The statement just quoted is general, and admits of application in the case of every faithful foreign missionary; but Dr. Mateer meant it especially as an expression of his own experience. In the story of his life work as already here told we have seen it constantly exemplified. There, however, still remain other instances that deserve permanent record. In speaking of them as “incidents by the way,” and in gathering them into a single chapter, I do not mean to indicate that they are unimportant. Some of them concerned the depths of his life. But his work after he reached China was chiefly along the lines that have been traced in the preceding chapters, and those matters now to be related, however important, were incidents by the way.

Of the trials that overtook him, none were so keenly felt as his bereavements. Only two or three of these can be mentioned here,—such as occurred within the circle of his own relatives out in China. The first was the death of Mrs. Capp, the sister of Mrs. Julia Mateer. This occurred on February 17, 1882, at Tengchow. She went down into the shadows with the tender ministrations of her sister and of Dr. Mateer. In writing to a brother of her deceased husband, he said:

Sixteen years later, almost to a day,—February 16, 1898,—Julia finished her earthly work and entered into the heavenly rest. I have already mentioned that sorrowful event in the life of Dr. Mateer, and said something of her character. Her biography is soon to be given to the world in a distinct volume. Under these circumstances it would be superfluous to make any extended record concerning her here. It is due, however, to her husband to quote at least a part of one paragraph from a brief memoir of her written by him shortly after her death. In telling of her varied labors and achievements he said this, which so far as it was known to her in life, must have been an immeasurable satisfaction:

In view of the hatred and prejudice which confronted her and her husband when they arrived in Tengchow nearly thirty-five years before, it must have almost seemed to her like the illusion of a dream.

We have previously seen that Dr. Mateer’s brother John became the superintendent of the mission press at Shanghai in 1872. He continued in that position until 1876, when he returned home. For a good many years he was in business in the United States, and then he returned to China and took charge of the mission press of the American Board at Peking. In April, 1900, Dr. Mateer was called by telegraph to come to that city as quickly as possible, on account of the dangerous illness of his brother; but John died the day before his arrival. In a letter to the surviving brothers and sisters Dr. Mateer, after describing the funeral services, added:

It did not fall to the lot of Dr. Mateer to have any experience of perilous adventure and of hairbreadth escapes such as have come into the lives of missionaries in uncivilized lands, and even in China. Still he by no means escaped serious risks. In his earlier itinerations he was several times threatened with attacks from individuals or crowds, and sometimes he armed himself in order to defend himself from assault. The second year of his residence in Tengchow, because of negotiations going forward for the renting of a house near the south gate, a meeting of as many as a thousand people composing the most influential clan in the city assembled in one of the temples, and demanded of the officials permission to kill the man who controlled the house, and the foreigners; but the excitement passed away without any open outbreak. In the summer of 1867 there was a great scare at Tengchow over the approach of a body of “rebels.” These were in reality robbers, consisting of the dregs left behind at the suppression of the Tai-Ping rebellion, who burned and laid waste large districts of country, and mercilessly slaughtered the people. Their approach to Tengchow had so often been reported that nobody knew what to anticipate; but at length they, sure enough, made their appearance in the neighboring country. The inhabitants crowded into the city by thousands, bringing with them donkeys, cattle, and everything that could be hastily removed, so that not only the houses, but the streets and vacant places were crammed with them, the mission premises not being excepted. Julia found in the situation a fine opportunity to give the gospel to the women; and her husband was equally diligent among the men, though he was unfortunately hampered by the absence of his Chinese assistant. A British war vessel called early in the scare and offered to remove the missionaries to a place of safety; and later the “Wyoming,” a United States naval vessel, anchored out in the bay, where she could bring her guns to play, if necessary, for the protection of American citizens. Happily, after five days of this state of things the rebels again vanished, but not without leaving in their trail sickness and desolation. The missionaries do not seem to have been much alarmed at any time during the excitement, though no one could tell what might happen.

