Stones In His Pocket 27
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when we fellows are about? Just let them try it!" In another moment heads were put together as they planned a guard on the journey home, who should go first and who should go last, until Second Sister was too embarrassed to stay.
"Let's go to bed," she whispered, and like a flock of frightened sheep the girls, huddling together, scampered over to Ma-ma's house, into the side room, and tight-barred the door.
And now while they fall asleep, blessings of the Christmas message and excitement of this new occurrence alternately filling their thoughts, a word as to the family history of these two sisters.
That beauty should have been found in them was no surprise.
Their mother had been a noted beauty and had fallen into the temptations which went with it. She had been married by her family to a man who was a stammerer, an affliction made more heavy by the fact that he was a very insipid character. Such a woman could never have loved such a man, and though divorce was too expensive to be contemplated there was the usual heathen way out.
It was whispered in the village that Father Jiu was not the real father of any of his four children. First Sister had been so attractive that the feudal laird asked for her as his concubine. The payment was that Father Jiu would be forever exempted from government taxes of all kinds, and it is a revelation of his lack of character that he was quite pleased with the arrangement. But First Sister had lived only a year after that, and the laird himself died in 1942. His son, of whom we shall hear a great deal in the pages ahead, inherited his father's office and lands, but still there was tacit understanding that the Jiu family did not pay taxes. Such is the mire from which the great Master lapidary was planning to make jewels for his crown.
24 January 1941, Chinese New Year, and a new kind of danger.
In the mountains of the Salween canyon there are sulphur springs and the Lisu have discovered that it produces health to bathe in them. So, for who knows how many centuries, it has been the custom at Chinese New Year, the one general
STONES OF
FIRE holiday time, to flock down from their mountain top homes to these several hot springs by the river side, and there, to bathe and carouse. Wine flows freely, bold licentious talk and ribald laughter fill the air, utterly strange young men make free with the girls and it is no place for a Christian. But Lisuland having no fairs or amusement parks, the excitement of the Hot
Springs festival has a tremendous pull.
This particular year Lu-seng was told that Second Sister and some others, not strong in the faith, were planning to go.
Immediately he called the deacons together to discuss what they could offer their Christian young people for that particular week, to counteract this attraction of Satan's? There is not much choice in Lisuland; a Bible study week with some new interesting song—could Ma-ma come and teach them? Unfortunately, she was not free, she replied. Nor could Ma-pa or Brother Three come, both were already promised elsewhere, but the new missionary, Brother Five, might come. He was only learning to speak Lisu as yet, but he spoke Chinese well. Gaius could come down from Sandalwood Flat village and interpret for him. Brother Five said he would be glad to come. And so it was arranged; two Olives boys went to carry Brother Five's bedding, an arch was built and on the appointed day the tall young Canadian missionary was sung through and under it.
A new white missionary is always of interest, but this one had brought an Hawaian guitar with him and a new song that Ma-ma had composed for the occasion. "O friend, come to the church on the mountains !" Brother Five had been a quartette singer at home, and second tenor was a new harmony to Lisu ears. So after he had taught them the soprano (new missionaries can learn to read Lisu long before they understand what they are reading) while they were singing he accompanied them on the guitar and sang second tenor. The lovely sighing of the instrument and the missionary's voice soaring over theirs, "Come, come, come, come,"—well, Second Sister and the others forgot all about the Hot Springs and attended every meeting.
At the end of the week it was hard to say which had enjoyed the time together more—Brother Five or the young people of Olives! They had been mutually blessed.
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Ma-ma was eagerly awaiting the report of how things were going over on the west bank.
"We had a wonderful time!" the young missionary said enthusiastically. "Aren't they a grand bunch? They enjoyed the Bible study and quite fell in love with the song—they have the four parts memorized and are singing it everywhere.
I heard it from a cornfield far down the mountain on the way home. And can't they pray! Those girls.
"But the girls don't pray," interrupted Ma-ma. "That has been our big trouble over there. Last year they just dissolved into giggles at the very idea of praying in public!"
"Well they do not now. Lu-seng and Jonah are very strict as to conduct in chapel and I did not hear any giggling in prayer time. Quite a few stood up each day and prayed. The news that the Japanese have bombed Paoshan 1 brings the war closer to home. The girls are praying, I can assure you."
And so this crisis passed, and the little stones down in His deep pocket had felt again the sweetness of the touch of His
Hand.
It was May when another "keeping" took place. A hot afternoon was in prospect, the sun had risen high in a cloudless sky when there was a terrible roar and the earth shook until the pots all rattled. All afternoon ominous rumbles and belches of smoke to north and south alarmed them, and that evening when the little group gathered in chapel there were stories to hear.
One of the boys had been visiting Sandalwood Flat (a Christian village the first mountain to the south of Olives). There had been a mighty landslide there. "I was on the trail about to start home," he said. "There was a fellow hoeing a field about five hundred feet beneath us. A huge slice of our mountain shot off when the earth quaked. We yelled, but there was not time. We saw the fellow throw up his arms as if calling for help and then he was buried alive. You couldn't dig him out; just about a whole ridge is on top of him, and the earth is still loose and sliding.
There is a big crack in the Crown Rock at Sandalwood and there 1 Paoshan is the Lisu missionary's supply base.
STONES OP
PIRB are rumbles coming out of it and smoke coming all the time.
What is inside the mountain that could smoke? Does anyone know?" No, no one knew. The heathen say an earthquake is caused by a dragon inside the mountain turning over. But where was Lu-seng?
