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Page 8
“...father, when look-
ing for a euitable house, said the most important things were
Church emi School. it must be fairly near a helpful ministry .
and good achools, Mr. David Thomas was then the miniater at
Bighbury Chapel, the miselonary collection was so large that
Mir. Jackson decided it was a missionary spirited Church, He
much appreciated the thoughtful sermons and the reverent
atmosphere of the Church of which he and hie wife at once became |
members. iater he was elected deacon. ‘Thare was @ Mission ,
CHapel in comection with Highbury and there Mr. Jackson preached
regularly for sams years each Sunday evening. ‘The five elder
The girle now attended Clifton Ledies' College, a school
on modern linea, auch like the High Sehools new to be found
everywhere. | |
Amy was short for hey age and the macters thought her ;
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clever in consequence. When a tall girl, not much older,
could not solve & problem in algebra which Amy did at once,
he observed, “How is it you cannot de it when that...”
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Page 20
“...1875 ~ 1880.
In each of them was o missionary came to weleame Any. She
was delighted, for she bad never met any of them and in
fact did not know anyone in @11 the land, so it wae very nice
to get & warn weleows and not to have to enquire her way in
unknown place to the Mission House. There waa a high wind
and the seo was etii2 rough. Or. Ritel asked Auy whether
she would be nervous if they had the sail up? She laughed
at the bare idea, but he said his wife would be afraid, Amy
enjoyed the sail, which was a very abort one. She found she
was to stay with Mr. ami Mrs. Mdge at firet, ae there was no
house for the umerried ladies then. itisa Rowe, whose
Lieague she was to be, Lived with a widew lady belonging
to ancther Mission.
Hongkong is a beautiful Islend and Amy felt that the
iines had fallen to her in pleasant places.
Ber firet care was to get a teacher, A Christian man
taught her for the first month. It was rather weird to be
eet down with a man who could/unlerstand a word one said and...”
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Page 21
“...going to a school
neer, After a year or so Awy bad @ man teacher again, this
time a deacon in the Lil.Seichool, He took a great intersat
in helping her to prepare Aible Lessons and was very much more
JLiigont than tire, Chan who, however, was employed to |
teach & number of women to read, Some of those became Bible-
wonent they Lived downstairs in the iiienton House, and ad |
came in to Prayers every morning. After 4 time the teacher A
ani her granddaughter taught one of the largest of the Mission —
(1g) a |
En aD ane EET...”
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Page 22
“...months when she was
ealied upon to take ® class in the Sunday Sehool. The good
Little girls gat etill and looked eolemn when the new |
misdionary made all sorte of queer mistakes. WNone thought
of laughing. Heppily eke hed pictures te show them go
they got some ides of what she was talking about. She began 4
to go to the day echools too, and hear the booke. In those
days Ghine#e schoole taught all the lessons by rote, and
the Superintendent's business was to hear their recitations,
In the Mission schools teachers were supposed to explain
the books learnt, or at any rate the religious books. Amy
goon learnt to ask questions or to follow the girle when
they interpreted the book style they had learnt by heart
into the colloquial of everyday life.
Amy tried to study seven hours a day, and would have
(20)...”
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Page 24
“...with bows —" arrows, Shot, as they rode by, at a
target. The Manchus, with long feathers in their hats, were
the most picturesque.
But Amy could only spend a week or two away from her
studies and work. Thet Autumn Mies Rowe came to live with
her. She was far from strong and often had fever. She wae
much older than Amy and was an interesting companion, but
her ideas of what should and what should not be done were
very atrong and had to be taken count of by all concerned.
Dr. Eitel had left the Mission to becone Government Inspector
of Schoole; he had six children and a miseionary's salary
wae hardly enough to live on. He kept on very friendly
terma with all, end ocessionally persuaded some to accompany
him on hie trip round the I¢land to inspect the village
echools, In the schools opened by the Britioh Goverment
they ueed & terles of reading books which the children had
not only to resd but to explain and write from dictation.
Thie was the beginning of the revolution of teaching through~
out...”
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Page 25
“...ell when there were forty or more children to look after, all
none room. ‘The teachers got a good share of the grant,
and the knowledge that not only the Mieston Superintendent
might come in at any time, but that the Government Inspector
might do go also, made them very punctual, and kept them up
to the mark.in many ways.
