Letter from Miss Martha Hake, a missionary to China, sent out by the Evangelical Church.
Dear home folks:-
I am on my way to Peking and decided to write some every day while gone, so I wouldn’t have a whole letter to write when I get back.
We left home yesterday morning at 7:30. We went to Shia Kwan by carriage, which is about 4 miles from Keen’s, then took a boat across the river to Rukow, where we took the train. You should have seen all our baggage, as we took bedding and lunch for five meals.
Our cars are not much better than just box cars. They have a few more windows and have benches on each side, except at the sliding doors. I am sitting on a bedding roll now, watching the scenery, only there isn’t much to see, nothing but dry dirt and graves. We have been going through the district that was struck by famine two years ago. It surely looks dry and barren now. The farmers are getting the soil ready for the spring crop. It all seems to be farm land except the graves and the ridges which separate the small fields. They surely waste more land. The graves are little mounds, pointed at the top. In some places they are so thick that if one half-closes the eyes, it looks like a hay field just put into piles.
This morning and last night we went through the bandit district. It was quite mountainous. Our train is well guarded by soldiers. They get out at every station and march up and down the platform.
We arrived here about six this morning. We expected to get in last night, but our train was late and we missed connections at Tient-sin, so we came the rest of the way on a freight, not having to change cars. We Just expected to spend one night on the train but had to spend two, because our train was late. Every one slept better the second night. I guess we were used to the hardness of the floor, or were more tired.
We spread our bedding out on the floor, and some slept on the benches. I slept on a bench the first night, but had considerable trouble keeping the cover on. We had a lot of fun anyway. The married folks and the nurses were in one car and the rest of the single girls in the other. Mrs. Keen put up such a good lunch for us. We could get boiling water on the train, and we made instant coffee and postum. We can not get cold water, as all water in China must be boiled first. I brought some in a thermos bottle but it didn’t last long.
We are staying at the Central Hotel. It is a Chinese hotel, run by Chinese, but English style. They serve so many meat courses, and scarcely any vegetables, like the English do. Everything is clean and good. Emeline and I are rooming together and Lydia and Georgia are across the hall from us.
This morning we girls went for a walk. We went on one of the city walls, and could get a birds-eye view of a great many of the places we will visit this week. They have such wide streets here, one would think you were in an American city instead of in China.
We went to a vesper service at the Y.M.C.A. this afternoon and heard a fine sermon on “Religious Propaganda” using the word in its better sense. It was based on John 20:30-31. We will retire early so as to be all rested for our trips tomorrow.
We had a busy day yesterday from morning till night. In the morning we visited several large hills, one had three temples on it, and another a large pagoda on it. We could get such a good view of the “Forbidden City” from this hill. This is where the Emperor lived, and the ex- emperor, who is just a boy of 20 years now lives there. It was not opened to the public until the time of the Republic, and even now one must have a special permit to get in. The crowd went to see it this morning, but I stayed home.
In the pagoda we saw an idol which represented the Manchus’ idea of God. It was a fierce looking thing, having one large face and about a dozen smaller faces, and about fifty arms and feet. It was tramping on images of people, representing a fierce and terrible God.
There are quite a number of temples and buildings of all sorts. We rambled among them and the rocks and trees down the hill. We went on the other side, then around a small lake to see a screen or a spirit wall. It had the most gorgeous colorings and carvings on it. It was very large, about a half block long and about 30 feet high. We took a boat back across the lake and returned to the hotel.
We are hiring our ricksha men by the day. We can come and go when we please, and. not be bothered by not getting a ricksha when wanted, or having a dozen of them trying to get you to take their ricksha. Most of the ricksha men here can speak English. It seems so strange as they can’t in Nanking. The one I have can’t speak much, but I get along with him quite well, although the dialect is somewhat different than at Nanking. You ought to see the scene when we ninety people leave the hotel, each one trying to find his own ricksha man and they trying to find their right person. They are numbered, so if we have difficulty we can call out the number.
In the afternoon we visited the temple and Altar of Heaven. Miss Wolf had an article about this place in one of the recent Missionary Worlds. It is a beautiful, marvelous place. They are in a large, spacious park, which has high walls around it. The Altar of Heaven is a large, marble, circular place, right out in the open under the heavens. The Emperor came here to worship the God. of the Heavens, and. to offer sacrifices twice a year. It is the nearest thing to Christianity that there is in China. It has no connections whatever with the other heathen religions of China. There are no idols connected with it. There seemed to be such a feeling off solemnity and sacredness about the place.
