Peking, Sept. 18, 1900.

The war is by no means over and there are Boxers gathering between here and Cho Chou, and to-day or to-morrow there will be fighting. The English soldiers are waiting for the Boxers to get as many together as possible and make a big slaughter. Twenty miles from Peking in almost any direction you can find Boxers in abundance. Our soldiers are wonderfully quiet, but I think there will be aggressive movement before long. The Misses Wyckoff are coming to stay with us after Mrs. Mateer and Miss Haven go away. They leave in two days for Tientsin. Dr. Mateer is rather impatient. The Tung-chow people have to leave their fine residence, as the Russians want it. I am glad we are in a place the Russians cannot covet. We are getting in provisions for the winter. I have been absent on an expedition for five days. No letter on my return. Captain Forsythe and two hundred cavalry troops went-I as guide and interpreter-to Sha Ho and other places east of Peking. We burned two Boxer headquarters, destroyed some arms and brought in sixteen refugees, Christians who had been in hiding. It was a hard trip for me and I was worked in looking up the road and getting food for the troops up to the limit of my strength. Crossing rivers is a serious matter at this season of the year. The Boxers ran like wild deer from us, and we found it impossible to catch them in the high grain. The expedition did great good in stilling the people and causing bad people to fear and good people could see how well our soldiers behaved when on the trip.

Am called away to see about Swedish missionaries murdered in Shansi. Many were killed en route to Kalgan.

About the 27th of September the bric-à-brac and other valuables found in the Mongol compound now occupied were offered for sale for the benefit of the destitute Christians. The sales amounted to about fifteen hundred taels, a small amount considered pro rata to the several hundred refugees that were being cared for. Among those who shared in the hospitality of Dr. Ament was the correspondent of the Sun. At the time it was impossible to get foreign foods, so much needed, except through the army commissary. The correspondent through the

courtesy of the army could draw for such foods as were needed, which proved a great help at the time.

The political situation was very uncertain. The Russian forces had been suddenly withdrawn, with an ulterior object, and the American troops were also withdrawn. But fifteen thousand Germans were coming in and the Japanese would remain.

Miss Russell's narrative continued:

The conditions existing in Peking during that autumn remind me of what Paris was at the time of the French Revolution. After the Christians had been sought out by a house to house inspection, there came a time of blackmail and revenge. This was so great that the government appointed certain places where alone people should be tried. So great was the disorder that all weddings were either put off, or conducted with little ceremony, which was also true of funerals. Many besides foreigners were glad to have the soldiers from abroad.

Day after day Dr. Ament held an impromptu court. Men from villages who had been guilty of destroying either chapels, or the homes of the Christians, came to him. It was as good as a theatre to see him administer justice, and there were many ludicrous scenes. He was like a father. Many of them he knew by name or reputation. Often, while we were at meals, the door would suddenly open and some one would drop on his knees, saying: "Forgive me, old pastor; forgive me." Some he scolded roundly, especially the gentry and men who should have known better. He made his settlements according to Chinese law, dealing directly with the offenders, saving thereby all costs of lawsuits and the extra squeezes of the underlings. This was a method that appealed to all the Chinese and they felt that he cared for them and did not intend to be hard upon them.

It is needless to say that not all of the Chinese who worked with Dr. Ament and whom he trusted to carry out his wishes were true and upright, and there were things that stirred him to the deepest anger and sorrow. As early as possible he went to Cho Chou and Liang Hsiang. For twenty years he had gone back and forth in this region and knew the gentry and leading men as well as the officials. He was thus able to save the city from destruction. He found his old friend the magis

trate in a state of nervous prostration. He saw the head men and advised them to bring in the food and grain which the French and Germans demanded and to help their official in every way.

The entire winter was spent in the reëstablishing of the Christians in their homes. In every case this was done in such a manner that no root of bitterness was left and not one family felt they could not go back and live with their old neighbors. Dr. Ament personally saw each family re-located. He called on the head men of the village and made them responsible for peace and quiet. It is needless to say that he gave plenty of "sound words" to the church-members, and exhorted them with many "good words." In all this settlement he showed that he understood the Chinese character, and if any proofs were needed they may be seen in the many beautiful silk umbrellas and banners that were presented to him. One of the hardest struggles Dr. Ament had with himself and some of his flock was when a noted Boxer was caught and brought to him to be handed over to the Germans. This man had killed eleven members of one family. For a night and a day he was kept bound in a side room while the pastor was seeing what was best to do. Much to the displeasure of the men who caught him Dr. Ament told him that if he would pay enough money to support a young widow and her little child he would spare him. This the man agreed to and the next day the money was brought.

When the allies came and the siege was over not one of the church-members had any way of making a living. Their homes and shops were in ashes, and they had no business in the city. Knowing that the people, if idle, would be in mischief, he set to work at once to start them in legitimate business. The country people had to be clothed and looked after, as they could have nothing until the next crops. Dr. Ament advanced on their indemnity money and thus tried to get them into normal conditions. Thus it came about that long before the church-members of other denominations or places were settled, Dr. Ament had restored old conditions as far as possible. This was not an easy thing to do. Many of the country people had never had any amount of ready money in their hands, and on receiving their indemnity were reckless in expending it. Others were wild to locate in the city, some wanted to go into business, while some were revenge

ful, and wanted an eye for an eye. Dr. Ament, knowing their inability, and the conditions of the times, had to insist on their going back to their farms. It took great patience and tact to bring this about. Many of the women were unwilling to go back to the hard life of the farm, after a winter of being cared for in the city. Some of the men would not take his advice, and lost all they had in their unwise investments.

In the midst of all this care, when he was weary in body and mind, there came like a thunderbolt the article by Mark Twain in the North American Review. I remember that that day I went to his study on a matter of business, and found him sitting at his desk, as if stricken at the heart. I exclaimed, "What is it? Are you ill?" "If I am what that man says, I am not fit for you to speak to me! I feel as though I should go off and hide myself in a cave in the mountain, never again to be seen of man." I thought he had gone out of his head with all his cares, and I replied, "What you need is rest and a doctor, and I am going to send for one." If the writer of that article could have seen how he suffered he would have felt that every cent he received for that article would be a red hot coal of fire. A brave, masterful man he was, ever ready to relieve, not to add to the sum of human suffering, and while in some things he may have been unwise, his mistakes, whatever they may have been, were of the head and not the heart.

He

With great patience he searched out all that could be found of the martyred church-members. The remains or ashes were gathered and services were arranged for. Dr. Ament all his life believed in settling all questions according to their individual merits, and at this time there were no wholesale decisions in regard to those who were weak in the faith. Those who had recanted were sought out, and each one was helped or reproved as it seemed best to the pastor. Not once in all the settlements did I see one thing that looked like revenge. gave himself for all alike, in and out of the church. Is it any wonder the people said, "He loved the Chinese"? The past eight years he has worked to strengthen them, making them more and more feel that the church is their own, and trying to encourage to stronger growth the desire for self-support. Last autumn, in speaking of his feeling that his work for China was over he said, "I have worked for one thing in my missionary life and that is to establish self