General Correspondence Blackwell Family Alice Stone Blackwell Hu-Hy Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church Yenping Conference Yenping, Fukien' China, March 3, 1932. Dear Miss Blackwell: I was very glad to know that my Christmas greetings reached you all right. It was very kind of you to send me a book "What I Owe To My Father." It must be interesting and inspiring. Yes, I shall share this book with other young folks. I am sure that they will appreciate reading it too. I thank you very much for your kindness. I am sending you a page of the Yenping Pagoda Herald in which you may find something interesting about this place, Yenping. This place is very pretty now for the peach and plum pear trees are in full bloom. They make us happy by their gay and sweet colors. We have lots of ever green trees too. This place is rich in nature. Perhaps you may like to hear something about this school. There are only 25 girls and 24 boys. This is a union High School supported by the W.F.M.S. and Parent Board of America. This city is a backward part of Fukien province. This is the only church High School. We need more Christian leaders here. Both the boys and girls are nice and they are teachable. I presume you have read enough about the present conditions of China. Of course the economic conditions in America is not too good either. But the Chinese are suffering the most at present because of the encroachment of Japan. We hope the war may stop soon. We pray that the Great Powers will settle the matter for us. The Chinese do not want war at all. We pray for peace and righteousness. May God's love rule in the lives of the people. Then we will have true peace among us. How happy will we be! Miss Blackwell, let me thank you again for your book. Lois M. HwangLois Hwang Yenging Pagoda Herald YENPING, FUKIEN, CHINA. MARCH 1932 Our Lay Delegate Miss Esther Ling, our Yengping lay delegate to the General Conference, like many of our leading church workers was not only born in a non-Christian home but all through early childhood was taught to worship idols. Her mother was a devout idolater, and skillful in chanting the Sacred Classics at the bedside of the sick. Many children were born to her but all died in infancy except two girls. After the husband died the widow found herself in unusually destitute and forlorn circumstances. Miss Hartford visited the village about that time and Mrs. Ling came with a friendly neighbor to the church to see the foreigner. She was greatly puzzled at the queer actions of the people during the strange Christian service. With no idol in sight to worship, those who knelt or bowed in prayer must be praying either to the benches or the people on the platform, she thought. It was all very funny and interesting! She came again, and this time Miss Hartford, hearing she could speak many dialects, invited Mrs. Ling to interpret for her. Later on, Miss Hartford asked her to come to Yenping and help in translation work. She was not yet a Christian when her younger daughter was taken very ill and died. With characteristic self-forgetfulness Miss Hartford had insisted on helping nurse the little one, and in this service had given Mrs. Ling an amazing and impressive revelation of Love. It was a long time yet, however, before the superstitious woman was to know freedom from the fear that darkens the non-Christian heart. Little Esther had been taught from babyhood to bow reverently before every idol she happened to pass, lest some dire punishment overtake her. The beautiful full moon of the sacred fifteenth day of the lunar month was always a special delight to the child, and once in a thoughtless ecstasy of joy she threw up her hand and pointed right at it, calling to her mother to look! In terror, Mrs. Ling snatched down the little fingers and cried, "Don't do that! You must never point at the Great Mother Spirit. She will be angry and cut off your ears!" Happier days came when God's love was better understood. Mrs. Ling studied in the Woman's Bible School for a while, and later became a pastor's wife and Biblewoman. School Days and Later Work Eight years of happy school life passed quickly and were so successful that Esther was then kept in Yenping for a year of teaching and special music before taking her High School course in Hua Nan Preparatory. This was followed by four more years of teaching in Yuki City, the lonely station where Miss Hartford was carrying on work so bravely. The next year Esther Ling worked with the faculty of the Yenping Girls' School and then came Hua Nan College, the goal and dream of so many of our finest young women. After graduation Miss Ling again returned to Yuki and gave steady, efficient service right through the five years of the greatest disturbances our Fukien work has ever known. A well-earned furlough was begun as a delegate to the Nanking Conference where China bishops were elected in 1930. The rest of that spring was spent in attending a Bible Training School in Shanghai. Yenching (Christian) University in Peking now has a large graduate school, and Miss Ling during the following semester completed courses there which gave her half of the required credits for a master's degree. An urgent request for her immediate return to Fukien then came from our Yenping pastors, and she spent the last year here in2 YENPING PAGODA HERALD March 1932 evangelistic work as head of the Gospel Band itinerants. Her election to the General Conference is simply a fitting acknowledgment of many years of unusually loyal, brave, and efficient service. -:O:- Switzerland and Fukien Trudy Schlaefli Tiny little Switzerland tucked away in the heart of Europe, hardly bigger than a small blot of ink on any map, is yet not too small to reach to far away China, and to Fukien in particular. There are strong ties that bind this province to the hearts and minds of the Methodists in Switzerland. Missionaries who have left their homeland to bring the Good Tidings of salvation have bridged the great distance between the two nations, and established contacts which have developed a spirit of good-will and friendly understanding. It is characteristic of the Swiss to be internationally minded, due to their geographic and economic conditions, and with an absolutely homogeneous population they never have had a chance to cultivate race prejudice and hatred. With such a background it was easy and natural for them to make themselves friends of the Chinese, as soon as the first Swiss missionary had settled in Fukien. Each new recruit joining the Missionary ranks increased