rowed
the book and started at the first chapter. She had not been to the
Mission House nor had she seen the missionaries, but before she met them
she had met their Lord. It was but one more proof that "the words I
speak unto you they are spirit, and they are life," and the Holy Spirit
illuminating the written pages brought home to her its meaning. "He
came unto His own, and His own received Him not," she read, and how can
I say what took place? She tells me that she was convicted of sin, and
that she found her Saviour.

[Illustration: WOMEN'S BIBLE SCHOOL.

Mrs. Hsi on the left, sharing a book with Miss French. Mrs. Liang on the
right, sitting at Miss Cable's left.

_To face page 160._]

Intercourse with Miss Jacobsen was soon established, and under Mr.
Cheng's influence her husband also believed. Mrs. Liang was baptized,
her own feet and Ling Ai's were unbound, and the latter became a pupil
in the girls' school.

Mrs. Liang herself lived quietly at home until the year 1900. At that
time the local Boxer leader was a near neighbour of hers, and he was
prepared to kill these well-known adherents of a foreign religion. On
recovering consciousness, however, from the trance which preceded the
issuing of inspired orders, he uttered the surprising words: "Return
each to your own place; let each busy himself with his own affairs." Not
daring to disobey his followers scattered, and the small group of
Christians was safe. Ling Ai has described the experiences of those days
in the following words: "For months we were as those whose hair is bound
around the neck, not knowing at what moment we should be called upon to
die, but after our deliverance we united in saying: 'We have been under
the shadow of the Almighty.'"

When we came to Hwochow Mrs. Liang, realising our difficulties, was one
of the first to come to our assistance, and quickly endeared herself to
us by her thoughtful, kind, practical ways.

To the work of preaching she gave herself with unusual energy and
devotion, so that to-day there are few women in Hwochow who do not know
her, and scarcely a courtyard that has not been visited by her.

Assisting Mrs. Liang is Mrs. Bah, who the first time I saw her refused
to have any intercourse with us. She was the senior wife of a wealthy
man who had died early, leaving the two widows to arrange matters as
best they could. The younger one smoked opium, but was the proud
possessor of a son who by law was the property of