"I think nothing that I have heard of Anna Stone's life speaks more clearly of the depth of real self-abnegation,—perfect obliteration of self, in fact—and the secret of her power in winning souls where others failed to win, than this story I am now to tell you. Several years ago, before Anna returned home from America, an old woman about sixty-four years of age, was engaged to do sewing for Dr. Stone from time to time. The woman was a widow with one son, who was an opium fiend in every sense of the word. He was unable to work, and deprived his mother of all the comforts, and often of the necessities of life, that he might buy opium."
"One day the old woman was taken ill, and while ill, her son carried off the only clothes the old mother had (she slept with her clothes spread on top of the bed-clothes as you know is the custom in China), and sold them for the miserable drug. The mother appealed to Dr. Stone, who took her, in her helpless, sick condition, into the hospital. As she grew well, she stayed on, doing such sewing as she could for her board, and in the hospital she heard for the first time of the 'Jesus doctrine.' Her hungry heart opened to the truth and she wanted to learn to read the Bible."
"One day, however, she came to the doctor and asked her if she thought if they prayed to God, He would save her son from his dreadful life. The doctor talked with her and found that the old woman was full of faith that it could be done. So they prayed about it, and a little while after, Dr. Stone gave the old woman money to take her son to the hospital for men in the city here and have the habit broken off. But the mother, instead of giving the man into the care of the authorities, and paying for his treatment herself, gave the money to the man, and he used it all in opium, being in a worse condition than ever."
"Some time later, due to the lack of funds, the hospital had to be closed for some time, but when it was reopened, the old mother pleaded that the son should be taken on as a coolie to work for his keep, and thus be out of temptation's way. He had been supplied again with money and put into the hospital, from which he came out apparently cured, but fell again. The plan for him to come to the hospital seemed to the doctor a rather dangerous one, for the man was a positive good-for-nothing. But in the meantime Anna had returned from America, and was, with her sister, willing to try him; for it seemed his last chance, and the mother had begged so hard for him. So he came to the hospital—a poor wretch, indeed, weak as a little child from the awful life he had lived."
"All opium was out of his reach here, and in a few days the absence of it showed by dreadful swelling of the limbs. He could not carry the smallest weight without great exertion, and the case seemed almost hopeless. But he gradually was broken from the use of the drug and was able to work about the place. Anna was using a sedan chair for her itinerating work, but she was so light that the coolies jolted her a great deal and hurt her; so she got her 'ricksha, and chose this poor wretch of a fellow, as her personal body-servant. When she went out on her evangelistic work, she had her mother with her, as you know, and this coolie went along drawing the 'ricksha. He became very devoted to her, and very carefully cared for her. When she had her meals with her mother, she had this coolie eat with her, lest he go off and get hold of opium. He is a very weak, easily led fellow, as you will have judged, and Anna felt his one safety was in keeping with them all the time. Little by little, the fellow straightened up and became stronger and able to do a respectable amount of work."
"Meantime Anna was teaching him, as she had opportunity, about Christ. Finally last New Year's Eve, at the watch-night service led by Anna herself, among those who openly took their stand for Christ, was this poor fellow. As far as we know he has led a straight life ever since. He is still working about the hospital and there is no sign of the old dissipation. When Anna left us a few weeks ago, the man's grief was great, and it was this old 'body-guard' who sat up all night the one night after the coffin was sealed and remained in the house. The old mother at sixty-seven years of age has learned to read the Bible and is a very earnest Christian."
"I wish I could tell you how it impressed me as Dr. Stone told of the efforts of Anna to win that poor wretch of a fellow to Christ. There wasn't a thing attractive about him, in fact, just the opposite; but she saw that there was a soul there to save, and with no apparent thought of herself, no shrinking from a man of his type, she, with the true spirit of the Lord she so closely followed, bent every effort to save him from the thing that had cursed his own and his mother's life. I think I have never heard anything more beautiful than this story of Anna, who with all the delicacy of her nature, her pure, sweet womanhood, her love of the refined that always marked her, and her keen sensitiveness to the niceties of life, laid all, as a sacrifice to her Lord, in the background, and had at the same board with herself and her mother, that miserable man, thus helping him to fight the enemy of his soul and body."
Her Master's work was indeed everything, and self was nothing to Anna Stone. She once said in a letter to Mrs. Joyce, "It has been a grief to my heart not to have seen more people who have means to support themselves come out to work for China. I am hoping to find some means by which to support myself without getting pay from the society, to let others know that I am not working for money, but for the love of God which is in my heart."
The influence of this young Chinese girl is but another witness to "the power of an endless life." She lives to-day in those whom she has inspired, and who seek to be as true as she.