href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@19365@[email protected]#chap09" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">BROKEN CISTERNS

X.   WAYS NOT KNOWN XI.   THE MESSENGERS OF PEACE XII.   THE BEGINNING OF CONFLICT XIII.   THE BATTLE GROWS FIERCER XIV.   LIGHT AFTER DARKNESS XV.   SAVED TO SERVE XVI.   PERSECUTION AND TRIAL XVII.   LABOUR AND FRUIT XVIII.   FRUIT MORE ABUNDANT XIX.   PREPARATION FOR FURTHER SERVICE XX.   DAYS OF SHADOW XXI.   THE SHADOW DEEPENS XXII.   ENTERING THE VALLEY XXIII.   ANOTHER JEWEL WON FOR CHRIST XXIV.   CONCLUSION

ILLUSTRATIONS

EVERLASTING PEARL . . . . . . Frontispiece

A PRECIOUS BUNDLE

PLAITING SILK BRAID

A SOURCE OF GREAT DELIGHT

WRITING THE ENGAGEMENT DOCUMENT

ADORNED AS A BRIDE

THE OUT-STATION OF KUCHENG

ANOTHER JEWEL FOR CHRIST

EVERLASTING PEARL

CHAPTER I

BIRTH AND INFANCY

It was a warm, close day in May, in Central China. The summer heat had just set in, and the inhabitants of Kucheng (Ancient City) were somewhat weary and languid, when a woman brought the news to her neighbour—"A daughter has been born to the Tu family." The news soon spread from door to door. All languor was shaken off, for curiosity got the better of lassitude, and the women, now fully alert, hobbled on their small feet to the little house where farmer Tu lived with his young wife and parents.

The house was a small, unpretentious building, with mud walls and a tiled roof. The interior was like that of all the homes around. If you had seen one, you had a good idea of the appearance of the rest. You entered the guest-hall, where on the wall at the farther end hung a large centre scroll, representing the "Ruler of Heaven," before which incense was lighted morning and evening. On either side of the idol, and on all the pillars you would see paper scrolls pasted up, with trite sayings written in flowery phrases, such as—

"If in your house you walk circumspectly, then when you leave your home you will associate with virtuous friends only."

"If the house is clean and beautiful, an excellent wind will be wafted through it."

"If the flowers give out their fragrance, a bright moon will shine upon them."

On either side of the guest-hall were doors leading into the bedrooms. Into one of these the women crowded eagerly, in search of the little newcomer, shouting, as they entered, their congratulations, first to the grandmother, and then to the parents of the child. On seeing the precious bundle held out to them, decked out in all the new, gorgeous, but uncomfortable clothes bought by the maternal grandmother, one visitor could not help whispering, "What a pity it is not a boy!" But the other women politely interrupted her, and the young mother looked proudly at the "bundle of clothes" handed back to her. It was true she would have preferred a son, so would her husband, and above all her mother-in-law, but as it was their first child, even the little girl received a welcome. Had