Chapter XV: A Page From the Story of Protestant (8)

It was the beautiful month of May and invitations were out for a great celebration at St. John’s University of the Protestant Episcopal Mission. Early in the afternoon guests began to arrive, for the first number on the programme was the military drill, set for two o’clock, something no one wanted to miss. Promptly at the hour the students in trim uniforms assembled on the parade-ground and lined up for inspection. The tactics over, and enthusiastically applauded, every one hurried to the Assembly Hall to listen to speeches in English and Chinese, and witness the crowning event of the day, which was the presentation to the President, Dr. F. L. Hawks Pott, for the University, of a generous gift of money from the alumni in commemoration of this twenty-fifth anniversary of Dr. Pott’s incumbency. An alumni supper followed, and then, as evening shadows fell, the spacious grounds were transformed into a sort of fairyland by the soft light from countless Chinese lanterns, hung in graceful festoons from tree to tree and building to building. Fireworks brought to a close a notable anniversary that will not soon be forgotten by the people of Shanghai.

St. John’s University and campus, covering forty-nine acres, is undeniably the most charmingly picturesque spot in the city. It lies five miles out from the centre of the town in the suburb of Jessfield. A more ideal location could not have been found, and the wonder is that when the larger part of the property was bought as early as 1878, the bishop who made the purchase had the foresight to choose so well.

Like most great enterprises, the University had a small beginning and developed gradually, through successive stages. The work really started back in 1845 with some little day schools for boys, for it must be remembered that while the London Mission pioneers were the vanguard of the missionaries to enter Shanghai, they were soon reinforced from America by the Protestant Episcopalians, the Presbyterians and the Southern Baptists. The day schools grew into successful boarding schools, chief among them one for older boys,--seventy youths so poor that tuition, board, and clothing were furnished them free of charge. Soon a call came for an English department and it was added. By and by a few ambitious students begged for college work, and finally, in 1906, by an act of Congress at Washington, D. C., St. John’s was formally incorporated as a University and empowered to grant degrees. Her alumni are now privileged to enter institutions in Europe and America for post-graduate work without examination, and she has the honour of sending more students abroad than any other mission college in China. Including all departments the student body numbers over five hundred, whose fees make the work in large measure practically self-supporting.

A five-story brick building was opened last year in one of the busiest sections of the down-town district, not in itself a singular occurrence, but in this case of unusual purport, for it is the headquarters of the Chinese Boys’ Branch of the Young Men’s Christian Association. This is the only building of its kind in the Far East, and it is certain that nowhere in the world is the kind of work it stands for more needed than in Shanghai, where the boy problem is one of the gravest. Figures are often dry reading, but in this connection a few will tell in a nut-shell a story of remarkable progress. The Boys’ Branch was started less than three years ago, and now what does the first report record? Seven hundred members, five hundred in the schools, three hundred voluntary members of Bible classes, one hundred regular boarders, two hundred at meals each day, and forty scouts, the scoutmaster being one of the Chinese secretaries. In the city are altogether no less than five hundred Chinese scouts. The organization among the Chinese is quite new but it may be called a “howling success,” the boys taking to it like ducks to water, and it is doing much for them in numberless ways. The Y.M.C.A. boy scout, who is taught reverence toward God, kindness to women, children, the aged, and animals, truth, honesty, courage, faithfulness without pay, loyalty and obedience to all in authority, and who stands for clean thought, clean speech, and clean habits, is bound to grow up into the kind of man that China has dire need of to-day. The new Boys’ Building is finely equipped from top to bottom and connects with the local headquarters of the Y.M.C.A., which fronts on Szechuan Road.

The National offices are likewise in Shanghai but in rented quarters. An eligible building site has been secured, and as soon as money is a little less scarce the work of construction will begin. The local headquarters is a centre of ceaseless activity, with day and evening schools offering all kinds of practical courses, gymnasium and swimming classes, athletic and reading clubs, “movies,” lectures, socials, Bible classes, and evangelistic meetings. A busier hive can not be imagined. It was the Y.M.C.A. that led in the Mott and Eddy Evangelistic Campaigns, it has inaugurated a health movement in the interest of sanitation and the prevention of disease, it has attacked the problem of social service which it is stressing by every available means, and it brought to China the Olympic Games with their rejuvenating, health-giving influences. Through its remarkable scientific lecture department it is reaching men that could not be approached in any other way. In short, the Association is a “live wire” and a tremendous force for good.

The Sunday Service League was organized by the Y.M.C.A. for the benefit of the large body of students from abroad who so easily slip their moorings and go adrift on their return to China. There is a well-attended five o’clock service in English for them on Sunday afternoons which is often addressed by notable speakers passing through Shanghai. Excellent music is furnished by the Chinese Glee Club, composed of both men and women. The Returned Students Club was a spontaneous outgrowth of the Sunday Service League. It holds occasional socials during the winter in the parlours of one of the foreign hotels, where music, conversation, a few simple games, and light refreshments make a most enjoyable evening. The gentlemen, all of whom wear foreign clothes, represent almost every profession and calling. With scarcely an exception the women appear in Chinese dress; wherein they show their good taste and good sense, for nothing becomes them half so well. Most of them are happy young wives and mothers, but there is sure to be a generous sprinkling of unmarried teachers, specializing it may be in English, music, elocution, physical training, or kindergarten work, with perhaps a doctor or two, a charming company in short, such as only Shanghai can bring together.

The Young Women’s Christian Association is a younger organization in China than the Young Men’s Christian Association, but it is doing on a somewhat smaller scale the same efficient work. The first secretary was sent to China in 1903 expressly to labour among the mill hands. It was later felt, however, that this plan of campaign was too slow, and that to win the upper and middle classes, make Christian leaders of them, and then send them out to evangelize the multitudes, would yield larger and more lasting fruitage. So this is the course being followed now, and the outcome abundantly proves its wisdom. The consummation of a long-cherished hope has been realized in the opening of a National Normal School in Shanghai for Physical Training. The school is under the direction of a foreign secretary of large experience, assisted by a Chinese secretary, a graduate of Wellesley College who received her professional training in Boston. One result of the interest aroused by the work of the Normal School is the recent organization of a Young Woman’s Athletic Association, with a charter membership of twenty-six. Wonderful indeed!

The school classes are always popular, especially with young married women who have been deprived of early school advantages. Besides teaching from books there are classes in embroidery, plain sewing, stenography, and cooking. Chinese girls are delighted to understand a little about foreign cooking, especially if they are the wives of young men who have been educated abroad, and it is a proud moment for them when they are able to serve their husbands with some of the dishes the latter have learned to relish during their residence in the Occident. The first class in Scientific Chinese Cooking has just been started, with a most gratifying show of interest.

The strongest emphasis is laid on student work not only in mission schools, but as fast as opportunity offers, in private and government schools as well. Many hundreds are converted and baptized annually as a result of the evangelistic meetings conducted by the student secretary. Six summer conferences were held last year with a far larger attendance, and more encouraging manifestation of genuine heart-awakening than was ever known before. The force of secretaries for this vast field numbers in all thirty-three, eight Chinese, three English, one Australian, one Swedish, and twenty American. The remark is often heard regarding the staff, “What unusual young women!” And it is true. Deeply and genuinely spiritual, broadly cultured, resourceful, of wide vision and keen insight, they are pushing forward with unwavering devotion a unique and regenerative work in China that but for them would in large measure be left undone.

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Transcriber's Notes:

Italics are shown thus: _sloping_.

Variations in spelling and hyphenation are retained.

Perceived typographical errors have been changed.