Page:The Chinese Empire. A General & Missionary Survey.djvu/442

 In 1892 Messrs. Sprague and Roberts, in view of the death of Mr. Gilmour, and of the fact that there was scarcely any Christian work being done in Mongolia, prepared an appeal to the Moravian Missionary Society, urging them to send missionaries to this vast field. Prayer was answered in an unexpected way, for the next year there came not Moravians, but Swedes.

In June 1895 Mr. Frans August Larson, who had spent a year or more in Urga, came to Kalgan, made a tour of a month in the neighbouring portion of Mongolia, and decided to open a mission station at Hara Oso, so as to follow up Mr. Gilmour's work. On renting and repairing a small adobe house of Boyinto's, so much ill feeling was aroused by the sight of a door and window made in foreign style, that Mr. Larson was driven out of the place, and Boyinto was dragged to the yamen, detained several weeks, and severely menaced by the official, who apparently did not dare to beat him. Sickness resulted from exposure to the weather on the way, as he had to sleep on the ground without cover wherever the night overtook him, and, in his absence from home, the family was robbed of all its cows and other animals, which were their only means of support. The missionaries at Kalgan gave him money to buy two cows, and thus saved the family from starving.

In August 1895 Mr. David Stenberg came from America to Kalgan, to engage in work for the Mongols. The following winter, he and Messrs. Larson, Swordson, and Roberts were all studying Mongolian together, with two teachers and two pupils.

After this Mr. Larson bought a Mongol tent, and pitched it each summer in Hara Oso, near to Boyinto's home. To this the Mongols had no objection. Miss Mary Rodgers, a missionary in Peking, became his most valuable helpmeet, and their home in the Upper City of Kalgan in the winter and in Hara Oso in the summer was the resort of their many friends—Swedes, Americans, Mongols, and Chinese. Hither came Mr. Suber, Mr. and Mrs. Helleberg, the Misses Clara and Hilda Anderson, Miss Hannah Lund