Choh Lin, the Chinese boy who became a preacher

Front matter

WMiurmwiwi; s

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

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Preface

This is a true story of a real Chinese boy who became a preacher. Choh Lin is, and has been, a preacher of the gospel for more than twenty years, and for most of that time connected with the Amoy mission of the Reformed (Dutch) Church in America.

When the writer was living in Amoy he took down from Choh Lin's own lips the most of the facts here given, and since his return to America has written up the notes thus gathered, adding facts that came to him through other sources. So it is a true story. The real name of Choh Lin, for satisfactory reasons is not given.

Parts of the first chapters of this story were written for and published in The Sower , and at

PREFACE .

the request of not a few readers it is completed and sent out in this form, with the hope and prayer of the writer that it may lead many of our young people to think of and to pray and work more heartily for, missions in China.

Chapter I. The Chinese Baby

BOUT forty years ago there lived in China, in a little village standing on a bay of the ocean, a Chinaman named Sol Law Lee. The village in which Mr. Lee lived was at the foot of a mountain, and so was named Tay Soa, or “ Foot Mountain.” He was the richest man in the place and had the finest house there, yet if you had seen it you would have thought that it was only a number of outhouses for cattle, connected by two walls.

One day there was born in this house a boy- baby. Mr. and Mrs. Lee were very proud of their little son, and when the father met friends on the street or at his place of business he was glad to have them bow and, as they clasped and shook their own hands, say to him, “ Ka li kiong-hi ” (“ unto you congratulations”). When the little fellow had lived a whole month his relatives and friends from the village and the other places around gathered at Mr. Lee’s house to see the new-comer and to have a ii grand feast in his honor, as well as to be present at the ceremony of shaving the child’s head. Each brought some present for the little fellow or his parents. There were fowls and fruit and many other things to eat, and among them twenty duck eggs painted in pretty colors. Some had brought money ; two or three brought silver rings, not for the fingers, but for the wrists and ankles of the baby: one of these ankle-rings had a tiny silver bell fastened to it to jingle when he moved his feet. His grandmother gave some clothing for him to wear and a queer little cap, beautifully embroidered with red and yellow silk, to put on his head. The visitors gave many presents, because they expected Mr. Lee, as he was rich, to give them many in return, and better, too, than they gave.

When all of the friends had enjoyed the first part of the feast, the little boy was brought into the room. He was not a beauty. His little head was covered with silky black hair ; his nose was as flat and small as though his nurse had let him fall on it ; and the little black eyes seemed to be looking down to see where the nose had gone. Around each wrist a red cord was tied, to keep the spirit of mischief from getting loose and making the hands do bad things when the boy grew up.

When the little child made his appearance one and another of the people said, “ Pretty,” “ Very pretty,” “ Smart,” “ Brave,” and other pleasant things for the parents to hear.

THE CHINESE BABY .

But now came the great event of the feast. A barber was brought in, and with his little threecornered razor shaved off the hair from the baby’s head, leaving it entirely bald. Of course this was not what the child liked, but Chinese babies must soon learn that grown people have strange ways. As the men and boys in China have all but the back part of their heads shaved, the little baby had to begin some time.

The Chinese do not shave their heads because they are heathen, but because the nation has been conquered by the Mantchu Tartars, who forced them to follow the Tartar way of shaving the head and braiding the hair.

When the barber had gone the father gave to the bald-headed little fellow a name. Since the first name given usually wears out or gives place to another as soon as boys are large enough to go to school, we will call the little boy by the name that was given him a few years after. This was Chhoh Lin : we will write it Choh Lin.

Three months after this “ feast of shaving the child’s head ” invitations were sent out again to the relatives and friends. As before, they brought presents for the little fellow. Chief among these gifts were a red chair and some molasses candy. Does some girl or boy say, “ I wish I were a Chinese baby if he can get plenty of molasses candy ” ? Wait and see how it was used. The candy was warmed and put on the seat of the chair, and then

CHOH LIN.

the little fellow, dressed in his nice clothing, was placed on the candy in the seat. It was used to keep him from falling off !

