Notable Women of Modern China eBook

Margaret E. Burton
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 194 pages of information about Notable Women of Modern China.

Notable Women of Modern China eBook

Margaret E. Burton
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 194 pages of information about Notable Women of Modern China.
if they had been at home....”
“At length they said they must go, and we had great leave-taking, bowing and scraping, and thanks, and apologies for having troubled us so much, and assurances on our part that it was all pleasure; and finally off they went, and we sat down to cool ourselves, and drink tea, and chat with Mrs. Ahok.  She was very glad and thankful that all went off so well, but quite tired after her exertions, and sat holding her poor little bound feet in her hands, saying they did ache so.”

III

A JOURNEY TO ENGLAND

One day when Mrs. Ahok went to call on one of her English friends, Miss Bradshaw, she was startled to find that the physician had ordered her to leave for England on the next steamer, sailing three days later.  “I wish you could go with me, Mrs. Ahok,” Miss Bradshaw said, when she had told her of the physician’s decision.  This was a very remarkable suggestion to make to this little Chinese woman, whose life had been such a secluded one that a few years before she would not even accept an invitation to dinner with the Baldwins, since there were to be foreign gentlemen present.  Only a short time before, when the Baldwins were returning to America and Mrs. Ahok had gone with them, on her husband’s launch, to the steamer anchorage, twelve miles away, they had considered it a great honour, since this Chinese friend had never been so far from home before.  But Mrs. Ahok’s response was even more remarkable than Miss Bradshaw’s proposition; for in three days her little Chinese trunks packed and ticketed, “Dublin, Ireland.”  Mr. Ahok had heartily consented to his wife’s going; and she, unwilling to have her sick friend take the long journey alone, and mindful of the service she might perform for her people in England, by telling of their need and pleading for workers, quickly decided to go.

A letter from a friend who was with her the day she sailed shows the spirit with which she took this remarkable step:  “I was impressed with two things; her implicit confidence in her missionary friend, and her sweet, innocent trust in the love and care of her Heavenly Father.  She was leaving an elegant home and a large household, and in giving last advice to servants and children her voice was clear and joyous, but I noticed that she often furtively wiped the tears off her cheeks.  In her good-bye to her dearly loved aged mother, whose grief was inconsolable, she said:  ’Don’t grieve, don’t worry, just pray and God will take care of me and I will come back.  Then we will sit here together and I will have so many things to tell you.’  Again and again she said to her children, ’Study your lessons diligently and pray night and morning.’”

Mrs. Ahok sailed from Foochow the 26th of January, 1890.  At Hong Kong she was told, “There are a hundred miseries ahead of you,” but she answered unflinchingly, “If there were a thousand more I would go.”  From Singapore she wrote to her husband: 

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Notable Women of Modern China from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.