Foreign devils

About this book

"Seventy-five years ago China was new frontier for business men, missionaries, and soldiers-of-fortune from all over the world. The invention of the steam ship had reduced the size of the Pacific Ocean so that merchant ships and gunboats of many flags crowded the harbor at Shanghai. Much of the American West had already been settled and for the more adventurous young folk seemed quite tame or even dull. This is a story of a young Kansas minister who was persuaded by his older brother to join him in the work of the Methodist Mission in China. Frontier life had provided a good background of hard work, personal discipline, and adaptability required to survive in the strange new environment. The adventure is recalled thru the eyes of the missionary's first child, a girl who was only three years old at the time of the first trip in 1893. The sights, the sounds, and other impressions are recorded from memory and told in children's language. It deals with the practical day-to-day problems of the children and the family, unencumbered by complex problems of the adult world. It is an engaging story for children of all ages which demonstrates again that truth is often stranger than fiction. Isolated behind the walls of the mission compound, the 'foreign devils' grew up with a unique perspective of Chinese life which may be of interest to the serious students of history."--Book jacket.