the
fields I visited. They are standing in their lot
bravely, cheerfully, and hopefully, asking of us
only our sympathy, our prayers, and our earnest
co-operation in their work.
The native Christians also rightly look to us
for the same thing. I had a visit from one of
the elders of the church at jSTagoya, a captain^
in the army, who came to talk over the situation,
and to urge that wo should not diminish, but
that we should try to enlarge our work among


Mission Work in the Far East.
43
them. lIe said we had prayed to God to give
us churches in Japan, and in answer to our pray-
ers he had given us many, most of which were
still in the weakness of infancy. And now to
abandon any of these churches and leave them to
perish "would not," it seemed to him, "be treat-
ing God with proper politeness." So, speaking
reverently, as Capt. Hibiti meant his expression,
it seemed to me.
^Yhat the church needs most of all is the wil-
lingness to answer this touching appeal. And
the day we ought to look and pray for is the day
when it shall be said, God has made His people
willing in the day of Tlis poiver.1
'Japan also needs a well endowed Christian school of
a grade equal to the best government colleges, the pat-
ronage of which would come from the graduates of the
mission schools. Only from such a school can we hope
to obtain the Christian leaders, both in the ministry and
in secular life, that are necessary to the success of the
work on any large scale. To guarantee that such a
school would remain Christian and orthodox, for the
present and for some time to come, both its endowment
and its board of management should be retained in this
country. If this course had been pursued with the Do-
shisha, the present unhappy outcome of that enterprise-
would have been avoided.
The remarks in this chapter concerning unwarranted
and unrealized hopes from the effect of Western educa-
tion and civilization are not intended to imply any de-
preciation of the right kind of Christian education,
which always has been and always will be found to be an
essential part of successful missionary work.



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46
Lights and Shadows of
CHAPTER IV.
The Countky and People of China.
The essential difference between Chinese and
Japanese native character is shown in the stolid
and immovable opposition which China presents
to the enlightenment and improvements that
have been knocking at her gates for more than
half a century from the nations of the West.
There is method in China's madness, however,
in this matter, for preserving as she has done,
almost unchanged, the way of doing things in-
augurated by the founder of her nation, who is
claimed not without plausible reason to have
been the grandson of Noah, the transition to new
ways which must come sooner or later will in-
volve a revolution that can hardly be accom-
plished without a violent disruption of the pres-
ent social order. Meanwhile, those who would
like to see what Oriental life was like at least as
far back as the days of Abraham can do so by
paying a visit to some of the interior cities and
villages of the Celestial Empire. Excluding
Manchuria and Thibet, China is about two-
thirds as large as the United States, and posses-


Mission Work in the Fab East.
49
We see also a multitude of stone structures of
two upright pieces with two transverse pieces at
.the top, more or less artistically carved and cover-
ed with inscriptions. These are memorial arches
of those who have given some extraordinary evi-
dence of the virtue which the Chinese have exag-
gerated into a vice, and which they call "filial
piety" ; most of them in memory of young women
whose betrothed husbands died, and who gave the
supreme evidence of filial piety by leaving their
own homes and devoting themselves to the ser-
vice of the mother-in-law that was to have been,
or, better still, by joining their betrothed in the
spirit world through the door of suicide.
Out in the rice fields and bean patches, and
coming and going on the tow-paths, are the peo-
ple, like the stars of heaven for multitude, not
one in a thousand of whom has ever had a dream
or an aspiration beyond that of three meals of
rice a day, seasoned with a few vegetables and a
little salt fish. They are hard featured, curi-
ous, unsympathetic, and ungracious, and they
flock to a foreigner, and close him in, if he comes
anywhere in reach of them, like ants to a piece
of bread. One of the least enticing phases of
missionary life in China is that you can never
get away from these people. They encompass
you like a suffocating atmosphere, which one


52 Lights and Shadows of
from the islands of garbage standing up out of
pools of a saturated solution of house and
kitchen refuse. The main street of the city at-
tains the enormous width of ten feet, but the
other streets have an average width of about
seven feet.
As one looks up the street the most obtrusive
feature in the prospect is the long row of painted
and gilded sign boards hanging perpendicularly
in front of the shop doors on either side. The
houses are usually two-storied, the upper stories
being the homes of the people and the lower ones
their shops and stores. Across from the upper
windows, above the gilded sign boards, rop are
stretched, on which are hung blue cotton trou-
sers and petticoats galore, for such an airing as
the atmosphere of Hangchow affords. The fea-
ture of "contrast," which Mr. Curzon declares
to be "the dominant note of Asian individual-
ity," is conspicuously exhibited in the interiors
of the shops and stores. In one of them you will
see displayed the finest and most richly-colored
silks and satins and embroideries in the world.
Next door you will see those same silks being
woven by the untidiest of women on an old ram-
shackle loom that creaks and threatens to fall
down at every stroke of the batten. Next door
to an ivory shop, filled with carvings of such





Mission Work in the Far East. 53
beauty and delicacy as only Chinese patience
and deftness of finger can produce, stands an
auction room for unwashed, second-hand cloth-
ing, or old rags. Xext door to this is a teashop,
where a great crowd is gathered to gossip and
smoke and gamble with dice and dominoes and
fighting crickets, or, with endless chatter and
gesticulation, to settle a half-dozen neighborhood
quarrels at one time. Opium dens are appal-
lingly frequent, half concealed, but revealing
their presence by the emission of their sicken-
ing odors. Entering the court of a Buddhist
temple, once imposing with its massive timbers
and the graduated ascent of its paved approaches,
but looking old and dingy now, its glory long de-
parted, we see a few irreverent worshippers per-
forming before the idols, but a great crowd find-
ing entertainment in the performances of the
professional story-teller, the juggler, the ventril-
oquist, or going into or coming out of the booths
where every conceivable kind of humbug side-
show is in full blast. If we stay there long we
shall find ourselves the greatest side-show of all,
and most inconveniently hustled by a crowd
whose idea of the dignity of an American citizen
is expressed by the greeting, "Where did you
come from, you old red-bristled foreign devil?"
Out in the little narrow street are the thousands


56 Lights and Shadows of
half a mile they have wrought themselves into a
perfect frenzy of rage. Their voices have as-
sumed a tone to which the grating of a shovel
on the hearth is music. Finally one of them
gives utterance to a sentiment whose vileness of
expression and comprehensive breadth of un-
complimentary implication the other cannot
hope to rival, whereupon the victor receives the
plaudits of the crowd, and the vanquished, hav-
ing "lost face," retires to grieve over his dis-
comfiture. I was told that these qiiarrels rarely
had any practical results beyond a little harm-
less pulling of queues, but I saw with my own
eyes three first-class fisticuffs grow out of them,
from which both parties emerged with ugly knots
on their heads, and after which I confess that
my respect for the Chinese and my hopes for
the future of their nation were both considerably
enlarged.
Last and most picturesque of all things to be
seen in this unique street life is the professional
beggar. He is a privileged character, belonging
to a guild that protects his interests, for which
protection he pays an initiation fee of thirty
Mexican dollars.
For an equipment, his face is covered with
something worse than ordinary mud. His gray
blouse, coming to the knees and frayed at the


