Yeung Kong, Canton Province, China,
Feb. 26th, 1921.
Dear Miss T.
Your kind gift of 45 Gospels in English and Chinese, reached us a short time ago, and I am anxious to thank you for them, and to tell you how useful they will be. We all teach English, more or less, and as soon as possible read the Scriptures with the pupils. I have a nice class of little boys, 7 or 8 coming daily for an hour. I also teach one little girl to read, and she also learns to knit. My daughter is beginning a class for some girls out of some of the wealthy homes. She understands a good deal of Chinese now, and has arranged that the English lesson shall be followed by reading the gospels in Chinese. These girls belong to heathen homes, where the shrine, with its incense burning daily to the devil, is the most honored part of the house.
All through this immense country with its millions of inhabitants, Satan is exalted, feared, and worshiped. And there are only such a few followers of Christ, to worship and exalt Him. It makes one feel, first of all, so glad to remember, that a day is coming when He shall be Lord of lords, and every knee shall bow to Him.
Secondly, it makes one feel how careful we should be to show forth His praise now, in the midst of the darkness, endeavoring to be “epistles of Christ, known and read of all men.”
At another time we saw the “Devil’s feast” going on around us. This is a feast in honor of the departed spirits; great feasts are prepared, and the spirits are supposed to eat the “spiritual” part, (Has pork, rice, or duck a spiritual part?) then the remainder is eagerly devoured by the relatives. The next performance is to burn paper garments, furniture, food, even people, as this is supposed to provide the loved ones with all necessary things. All the shore around us was lighted up with those bonfires, and quantities of firecrackers were sent off. Later on we saw a good sized ship, covered with burning incense sticks; it was a mass of light, and sailed up and down that part of the river until the early morning. This is worship directly addressed to the devil, in the hopes that he will treat the departed spirits well. I can assure you, I never before felt such an intense realization of a personal devil.
But we have much to encourage us, in spite of often very difficult times. Thirty or more men have been baptized in the last six months, and though we are anxious about some of them at times, the majority show undoubtedly, by their ways, and even by the expression of their faces, that there is a real change from darkness to light.
I will tell you of our Sunday program: Breakfast at 7:30 (7 other days) “Che Chop,” or family prayers, at 8, a number of strangers come also to this. Sunday school for boys at 9, this morning 40 were present, and you would have enjoyed hearing them sing:
“Ye-so oi ngoh, ngoh chi to,
Yan yan Shing-Shue tin ngoh kong.
Ngoh ch’aai hoi t’ai shuk kwai k’ui,
Ngoh sui uen-yuek Chue k ‘eung-ehong.
Hai Ye-So oi ngoh,
Hai Ye-So oi ngoh,
Hai Ye-So oi ngoh,
Shing-Shue tin ngoh shoh kong.”
(“Jesus loves me,” and so on.)
Then they readily learned a verse of Scripture, and we sang, “Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
At eleven we have the Breaking of Bread at the Gospel Hall, and though it is all in Chinese, and I must confess to not understanding a single word, still one feels the Lord’s presence with us in a marked way. Several of the young men accompany us home, and enjoy singing hymns, or reading the Scripture until our dinner is ready.
At 2 P.M. is a meeting for women and girls, which our daughter, Dorothy, takes. Last Sunday we had about 50, and the women especially, listened with intense interest. It is hard to imagine how ignorant and superstitious these poor women are, as they are never taught anything While every boy “learns characters” (to read), his sister is forced to grow up in ignorance. One little slave girl said, when Dorothy tried to teach her a text, “I could not learn anything, I’m stupid, fit to kill.” Many of them have not even a name.
Well, at 3 P.M. Mr. Willis has a meeting in the Gospel Hall, and from 4 to 6, we generally have many visitors, and more Bible reading and singing. At 7 we close the day with Che Chop again.
The meetings in our house are held in our large reception hall, which is the prominent feature of every Chinese house. It has plain brick walls, and a brick floor, but we have texts of Scripture up, and plenty of benches and chairs, and judging by the numbers of people who come to see us, it proves attractive. The women are more easily reached in their own homes, and sometimes send over for Dorothy to come and see them. She has one interesting little woman whom she often visits. She can read, and is intelligent. She begged for a gospel, but when we saw her again, she said, “I cannot understand it, I can read the characters all right, but I do not know what it means.” Then she begged Dorothy to come often and “tell it to me, so I can understand.”
We thought of the old hymn,
“Tell me the story simply, as to a little child.”
It is hard to keep their attention for more than a few minutes at a time. They break in with all kinds of questions, such as, “How old are you?” “Why aren’t you married?” “Do you ever brush your hair?” “Why is it that color?” “How much rent do you pay?” “What wages do you pay your cook?” and so on.
Your heart would go out to the little slave girls; many parents sell their little girls when very young, and they have a hard life. You see such mites of children, with big heavy babies strapped on their backs, and if, in pity, you bestow a card or a cake, it is at once given to the baby. Other tiny girls are carrying two pails of water on a pole, or great baskets of rice. It is not considered any sin to ill-treat these children. One woman said to Dorothy, “Yes, I killed a monigi (little slave) once. She seemed to have no shame. When they get old enough, they are married off; the bridegroom’s parents paying $75.00 or $100.00 for a wife.
Our adopted baby was a “cast out,” she is a year old now, and toddling about everywhere, and trying to say words in both Chinese and English. She is a very bright, lively, attractive baby, and makes many friends, too many for her own good, as they always present cakes, which are hardly suitable for a young child. China might be called, The land of cakes. They are, nearly all made of rice flour, and some of them are very nice, especially a kind baked very hard, with chopped nuts and fat pork in the center. I am afraid you do not think my description inviting, but when fresh, they are really very nice. We learn to eat a good many things here, which we might not fancy at home. At a feast you will have, bird’s nest soup, shark’s fins, fish skin stewed with sugar, ancient eggs, (these are buried for 3 years), frogs, duck chopped up with bones and all,” and so on.
Well, I have written a long letter, but I feel sure—you must love the same Lord Jesus that I love, and also that you must take an interest in our work or you would not have sent such a beautiful present.
Perhaps you will answer this letter; you do not know what letters mean to us, so far from home. My intercourse, you see, is confined entirely to my husband and daughter; my knowledge of Chinese being very slight.
With love in the Lord.
Believe me,
Yours in Him,
Anna F. Willis.