. Lu-seng was out preaching .
. He was due to be on the road coming home .
.? Then oh, what a chorus of praises ascended to God when Lu-seng walked into chapel, .safe and sound. He had much to tell; he estimated some forty had been killed up north, but not one Christian. Stories of the earthquake kept coming in for some days. The heathen said, "It is God's judgment on us for our sins"
; and opportunities for preaching were excellent.
But soon another danger swept that one from memory. Last winter an order had come, compelling all in the canyon to plant opium. That did not concern Third Sister much because their fields were so low in altitude that opium could not thrive; the officials know that and automatically exempt them. But the Lisu Church?
It was against the church rules to plant or trade or have anything to do with opium. So the Christians just refused the opium seed and planted wheat or potatoes as usual. But now an Opium Commissioner had appeared at Luchang, the county seat, to collect a tax on the opium and the laird was trying to collect the tax from the Christians too, even though they had not planted. Ma-pa was away on a trip, but Brother Three sent Lu-seng to call the deacons over to a consultation meeting at Oak Flat. How anxiously the little group at Olives prayed in the evenings and awaited the return of their deacons, Boanerges and Jonathan. Rainy Season Bible School had already started, and this year five of their boys were over there at Oak Flat studying—Lu-seng, Manoah, Gideon, Enoch and Jason. Thomas could not go yet, because Homay was very ill.
The situation had become more serious, since the official was threatening to drive off the cattle of any Christians who did not pay. At last Monday evening arrived and Boanerges stood up to give their report. The deacons from all over the canyon had met and decided three things. Firstly, to pay the tax if necessary,
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but on no account to plant opium. Secondly, to ask Ma-ma to write a letter of appeal to the President of China in the name of the Lisu church. The President was supposed to be a Christian, so if he said to pay they would do so, but their own opinion was that he knew nothing of this. Thirdly, to call the whole Lisu church to a day of fasting and prayer on June 8th. They had a good meeting, were all of one heart in the matter, and the Rainy Season Bible School was the largest yet, over forty enrolled, two of them coming from far away Goomoo in Burma How the tongues flew that night. Everyone was excited and thrilled. Everyone had the full confidence that the President would put an end to this persecution. June 8th was the next Sunday.
All right.
But how did one go about fasting and praying for a whole day, anyway? And so they discussed it long into the night.
Before Sunday, however, another matter had to occupy their thoughts. That Friday the suffering little Lisu Ma-ma had entered into peace. Third Sister was hardly out of bed when she heard the funeral song being sung up the mountainside: "When
Jesus returns we shall meet again. " Quickly she ran up the trail to Thomas' shanty; it was full of Christians, wet-eyed but quiet.
Lu-seng-pa was getting out his own coffin and the deacons were discussing a place for the grave.
In that primitive land where there are no undertakers or coffin merchants a death anywhere involves the whole village where it occurs. For this reason wealthy people get their coffins made ahead of time, and often have their graves dug also. (One old deacon in another village takes great pleasure in passing his own empty grave each
Sunday on the way to church and complacently points out to his friends the Bible verse he has had written in black on its white-washed front !) So it was generous of Lu-seng-pa to offer his own coffin, for it would have taken days to make one.
Third Sister pushed past into the house. Thomas was there, his eyes red and swollen, baby John tied on his back. Homay lay in peace. She was so wasted she seemed to have shrunk to a child's size, but her face was serene. Third Sister's tears overflowed and Lu-seng-ma was crying unashamed. "She was only
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FIRB thirty," she murmured. "She had not lived her days to the full, not to the full !"
But there was much to do. The grave must be dug, then granite slabs chiselled out of the cliff to cover the coffin-hole and a pig killed to feed the workers. Everyone helps, of course, and their only wage is a free meal. The girls could help pound rice or corn, cook it and carry water, so Third Sister slipped back home and made arrangements with her father to be set free for that one day, in order to do her share. By night time all was finished and the dear one laid away.
Thomas was now free to proceed to Rainy Season Bible School. Lu-seng-ma offered to care for little John, but Thomas shook his head. "Thank you; not now. He h all I have left and I cannot bear to lose him right away." So with his baby on his back, the next morning the young father left for Oak Flat, and the little group at Olives said sadly to one another, "Will we never again have a teacher every night in the week?"
"Let's meet, anyway.
I'm coming every night," said Third Sister, instinctively feeling that Lu-seng would have it so.
"I'll come too," said this one, then that one, and so the young group kept together.
One thing was eagerly anticipated. At communion weekend (the first Sunday in each month) there would be some Rainy Season Bible students come and speak to them and maybe this next time it would be Lu-seng!
It was. Oh the meetings were always so good when Lu-seng led! He said he was proud of them that they had not given up their nightly meetings just because they did not have a teacher, and he drew up a schedule for them of writing, reading, conducting and singing that they could study together. Third Sister's heart sung with joy and she inwardly vowed that she would never miss a meeting unless she was sick—a vow which she kept all her days. Even though Lu-seng had to leave again on Monday, he had been like a cool breeze on a hot, muggy day; you felt as if you had received new life to go on. And so the summer passed.