The Temple of Heaven had the most beautiful colors in it. I wasn’t quite as much impressed. with it as with the Altar of Heaven, perhaps because I have seen so many temples before. But to think that the Chinese people, centuries ago, were searching, and perhaps worshiping the true God in the light that they had, makes us more eager than ever to give them the true message of salvation.
After that we went through the temple of Agriculture. It, too, is a very spacious park. Centuries ago the Emperor plowed a few furrows of ground each year, as an example to the people, and. prayed to the God of the Heavens for a prosperous year. Agriculture was considered very honorable then, but now it is the opposite. Of course Agriculture Colleges are doing much to bring it to a higher plane again.
From five to seven we were invited to a tea, given by the Peking Language School. I was happily surprised to see Catherine Reynolds from Iowa Falls. I knew she had been there but thought she had gone to her station. She leaves this week as the dialect is quite different and it is best to make the change earlier. It surely seems good to see someone you know, when you are a long way from home.
They had the tea at the dormitory. It formerly was the home of a prince. and is very “Chinese” in fashion. The rooms open out into little court-yards, and they have paper window panes like most Chinese buildings. Each room has a stove, the pipe sticking out if a window as chimneys were not put in when built. They are very comfortable in spite of paper windows. It was just a little informal tea to get acquainted. They served tea, cake, sandwiches, French pastry, cookies and peanuts. We had games with them throughout the week.
Yesterday afternoon we were invited to the Stewart home. Mr. Stewart is the President of Peking University. Mrs. Stewart had the bead, brass, rug, fur, jade and all kinds of peddlers at her home. It looked like a fair or a bazaar. One can buy such beautiful things in China. I bought a lovely brass desk set. It is engraved with a dragon design. I also bought beads, a lamp shade (Peking is famous for its lamp shades and fancy lanterns) material for a blouse, lace collar and white silk hose. They have quite a number of foreign stores here, and even a ten-cent store. They had Chinese girl clerks. It seemed strange as we don’t see the Chinese girls very much in Nanking in the stores. The Peking rugs are beautiful. I want to go to a factory or shop and see how they are made.
In the evening we went to a typical Chinese theater. It was a very large building, having three floors and a roof garden. There were about three shows on each floor. One of them was an American Movie. The others were all kinds of wild things. There was Chinese music played on the old music instruments. We couldn’t understand much of the speaking. There was such a bunch of us foreigners that we were looked at more than the shows. The audience was a regular rough house. They were talking and laughing, drinking tea and eating. A man at the back threw hot towels to a man in the front. They wipe or wash their hands and face with these. The men had to sit on one side and the women on the other. There was a wooden partition between and barbed wire stretched over it. We had a good time and. got to see what a Chinese theater was like. We only stayed about 10 minutes in each place. It lasted until midnight or longer.
The last two days have been so full that I haven’t had time to write. On Wednesday we went out to General Feng’s camp. We went in autos as it is about five miles out. His camp surely is a model of neatness and orderliness. General Feng is a Christian you know and so much religious work is done among his soldiers. Thousands are baptized every few months.
As soon as we arrived we were seated at tables and served tea and cookies. Then we were shown through the camp and then returned to the Reception room for more tea, and then General Feng talked to us. His talk was on Service, he showing how this idea of service was portrayed through very ancient characters. He said there was so much truth and good found in the writings of Confucius that many times it was a means of a point of contact in presenting the Christian message. He said he had been a Christian only thirteen years, and was just a child in Christianity. It surely is marvelous , the influence that one life may have, if directed by God. 95% of the officers are Christian and 40% of the soldiers. All are required to study the Bible. There was no cigarette smoking like we see in the camps at home.
On Thursday we took the trip to the Great Wall. It is a 45 mile trip by train. We left the hotel early in the morning by ricksha to a station five miles from here. The wall certainly is marvelous. I wish you could have all seen it too. And to think that it was built 300 B.C. The way it goes up and over the mountains is wonderful. Its length is about 1400 miles. I was somewhat disappointed in its height and width. I had compared it in my mind with the Nanking wall and supposed it to be higher and wider but it is only about half as wide. Its greatness is in its great length and that it is built over the mountains and that it was built such a long time ago.
