That her friends in America recognize the splendid service she is rendering in China, is evidenced by the fact that at its last Commencement her Alma Mater, Ohio Wesleyan University, conferred upon her the honorary degree of Master of Science.

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MRS. AHOK

  I. The mistress of A home of wealth

 II.  Work among the women of the upper classes

III.  A JOURNEY TO ENGLAND

 IV.  Patient in Tribulation

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[Illustration:  Mrs. Ahok and Her Two Granddaughters]

MRS. AHOK

I

THE MISTRESS OF A HOME OF WEALTH

One of the most prominent men in Foochow during the latter half of the last century was Mr. Ahok, a wealthy Chinese merchant.  One who had known him for years speaks of him as “a man of remarkable business integrity and generosity of nature.”  He was very friendly to the Americans and English living in Foochow, and Dr. Baldwin, of the Methodist Mission, was, during all his stay in China, Mr. Ahok’s most trusted friend and adviser.  Mrs. Baldwin gives a very attractive picture of this Chinese gentleman: 

“When any great calamity through fire or flood came to the people, he was quick to respond with the most liberal aid; and I have known him in times of cholera or epidemic sickness to have thousands of packages of medicine put up by our foreign physicians, for him to give to the sick people.  In all our acquaintance with him I never knew him to turn a deaf ear to an appeal for help; in a neighbouring city he supported alone a foundling asylum, in which were one hundred little castaway girls to whom he supplied nurses, clothing, etc., and he assured us that no one besides Mr. Baldwin and myself knew of it.  He had for some time been accustomed to come to advise and consult Mr. Baldwin on various matters, and when going away would give him a power of attorney to sign for the firm.”

When Mr. Ahok was married, he urged Dr. and Mrs. Baldwin to be present at the ceremony, and gave them the privilege of bringing foreign friends with them if they so desired.  His wife was a member of a family of high rank, the sister of a mandarin, and the possessor of an aristocratic little foot two inches and a half long.  Outside of those educated in the mission schools, she was the first Chinese woman that Mrs. Baldwin had met who could read and write.  One day not long after the wedding, Dr. Baldwin met Mr. Ahok, and disregarding the Chinese custom which makes it a breach of etiquette to inquire after a man’s wife, asked about Mrs. Ahok.  Mr. Ahok at once answered with evident pride, “She all the same one mandarin; she reads books all the day.”  He was very proud of her unusual ability, and the confidence and sympathy which soon existed between him and his wife was much greater than is usual in a non-Christian home in China.  Mrs. Ahok shared her husband’s warm feeling for his foreign friends.  The words of Mrs. Baldwin, who knew her intimately, characterize her well: