2
1st. Sunday. A cloudy day.
3
Dr. Anderson, Suchow, preached the morning sermon on humility and lowliness. In the course of his talk he said something like this: "You all look down on the heathen. Even the idea of regarding Chinamen or Japanese as your equals never entered into your mind." Then he went on exhorting the people to come down to lift up the Negro, the Chinaman, the "Jap" and "what not". A pretty way of being lowly and humble this is! Very unfair and unjust to classify the Chinese and the Japanese with Negroes. What he said about the people here not even thinking of Chinamen and Japs as their equals kept me from the Lord's table. For if the people are too proud to regard us as equals, then I am too proud to claim that equality by taking The Supper with them. I know I am foolish about this, yet I couldn't help feeling so.
4
After dinner went to the Poor Farm to read, pray and sing with the poor people.
5
Dr. Anderson talked on the missionary work in China. He gave a very sensible talk. He tickled the crowd very much by saying the Chinese are liers. I can honestly say I have seen as much lying and cheating and meanness in this and other colleges as to warrant me to think that liers are not a rare article in America.
6
No good can possibly be done by abusing a people for whom and among whom one may labor in the Gospel If one does, it shows either that he has no sympathy and love for the people or that he wants to publish to the world how big a hero he is to work among such a people. Either is bad for a missionary. Truth means no harshness.
8
6th. Friday. Exceedingly cold. Water in my room got frozen up last night and remained so all through the day. (TABLE)
9
==1. China==Monday==Dr. Candler==
10
==2. Japan==Tuesday==Dr. Candler==
11
==3. General==Wednesday==Prof. Dicky==
12
==4. Mexico and Brazil==Thursday==Dr. Candler==
13
==5. The Western world==Friday==Dr. Candler==
14
This week has been observed as a week of self-denial for missions. Missionary service every night. The topics were:
15
Dr. Candler showed himself, as usual, an easy equal to the task. He kept me awake every service. I can no more withdraw my attention from his discourses than I can keep it on Dr. Callaway's or Dr. More's. What makes him great is his contempt―unaffected withal―for little plans for, sordid calculations in, puerile plays with, great and eternal things and interest.
16
During the week someone put in a gold watch in the contribution box. No doubt Nath did that.
17
My sensitiveness would be an unmixed evil, if it didn't make me careful not to hurt the feelings of others.
18
Dr. Anderson's insulting remarks on China seem to have no effect on Bell. Sensibility―to shame or insult is no part of a Chinaman's virtue. If it were China would be better off.
19
Dr. Candler said yesterday that there used to be two Mexicans in the College, that he had roomed with one of them and that neither turned out to be anything. God forbid that the same should be said of me hereafter!
20
The offering during the week, according to Dr. Candler. was nearly100.
22
7th. Saturday. A biting cold morning and a cloudy day.
23
The election of champion debaters came off smoothly this morning. Homer Bush honerably beat Marvin Williams in spite of the rather uncommendable workings of M.'s clubmates. Unless I am badly off, Homer is a sterling character, honest, strong, thoughtful and able. I felt doubly honored for my last election to the chair because of his nomination.
24
As Bell was strutting about among the crowd with a cigar in his mouth, perfectly insensible to his being an object of rather a contemptuous observation. Redding said "Bell tries to do everything that he sees others do." Bell imitates Dr. Candler in compressing his lips at the end of each sentence when he wishes to be emphatic! Nobody knows the limit of his apishness.
25
At 4 p.m. went up to Dr.Candler's to see Mrs. Candler.
26
Stayed there until after the supper. Fool that I am! I ought not to do anything of the sort. I wasted my time and no doubt tried her patience. Yet, how hard it is for me to come away from her sunny presence when I once get into it!
27
Mrs. Candler said that when a girl, she didn't know what it was to pull off her shoes or socks, this being done by negro servants.