In 1870 there was a cruel massacre of a large number of French Roman Catholic missionaries and of some others at Tientsin, and much valuable mission property was destroyed. The news of this spread rapidly over north China and kindled the animosity of the natives against foreigners to such a degree that the situation in many localities became very dangerous. At Tengchow rumors of plots to wipe out the missionaries there were frequent, and the native Christians and others who were friendly communicated to them information that justified serious apprehension. A meeting of all the members of both the Baptist and the Presbyterian station was called, and then another the next day, and by an almost unanimous vote it was declared that it was the duty of all to take refuge in Chefoo or elsewhere until the danger was substantially ended. Dr. Mateer in these meetings advocated brief delay and further inquiry, but when he found himself in a minority of one, he yielded his judgment to that of all the others. Just as soon as possible a message was sent to Chefoo for a ship to come up and take the families to that place, and a couple of British vessels promptly responded. All valuables that could be quickly packed and easily removed were shipped; and the premises at Tengchow were placed in charge of as trusty Chinese as could be obtained for the purpose, and a promise was given by the chief official of the city that he would see that constables watched the property. Dr. Mateer did not go on the ship, but remained a day along with a Baptist missionary in order to complete the arrangements required for the proper keeping of the houses and goods, and then he followed on horseback down to Chefoo. The prompt appearance of the ships in the harbor and the removal of the missionaries seem to have made a most wholesome impression on the people, and the excitement soon subsided, and a rather general desire prevailed, even among the non-Christian Chinese, that they should return. The American minister at Peking also greatly gratified the refugees and their fellow-laborers from the United States by the to them somewhat novel experience of his taking an earnest practical interest in their welfare. He advised them to return to Tengchow, and solicited the privilege of sending them back on an American warship. After an absence of about a month Dr. Mateer went thither on a preliminary trip, and was pleasantly surprised at the friendly altitude of the people. In due time the other missionaries and their families followed; but at the meeting of the synod which ensued a little later he was compelled, after a brief sojourn at Tengchow, to go down to Shanghai and remain there for a year and a half in charge of the mission press. Just how real was the danger that caused this temporary flight to Chefoo, and how imminent, is a secret that perhaps no man clearly knew, and which certainly the missionaries never ascertained. Writing in his Journal, just after his return, concerning his reluctant acquiescence in the vote of all except himself in favor of going, he says:

When, in 1894-95, the war between Japan and China raged, Tengchow being a port on the sea, and not far from Japan, was of course likely to be a place directly involved in the hostilities. The missionaries elected to remain at their post, and asked the consular agent of the United States at Chefoo to notify the proper military official of their presence, number, calling, and nationality, and to say that in case of attack they would hoist the American flag over the mission premises, and that if the Chinese found themselves unable to defend the city they would exert their influence to have it surrendered without loss of life. The Japanese did come, and they, as a diversion from the seizure of Wei-hai-wei, bombarded the place on three successive days. As to this, Dr. Mateer says in his autobiographical sketch for his college classmates, “I watched the progress of affairs from the lookout on top of my house, but escaped untouched, though eight shells fell close around the house, and one went over my head so close that the wind from it made me dodge.”

During the Boxer uprising of 1899-1900, though the movement originated in Shantung, the missionaries and native Christians of that province suffered less than in adjacent provinces. The reason for this is that after the murder of Brooks in 1899, the anti-foreign governor, Yu Haien, was at the solicitation of the missionaries and the Foreign Office removed. Unfortunately he was not deposed, but was merely changed to Shansi. This accounts for the terrible carnage there. The new governor of Shantung, the since famous Yuan Shih K’ai, did his best to hold the Boxers in check in his own province, and in the main was successful. The prompt and efficient action of Consul Fowler, of Chefoo, in removing the missionaries from the interior also helped to save life. Still it was bad enough in the western parts even of Shantung. The native Christians in many places were robbed, beaten, and so far as possible compelled by threat of death to disown their faith. The story of the destruction of the property of the mission at Wei Hsien, and the narrow escape of the missionaries, through the courage of one of their number, is about as thrilling as any that is told of that period of widespread burning and carnage. In the eastern side of the province, beyond ominous excitement at such places as Tengchow and Chefoo, there was no serious disturbance. Probably this was due in part to the wholesome respect which the Chinese living not too far from the sea had come to feel for foreign war vessels, and for the troops which they could promptly disembark.

