of this book an incident
is recorded of Mrs. Hsi herself being tormented by a demon which had
gained its power over her, by reason of neglect to completely destroy
all idols at the time when they were removed from the home. Such a case
is not singular.

Our first woman patient in the Hwochow Opium Refuge became interested in
the Gospel, and on her return home destroyed her idols, reserving
however the beautifully carved idol shrines which she placed in her
son's room. Her daughter-in-law who occupied this room, a comely young
woman, desired to become a Christian and gave us a warm welcome whenever
we could go to the house. About six months later we were fetched by
special messenger from a village where we were staying, to see this girl
who was said to be demon possessed. We found crowds of men and women
gathered to see and to hear. The girl was chanting the weird minor chant
of the possessed, the voice, as in every case I have seen, clearly
distinguishing it from madness. This can perhaps best be described as a
voice distinct from the personality of the one under possession. It
seems as though the demon used the organs of speech of the victim for
the conveyance of its own voice. She refused to wear clothes or to take
food, and by her violence terrorised the community. Immediately upon our
entering the room with the Chinese woman evangelist she ceased her
chanting, and slowly pointed the finger at us, remaining in this posture
for some time. As we knelt upon the _kang_ to pray, she trembled and
said: "The room is full of _gwei_; as soon as one goes another comes."
We endeavoured to calm her, and to make her join us in repeating the
sentence, "Lord Jesus, save me."

After considerable effort she succeeded in pronouncing these words, and
when she had done so we commanded the demon to leave her, whereupon her
body trembled and she sneezed some fifty or sixty times, then suddenly
came to herself, asked for her clothes and some food, and seemingly
perfectly well resumed her work. So persistently did she reiterate the
statement that the demons were using the idol shrines for a refuge, that
during the proceedings just mentioned her parents willingly handed over
to the Christians present these valuable carvings, and joined with them
in their destruction. From this time onwards she was perfectly well, a
normal, healthy young woman.

Upon recovery from illness a woman I knew yielded herself to the lord of
hell for a certain pe