Hongkong if a great place for visitors, and in thoge
daye, when there were no other Miesions but the London
Missionery Society, the Church Missionary Society and ‘a
Basel Mission there, miseionaries of all societies passing
through Hongkong came to one or other of these Missions. In
the Spring of 1880 a large party of L.u.S. workers came _
through; @ome were going home, but one arrived the same day
on hie way out. Arnold Foster was not then connected with
the L.M.3,. ae he wes coming out s¢ Chaplain to the Hankow
community, but he had worked for the L.4.5. for several
years already and intended still to do 80, though not formally |
connected with the old Seciety. Amy...”
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Page 26
“...Thomas,
and had been to the Bristol Missionary Meetings shortly
before coming out. She hoped to see more of him the next
day, but after he head left the Shalmere' house, where she
had met him, Mre. Ghaimers asked her if ehe would help
entertain a number of children on their way home from Hankow,
90 Amy reluctantly offered to take them to the Gardens the
next day, fearing she would thereby lose her chance of another
talk with Mr. Foster. However, se it beppened when he came
ashore he called at the Mission House and hearing of the
expedition to the gardens asked whether he might come too?
It was a sunny day, and the gardens were lovely, the palme
stood out against the bluest of blue skies, and they walked
and talked in a land of enchantment long to be remembered.
Sut though Mr. Foster seriously considered the desirability
of missing hie steamer he decided against it and was soon on
his way North, leaving Amy to piod on as before.
Then came news of her father's death. She had been
more or lese...”
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“...agked the nurse about the probability of goon going home, ;
and when ehe told him it was not likely he had many hours
to wait he stretched up hie hands saying, "Glory be to God."
A few hours later he gave a long, long look at hie wife, ,
then gazing up saw something the watcher by his bed could not
See, and enue hie eyes with o emile, one short breath, and
he wag safe in Heaven. Amy could give thanks through her
tenre; she hac really hardly expected ever to see him again
when she joined the Mission, that in those dsya only gave
furloughs omce in ten years ~- Heaven seemed nearer than
tnglend.
Belle wrote, "Heaven is richer for ue to-day than it
ever was before. The dear, dear father has made it home for
ud. Ien't it beautiful to have him again to go before and
be ready to take his babies into the Home where hie experience
and guidance will help us again? He wae longing to go, his
mind was clear and calm, thinking of everything to eave the
(25) y...”
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Page 30
“...this time to Mre. Jackson, she said, “You do not ask my
permission. I suppose it was unnecessary as my child was
already given up to the Mission, nevertheless I eordially
give it, thankfully too. My Amy was always my most precious
ehild, never giving me uneasiness of any kind, loving her
Bible and her Lord from her earliest years. “hile I write
I think of the sweet baby attitude in which she would lie
on the rug spelling out her large printed Testament .*
One day ® young woman came to see Amy in great
distress. She had run away from home and begged to be allowed
to stay 2t the Mission House and study with the women who
lived there. Hers wae a very ead story. Her parents were
Christians, but both poor and ignorant. When only fifteen
she was married to a boy of the same age, whose mother was
an ardent idolator. very morning she told A Ying to light
the incense sticks and red candles before the picture of
the goddess of mercy. Though 4 Ying hed never been to echool
and could not read...”
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Page 31
“...The poor girl was only seventeen. Any said ehe could not
keep her long, but she might stay = few days and she wouid
See what could be done. %0 she joined the women living in
the houee in their studies with the 3iGlewoman. After a few
dmye her mother-in-law called at the Mission House and
promised thet if the girl would go back with her she should
not be compelled to worship idole in the future. Amy felt
ehe had no right to keep the girl and hoped that the knowledge
that the girl had friends to whom she could come would make
the woman afraid further to perseoute her. It was hard to let
her go, and as Amy left Hongkong not long after she never
heard what became of poor A Ying. _ |
| When Amy realised that her life-work would not be in
Hongkong she decided to get through her lenguage examinations
as quickly as possible #@o that she might begin to etudy
Mandarin, the language spoken in Hankow, where she would be
after her marriage. Mr. Foster sent a teacher and Amy gave |
six month to study...”
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Page 38
“...wea no
A religion at all.