Just before the siege of Peking began Dr. Mateer had made his visit to that city, to bury his brother John. The earlier part of 1900 he remained at Tengchow quietly at his work, and sending his orders just as usual for supplies needed by the college and personally. In July, by order of the American consul, the missionaries were brought down to Chefoo on a gunboat. Dr. Mateer and Mr. Mason Wells, however, lingered behind for a while. It was vacation, and Dr. Mateer occupied his time with the Mandarin version. Among the Chinese a wild rumor gained some currency that he was leading an army of many thousand men to relieve Peking; and the fact that his fiancée was shut up there gave at least piquancy to the report. Later he went on down to Shanghai, and there spent six months on the Revision Committee; and so he did not get back to Tengchow until June, 1901, when the Boxer uprising was at an end.

In a communication which he published in “The Herald and Presbyter” later in 1900, he gave at considerable length his views as to the causes of that dreadful outbreak. These do not differ essentially from the ideas which have come to be generally accepted in the United Stales. The missionary propaganda he frankly acknowledges to have, by the very nature of its message, aroused the malignity of evil men; and this also to have been much aggravated by the habit of Roman Catholics of standing between their converts and the enforcement of Chinese laws; but he denied that this was the main cause. He holds that the outbreak was chiefly due to the traditional hatred of foreigners; to the territorial aggressions of the western nations in China; to the ill treatment of Chinese abroad and in their own ports by foreigners; and last, but by no means least, to the German operations in Shantung, consisting of their revenge for the murder of some German priests, the occupation of Kiao-chow, and the survey and building of a railroad through the province. The high-handed encroachment of Russia in Manchuria and the construction of a railroad through that province, and the guarding of it by Russian troops, added fuel to the flames. Summing up, he says: “The whole movement is anti-foreign,—against all nationalities and occupations, ministers of governments, consuls, merchants, missionaries, teachers, and engineers, railroads, telegraphs, churches, schools, and Christian converts,—everything in short that is in any way connected with the detested foreigner. It is the conservatism of old China rising up and bracing itself for one last desperate struggle to suppress the new China that is supplanting it.”