the interest and zeal at home, until today there is no Swiss Methodist who is not familiar with the Fukien work. Eagerly they follow the developments and events in China, and are as concerned over the outcome as over their own affairs. No newspaper report is passed by, and often I read the remark that they are glad and thankful when no bad news has appeared from the places where "our" missionaries are stationed. The loyalty of the Swiss Methodist Church is remarkable, and the present Christmas season has again proved their faithfulness. Hard times and unemployment are felt very keenly all over the country, but the Christmas contributions rank higher this year than ever before. The Church, as such, has not faced a deficit yet, neither has there been a slump in missionary finances. How is this three-fold victory possible, with depression on every side? The secret is that each person, voluntarily and without any appeal from the outside, has sacrificed a a bit more than usual and thus brought about this wonderful result. To eat meat and butter once or twice less a week, and to do without some new things in the home, has been an effective means of keeping the missionary contributions from a decrease. Other do all kinds of needlework and sewing at night for the annual bazaars; still others give the proceeds of eggs and vegetables, and thus in various ways help feed the missionary treasury, averting cuts and heartaches on the mission fields. The Methodist Church is neither strong nor popular in Switzerland, and only within a few years has it become self-supporting, but already she is doing her share in mission work. Seven of her daughters are now in foreign fields, four in Fukien and three in the Straits Settlements. She is supporting one missionary (including field salary, furlough travel, home salary and retirement allowance0, seventeen schoole children, and four Biblewomen. Beside this official record there is much direct giving, which naturally escapes the figures of the treasurer. In the pas year help has coe to over thirty Chinese women through Swiss friends. An Industrial School in this province had undertaken the weaving of Chinese towels but found it could not compete with regular workmen in the Chinese market, and hence was not able to employ many students. Swiss friends heard of this and offered to buy six thousand of these towels, thus providing a larger group the opportunity of some general education, as well as of hearing the Gospel of Christ and making Him their personal Savior. The first Swill missionary, Miss Frieda Reiman, came to China in 1918. She has served two terms in Yenping, and is eagerly expected back from furlough early in 1932. While at home this last year she itinerated for several months among the churches, and her experience was that she could hardly satisfy her audiences with long enough addresses, though she often spoke for over an hour. So you see they are not "bored to death" with such speeches, but think it great privilege to hear a missionary tell of her experiences. Miss Reinman had more speaking engagements than she possible could fill. In 1922 Misses Martha Graf and Frieda Staubli joined their Swiss co-worker in Fukien. Miss Staubli is a nurse in the Christian Union Hospital in Foochow. She is busy from early morning until late at night looking after things, and superintending the training of between thirty-five and forty nurses. Here is the spirit of Florence Nightengale, and with intiring efforts she is doing her work, the welfare of the hospital and of the nurses always on her heart. Miss Graf is stationed in Kutien, some ninety miles up and inland from the Min River. Her first term she spent in school, but now is doing evangelistic work. She is radiant with joy and happiness, and thoroughly enjoys living and working for and with the Chinese people. She has won their heart and is greatly appreciated by all. There is a gap of seven years before the arrival in Fukien of the next Swiss missionary, the writer of this article. This is not due to any lack of love and zeal for the cause, but because some have answered the call to other mission fields. Whatever they may think of their stations I am sure they cannot surpass Yenping, the quiet city of "Lingering Peace", guarded by beautiful mountains all around. This scenery it is that reminds me so much of my own Switzerland, and that never fails to inspire and thrill me, bringing new joys to my already happy heart. -:o:- Agriculture Work Resumed Wm. W. Overholt One setback suffered by the Yenping Conference in the disorders of December 20, 1927. Dear Miss Blackwell, Your greeting last Christmas gave me so much pleasure, I send you my best wishes for this season, and for the New Year. Good wishes have [?], and mine for you are sincere. Would it not be a fine thing to broad cast those beautiful poems by Urbina at this time? Could you not send them direct to Dr. Finley editor of the New York Times, now? They would be another ambassador of good-will. Most persons think of Mexico as a land of bandits. Maybe I could be made to show Mexico, too, has a soul. I wanted to send those poems to be published as his, the psychological time, but of course I had no authority to do so, but wont you , please, do it ? Always I am yours very sincerely, Elizabeth Hyatt. Ely Hyatt November 29, 1930 Miss Blackwell, That little blue book of Mexican poetry you sent me long time ago has been a source of enjoyment. I never tire of re-reading the exquisite verses. Your book of translations of Mexican poetry I left in the country, and I miss it Dr. Hyattwas much pleased to have another item to add to his collection on postal service when I gave him your account of the letters sent by Lucy Stone - by means of newspapers and little dots over the words therein. I wonder if Mr. Morrow has seen your book on Mexican Poetry or if Mrs. Morrow has seen it. We expect to spend Christmas holiday in Lincoln, Massachusetts. Please accept my very best wishes for a Happy Christmas season, and my regard, always. Elizabeth M. Hyatt Eliz Hyatt 1169 83d st Brooklyn [?] MRS. T.P. HYATT 1169 EIGHTY-THIRD STREET BROOKLYN NEW YORK April 15 1935 Dear Miss Blackwell, A few days ago on waking in early morning I took from beside me on the bed a book of your beautiful translations from the Spanish pacts_and I was - engaged in reading the Sunset_by Urbiva when your card of remembrance was handedto me. Thank you for your kindness. I start for Maine on the 7th of May - I think of you after and with regard. I am away. Faithfully yours, Elizabeth M. Hyatt