Forty Years in South China: The Life of Rev. John Van Nest Talmage, D.D.

by John Gerardus Fagg

Nov. 27, 1852. To the Sunday-school of the Reformed Church at Bound Brook,
New Jersey.

"There is very much poverty and misery among the heathen. They do not pity each other and love each other as some Christians do. Those who have the comforts of life seem to have very little pity for those who are destitute. Therefore they have no poorhouses where the poor may be taken care of. Consequently very many steal, very many beg, and very many starve to death. In going from my house to church on the Sabbath I have counted more than thirty beggars on the streets. The most of them were such pitiable looking objects as you never saw. I have seen persons who are called beggars in the United States, but I never saw a real beggar till I came to Amoy. Some of them are covered with filth and a few filthy rags. Some of them are without eyes, some without noses, some without hands, and some without feet. Some crawl upon their hands and feet, some sit down in the streets and shove themselves along, and some lie down end can only move along by rolling over and over. On Sunday before last, while I was preaching, a blind girl came into the chapel. She was led by a string attached to a boy going before her. He could see, but could not walk. He crept along on his hands and knees. A month or two ago, during a cold storm, late in the evening, just as I was going to bed, I heard some one groaning by my front door. I went out to see what was the matter. I found an old man with white beard Iying in the mud and water, and with very little clothing. He was shivering from cold. He was unable to speak. I had him carried into my house, and covered over with some mats. We prepared some warm drink and food for him, as speedily as possible, hoping that thus we might save his life. But before we could get it ready he died. He had probably been carried by some persons and laid at my door to die, that they might be free from the trouble and expense of burying him.

"A week or two ago when walking through the streets I saw a beggar Iying a little distance off. I inquired whether he was already dead. Some men, who stood near, said 'Yes.' I then asked why they did not bury him. 'Oh, he is of no use.' I inquired, 'Is he not a man ?' 'No,' they said, 'he is only a beggar.' 'But,' I asked again, 'is he not still a man?' They laughed and answered, 'Yes.' A few days after, walking with Mrs. Talmage by the same place, we saw another beggar Iying nearly in the same spot. I inquired of the persons who were near whether he was dead. They answered, 'Yes.' Close by sat a beggar who was still alive. He was scarcely grown up. But his face was so deformed from suffering that we could not guess his age. He held out his hands for alms. We gave him a few cash and went on. The next day we passed that way again. We saw two beggars lying together, both dead. We went to them. One was the lad to whom we gave the cash the day previous. On Sunday in coming from church we again passed by that sad spot, and there was still another beggar lying dead directly in the road. This gives you, in part, a picture of what heathenism is."

Parts of two letters written in 1852 to his sister Catharine will prove interesting.

PRINTING UNDER DIFFICULTIES.

"Our work here is continually growing on our hands. Besides our usual missionary work, I do a little teaching, a little book-making, and a little printing. You did not know, perhaps, that I am a printer. We are teaching a few persons to read the colloquial (or spoken) language of Amoy. But in order to teach this, it is necessary that this spoken language be committed to writing. It is necessary to have books printed in it. We have no printing press at Amoy. I have had some types cut on bone or horn. With these I print a copy. This is handed to the carver. He pastes it upside down on a block and carves the words on the block. This block is then inked and is made to print other copies. It is a slow process, but the only one we have at Amoy at present. I have thus prepared a spelling-book in the Amoy colloquial. It is not all completed yet. The carver is busy with the last two or three sheets. A few of the first sheets were struck off some weeks ago and made up into small books, which we have been using to teach those who are learning to read, until the whole book is complete. Our printing is not very pretty. When the caners get more experienced in their work, they will be able to do their part better. Our plan of teaching is as follows: On Monday afternoon we have a meeting for women at our house. Before and after the service we teach them (those of them who wish to learn) to spell. On Tuesday afternoon, Mrs. Doty meets those who wish to learn, in a room connected with the church. On Wednesday, Mrs. Doty has a meeting for women at her house. She also spends a little time then in teaching them. On Friday, Abby and I go to the church and spend about an hour in teaching. We cannot expect them to make very rapid progress in this manner of teaching, but it is the best we can do for them at present. There are two little girls who have been coming to our house every day for more than a month. They are beginning to read."

"I must tell you a little of what I have been doing to-day. This forenoon, among other things, I doctored a Yankee clock. I bought it in Amoy nearly a year ago for three dollars. Sometimes it goes, and sometimes it stands still. But it stands still much more than it goes. This morning I took it all apart, every wheel out, rubbed each wheel off, and put the clock together again. It has been running ever since, but how long it will continue to run, I cannot tell.

CARRIER PIGEONS.

"Our cook, 'Lo,' takes care of our pigeons. Some have died and a few have been stolen, but they have continued gradually to increase. They now number twenty. They are very pretty, and very tame. They spend much of the time on the open veranda in front of our house. Some of them are of a dark brown color, some are perfectly white, some are black and white. We shall soon have enough to begin eating pigeon pies, but I suppose we shall be loth to kill the pretty birds. Some of them are of the Carrier pigeon species. We might take them to a good distance from Amoy and they would doubtless find their way home again. The Chinese have a small whistle which they sometimes fasten on the back of the pigeons near the tail. 'Lo' has some attached to some of our pigeons. When they fly swiftly through the air, you can hear the whistle at a great distance. The noise often reminds us of the whistle of a locomotive.

"The gold-fish in the lamp continue much as when I wrote before. We have made some additions to our flower-pots and flowers this spring. Our open veranda is being turned into a sort of open garden. We now have from sixty to seventy pots, from the size of a barrel down to the size of a two-quart measure. Some of them are empty and some of them are not. Besides flowers, we have parsley, onions, peppers, mint, etc., etc. Our garden does not flourish as well as it would, if I had time to attend to it. Besides this, the pigeons are very fond of picking off the young sprouts. Lest you should think us too extravagant, I ought to tell you the cost of the flower-pots. Those which were presented to us, did not cost us anything. Those we bought, cost from a cent apiece to sixpence. Some two or three cost as high as fifteen or twenty cents apiece. But you will never understand how nice and how odd we have it, unless you step in some day to look for yourself."