Another of the trials that touched deeply his heart was the contact into which he was brought with the sufferings of the people through famine. In 1876, 1877, and 1878 there was great scarcity in the general region of Tengchow, and consequently the prices for food rose so high that it was impossible for the poor to obtain the necessaries of life. Dr. Mateer, as also other missionaries, helped them to the extent of his ability, and became the almoner of charitable people who sent money from western lands to buy food for the famishing. But in 1889 he was brought face to face as never before in his life with destitution in China. The inconstancy of the Yellow River was one cause of the terrible disaster. Twice within about a third of the nineteenth century it had changed its bed; and as a consequence, finding its new channel too small to carry off the waters in times of heavy and protracted rain, it had repeatedly flooded vast districts, often to a depth of several feet, carrying destruction to the mud walls of the buildings and desolation to the cultivated ground. Drought also in a portion of northwestern Shantung had prevailed to such an extent as to prevent the growth and maturing of grains and vegetables. At last a climax was reached by these disasters; and it was recognized by missionaries and others as so awful in its character and so vast in its sweep that a Famine Relief Committee for Shantung was organized, and an appeal was made for help from Great Britain and the United States, and from the southern ports of China. At least two hundred thousand dollars came in response, and it was especially in connection with the distribution of this that Dr. Mateer was brought into direct personal contact with the suffering. Districts were assigned to missionaries and others, and a careful canvass with the aid of reliable helpers was made. They ascertained that many tens of thousands of the people had wandered away from their homes, either to seek food or at least to leave to the more feeble and helpless such sustenance as might yet remain. No one ever was able to form a definite idea of the number who had died from starvation, either on their wanderings or at their places of residence. The canvassers found multitudes trying to sustain life by eating the husks of grain, the seeds and roots of grasses and weeds, the bark of trees, and the blades of wheat. Some of those who had been considered rich had provided themselves with poison, so as to take their own lives when they must come to the point where to live would be to see their children perish from starvation. The allowance furnished by the relief fund to an individual was fixed at about a cent a day in all ordinary cases, and it was ascertained that on this allowance at least a hundred thousand lives were saved. On some old, faded Chinese sheets of paper, closely written with his own hand, the record of a part of Dr. Mateer’s experiences in the famine canvass, out in northwestern Shantung, has come down to us. As it is all now a thing of the remote past, there probably would be no good in recording the dreadful details here. It is a story of children reduced to skeletons, eager to lick up every crumb as big as a pinhead that fell from the bit of coarse bread given them; of men and women falling down on their knees and begging for food for their families, and bursting into tears at the prospect of relief; of the sale of wives and daughters to procure something to eat; of unburied corpses, and of graves just filled with those who have perished. He said under date of April 9, 1889: “It is the hardest work I ever did in my life. To look all day long on a continual succession of starving people, and to be beset by their entreaties to enroll more names than you can, is very hard on the nerves. There is no end to the starving people.” Again, May 17, he said: “After seven weeks and two days I am at last about to leave for Tsinan. We have now enrolled about thirty-three thousand, and the work of enrollment in this place is finished.” What as to the religious outcome? The impression made upon multitudes even in excess of those who received aid was most favorable to Christianity. One of the leading Chinese assistants in the work wrote to the people who furnished the aid: “This must be the right religion. If not, why is it that the followers of other religions do not do such things?” Thus they were willing to examine into Christianity, and the more they examined, the more they believed, until they were converted to Christ. As an ultimate outcome, several hundred were received into the churches.

The controversies which he had with some of his fellow-missionaries in China were a serious trial to him. He was not by inclination “a man of war,” but in connection with the prosecution of the missionary work in which he was engaged in common with his brethren, questions of great practical and immediate importance arose, and as to some of these he had strong convictions that were at variance with those of other wise and able men on the field. It was best for the cause that these should be thoroughly discussed, and there was much that could be fairly and earnestly urged upon either side. All that could be rightly demanded was that the “fighting” should be open and honorable, and that it should be conducted in such a manner as not to hinder the missionary work or to descend into personal controversy. Dr. Mateer, as to ability and efficiency, stood in the front rank of those who were giving their lives to the evangelization of China. It was his duty to express his views on these questions, and to do this in such a way that no one could misapprehend them. If any fault could be found with him in this matter, perhaps it would be that he saw his own side so vividly that he was not always able to recognize the entire force of that which was said in favor of what ran counter to it. Those who knew him well and appreciated the greatness and tenderness of his heart waived the sting which sometimes seemed to be in his words; but perhaps some others who were not so well acquainted with him occasionally winced under its pungency. Everyone who was concerned in these discussions, long ago has come to recognize him in these as an earnest, capable man, trying to do his duty as he saw it.

