Part 2

The stories published in this volume were gathered in long evenings when she wanted relief from the constant giving out from mind and heart, and were sought also that those who had treasured them in memory might, by imparting, feel themselves her aids and instructors. In those days the kerosene lamp was a luxury almost unknown outside the large cities; never seen anywhere in the homes of the poor. Even foreign candles gave so much clearer light than the smoky open lamps, filled with the native bean or cottonseed oil, that her room seemed brilliantly illuminated even though she had only a tiny lamp or a candle on its table. It was sure to be daintily clean, for, whatever her surroundings, she was a lady always and everywhere and tidiness was a part of herself. So was her love of beauty, and one can never think of her without some flower or picture to attract the eye and give a touch of brightness to the room in which she sat. On these country trips she wore the native dress and her dark eyes and hair made her seem more at home in it than many Western women. She was careful so to select and combine colours as to be attractive to Chinese tastes. As she had advisers on every hand, in this also she seized her opportunity to rely upon them, and let them feel their importance to her as counsellors.

As I have read over the tales I could well imagine the scene in her little temporary home; the small room with its brick kang—the brick platform—on which her folded bedding was piled; her books on the table, and her guest or guests in the seats of comfort, if such there were, certainly in the seats of honour, for in all such matters of Chinese etiquette she was punctilious; she, sitting with eager attention, listening to the one who told the story as it had been handed down in the home or the village for generations. Perhaps she had been off for a long drive over bad roads during the day, had spoken to a restless crowd in a court, or by the roadside to a group of women gathered on the river bank, each with her bundle of clothes to be washed on the stones in the flowing stream. She was very weary and how tempting a quiet evening by herself, or with only her dear Bible woman helper as companion, must have seemed, but she had the engagement with this teacher or that Christian brother to listen to his tale. She asked many questions as he went on and her pencil jotted down names and a point here and there, that when he was gone she might write out a skeleton, with the hope of using the material some time to help friends in America to a better understanding of these neighbours of ours on the other side of “The Great Eastern Sea” for “Eastern” the Pacific is to China and so her people name it.

These manuscripts she had put into shape roughly in summer vacation days and so we found them after she had gone.

It had been her cherished plan to edit them carefully, add to them other stories of Chinese life as she had seen it, and make a volume which should be the contribution of her leisure, after retirement from active work, to the new understanding of the people whom she loved by those of her own land.

She had come to realize, as the later years brought increased physical suffering, that the time might be short and said many times in the last few months, “I must get my stories together on my next furlough, whether I come back to China or not.”

The furlough never came, but instead, the call to “Come up higher.” During the brief final illness she seemed to have no thought that it might be the end. There were no farewells, no last expressions of a wish that this or that should be done, before she passed into the unconsciousness from which she never wakened here. Her friends, knowing the purpose and desire of the years, have felt the fulfilling of it by the issue of this little volume, a sacred trust. The first thought was to do the editing which she planned, but every attempt seemed to take from the stories that which made them hers. Characteristic phrases and little turns of expression were her very own. The pages have, therefore, been left with only such alterations as were necessary to complete sentences or make meaning clear, with no attempt at such improvement of literary style as she herself would have given them.

They are issued for the sake of the many who loved her and who will prize them as coming from her hands, and as representing one of the activities of her many-sided life. As the expense of publication is borne by friends, whatever money returns come from their sale will go directly to the work to which Miss Russell gave her latest strength, “The Hall of Enlightenment,” or Ming Lung Tang in Peking, which is a growing social centre and the point from which radiate lines of influence which touch the lives of the women of that city in a variety of ways. She was its originator and her memory is still its inspiration.

Mrs. Goodrich’s appreciation, on page 31, gives the story of these later years and presents forcibly many of the especially striking characteristics of Miss Russell. To this has been added Mrs. Ament’s account of the funeral services in Peking. Miss Russell died at the summer resting-place, Pei Tai Ho; from thence the casket was taken by rail to the city, an eight-hour journey. The desire of the women, that the monument at her grave should have a Chinese as well as English inscription, has been carried out. Every spring a company of those who loved her, and looked upon her as their leader, meet at her grave to sing Christian hymns, place flowers upon the mound, and recall the beautiful life from which they learned how full of fruitfulness and blessing fifty years of Christian discipleship could be made.