58 Lights and Shadows of
ters in the cities, most of the men, and some of
the women, spend much of their time itinerating
among the smaller towns and villages. There-
fore the available modes of travel become an
important feature of their environment.
In Central China the canals take the place of
roads, and the principal means of locomotion is
Modes of the house boat. By carrying your
own chair and bed and provisions,
and something to read and a supply of penny-
royal and insect powder, one can enjoy life fairly
well on a house boat, provided he is not restless
on the score of speed. A rice boat is a smaller
but speedier craft, and is not to be recommended
for a rainy night, such as the one Mr. Paxton
and I had for our trip from Sinchang to Soo-
chow, a distance of sixty miles, which we made
in sixteen hours. Its covering is a piece of
bamboo matting, open at both ends, and usually
well supplied with holes, so that you can get full
benefit of both the rain and wind. We asked
the boatman if he had any bugs on board. He
said, "Yes, a couple, but they are family bugs,
and will not draw nigh you." "Any mosqui-
toes?" Answer, "None, if you keep moving;
but if you stop, one and a half." Our faith in
his assurances was not great, but we did keep
moving, and if cither the two bugs or the one


Mission Work in the Far East. 59
and a half mosquitoes did draw nigh us, it was
while we were asleep, and they did not succeed
in waking us.
But when a boat will not take you where you
wish to go, then the problem of locomotion be-
comes like that in the case of the Arkansas trav-
eller, who was told, you remember, that which-
ever way he went he would not go far before he
would wish he had gone some other way. In
the region from Tsingkiang-pu north they have
the "mule litter" and the famous two-wheeled
cart drawn by two mules tandem. Being pre-
vented by want of time from visiting this part
of our field, I did not have the opportunity of
becoming acquainted by personal experience
with these two phases of missionary life. But
of the cart I was told that the wheels were usu-
ally only partially encompassed by the tire, and
that in combination with Chinese roads it is the
most perfect device yet framed by man for dis-
covering the exact location of every joint and
bone in the human body. The wheel-barrow I
had a very small experience of, but, small as it
was, I have not since felt the slightest ambition
to have it enlarged. The Chinese never lubri-
cate their wheel-barrows, because, they say,
"noise is cheaper than oil." You sit on the side
of it, with one foot extended in front and the


60
Lights and Shadows of
other supported by a rope stirrup. To maintain
one's position with dignity when the driver
pushes you in his energetic way across a gully,
requires the most rapid power of adjustment,
as well as forethought and presence of mind. As
a device for teaching one to appreciate the lux-
ury of walking, the Chinese wheel-barrow is in-
comparable. In all the Orient to-day, as in the
days of Isaac and Jacob, the donkey is a favorite
instrument of transportation. I rode one from
Nankin five miles out to the Ming Tombs; but
going back I preferred to walk through the broil-
ing sun. Nothing in China is exactly like what
the same thing is anywhere else in the world.
Whether it be man or animal, the power of
heredity working through millenniums of isola-
tion, with no modification from foreign admix-
ture, has developed in every case something that
is peculiar to China. The donkey is no excep-
tion to this rule. His gait is a rough jog, in-
stead of an easy amble. Our American donkey's
bray, we know, is a unique phenomenon in the
realm of sound. But that of the Chinese donkey
has a quality all its own. It was that, even more
than his gait, which distressed me and made me
rather walk than ride him. There are no words
in English to describe the heart-rendering pathos
of it. It was as if an appeal to heaven against





Mission Wobk in the Far East.
61
the cruelty and oppression of ages were at last
finding utterance in one long, loud, undulating
wail. 'And when our party of three met another
party of six, and all nine of the donkeys began
at one time to exchange the compliments of the
day, then pathos gave place to terror, and one
could only sit appalled and trembling as the
mighty reverberation rolled away on its journey
round the world.
The name of the Chinese inn I had experience
of was inscribed over the door in a character
which signified "House of excellent felicity."
I have no doubt it was a truthful inscription
from a Chinese standpoint, inasmuch as all
their ideas of felicity, comfort, and convenience
are exactly the reverse of onrs. Its guest room
had a door opening without a shutter, through
which the multitudinous Chinese public were
privileged to come in toid inspect us and our be-
longings to their hearts' content. It had a dirt
floor, and its walls and roof were frescoed with
dirt and cobwebs. It had one piece of furniture,
in the shape of a platform in one corner, with a
piece of ragged and dirty straw matting spread
over it for a bed. Such as it was, Mr. Haden
and I were tired enough to take a refreshing
nap on it, and then went on our way rejoicing—
to leave it behind


62 Lights and Shadows of
Missionary If Shakespeare could have visited
homes. jn some 0f the missionary homes in
China, he would have had a new conception of
a thing to describe as shining like a good deed
in a naughty world. It is the wise policy of
most missions to build comfortable western-style
houses for their members, and with the nice
tableware and bric-a-brac ornaments that are to
be had in the Orient for a trifle, it is easy with a
small outlay to make a sweet and attractive
home. Such homes all missionaries ought to
have, if possible, to which they may go when
their day's work is over and find rest from the
nerve strain that one can see must be incident
to work in such conditions as I have described.
But it is not always possible to have such homes.
In opening a new station it usually takes a year,
or sometimes two and three years, of negotiating
and battling with the authorities to buy a piece
of ground. After that comes the experience of
the leisureliness with which Oriental carpenters
carry out a building contract. During this time
the missionary, glad to get a foothold of any
kind, contents himself with such accommoda-
tions as he may be able to secure. I saw in the
outskirts of Kiashing the little three-roomed
mud hovel where Dr. Tenable and Mr. Hudson
spent one whole winter without kindling a fire,


64
Lights and Shadows of
righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
Ghost." One thing I think they crave to know
of us who remain at home—that we cherish
them in our hearts, that we remember them in
our prayers, and that we are resolved to support
them in the work which is ours as well as theirs,
and yet is neither ours nor theirs—but Christ's.
In closing this chapter let me say a word con-
cerning the genuine and delightful spirit of
brotherhood which I found prevailing among
the missionaries of all denominations in China.
The denominational lines existing here are re-
produced there, as-is inevitable. But breaches
.umty ana of spiritual unity growing out of
inchinese these are rare. Presbyterians of all
missions. branches co-operate in work to such
an extent as makes them practically one. I can-
not speak authoritatively of others in that re-
spect, but I can say that I received everywhere
the same welcome into the homes of the mission-
aries of other churches as of those of my own,
and the friendships formed with some of them
I count among the most valued trophies brought
back from mv visit to the Far East.


Mission Work in the Ear East.
65
CHAPTEE V.
The Missionary Problem and Work in
China.
The mission of the church in China is not to
civilize the Chinese. They have a civilization
which is very different from ours, but which is
very old and elaborate, and which, having been
evolved contemporaneously with their national
character, suits them in some respects better
than our civilization ever will. Their ancestors
were dressing in silks and living under estab-
lished government and forms of social life ages
before ours emerged from the forests of north-
ern Europe, where they dressed in animal skins,
ate raw meat for breakfast and roots and berries
for dinner, and drank ale at their feasts out of
cups made of the skulls of their enemies slain in
battle. Our mission is not to introduce among
them our western scientific knowledge and the
material comforts and conveniences of our west-
ern civilization. These will find their way to
them in the course of time. But to the extent
that they do so in advance of our gospel work,
they will constitute an additional barrier in-
stead of an advantage to that work.


