The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-11-01
Miss Edith Hayes, Who Has Served as Missionary
 to Chlna TOT rive Years Under woman s Counc77
nv DOLLY DALRYMPLE

| THOR the first time in five years Miss { lI Edith Hayes has set foot upon her S native soil-good, old, true old America-after spending that length Of
 time in far away China, where she has
 been engaged In the work Of missions under the womans council of the Meth
 odist Episcopal church. south.
 '! Miss Hayes has returned from her stay, enthusiastic, optimistic, happy and | full of the joy of life-which is the en- viable state of all those who are faithful ! in their work, and add their bit to human
 ity's uplift and progress,
 DO I like the work of missionary" Miss Hayes repeated the question after ' me. T love it.. being a missionary wasn't an accident with me; it wasn't
 heredity, although my mother was more
 or less interested in the work; it was
 premeditated and planned; from the time
 | was a child 1 wanted to go as mis- sionary to foreign fields; l wanted to teach and work with those w3o are in
 need of the gospel of salvahv~ and to
 make my life of use in that way. Con-
 sequently in 1913, when the woman's
 council of the Methodist Episcopal
 church, south, met, Bishop McCoy's wife
 dhen Miss Moore) suggested that 1
 might be available for post in China as
 I had finished my training in the Meth
 odist Training school in Nashville
 ITO make a long story short, I was ac- cepted, sent to Soochow," Miss Hayes
 continued, which has the largest mis-
 sionary activity, perhaps, of any city in | China. The Laura Hagood school (named | in honor of one of the most beloved mis- sionaries who ever went to ChinD af-
 forded opportunity for me to go imme- ! diately to work, I taught in the school | in the forenoon and studied the lan- guage In the afternoon, also visiting in | the homes of the pupils which was 8 | liberal education In itself
 ''The Chinese houses are so funny and
 so different from ours" Miss Hayes said ] in her gentle, sweet way. They are so
 uncomfortable-al built of mud and so
 cold and damp. Of course the hospital l ity of the Chinese people offsets this to | d great degree, because they are just as kind and nice as they can be; they
 always offer you refreshments and no
 stranger ever goes within their gates
 that they do not offer them hot tea, and then they all have such large families
 that they are huddled up close together
 and keep warm that way. The climate in Soochow is practically like it is here l in Birmingham, but it seems colder be- cause of the many canals which make it 1 so damp"
 | By visiting in the homes," Miss l Hayes said, ''the missionaries are ena- 1 bled to get in very close touch with 1 to our church services on Sunday and l our womens meetings during the week, 1 which they always accepted with pleas- ] ure. After three years work, a mission l ary is required to do all their work i'll | Chinese and at the expiration of my | three years work in Soochow, l was | sent to Chang Chow, which is about | 100 miles north of Shanghai. There the I newest work in missions is being done: | the work Is only about IA years old. It ! was very hard to get into the city at all | for years the missionaries worked and l were forced to leave only escaping the | mobs by boat. Chang Chow is a con- 1 servative city of about 250,O00 inhabitants,
 and they resented the entrance of mis- l sonaries into their midst. After awhile
 though, an entrance. was accomplished and the work has grown steadily ever l in our two Methodist churches there 1 the only denomination which has a
 church in that city. Others have mis-