But a more important ceremony took place at this feast. The presents were all placed before the image of the goddess of children. Mr. Lee bowed before this idol and prayed the goddess to take care of his little boy, to make him good-natured, to make him stay awake in the daytime and sleep well at night, to keep him from crying and to keep him well. When they supposed that the goddess had sufficiently enjoyed the presents, all were taken away and a feast made of those that could be eaten.

When Choh Lin’s birthday came, then a greater feast still was prepared and more presents brought. After the friends had gathered, a large sieve was placed on the table before an ancestral tablet. This is a piece of carved wood standing in a carved block. Into this upright piece was cut the name of Mr. Lee’s father, who had died many years before. The Chinese believe that the souls of their dead friends enter into these tablets of wood and live in them for a long while. On the sieve were placed some silver ornaments, scissors, ink and pen, a book or two, a money-scale, a small boat, tools, and other things. Then the little boy, dressed in a new suit of clothes, was placed on the sieve among the things. The Chinese think that whatever a child at this time first grasps will show the business he will follow when he becomes a man. Choh Lin took an

THE CHINESE BABY.

orange, so some thought that he would be a farmer, and others that he would like eating better than anything else.

At the feast following this ceremony the little boy had a dish prepared for him of which no one else was allowed to eat — a soup made from chicken feet. This soup was to make him walk soon and become a first-rate runner.

The little child was taken each time before the idols and the ancestral tablet, and made to hold up his hands and bow his head as if praying to them. Thus, when only a baby Choh Lin was made an idolater and a worshiper of the spirits of the dead. How could he help growing up a heathen ? He was taught to serve these false gods only, and no one told him to say, “Our Father which art in heaven ” or to pray to Jesus. Nobody living near his home knew about the true God ; none had heard of Jesus ; and yet it is but little more than forty years since Choh Lin was born.

Chapter II. The Child Of The Gods

HEN Choh Lin had passed his first birthday

" * his grandmother embroidered for him a red woolen cloth w T ith bright-colored silk, yet when it was finished she did not give it to the little boy, but gave it instead to his mother. She took it to an idol temple, and from the incense-box or pot standing before the idol gathered some of the ashes made by burning incense to the god. This was carefully placed in the cloth, and then, rolling it up, she sewed the ashes tightly within. On the outside of this little bundle the name of the god was stamped. The package was then brought home and hung by a silver chain about the little fellow’s neck. Choh Lin had now been consecrated to the idol. He might pray to other images, but his own idol must receive the first and most of his service. By carrying with him the incense-ashes his friends hoped that the child would get the god’s spirit. The Chinese suppose that the spirit of the idol enters the ashes and lives there to do good to those who carry it. Not only was Choh Lin to be the child of this god, but the god was expected to take

THE CHILD OF THE GODS.

care of the boy, to watch over him, hear his prayers and do him every favor that the child needed or the god could give. Though these bundles of ashes are not worn through life, yet they are usually not laid aside until, to the Chinese eye, they become quite unclean ; and when the Chinese think a thing is dirty they are generally right.

When Choh Lin began to walk it was the cause of great rejoicing in the Lee household. As he toddled three or four steps without falling, one of the family took a large knife and, with the edge downward, cut down to the floor between his feet, and then again behind them, as though to cut something that hindered his movements. Of course the knife did not touch him, but was supposed to cut off some invisible cords that made him fall.

Choh Lin was not as strong a child as his older brother, Chi Lap, and the mother and father were very much afraid that their little boy would not grow to be a man. They thought that evil spirits were making their child weak, and would after a while kill him. To drive away the evil ones they determined on a ceremony that was supposed to have a great effect on a child’s health.