66 Lights and Shadows of
The church's business in China is to plant
and establish the kingdom of God; and God's
instrument for that purpose there and here and
every where is the preaching of the gospel.
Preaching In China, just as in this country,
in china. ^e method of preaching needs to be
adapted to the character of the audienee. I at-
tended a Sunday morning service at Hangchow,
where our missionaries have been long enough
to have gathered and trained a church of about
150 members. A native woman trained at our
Hangchow boarding school presided at the
organ. The people sang, with such voices as na-
ture had given them, some of our old church
hymns translated into Chinese to the old fa-
miliar tunes. The preacher was Mr. Dzen, a na-
tive, trained by our mission and ordained as
pastor of the church about three years ago. His
text was, "Enoch walked with God; and he was
not, for God took him." The outline of the ser-
mon, as given me by Eev. G. W. Painter, was,
(1), The meaning of walking with God—con-
stant communion. (2), The conditions—faith;
love; oneness of mind; a common interest. (3),
The results—we shall be afraid of sin; we shall
fear nothing else but sin; we shall be with Him
at the end and enter with Him into His glory.
Though I understood not a word, yet my heart


Mission Work in the Far East. 67
burned within me as I saw in the faces of some
of the listeners the radiance of the new life and
hope which Christ had brought into their dark-
ened souls; and I felt like saying as I looked
over the little church with its plain wooden
benches and uncarpeted aisles, "Surely the Lord
is in this place; this is none other but the house
of God; and this is the gate of heaven."
To reach the outside heathen, other methods
have to be employed. The "street chapel" is the
chief reliance for this kind of work in the cities.
A room is rented that opens on some frequented
street and furnished with plain benches and a
table and, sometimes, a cabinet organ. The mis-
sionary and his native helper go to the chapel
and take a stand where they can be seen by the
passers-by. The sight of the foreigner or the
sound of the organ brings in the crowd, and the
missionary begins to talk to any who will listen.
He has a hard problem before him. Not only
are the ideas he would convey all new and
strange to his hearers, but there are no words
in their language by which they can be conveyed
without endless explanations and circumlocu-
tions. Their language, as well as their thought,
is contaminated by centuries of association with
idolatry. Their idea of God is of Shangti,
whom only the Emperor can worship, and who


68 Lights and Shadows of
has no concern for the affairs of ordinary mor-
tals, or of the god of wealth, or the god of war,
or of Buddha, whose stone image, with its ex-
pressions of idiotic self-complacency, intended
to represent the peace of Nirvana, is the central
figure in all their temples. Their ideas of truth
and morals are all distorted and wrong. They
know not what we mean by salvation. Some, as
they come in, deposit their burdens and take out
their pipes and smoke. Others express audibly
their opinion of the "foreign devil," usually the
reverse of complimentary. The expressions of
countenance are various, but are mostly of sup-
pressed rage or amused curiosity or hopeless
stupidity. Into this unpromising soil the mis-
sionary and his native helper throw broadcast
the good seed of the kingdom. Occasionally one
is seen whose face shows that he is wondering if
the foreigner really knows of a God who is the
friend of the poor and the oppressed and of him
that hath no helper. This one will come again,
and as he hears over and over again the story of
Christ and of his love and power, some day he
will learn the joy and peace of believing on him.
This street-chapel preaching is followed up by
conversations by the wayside with any they can
get to listen to their message, and by the distri-
bution of Bibles and Christian books and tracts.


Mission Work in the Far East.
71
utes' exhortation; then the pledges; then another
hymn dealing very minutely with the subject of
reciprocal duties; then another prayer, after
which the services closed with the long metre
doxology and the benediction. As they started
out next day, leaving the little circle of Chris-
tian friends they had been living among, which
had grown large enough in Hangchow to en-
courage each other under their trials, to take up
their home and work in a community where
they would only have each other to lean on, it
was pathetic to think of the experiences that in-
evitably awaited them.
Let it be hoped that they have found in Him
whom they serve all needed strength, and that
their lives have been blessed by the mutual love
which is known in Chinese wedded life only by
those who have found it in their mutual love for
Christ.1
1 Through the kindness of Miss E. C. Davidson and
Rev. G. W. Painter we are able to give the following
translation in verse of part of the wedding ceremony
referred to above.
Nature of Obligation as Told by Pastor.
1. God has required the vows they take. The husband,
though the head,
Makes promise to revere the wife, nor other woman
wed;


Mission Work in the Far East.
73
hindrance that exists in the hostility of the peo-
ple to foreigners. Chinese education includes
no knowledge of medicine or anatomy or sur-
gery. Consequently they have no physicians
of their own to relieve the manifold and pitiful
May God the Father's constant help secure them last-
ing peace;
Whilst misery, woe, and carking care from them for-
ever cease.
i. O Heavenly Father! ever grant thine unremitting
care;
May clashing discord never jar this God-united pair:
We further crave thy guardian care for ages yet to
come;
May their descendants serve thee, Lord; nor to thy
praise be dumb.
5. May blessings from a Father's hand upon their home
descend,
And grace profound in man and wife in like propor-
tions blend.
Deep reverence for their Saviour-Lord, 0 Holy Ghost,
inspire!
Whilst filial service all through life their single hearts
shall fire.
6. What things we crave, O Father dear! wilt not thou
deign bestow?
That man and wife—unsevered pair—to ripe old age
may grow,
Together bear the ills of life, together share its joy,
And after death in heaven's bright halls together find
employ.
—Translated from the Chinese by the Rev. O. W.
Painter.


Mission Work in the Far East. 75
in the dispensary, applying antiseptic ointments
and bandages to all kinds of horrible sores and
ulcers which the people contract from drinking
their canal water, and from standing bare-
legged in the rice fields; and in dispensing medi-
cines prescribed by the doctor. In addition to
the regular prescriptions, every patient was fur-
nished, for obvious purposes, a small jar of sul-
phur and lard. Some of the cases they handled
I scarcely had the nerve to look at. Yet they
were doing their work cheerfully and happily,
finding their compensation in the luxury of do-
ing good.
In serious surgical cases a written contract is
made with the patient's family, in which they
assume all responsibility for the result. It is
often necessary also to perform the operation in
public to prevent scandalous stories as to what
barbarous things the barbarian doctor does with
his patient. Even with these precautions it is
often possible that a fatal result might lead to a
riot. Dr. Worth told me that he once adminis-
tered chloroform to a woman while a crowd of
her friends stood by with an expression on their
faces which plainly meant, "now, if she does not
come back to life we will make short work with
you." For a moment her pulse did stop beating
and he thought his time had come, but, fortu-


76 Lights and Shadows of
nately, it returned again, and the operation was
a brilliant success. Shortly afterwards another
crowd bro\ight him a dead woman and insisted
that he should try to restore her to life. These
are a few sample illustrations of the medical
mission work. And God is blessing the noble
and self-denying labors of our missionary doc-
tors and of the women that assist them, so that
through them thousands of bitter enemies are
being turned into friends, and the doors are be-
ing opened through which the missionary
preacher can find his way to the ministry of
souls.