MISS NELLIE N. RUSSELL’S UNIQUE WORK

By Mrs. Chauncey Goodrich

An Appreciation

The twenty-second day of August the cable flashed across the Pacific the news that Miss Nellie N. Russell of Peking had succumbed to illness and was no more.

Those who had not known Miss Russell intimately can little guess the grief that came to every heart which knew her in China, whether belonging to the missionary body, American or British, the Legation circles of these countries, or the countless hundreds of Chinese who had felt the beautiful uplift of her personality. While at school at Northfield, Dwight L. Moody came to know her, and this reader of men at once saw her rarely winsome gifts. I, who have known and loved her for these twenty-one years, would like to write of her life in China, hoping perchance that some whiff of that beautiful fragrance may enter the hearts of those who read and make them more beautiful for God.

It was in 1890 Miss Russell came to Peking. One never could think of her as being a bachelor maid, she was so womanly. How we revelled in her pretty clothes, so dainty and becoming—so fit. The home-making instinct was so strong that she was not content, as others had been, to live in the families of married missionaries, but just as soon as possible secured a house, that she might have a home. It was simplicity itself, but every nook and corner breathed the woman,—home-maker,—and it was always open to her friends, Chinese and Western.

Very early in her missionary life she felt the call of the country village work. Dressed most carefully in Chinese garments, for many years she spent months at a time away from Peking, living at some branch station, making trips to nearby villages, holding classes for women or visiting them in their homes. She purchased a cart and mule, and with a young serving-man from the better class who respected her every whim, consenting to be carter, cook, protector, whatever Miss Russell wished, she went everywhere.

And how wonderfully she entered into every one’s life, whether of the evangelist, his wife, the Christian school teacher, the wife of the richest man in the region roundabout, the old lady tottering to her grave, or the young daughter-in-law, the bride, or the little mischievous boy. “With heart at leisure from itself,” she drew out from each one his story. She never went in the spirit, “Now-I-am-holier,-more-civilized-than-thou,-therefore-hear-ye-me,” but rather in the spirit of one who sought to find out the interest or the hunger of each one’s life, and so somehow bring it in touch with the Lover of all. Such discoveries as she made of possibilities in the lives of this one and that!

On returning to Peking for work in the city, she again wore the European dress. There was something in her nature that compelled her to have things suitable if possible, and she at once felt the dress that other foreigners wore would meet with greater acceptance in Peking.

When the Boxer storm began to gather, being so much in the country in the winter of 1899 and 1900, she saw, as few did, the blackening clouds. The persecution of each Christian took a mighty hold on her sympathetic heart. Ah! no one who was out of China can ever realize the strain of the months preceding that awful cataclysm, the agony of those months in the siege itself, not because of self, but because of missionary friends, and because of the children begotten of the Lord, who were out unsheltered in the fury of that wild and awful storm.

At its close, with no reserve, Miss Russell poured out her love and sympathy on the one hand, and on the other sought to regather the church in city and country, and to find work and help for men, women, and children. The situation was all abnormal, and Satan slew many with the poisoned darts of revenge and greed, whom he could not slay otherwise. Oh! but these things almost broke her tender heart. Her hair grew grey and the power to resist disease and overweariness lessened, yet the spirit of our friend rallied, and she entered into the joy of the Conquering Christ.

When she saw that she could not take as long country trips and endure the same fatigue as formerly, she set all her energies to work in bringing the Bible school for training women workers into being, and in reaching city women. This did not mean giving up her country work, only less prolonged visits.

Following the sudden but prolonged sickness and the death of Dr. Ament, no one knew as did Miss Russell the work of the pastors, evangelists, teachers, and chapel-keepers, in the city and in the large country field, which reached into a few walled cities and many market towns and villages. It was she who gave her days and nights for many weeks, and even months, to helping Dr. Charles Young, the only gentleman then in the Peking station, settle and rearrange the work. More than once the midnight hour found her still in conference with Chinese workers, strengthening those who were strong, exhorting the weak, and in some cases reporting and removing those who were proving inefficient, and even unworthy of their trust.

The pastor of the North Congregational Church, after the Hague Conference, invited a Chinese friend who had been on the commission to come to the church and tell about the meetings. This meeting he advertised widely, and it was enthusiastically attended by many non-Christians. Miss Russell, seeing the opportunity, began both at this and the First Church to have simple lectures for women on the great Fair days, three times a month.