Several priests were invited to the house, who made a kind of altar of the tables, one on the top of the other ; and on the top one they placed candlesticks, censers and images of the gods, chief among them the goddess of children. On a table in another part of the room they placed several 2

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plates with different kinds of meat, fruits and cakes. When all was ready one priest rang a bell, another beat a drum, another struck on cymbals, and all together chanted something which, with their music, was intended to invite a number of gods or goddesses of children to the house and to a feast. To describe the whole of the ceremony would take too long, so we relate only the last part of it, which is the most important. A framework to represent an open door was set up in the room. One of the priests, dressed to represent the goddess of children, stood beside this door and repeated some words to frighten the evil spirits away. While he was doing this Mr. Lee took up his little son and gathered his other children around him. Each of the children held a lighted incense-stick, and all ■were ready for the great ceremony of frightening the evil spirits so that they would not dare trouble Choh Lin again. Then one of the priests began blowing a horn, and, with this in one hand and a sword in the other, he slowly marched through the door. Mr. Lee, with Choh Lin in his arms and followed by his children, passed through the door after the priest, while the other priests made all the noise they could with bells, cymbals and drums. In this way they felt sure that little Choh Lin would be made well and strong. When this ceremony was over the frame through which the little boy was carried was cut to pieces and burned. This ceremony is called “ passing through the door.”

THE CHILD OF THE GODS.

The Chinese probably think that by taking the sick child through the door during the frightful noises the evil spirits are kept back from the little one, and then when the door is destroyed they cannot find it to pass through in order to overtake the child.

Choh Lin’s parents took another method of keeping evil ones away from their child. They called him “ beggar,” “ dirty,” “ useless,” because they hoped that the evil spirits, if they heard how the little fellow was spoken of, would think that no one aired much for him, and so would let him live : thus trying to cheat the evil ones.

On his second birthday Choh Lin was honored with another party, and children, especially those who would probably be his companions as he grew up, were invited.

Some months after his second birthday Choh Lin’s older sister, a girl of ten years, became very sick. She was his best nurse, and he missed her very much. Whenever he could he would go to her room and try to coax her to get up and play with him. Doctors were called, and gave many and strange medicines. Prayers to the spirits of dead ancestors were offered, idol temples were visited, presents given to the gods, and many things done to drive away the disease, but the child grew worse. One day, when it became evident that she must die, she looked upward, and, with her hands reaching up, prayed, u O Heaven, do not take me away from my little brother! Save me; let me live that I may watch over him. If I go away he will not have his sister to care for him.” She pleaded to live, not that she might enjoy life, but that she might care for her little brother. Not long before she died she asked for Clioh Lin, and when he was brought, “ Who will care now for my poor little boy ?” said she. “ He is so weak, and young too ! how can he get along without his sister?” Then looking up, as though to a greater than man, she said, “ Heaven, take care of the little boy who must lose his sister. Father will die, and mother too must die. Please do not let the little brother suffer.” Then she was still, and those who stood by her said, “ She has passed on.” She was dead. She prayed to heaven, but did not know of Jesus; she could not pray to Him of whom no one had told her.

As Choli Lin did not become strong, even though the grand ceremony of “ passing through the door” had been attended to, his father and mother determined to try another ceremony. The fourteenth or fifteenth day of the eighth month is often observed in some parts of China as a day of special ceremony for the good of children. Sometimes this ceremony is observed on the birthday of a child, and occasionally too for the good of grown people when sick. The ceremony is called “ worshiping the measure.” This they decided to try. So on the fourteenth day of the eighth month a table was set in the house

THE CHILD OF THE GODS.

with various kinds of food on it, and a square box for measuring rice. In this measure, which was half full of rice, a set of money-scales, a pair of scissors, a foot-measure and a small mirror of metal were placed, one article in each corner. A small wooden image to represent Choh Lin, an incense-stick, an oil lamp, a candle or two and ten chopsticks were also placed in this rice-measure. When all things were arranged a single priest came into the room and chanted a form of words intended to win the favor of the gods, but more especially of the two gods of long life and prosperity. The things on the table were partly an offering to these gods, and partly to show the wishes of the people for their children. The priest was supposed to have an influence with these gods, and the offerings were designed to persuade them to give Choh Lin great favors, the two chief ones being long life and plenty of money. This ceremony is called “ worshiping the measure ” probably because these two gods are thought to hold the measure of years and the measure of wealth. There are many more things connected with this worship whose object the Chinese do not seem to understand. They perform these ceremonies, as they do many other things, because their fathers did so before them.

