In the fall of 1893 we moved too early into a house recently repaired and not yet completed, with wet mud walls and no windows fitted in some of the rooms. It seemed a necessity, but resulted in continued sickness through the entire winter for the little one and myself, so that I was largely debarred from the good work going on among the Koreans. Many of the middle and lower classes were coming into the church, men’s and women’s meetings were well attended, and even the little boys in the school seemed full of Christlike zeal, and spent some of their holiday and play hours in telling the good tidings and distributing tracts. One of our missionaries, Dr. Moffett, had been appointed to Pyeng Yang, other appointments of Presbyterians to the same place soon following, as well as that of Dr. and Mrs. Hall from the Methodist Mission.
On my own part, a little, very interrupted medical work was done, and women’s meetings were begun and carried on with great difficulty on account of deficient knowledge of the language, but little by little, in trying ever so lamely to use what I had, I rapidly gained more and more, so that I could soon talk and pray with freedom, if not always with perfect elegance and correctness, and as my chief aim was to be understood by the Koreans, not to display myself as an accomplished linguist, I was satisfied and happy when I had proof of this. Other women by this time were prepared to do this work well, in all three missions; and our poor native sisters were being reached in various quarters. I had been invited to the palace several times, my child was also asked there, and petted and loaded with kindness.
The Bible translating committee had been enlarged and now included Rev. H. G. Appenzeller (M. E.) and Mr. James S. Gale (Presby.), in addition to Dr. Scranton and Mr. Underwood. Lesson leaves were prepared for our Bible classes, and a number of tracts were being translated by various missionaries. Before our return to America in 1891, and for some years after, it was the cruel custom among wealthy natives to put servants, dependents or strangers at once on the street, if afflicted with any infectious disease, and it was the commonest occurrence to find poor people lying by the roadside, either exposed to the bitterest blasts of winter or the blazing heat of midsummer. Sometimes a friend or relative had erected a rude hut of thatch over the sufferer, sometimes a whole family together occupied such a hut, the dead and living lying together. It was our heart’s desire to obtain in some way the means to buy or build a hospital for such cases. While we were in America small sums were put at odd times into our hands “for the work,” and as these sums increased we decided to use the money for this long-cherished purpose.
Soon after our return, we were able, at a very low price, to buy a beautiful piece of ground on a breezy hillside, covered with fine trees and with a good tiled house having six or seven rooms. This was large enough for our present purpose, and money in hand was not sufficient to build the sort of hospital of which we dreamed. So we repaired the old building and added a caretaker’s quarters. We made the institution undenominational, arranging that any one might place cases of infectious disease there, which should be attended by any doctor desired. At the same time a little dispensary, given in memory of her only son by Mrs. Hugh O’Neil, of New York, was opened not far from the “Shelter,” as it was called, on the main road to the north. Here, in addition to medical work in a small way, women’s Bible classes were held, men’s and women’s evening prayer meetings, and often Sabbath morning services. July of 1894 saw the beginning of the China-Japan war in Korea, and the capture of Seoul by the Japanese. We were awakened one morning by the sound of firing, and soon learned that the palace was in possession of the Japanese. Excitement rose quite high among both foreigners and natives.
All the legations ordered up troops from the port where our gunboats lay, for our protection, although it is difficult to see how, in a case of serious danger, such small numbers would be of any service. There were fifty Russians, forty Americans, forty English and nine German marines. The natives, high and low, were in a state of panic. The nobility fled from their homes in large numbers and in all sort of disguises, and sought refuge at the foreign legations, or in the country; and to the country the common people started en masse. Every shop was closed, the city had the look of a plague-infested place. A solemn procession of men, women, chairs, pack-ponies, a continuous throng, in dead silence, with rapid steps, and set, terror-stricken faces, poured through the main thoroughfares and out of the gates. Many pathetic little groups were to be seen; little children, whose parents in wild fear had deserted or lost them in the crowd, trotting along with tear-stained faces, alone; women with babies on their backs and babies hanging at their skirts; men carrying all their worldly goods on their shoulders, here and there coolies with the chair of some frightened rich man or fine lady, shoving aside the crowd. High and low, rich and poor, hurrying away from the dreaded Japanese, the ancient enemy of their nation. How it made one realize the great multitude of unsaved peoples, pushing its way along the broad road and through the wide gate that leads to destruction. “And when he beheld the multitudes he had compassion on them as sheep having no shepherd.” The servants in every family gave notice; they dared not stay, they said, since to remain would be to be killed by Chinese or Japanese. We reminded them that we were neither afraid nor making any preparations for flight, and at last only persuaded some of them to remain by promising that we would never go and leave them, which we had fully decided upon on account of the native Christians.