These lectures were given sometimes by Chinese, sometimes by Westerners, and covered every kind of subject. She invited noted ladies to come and address these meetings. In this way she and her associates made hundreds of friends among women of every rank in society. Her associates helped receive and entertain, sometimes for hours afterward, the many guests who came, showing school, kindergarten, museums, etc.

With rare tact Miss Russell showed her appreciation of all things in Chinese life that were really beautiful. She read the papers, learned the newest phrases, found out what Chinese women loved, the motive of their acts, and, best of all, helped every one to be her best.

How they confided in her! The wealthy, aristocratic sisters, whose brother, drawn away by the skilful efforts of some European gambler, was gradually losing all their property; the ardent Confucian lady teacher, who was using her property for the establishment of a school for girls, and who so longed to bring to Chinese and Manchu women the teaching of Confucius to make them forceful in their lives; the high official’s wife, who would learn from her how best to work to banish polygamy; the princess who in Mongolia would establish a school for Mongol girls; or the wives and sisters of high officials who would open schools or work against the evils of the cigarette or of opium. Chinese youth and Chinese women are in that sensitive state—the state of real life and growth—when they long to originate and execute for themselves. It is the sign of independence, and while it leads to mistakes, in the end it will lead to more vigorous thinking and action. No one unassociated with Miss Russell can understand the tactful way in which she made suggestions.

This past winter (1911) Miss Russell and Mrs. Ament opened rooms in a court directly opening from a gate on the main street, where they received their lady guests, held classes and small lectures, etc. Nowhere in Peking was there a daintier, prettier reception-room. It was a joy of every Chinese heart. There were always flowers, the flowers they loved, and tea served in the daintiest manner. The Chinese, in the desire to be “enlightened” and like Europeans, which has temporarily seized them, have too often banished their beautiful furniture from their reception-rooms, substituting an inferior European article. In this room there was a beautiful blending of European and Chinese furnishings, with Chinese largely predominating.

Some of the ladies, when they found they would be free to have meetings here, said, “So often we want to meet together, we who are interested in the progress of our women, and plan and talk over matters. It is not easy. We come from different ranks in society. We are not free to open our homes, as we do not control them, but we are so grateful that we may come here. You do not laugh at us. We are new to all this and we know are often bungling.”

Another said, and she a lady of high rank and highest breeding, “One thing I have discovered. If ever Miss Russell encourages any movement for our betterment, I am always sure I can indorse it. Some of the suggestions of the Chinese ladies I cannot favour, but Miss Russell is so wise, so careful, so good a friend of the Chinese, I can always trust her.”

Our friend, not content in keeping this means—the lecture and class courses—of reaching women confined to our Mission, one day a year ago invited the representatives of all the Missions in Peking to her study. There she unfolded a plan by which these might be repeated in every Mission and each of its centres of work in the city. This eventuated in a plan for fifty lectures, often a missionary and a Chinese lady speaking on the same subject, and thus reinforcing each other.

Seeing, too, the great result following the union evangelistic meetings for men during fairs held in the spring and early summer at the temples, her fertile brain conceived a plan for a union effort on the part of all the various Christian workers for women. Tents were erected, seats rented, tea served, and there large and small groups of women heard the Gospel message for the first time. The result has been that several of the Missions have opened new centres of work in the city, near city gates, or in the suburbs.

The tireless brain is still—the living heart has ceased its beating. The loss to our work in Peking only those who knew and saw what she was able to do and to inspire done can fathom. Miss Russell always carried with her the dignity of her womanhood, yet with never a sense of independence. She sought the help of men and in some way drew out all their manhood and chivalry by her belief and trust in it. Her nature never was distorted by her work, but her power to love and enter into others’ lives increased with every passing year.

Her love for little children—the new-born babe, the toddling child, the merry boy or girl, was peculiarly reverent and beautiful. Her face often expressed an abandonment of joy as she watched the children play, or laughed at their wise and witty sayings. She took time for friendships, of which she had a few very close and dear. She never failed a friend in time of need.

She loved, too, the social life, being always most punctilious about her calls at the Legations and Customs, and on her Chinese friends of official families. She went not from a sense of duty, but from real pleasure. She heartily enjoyed intercourse with the cultured ladies and gentlemen of these circles and was often able to bring them into touch with her Manchu and Chinese friends with real advantage to both sides.