By far the most protracted of these controversies was over the word that ought to be used in Chinese to express the idea of God. Under date of November 4, 1865, he made this entry in his Journal: “This week I had a note from Mr. Mills, saying that a proposition was current at Peking to get out a Union New Testament in Mandarin, and to use in it Tien Chu for God, and Sheng Shen for Holy Spirit, and that all but Mr. — had signed it. I cannot sign it at all; I am utterly opposed to any such a proceeding. I cannot conscientiously use these words.” That was his first gun in a battle that for him completely ended only with his life. His contributions to the discussion were sufficient to be in substance, as we have already seen, gathered into a separate volume. In 1907 his “Letter Book” shows that he was still remonstrating against a request to the Bible societies to employ for God and for spirit Chinese terms that violated his convictions. His very last recorded utterance on the subject was in a letter dated November 17, 1907. In it he expresses his gratification that in an edition of the New Testament for China, issued by an English Bible society, they were “to use the terms Shen and Sheng Ling for God and Spirit.” He added: “This suits me. These and these only are the right terms, and despite all appearances will ultimately win in the really orthodox and evangelistic church of China.” It is not improbable that the drift of opinion for various reasons as to this was against him; but it was in this faith that he died.

As to his part in the discussion concerning what came to be known as “Methods of Missions,” no more need be said here than that the men who took part in this were alike seeking the best solution of a difficult problem, and never wavered in unbroken fellowship and confidence as comrades in the larger work of giving the gospel to China. It was not until 1905 that Dr. Mateer published his book on this subject, and then only when urged by some of his associates.

In the battle as to English in the college, Dr. Mateer had to yield to the majority who came into control after the removal to Wei Hsien. He was great enough not to allow the new policy to chill his love for the institution, or to stay his hands from such help as, in addition to his occupation with the Mandarin version, it was possible for him to lend either by influence or money, or even by physical toil. In his final relations with the college he proved himself to be still its loyal and generous supporter.

It has often been remarked that one never meets a foreign missionary who has thrown himself or herself unreservedly into the work who is unhappy. They are human, and feel their trials often keenly; but their faces shine with an inward peace, and they rejoice over the one sheep, or the many, whom they have found in the wilderness and won to Christ. When Dr. Mateer advanced in age, and thought of what he had helped to accomplish for the evangelization of China, he must have felt a satisfaction such as seldom possesses a soul. In view of this supreme joy it almost seems out of place here to tell of the “incidents by the way” which ministered to his pleasure. One of these consisted of the signs of appreciation shown him by men or bodies of men whose commendation meant something worth while. We have seen how the missionaries on the field trusted and honored him by calling him to leadership in several most important enterprises looking toward large and permanent results. But others besides missionaries recognized him as worthy of their honors and trust. Hanover College in 1880 conferred on him the doctorate of divinity. In 1888 the University of Wooster, for his “attainments, literary and scientific, philosophical and theological, and for his success in his work as a Christian missionary and teacher,” gave him the doctorate of laws. At the centennial of his alma mater in 1902, Washington and Jefferson College also conferred on him the doctorate of laws, in recognition of his “distinguished ability and service as a scholar and minister of the gospel.” In 1894, the British and Foreign Bible Society by making him an honorary foreign member gave him an exceptional distinction. In August, 1898, his lifelong friend, Rev. Dr. W. A. P. Martin, who had been called to the headship of the new Imperial University planned for Peking, wrote to him, asking whether he would accept the deanship of the school of engineering; but in reply he declined, on the dual ground that he was under obligation to continue in his missionary work and in the translation of the Scriptures. In December of the same year he received from the “superintendent” of the new Imperial University at Nanking an invitation to become the “head master” of that nascent institution. Coming as this did directly from that high Chinese dignitary, it was an extraordinary mark of respect and confidence; but this also he declined, and for the same reasons as in the preceding case. In writing of these offers he said to one of the secretaries of the Board of Missions:

One of the minor but notable honors that came to Dr. Mateer was the celebration of his seventieth birthday at Wei Hsien. The Chinese have a curious custom as to the birthday of the emperor, and perhaps of other distinguished persons; they celebrate it a year, a month, and a day in advance of the true date. This custom was followed on the occasion of Dr. Mateer’s seventieth birthday. An eyewitness has given the following graphic description of the affair:

