<7 1& fe^^^-j THE LIFE, LETTERS, AND JOURNALS Rev. and Hon. Peter Parker, M.D. MISSIONARY, PHYSICIAN. AND DIPLOMATIST The Father oj Medical Missions and Founder of the Ophthalmic Hospital in Canton BY THE Rev. GEORGE B. STEVENS, D.D. Professor in Yale University WITH THE CO-OPERATION OF THE Rev. W. FISHER MARKWICK, D.D. Ansonia, Connecticut Congregational Siini)ag=Srliool ani i)ublisf)ing Socirtp BOSTON AND CHICAGO Copyright, ISOti, ISV CONGHEGATIONAL SUNDA V-SCIIOOL AND PUBLISHING SOCIETY. PREFACE. This volume owes its origin to the thought which once suddenly occurred to the mind of Dr. Parker (see page 339), that the story of his life-work, if published, might prove an inspiration to other Christian workers. It was with this hope in mind that he pro- vided in his will for the preparation of his biography and requested that the Faculty of his Alma Mater, Vale College, should designate his biographer and determine the manner in which his Memoir should be published. The matter was accordingly committed to the charge of the late President Porter, who appointed Mr. Wil- liam L. Kingsley, Litt. D., as biographer. Dr. Kingsley devoted much time and labor to the examination of the documents which required to be used in the work, but had scarcely more than begun the composition of the volume when failing health compelled him so relinquish the task. At his request, and with the approval of President Dwight, I undertook the work. It would have been quite impossible for me to publish the Memoir — already too long delayed — during the present winter but for the competent assistance of my colaborer, Rev. Dr. Mark- wick, who put into available form the documents to be used in the biography and prepared the index. I offer this work to the public in the conviction that it contains the portraiture of a very interesting and remarkable career, and in the hope that it may prove, as its subject desired, an incentive to Christian, and especially to missionary, service. George B. Stevens. Yale University, January, 1896. ) c Sty CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAOh I. — Childhood and Youth 5 II.— Amherst College Days . 24 III. — Senior Ybar at Talk College . , 33 IV. — Theological and Medical Studies , 53 V. — Ordination and Appointment as Missionary . 80 VI. —First Voyage to Ciiena . 80 VII. — Medical work at Singapore 106 VIII. — The Hospital at Canton lis IX. — The Medical Missionary Society 132 X. — A Voyage to Japan ui XI. — Gathering CLOUDS IBS XII.— In the Home-Land 178 XI II. — A Visit to Europe 100 XIV. — The Return to China 220 XV. — Hospital Work Resumed . 234 XVI. — First Services fob the Government 240 XVII.— Charge d'affaires 270 XVIll. — United States Commissioner to China .... 301 XIX. — The Return to Private Loots . 315 XX.— Tin Last Days 381 THE LIFE OF PETER PARKER. CHAPTER I. CHILDHOOD ANU rODTH. THE events relating to the earliest connection of the United States with the great empire of China have been described by gifted writers in a series of brilliant historical pictures. These narratives are in many instances elaborate in detail and rich in coloring; and amid the many striking and interesting scenes which they present there is no more prominent figure than that of the Rev. and Hon. Peter Parker, M.D., the subject of this biography. Mr. Parker was born at Framingham, Mass.. .Tune 18. 1804. His parents were Christians, and were connected with the Orthodox or Trinitarian church of his native town. His father, Mr. Nathan Parker, was a farmer in moderate circumstances. His mother's name was Catherine, and she was the daughter of Mr. Aaron Murdock, of Newton. M:isv Tu an autobiographical sketch, written during his Ereshman year in Amherst College, Mr. Parker says: "My grand- parents on my father's side were Peter aud Ruth Parker, who were professors of religion. On the side of my mother it is also my privilege to claim pious and devoted followers of Christ for my grandparents." Although surrounded by religious influences from the very beginning of his life, and carefully instructed by his parents, young Parker's mind does not seem to have been ; 6 THE LIFE OF PETER PABEMB. especially susceptible to them. The strict religious ideas and practices of the time were extremely distasteful to him, and writing on this point many years later he says : — "In keeping the Sabbath they were very strict, insomuch that my heart has often risen with feelings that would burst from parental restraints, or that would roll on more swiftly the wheels of time to hasten the often anticipated period when I should be free. Frequently I attributed unkiudness to my parents when they prevented my mingling upon this day with