ven to the first ladies who came to that city,
was now to be bestowed on her. The loyal affection of the Chinese Church
was hers, for she is regarded by them with an admiration and reverence
which they consider the right of so worthy a woman. She knew that she
could count upon a welcome, but it was a costly step.

City and village visiting, weekly classes for inquirers, and a Women's
Opium Refuge occupy Mrs. Hsi's time in Chaocheng. A sentence easy to
write, but only He to Whom the offering is made can know the cost at
which ladies, with the refinements of their class, give themselves to
the Christlike work of rescuing the opium sots who find their way to
the Refuge. Women of the lowest moral type at times appear, dirty,
coarse, and repulsive, and yet gladly and graciously they are received.
The lady in charge will sleep with them in order to comfort and pray
with them during the night watches, and no service is too menial for
these saintly women to render. The impression made is never forgotten by
those to whom they minister; and even if they return again to the ways
of sin, the vision of that gentle lady with her kind heart will remain,
a reflection, faint it may be, yet a reflection of the love of God, ever
ready to welcome the wanderer from the far country.

[Illustration: A WOMAN OPIUM SMOKER.

_To face page 82._]

THE STORY OF AN OPIUM SMOKER

"I know that, because of this money-grasping,
trade-compelling feature of England's dealings
with my country, millions of wretched people of
China have been made more miserable; stalwart men
and women have been made paupers, vagrants, and
the lowest of criminals; and hundreds of thousands
of the weaker ones of my race--mainly among the
women--have been sent to suicide graves. All this
because gold and territory are greater in the eyes
of the British Government, than the rights and
bodies of a weak people."--H. E. LI HUNG-CHANG.

"O my brothers and all my friends,
If you would hearken to good advice,
Avoid the poppy juice for ever and aye,
As it is a plague most noxious and vile!
It will eat out your minds,
It will rot away your vitals,
It will shrivel up your bowels,
It will make you walk as a leper,
It will cast you into prison,
It will send