In the general section of China where he lived he made many journeys. Over that part of Shantung situated to the east of the Yellow River he traveled often, and far and wide. Several times he visited Peking. Once, as we have seen, he went down the Grand Canal, to Nanking, and the lower Yangtse. Frequently he steamed up and down the coast to Shanghai, and once as far south as Ningpo. But those immense and populous provinces situated in the west and south of China he never visited, not because he was not interested in them, or could not afford the expense, but because he could not spare the time. In the spring of 1868 the “Shenandoah,” an American war steamer, came to Tengchow on its way to Korea, where search was to be made for any survivors that might remain from the “General Sherman,” lost there two years before. The “Shenandoah” wanted an interpreter, and by general consent the duty seemed to fall on Dr. Mateer, so that he fell constrained to accept, though the health of his wife and other affairs rendered this very inconvenient. The cruise lasted about six weeks, and carried them to several places on the west coast of Korea, and among these to the river Pyeng Yang, since so familiar to readers of missionary journals, and to those who followed the Japanese troops on their march against the Russians in the recent war. That was then a “forbidden land” to foreigners, and the expedition found it difficult to get into peaceable or forcible communication with officials or other natives, and accomplished almost nothing. In the light of the fuller present knowledge of that politically unhappy but religiously hopeful country the observations of the interpreter or of any of the other persons belonging to the expedition are now of little interest.

Dr. Mateer came back to the United States only three times on furlough during the more than forty-five years that intervened between his sailing for China in 1863 and his death. The first of these absences from China began in May, 1879, and ended about the first of January, 1881. Under the rule of the Board of Missions he was entitled to a furlough home long before that time, but he felt that he could not sooner leave his work. He also held the opinion that there is usually no sufficient reason to justify this privilege to a young missionary so early as is established custom. His wife, on account of health, had preceded him some six months. He came by way of Japan, and brought with him two Mills children, their mother having died. They crossed the Pacific on a slow vessel, but the voyage was delightful, and in about as great a contrast as is possible with his experience on the ship which originally carried him to China. He was made more than comfortable and the captain went out of his way in order to show him courtesies. On arrival in the United States his time was spent in the main as by other home-coming missionaries,—in family reunions, visiting here and there, preaching to churches, addressing ecclesiastical meetings of various sorts, seeking recruits among theological students, and other engagements,—the total of which so completely fill up the time that little is left for real rest and recuperation. To this customary list he added two other items,—a period spent in attending medical lectures at Philadelphia, and a hasty trip across the Atlantic to England and to Paris.

His second furlough extended from July, 1892, until October, 1893. He went and came by the Pacific route, and was comfortable on these voyages. Julia was with him. During that sojourn in the United States, in addition to the occupations usually engrossing the time of a missionary on furlough, he went to Chautauqua and studied Hebrew in order to fit himself better for revision work. He also made at the World’s Fair at Chicago that exhaustive examination of machinery, and especially of electrical appliances, of which Dr. Corbett, in the quotation previously given, has told us. One of the greatest pleasures that came to him on this leave of absence was the privilege of once more seeing his mother, then advanced in years. In the last of his letters to her that have come down to us he mentions that he and Julia are at the writing just going into the harbor at Chefoo, and he concludes by saying: “We are very glad that we are at the end of our journey, and back again in China. This is where our work lies, and this is where we ought to be.” It was on his arrival at Tengchow that his students gave him that royal welcome already described.

On September 25, 1900, he was married to Miss Ada Haven, who had been for many years a missionary of the American Board at Peking, and as such was recognized as an accomplished Chinese scholar and a successful and highly esteemed teacher in the Bridgman School. Her engagement to Dr. Mateer briefly antedated the siege of Peking, and she was one of the company of foreigners of whose fate the western world waited with bated breath to hear during the midsummer of 1900. In her book, “Siege Days,” she has given an inside view of the experiences of herself and of many others, and as such it has not only a passing but also a permanent interest and value as a record of that remarkable episode of madness on the part of the “old” China. After the relief of the city and a little season of recuperation from the strain of the siege, Miss Haven came down to Chefoo, and the marriage took place in the Presbyterian church at Chefoo, Dr. Mateer’s old friend, Dr. Corbett, performing the ceremony. As his wife, Ada rendered him valuable assistance, by taking part in the preparation of the smaller book of “Mandarin Lessons.” She also greatly helped the committee on the Mandarin version of the New Testament by making a Greek and English concordance of their first revision. For eight years they two walked together; and he had from her in his literary labors, as well as in other ways, an inspiration and often a direct help of which the world outside of their home can know very little.