80 Lights and Shadows of
the tired merchants come of evenings and sit and
smoke, and drink in the fresh ocean breeze; and
graveled walks, where the young people prome-
nade and tell their story of love and adventure,
to the accompaniment of moonlight and sweet
music.
One would suppose that all these desirable
things of our western civilization, carried out
there and put right before the eyes of the Chi-
nese, would excite their admiration and awaken
in them a desire to have the same things. Let
us see. Passing through a gate in the wall that
separates New Shanghai from Old Shanghai,
we find ourselves in a typical Chinese city, said
to make about the least pretension to decency
and cleanliness of any city in the Empire. Ask
the people of Old Shanghai if they would not
like to have clean streets, and houses with grass
plots around them, and marble-fronted stores
and a pleasure garden. They answer, "No, our
ancestors for thousands of years have dispensed
with such things, and shall we set ourselves up
as wiser and better than they?" I was told that
the municipality of New Shanghai did offer to
extend its waterworks, free of charge, to Old
Shanghai, in the hope of thereby preventing the
pestilences that originate in the foulness of its
streets and canals. They responded by sending


82
Lights and Shadows of
series of examinations in the Confucian classics.
Hundreds of thousands of the young men of
China go up every year to the provincial capit-
als to compete for the degree that puts them in
the line of promotion. These are the so-called
"Literati," whose education we might suppose
would make them the friends of light and pro-
gress. But, as a matter of fact, it only fortifies
them in their lofty scorn of anything more mod-
ern than Confucius. And besides, being either
officials or expectant officials, all their personal
hopes and interests are bound up in the system
that now exists, and so they present a solid front
of opposition to anything in the shape of reform
or change. The few who, by luck, or influence
or bribery, reach the coveted goal of office re-
ceive only nominal salaries from the govern-
ment, which they are expected to supplement by
such means as opportunity may throw in their
way. This opportunity they find in pilfering
the public revenues that pass through their
hands, in exacting bribes from all litigants, and
in torturing accused criminals until the last pos-
sible cash has been extracted from them as the
price of their release. If they should become
Christians, they would have to give up their
handsome incomes from these wages of iniquity.
They would also have to resign their offices, be-











92
Lights and Shadows of
tors from the West, firing salutes from their bat-
tleships in its harbors and asking the privilege
of extending to it the benefits of their protection
and trade. In recent years it has become the
passive but interested subject of mnch interest-
ing diplomacy among these visitors, especially
those representing Russia and England. Rus-
sia's interest was to dominate Korea, not for the
sake of any immediate value to her of the trade
and resources of the country, but with the view
of possessing herself of one of the fine harbors,
notably that of Port Lazareff, on the eastern
coast, both as the long-coveted outlet for her
trans-Siberian trade, and as a place where she
might gradually assemble a navy that would en-
able her to cope with England in the waters of
the Far East. England's interest was to frus-
trate the designs of Russia. Now that Russia
has secured her outlet in Port Arthur on the
China coast, it is noticeable that she is not inter-
esting herself in Korea to the same extent as for-
merly. That she may cease to do so entirely is
a consummation devoutly to be wished, for many
reasons, but especially in the interest of our
Protestant missionary work. Our country has
as yet had no political interests in Korea at all
and has been concerned in none of her recent po-
litical troubles. For this reason our mission-


Mission Work in the Far East.
93
aries are more welcome there than those of any
other country.
The Korean peninsula stretches from the
southern boundary of Manchuria and the north-
east boundary of China southward, between the
Geography thirty-third and forty-fourth degrees
and climate. 0f north latitude. It is traversed
through its whole length by a range of moun-
tains that sends off frequent spurs in both direc-
tions to the sea. These geographical conditions
give it a climate which, excepting the rainy sea-
son, which lasts about two months in summer, is
simply superb. The scenery is picturesque and
the valleys are fertile, and both would be more
so but for the utter denudation of the hills by the
peasants in search of fuel, which is in more
senses than one "the burning question" in all the
Orient. In the north there is said to be some
fine timbered lands, but in the south, where I
travelled, there is only an occasional patch of
scrubby pines, reserved by the government, and
twisted into every conceivable shape by the
winds.
As in China, the hills are all cemeteries,
though not so thickly populated with the dead as
the hills of China. High up on their sides and
tops are the well-kept grassy mounds, the graves
of the well-to-do, generally marked by stone


94 Lights and Shadows of
slabs, and regularly visited and put in order once
a year.
Lower down are the unburied bodies of the
peasants, wrapped in coffins of rice straw, and in
the case of children, mounted on sticks or swung
from the boughs of trees to keep them from be-
ing eaten by the foxes. This objectionable cus-
tom springs, perhaps, not so much from indiffer-
ence to the bodies of their dead as from the fear
that their burial before the proper place had
been selected by the geomancer would bring dis-
aster to the family.
The staple productions are rice and beans and
millet, as condiments to which a variety of sal-
ads, turnips, and red pepper are grown. I found
the native food uneatable, for reasons both of
taste and of sentiment. Unless by special order,
the rice and beans are cooked together and then
seasoned with pepper until the whole mixture
is red. A flavor as of ancient dish water exhales
from the mixture when hot. If meat is served,
one knows not whether it was killed or died a
natural death. Most likely the latter, but if
killed, the method is usually by strangling, so
as not to lose the weight of the blood. One can
venture on the fish, because they have no blood,
and we ourselves have learned no better as yet
than to let the fish we eat die a natural death.


Mission Work in the Far East.
95
The chief reliance of the missionary and trav-
eller in Korea for food for some time to come
must be on canned goods from San Francisco.
With somewhat better conditions of travel and
forage, Korea would be the sportsman's para-
Game Use. ^n tne autumn the grassy hills
. are thick with pheasants, and the rice
fields with ducks and geese. Small deer and
leopards are plentiful in many places, and tigers
scarcely inferior to the Royal Bengal make
themselves altogether too familiar around some
of the villages for the comfort of the Koreans,
who are not supplied with the proper munitions
of war to cope with them. Some of the natives
have old match-lock rifles with which they shoot
ducks and geese sitting, provided they will sit
long enough after the native gets a bead on them
for the old string fuse to burn up to the powder
in the flash pan. With such weapons they can-
not aspire to shoot game on the wing, but they
express their sportsman's instinct by shouts of
delight when they see a foreigner bring down a
flying goose with a breech-loader.
If one wishes to describe the conditions of
interior travel in Korea he may use any de-
Travel rogatory word our language con-
tains, or any combination of them,
without the slightest danger of exaggeration.


96 Lights and Shadows of
There are no made roads and no canals to
take the place of them as in China. Short
journeys may be made in comfort in a sedan
chair. But for long journeys, requiring much
weight and bulk of luggage, the favorite in-
strument of transportation is that unique, nat-
ural phenomenon, the Korean pony. This ani-
mal possesses the general contour of a horse, but
in other respects he is peculiar, and peculiar to
Korea. He is very small, but is a marvel of
strength and endurance. His face is very much
dished, and his face expresses his character,
which attains perhaps the maximum of com-
bined obstinacy and ferocity possible to horse
flesh. Not wishing to do him injustice, I have
made comparison with the observations of other
travellers and find them substantially the same
as my own.. Mrs. Bishop pronounces him to
be "among the most salient features of Korea,"
and says that, though she dearly loved horses,
she was not able in a whole month to establish
any friendly relations with the one she rode.
Mr. Gale, in his "Korean Sketches," tells us
that he exists in three stages of development.
He grows wild on a certain island, where a num-
ber of them are lassoed each year and taken to
the royal stables. Here he spends his palmy
days. When he begins to look shaggy and sheepy





D8
Lights and Shadows of
narrow bank between two flooded rice fields,
Our resting place at night was the Korean inn,
if resting place it could be called. Its guest room
opens on the enclosed back yard of the premises,
the rendezvous of our ponies and of the land-
lord's dogs and pigs and chickens, and furnished
with earthenware jars, the receptacle of what-
ever can be made available to improve the pro-
ductiveness of the rice fields. The room is nine
feet by six, with a raised floor heated hot by a
flue under it, and no opening except the small
door by which we enter. Our alternative was
to open the door to the incursion of crawling
and hopping parasites from without, or to close
it and take our chances with the stifling air
^ within. We unwisely chose the latter, with the
result that, after a brief nap, I awoke in a night-
mare, drenming that I was buried alive. We
then tried it with the door open, and were weary
enough to bid defiance to the animal creation,
large or small, to disturb our slumbers. But
just then there appeared on the scene a Budd-
hist monk with his band of helpers, trying to
exorcise a demon from a neighboring house
where there was small-pox, beating gongs and
blowing something that sounded like a Scotch
bagpipe, and singing tunes, the like of which
I never heard before, and hoped I might never


