me in triumph through an
admiring crowd, and accompanied all the way by fire-crackers. They
hear only pleasant and complimentary remarks from passersby. 'We
are afraid of foreigners, but you can understand our nature'--so
the simple-minded country folk sometimes tell them."

Dr. Stone, describing the opening of the hospital to Dr. Danforth, wrote,
"The Chinese were very much impressed with your way of commemorating your
wife." Dr. Kahn added that one of the highest officials, who was being
shown through the building, signified his approval by emphatically
declaring, "It would make any one well merely to stay in such a pleasant
place."

As a matter of fact, work had been carried on in the new building for some
time before the formal opening. It had been ready for occupancy none too
soon, for in the summer of 1901, the Yangtse River overflowed its banks,
working great havoc among the crops and homes of the people living near it.
Dr. Stone wrote Dr. Danforth: "Tens of thousands have been rendered
homeless and destitute. Some of them are literally starved to death. The
sick and hungry flock to our gates, and for several months we have had over
a thousand visits each month to our dispensary." Some idea of the part
which the hospital played in relieving the sufferings of the flood refugees
is given by an article in _Woman's Work in the Far East_, written by Dr.
Stone at about this time:

"Perhaps friends would like to know how we dispensed the clothes
and quilts so kindly sent us. During the winter months very many
needy refugees came to our dispensary daily for treatment. Of
course we did not have enough clothes to distribute
indiscriminately, but only for those who were the most helpless and
miserable. We received them by hundreds, and not only had we to
give out medicine, but rice, as well as clothing."

"One morning when it was raining outside, an old woman came into
our dispensary all exhausted, carrying a child on her back, and
another buttoned in front within her clothes. The older one was a
boy three years old and the tiny baby in her bosom was only three
months old. They proved to be her grandchildren, and the old woman
said: 'Never in our lives have we gone out to beg before, and for
the last three days we have not had a morsel to eat. Before the
floods we were considered well-to-do people, and my son is forty
years old and a literar