Every now and again the opium affair had come up, for it was far from settled. On July 27th came word that 140 Chinese soldiers had arrived at Luchang. Some said they were to fight the
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Japanese; others whispered that they had come to compel the Christians to plant opium this autumn. On August ioth another big deacons' meeting was called. No answer had been received from the President and the Chinese official was getting angry he said that Gaius of Sandalwood Flat was to pay fifty dollars for delaying like this. The Christians unitedly refused to pay until they had had the President's reply. "If he says we are to pay we will," they said in their simplicity, not realizing how it infuriated the Chinese to hear them link that great personage with their ragged selves—just as if there was any connection! But on August 26 word went swiftly over the canyon that Ma-ma had had an answer from the President's office and Lu-seng quickly typed out a translation and a copy was sent to each village.
It said that the President had long been interested in the tribes and that he was glad there were missionaries ministering to them. As for the opium order, it was a mistake, and he was telegraphing the Provincial Governor about it immediately.
The church was jubilant. For the first time in all these centuries they had found someone to whom they could appeal for justice
—someone higher in authority than the feudal laird or Chinese magistrate.
It was just in time too, for the official was getting dangerous. He had laid hands on Acquila, the deacon at Sandalwood, had beaten and put him in prison and he was threatening to wipe out the whole ofPlum Tree village and all its inhabitants
He had those 140 soldiers with guns now, and he had said that he would drive Ma-ma out of the canyon. If only Ma-pa would come back He did return, and on September 8th, together with a group of deacons, they went to expostulate with the feudal laird and the Chinese magistrate. The laird was nice, but fateful, "fm sorry, Mr. Kuhn," he said, "I have orders from the Opium Commissioner, Chao Wei-yuen, to collect so much money from my district, and the only people in my district now that have any money are the Christians ! The heathen are opium sots —they have not got such a sum. Yes, go on to Luchang and see the Chinese magistrate. If he lessens the tax,
I will, of course."
At Luchang the official was courteous, made some vague promises and dismissed Ma-pa and the deacons and—Acquila
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PIRB was left in prison. Ma-pa then came on to Olives (Lu-seng was with him), and Third Sister had another gloriously happy week-end, a long one from Thursday to Tuesday. But the churches were puzzled. Why didn't the officials listen to Ma-pa and the President's instruction? One thing was clear—this opium-planting order was not from the Central Government.
This local order was from the son of the Governor of the province, who meant to make private gain from it and considered the canyon too back-of-beyond for the President to hear of it. The Lisu church's appeal over his head had taken away his face, and he was furious.
On September 26th Ma-pa received a letter from a subofficial saying that he (Ma-pa) was to be made personally responsible for the church not planting opium! Then the very next day everyone was swung down to the depths of fear and despair. Ma-ma is a Canadian and her British Consul had written her a letter of stern rebuke for helping the Lisu church appeal to the President. "You should never have sent any letter except through me. You had no right to get mixed up in what is a purely political matter. You have forgotten that the canyon is border territory and you should be doubly careful. You were allowed in the canyon by the Chinese Government as a guest on the understanding that you take no part in politics, being there for religious purposes only.
If they wish to carry out their threat to drive you from the canyon, I cannot help you. In fact, I must report you to the British Consul-General. The President will, of course, send a manifesto that opium-planting is not allowed, but it is doubtful if his power can reach to such a remote spot—in other words, whether or not the manifesto will be followed remains to be seen."
Even before word of this letter to Ma-ma reached Olives, one of their number came back from Luchang with the news that a new manifesto from the President had just arrived and was posted. But to everyone's puzzlement it read, "Anyone caught stealing will be executed." And the word "stealing" had obviously been pasted over the original words "planting opium". The local officials had won, and done just what the British Consul had prophesied.
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Tbere followed dark days as the little church swung back and forth from faith to fear, from fear to faith. The Chinese were jeering: now the church was going to be persecuted as never before! The governor's son had called all the officials out of the canyon for a big conference as to what should be done with those rebels, the Christians!
Acquila was still in prison and some of the northern Christians had had their cattle driven off because they refused to pay until the President's answer arrived. And they had had their day of fasting and prayer, and it had availed nothing.
Does prayer avail nothing? "Faith is the evidence of things not seen" was Third Sister's favourite Bible verse. Away off in America, England and Australia, prayer helpers, although unseen, were already at work. "For thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain ; yet that valley shall be filled with water."
(2 Kings 3 : 17). It was really so wonderful that we must share some inner details with you.
One afternoon Brother Three and Ma-ma were praying about the matter. From where they sat on the in-built veranda of the shanty they looked out upon the wonderful panorama of the Salween canyon. The mountain descends in bumpy ridges two thousand feet from the shanty at Oak Flat to the Salween River, and the opposite bank rises immediately for many thousand feet of foothills, knobs, ridges and peaks. Behind one small mountain crown, about level with Oak Flat in altitude, lies the magistrate's seat, the town ofLuchang, where Acquila was in prison. As the two missionaries prayed, this petition was, as it were, forced from them: "Lord, do Thou Thyselfjudge these evil men who are inflicting such injustice upon Thy children."
That evening the Chinese magistrate and the Opium Commissioner were dining together. They began to quarrel. The Commissioner demanded the tax money; he could wait no longer. The magistrate replied he could not pay such a sum until the Christians paid. The Commissioner refused to believe it; made a sneering insinuation that the magistrate was trading illicitly with the Japanese over the pass. The argument became so hot that they fell upon one another physically. The Commissioner was a big man, the magistrate short and slender.
STONBS OP
FIRE Fearful lest his son lose the fight, the magistrate's old father seized a knife and stabbed the Commissioner! He died on October ist, 1941.
God hadjudged.
