Whitewright wrote as tolley My Dear Ds, Nevios,—After consultation with Mr, Laughlin I have settled at station 50 li north of his first centre. Phe distress in this region is terrible and far groater than Lexpected. One only comes to Tealise it after going from house to house through the villages and seeing it with one's own eyes. The sight of the starving little children and their mothers, and old people tottering and unable to stand through hunger and weakness makes one'sheart ache, In one house I visited there were two little children lying on straw on the floor, scantily covered, and as they turned th little yellow pinched tuees towards me it was easy to see that they were dying of starvation, In another house we came upon @ woman sitting with a child on one arm and an empty basket on the other, subbing bitterly, When asked what she was crying for she replied, How can I help crying when I have nothing to give my children to eat? I have been out beg-wing and have got nothing." The bystanders tuid her to stop crying as the foreigner had come to save her and her children, She stared at us in a dazed sort of way as if she had heard something too youd to by true, while the rest of the fumily ie help. There was nothing put on about oung and old knelt down in supplication
all this, Their faces shewed only too plainly that if help had not come death from starvation would not have been far off.
In one house a little boy two or three years of age was crying and throwing himself about on the bed. On being asked whut was the matter with the child its mother said "Ihave been trying to feed him and he won't eat!" Here the child added emphatically hungry! hungry!" Tt was no wonder that he refused to eat whut was offered him—weeds and bran lade up into a dirty sticky mass that swine might well have refused. But it was all they had to give the poor little fellow.
The other day a respectable looking man insisted on giving me his son, a boy of ten. It was with diticulty that I got him to understand that I could not take him.
Yesterday afternoon and evening no fewer than twenty-three applications for help came in from twenty-three different villages, alas, only too many of them beand the reach of help from our present funds. These and scores more in this ian-mediate ueighbourhuod are in a terrible condition.
We have been rejoiced tu hear of the contributions coming in so nobly from Shanghai and elsewhere, and we earnestly hope that yet more will follow. If those who give could only see those whom they are saving from hunger and wasting and a cruel death, and hear their outpouring of gratitude they would feel that it is good to have *'the blessing of those that are ready to perish." There is one great good which comes out of all this trouble and suffering and that is that it brings nations as well as individuals closer together. For myself I have learnt more about the brotherhood of man' in a week out here than I did in all my life before.
On the 7th March Dr. Hunter wrote from Shang Chia Tao-kou, a place 30 li S.E. of Pei Shih-kou:—Dear Dr. Nevius,—This place is very destitute, and the surrounding country still has parts inundated.
Appeals from help are coming in every day ind from all directions and no doubt many villages are fully as destitute as those we are relieving. I have seen some very sad sights. The reports of the famine Lave not been overstated, They have rather been underestimated. It is impossible to appreciate the awful _condition of this region until one see sit. Deaths are constantly occurring about us from starvation. At our farthermost point to the north-east [15 li) we can see villages as far as the eye can reach standing in the water and out of the water. To these no help can be given. What is wanted now is more money. With our present force we could distribute twice what is coming in, and still not reach half of the destitute villages.
Atthe best this is but a miserable country. A vast salt plain with strips of good land bereand there. Nothing except the burden of an overcrowded population could ever have driven people to inhabit such a Godforsaken land. If they fail of another crop the only resuit T can sce is either colonisation orextinction. But'let us hope for better things. In most parts of the country the water of last year has subsided, and the wheat crop louks well. It is only near the sea that the outlook is so bad. Here, as if to blast the only remaining hope, the fearful storm of last Saturday and Sunday drove the sea far inland, and the salt water has ruined their wheat, A delegation from ten or fifteen came and threw themselves at my feet begging for help. 'They "It is our only hope. Té you do not help us we must die." To their touching plea I could only answer, 'I can promise nothing now; but if more silver is sent me you shall have help." May the Lord touch the hearts of those who' have wealth, and sond us an abundant supply of money.
