He asked that she assist him by becoming his “foot inspector,” making sure that the new laws against the ancient custom of female foot binding were being complied with.
One day she was visited by the local Mandarin (magistrate), a man held in the highest honor and even fear by the local citizens. She died, a short time after Gladys’ arrival, thus leaving her to manage the inn only with the help of an older Chinese helper.
Lawson and Gladys provided forage for the mules, a nourishing supper, and then would entertain the men with Bible stories as a Christian witness.Īs time when on, Gladys became fluent in Chinese and learned to work with Lawson who was in increasing stages of dementia. Yangchen was an overnight stop for mule caravans that carried coal, raw cotton, pots and iron goods on six-week or three-month journeys. Lawson’s missionary strategy was to establish The Inn of the Eight Happinesses. She arrived in China on the 8th of November, 1932 (Preacher’s Blog).Īn overland trip of a month took her to Yancheng, where she met the widowed Scottish independent missionary then in her seventies. She felt very much alone, but had an abiding peace that she was doing the will of God. She experienced mixed emotions on the journey. She knew that she had no money to buy food on the way, so packed her suitcase with corned beef, baked beans, fish, crackers, hard-boiled eggs and other items. On October the 15th, 1932, Gladys set off on the long train journey to the land of her calling. “Bundled up in an orange frock worn over a coat, Gladys was a curious looking traveler, resembling a gypsy more than a missionary” (Tucker p. After working extra hours and week-ends, virtually spending nothing on herself, and then selling her hope chest, she had enough for the passage by year’s end. Lawson, and started putting a down payment on a railway ticket to the coast of China which, though more dangerous, was half the price of the sea route. Gladys saw this invitation as her opportunity. Jennie Lawson, an elderly widow working as a missionary in China, who had written, asking for someone to go and help her. While working as a parlor maid for Sir Francis Younghusband, a famous military officer who had served in the Far East, she discovered that he had an impressive library, from which she borrowed liberally. “You really don’t have the capacity to learn a difficult language like Chinese,” the principal told her as kindly he could, “and we prefer candidates who are younger and more able to adapt.” She applied to the China Inland Mission, but was turned down. Twelve years passed but the call remained steady in her heart. From then on she dreamed one day of serving the Lord there, even though she had to quit school to go to work at 14 and had no money. She left the church in a daze, her mind whirling. Gladys never forgot the day when in Sunday School the clergyman spoke of missionaries who worked far off in China. Her family were hardworking, honest people, and faithful in their attendance at the Anglican church. Gladys May Aylward was born on a cold February day in 1902 in London.
Then to the prisoners, “Now form yourselves into ranks and tell me what this is all about.” The Call One pair of eyes after another eyed the “Foreign Devil.” Hardly imposing, a whisper thin woman about thirty years of age, standing 4’10” tall, Gladys spoke to the man with the cleaver with unexpected authority, “Give me the cleaver,” she commanded. “But only through the help of Jesus will I prevail, for the Gospel of God in our Bible states, ‘I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.’” “He is,” she declared, seeking to bolster her courage, as she stepped into the sandy courtyard. The warden challenged, “You tell us your God is all powerful. The warden called to A-Weh-Deh, “Go in and stop them!” The woman known to foreigners by her English name, Gladys Aylward, stood trembling at the entrance. Several men had already collapsed on the ground, mortally wounded. In the center was a man with a large bloody kitchen meat cleaver. The half-starved Chinese prisoners in Yangcheng were rioting.
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