Some very exciting and trying events had in the meanwhile been taking place in Pyeng Yang. In the previous May Dr. William James Hall of the M. E. Mission took his wife and baby to that city to start a station, and to take up a permanent residence. They were almost mobbed by the curious throngs, whom they were unable to control. No police could be obtained from the governor, who in addition, on the second or third day after their arrival, arrested and threw into jail Dr. Hall’s helper and the man from whom he had bought his house. This is the approved method of forcing a man to give up a house or piece of ground to which he holds a good title, but which Korean officials object, for any reason, to his keeping.
Dr. Hall had selected this property because it was in a thickly populated part of the town, where he believed he could do most good, but he had positively refused to pay a tax, which former owners had always paid to a certain devil-worship and sorceress house in the vicinity.
Dr. Moffett’s helper and the former owner of his house were also cast in jail, and his native Christians cruelly beaten, at the time when Dr. Hall’s men were seized. It was evident missionaries were not to be tolerated in Pyeng Yang. One or two other M. E. native Christians were then also arrested and beaten. Dr. Moffett was in the capital, and the Halls were quite alone in this large town, among many enemies, several days’ journey from Seoul and help. The situation was grim. Dr. Hall was obliged to leave his helpless wife and baby alone in the unprotected house while he visited the governor, or the Chinese telegraph office (both long distances away), or in trying to relieve or help the Christians in the jail.
As soon as his first message arrived in Seoul, a general meeting of all the missionaries was called at our house for united prayer for the Halls and our poor tortured native brethren. Dr. Scranton, Dr. Moffett and Mr. Underwood at once hastened to the American and English legations, and obtained through them an order from the Foreign Office to the governor, to release the Christians and pay damages for the injured property. Although this was wired at once to Pyeng Yang, the only apparent result was that the natives were more cruelly beaten and water-carriers forbidden to take water to the Halls, their house stoned and the walls torn down. The natives bore their cruel treatment heroically, and refused to give up their faith; they were then removed to the death cell, and the governor sent them word of his intention to execute them. Two despatches from Seoul had been received by the governor, but still no signs of change. In the meanwhile it was decided that some of the missionaries from Seoul should go to Dr. Hall’s help. Mr. Moffett claimed the right to go, as his native Christians were there in trouble, and Mr. McKenzie, from Canada, was allowed to accompany him, being an unmarried man, although several others stoutly urged the best reasons why they should go, like boys begging for a holiday rather than men going to face a very serious and doubtful situation.
We all feared that Dr. and Mrs. Hall, as well as the Christians’ lives, would be sacrificed to the malice of the mob and the governor before sufficient influence could be brought to bear by our legations through the Foreign Office to save them. By the time the two men from Seoul had arrived there, however, five days later, the Christians had been released, after being again badly beaten and stoned. Dr. and Mrs. Hall for a month following treated patients and preached the Word, but when war seemed imminent they were ordered back to Seoul, where they returned, as well as Mr. McKenzie, Dr. Moffett following somewhat later, having lingered as long as possible to encourage and hearten the Christians. Pyeng Yang was now in the hands of the Chinese, and Seoul in those of the Japanese. The summer was a very hot and unhealthy one, and there was scarce a family among the foreigners where there was not one or more cases of severe and prostrating sickness. Two little ones died, and there were long hours of agonized watching, when dear lives seemed for hours to be slipping over the brink. None of us could leave the city to seek for purer air or water, no pure milk could be had, and one poor young father, whose little child was literally starving for digestible nourishing food, remembering his father’s farm with its good milk cows, remarked pathetically, “In my father’s house there is food enough and to spare, while I perish with hunger.”