Mission Work in the Far East.
99
hear again. This benevolent enterprise was kept
up till two o'clock in the morning, with what
success we never learned, as we rose at half-past
four and proceeded on our journey. I indulged
the hope on starting that after a day or two we
would toughen to our experiences and find them
less intolerable. This might have been the case,
but for the development of a Korean carbuncle
on the hip joint. As it was, at the end of the
journey I was more than satisfied to be simply
alive. Such is the romance and luxury of mis-
sionary itinerating in Korea. And at present
much the larger part of male missionary life
there is itinerating.
The port of entry to Korea from the west is
Chemulpo, in whose so-called harbor the tide,
cities and rises from twenty-five to forty feet.
villages. When the tide recedes, the bottom
for a mile out is left entirely bared, leaving
junks and small steamers resting on the. ooze
till another tide comes in to float them. Fifty-
six miles from Chemulpo up the river Han, and
three miles from the river, lies Seoiil, the capi-
tal of the country.
It was up this stretch of river that, in 1872,
Commodore Rogers and Ce.pt. Schley and En-
sign Mitchell Chester, now captain of xbe gun-
boat Cincinnati, attempted to navigate the old


100 Lights and Shadows of
Monocacy, the "Noah's Ark" of our Asiatic
squadron, to avenge the murder of the crew of
an American schooner that was wrecked on the
northwestern coast. They had the usual experi-
ence of those who attempt this journey, whether
by gunboat, steam launch, or junk, of finding
themselves stuck in the mud a few miles up the
river, and they had to take to the land to ac-
complish their purpose. This they did, with dif-
ficulty however, for the Koreans fought desper-
ately from behind their rock forts on the moun-
tain cliffs. But their string-fuse jingals were
too long in going off, and their old Chinese brass
cannon all went off at once, leaving them help-
less at the hands of the Americans, who shot and
bayonetted together about six hundred of them.
The American loss was Lieut. McKee and two
marines killed, and eight wounded. Except in
the display of American pluck it was an un-
worthy episode, which the Koreans seem hap-
pily to have forgotten.
In respect of population, Seoiil ranks as one
of the great cities of the Far East, containing
about 250,000 inhabitants. But in any other
respect than population it hardly deserves the
name of a city at all. It has no arts nor manu-
factures worth speaking of. As to trade, Mrs.
Bishop says truly that "it is the commercial


Mission Work in the Far East. 103
months. In later and more troublous times, the
occasion for the white dress came so often, and
the expense and trouble of changing to it was
so burdensome, that they adopted it as the per-
manent national costume, so as to be in readi-
ness for the emergency as it might arise.
When any member of a family dies, the fam-
ily is expected to go into mourning from one to
three years, according to the nearness of the re-
lationship. The badge of this family mourning
for the men is an enormous bamboo hat, of coni-
cal shape, coming down over the face and shoul-
ders like an umbrella, and signifying that
"Heaven is angry with the mourner, and does
not wish to look upon his face." During this
mourning period it is contrary to custom for the
man to marry. And so it often happens that, by
a succession of family bereavements one finds
himself carried on past youth and middle life,
even to old age, and condemned at last to an en-
forced permanent celibacy. This is the most de-
plorable of calamities to an Oriental, because
it means that he shall have no male posterity to
care for his grave and to worship his departed
spirit. Furthermore, with the Koreans it en-
tails the disadvantage that an unmarried man,
though he should live to ninety years of age, is
always regarded and treated as a "boy," entitled


104
Lights and Shadows of
to no respect, and always to be addressed in the
"lowest talk." It is in their funeral processions
that mourning is reduced to the finest of the fine
arts. The pall-bearers carry the coffin hoisted
on poles, singing a woeful dirge, and ever and
anon turning and retracing their steps, or stop-
ping and marking time, as though they could not
go upon their melancholy errand. Much of this
mourning, of course, is mere form and confor-
mity to custom. But perhaps there is no nation
of people more afflicted with real sorrows than
the Koreans, and none therefore with a deeper
need of, and a stronger claim on, that gospel
which offers the only real comfort that this
world knows to the mourning sons of men.
On landing at Chemulpo, a boy about fourteen
years of age took my two steamer trunks and a
Burden- valise and piled them on a wooden
bearers. rack,which they call a"chee-kai," and
getting under the burden, walked with it with
apparent ease up a steep hill about two hundred
yards to the hotel. Another, of about the same
size, took a cooking stove on his back and did the
same thing. It is said to be not uncommon for a
grown man to carry in this way for several miles
a burden of four hundred pounds. A country-
man will carry one hundred and fifty pounds
of rice on his back from the point of the penin-


Mission Work in the Far East. 109
tleman of elegant leisure. Being quite numer-
ous, not all of them can be in office at any one
time. But those who are in know not how soon
they may be out, and those who are out hope
soon to be in, and so they stand by one another,
extending and receiving favors as their mutual
.needs and abilities demand and make practi-
cable. The first principle of Yangban political
economy is that no one of his class is ever under
any circumstances to do any work. Even to
light his own pipe would require an altogether
unbecoming amount of exertion, and so he
smokes a pipe with a stem so long that he must
needs have a servant to light it for him. When
out of pocket, he pays long visits to his friends,
using and abusing the hospitality which it would
be a disreputable breach of ancient custom not
to extend.
The second principle of their political econ-
omy is that no one of the common people is to
be allowed to accumulate property. A new gate,
a repaired roof, or any visible sign of improved
circumstances is liable to prove the occasion of
arrest. The charge may be that the man was
heard to speak disrespectfully of his mother.
No matter what the charge is, once in the magis-
trate's prison he stays there, being "bambooed"
every morning at sunrise, until all the available








112 Lights and Shadows of
ests, are what the men think the women were
made for. Love, confidence, and companionship
between husbands and wives are almost un-
known. Hence there are no homes in Korea.
To carry the light of the gospel into these gloomy
little prisons and transform them into Christian
homes is the work which a trumpet voice of duty
and opportunity is now calling the women of our
country to do.
Excepting the non-existence of Tauism, Korea
is religiously a small replica of China. The edu-
„ , cation of the higher classes is based on
Religions. °
the Confucian classics, and the Con-
fucian ethics are their substitute for religion.
Confucian ancestor worship prevails among all
classes. Buddhism was transplanted from China
in the fourth century and soon gained the nomi-
nal adherence of the people, but it seems never
to have taken very strong hold of the popular
mind, and is now far gone in dilapidation and
decay. Its temples are few and mean, and its
priesthood in such disrepute that, until since the
late war, one was not allowed to enter the gates
.of the capital. Demon worship is universal, but,
owing to the less serious turn of the Korean
mind, it is not quite such a reign of terror as it
is in China. Yet it is bad enough, and probably
costs the country each year as much as would be
necessary to evangelize it from one end to the


