THE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
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Then Mr. Hsiao asks for reports of the various group leaders for the past week’s work. The student body is divided into groups with leaders for visitation in the city, and for the activities óf “Biola Hall,” the In stitute “fishing pond” in Changsha. For want of better space this report meeting is held in the men’s dining room which has been cleared for the purpose. The daily classes of the men convene in the old school lo cated in a Chinese house about five minutes walk up the military road.' You would never recognize it as the younger brother of the Los Angeles branch, hut the sign informs you in English that this, the peculiar old native building, is the China Department of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. We enter through the arched wall and find ourselves in' the typical court of a Chinese house. More courts open out from this one and we are conducted in and out of them until we are almost lost. The large Chinese rooms are fitted up for class rooms and here the men give earnest attention to the teaching of the Word. As we walk back to the great new compound and pass between its gates, we realize what a tremendous growth has been made in a phenomenally short time. The com pound is a regular bee-hive of industry, for here according to Chinese custom, all the workmen live during the time of building. All the beams, trim, sash and furniture, aré brought in as LOGS, which are sawed up and fashioned on the place even to the making of office furniture which would do credit to an American firm. Every bit of crushed stone is brought in the compound in huge blocks first, and then patiently pounded by hand to the required size. Evangelistic Band Work And now we hear from Dr. Keller himself the story of the first Evangelistic Band Work and of the inception of the Institute in China. We find that an ounce of seeing is worth a whole ton of reading about any given work. We correct many false impressions we had. The evangelistic bands which travel sometimes on hired boats and sometimes on land, are distinct and separate from the student body at Changsha. True, a man who is a scholarship student graduating from the Institute is under contract to give two years to work with the hands, but these bands are away ten months in the year, and consist of six trained men and a leader, to whom are added six men from whatever mis sion is in charge of the territory where the band is work ing. These six men are trained for two years in this es pecial evangelistic work and then return to their own mis sion. A most valuable feature of this training is the definite Bible study which is engaged in every day for a good part of the morning before the men go out to the work of visitation and meetings in the villages. Bible Institute at Changsha Entirely distinct from this work is the Bible Institute at Changsha. The direction of the bands is one man’s work, but Dr. Keller finds time to direct the men students in a course of study much about the same as the parent institu tion in Los Angeles, while the women are under the leader ship of Mrs. Keller. The same evangelistic note is struck (Continued on Page 57)
A TRIP TO CHANGSHA (T h e fo llo w in g e x c e e d in g ly in te r e s tin g le tte r fro m M iss W in ifre d R ouzee, h a s b een s e n t u s b y D r. K e lle r. M iss R o u - zee, one o f th e 'B i b le W om en o f th e I n s titu te , h a s b een in C h in a fo r som e m o n th s, in re sp o n s e to a n u r g e n t c a ll fo r som e sp e c ia l le c tu re s a t th e B ib le T e a c h e rs’ T ra in in g S chool a t N a n k in g . W e re jo ic e t h a t sh e h a d th e p riv ile g e of v is itin g o u r B ib le I n s titu te a t C h a n g sh a, a n d a re s u re o u r re a d e rs w ill en jo y re a d in g h e r g ra p h ic a c c o u n t). Saturday we leave the Bible Teachers’ Training School at Nanking in the very early morning. The trip up the river Yangtze Is delightful, winding through green rice fields at one point and past rocky head lands at another, and always flowing beneath us, with a great swelling current, the waters from regions of eternal Himalayan snows, turbid and yellow now in its haste to reach the ocean. We reach Kiukiang the following after noon, with the mountain Ruling rising majestically back of it. We cannot help but remember that the earthly taber nacle of dear Mrs. Dixon rests quietly up there waiting for the descending shout of her Lord. Thursday afternoon we near Changsha on the Siang River. As we approach the hulk we discover something of the proportions of a small sized tablecloth being waved •and we wave back on general principles. Just as we thought, it was the Institute crowd! Dr. Keller and Chester Rutledge dispense with the necessity of a gangplank, and rush on board to be followed later by the rest of the fam ily. Now we are taken to have our first sedan chair ride. The motion of the chair is not unpleasant and from the height we easily see the wares displayed along the streets even to the eels alive in tubs and the water chestnuts strung on bamboo sticks. Now a warning word from the forward man, a sharp turn to the right and we pass through the gates into the wonderful compound of the Hunan Bible, In stitute, China Department of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. Two splendid dormitories for men are at the left of the hollow square, and one now being used by the women on the right hand. Long lines of squeaking, creaking wheel barrows direct our attention to a great building at the side opposite the gate. The walls are" showing above the ground and this, Dr. Keller explains, is the administration building— “Milton Stewart Hall.” To the left of this is the home of Mr. Hsiao; and to the right, the residence of Dr. and Mrs. Keller. Here we are most royally welcomed, the whole occasion being graced by the presence of the Doctor’s mother, Mrs. Martha G. Keller, eighty-seven years young. A strenuous program has been carefully planned, begin ning with an afternoon reception to the members of the foreign community held in one of the Faculty residences of the Yale University, and continuing through the ten speaking engagements from Friday morning to Tuesday noon. Four times we have the privilege of speaking to the splendid-student body of men and women in the Insti tute using the dispensational chart in Chinese. Saturday night we slip into the report and testimony meeting of the students. Mr. Hsiao leads, testimonies are given, and prayers whose earnestness can be felt though the words are not understood, rise to the throne of grace.
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