The magistrate was led out in chains after the coffin and the whole affair fell into silence. On November nth Acquila was quietly released from prison. On January
13 th, 1942, the President's own men appeared in person on a tour of investigation up and down the canyon, and they personally supervised the up-rooting of all opium. The Christians had as yet paid out no money and the heathen lost their winter's crop—it was then too late to plant wheat or anything else.
The human explanation was never told. Ma-ma could only guess. Word came that the magistrate's only punishment was demotion. Her guess is, that to save his life he gave for the reason of their quarrel that he was backing up the President's manifesto, and thus won protection for himself from the highest power.
Yes, the running water of a constant peril washes away our slovenliness and alerts us to watch and pray. But the great GemLover has compassion. Those anxious days how tenderly His fingers reached down into His mountain pocket and loved each touch of His trembling little stones of fire.
A Stone Selected HOW did Heb. 11:1 become the favourite verse of a little uneducated tribesgirl, brought up in primitive fashion on the sides of a remote canyon at the end of the earth? This chapter holds the answer.
The year 1942 had dawned with a great hope. Ma-ma declared that she thought the time had now come to try a Bible school for girls ! It could be only one month in duration, for the women in the canyon were much too busy to spare more time. And it must be at Chinese New Year, for only then had they any leisure. So it was planned for the month of February. Never had Third Sister heard of a school for girls only, and how her heart leaped in yearning at the thought. Oh that she might go
Second Sister had no such longings; and indeed, truth to tell, both sisters had started this new year badly. They had quarrelled, and then Third Sister's old heathen speech habits had rushed out on the end of her tongue. Second Sister had said that if Christians talked that way, then she did not want to be a Christian, and she had backslidden
It was really terrible, for that, of course, would bring the quarrel to Lu-seng's ears. Third Sister apologized humbly, but Second Sister was obdurate, intending
Lu-seng to learn that she had backslidden because of Third Sister's angry words.
Lu-seng had gone to meet Ma-ma, who was coming that day to hold a short Bible study at Olives. Father, also angry at Third Sister, said that she might not go to the Bible classes —if she tried to, she could find her food elsewhere; he would give her nothing to eat. Also she might not go to the Girls'
Bible School at Oak Flat.
That was unthinkable. A Christian who got angry and fought with her sister was not worthy to
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FIRE go, and so on. When Third Sister could get alone on the wild mountainside, she threw herself on the grass and prayed in agony, "O Lord, I was wrong.
I don't know why I did it.
It just came out on my tongue before I knew it was there. Help me go to the Bible study this week !" While she prayed earnestly the golden sunshine poured down, yellow rock-primroses nodded their little heads by her side, and gradually a peace came into her heart and a resolution was formed. She would go to the Bible study and just not eat. Starving for two weeks did not kill a person; she remembered that Moses had been without food for forty days and forty nights !
If it had to be a choice between spiritual food and physical, then she would choose the former. So with her mouth set firmly she arose, and ran down the mountain to resume her former task.
At 4.30 that afternoon gong! gong! gong! sounded over the mountainside announcing that Ma-ma and party were nearing the Welcome Arch. Third Sister came running along the lower trail and joined the line-up. Oh there was a Lisu Ma-ma along with the white woman—Esther from Stockade Hill
! She wore the full skirt and short blouse of a Chinese, for the Lisu from near the Burma road were more civilized than those of the Upper Salween. After shaking hands, Third Sister shyly loosened
Esther's bag, slinging it over her own small shoulder to carry up the hill, as the little group, chatting merrily, escorted the visitors up to Thomas' shanty, vacated now for Bible study time.
That evening Lu-seng spoke, while Third Sister shrank back into the shadowy parts of the chapel and listened, her whole soul open and drinking in every word. The Bible came alive to her when Lu-seng preached. She wondered if he had heard yet of the quarrel, and her eyes dropped while a flicker of pain passed over her face. He would be so disappointed. She prayed inwardly that she would be able to take his rebuke humbly. If necessary, she could prove that Second Sister was just as much in the wrong.
But no, she had been wrong too. There was no excuse for having said angry words ; she must pray daily about her tongue.
During Monday, Third Sister with firmly set mouth, went quietly through the clay's study without anything to eat, not
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missing one class.
It was two days later that Ma-ma learned of it, then she quickly called Lu-seng. "Do you know that there is a little girl studying with us who has had no food for a day and a half? Her heathen father said that if she came to classes he would not allow ..."
"Yes, I know—-just heard about it" said Lu-seng with a frown upon his usually sunny face.
"Don't worry; she has been arranged for. Some of the other girls will feed her. But I cannot understand why people do not control their tongues better!
There has been a quarrel in the village and one has backslidden because of the angry words of the other, who is a Christian."
His handsome face was hot with indignation. Ma-ma watched him silently, a trace of amusement in her eyes. None was more hot tempered than Lu-seng himself! A most ardent nature, ardent in love and ardent in anger.
It is true that heathen words were barred from his mouth, but his natural gift of speech was so eloquent he suffered nothing from their loss. He could barb his words most effectively without any help from the heathen vocabulary.
Possibly there were others in the village with the same disposition? Ma-ma, quite ignorant who the culprits were, was not inclined to be upset over the matter.
"Well, we ought to go and exhort them," said Lu-seng.
"We are busy to-day, but will you go with me on Saturday?
Some are girls and I do not like to go alone."
