CHAPTER XXXIX.

CONCLUDING WORDS.

"Not changed but glorified! Oh, beauteous language For those who weep,

Mourning the loss of some dear face departed,
Fallen asleep,

Hushed into silence, never more to comfort
The hearts of men,

Gone, like the sunshine of another country,

Beyond our ken."

The closing scenes in Miss Leffingwell's life seem somewhat sad and disappointing. It may be remarked, however, that each month as it has passed since her death, has diminished this disappointment, because the added light of events has shined on this providence of God in such a way that those who have given the situation serious and prayerful attention have been able to view it from the vantage ground of triumphant faith. We see the hand of our loving Heavenly Father in this particular providence as well as in the general affairs of the world.

She died as she lived-a sacrifice for others. She belonged to that noble band who are described in Revelation 12:11, "And they overcame him [the accuser of the brethren] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death."

The author had the privilege of visiting at Cheng Chow the various places of interest connected with her labors there, her sickness and death. He examined and photographed the native inn where she lived for a few weeks, he saw the compound about the repairs of which she spent so much time, the chapel where she held her meetings, the house in which she lived and the room in which she died. He walked over the road from the compound to the grave where she is buried; and, standing at the grave, with the whole band of our China missionaries, he paid his loving regards to the memory of a noble woman.

During the week spent in the midst of these most commonplace conditions, made, however, impressive and memorable by their association with Miss Leffingwell's last days, he was increasingly impressed, and finally fully persuaded, that her labor of love for the salvation of the Chinese was fully rounded out in the will of God; and that in the establishment of this mission, as a distinct branch of God's great work in mission lands, her highest ideal had been reached and the ultimate purpose of her life had been accomplished.

The following lines seem most appropriate :

Here in the quiet earth they laid apart
No man of iron mould or bloody hands,
Who sought to wreak upon the cowering lands
The passion that consumed his restless heart;
But one of tender spirit and delicate frame,
Gentlest in mien and mind,

Of gentle womankind,

Timidly shrinking from the breath of blame;

One in whose eyes the smile of kindness made
Its haunt, like flowers by sunny brooks in May.
Yet at the thought of other's pain, a shade
Of sweeter sadness chased the smile away.
Her glory is not of this shadowy state,

Glory that with the fleeting season dies;
But when she entered at the sapphire gate

What joy was radiant in celestial eyes!

How heaven's bright depths with sounding welcome rung,
And flowers or heaven by shining hands were flung!
And He who, long before,

Pain, scorn, and sorrow bore,

The Mighty Sufferer, with aspect sweet,

Smiled on the timid stranger from His seat,

He who returning, glorious, from the grave

Dragged Death, disarmed, in chains, a crouching slave.

1