Chapter III. A Little Boy Lost

T HREE years of age ! What a man Choh Lin felt himself to be ! Three years had passed very slowly to him, though he did not remember much of them. He knew that he was no longer a baby, but a boy, halfway to being a man ; that was enough. He walked around in his loose trousers and little coat as proud of his growing age and size as though he were a man already. He was glad to tell how old he was, but in this he did not differ from other boys the world over. Chinese are always willing to tell their ages. It has probably never happened in China that a young lady who has had more than thirty birthdays is not more than eighteen years old. Such things do seem possible in some other countries.

Just after the Chinese New Year, which occurs in our February, a man asked Choh Lin, “This year, how old ?” — “ Five years” said he. — How proud the little fellow was to hear the man say, “What! so old? You will soon be a man”!

Five years old ? Did Choh Lin tell an untruth ? He had not yet reached his fourth birthday ; why, 22

A LITTLE BOY LOST.

then, did he say that he was five years old ? But Choh Lin did not tell an untruth. According to Chinese methods of counting age, Choh Lin was five years old, though he had had only three birthdays and had not lived four full years. The Chinese do not reckon age by birthdays, but by the years in which a person has lived. Every one is a year older there on New Year’s Day than he was the day before. All the Chinese “ take their age ” on the same day. It thus happens that infants born on the last day of the old year are two years old on New Year’s morning, even though they have not been in the world twenty-four hours. When a Chinaman is asked how old he is, he understands the question to mean, In how many years have you lived?

After Choh Lin became thus “ five years old ” he thought that he was large enough to, go around without having somebody to watch him. So, calling one of the large dogs, as hje had often seen his brother, Chi Lap, do, he started for a walk. No one noticed him, and soon he was out of the place and had gone over a hill behind the village. Everything was strange to him, and he did not know which way to go. Strange men were walking in the field before him ; he was afraid to go farther. Turning around, he tried to find the way home, but took the wrong course. The farther he went the more afraid he became, until he could not keep back the tears ; then came the low cry, “ Mother ! mother!”

How he longed to be home ! He forgot now that he would soon be a man ; he was willing to be called a baby again if he might but reach home, where mother, father, brother and sister were. Afraid of the strange men, he neither dared go to them and ask to be taken home, nor even to cry aloud. He walked on and on, calling softly every few steps to his mother. By his side the large dog walked slowly, every little while looking into his young master’s face as though he wanted to tell him what to do, but could not say it. After going for a long distance the little fellow sat down to rest. The dog lay down beside him. Tired little Choh Lin laid his head on the dog, and was soon fast asleep, and there he lay with the dog as a pillow for several hours.

Choh Lin had not been away very long before he was missed in his home. But as Chi Lap was away, it was supposed that the two boys had gone out into the streets for a while, and would be back by noon. AVhen noon-time came Chi Lap returned, but not Choh Lin. Mr. Lee came in soon after, and was asked if he had taken his little boy out with him to his business. But Mr. Lee had not seen Choh Lin. The child was lost ! No dinner was eaten. It seemed almost impossible that the child should have strayed away and not be noticed by anybody. A dark suspicion crossed Mr. Lee’s mind. Perhaps somebody had stolen his boy ! He sent all of his hired men and every one whom he

A LITTLE BOY LOST.

could get to search over the country and learn if any one had been seen carrying his child away. He himself, taking Chi Lap with him to be certain that no one stole his older boy, started off, away from the rest, to look for the child. Chi Lap called his dog to follow.

While the men were searching for Choh Lin the women of the household were rushing around from one neighbor’s house to another asking if they had seen anything of the little boy. But the mother went at once to the temple and the idol to whom Choh Lin had been consecrated, and told the god her mournful story. She accused him of neglecting his child, and then begged him to bring back her boy or to tell the men where he was. She promised, if the god would see that the child was brought back that day, a feast should in due time be presented to the idol. After her prayers were completed she “ drew lots ” to see what the answer of the god would be. But when she drew the paper that was supposed to contain the answer, she was unable to understand its meaning. One character, or word, seemed to be the one meaning “ find,” and from this she at least hoped that the god’s answer was favorable and the child would be found. With this hope she returned home. No Choh Lin there ; no news about him.