His last furlough extended from June, 1902, to August, 1903. Dr. and Mrs. Mateer came to the United States by way of the Siberian railroad and the Atlantic, so that when he arrived in China on his return he had a second time gone around the world. In a letter written to me in April, 1908, he says, “We went home seven years ago by the Siberian railroad, and it was exceedingly comfortable,—much more so than traveling in an ordinary Pullman car.” Perhaps in the interval that had elapsed the recollection of the discomforts that attended the first stage of that journey had somewhat faded from his memory; or he may have had in mind only the part that lay through Siberia proper and in European Russia. A Chinese naval officer who had often come to his study to talk over various matters had expressed a desire to take him and his wife over to Port Arthur in a gunboat when they started on their homeward route. The officer intended by this only one of those empty compliments which Orientals are accustomed to pay, without any thought that the offer involved would be accepted. Dr. Mateer was himself the soul of truth and honor, and, being such, took what this officer said to him at its face value. So, in this case, he sent word of acceptance of the offer, but an answer came back that “after all, it would be inconvenient to take them just then, and that orders had been left with a Chinese junk to take them.” The junk could not come in to shore and they had to go out in a rowboat. When they went aboard, they found that there was no cabin,—nothing, indeed, at their command but a little hold about breast-high, stowed full of Chinese baggage, some of it consisting of malodorous fish and onions. In order to make room for them, the onions were piled in stacks just above on the deck; but even this change left for human occupation merely about a cube of five feet. The boat was crowded with Chinese passengers, and it poured down rain, from which the Mateers could protect themselves only by hoisting an umbrella over the hatchway which was at the same time their only source of ventilation. It was not until the third day that they reached Port Arthur.

It was characteristic of Dr. Mateer that under these conditions he spent every moment of daylight in putting final touches on the manuscripts of the “Technical Terms” and of the “Chemical Terms,” so that these might be mailed immediately to the printer. They came very near missing the train, and if this had happened they would have been compelled to wait a week for another opportunity. The railroad had but recently been completed at that end, and no regular schedule as to service had yet been established; but with many delays and with various inconveniences, after a week, they reached the point at which they overtook an express train bound for Irkutsk. This was luxury indeed, compared with the beginning of the journey. From Irkutsk onward the commendatory language of Dr. Mateer was justified by the accommodations. The Mateers visited Moscow and St. Petersburg; then came on to Berlin, and thence, successively, to Düsseldorf, Cologne, Paris, and London, the latter place brilliant with preparations for the belated coronation of King Edward, which took place while they were there. From Liverpool they crossed the Atlantic to Halifax, and then entered on their American vacation.

A part of the furlough he spent in efforts to secure endowment for the Shantung College. In the prosecution of this work he visited various churches, and in Pittsburg he remained for six weeks. It was during this furlough that he sat as a commissioner from his presbytery in the General Assembly at Los Angeles. Among other celebrated spots which they included in their itinerary was the Yosemite Valley. But the part of the furlough that probably afforded them both the most unalloyed pleasure was spent in a visit to the region of the “old home.” His wife, in a letter, tells the story thus:

But the most sacred of all the spots which they visited was the grave of his mother, in the cemetery at Wooster, Ohio.

From Seattle they sailed to Japan, and thence after a short season of fellowship with the venerable translator of the Old Testament, Bishop Schereschewsky, and with other friends, they came back to Tengchow.