"Oh certainly," said Ma-ma. "Gladly. Let us set aside Saturday for exhorting the unbelievers in this village, shall we?" And so it was arranged.
That Saturday was sunny and clear. The skies were such a deep blue where they could be discerned between the snowy summits, thousands of feet high, which pierced their depth on each bank of the canyon, and up whose sloping sides downy white clouds were travelling. Second Sister determined to weave that morning, and as she seated herself at the loom outside their hut she could see the mountain slopes opposite to Olives. A baby cloud was nestling in the curve of one giant peak, as if it had got lost in the long ascent and, weary of trying to find the top, had gone to sleep in the shelter of those massive crags. Everywhere the fresh green ofnew spring and the little keen nip which
STONBS OP
FIRE departing winter had left in the air stirred the blood into spring fever. Second Sister had just got her loom arranged and had begun to pedal it when Lu-seng and Ma-ma appeared in front of her. Third Sister hung anxiously and shyly in the shadow of the doorway. Lu-seng did the exhorting. Standing there with a slight frown on his face, he went right to the point.
"I was sorry to hear that you have backslidden, Second Sister. I've heard all about it. Third Sister was wrong to speak like that, but she says she is willing to apologize. And God says that he will not have compassion on those that 'will not from their hearts forgive every one his brother their trespasses'.
Eternal life is not a toy to be taken up and tossed down from petulance. And God is not to be played with, walking with Him one moment and turning your back on Him the next!"
Second Sister's face was drooping. She looked very sweet and penitent and a bit scared. "I'm sorry. I was wrong," she murmured.
"Well, will you say you were wrong to Ma-ma here? And shake hands with her?" 1 Was it the sun in his face, or what was it—Lu-seng was scowling. But Ma-ma—Second Sister was not afraid of Ma-ma. She instantly stood up and held out her hand. "I was wrong. Forgive me," she said simply.
"And I'll expect to see you in chapel to-night" said Lu-seng, his face clearing. "And we'll give you an opportunity to stand up and confess to the brethren. And you too, Third Sister?" with a short nod to the shadowy form in the doorway. Then the little group passed on to another hut.
Third Sister came out from the door and put out her hand to Second Sister. "I'm glad you've come back. Please forgive me.
I'll try never to say those bad things again."
Second Sister, with a mollified look, accepted the handshake.
"Will you help me find the words I've got to say in chapel to-night?"
"Sure I will," said God's little Stone of Fire. "And I'll make my confession first. Then they'll understand and it will be easier for you." And that was the last quarrel between the sisters that Ma-ma ever heard of.
1 In Lisuland shaking hands is not a token of friendship but a sign of being in church fellowship.
A STONE SELECTBD
That Bible study week was a happy time. Lu-seng had so much fun and originality and everyone was on the qui vive. In the Lisu work there have been mass movements, whole families, even whole villages turning to Christianity at once. But Olives is different ; they are hand-picked fruit. The greater majority of those attending these Bible classes were young people who had become Christians in defiance of their heathen parents' threats.
The sense of common persecution knit them together and all were young and most of them unmarried. Ma-ma was very conscious of this latter fact since she had learned that Lu-seng had begun to build his own house. He would never own up to any such idea, and certainly showed no sign of favouritism among the girls but Ma-ma was learning to read Lisu actions.
The missionaries had discovered, through sad experience, that it is a very important matter to whom a promising young evangelist proposes. More than one has been ruined for the Lord s work by choosing an unsuitable wife. So at free periods between classes, Ma-ma wondered vaguely which of the girls Lu-seng might have in mind. He himself would not discuss the matter, but there was the silent sign of his own house going up.
The four girls most likely to be chosen were Rhoda, Lydia, Sarah or Second Sister. Of these four, tall pretty Sarah, bright of mind and spicy of tongue, seemed to gain ascendancy ; for Lu-seng openly praised her abilities to answer the Bible questions, and when a Bible match was organized he chose Sarah first for his side, even before Esther herself! And he did not choose Third
Sister at all.
Toward the end of the week Second Sister and Third Sister invited Ma-ma and Lu-seng to a supper prepared by themselves
—rice and chicken. Lu-seng pretended he was too busy to come, but Third Sister quietly refused to escort the party down the hill until Lu-seng came. Ma-ma only now learned her name, but her face had been the biggest inspiration of that particular school.
She sat on the front row among the sopranos, for in that village the whole audience is the choir, seated according to the part they sing! Third Sister seemed to open up her whole soul to the message and allowed the speaker to pour it in to the full.
Also the sweet shyness that flooded her face when she noticed
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FIRE she had attracted attention bespoke a maiden modesty most winsome. But she also had a very determined jaw—there was obstinacy there, Ma-ma saw as Third Sister quietly refused to budge until Lu-seng had joined their party, But once he started with them, all was happy enjoyment.
The very next day, before the evening service, Lu-seng walked into Ma-ma's hut with the worried look that bespoke a problem. Knowing him well, Ma-ma asked what it was.
,, he replied shortly.
"It's not good for the girls. They shouldn't be seen on the trails and even in their own homes it is not good."
"But in their own homes won't their parents protect them?"
"What protection has a Lisu against a gun? These are Chinese "Soldiers in the village to-night, soldiers, I've known them break down a barred door. To a heathen parent resistance is not worth that. Protection at that price is too dear—and most of our girls' parents are heathen, you know. They don't think sin is that important."
"Well, then, tell all the girls to come and sleep at my house to-night!