28
Two little girls of the same parents. They grow up together under equal advantages. Both are fair and good. One marries a young man who, in the course of a few years, becomes a leader in a church that counts its members by a million and a half. The other's husband is an honest but obscure man. The one is Mrs.Nettie C. and the other Mrs. McC. Such is life!
30
8th. Sunday. A bright and sunny a.m. and a chilly p.m.
31
Bro. Dicky preached a fine sermon.
32
Dr. Candler preached in the night. Taking Matt. 18, 3, as his text he showed that the Lord took a child not as an emblem of humility or of meekness but of unworldliness. "Meekness", said he, "does not mean negativity or absence of temper but readiness to accept truth". He most justly condemned the harmful practice of many people of exhibiting any precocity of their children, thus cherishing from infancy an unwholesome thirst for notoriety and fear of public opinion. This explains, the Dr. said, why the sickly and degenerate life of a city needs be constantly invigorated by rural population whose steady and strong character is formed and matured in obscurity and silence.
34
9th. Monday. Bitterly cold, cloudy and windy.
35
1. "Hopping-John"―: this is the name Mrs. Berry gives to peas cooked with rice. Bro. Stone and Mrs. Berry think this dish is a remarkable discovery in the culinary world. Why, the Koreans eat it all their lives, at least in the southern part of the peninsula.
36
2. At the supper table, I said something about Judge Dixon's not marrying. To which Mrs. Berry remarked "He may marry Mrs. Harris(!) . I don't believe in a married woman going about with young men. I saw her one Sunday going home with Judge Dixon though she had started for the S.S." etc. etc. Here is a piece of scandal. Mrs. Harris ought to be more discreet.
37
3. Borrowed a quilt from Mrs. Nettie Candler. Little kindnesses as this from a lady go far to cheer my lonely heart.
39
10th. Tuesday. Bright sun-shine plus bitter cold. (TABLE)
42
==Quilt and Pillow==.50==
45
==The Study Lamp==1.50==
46
==Oil Can and Tin Bucket==.25==
47
==A Chair and a Boiler==.25==
51
After supper Bell and I concluded a contract by virtue of which I was to sell and he to buy the following articles now in my possession at the prices stated, when I should leave the College.
52
This is a sign that my departure from America is an event not far off. Naturally enough, I feel sad. Once parted, happy America! When shall we meet again? "Parting is such a sweet sorrow." Yes, sweet it may be, yet it is a sorrow nevertheless.
53
A dude is a fellow who carries his hat on one side of his head but nothing inside of it.
55
12th. Thursday. Gloomy and biting cold.
56
Wrote Prof. W.B. Bonnell. He has been one of the truest friends I have. I believe he will do anything in his power that may be for my good. I have had many teachers since I began studying English; yet to no one I feel so lastingly indebted for my knowledge in English as to him. He was the immediate guide that led me to Christ. Well and truely may I subscribe myself to him as his "affectionate pupil". Yet I often think he made a mistake when he went to China. He and his wife and children are all of delicate health unable to weather the damp climate of Shanghai. Besides he has no special liking or sympathy for the people among whom he works. Under circumstances his return will be no great damage to the field, yet a considerable blessing to himself and his family.
57
In his letter of the 3rd Dec. 1892, he says "There are reasons why a change to Corea for me and my family would be acceptable"; one of the reasons being to rescue his wife from the attack of Shanghai malaria. These words make me feel exceedingly sad for three reasons:
58
1. His discontentedness with the circumstances he is in. I am sad that he is unhappy.
59
2. Corea, (alas! that beautiful Corea) at least the inhabited parts of it are the last resort for health. Heavens! how long will Corea groan under the vilest government in the world???
60
3. Prof. Bonnell will do a great good in opening up the work in Corea by starting a school. Yet I can't ask him to run the risk of smallpox, malaria, cholera―etc. etc. etc.
61
Yesterday, Nath hinted to me about sending me as a missionary from the College.
63
14th. Saturday. Augusta
64
Very cold-water freezes and remains so every day in my room.
