Let us take, in closing, a peep into Mrs. Cheng's own home. At break of dawn on New Year's morning, 1918, Mrs. Cheng, her only remaining son and his wife, and their three children, were busily engaged preparing their New Year's feast, which consisted of dozens (amounting probably to hundreds) of tiny meat dumplings, each one just large enough for one (?) luscious, mouthful. (These dumplings are to the Chinese at the New Year season what turkey and plum pudding are to the Westerner.)
When all was ready, even the pot or rather large caldron, at boiling point awaiting the precious dumplings, Mrs. Cheng gathered her household around her and together they knelt and worshipped the Christian's God. Heathen neighbors gathered about the open doorway and watched, in wondering but respectful silence, the kneeling group, and listened to their hymn of praise. Worship over, while the rest dropped dumplings into the bubbling water, Mrs. Cheng preached to the curious and questioning neighbors. Telling me of it afterwards she said,—"Of course, I could not preach, but I just told them what I knew of the Lord Jesus."
Oh, that all God's more favored children in every land would do just THAT.
SKETCH XIV
Daybreak in One Home
Part 1—LITTLE SLAVE.
Part 2—[SLAVE'S FATHER].
Part 3—[SLAVE'S RELEASE].
Daybreak in One Home
Part I. LITTLE SLAVE.
One of the most wonderful things about this wonderful old land of China, is the number, size and length of her great waterways. Millions of her people live, yes and die, on the large and small craft (chiefly the latter) which ply up and down these great streams.
Twenty-five days' hauling up one of these rivers from the Port of Tientsin, brings us to the town of Swinsen. There can be little doubt but that this place dates far back, for not far distant can be still seen the ruins of what was once—three thousand five hundred years ago, or before Moses led the Children of Israel out of Egypt,—the flourishing capitol of the Kingdom of China.