I'd like to see those soldiers attempt to break down my door!" and Ma-ma bristled like an old hen with a dozen chicks to cover.
Lu-seng's face cleared. "All right. If they sleep on the floor, they can all get in!" And so the announcement was whispered all over the village, and chapel saw a full attendance that evening.
After a bright and happy service, Thomas' hut was a bevy of giggling laughing girls preparing to sleep sardine-fashion on the floor. Lu-seng came in, trying not to look as self-conscious as hcfdt.
"Everybody in?"
"All but Third Sister," came a chorus of girlish voices.
Third Sister? She lived at the very bottom of the village.
Lu-seng turned and shot out into the dark. And after about three minutes the door opened and Third Sister entered flushed, and a lovely light of happiness on her face. As she stands there, the light from a wood fire on the floor playing over her form, let us take a look at her.
She was short, because Lisu grow slowly, not maturing until they are twenty-five, and she was
A STONE SELECTED
just turning seventeen by our count, eighteen by theirs. 1 Large dark eyes with a sharply curved eyebrow that gave a piquant expression to her sweet face. When she smiled as now, she showed the most beautiful even pearly teeth Ma-ma had ever seen, and a delicate pink flush on her cheeks was most becoming.
However, the loveliest of all were shy gentle movements and expressions that we call "charm," elusive to description and, sad to say, never once captured by the camera. As she murmured an explanation and quickly tried to slip out of sight, Ma-ma said to herself, "You are the sweetest of them all.
I wonder Lu-seng hasn't got the sense to see it." But, remembering how that high-strung young colt resented any feel of the bridle on his neck, Ma-ma sighed and resorted to prayer.
The next afternoon's study was broken by a summons for Ma-ma. "The soldiers" were the opium investigation committee sent by the President, and they wished to see Ma-ma.
The laird's son, his heir, was with them and the corporal of the local militia, who was a relative of the laird's. The latter flung out a finger at Ma-ma and said, "You're responsible for this!" and Ma-ma knew she had made an enemy for life. Inwardly she sighed and prayed, "Yea, Lord, I've learned my lesson.
Never again will I 'go down to Egypt' for help. Never again."
The next day Bible study was over and Ma-ma had to leave.
As she shook hands with Third Sister, Ma-ma said, "Third Sister, don't you give up hope of going to Girls' Bible School next month. God is able to open your way, and I will join you in prayer about it."
"Thank you, Ma-ma," she replied simply. "God is the only one who can. Father steadfastly refuses to let me."
"Don't let lack of board money keep you away, if your father will consent. I'll see to the money," Ma-ma said earnestly.
"Thank you to death, Ma-ma," and then they had to separate. The girls stood on a rock that juts out beside the road and overlooks the trail ahead for a long distance, and they 1 The Lisu reckon that a baby is a year old when it is born, and two years old as soon as Chinese New Year comes. Thus a baby born in December would be two years old by Chinese New Year, which is, roughly speaking, about February ist.
STONBS OP
FIRB sang songs until Ma-ma and her carriers were out of sight.
Third Sister turned back to her old pursuits and her old life with just one purpose in her heart. She must get to the Girls'
Bible School in February. Ma-ma had taught them the stories ofJoshua during that Bible study.
It was God, and God only, who had levelled the walls of Jericho. Her father's adamant refusal to let her go was like a city wall that only God could level, but she was going to walk around it in prayer every day seven times a day if necessary And on the seventh day God levelled the walls.
It was a lovely sunny morning in January—Yunnan's loveliest month of the year. How blue are the skies, how warm the golden sunshine, how crisp the mountain air blowing from tall snowy peaks !
It is probable that Third Sister was sitting at her loom, weaving by the side of their house—for all the girls who hoped to be free to go to Girls' Bible School had to work overtime to get the family weaving done in order to have a whole month free. Boanerges' tall form appeared beside the busy little weaver and his wrinkled face was wreathed in a broad grin. He looked quickly up and down to make sure no one was in sight, then he said in a low voice, "Here's a like-letter for you. You're not to tell anyone, but slip me the answer when
I come round tonight." With a quizzical humorous twinkle in his eyes, he handed Third Sister a small folded square of paper; then he walked off.
Third Sister's heart stood still. Chinese New Year was just a few days off, when she would be considered eighteen years old the Lisu church say a maiden may not be proposed to until she is eighteen, and the proposal is called a "like-letter". In the Lisu church, with its background of heathenism and loose speech, the boy may not propose in person. He must write a like-letter and hand it to the deacon of the village, who reads it to see if its language is what the church may approve, and then the deacon takes it to the girl. She, likewise, must write an answer through the deacon. On no account must they hand their letters to one another personally, and they are horrified at American customs in this matter and consider that we Westerners are sadly loose.
Their joys are all the sweeter for waiting until marriage makes
A STONE SELECTED
them one in the Lord; divorce is unusual, and is still considered a scandal.
Third Sister sat there with the small missive in her hand, as if paralysed. She did not need to open it to know the writer's name. Her little notebook of Christian Endeavour speeches was full of outlines and texts written in that strong, bold handwriting. Lu-seng! How could it be? To her?
Her next emotion was terror, lest anyone should see. To open and read it outside was too risky. Where could she fly for refuge?
Into their little shanty she ran hunting desperately. Maybe she chose the far corner of the porch, where a huge grain bin stands.
If she squeezed in between that bin and the wall she would never be detected. With trembling fmgers, and eyes with the guard down, her whole soul of love pouring through, she opened Lu-seng's like-letter and read it. It called her "Sister".