my companions, who were allowed to follow their own inclinations unrestrained. I was customarily required to attend public worship, which truly afforded me no satis- faction otherwise than my curiosity was amused with what- ever I saw that was new a.id dazzling to the fancy. Prayer and preaching had no delights for me; they were seemingly unmeaning services : usually there was nothing in sermons that gave me pleasure but their close. This was anticipated with impatience and heard with joy." Referring again to his early disrelish for the matters per- taining to religion, he says : — " The public services of the Sabbath were not more tedious than the religious instructions of my parents were irksome. The Assembly's Catechism afforded me no pleas- ure ; anil such was my reluctance to repeat the Lord's Prayer that I frequently cried when required to do it although after a few years I became so accustomed, being often taught its importance, that I seldom neglected to do it every evening when I lav down and every morning when I awoke, till I was capable and disposed to express my desires in my own language." The first occasion on which his mind was definitely influenced by religious teaching seems to have been in connection with his studies as a boy at school ; and as these CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 7 earliest impressions were characteristic of his religious mode of thinking during the greater part of his career, we may present his account of them in his own words : — " I distinctly remember," he says, " an incident at school which made an indelible impression upon my mind when, as nearly as I can recollect, I was not more than six or seven years old. My attention was arrested by the remarks of my pious instructor upon the Ten Commandments, with which I was then familiar, from which cireurastauce my interest in the subject was increased. He spoke of the manner in which they were given upon Mount Sinai ; how (iod spoke them in the midst of thunderings and lightnings and earthquakes and a terrible tempest. And then he appealed to the school ' and asked : If this be the manner in which the command- ments were laid down, how do you think (iod will do when he comes to take them up in the end of the world and finds them broken?' The interrogation filled my soul with dread : and never shall I forget the solemn aspect every countenance wore. He also observed that ' men were more unbelieving than devils, for,' said he, ' the;/ believe and tremble.'" It was perhaps impossible for a mere boy to come under the iutlueuce of such forms of religious teaching, setting forth as they did with undue prominence the sterner aspects of Christianity, without developing a morbid seriousness ; and this circumstance will account, at least in part, for the presence of such sentences as the following in the little diaries which, even as a lad, it was his custom to keep: " Possessed of a natural sedateness, which was sometimes construed for sourness, I think I was never so much giveu to pleasures and amusements as is common to the young. I have often felt the want of that natural sociability and amiableness which renders a person particularly agreeable to his associates, and secures their attention and regard." 8 THE LIFE OF PETES PAPKER. We might also naturally expert that, in a lad in whom this sedate and saddened temperament was so early developed, religion, when once it made its appeal to the soul, would immediately assume the place of prominence and become the dominating factor of his life. But we are scarcely prepared to find so young a man giving expression to such thoughts as these : " I passed the first fourteen years of my life in a state of carelessness and indifference, at the expira- tion of which I was brought by the goodness of God to a solemn pause. As nearly as I can remember, I was about eight or nine years old when I was sensibly affected one Sabbath morning in reading (as 1 was alone) the words of .lohn the Baptist, saying, 'He that cometh after me is mightier than I ; whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into his garner, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.' I did not know the full meaning of this, but was sensible of something very solemn in the burning up of the chaff with unquenchable fire. My eldest sister soon came into the room. I with some solicitude inquired the mean- ing. She explained it to me — I do not remember how; but soon I laid away my Testament, and that was the end of it. •As observed above, soon after this solemn pause, 1 became apprehensive that all was not right; and the more 1 investigated the matter, the more this suspicion was deep- ened.