MANY of the readers of GOOD NEWS will remember the pretty verses on pages 72 and 73 of the volume for 1871 about the little blind Chinese girl of Foochow; and some will remember sending some money to the publisher for the dear child. The following letter has just been received, which tells how she lived to know what her young friends in England had done for her; and, which is much better, how she learned that Jesus the Son of God had died for her on the cross, and we believe that through faith in Him, she was ready when called away from the world, and, being absent from the body, is now present with the Lord.
“I have been requested to write some facts in addition to those some time since published in the ‘Chinese Recorder’ respecting Sik Chio, the little blind child, in the Girls’ School in Foochow, and willingly accede to the request.
“But those kind hearts in far-off England who made this sightless Chinese orphan the object of their loving charity may be surprised, though, with me, rejoiced also to know that as the blind child one need no longer speak of her. She is now with open eyes — open forever in that bright land where shadows and darkness are unknown. Her name, signifying ‘Gathered Pearl,’ was most appropriate, since she was gathered first out of the turmoil and unwholesomeness of the streets of a Chinese city to share the comforts of a peaceful home, and just now gathered again she has been, into the Home on high, to be numbered at last among His jewels when He counteth them. Her death — quiet and peaceful as the falling asleep of an infant in its mother’s arms — occurred early on Sunday morning, the 8th of October. She had been ill for some days, but was not considered dangerously so until a few hours before she died. The matron of the school, who has always been like a mother to the helpless little child, was startled by observing her short and quick breathing, and, hastening to her bedside, found that the spirit was just taking its flight. From a peaceful slumber she passed unconsciously into the last long sleep — the sleep of death.
“Sik Chio was seven years of age at her death, but so diminutive in size that she seemed a year or more younger than she was. The three years that have elapsed since she was received into the school produced quite a change in the neglected half-starved child. Though never robust, she grew strong and comparatively well, and seemed always very cheerful and happy. Kind and gentle in her disposition, she was quite a pet with the older school-girls, who taught her to repeat many hymns and passages of Scripture.
“She had thus learned over seventy hymns, and could recite the twenty-third Psalm and one or two others without hesitation, and had also learned three or four chapters in the Gospel of Matthew. At first she seemed disinclined to apply her mind to the task of committing to memory, but was at length induced to learn one hymn each week by the promise of an orange as a reward. After she began to learn Scripture, she received no reward for that, but three cash, a very trifling sum, was given her for each hymn. Her memory was very retentive, and she learned much more rapidly than others in the school older than she, and blessed with eyesight.
“She usually took her meals by herself, seated in a low chair with the food placed on a stool in front of her. Before commencing to eat, it was quite touching to see her first cover her sightless eyes with one little hand, and then ask a blessing on her food. She never omitted this duty, and never waited to be reminded of it as children in Christian lands sometimes do.
“A few evenings before her death, the teacher, ongoing to the bedroom to see how the little patient was, found her seated near the bed unfastening her shoes. Supposing that she had already prayed, and knowing that she was quite weak, the teacher lifted her gently on to the bed, and turned to leave, when she saw little Sik Chia on the floor again, with hands clasped, for she had not prayed. The teacher left her still on her knees, but involuntarily the words of the Saviour came to her lips, ‘For of such is the kingdom of heaven.’ She was a mere infant — knew little of life as other children know it, but whatever she was taught of God’s will or of her duty to Him she sought to perform. Can we older people always say the same?
“The letter containing the account of the gift from England came when she was in usual health, and when informed of how much money had been sent her, and that it came from a country very far away, she seemed much pleased.
“Her friends did not think then that it would be used to defray the expenses of her burial and to place a memorial-stone at her grave. The kind donors of the one-pound note will feel satisfied, I trust, with this manner of disposing of their gift. May everyone who had a share in it bestowal receive evermore the choicest blessing of Him who has said, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye Lave done it unto me.”