On the Sth of March Mr. Laughlin wrote from his new contre of distribution, Pi Sz Kou, as follows,—Dear Dr. Nevius. 'There is not much new to be added to what I have written before. All that I said about our villages and' people about Yen-kia-fang-tz is true of those here—only intensified. These here having received no aid during the winter are in a more deplorable condition than those. Houses are Darer, -well-tu-do persons rarer, and the famine colour frightfully common. In fact nearly every person une mucets bears the unmistakable marks of long continued fasting. The last, or one of the last stages is a swollen condition of the whole body, including face, eyelids, etc., and in enrolling a village now, I meet these cases in great numbers. For them death is not far off. In every village death is reaping a rich harvest—the only harvest these suffering people have known for a year. 1 'Moreover the farther' we extend our, work the more we hear of suffering beyond. We have by no means reached the limits the distressed district, although we altogether now cover a district about 200 long, by forty wide. I have received applications from more than a hundred villages which lie beyond my reach. A good many of these lie within range of the new centres.
March 14th.—Enelosed please find memo of silver, lots five and six, and of cheques received from Tengchow. These funds being deposited in different banks were exhausted at about the same time, which accounts for my combining them in one report. We are moving along comfortably. My enrolment has reached 20,000, where I must stop. Dr. and Mrs, Neal' are with Dr. Hunter. The keeping of accounts has become rather formidable. So much silver has been brought into the region that rates for the same'are increasing rapidly, and we may be driven to importing and distributing our own cash, which would add greatly to our labours, We have recently had two snow storms which covered the ground to the depth of a couple of inches. The condition of the people was miserable indeed, Unable to get their daily supply of roots from the fields they in many instances remained in bed and fasted.
The instructions from the committee brought by Dr. Neal discourage me fron: attempting to distribute barley for seed. As the committee did not include that in their reckoning I thought it best for me not to assume the responsibility. Perhaps, after all, it may be as well to wait until the end, and then if a surplus remains, use it for planting beans, which is done after the gathering of the wheat harvest,"
Mrs. Laughlin wrote on March Ldth few Pi Sz Kou:
There isa marked and startling difference between the people of these villages and those that have been receiving aid all winter, This is "really bud district, The mass of the people here have very little clothing, and what they have may truly be called eile. It is very ragyed and very filthy often. [donot think that the people about our new home here at Lo-an are at all the equals of the Po-hing people whom we have just left. They are wuch ruder—still I must make allowance. These peuple are very near the depths of despair; they had doubtless ould their good clothing early in the winter, and now they are tuo hungry to think of anything but their one great need, Yesterday Isat down in a village house to eat a bit of bread, Iwas tired and faint and the family were very kind and boiled some water for me, but the woman and children looked so wistfully ut the food, that it choked me. I only ate enough to keep my body and soul together until could got home, and gave the rest to the famishing children. The wail of the babies from one to two years old when they are starving is one of the hardest things. to dear. 1 suw three attenuated little Indies yesterday, and heard the sad story their mothers told and I prayed that the babies might die Ve are taking precautions about famine fever. Dr. Hunter has prepared " placard to be posted in the villages with regard to the treatment of the fever, telling them what native medicines to use and how to use them. And we have begged Mr. Jones to prepare @ poster with regard to clean-lines, telling them that all village drains airist be opened, and many sources of filth now existing must be removed. The condi-tiou of the villages with regard to cleenlines might be much improved, and if we {can compass it early enough we may save the people from a great pestilence.
Dr. Neal wrote from Pi Sz K'ou March 13th My dear Dr. Nevius—Enclosed I send the account of our trip out here. My own expenses in the inns I paid myself, as also several thousand cash to the soldiers, as I paid them rather mere liberally than I think would be allowable out of the famine funds. Up to Wei Hien they paid their own expenses, but from there on and buck to Chefoo they had to be provided for, We kept the same carts from Chefoo all the way here, but at this place retired at a auch cheaper rate.
Since I wrote Mrs. Nevius the day before yesterday our plans have been somewhat changed. Mr. and Mrs, Laughlin are reluctant to leave their work here that they have decided to postpone their trip
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.