65
Left Covington by the 10 a.m. train for Augusta to attend the Y.P.S.C.E. convention. Reached my destination about 3:30 p.m. After appeasing a gnawing hunger in the depot restaurant, went to Christian Church where the Convention met. The majority of the delegates present were young ladies. Miss Mamie Bays, the daughter of Dr. Bays of Rome, acted the assistant secretary. She is a consecrated, intelligent and pretty young woman.
66
I was assigned to Virginia House where I had spent a night last summer. Had to go to be early.
68
15th. Sunday. At 9:30 a.m. went to the Convention to hear Dr. Park on the systematic study of the Bible.
69
Attended the morning service in St. James. Dr. Candler preached to a full and attentive audience. His appearance and voice were welcome to me among strangers.
70
At 3 p.m. Dr. Rhodes of St. Louis addressed the Convention on "the World for Christ". His speech was carefully prepared and oratorically delivered. He lamented the absence or the lack of solidity in the modern religious life. I made an address on Corea for Christianity.
71
At the request of Bro. Frazier, I gave a talk on Corea in his Broad Street Church. Considering the inclemency of the night I had a fair audience. In his closing prayer Bro. Frazier prayed that Corea and Augusta might hence be brought close to one another. Kind words that impressed me.
72
Went to the Convention from Broad Street Chruch to witness the parting scenes.
73
My impressions etc. etc. etc.
74
1. The C.E. Society officers discharge their duties at their own expenses of time and money. A refreshing fact in this age of money worship.
75
2. These special organizations as Endeavor Society, Y.M.C.A. etc. supply a felt want in the church and at the same time rebuke her for the negligence that made such special movements a necessity.
76
3. No doubt there is a great deal of silly sentimentalism and superficial piety in these movements. In them religion is more extensive than intensive. Yet their aim is good; their efforts, un-selfish; and their effects, wholesome in diffusing knowledge, in purifying public opinion, in saving souls.
77
4. Augusta has the best paved and widest Broad Street of all the cities in Ga. The depot restaurant is a most accommodating and polite of its kind.
79
16th. Monday. Augusta and Oxford.
80
Up at 7 a.m. Attended the sun-rise prayer meeting in Christian Church. Left Augusta at 8 a.m. for Oxford. Was saved from the tediousness of long ride by being in the company of two Atlanta young ladies on their way home from the Convention. They belong to a Congregational Church, in Atlanta.
81
Reaching home at 12 p.m. found the water in the bucket transformed into a solid mass of ice, and the room very uncomfortable. I ought to quit these pleasure trips; they tend to demoralize my mind. The smiles of two girls a happy dream!
83
18th. Wednesday. Snowed from 5 a.m. Six inches deep at 4 p.m.
84
The biggest snow I have seen in 7 years since I left Corea. The snow is very dry―not good for making balls. Boys are having a big time.
86
19th. Thursday. Snowed hard all the morning until 9. 9 inches deep altogether.
87
The authorities saw it necessary to suspend the school until Monday.
88
Many people criticize Nath's giving his gold watch as a cranky and crazy action. Fools of little hearts and less brains!
89
They try to measure the action of great soul by their miserable standard of prudence.
90
Snow is melting fast. Wrote to Joe Rankin, Spencer. Miss Fannie.
93
Have spent a large part of the time yesterday and today in reading McCathy's History of England. Wrote to Mrs. McClure.
94
Took supper at Dr. Candler's. Mrs. Candler seemed out of humor. The Dr. was drowsy and gaping. Mrs. Cartright was quiet. Jim sat with all solemnity. John was the happiest in the company with a pair of new shoes. Pibbo was the gladdest to see me. The simple living of the worthy doctor and his worthier wife reminded me of the amusing, if it were not false, attack of Mrs. Filton on Dr. Candler as "living high on a fat salary." Battercakes, coffee, syrup, preserves and now-and-then oysters constitute the bill of fare of everyday supper on the Doctor and his family. Why, Mrs. Berry gives us more varieties of food than these.
96
22nd. Sunday. A bright and pleasant day.