We need not describe her sorrow nor yet the search of the men. After they had gone out of sight of the village and of Mr. Lee they separated

CHOH IAN as he had told them, but each one moved slowly and lazily along. They went by various paths leading from the village, but the father and brother started across the fields, to reach by a short cut a village that stood on the water some miles away. Mr. Lee thought that if his child had been stolen, it had been taken to that town to start from there with some vessel. After going for several miles, and when not very far away from the village, Chi Lap’s dog began to bark at some bird that he saw. His bark was answered by that of another dog in the edge of a grain-field.

“ Oh, father !” said the boy, “ that’s Kailo, our dog. Let us go to him ; it may be that Choh Lin is with him.”

Chi Lap’s dog barked in answer to the other, and ran toward the field of grain. Mr. Lee and his boy followed as quickly as they could, and there, just awakening from his sleep, was little Choh Lin with his head resting on his hand and his elbow on Kailo. The barking of the dog had awakened the little boy. Though Kailo wanted to go to meet his friends, he felt that it was his duty to take care of his young master first. Had the dog not stayed with Choh Lin, Mr. Lee might not have found his boy.

It would be hard to say who was the happiest at the meeting, but Mr. Lee lost no time in carrying the little fellow to his home.

Before many days the mother’s promise to the

A LITTLE BOY LOST.

idol was kept and a feast set before him. Instead of eating the food themselves or giving it to the priests, the Lee family gave it, after the god had, as they supposed, feasted on the spirit of the food, to some poor people. These people, eating the first real good meal they had enjoyed for years, felt very thankful, so they said, that Choh Lin had been found, and they felt a wish — but this they did not tell — that he might be lost and found often.

That night his grandmother felt that Choh Lin ought to be taken to the temple to offer thanks himself to the god. Just after sunset she took some incense-sticks in one hand, and, leading the little boy with the other, brought him before the idol to whom he belonged. There she taught him to light the incense-sticks and set them in the box before the idol ; and while they were slowly burning she told him to kneel to the god and with hands folded bow his head before the idol, to show that he was thankful for being saved. He tried to do as his grandmother bade him, and said not a word until they were going home from the temple. Then he asked, “ Grandmother, did that god take care of me when I was lost?”

“ Yes,” said the old lady ; “ he is a good god for bringing our little boy back again to us.”

“ But why did he not keep me from going away, and then he need not have brought me back?” asked the child.

“ You ran away of yourself, and the god watched

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that you did not go so far that no one could find you.”

“ Could he not have watched me just as well at home ? I was so tired, and that is the reason I did not go farther. Did the god make me tired ?”

“No, but he showed your father where you were.”

“Grandmother, it was Kailo that showed where I was; they were going past me.”

“ But the god may have told the dog to bark. The god did take care of you, anyway, while you were asleep.”

“ So did Kailo ; I slept with my head on him. Grandmother, if dogs can take care of us as well as gods, why do we worship gods only, and not dogs too?”

“Do not talk so, my child. Dogs are only dogs. They die ; the gods always live. Dogs do not understand when you pray to them, but the gods do.”

“ But dogs can run and bark and bite, too ; gods cannot. They must stay where they are, like dead dogs.”

“ Choh Lin, you must not speak so ; it is very wicked. What you see is only the idol that holds the spirit of the god. You cannot see a spirit. We worship not the idol, but the spirit in it. The spirit is like the wind ; you cannot see the wind.”

“ But I can feel it.”

“Not when it stands still. So you cannot see or feel the gods when they stand still. But you

A LITTLE BOY LOST.

must be careful not to talk wickedly about the gods ; their spirits may be around you always, and if you speak against them they may hurt you ; they may make you sick or do you other injury, or, perhaps, even kill you or some of your friends.”

Chapter IV. Learning To Worship Idols

C HOH LIN’S father now gave strict commands that the little fellow must not be allowed to go into the street alone at all, nor would his father take the little boy along with him to his business, lest he stray away again and be lost. Choh Lin thought this very trying. He had not many things with which to amuse himself, and, as his brother was at school most of the day, he did not know in what way to spend his time. Sometimes his mother told him stories and helped to amuse him, and often she told him about the gods and taught him to worship them. She took him very often to the idol temple, and taught him to pray, to offer incense and food, and how to learn, as she believed, whether or not the gods heard and would answer his prayer.