The Black-Bearded Barbarian : The Life of George Leslie Mackay of Formosa — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
The Black-Bearded Barbarian : The Life of George Leslie Mackay of Formosa
John Stuart Mill · en
It was a wonderful wedding-journey and it brought a double blessing
wherever the two went. Their experiences were not all pleasant. One
day they traveled over a sand plain so hot that Mackay's feet were
blistered. Another time they were drenched with rain. One afternoon
there came up a terrific wind storm. It blew Mrs. Mackay's sedan-chair
over and sent her and the carriers flying into the mud by the roadside.
At another place they all barely escaped drowning when crossing a
stream. But the brave young pair went through it all dauntlessly. The
wife had caught something of her husband's great spirit of sacrifice,
and he was always the man on fire, utterly forgetful of self.
For two years they worked happily together and at last a great day came
to Kai Bok-su. He had been nearly eight years in Formosa. It was time he
came home, the Church in Canada said, for a little rest and to tell the
people at home something of his great work.
And so he and his Formosan wife said good-by, amid tears and regrets on
all sides, and leaving Mr. Junor in charge with A Hoa to help, they
set sail for Canada. It was just a little over seven years since he had
settled in that little hut by the river, despised and hated by every one
about him; and now he left behind him twenty chapels, each with a native
preacher over it, and hundreds of warm friends scattered over all north
Formosa.
He was not quite the same Mackay who had stood on the deck of the
America seven years before. His eyes were as bright and daring as ever
and his alert figure as full of energy, but his face showed that his
life had been a hard one. And no wonder, for he had endured every kind
of hardship and privation in those seven years. He had been mobbed times
without number. He had faced death often, and day and night since his
first year on the island his footsteps had been dogged by the torturing
malaria.
But he was still the great, brave Mackay and his home-coming was like
the return of a hero from battle. He went through Canada preaching in
the churches, and his words were like a call to arms. He swept over the
country like one of his own Formosan winds, carrying all before him.
Wherever he preached hearts were touched by his thrilling tales, and
purses opened to help in his work. Queen's University made him a Doctor
of Divinity; Mrs. Mackay, a lady of Detroit, gave him money enough to
build a hospital; and his home county, Oxford, presented him with $6,215
with which to build a college.
He visited his old home and had many long talks of his childhood
days with his loved ones. And he was reminded of the big stone in the
pasture-field which he was so determined to break. And he thanked his
heavenly Father for allowing him to break the great rock of heathenism
in north Formosa.