The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-11-09
A FRIEND OF CHlNAMEN
PRACTICAL MISSIONARY WORK DONE
IN PHILADELPHIA.
A Man Who Has Devoted His Life to
Them with Intent to Make
Good Citizens.
PHILADELPHIA Record.

Philadelphia Record.
A ycCng Englishman, slim, blonde, of
languid manner came to Philadelphia in
1875 and established in Chinatown mis-
SIGN of the Christian League.
This young man is now believed by many
Phila Gelphians to be a native Chinaman.
lie wears on every holiday Chinese dress;
he talks and writes the Chinese language
fuently: he, when some Chinese evildoer
is wanted by the police. produces often the
offender, and he, when some white person
has harassed or cheated Chinaman, con-
ducts the prosecution that always follows
such offense.
Practically he is two men-Pu Tiyen,
Christianized Chinaman, working to re-
form his brothers, and Rev. Frederick
Poole, a Protestant Episcopal clergyman.
who devotes himself to elevating and
making pleasanter the lives of Chinese
Americans. WI Tingfang is his intimate
friend; so also is Yot Lung. the Frankfort
laundryman.
He has abolished in Philadelphia's China
town the conduct, by white persons, of
gambling dens and dives. He has abolished
there the traffic in girl slaves. He has
abolished all over Philadelphia the perse-
Also he is the first Christian to have taken
up the cause of the Chinese blind, teaching
these unfortunates 10 read out of Chinese
books that he printed himself in letters
made Of dots-in a kind of modification of
| the Braille system.
Mr. Poole's life is interesting because
| from end to end ii has moved in a direct
| line, in strange singleness of purpose, and
because it has been wholly successful.
He was born at Grimsby, Yorkshire, and
| at the age of twelve he decided that he
would be missionary to China. Accord
| ingly he entered Harley Missionary Col
| lege, in London, and there he studied the
| Chinese language, and there he learned
Oriental agriculture; for 1t is the purpose
| or this institution so thoroughly to equip
| its students that, when they reach for the
| first time the land chosen for their labor,
| they know as we'll this lands language
and customs and soil and climate as though
! they had been born and bred in it.
After his graduation from Harley College,
Mr.. Poole studied medicine for two years
Then he married young woman who, in
order TO fit herself to be his helpmate.
had given four years to the study Of nuTs
ately after their wedding, for China.
SEVEN YEARS IN CHINA.
They lived in China for seven years.
They wore the native dress, they spoke the
native tongue, and they conducted at
Tehngan-Fu, the City of Secured Peace.
an asylum for girl babies who would other
wise have been put to death (for girls are
| not desired in China), and a hospital for
| men and women. The asylum, it is self
evident. saved many lives. The hospital
/ saved many lives, too. The need of civil
| ICED hospitals in the interior of China the
| following incident shows:
| young man came to Mr.. Poole with a
| horrible wound in his arm. He said: My
| father lay very low, and our native doctor
said he would die unless L gave up, in filial
piety, morsel of my own flesh for the
cure of the disease. After taking thought
| L agreed to this. Then the doctor cut
| from my arm lump of flesh as big as an
egg, and this was boiled. and my father
| ate it. Nevertheless he died, and l, too,
as you see, am in a bad way"
From Tehngan-Fu, the City Of Secured
Peace, the Pooles were eventually driven
forth by riots; They fled down the
| Yangtse in peril of their lives, and from
the nervous shock of that flight Mrs
Poole and her little daughter died. They
| OF Hankow.
After their death Mr.. Poole came to
America and in 1895 he established in
| Philadelphia his Chinese mission.
The Cinnamon mistrusted him at first
But he put on his trousers and coat of
pale blue brocade-the dress of the Chinese
| hterati-and he donned his black skull cap
with its long queue fastened inside it and
hanging down his back like a braid Of
real hair Git was, indeed, real hair his own
| hair, cut short when he left China), and
he mingled with the shopkeepers and
gamblers and restaurateurs ard laundry
| men like brother, conversing in the
| Cantonese dialect with the rarest accuracy.
! In his sympathetic, somewhat humorous
| way, he made IL clear that he liked the
| Chinese and that he wished to help them.
They gave him, in time, the name Of
| Pub Ti-yen-the Doer of Good Deeds. And,
one by one, the enigmatic residents OF
Chinatown became his friends. When they
| vice, they appealed to him. Were boys
throwing bricks through Lee Vows win
dow? Lee Vow would get Pub Ti-yen to
put stop to that. Had drunken sailor
torn down the chandelier in Charlie Lees
restaurant? Charlie Lee would get Pub
| Ti-yen to compel the sailor to make the
| damage good. In every trouble, in every
need, Pub Ti-yen was sought out. He be-
came the intermediary between the 1900
| Chinese of Philadelphia and the powerful
white race among whom they live. He
has a standing offer of a substantial
reward for information leading to the
conviction of anyone harming in any way
| q Chinaman, and he is quite jealous in
| bringing to justice Chinese criminals.
PUTTING CHINATOWN IN ORDER.
| Some years ago, when he learned that
white men were running dives and gamb-
ling dens IN Chinatown, he visited these
resorts alone, and he notified the proprie-
tors and habitues alike that the places all
must be closed within twenty-four hours.
Frantic efforts were made TO bribe him, but
he stood firm. and the dives disappeared
within the time limit he had set.
without any help from the police he
abolished the Chinese traffic in girl slaves.
He began this reform by taking from her
master a little Chinese girl who had just
come to Philadelphia. He educated her
and eventually he sent her back to China
back TO her own province and her own
| friends-and there this girl cher name is
Choy) is now Christian missionary. Thus,
sometimes by argument. sometimes by
1 re Il
nese sense of decency and justice. Mr..
Poole abolished the custom of bringing
from China TO Philadelphia little slave girls
who would lead a life of vice here in order
that their masters might profit.
When the Spanish-American war broke
out Mr.. Poole organized a company of
Chinese militia. The young Mongolians
wore Uncle Sans uniform, and showed
themselves at certain exhibitions that they