OUR BIBLE IN ST ITUTE IN H U N A N PROV INCE , C H IN A DR. FRANK A. KELLER, Superintendent
sion of the Chinese and the meek sub mission of th e Yao people was afforded by the case of a Yao woman who gath ered a load of firewood for the m arket. The load weighed about ninety pounds. She carried th is and also her baby on h er back to a m ark et town five miles away. One man offered h er six cents for the load. She finally succeeded in selling it to ano ther man for seven cents when th e first man cursed her b itterly for no t selling it to him. The poor woman quietly took her pittance and w ithout one angry word or even look went on h er way. To th is poor and down-trodden peo ple God has sent His messengers w ith th e glorious Gospel of grace and salva tion and love. How wonderful must those sweet words sound in th e ir ears: — “Come unto Me all ye th a t labor and are heavy laden, and X will give you rest.” And once more God has shown how He can reveal th e deepest myster ies of th e Gospel “ unto habes.” He has opened th e h earts of these Yao peo ple and has done a g reat work in th e ir midst. The Yao chief has pu t away all his idols and has p u t his tru s t in the Lord Jesu s as his Saviour. He and his wife go out and work in the fields side by side w ith th e people. The trib e is like one g reat loving family. A lthough our evangelists were th ere ju st a t the im portant tim e of plowing and sowing, about a hundred of th e people would come out to th e Sunday morning ser vices, and every morning and evening th e Yao chief would ring th e bell and gath er his family together for prayer, when from tw enty to th irty would as semble in th a t one Yao home a t th e busiest tim e of th e year to worship the tru e God of whom they had h eard so recently for th e first time. There is one other th ing of which we should th in k and then praise God for th e won d erful privilege th a t is ours. I t is not a t all probable th a t they would ever have heard of God and of Jésus Christ were it not for th e work of th e Biola Evangelistic Bands. There is one little word th a t should ever be ringing in our ears, “ GO,” our M aster’s la st com mand. “ GO,” yes, “GO into all the
“ONE OF THE -LEAST.” Many centuries ago w arlike tribes came down from th e North, conquered th e peaceful inhab itan ts of th e south ern valleys and drove them into the surrounding mountains and took pos session of th e ir fertile fields. These people who were driven ou t of th e ir 3 homes and th e ir rig h tfu l inheritance are known as th e aborigines, or moun tain tribes and are commonly spoken of by th e ir local trib e names such as Yao, Miao, L isu etc., according to th e local ity in which they live. About fifty m iles from Lung Hwel Shih, where our Biola Evangelistic Band No. 1 had such a blessed work among the students,- our evangelists came upon one of these mountain tribes of aborigines known as th e Yao people. These Yao live in th e most prim itive way, only about one in a hundred can read, and the m ajority of them cannot understand or speak th e Chinese lan guage. They have to do all th e ir trad ing th rough in terp reters and.suffer accord ingly. Mr. Cheng w rites th a t in two days’ travel among them he saw only one bed. He also w rites in th e highest term s of th e ir characters. They are very sincere, they have no vices, they do no t gamble, smoke opium or drink, immo rality is practically unknown among them , and they a re so honest th a t they never lock th e ir doors a t night. They are most industrious too, “One Yao will do as much work in a day as two Chinese,” and yet, in spite of th e ir in du stry and honesty they are extremely poor, th e ir poverty being due. in the main to th ree causes; (1 ), th e great difficulty of carrying on th e ir agricul tu ra l pu rsu its on th e rugged mountains where they have been forced to live; (2 ), th e ir ignorance, they know very little beyond the most elem entary form of farm ing and they have practically no tradesm en among them ; (3 ), th e op pression of the Chinese who grow rich by tak ing advantage of th e industry, simplicity and tim idity of these Yao people whom they have conquered and now oppress. A strik ing illu stratioh of th is oppres
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