97
Dr. Moore preached in the morning and Prof. Bradley in the night. S.S. as usual.
98
The following verses are some of the "speeches" little Luddie Berry is made to get off:
99
"Here I stand on a pumpkin
105
All school teachers are hard to please."
108
I didn't want to keep her
109
I took her by the heels
110
And threw her in the river
113
Hadn't it been for you
114
I'd have a little money."
115
Bro. Stone, the market man, uses words which amuse me from their strange grammatical endings. "Knowed" for knew, "hearn" for heard. "axed" for asked, "tuck" for took.
116
At the table when any dish is presented to Bro. Zed Speer, he looks at it almost for a minute from under his long eyelash―a very vulgar and provoking habit this―and then takes or refuses it by saying "I believe I will take some" or "I believe not". Bro. Stone's way of refusing any dish is "I don't choose any" or "I don't choose to have any". They represent a stratum of society upon which the class represented by Dr. Candler looks down. The beauty is that anybody may ascend.
119
After the supper we had a great deal of fun in playing different sorts of tricks.
120
1. "Kissing the Bible." Blindfold a man, set him in a chair. Give him a book to be kissed. Then slip a piece of sweetened paper or anything of the sort between the book and his mouth. Tell him kiss.
121
2. "Animal show." Let the persons to be practiced on stay out of the door. Conduct one at a time into the room and ask him or her what kind of an animal he or she wants to see. As soon as the person makes known the choic―esay, be it a horse or cow―lead him or her to a mirror and show the animal―himself or herself. I asked for a camel, and Bell for a cat!
122
3. "Mimicking." Conduct a man into the room. Let all the persons stand up in a circle. Then at once mimic whatever he says or does.
123
4. "Finding the key." Blindfold a man. Tie a small key at the end of a string and pin it on the back of the person. Tell him to hunt for the key in the direction whence he may hear a whistle and un-blindfold him. Stand around him and take the key and whistle with it. As soon as he turns round let somebody else whistle with the key. By this way the victim may be made to whirl round and round as a cat trying to seize a ribbon tied on its tail. Bell finally gave it up in despair.
124
5. "Whisly-burly." Let someone be the general and all the rest of the company obey the order of the head as soldiers. The general calls each soldier by himself and gives him a secret order. When every individual of the regiment has received an order, the general gives an order to charge. Then a scene of most amusing confusion, each soldier trying to play some trick on his neighbor. Tonight Mrs. Berry acted as the general. I was ordered to trun the chair in which Bro. Stone sat; Loan Eax, to pull the shoes off Bro. Stone's feet; Miss Tommie, to brush my hair; Ed Blanton, to sweet Loan's face, etc. etc.
125
6. "Richman and Poorman." Seat two men on chairs side by side. Let one be a Richman and the other a Poorman. Cover their heads with a coat in such way as to have each sleave over each head. Then bid them to look up repeating "Richman and Poorman". While their faces are upturned pour some water on them through the sleaves.
126
The smallness of my eyes has given rise to many an amusing remark.
127
1. A little girl in Va. once told me with an air of triumph that might well become a discoverer of some great scientific truth: "Your eyes look just like those of the Japanese."
128
2. Miss Lynn Brauham, a most worthy young lady in Oxford, is credited with the saying that I might have been handsome, were my eyes little larger.
129
3. A little boy said to me, "If your eyes were as large as your spects they would have been large enough".
130
4. A little girl in Bueno Vista asked me why my eyes were so small.
131
5. Claude Dunlap one Sunday p.m. in the church asked me "What makes your eyes so small?" I looked at him full in the face to the widest extent of my eyes and said "What makes your eyes so big?" "Well, that's my nature." "Well, that's my nature, too," said I.
132
6. Little Faith, the sweet and precocious girl of Prof. Harris said to me in a most innocent sort of way "Mr. Yun, I like you very much. I'd have you for my sweet heart, but your are so ugly".
