set a candle beside her bed and studied
characters diligently. Whenever Pastor Stone woke up for a moment, or
turned over in bed, he would receive a gentle nudge and Mother Stone would
delightedly exclaim, "Oh, father, won't you please tell me what this
character is?" He soon decided to teach her in orthodox fashion, and she
proved to be such an apt pupil that it was not long before she was in
charge of a little day school for girls.

Anna received much of her early education from her mother, and for a time
she and her older sister Mary went to school with their brother. Girls at
school were decidedly a novelty, and the visiting mandarin opened his eyes
in amazement. "Can _girls_ learn anything?" he demanded of the teacher, who
was forced to admit that they learned as fast as the boys, and sometimes a
little faster. When a little older, Anna became a member of the Kiukiang
Boarding School for girls, where she proved to be a diligent and quick
pupil. During this time her sister Mary went to America to take her medical
course, and down in her heart Anna cherished a secret hope that when she
had completed her high school work she, too, might go to that wonderful
Christian country from which her missionary teachers had come and in which
her sister was receiving the training which would fit her for such large
service among her countrywomen. She said very little about this hope to any
one, but she and her friend I-lien Tang, who was also eager to go to
America, determined to pray about it, and to study so faithfully that if
the way should ever open for them to go, they would be ready. Accordingly
they completed the high school course in Chinese, and studied English and
Latin in addition.

In 1898 Bishop Joyce, of the Methodist Church, and his wife took a trip to
the Orient to visit the mission stations. While in Kiukiang they became so
much interested in the two girls, Anna Stone and I-lien Tang, that they
offered to take them back to America with them. The autumn of 1898
therefore found Anna in America, the country of her dreams, and a student
in Hamline University. She entered into her college work with much
enthusiasm and made excellent progress in it. She was not strong, however,
and was so far from well at the end of the year that it seemed best for her
to relinquish her plan of following in her sister's footsteps by taking a
medical course. She therefore planned to fit herself for some other form of
service which would