Calvin Wilson Mateer, forty-five years a missionary in Shantung, China

by D. W. Fisher

Unfortunately Mateer and Corbett had selected for their first itineration a time of year when the mosquitoes and fleas and other vermin are at their worst, and they suffered accordingly.

They were gone just four weeks; and during that period they traveled two hundred and twenty-five miles. Much of the time it rained. At Laichow fu for this cause they were detained a week; and they had to lodge in a room whose roof leaked so badly that they had to protect themselves with oilcloths and umbrellas. The water was three feet deep on the floor. One day they crossed twenty-two streams, none of them large, and yet often of such a character as to render passage very troublesome. For a while they had a shentza borne by a couple of crowbait mules, one of which was blind and had the trick of suddenly lying down for a rest, and occasionally fell flat into a mudhole, or tumbled its rider over a steep bank. They met with a variety of treatment from the people, but mostly it was not unfavorable to the prosecution of their work. Foreigners were still a curiosity in the region, and that often attracted a crowd to see them, and to ascertain by hearing and by reading what might be the nature of the Christian doctrine. Once it became necessary for Mateer to use force to repel a man who persistently tried to seize a book. Each of the missionaries preached about forty times, and at all sorts of places. Their largest evident success was in disposing of books; these for the most part by sale, the total of pages distributed amounting to two hundred and seventy-seven thousand. The details of the tour are given in Mateer’s Journal. If preserved, they will one day be of extreme interest to the Christians of China, as records of the very beginnings of the teaching of the gospel in Shantung.

Again, the next spring Mateer and Corbett, accompanied by Chinese assistants, went on another tour of preaching and of book-selling. Mateer left Tengchow on April 5, and reached home on May 19. They started with twenty-eight boxes of books, each weighing about seventy pounds; and, because they had exhausted the supply, they had to turn back before reaching the place to which they had originally intended to go. One of the noteworthy things in their itinerary is that it brought them for the first time to Wei Hsien, now one of the largest of the Presbyterian mission stations in north China, and the site of the College of Arts of the Shantung University; and to Tsingchow fu, the site of the Theological College. In both towns the Presbyterians and the Baptists are united. All that Mateer said in his Journal concerning Wei Hsien is:

We did not go through the city, except the suburbs. The streets were full of people, and they were not sparing in their expressions of enmity and contempt. We saw a great number of elegant memorial arches near Wei Hsien and learned that it is a very wealthy place. This was indicated by the many elegant burying grounds around it, and by the good condition of the walls. The country all around, and indeed most we passed through to-day, was very rich. A man on the road who appeared to know told us that one individual, the richest in the city, was worth three million taels [then more than as many million dollars].

Tsingchow fu receives from him a much more extended notice. He speaks of the city—although very much smaller than evidently it once had been—as still large and filled with business. The surrounding country wins from him great admiration. Indeed, at several places he was much attracted by the prospect which spread itself out before his eyes; and some of it reminded him even of the natural scenery of his “Old Home” in Pennsylvania. Of course, it must not be supposed that all the region they traversed was the equal of this; much of it was far less attractive in almost every particular.

On this journey they had a great variety of experiences, some of them far enough from pleasant. Nearly everywhere they went, curiosity attracted crowds of adults and of children. This seems to have been especially true in the neighborhood of Wei Hsien and Tsingchow fu. At the inns where they stopped, privacy was almost impossible; the people peering in at the windows and bolting into the room they occupied. Sometimes they were compelled to expel the intruders with a dash of water or with an uplifted cane. Harder to bear were the opprobrious epithets applied to them. Mateer said:

Every village I come to, the term, “devil!” “devil!” comes ringing in my ears. Not that they always called it at me, but to one another, to come and see. Frequently, however, it was called out most spitefully, for me to hear. I think that within the last two days I have heard it from at least ten thousand mouths. It is strange how such a term could have gotten such universal currency. It expresses not so much hatred to the gospel as it does the national enmity of the Chinese to foreigners.

Happily at the present time foreigners are seldom saluted by this epithet. At Chang Tsau they had two serious disturbances. The first was caused by some sort of soothsayer, in whom the people had much confidence. While Mateer was surrounded by a crowd of men to whom he was selling books, in rushed this man, brandishing an ugly looking spear; and, using the Chinese expression of rage, “Ah! Ah! I’ll kill you!” he drove the spear straight at Mateer’s breast. In those early days of his missionary work Mateer carried a revolver for self-defense when going to places where he might be attacked, believing that he had a moral right to protect himself from assault by evil-minded persons. On this occasion the revolver was drawn instantly. As the man came closer Mateer seized the spear, and warned the intruder of the consequences if he advanced a step farther. The risk was too great for the courage of the soothsayer, and he went away crestfallen, but cursing the missionary, threatening to return and kill him, and launching his anathemas against anybody who bought the books. After the disturbance the people were not so eager to buy, and an official tried to induce Mateer to cease his efforts, but, partly to show the futility of such interruptions, he continued, until at length weariness compelled him to stop.

The other incident occurred in connection with the selling of books at a market. A man took advantage of a moment when the missionary was receiving pay from a purchaser, and snatched away a book, but Mateer seized and held him until the book was restored. This led to an altercation between the Chinese assistant and the thief, and blows were struck. The disturbance began to spread, and several of the crowd seemed disposed to lay hands on Mateer, when a significant reference to the revolver brought the movement to a prompt termination. In order to show the people that the missionaries were doing only what is lawful under the treaty, and that they would not put up with insult or wrong, they sought satisfaction through the official having jurisdiction, and warned him that the case would be brought to the notice of the American consul at Chefoo.