114 Lights and Shadows of
CHAPTEE VIII.
Mission Work in Korea.
The history of Protestant mission work in
Korea is brief but glorious. Although only fif-
teen years have elapsed since the Avork began, a
Christian church already exists, containing sev-
eral thousand members, a church full of life,
vigor and aggressiveness, and showing both the
disposition and the ability to support and propa-
gate itself.
The first missionaries anticipated much dif-
ficulty in carrying on their work from the lethar-
Diiiicuities. &c c^aracter °f the people. But the
enterprising spirit manifested by
those who have become Christians indicates that
this lethargy is rather a temporary product of
their environment than an innate and ineradi-
cable trait.
The language is also said to be more difficult
of acquisition than either the Chinese or Japa-
nese, with the added difficulty that there are
almost no competent native teachers of it avail-
able. The native reads the written language


Mission Work in the Far East. 115
with a dreadful and discordant tune, which no
foreigner could learn if he would or would learn
if he could. Consequently, the process of learn-
ing to read is slow and toilsome to the last de-
gree. Learning to talk is even more slow and
toilsome, because of the multitude and confu-
sion of honorifics, the misuse of which subjects
the speaker to misunderstanding and ridicule.
One must indicate to which one of the many
social grades the person spoken to belongs by
using a different termination to the verb for
each grade. The use of "high talk" to a coolie
would be as absurd in his estimation as the use
of "low talk" to a Yangban would be insulting.
Patience and perseverance, however, for about
the space of three years, will serve to loose the
tongue of any missionary of average linguistic
ability, and these difficulties are of small ac-
count compared with some that have to be en-
countered in other fields.
Three things especially combine to make Ko-
rea one of the most interesting and hopeful of
Encovraging au mission fields to-day. One is the
fentures. wav j^e people live, in villages rather
than in large cities, rendering them more easy
of access and more susceptible of being influ-
enced. Another is the disposition they have
shown to help themselves and support their own


116 Lights and Shadows of
work. "The third is their comparative friendli-
ness to the foreigner. Instead of calling him
"foreign devil," like the Chinese, they look up
to him with respect and address him as Tai-in
—"Great man"—and, although at first some-
what offish and afraid, by a little kindness they
are easily won to confidence and friendship.
This friendly attitude is perhaps largely due to
the fact that from the beginning the medical
work has gone hand in hand with, or rather in
advance of, the preaching work.
The first resident missionary was Dr. H. N".
Allen, of the Northern Presbyterian Board.
Medical Soon after his arrival, in 1884, he
missions. wa8 ca]lecl {n to sew up some gashes
in the person of Mr. Min Yong Ik, a cousin of
the Queen, made during a riot at the Palace. In
appreciation of this service the king established
a hospital, of which Dr. Allen was put in charge.
This opened the way for Dr. H. N. Underwood,
who came soon after, to begin his evangelistic
work. And from that day to this Dr. Allen,
Dr. Avison, Dr. Scranton, of the Methodist
Episcopal church, and other physicians at Seoul,
have, by their ministrations of mercy to the
thousands of sufferers who have come to them
for help, been constantly making friends for the
gospel and securing the government toleration


Mission Work in the Far East. 117
ana protection, which have enabled us to carry
on our work everywhere, with one or two excep-
tions, without let or hindrance. Among our
pioneer band of Southern Presbyterians is Dr.
A. D. Drew, who worked with the other physi-
cians at the capital for the first three years while
getting his tongue loosed, and has since been
working in the southern provinces where the
Southern Presbyterian stations are. He is now
known all over the country, and by reason of his
work has, I believe, more influence than any
other man, native or foreign, in southern Korea.
While I was at his home in Kunsan two men
came to be treated by him, both of whom had
walked from their homes, more than a hundred
miles distant. As the result of his unremitting
and self-denying labors, and those of other be-
loved physicians, the way now lies wide open all
over southern Korea for our gospel work.
I saw at Seoiil a neat church, seating about
two hundred people, which the native Presbyte-
Native r^an Christians there had built en-
enterprise, tirely by their own exertions and sac-
rifices. The men wrought with their hands, the
women sewed, one man pawned his spectacles,
and most of them tithed their incomes of from
two to five dollars a month twice over for the
cause. In the work of the Northern Presbyte-


118 Lights and Shadows of
rians in the northern provinces thirty-five
churches have been built in this way, many self-
supporting schools established, and many native
workers are spreading the gospel news far and
wide, nearly all of them entirely supported by
their own people.
The work at our southern stations is in a less
advanced stage, but is being conducted on the
same self-supporting basis, and is opening up in
a way that gives promise of the same kind of suc-
cess. At Chunju I found Mr. and Mrs. Rey-
nolds, and Mr. and Miss Tate, and Mr. Harri-
son and Miss lngold living, not in the palatial
residences that certain Oriental travellers on
the steamer going over told me the missionaries
always lived in, but in the regulation mud huts
of the natives, with their little rooms of from
six to nine feet square. Here they had been for
two years. And yet they seemed as happy as
any of the people I know who live in two-story
brick houses in this country. At Kunsan I found
Dr. Drew and Mr. Junkin with their families
and Miss Linnie Davis living not only in the
thatched mud huts, but also in the mud when
it rained, for they were down in the valley, right
among the natives. They were happy also, ex-
cept that some of them were suffering in health
from their surroundings. If all our church at


Mission Wobk in the Fab East.
119
home could have communicated to it some of
their heroic and self-sacrificing spirit, the whole
Korean peninsula would soon be resounding
with what I heard at the Sunday morning ser-
vice at Knnsan. About forty men were seated
on the floor of the little native dwelling that
served for a church. About the same number of
women were present. They were required by
Korean custom to be invisible, but were permit-
ted to hear and participate in the service through
a piece of cheese cloth stretched over the door of
an adjoining room. When Mr. Reynolds
preached I was impressed by their reverent at-
tention. When he led in prayer they leaned over
until-their foreheads rested on their hands laid
upon the floor. When they sang their words were
strange and their voices unmelodious, but I rec-
ognized the tune as Coronation, and I knew they
were singing in their Korean tongue,
"All hail the power of Jesus' name,
Let angels prostrate fall;
Bring forth the royal diadem,
And crown him Lord of all."
Dear reader, we cannot tell what changes the
future may bring, but wo know that this is the
day of the church's opportunity in Korea. God
has set before us there an open door, which He
will permit no man to shut if we will only enter


120 Mission Work in the Far East.
it. It is in the hope that it may contribute some-
thing towards awakening those who read it to
the need of the gospel, and to the obligation rest-
ing on us to make it known in Japan, China, and
Korea that this little volume is sent forth.


Appetoix.
REPORT TO THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OP .
FOREIGN MISSIONS, BY THE SECRETARY,
ON HIS VISIT TO CHINA, KOREA AND JAPAN,
1897.
To the Executive Committee of Foreign Missions:
I hereby present to you the report of my visit to
our missions in China, Korea and Japan. This
visit was made in accordance with the advice of the
General Assembly sitting at Charlotte, N. C, and
with the instruction of the Executive Committee
given at its meeting held on June 8, 1897.
The advice of the Assembly was given on condi-
tion that the expense of the visit should be pro-
vided for without drawing on the Foreign Mission
treasury. The committee's instruction was given
on receipt of information that a contribution of
$100 had been offered from a friend in the city of
New York, not connected with our church, and
that other contributions, believed to be sufficient,
had been offered from other private sources, which
could not in any way affect the regular contribu-
tions to our treasury. I am glad to report on my
return that the expense of the visit was thus fully
met.
Leaving home on July 26th, I sailed from San
Francisco on August 5th, and reached Shanghai
on September 1st, The plan of the visit included


