when the number who
thronged the hospital and dispensary was greater than ever before, the
doctor's health broke down under the strain, and, although with the
greatest reluctance, she was forced to stop work. Her fellow-missionaries
insisted that she leave the city during the terrific heat of summer, and go
to Sharp Peak for some rest. She had been there only two days when she was
taken dangerously ill, and for weeks and months the gravest anxiety was
felt concerning her. But she received the best of care and nursing, and
finally, in March of the following year, she began gradually to recover.
Some advised that the hospital be closed. But Dr. Hue's younger sister, Hue
Seuk Eng, who had received her medical training in the Woolston Memorial
Hospital under Dr. Hue King Eng, and had been associated with her sister in
the hospital work for some years, said that to close the hospital would be
a great shock to Dr. Hue, and a bitter disappointment to the people, and
that she would undertake to keep it open. "The load was indeed very heavy
and my heart was truly frightened," she admitted afterward. "Every day I
just repeated that comforting verse, 'He leadeth me,' and marched forward."
At first the people did not have the confidence in Hue Seuk Eng which they
had in Dr. Hue King Eng. Hue Seuk Eng tells of their great eagerness to see
her sister: "The faith of many of the patients has been so strong that they
thought their illness would at once be cured, or at least lessened, if they
could only touch Dr. Hue's garment or hear her voice, or merely look into
her face. During these months of sickness many people came wishing to see
'the great Dr. Hue.' They did not want to see me, whom they termed 'the
little Dr. Hue.' Some of the leading gentry pleaded with the hospital
servants to present their cards to Dr. Hue, and she would be sure to come
out to see their sick friends. For it is fully nine years since she was
appointed to take charge of this city work, and never once has she been so
ill. Indeed, it is the first time she has not been able to respond to
pressing calls for medical treatment. So often were heard the words, 'I
want the doctor whose hair is dressed on the top of her head and who has
graduated from an American college,' that my fellow workers advised the
same coiffure in order to avoid trouble; but I told them when the question
was asked again just to answer, 'This is Dr. Hue's younger sister, and she
will do the b
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