133
In this connection I might note how many different beings I have been taken for:―
134
1. A smart "Jap"―! San Francisco.
135
2. A pretty Chinaman-Nashville.
136
3. In one of Sam Jones meetings a Reverend gentleman on the platform directed the attention of a Vanderbilter by his side to me saying that I was a lady who looked like a Chinaman!―Nashville.
137
4. A Mexcian―Bluefield W.Va.
138
5. A "Yankee"―John Candler took me for one on my first arrival to Oxford. Had a bluesuit on.
139
6. The first Sunday I spent in Oxford, I went to church in the company of Mrs. Cartright. Some asked her if I were her son.
140
7. A "piano tuner", "Mr. Yumyum"―Griffin.
141
8. A prince―In Greenville, Miss Park said in a conversation with me, "Mr. Yun I am glad you are a prince(!) . This is the first time I have ever seen a prince". I was so tickled at her silliness that all I could do was to burst out laughing. When I told her I was not a prince, she was really disappointed. "I am sorry", said she "you are not a prince"(!) .
142
9. In the Central Depot of Chattanooga an Alabamian asked me if I were a Japanese dentist(!) .
145
Had a half holiday. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. a memorial service was held in the church in honor of Justice La Mar who had lately died. He was a distinguished citizen but a more distinguished Emorian. Dr. More presided over the service. Dr. Scomp presented a resolution of sympathy in the name of the officers of the college and the citizens of Oxford. Shipp read a similar resolution on behalf of Phi Gamma to which society the honored dead belonged.
146
After these Dr. Callaway eulogized Mr. La Mar as a consistent Christian and a broadminded philanthropist; Judge Dixon praised him as a wise and uncompromising statesman; Major Griffin exalted him as an affectionate friend; Colquitt, a Phi Gamma, heaped on the departed hero eulogies, praises, exaltations by the cart-loads all in the superlative degree on general principles.
147
Recieved a letter from sister (Hortense) . Her words, simple and girlish though they be, set every chord of my heart vibrating with affection and tenderness. Foolish? Yes, foolish let it be! Yet how much of one's happiness is made up of little foolishnesses! Here is a little girl, guileless and affectionate. I call her sister. Oh sweet word! and she calls me brother. My heart whose tendrils in their search after some human love to feed on, have often wrapped themselves up in some bosom, only to see "the place of stones"―my heart goes out to this young girl―this little sister!
148
Yet to prevent any uncharitable construction some people―Mrs. Candler for one―may put on my attachment to Hortie I shall never write her unless she does. If she quits writing,―all right. I never expect to beg on my knees the friendship of any mortal.
149
Took supper at Mrs. Candler's. She knows that getting something to eat is not my motive in going up to her house every week. Of course not! Her kind words and cheering, laughter―I would walk miles to enjoy them every day if I were sure of being welcome. At the table, my saying that Prof. Peed had got a child, a baby, called forth an uproarious laughter. I can't see what's funny in it.
150
After supper played a few games of checker with Mrs. Cartright. Then went up to Andrew Hall to study Algebra.
151
Returned to my room at 11. Answered sister's letter.
154
An interesting debate in the society on the question that a dispensary clause be incorporated into the local option law. Though the chair decided the question in favor of the negative, the other side appeared stronger to me: For:
155
1. Local option is not prohibition but only a right given to a locality to prohibit or not as it may see fit.
156
2. A prohibition under local option does not prohibit by encouraging "wild-cats" and by importing liquors from wet counties.
157
3. The dispensary plan is better because,
158
(1) The agents being salaried, are not tempted to sell as much liquors as he could.
159
(2) While dispensary can't prevent a man from drinking, it tends to discourage him by the trouble he has to go through in order to get his liquor.
160
(3) Drive out blind tigers.
161
(4) Abolish haunts of nasty conversation and wicked association.
162
(5) Keep the money in the locality and not send it out to some wet place.
163
This being the birthday of Mr. Berry, we had a swell dinner.
164
Wasted the whole p.m. in playing tiddldy-wincle with Tommie and others.
|