“And was she perfect?” you ask. Ah, no! She had her strong likes and dislikes. She had her battles to fight, but each year, as her thoughts dwelt more and more upon the Lord and Master of us all, His power to uplift and to save, she grew in likeness to Him, and now she sits radiant in the Heavenlies, enjoying Him who was her life, and who can doubt but that He whom she loved and lifted up will draw the souls she knew and loved, up and up, even to Himself.

MISS RUSSELL’S FUNERAL SERVICE

Mrs. Mary P. Ament, who has been closely associated with Miss Russell during the past year, sends the following account of the last loving services rendered to our beloved missionary:

Many friends had roamed the hills and meadows, bringing a variety of flowers—wild pinks, fine everlastings peculiar to Pei Tai Ho, also a feathery foliage, and had massed them on piano and organ before the pulpit with beautiful effect.

Intimate friends went slowly down from the service to Ivy Lodge, the Stanleys’ pleasant home, where Miss Russell had been spending the vacation days and where she died. As we entered the room and saw our friend of many years, she seemed asleep, yet in repose one felt the power of her personality, her high purpose, her dignity. The casket was covered with heavy pongee and lined with cream-white crêpe. She wore a white embroidered dress, and about her lay sprays of cypress vine. Her beautiful silvery hair made her look so queenly!

The long journey to Peking accomplished, a large number of friends, foreign and Chinese, awaited us, and next morning followed the flower-laden bier to the cemetery.

There, as one listened to the discriminating words of Pastor Li in his address, and Pastor Wang in his prayer, it brought keen satisfaction to think that the fragrance, the real essence of such a life, was perceived by those for whose welfare she had laboured. Rev. Mr. Stelle, speaking in Chinese, emphasized our opportunity to show our respect for her by seeking the things which she valued. In English, he told us of the comfort sought by the dear friend in the Twenty-third Psalm, which she asked to have read to her the day before she left us. He read the Psalm and offered a prayer in English.

At early dawn the messenger came and, taking her by the hand, ascended the heavenly heights. “And there shall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign for ever and ever.”

These words are full of comfort, but as yet we feel the need of her ministry so keenly that only the knowledge that the same God who strengthened her is with us still enables us to move forward and conserve what we may of her lifework.

With severe limitations of health she yet wrought with delicate touch and a beautiful fabric was merging from beneath her hands.

I must allude briefly to the beauty of the day, with its clear shining after rain, the deep sorrow of the devoted friends who followed the bier on foot over miles of roadless distance from Ch’ienmen to the cemetery, that quiet, ivy-walled inclosure in which stands the chapel where the service was held—a tender, impressive service.

We had thought that few American or English friends could be present at this time of year, when the foreign residents are away from the city, but we were mistaken. Two secretaries of Legation, physicians of the Union Medical College, fellow-workers, and old-time friends were there; native pastors, Bible women, and church friends, servants and guards of honour sent by the military governor of the city and by the chief of the civil administration. The chapel had as many people standing as there were sitting. The casket with its covering of beautiful vines and white flowers, roses, day lilies, tuberoses, spirea, stood in front of the altar and was carried by the friends to the grave, where loving hands had arranged the beautiful wild date branches and vines as a lining. There, a short service with Pastor Jen and Teacher Ch’uan taking part, and a prayer and a hymn.

The mound as we left it was beautiful with the sides covered with the green vines and date branches, and on top the lovely floral pieces and coloured flowers, two great wreaths of the long palm leaves and roses, and at the head a floral cross. There in the quiet and peace among the trees we left it. Some of the Chinese are already saying, “When a stone is erected, let it have one Chinese word upon it, just her name, then we can find her grave and every spring at the ‘Ch’ing Ming’—feast of all souls—we will go out and honour her memory.”

There is a hush upon us all. God has come very near and taken our Great Missionary from us. We shall not look upon her like again.

GLEANINGS FROM CHINESE FOLKLORE

BY NELLIE N. RUSSELL

A TARTAR JOAN OF ARC

Many hundreds of years ago, there lived far away in the northern mountains of China a very beautiful girl, named Liu Chin Ting. She was an only daughter and having no girl companions came to spend most of her time with her brothers. For long years the country had been rent by rebellions and wars. The children, breathing in the spirit of their fathers, played at sham battles and dreamed of rescuing their land.

Chin Ting came gradually to be looked upon as their leader, her wise little head was full of plans, and her eyes would flash fire as she gave her orders to the youths who followed her.