122 Lights and Shadows of
an absence of five months, allowing two months for
the outward and return voyage, and three months
for work in the different fields. Of this time it
was arranged to give six weeks to China and three
each to Korea and Japan.
In China I visited all the stations of what is
known as "The Southern Circuit," except Lingwu,
which I was prevented from reaching by continu-
ous rains during my visit to Hangchow. On ac-
count of detention by sickness and the impos-
sibility of securing prompt transportation, I was
compelled to forego the pleasure and profit of visit-
ing the three northern stations of Tsing-kiang-pu,
Suchien, and Chuchow-foo. In Korea I visited
Seoul, where the headquarters of the mission are
still temporarily located, and the two stations in
the southern provinces, Chun-ju and Kunsan, the
only ones as yet regularly occupied. In Japan I
visited all the stations except Takamatsu,1 where,
at present, we have no resident missionary.
On the ninth day of December I took passage on
the Pacific Mail S. S. China, reaching San Fran-
cisco on December 23d and Nashville on December
28th.
At every point visited, with two or three excep-
tions, I preached to the native Christians through
an interpreter, and also, as opportunity offered, in
the street chapels to congregations of unbelievers.
Everywhere the native Christians received my visit
as an evidence of our special interest in them, and
everywhere I was charged by them with messages
of love and gratitude to the church at home, and
with requests for our prayers in their behalf.
1 Since occupied by the Revs. W. C. and W. McS. Buch-
anan.


Mission Wobk in the Far East. 123
Two weeks of the time given to China were occu-
pied with the exercises of the Thirtieth Anniver-
sary Conference of the Mission, and of the regular
annual mission meeting, held at the same time. I
also attended the annual meeting of the Korean
mission held at Kunsan, and an adjourned meeting
of the Japan mission held at Kobe. I participated
freely in the deliberations of all these meetings, on
the understanding that no advice or opinions I
might express concerning matters falling under
the jurisdiction of the missions were to be taken
as official declarations, or to have any other weight
than that to which their wisdom might entitle
them. I was thus enabled to gain much valuable
information concerning the details of the work.
These meetings also furnished the opportunity of
becoming personally acquainted with many of the
missionaries who were previously known to me
only through correspondence, and for establishing
bonds of personal affection, which I account as
among the-most valuable of the results to be at-
tained by my visit to them.
So far from feeling qualified by so brief and
hurried a visit, to speak with authority on those
questions of method and policy concerning, which
both missionary societies at home and missionaries
on the field have been divided in opinion, I only
realize the more how difficult and many sided many
of these questions are, and am more than ever con-
vinced of the wisdom of that feature of our revised
manual, which devolves on the missions a larger
share of responsibility than they formerly had for
the management of the work in the field.
In stating certain conclusions to which I was led
by my observation of the work, I will speak first of
some which concern all of the three missions alike.


124 I^ghts and Shadows of
Missionary Salaries.
In 1895 the salaries of our missionaries in the
East were fixed on the basis of a report made by
Eev. J. L. Stuart, in April, 1893, after a visit and
careful investigation made by him as to the con-
ditions and cost of living in the three fields, as
follows:
Single Married
Missionaries. Couples.
China, $500 $ 800
Japan and Korea, 600 1,000
Salaries in Japan have since been reduced, ac-
cording to estimates sent from that field, to $500
for single missionaries, and $950 for married
couples, and in China to $450 for single mission-
aries, and in Korea $550. These salaries are lower
than those of any other missionaries in those fields
receiving a fixed salary. (The China Inland Mis-
sion, the Christian Alliance, and possibly some
others pay a pro rata of the funds received—the
salaries being thus contingent as to amount.) Do
they now admit of any further reduction consist-
ently with the idea of giving our missionaries "a
comfortable and economical support?"
On the one hand, since the date of Mr. Stuart's
report, the movement of the rate of exchange has
been in favor of the missionaries. The Mexican
dollar, then worth about sixty-two and a half cents,
is now worth about forty-eight cents, and the Jap-
anese yen, then worth seventy cents, is now worth
fifty cents.
On the other hand, the movement of prices,
especially in the last two years, has been against
them, about in the same degree, except in the in-
terior of China. There the rise in prices has been
steady, but less rapid than in Japan and Korea.


126 Lights and Shadows of
sons the cost of living is fully as great, if not
greater, for single women than for single men.
Dentistry is enormously high, in China the for-
eign dentists at Shanghai being the only ones ac-
cessible. In Japan there are native dentists who
work at reasonable rates, but foreign dentists
charge about the same as in Shanghai, and to have
work done satisfactorily, it is necessary to employ
foreign dentists.
On the whole, my conclusion from all I could see
and learn in regard to this matter is that the sal-
aries as fixed in 18!)o, on the basis of Mr. Stuart's
report, are as low as they can be made without the
danger of subjecting our missionaries to actual
hardship and embarrassment. My conviction is
most decided that no reduction should be made in
the salaries of married missionaries.
Mission Property.
In the matter of mission property our policy has
always been to own as little, in foreign lands, as
the necessities of the work would allow. I saw
nothing that led me to doubt, but much to confirm
my belief in the wisdom of this policy.
In China, while the right to purchase land is
guaranteed by treaty, the actual purchase is often
resisted by the local officials and sometimes be-
comes the occasion of serious trouble. In Korea
we can gain no fee simple title to land except in a
treaty port, and in Japan none at all. But in the
case of missionary residences, in China the alterna-
tive is between the danger of having trouble with,
and perhaps temporarily aggravating the hostility
of the natives, on the one hand, and the certainty
of suffering from climate and environment on the
other. In Chinese cities the dwellings, even of the


Mission Wobk in the Far East. 127
better classes, are packed together on densely
crowded streets, and surrounded by indescribable
conditions of discomfort and unhealthfulness. The
ruling idea in their architecture is the exclusion of
sunlight and fresh air. The physical constitution
of the Orientals seems, by the power of heredity,
to be in some degree adjusted to these conditions.
But in the case of Europeans and Americans the
battle is always sooner or later a losing one. Sev-
eral of our missionary families in China are now
living in native houses, and in every such case
there were one or more members of such families
who seemed to me to be suffering in consequence of
it. Moreover, in order to preserve the mental and
physical condition necessary for their best work,
in China especially, our missionaries need homes,
to which they may periodically retire, and find rest
from the nerve strain produced by the ceaseless
pressure of curious, unsympathetic, and hostile
crowds.
-In Korea, and in the part of the country occu-
pied by our mission especially, it may be said in
general that there are no native houses, but only
huts, with mud walls and thatched roofs and
rooms the size of our dressing rooms and closets.
Japanese houses and the conditions surrounding
them are better than those of China and Korea,
but their walls are all sliding partitions which
cannot be made tight enough to afford adequate
protection from the winter climate. Leases of
ground may be made in Japan for periods of
twenty (20) years or more. The rents paid for a
native house for ten years will ordinarily be suffi-
cient to build a comfortable foreign style dwelling.
My conviction is, therefore, that in all those fields
our missionaries should be encouraged to obtain


