Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-19

railway was cut ana we cOulQ get no
kilograms. The British and American warships
erected system of signals on the top of our
house which was on hill We were in posi-
ton to relay messages from the consulate be-
low us in the city to the ships at the bend in
the river.
My husband made plans to move his Office
out on one of the company steamers due to
arrive from Shanghai. Still the gray food
washed up from the Yangtse and over the city.
An army with equipment such these men
had could fight for weeks, maybe months.
One afternoon drove the consul up to
the university to see about the evacuation of
the women and children. Their houses stood
well to the south of the city, in reach of the
shells in there was siege Scattered as
they were among the Chinese houses, they were
also exposed to the danger of looting. Still,
these people were very reluctant to go.
1t is difficult to explain to people in other
countries why we did not all leave the city that
night Always in China, since the very first
days of settlement, every one has lived more
Or less constantly in danger. Each foreign
Community has its plan of evacuation. But it
Is . very fine point to know just when danger
Is serious enough to warrant evacuation.
II you leave and nothing happens you are
considered panicky and not reliable III times of
emergency. Keeping your head is half the bat
tle in China. If you leave, too, you acknowledge
fear, and the Chinese is apt to take advantage
he might not. The Nationalist were particu-
larry sensitive to doubt of their abilities to
maintain order In revenge over such doubt
they might do worse things.
THERE not foreign man in that town
= who did not hold large trusts in his keep
ing. Each of them must be convinced that
he could do no more for his mission or his
business COMPANY before he would consent to
go. So there was no thought that the men
could go.
AS to the women, that is yet more difficult to
explain. The missionary womens reluctance
was made up of several elements-an instinc-
tive unwilngness in women to quit their
homes no place to go Shanghai was already
crowded with refugees, and missionaries are
not over blessed with money! and faith in the
Chinese. They had labored for years for these
Chinese and could not believe that the Chinese
would harm them. Most of them had their
work among the students, and these students
had talked much to them of the Nationalist
ideals. In spite of all that had happened up
river they were not yet convinced that the
movement destructive. So it was that only
about half of the women wished to go in the
morning.
1 had resolved, as had certain other American
And British women who, like myself, had no
Children, TO stay long as my husband stayed
7 should not be in more danger than he He
was staying because of his duty to his COM
pany, and although had no duty to it 1 made
ready to go when he went and not before.
As result of the conference at the univer-
Sity, it was decided to take as many of the
women as would go out on the gunboat in the
harbor and from thence to steamers going
down river.
So the next morning, in orderly fashion, the
exodus from Marking began.