and Mrs. Evans, of Tong-ch'uan-fu, who
saved my life, a week or two after I left Chao-t'ong, as is recorded in
a subsequent chapter.
It was in the old days of the Bible Christian Mission--than which the
individual members of no mission in the whole of China worked with more
zeal and lower stipends--that a most interesting development in the
mission took place.
The mass of the Miao are the serfs of the descendants of their ancient
kings, who are large landowners, and the Miao are tenants. In 1905 the
Miao heard of the Gospel, and came to listen to the preaching, and
thousands came in batches at one time and another to the mission house.
Their movements thus aroused suspicion among the Chinese, there was a
good deal of persecution and personal violence, and at one time it
looked as if there might be serious trouble. But the danger quieted
down. The chieftain gave land, the Miao contributed one hundred pounds
sterling, and themselves put up a chapel large enough to accommodate six
hundred people. A year later, a thousand at a time crowded their simple
sanctuary, and in 1907 nearly six thousand were members or probationers,
and the work has steadily progressed ever since.
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