in the world. On Friday I went in, she waved her hand and
said, "What beauty!" It was some flowers on the table. A bunch of
grapes, a beauty, filled her mouth with praise to God for all His
goodness to her. The post waits. Funeral Monday.

'Yours in sorrow,
'J. GILMOUR.'

Mrs. Gilmour was buried on September 21. Her faith was clear and strong.
Uncommon as their courtship had been, the subsequent married life was
very happy. She was the equal of her husband in missionary zeal and
enthusiasm, and he himself bears testimony to the unerring skill which
she possessed in gauging the moral qualities of the Chinese. She gave
much time and labour to Christian work among the women and girls in
Peking; and her husband was greatly helped in his work during the nearly
eleven years of married life by her sound judgment, her strong
affection, her loving Christian character, and her entire consecration
to the Lord Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER IX

A CHANGE OF FIELD

During 1885 James Gilmour gradually reached the conclusion that a change
of field was desirable. He was aware that friends and colleagues more or
less qualified to form an opinion had urged upon him the advisability of
labouring in Eastern Mongolia among the agricultural Mongols. No one
knew so well as himself the advantages and the disadvantages of this
plan. The reasons that finally led him to a decision were noble and
characteristic. It was a hard field, and no one else could or would go.
The Mongols of the Plain were to some extent benefited by the American
Mission at Kalgan; those dwelling in Eastern Mongolia were without a
helper. Considerations like these, as he tells us, decided his new
course of action.

'In these circumstances my mind has turned away north-east from
Peking, where people are not so scarce, and where the Mongols live
as farmers. I have been to that region twice. I knew some people
who came from that region. As soon as Mr. Rees returns from Chi
Chou I hope to go again. A doctor might be induced to settle
somewhere there, and though it would be hard a bit, a family might
live there too, which I don't think would be possible on the plain
beyond Kalgan.

'I am fully aware of the difficulties. They are:--

'1. I have no proper Chinaman to take with me. More than half the
populatio