Women's Missions in China, Part 2

"For nearly two months past," Mrs. Nichol wrote from Chung-king, "I have seen some hundreds of women daily. Our house has been like a fair." More than once she fainted from weariness in the midst of her guests--the only white woman in a province of some sixty millions of people--returning to consciousness to find the women fanning her, full of affection and concern. One lady, who cared for her like a mother, would send round her own sedan chair with an urgent request for Mrs. Nichol to return in it immediately. The most comfortable bed in her own apartment was waiting, and sending out all the younger women she would sit down herself to fan the weary visitor till she fell asleep. Then an inviting dinner was prepared, and on no account was Mrs. Nichol allowed to leave until she had a proper meal.

That was the surprise that everywhere awaited the first women who went--the people were glad to see them, were eager often, to hear their message, showing not only natural curiosity but real heart sympathy. And how soon it began to tell--this living and preaching Christ so openly! By the end of the second year after missionary women came on the scene, the pioneers were rejoicing in sixty or seventy converts gathered into little churches in the far inland provinces."

*Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret, pages 215-216