THE KING’S BUSINESS
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feel that I can never forget their bright faces as they started out early that Mon day morning for their two-weeks’ tramp home. How I did praise God for the great privilege o f having even a little share in giving them this great opportunity that will mean so much to their next year’s work and I truly believe to all their future ser vice for God. ESCAPE THE TURMOIL For various reasons the school closed several days earlier than at first contem plated. W e got away just in time to avoid serious trouble round about and in Heng- shan at Nan Yoh, a delegation .of local officials having arrived to beg us to leave— though we had previously, in the province of God, decided to do so. Mr. Hsiao and the colporteurs stayed on at Nan Yoh for a few days for work among the pilgrims, and to close up the house, return borrowed furniture, and attend to other necessary details. As promptly as possible Mr. Hsiao got the parties started on their perilous journeys, starting them off party by party on different days, because of the difficulty o f securing coolies on account of the demands by soldiers. During the last three days he could hear the booming of cannon both day and night. As soon as he could do so, he went down to Heng- shan with his family, got on one o f our boats which was there waiting for him, and got away. The very next day Heng- shan was occupied by the Northern soldiers and he would not have been able to get through; as it was, by God’s loving help and care, he reached Changsha in safety. A few days later our boat, though fly ing an American flag, and anchored right in front o f the American Consulate, was boarded by •a band of sqldiers who just stripped it of practically everything mov able. One o f our best preachers, Mr. Hwang Fu-Seng, was on the boat ill. One o f the soldiers stood over him with a drawn sword, demanded the keys o f his boxes, and robbed him o f everything, even taking his bedding. The boatman and his family, as well -ds a niece who was visiting
and nohh-west. Mr. Hwang and his party are at work in a China Inland Mission dis trict west o f Changsha. So you will see that our parties had to travel through dis tricts filled with soldiers to get from Nan Yoh to their fields o f labor. With deepest gratitude and praise to God we can report that each party reached its destination in safety, with very little delay and no losses, and' God has been richly blessing their service. BOOKS GOT THERE My office helper and I put in a couple o f very hard days work in intense heat to get a shipment o f books through the_ cus toms, loaded on a Chinese boat and off to its destination. How thankful we were aft erward. A delay of a few days at this end might have meant the loss o f all the books and a very serious hindrance to the men in their work. Only a couple o f days ago we were arranging for another shipment o f books. A suitable boat was found hid ing away quite a distance up the river. My card was given to the boatman and he was asked to come down stream to a suitable place for loading. As he had feared, his boat was seized by soldiers who are now moving as rapidly as possible down the river to Yochow. He told the soldiers that his boat had been chartered by an Ameri can missionary, but in spite o f the Ameri can flag which I had given him, the soldiers would not believe him, but said that if the American would come himself they would release the boat. The boatman came to us in tears; o f course I had to drop everything, go from outside the north gate way down to the southern end of the city, help him get his boat released, get on the boat with him, and in the face of an , adverse wind come up to our loading place. The Bible school at Nan Yoh this year had a record attendance of 140 students, representing seven different missions and coming from thirty different centers in five provinces. Several men came a two-weeks’ journey to attend the school, and when the school closed they said that they felt fully repaid for the big effort they had made. I
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