4.  During  these  early  months  the  missionary  will
devote  as  much  time  to  the  study  of  the  people  as  to
the  language,  perhaps.  Books  will  aid  in  this,  but  a
loquacious  teacher  or  trusted  Christian,  and  constant
observation  and  inquiry,  will  do  more  still.
Efforts  for  China's  Physical  Alleviation.—
1.  Medicine  has  been  the  wedge  used  to  open
doors  of  hundreds  of  unfriendly  homes.  From  the
first  moment  of  his  arrival,  the  physician  is  most
useful,  and  though  the  natives  may  not  realize  the
priceless  worth  of  the  gospel  message,  release  from
pain,  and  from  many  diseases  which  Chinese  prac-
titioners cannot  heal,  is  appreciated  most  gratefully.
An  iron  will  is  needed  to  make  physicians  take  time
to  learn  anything  more  than  the  vocabulary  required
by  professional  demands ;  for  this  reason  and  because
of  heavy  clinics,  doctors  are  always  tempted  to  leave
to  others  the  ministration  to  soul-needs.
While  dispensaries  are  far  more  common  than  hos-
pitals, the  latter  are  apt  to  yield  more  encouraging
spiritual  results.  Leisure  to  learn  through  oral  in-
struction the  gist  of  the  gospel  is  there  afforded,  and
hundreds  have  also  embraced  the  opportunity  to  learn
to  read,  through  the  medium  of   Christian  tracts.
Il8  DAWN  ON  THE  HILLS   OF  T'ANG

which   are  carried  later  to  their  homes  as  a  silent
leaven.
The  Chinese  have  a  proverb  that  a  woman  cannot
avoid  the  doctor  and  her  husband  ;  yet  in  spite  of
this  unwilling  consent,  tvomen  physicians  are  gladly
welcomed  by  Chinese  women  for  themselves  and
children.  Very  many  invitations  to  visit  homes  come
from  this  source.