There wat ® G6mall day~school for girls in connection
with the Mission; Amy Degan at once going to this; the teacher
wae the firet woman to be baptized in Central China, a very
good Christianrbut not particularly well educated. There
was a Biblewoman too with whom Amy visited sometimes, she
very soon began going to the hospital to talk to the women
out-patients, at first she had to listen to the Biblewomen but
che soon began to talk herself end found this = much better
way of reaching the women than vieiting in their homes.
Men, women and children all attended the Sunday School.
An old deacon, ® wesherman, taught the clase of women. Amy
joined this clase at first ae a listener, but es soon ae her
knowledge of the language ennbled her to teach she took over
the clase and taught it all the yenrs she was in Hankow. |
In Decamber there were two new reoruite to the Mission +
kr.Gonsey and Dr. Giilison. The latter stayed with Mr. and |
Mre. Foster for some weeks...”
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Page 46
“...@ good bey, I want to be a Christian too." ‘The hospitel cook
wan fond of the lsd and invited him to Lve with him so thet
he might attend the Mission dey~¢chool. Ue did ao for some
years, and thet is how he came to be in Mre.Pomterta Sible
Class. After @ time the dector took him into the Hospital to
train as an assistant, and afterwerds into the Medics School.
After qualifying av @ doctor he id good work in L.!.S.hospitals,
and when the Chinese Government ordered that the Principals of
schools in China must be Chimese, it wae the daughter of thie.
Or» Chou that was felt to be best fitted to take charge of the
girla' boerding-sehool that had been started by Mrs .Vostor.
im 1885 ure, Jonn died and ira. Foster's hande were very |
ald of wort. |...”
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Page 55
“...®)
never recovered, but the shock may not have had anything to
go with that. All felt much shaken. The Doxology wae sung.
After nearly three weeks away from home Mre. Foster
was very glad to get back, distinotly better and able to take
up work again. She tried to make it a happy home for the
girls, keeping their birthdays with little parties and arrang-
ing presente.
Dr. John's daughter wns merried in May that year,
and all the Mission feneted together on that happy eecasion,
but re. Foster's voice was still too weak for her to do any
work outside, and she was advised to go home for a change.
One Saturday when they were discussing the matter she said to
Mr. Foster, "If Dr. John thinks I ought to go I will.? She.
knew that Dr. John generally advised misesionarier to stay out
ere when doctors advised their going to England. But when
Ur. Foster consulted Dr. John he said at once, “She ought to
go and the sooner the better." Go she packed her boxes and
atarted in three deys' tine, feeling...”
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Page 59
“...paid them a vieit. Ne was on his way to Chungkung, where the
Friends hed by thie time started a Mission. George Muller,
too, ~ Founder ef the Srietol Orphan Aeylum ~- came to stay
there. | |
The summers were ailways trying, there was so much
sickness, and the work of the Mission kept on all the same,
The only holidays given in Chinese schools were in the winter,
& month was given et their New Year, and a dey or two at the |
other feests during the year. The hospitals, too, kept going
ell the time, Mre. Foeter felt the heat very much going in
the middle of the day to talk to the women as they waited to
gee the dostor. The schools were generally vieited in the
afternoon. The English echeol closed for two monthe in the
greatest heat, but the Burscian girle stayed on, and it was
not much es@ier to keep them good and happy during the holidays
than during schooldsya. ire. Foster read aloud to them a
good deni, when her voice allowed, and they occupied them-
selves in the schoolroom; the elder...”
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Page 61
“...till the last
Gay, then ehe became delirious and sang hymns -she had always
wished to be able to sing, but had not had much voice. Now :
she wee 111 she sang much better, eurprising herself, and said
"I never could sing like that when I was well.* She was 18,
and hed steyed on to help in teaching the younger ones, eo
her Gerth wae o special grief to Mre. Foster.
‘During the next year or two it seemed ae if all her
friends would die - Mr. Foster's grentest friend, David Hill,
of the Wesleyan Mission, psesed away im April. He enught
typhus visiting hute before dawn to give relief. For over 20
year@ they hed been like brothers, and it wae a very grent
#orror to ur. Foster when he knew he should never see his face
again.
By this time liv. & rs. Terrell had gone to live at
Sinoken, the first country etetion te be opened in Central
Ghina by the L..9, (A country station there generally means
& welled city, Sut away from a Port where other foreigners
live.) Thet summer Wr. & Ure. Foster went...”
