The Newtown bee., 1902-06-20
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
AN INTERESTING ADDRESS BY MRS
GEORGE H. HUBBARD.

|. An interesting missionary meeting
was held in the Congregational church,
last Sunday evening, when Mrs George
H. Hubbard told of the work of the
Bible women in Southeastern China.
She told of several different Bible
women, she had known personally.
These women go about from house to
house and they are doing a work
which we could not do. They have to
meet a great many discouraging
things. The Chinese are a very super
stitious people. They do many strange
things to propitiate the wrath of the
gods. They are always in great terror
of the Fox god who is a mischief
maker. A Bible woman may come in
to house and be told that the mother
or sister is possessed of the Fox elf.
She will ask the afflicted one how she
feels and be told that she cannot sleep
for the awful figures and sights she
sees, that when day comes she can do
nothing but dread the coming night
for fear of return of these horrible
visions. Then the Bible woman tells
her of the One True God, who has
power to put away these foolish imagi-
nations, and many OF the Chinese have
come to believe that the Jesus-doctrine
in the only thing that can cast out
these evil spirits. These Bible women
do much in getting the Chinese to at
tend church service. A visitor was
surprised to attend one of these meet
ings and find it carried On much like
our Christian Endeavor meetings. The
women each repeated text and some
offered very short prayers. She asked
how this was brought about and was
told that a Bible woman went about
and visited these women during the
week and taught each verse of Scrip
ture to be repeated the next Sunday.
Some who were brighter and more ad-
vanced she taught short sentence
prayers. The opium habit is the curse
of China. In district of Is square
miles, having a population of 500, 600
inhabitants, it was estimated that one
In every ten was addicted to this de-
grading habit. According to that
ratio 100000 of the Chinese are
opium eaters. One of these Bible
women spoken OF Sunday evening is
worse than a widow for she is the wife
OF one who is a slave to this opium
habit. Her husband is utterly worth
less, he cannot support himself or his
wife. We Americans can never know
what such life means. We could not
20 to these poor women anu sympa-
thize with them as this Bible. women
who knows from bitter experience all
of the awfulness of seeing one under
the influence or this drug day after
day. She can go and give her SYM
pathy and tell the poor down. trodden
Chinese women of the Friend who can
help them bear their heavy burdens.
These Bible women can also largely
influence their Chinese sisters toward
'unbinding their feet. In this part OF
China. footbinding is carried to the ex.
IRENE, but very strangely, after the
feet are unbound, though they may not
be quite natural, yet they grow to al.
most the normal size. We may think
that perhaps these Bible women dc
not do such great work after all
But they tell of1heir own experience
and JOY in this, to them, new religion
and they do all they can to help Others
to the Light. Can anyone do more:
The arithmetic of heaven is strange
arithmetic. What we divide we mul
tiply; what we subtract we increase
A plea for China is, give us the means
to put more Of these Bible women tt
work. They can understand the bitter
trials of their sisters, for they them
selves have suffered, and SO are better
able than we to tell them Of the Com
forter. And it costs only 800 year tx
support one of these Chinese Bible
women! When we pray '"Thy king
dom come" do we stop and think hoy
it must come. We must help it on b.
our own individual effort and by help