Oh yes, she understood that. Lu-seng so feared heathen imputations and innuendos that he would choose the purest name he knew—and she loved him for it.
It asked her to marry him in a year or two, and not to be afraid or embarrassed to answer him.
He wanted it to be a holy union where the spiritual rather than the physical predominated. But above all, this proposal was based on one condition—that she promise never to interfere in his Bible study or work for the Lord, which would of course call him from home many weeks at a time and leave her to do the farm work alone. On his part he promised always to see that each year she was always free for the month of February to attend the Girls' Bible School. They must covenant mutually to protect one another's privilege of Bible study, for the old parents would not be sympathetic. And it finished: "If you can't like me, I'll die a single man." O Lu-seng, Lu-seng
! You start with such staid propriety, calling her "Sister," and end up like that!
But Lisu opals have fire at their hearts. "Principle shot through with passion." Then did the tears of joy descend. And what a day that was. Most surely the weaving loom stood idle. Most surely the little brown hand shook so that page after page was pronounced unfit to be sent, torn up and a new sheet pulled eagerly forward for a new start. Ma-ma never got to see it, but she was told its contents and the sweet winsome shyness
STONES OF
FIRE which later made Third Sister the like-letter scribe of her village.
Ma-ma read the answers Third Sister wrote for other trembling maidens in later days, so let's try and imagine this, her first.
To Brother Lu-seng.
If you can like such an immature, ignorant, inexperienced little thing as I am, then—yes. In three or four years' time
I will be pleased to marry you. And I promise to do as you said —always to help guard your call of God to preach and study
His word.
I would be glad to do that—that's my heart too.
The writer is Third Sister of the Jiu Family.
PS.—Thank you very much.
That PS. is untranslatable. English does not possess a word to tack on the end of "thank you", which has a coy, shy grateful smile in it; but Lisu has. One thing is sure: that Lu-seng's heart took a second tumble when he read it, and that he tossed back his black curls and felt that the world was beneath his feet.
But the happy little girl must come out of her hiding-place.
She must get the note to Boanerges. And her father must be told. Would he give her to Lu-seng? How fast her heart beat.
If father married her to a heathen, he could get a lot of money for her; the church refused to allow a "dowry"; he would get nothing but a good son-in-law if he gave her to Lu-seng.
Would he consent? But even if he did not, to-day's joy was enough—Lu-seng loved her even as she loved him. That was happiness enough for many days to come.
But how to keep it secret? She understood why he wanted it kept secret. Because it would save them both words from the heathen which bring a blush of shame. It must come sooner or later, but if it came just before they would be married there would be fewer days to endure it. But how to keep it secret?
Third Sister was afraid that the joy on her face alone would proclaim it to all the world. And Second Sister? She felt sorry for Second Sister. She would be as kind to her as she knew how.
That evening Third Sister waited until all were in chapel, then she slipped in when the pine-chip light was waning and hid behind the other girls. She saw Lu-seng searching the girls' side
A STONB SELECTED
with his eyes, but she deliberately hid. She could not trust her face in public if their eyes should meet ; his anxiety would be short-lived: he would receive her reply to-night.
The next day Boanerges had to find Third Sister's father and tell him the news in secret, and that Lu-seng wished the engagement, if there was to be an engagement, kept quiet. Father Jiu consented, but had a great deal to say about how much money he lost by the transaction. He wanted Lu-seng to understand that he would not have done this for everybody, and that Lu-seng ought to be properly grateful.
It was obvious to all that the old man was inwardly very proud that he was to have a son-in-law whom all the community prized.
But being a heathen, the first thing to do really, was to compare their horoscopes. Lu-seng was born in the year presided over by Goat, and Third Sister in the year presided over by Cow. Now this was alarming, for the Goat and the Cow are in opposition—they fight; in other words the horoscopes were unfavourable. Of course the Christians call that superstitious, but old Father Jiu was not a Christian. If the horoscopes were unfavourable, his daughter might die soon after marriage; he could not consent to that. Yet in his heart he was disquieted at the possibility of losing such a son-in-law. What should he do?
If he allowed a union of opposing horoscopes he would offend the gods, and if he did not, he would lose an honour which would make him the envy of his neighbours. Suddenly an idea occurred to him.
"Boanerges, why not let Lu-seng take Second Sister instead?
She was born in the Rabbit year.
Goats and Rabbits don't %ht."
Well, that was an idea, and the kind of thing the heathen did all the time: in other words, acceptable to Lisu thinking.
Come to think of it, Lu-seng used to like Second Sister. Boanerges remembered how Lu-seng-pa had chuckled many years ago, when one evening his eight-year-old son returned home to supper and told the family that he had seen his future wife that day ! He refused to give her name, but the amused parents by the process of elimination had discovered it was the Second Sister of the Jiu family ! This story cheered Father Jiu immensely and
STONBS OF
FIRB Boanerges was commissioned to go and suggest this way out of the difficulty. Too bad for Third Sister, but it was for her good, and Lu-seng would still be in the family.
Only God knows the agony of heart that little Third Sister went through all that day before the interview with Lu-seng could take place. A height of joy one day, and an agony of despair the next. O God, would you really let that happen?
What was that Bible verse .
. "What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread will he give him a stone?
. How much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?" That was something faith could lay hold of. "Faith is the conviction of things not seen." The conviction that the One not seen and silent is still working and true to His promises. All through that day Third Sister laid hold of that faith to still her trembling hands and fearful heart.