On Friday morning we visited the Language School. They call the head teacher who gives the new words, “Dearest,” just among themselves. We could understand him quite well, even if the dialect is different. I do not think that the difference is any greater than that between the North and the South in the States. He was very polite and talked about us as their guests. He told about our teachers, and that he had studied under Chia Sen Sen, our head teacher, and that we had a very good language school and very good teachers. Their methods are quite different from ours. They use the Romanization instead of phonics like we do. Then they have so much English with their work, while we have none whatever. With their reading lessons they are given the English with it.
After staying at the Language School about an hour we went to the Peking Union Medical College and took a trip through it. This is the Rockefeller Foundation Hospital in the Orient, and one of the best in the world. The buildings are all built Chinese style of architecture, with green roofs and. many colors used for trimmings. Miss Wolf, sister of Martha Wolf from our mission, teaches in the pre-medical school. Miss Wolf invited we Evangelicals over for tea on Sunday afternoon. We had a very nice visit, with her.
On Friday afternoon was the President’s reception. The Peking Language School students went with us, there being over 200 in the party. The President was ill and couldn’t see us, but gave us his speech written out in Chinese characters. I haven’t read. Mine yet, but I will save it until I will be able to do so. Before going into the court-yard we had to give our cards. Almost every one remembered to bring them, and those that didn’t were supplied by those who had more than one. I don’t know what they thought of the bunch, if they looked over the cards. Tea and cookies and cakes were served in dining rooms on each side of the large reception room.
After this we had the volley ball games with Peking Language School. Emeline and Lydia played on our team. I have not played volley ball at all, as base ball has been my game. Our girls won the first two games and our boys won two out of three games. It seemed like being back at W.U.C. (Western Union College, Le Mars, Iowa) and having a game there. When we gave yells I wanted to yell for W.U.C. or Morningside. In fact when Emeline and I talk about going back to Nanking we sometimes would make the mistake and say Le Mars instead.
On Saturday the group went to the summer palace of the Empress Dowager. It is 11 miles from Peking and they made the trip by auto. I spent the day in bed, as I ate something for dinner the night before which made me sick.
On Sunday morning before church we went to see the oldest astronomical observatory in the world. It was built in 1279, 300 years before the first one in Europe. It surely is interesting to see all of these old things and places. We saw so much during the week there.
On Monday morning early we left for home, stopping off at Tai-an-fu for one day. A very old, sacred mountain is located here. It is the mountain that people from all over China make pilgrimages to. We started out about 8:30 in the morning to climb Tai shan. I had a chair and three coolies, but I walked at least half of the way. There is quite a wide path going up the mountain, and. it is steps the most of the way. Some places it was very steep too. It was all right going up, but coming down was worse, and the coolies carry one so fast going down. We got to the top about two o’clock.
We had a wretched time with our coolies, as they wanted us to give them tea money all the time. We should have waited until we got home, but after they got us to give them some, they thought we would give them more. Every time we would stop they would beg for money.
We could get a wonderful view from the top. We could see wide plains stretching out all around us. This mountain is about 500 feet high. Confucius made a pilgrimage here twice a year. There were quite a number of temples on the top. They were old looking and. badly run down. They have a railroad hotel at Tai-an- fu. We went there for dinner at night after climbing the mountain. It is the prettiest, nicest, cleanest place. It was just finished last year and was built especially for tourists. It is run entirely by Chinese, but is just as nice as the hotels in Glacier Park.
The girls had a nicer car coming home. We had wider seats along the sides and a seat down the middle. The baggage racks were quite large, large enough to make beds on and sleep. I slept on a baggage rack the second night, coming home. I tied a rope in front of it so I wouldn’t roll out. I slept quite well all night, but I was so tired from climbing the mountain.
We got home about 5:30 on Wednesday afternoon. Every one was glad to see us come back, even the servants. I believe they would have hugged and kissed us if that would be their custom. It surely seemed good to get home again. School began the next morning. Everyone has been so tired from the trip. I have slept and slept.
It will be about the middle of May before you get this letter. We will go to Kuling about the middle of June. We take our teachers with us and study all summer.