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Page 68
“...not very enecourag-
ing. |
During the @pring Mre. Toaster wae far from well and
as ire. Uavengert had gone to Kuling in June she went to @pend
a few days with her. Before she was really well herself she
went to nuree irs, Gilligon, who had run up a high temperature
while her baby was only a few days old. “hile there reports
of disturbances in different parts of China reached them.
The Boxers bad begun their wicked work, and there was quite a
scare at Kuling. Remembering the meesacre of 0.1.3. mission-—
aries a few years before this at their hili resort, Mra.
Foster persuaded Dr .Gillison not to mowe his wife while @he
hed fever, and stayed with then till she wes better, then she
returned to Yuohang, very glad to ve back and to be able to
put ino few more weeke st the school before closing for the
summer holidsys. |
Some monthe before thie Dr.Ruth Hassey had arrived
to begin medical work among women in Wuchang. Of course
@ good number of women had been seen at the men's hoapital,
but now...”
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Page 80
“...that the Church was used a great deal. There
WSS also & union work for reaching the Chinese who came each
year in inoressing numbers to Kuling till there was quite a
large village outside the estate where the foreigners lived.
A Medion] mission was started and a hospital built, generous
collections being teken up for this in the big Church on
Medical Miagion Sunday.
At Christmas there were grand doings at the boarding
school in Yucheng, 2 Christmas Tree hung with presents for
each echolar was the chief interest, friends fromhome sent
out dolls, workbegs and scrap books, while little bage of
candy were prepared on the spot, and many little Ghinese toys
helped to fill the tree. This took place on Christmas Eve,
the next day the foreign members of the Mission came to dine
with Kre. Foster and gang onrols, and tried to keep up the
home feeling. As the school grew the Chinete Chapel in
Wuehang became too smail and had to be enlarged. The girls
worked for a little Sale to help the funds, and in...”
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Page 88
“...school-girle to g@out. This was a great relief; it wae
arranged tost the procezsion should start from the American
Mission compound, es it wes the largest in which to assemble.
The Roman Gatholios brought their girls, and as each Mise ion
had about one hundred it was « long precession when at last
it atarted that hot Thureday afternoon for the river bank.
Ere. Foster told her girle $0 wear 21 the clothes they could
ee they were not pliewed to take anything but the smallest
bundles with them, #0 they wore two or three suite each and
carried their Bibles, hymn~books and special treasures in
their handkerchiefs. The city gates were only opened about
two feet; on etch aide stood soldiers holding awords stretched
out across the opening, so that each ae she passed through had
to stoop down under the words. One girl looked rather Like a
Menchu, and the soldere stopped herand would have killed her
then and there if by her pronunciation ehe had not proved
the truth of the other girl's statements...”
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Page 90
“...promiees to their
understanding. How mony Christians understand God is a refuge,
to mean anything more than that He will provide an earthly
refuge’ If I were to clesr out now the distresa of the
Christians would be very great and I cannot justify such a
course to my own mind. I feel sure, too, that our presence
ia helpful to the quiet of the place. %It seemed to me that
aome of the better shops outside the city had been opened and
atripped of their content# since the tenants left, and I expect
the Mission premises would soon be looted if we were not here ~
thet is if danger comes. I am in perfect peace of mind and
hope to get through some work when I have got my letter off.
(88)
an aa a Sl SS re wi mers aiLiaacS fecal ai ei Rede eS Sata ae Th ee a
4
)
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a
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A...”
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Page 97
“...fire would sweep away the greater part of the Chinese town.
tfear the %.8.S. must have been burnt out before this." Many
of the people at the C.IuM. were also anxious about the Veeleyan
Mission, eapecially about their Blind School. It wae
marvellous how they escaped, coming in a string through the
ourning city, past Looting soldiers, with shot and sheil
falling all round them, yet they came uninjured to the 4.#.8,
Hoapital, which had been emptied of its patients just in time
for their arrivel. tt was thought to be s dangerous place,
but having esenped the fire it was ready to teke in the blind
boye, who sang the Doxology on reaching the place of refuge.
| On November 4th Mr.Poster came over to the 0.1.m.
feeling he could not do much more in Yucheang, and that there
wae need of helpers in Hankow. This wae a great relief to
Mra. Foster, of course, though he still rigked his life in
Red Gross work, bringing in the wounded. Por two or three
dnys a fierce battle raged in Hankow and Hanyang...”
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