The training class, the instruction of which was part of Mr. Underwood’s business in the interior that fall, was to be held in Hai Ju. The class was taught five hours each day, and women who would come were met and taught by me in my room. One hour after the men’s class in the afternoon was given to street preaching, our Canadian friends, Dr. Grierson and Mr. McRae, helping immensely with music and singing and in the distribution of tracts. A general meeting for prayer and Bible study was held in the class room every evening.
When the class had adjourned, we proceeded to make the usual circuit of the part of the province under our care. As on the river, so here along the sea and in the mountains, the numbers of new centers of gospel growth were amazing. “It springeth up he knoweth not how.” In one place a couple of old men, travelling along rather weary, sat down by the roadside and as they rested sang a hymn. A farmer whose house was near, overhearing the strange words of the song, came and questioned, and ere long became a believer, with his family. From this household the blessing overflowed for neighbors and friends. In another case a young bride made a strong stand for Christ in the heathen family into which she had married, until she had won over the entire family to the same faith, and they again had brought others. These are only a couple of examples that were paralleled in many communities.
Some of the answers of these poor half-taught people when catechised were given in a previous chapter, another that of an old woman I thought significant and touching. When asked where Jesus was, she said promptly, “He’s right here with me all the time.” “Yes, but where else is he?” Confused and troubled that she could not satisfy the Moxa, she said, “I’m only a poor ignorant old woman, I don’t know where else he is, but I know he is right here in my house all the time.” The devotion of the people to us, because through our hands had come the bread of life, was to me exceedingly affecting, and everywhere the relation existing between the people and their Moxas is a peculiarly close and tender one. When one of the missionaries was sick for some time, the women in the country villages through a large section held united daily prayer for her for several weeks. This without her knowledge, quite spontaneously, and without prearrangement among the different localities.
The following year I was providentially hindered from making the trip to the country with my husband, but in 1900, with Dr. Whiting, Mr. Underwood and our little son, I was again able to go to Whang Hai province. We started in February, and as there was now a little steamer which had begun to ply between Hai Ju and Chemulpo, we decided to profit by it, as this would be both easier and cheaper than the old way. Kaiwha (as they call progress) had “twessoed” (become) considerably since our last trip. A railroad had been laid between Seoul and Chemulpo, with trains traveling about fifteen miles an hour. The steamers referred to are a marvel also as specimens of said kaiwha. About the size of an ordinary despatch boat, or small tug, they are not too commodious.
CANDY BOY
There are two cabins, neither of which is high enough for tall people to stand erect in, one of which, with hardly room for three or four to occupy it with comfort, is packed with the unhappy second-class passengers. The other is somewhat larger, about twelve feet long by six wide. This room contains a table and six chairs, and in it are often stowed from ten to twenty first-class passengers. Here one meets “the world.” Korean officials, Korean, Chinese or Japanese merchants, French Romanist priests, strolling acrobats, singers, dancing girls, and Protestant missionaries. All except the latter smoke until the air will slice nicely, and many of them indulge in native or foreign liquor till their society is almost past endurance.
The boat follows the river northward past the historical island of Kangwha, with its picturesque walls and gates, till it flows into the sea, an arm of which our course crosses at this point to reach the shore on which lies the little village which is the port for the city of Hai Ju. On the day in question, when we profited for the first by all these contrivances of kaiwha, the ice was still in the river, ours being only the second trip made since it began to break. Nothing could be seen on all sides but great blocks of ice, much larger than our little craft, and all in a conspiracy apparently to prevent our advance, banging and pushing us, now on one side and now on the other. With much panting and puffing, occasionally sustaining a pretty severe shock but quickly gaining advantage lost and shoving aside her clumsy opponents, our boat steadily forced her passage onward and gradually gained the clear waters of the sea. This trip lasted only sixteen hours, while it would have taken three days overland.
We landed at half past eight on the edge of a long stretch of mud flats, covered with slimy boulders and stones, all of which now lay under a foot of half frozen snow, which hid the rocks and made the going very precarious in the darkness. There was only one warm room to be had and no food, while the “warm room” was only a little less cold than out of doors. Thoroughly chilled, tired and hungry, and somewhat dispirited, as hungry folks are apt to be, we all retired to the floor, to rest finely, and waken in a better mind next morning, none the worse for our seafaring.
At Hai Ju the believers gathered around us with the warmest welcome. They were all mourning the loss of a beloved leader who had died a short time before. We of course held meetings with them during the two days, which were all we could spare at that time, saw and talked with all who would come, trying to strengthen and comfort the believers, and promising if possible to remain longer with them on our return. One poor young wife whose husband had given up Christianity and gone back to the his old life, and whose heathen mother-in-law was persecuting her cruelly, excited our pity. Pale, emaciated and tearful, she came begging our advice and help.