128 Lights and Shadows of
land, with such security of tenure as the case ad-
mits of, and build their own dwellings, rather than
to risk life or health in attempting to live in na-
tive houses.
On the other hand, no matter how much our in-
come may be increased, I trust that no large pro-
portion of it will go into the mission buildings of
which I saw so many in the East, planned on a
scale which the native church can never hope to
rival, producing the impression of unlimited
wealth at the disposal of the missions that build
them, and thus tending to discourage rather than
to stimulate native effort.
Self-Suppokt.
For some years past there has been an effort,
more or less united, on the part of the missions
and the societies at home to introduce into the
work more largely than heretofore, the principle
of self-support. I am glad to report that our mis-
sions are among the most strenuous supporters of
this policy, in all the eastern fields. Our China
mission has been noted from the beginning for the
economy with which its work in conducted, which
fact was more than once mentioned to its praise
by members of other missions who took part in
our Anniversary Conference. By pursuing a dif-
ferent policy they could have had more visible re-
sults of their work to show at the present time;
but the foundations they have been laying would
have been less solid and enduring; and they can
now look forward to a brighter and happier future
than if.they had sought to force a more rapid de-
velopment by the lavish use of money.
In Japan, where the opposite policy has been
pursued by all the missions, more than elsewhere,


Mission Work in the Far East. 129
the zeal of our mission in the policy of self-sup-
port has brought its members in some places into
more or less strained relations with leaders of the
native church. It is too much to expect of these
that they should see the matter from our stand-
point, and the problem of changing from the old
to the new plan is one that requires to be handled
with great tact and delicacy. But in my judgment
the change is vital to the future purity and power
of the church, and those who are working to that
end should receive the earnest sympathy and co-
operation of their home societies and boards. With
such co-operation, the success of the movement in
behalf of self-support in Japan is already assured.
Our Korean work is being conducted from the
beginning on the "Nevius Plan" of self-support,
and the native Christians there have not learned,
and it is to be hoped, will never learn, that there
is any other plan.
Medical Work.
I was impressed by all I saw of our medical mis-
sion work, with its exceeding value and import-
ance. But so much depends on the work being
done in the best way, that only those should be
sent as medical missionaries who have had the best
training our schools afford, supplemented by some
hospital experience. They should also have a full
and thorough equipment for surgical work. The
amount of $200 allowed by our manual for medical
outfit is insufficient for this purpose. It is the
judgment of all our medical missionaries with
whom I consulted that this amount should be at
least doubled. The dispensary work is valuable,
but docs not furnish the opportunity which is so
desirable for spiritual work in connection with the


130 Lights and Shadows of
medical work. For this purpose it is necessary
that they be furnished with adequate facilities for
treating "in patients," which none of them now
have except Dr. Wilkinson, at Soochow. It is not
the policy of the committee, nor of our missions,
to invest Foreign Mission funds in the building of
large hospitals. But in order to success of the
work, and to securing the best spiritual results
from it, the effort should be made to supply each
medical missionary, as soon as possible, with means
to build some inexpensive rooms where difficult
cases can be properly treated and cared for, and
where the missionary evangelist can have the op-
portunity of reaching them.
It was also a common complaint in the hospitals
I visited that their evangelistic force was insuffi-
cient to follow up the work so as to secure the
largest and best results from it. I think that in
the future development of our medical work we
should look well to this point. The tendency of
all "institutional" mission work is to localization,
whereas, it seems to me, such work, under the
present conditions of the mission problem, is only
justifiable when it is so managed that the institu-
tion becomes a center of radiation.
China.
Notwithstanding the many and great difficulties
that encompass the work in China, in most of the
places occupied by our workers, encouraging prog-
ress is being made. If I should offer any criticism
of our past policy in that field, it would be that
there has all along been too much scattering of the
forces. Stations have been opened faster than we
have been able to man them for effective work,
with the results that new missionaries have often
been pushed into places of responsibility before


Mission Work in the Far East. 131
they were prepared for it by a mastery of the lan-
guage, and the work of itinerating the country has
suffered.
Most of our centers are in the large cities,
where it is necessary, for many reasons, that they
should be. But good strategy would seem to re-
quire that special emphasis be placed on work in
the country, because there is at present the point of
least resistance, and because among the farmers in
the country villages there is to be found a more
hopeful element out of which to gather self-sup-
porting and aggressive churches than that which
is mainly accessible to us in the cities. To carry
on effective country work from a center in the city,
requires at least three men, besides the necessary
provision for women's work. There are only three
of our China stations having that number of men
who have been in the field long enough t© do regu-
lar work. I would therefore recommend that the
committee veto the opening of any more stations
in China until all those now occupied have been
properly manned.
Japan.
The missionary situation in Japan is in some
respects critical, and contains many elements re-
quiring wisdom and forbearance in those who have
to deal with it. The spirituality of the native
church has suffered from the political ferment the
country has been in during and since the war with
China, and from the influences that have come to it
in connection with the opening of foreign trade.
Its orthodoxy has suffered from the elimination
of the reformed symbols from the creed of the
Church of Christ in Japan, and from the importa-
tion from this country and from Europe of ration-
alistic views, especially concerning the word of


132 Lights and Shadows of
God and the doctrine of the atonement. Its activ-
ity has been lessened by the too large use of foreign
money in the employment of native workers. On
the other hand, I had the pleasure of meeting
many members of the native church who impressed
me as being sound, earnest and praying men, as
well as men of character and ability. The estab-
lishment of a church of which this can be said, is
one of the successes, and n6t one of the failures of
mission work, and its future may be looked forward
to with encouragement and hope.
I think it is now generally recognized that, in
Japan, mission work in general, and as a conse-
quence, that of the Japanese church which has
grown out of it, is subject to the criticism of
having been too much confined to one class of the
people. When the feudal system was overthrown,
the feudal retainers, known as "Samurai," found
themselves in the new order of things without a
reason of existence. This event, happening just
before the country was opened to mission work,
furnished the opportunity of reaching this class,
which proved readily accessible, and out of it the
present membership of the churches has been
largely gathered. The present most urgent need
is the evangelization of the lower classes. And
this is a work which a ministry drawn mainly
from the Samurai class, because of the strong class
spirit in all Oriental countries, and for many other
reasons, cannot reasonably be expected to push
with the energy and sympathy necessary to success.
For this purpose an increased number of foreign
missionaries is needed, until a native ministry
drawn from the lower classes can be raised up.
Missionaries for Japan, however, should be selected
with greatest care. They should if possible be
tried men—men with some degree of maturity, ex-
perience, and approved wisdom. * * *


Mission Woek in the Far East. 133
KOEEA.
Apart from some ominous clouds on the politi-
cal horizon, the whole missionary situation in Ko-
rea is cheering in the highest degree. The people
are much less anti-foreign than other Orientals.
Their friendship is readily won by kind treatment.
The Presbyterian missions working in co-opera-
tion there are unanimous in support of the self-
supporting policy, and consequently there is no
difficulty in carrying on the work on that basis.
What competent observers have pronounced to be
the most interesting and successful mission work
now being done in the world is that of the North-
ern Presbyterians in the province of Pyeng-Yang.
The work of our mission in the southern provinces,
as yet only two years old, is already yielding re-
sults in hopeful conversions and in large numbers
of inquirers and adherents. * * * There are
few large cities, the people living mostly in vil-
lages, rendering them more easy of access, and
more susceptible of being influenced. If the field
could be at once supplied with a sufficient number
of workers, the church might soon have the joy
of seeing the whole nation evangelized. This re-
sult can be achieved much more easily before than
after the advent of western civilizatian. Unedu-
cated Buddhism and Confucianism are much less
formidable foes than educated atheism.
Political troubles may also complicate the situa-
tion in the future. Now the way is open for al-
most unhindered gospel work. While in Korea I
was continually reminded of the Saviour's words
concerning the white fields and the waiting har-
vest, and I could not help from coveting the privi-
lege offered to those to whom God has given the
means that would enable them to say to us, "Find
the men who are willing to go and do this work,
and we will provide their support."











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