That evening as dusk fell, Boanerges entered the Jiu shack once more. Third Sister trembled so that she quickly moved into a dark corner of the hut so as not to be seen when sentence was given.
"It won't work," announced Boanerges. "It made Lu-seng so mad that even I got scared. I left as soon as possible. You should have seen his eyes flash. It's Third Sister or nobody ever, as long as he lives, he said. And he got so excited I felt as if I were sitting on gunpowder and the match had been lit. That boy is like his great-grandfather, and woe betide anyone who crossed his great-grandfather!
I tell you, I got out as fast as I dared and I recommend you don't try that again. Or if you do" and Boanerges chuckled—"go sit on the gunpowder yourself!"
You remember Father Jiu is a stammerer. For the next fifteen minutes' conversation could not have been clear.
It takes him such a long time to get his first word out normally when he is excited that we can only imagine his "Bu-bu-bu-buts" at Boanerges' words. Even Third Sister, hiding in the corner and weak from relief, must have finally re-hid her face, this time to conceal the chuckles at her father's flounderings. He had really begun to count on having Lu-seng as his son-in-law, and now he had not only badly offended him, but had made an adjustment difficult by his strong declaration that the horoscopes
A STONB SELECTBD
were impossibly opposed ! But Boanerges is a clever old man and he really wanted to help.
"There is one thing we have not done yet," he said. "We have only compared the years of their birth. Do you remember the animal presiding over the day Third Sister was born?"
Lisu, who have never studied in their lives and cannot multiply or divide and must count on their fingers, never forget the horoscopes of their children.
Yes, Father Jiu knew the Day Animal of Third Sister; so when the horoscopes of the two animals who presided over the day of their birth were compared, to everyone's relief they were found to be in harmony.
"If the day horoscopes are in accord, I would not worry about the year horoscopes," counselled wise Boanerges. "Luseng isn't afraid, and he knows a lot, that boy."
And so the engagement was made, and still in secret. The next day Boanerges appeared with two big tubes of delicious honey—the engagement present to the father. "And, of course," says Boanerges casually, "you will let Third Sister go to the Girls' Bible School now. Lu-seng requests that you do."
And so the walls of her Jericho fell. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for," she testified in later years with an earnest light on her sweet face. "It is a substance, something real"
Two Stones Are Set Together AND now the building of Lu-seng's house went on apace.
JL&.
It had been rumoured in the village that Lu-seng had written a like-letter, but no one could find out to whom or with what result; Boanerges could keep counsel.
The road to the water-hole passes right by and through Luseng's property, so that Third Sister was daily able to watch the progress of the building as she went for water. The new home was not like any Lisu house ever seen in those parts before.
It was really a miniature copy of Ma-pa's House of Grace, with three rooms instead of the Lisu one. That meant privacy for the bride and groom, which must have thrilled Third Sister's heart. Lu-seng-pa was one of the best carpenters in the canyon, so it was being built well; it was to have windows in it, also an innovation, because, being Bible students, they would need light to study.
It was not to have a central fire; it was to be kept clean; they would cook and eat with the old parents, whose house was already sooty.
Third Sister carefully avoided Lu-seng now.
She was still afraid of her tell-tale face; besides, avoidance was chaste etiquette in the Lisu mind. She would see him every night in chapel and it thrilled her through and through when night by night she watched him search for her with his eyes until he found her, then though he looked away immediately, his whole face lit up with such a happy light she marvelled that no one else had discovered their secret. And with what power he preached those evenings
He just radiated the joy that was flooding them both. Always before that, after chapel service, Third Sister had lingered with the rest of the girls outside the door, talking back and forth with the young men about the events of the day or the latest
TWO STONES ARE SET TOGETHER
news of the war. But now, as soon as it was over, Third Sister sped quickly down the trail to her father's house. She made the excuse that she had so much weaving to do now that she was going to Girls' Bible School and would lose that month.
But one day on the way up to the water-hole, her empty bamboo tubes in the basket on her back, Third Sister ran right into Lu-seng, who was coming back with his load of water.
They were upon one another before they realized it, and the soul of Lu-seng leaped up into his face with such a glow of love that Third Sister was shyly overcome and sped up the hill and past him. Neither had said a word, but that night the little girl lay awake and under privacy of the darkness leisurely enjoyed it all over again. Those were happy days.
Five girls from Olives were going to Girls' Bible School Sarah, Lydia, Chloe, Rachel and Third Sister.
Lu-seng was journeying with them to get Ma-pa's white mules and take them over to Olives for winter pasture. Second Sister seemed to be backsliding again.
She said she was going to the Hot Springs at Chinese New Year and Third Sister's heart was burdened for her.
The day of departure came, and the gay young party started out. Some of their brothers went along to help carry their bedding rolls, and as they passed along the trails and met boys who had been to the Rainy Season Bible School there was merry teasing.
"We'll expect you back in two days!
Girls will get homesick: you will never be able to stick it!"
"Be sure and bring an extra copy of the new songs for me, won't you?"
"You will have to go out on the week-ends and preach, you know! We'll have a special prayer for you!" and so on. The girls would laugh and blush and shake their heads, or give a call back, and so they left the dear, familiar village their hearts fluttering but eager, for it certainly started a new page in life for each.
This group from Olives were among the first to arrive, and Ma-ma met them, running down the trail to welcome them, in fact. When she came to Third Sister she exclaimed, "Why,