t
plan for future mission work.

He reminded me that six missionaries, from a mission-station which had
been destroyed by the Boxers, were now permanently stationed at Changte;
and that the main station, now fully equipped, no longer needed us as
before. He felt that the time had come when we should give ourselves to
the evangelization of the great regions north and northeast of
Changte--regions which up to that time had been scarcely touched by the
Gospel, because of lack of workers. His plan was that we--husband and
wife, with our children--should go and live and work among the people.

To make this possible a native compound would be rented in the center,
where we would stay a month for our first visit, leaving behind an
evangelist to carry on the work; and we would revisit this and other
places so opened as many times as possible in the year.

What this proposition meant to me can scarcely be understood by those
unfamiliar with China and Chinese life. Smallpox, diphtheria, scarlet
fever, and other contagious diseases are chronic epidemics; and China,
outside the parts ruled by foreigners, is absolutely devoid of
sanitation.

Four of our children had died. To take the three little ones, then with
me, into such conditions and danger seemed literally like stepping with
them over a precipice in the dark and expecting to be kept. But, on the
other hand, I had the language and experience for just such work, the
need was truly appalling, and there was no other woman to do it. In my
innermost soul I knew the call had come from God, but I would not pay
the price. My one plea in refusing to enter that life was the risk to
the children.

Again and again my husband urged that "the safest place" for myself and
the children "was the path of duty"; that I could not keep them in our
comfortable home at Changte, but "God could keep them anywhere." Still I
refused. Just before reaching our station he begged me to reconsider my
decision. When I gave a final refusal, his only answer was: "I fear for
the children."

The very day after reaching home our dear Wallace was taken ill. For
weeks we fought for his life; at last the crisis passed and he began to
recover. Then my husband started off alone on his first trip! He had
been gone only a day or two when our precious baby Constance, a year
old, was taken down with the same disease that Wallace had. From the
first there seemed little or no hope. The doctors, a nurse, and all the