"Troublous Times"
Our missionary work, though not mentioned in the previous chapter, was on our return from America resumed and continued at Shanghai much the same as formerly for more than three years. Mr. Crawford and teacher, Wong Ping San, preached regularly at the Sung Way Dong, the general mission chapel, and also at the Nay Way Dong, our own rented hall. To this latter place I accompanied them twice each week. After the services were over we spent the remainder of the day talking to persons of the congregation, and others who dropped in, individually - a very needful and efficient mode of laboring among the heathen. In addition to this place, Mr. C. rented another in the northern part of the city for my especial use. Here I opened a girls' school and held regular meetings for women. Though the minds of all were much disturbed by wars and rumors of war, our labors during these years were not without some viable fruit. A few from time to time were added to the church. Among these were a Dutchman named De Grew, a grocery keeper living in the French settlement, and his Chinese wife. Through the influence of Mr. Klockers, a Dutch missionary previously baptized by Mr. C., Mr. De Grew was led to repentance and conversion. In consequence he decided to reform his life and unite with our Baptist Church. For some time he had been living with a Chinese woman in an irregular manner, but was now anxious for her to become both a Christian and his lawful wife. Calling upon us one day he told us his wishes and asked me if I would give the woman religious instruction. This I, of course, cordially agreed to do. He could not speak Chinese, she could not speak Dutch, so they conversed with each other in the jargon called "pidgin English." Soon after this the woman came to our house dressed in foreign costume. After a few remarks on ordinary topics she said: "I no savey (understand) Englishman God; De Grew no let me chin chin (worship) China joss (idols); so I thinkee (think), s'pose I make die, where I go? No can go topside (heaven), no can go bottomside (hell)." Meaning that having no religion to take her to the one place or the other, after death her soul would be a homeless wanderer. She was a young woman of good mind, and after much careful instruction and prayer, she professed conversion. The two were finally married and baptised. They became regular attendants at Sabbath services and seemed to live Christian lives to the best of their knowledge and opportunities.Though none were gathered into the church from my women's meetings, yet two I trust were garnered in heaven. On Wednesday and Sunday afternoons I visited this place, examined the school and held a service for the women, which the school girls also attended. One day after services were over, a handsomely dressed, good looking young woman, Mrs. Dzung, came down stairs and said in a light, derisive tone: "Preach some to me; I wasn't ready to come down sooner; now I wish to see how you do it." "No," I replied, "I never teach the gospel for people's amusement. The words contained in this precious book are for our salvation, not for merry making. Do you know that your soul is immortal, and that without the Savior offered in this gospel you can never enjoy happiness!" Finding she gave close attention, I had a long talk with her, and from that time she became a regular attendant at the meetings, her interest constantly increasing. She asked many serious questions and learned to pray. After some months she removed to another part of the city and I could hear nothing of her new home. One day Mr. Wong Ping San came to me saying that Mrs. Dzung was very ill and wished to see me. Finding herself very low of consumption, she thought of her Christian friends, and sent begging Wong's permission to come and die at his house. On entering her room I found her pale, thin, the wreck of her former self, crouching on the bed. She reached both hands towards me, exclaiming: "Oh, I am glad to see you - I am going to be with Jesus - I am not afraid to die - Jesus has saved me." She spoke with difficulty, but I talked long with her, greatly rejoicing over this soul saved. A day or two after she requested Mrs. Wong to put on her burial clothes and, as is the Chinese custom, remove her from the bed to a stretcher, assuring all her friends that she was going to be with Jesus, and asking them not to weep or to perform any idolatrous ceremonies for her. She died a few hours after.
The other was a man. Among those who regularly attended my meetings was a middle aged woman whose name I do not remember. She listened attentively and often asked explanations of what she did not understand, seeming to try to remember all she heard. One day I noticed as she came in that she made signs to a man to go into the school room where he could hear without being seen. After services were over she told me that her husband was in the adjoining room listening to what I said, thinking it would be improper to come in where the women were. Hearing our remarks he showed himself and asked if I would give him further instruction. He had received from some missionary a copy of the New Testament, which he loved to read; and he was in the habit of praying to the true God. On account of his occupation he could find no leisure to attend preaching during the day, while at night the city gates were shut and there was no preaching within the walls; but he had sent his wife regularly to hear what I taught, and she repeated to him each time all she could remember. After a long talk with him I requested him to come to our house and see Mr. Crawford. When he did so the interview gave us great joy, for we felt sure that he was a true child of God. Soon after, I one day missed the woman from her accustomed seat in my little congregation. On my next going, however, she was there with eyes red and swollen from weeping. Her husband was dead! "He was not afraid to die," she said, "because he knew Jesus would save him, and he told me I must continue to come and learn to walk the heavenly road."
In the summer of 1860 the Board sent out Mr. and Mrs. Bond for North China, and Mr. and Mrs. Rohrer to open a mission in Japan. They sailed with two other missionary families on the "Edwin Forest," which was never heard from again, and must have gone down with all on board. Some of Mrs. Rohrer's personal effects, forwarded by a vessel sailing after the "Edwin Forest," arrived safely at Shanghai. But for weeks and months we waited in vain for the coming of the new missionaries. Mrs. Rohrer's mother, Mrs. Robinson, who had been providentially prevented from sailing with the party, wrote anxious letters of inquiry about her daughter. As time wore on, all hearts grew sick and gave them up as lost. The sad task was performed in compliance with Mrs. Robinson's directions of taking out certain articles from Mrs. Rohrer's boxes to keep as mementoes, and repacking the remainder to be returned to the widowed and now childless mother.
China was not only engaged in a life and death struggle with her own Tai Ping rebels, but during a part of these years was also defending herself against the allied armies of England and France. No imperial troops came near Shanghai, but the French and English might be seen all about the settlements. The rebels were capturing city after city throughout the plain and the inhabitants fled in great numbers to Shanghai for safety. This was truly an anomalous state of affairs. While the allies were waging war upon China, they were also protecting her people from the rebels. Both parties were willing that the "Treaty Ports" should be neutral territory in order that trade might go on as usual, and the customs be still collected for the Chinese government by her foreign employees. The population of Shanghai, ordinarily estimated at 800,000, now rose to fully 1,000,000, a large portion of the excess consisting of refugees from the surrounding cities and towns. About 20,000 of them were Nankin people, who, seven years previously, had fled to Sucbow before the rebels, and now on its capture, to Shanghai. Both foreigners and natives contributed largely for the relief of the sufferers. Bamboo sheds were built to shelter them, but these were utterly inadequate to the demand and thousands perished from exposure to the heavy rains in this low, malarial region. Their miseries were beyond expression or power of relief, and they died like sheep. The necessaries of life became exorbitantly high and some of them were difficult to obtain at any price. During the sickly seasons of these years the cholera carried off its victims by the tens of thousands. Many coffins were placed in the open fields and by the roadsides, while hundreds of the victims who could not afford even this covering were cast out to be devoured by gangs of hungry dogs. This daily familiarity with the dying and the dead was harrowing in the extreme.
======== [The original title is: Forty Odd Years In China, VIII. From the Baptist and Reflector, January 4, 1894, p. 6, CD edition. Martha Crawford was the missionary wife of Tarleton P. Crawford. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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