Mary Ann Aldersey, Part 2

[00:00:00] Cheryl and I love telling stories of Christian women because they have fascinating stories

[00:00:17] that encourage us, they inspire us.

[00:00:20] These women are missionaries, musicians, reformers, authors, wives, mothers and Cheryl, I can't

[00:00:26] wait for part two of Mary and Aldersey.

[00:00:31] So, we left her just entering Ning Po, China.

[00:00:37] I really encourage you to listen to episode one because this is a woman whose life was

[00:00:42] fraught with delays and detours and opposition and yet she was so determined.

[00:00:49] She knew the call on her life.

[00:00:51] She certainly did.

[00:00:52] I am supposed to go to China exactly.

[00:00:55] Even during those delays, she was always working toward the goal which I find amazing because

[00:01:02] she was not even able to leave for the mission field until she was 40 years old but she was

[00:01:06] undeterred.

[00:01:07] I'm still going to the mission field.

[00:01:10] In the last episode we talked a little bit about those delays.

[00:01:14] We talked about a ministry that she did on the island of Java till everything opened

[00:01:20] up for her to go to China and the young girls that she mentored.

[00:01:26] So now, she buys a house inside the city of Ning Po and she is working with Ati and Kit

[00:01:36] whose story is told in episode one and with Mary Lysk.

[00:01:42] They make these amazing teachers and they also are able to help Mary Ann because she

[00:01:50] is white and her Chinese is very broken.

[00:01:56] So they are able to speak fluently.

[00:01:59] They are able to kind of coax the mothers and fathers into letting their daughters come

[00:02:04] in and get an education.

[00:02:06] And this is really, when we look at it, Mary Ann was the first woman missionary to China

[00:02:12] was she?

[00:02:13] She was.

[00:02:14] The very first.

[00:02:16] And those with other gifts who could come around her and that's the teamwork.

[00:02:21] That is.

[00:02:22] But it is very interesting that she is the first on mainland China because you've got

[00:02:25] you know, Marie Dyer who is in Hong Kong but the very first on mainland China and there

[00:02:34] she is starting a school and the school is going to be evangelistic among other

[00:02:39] things but this man comes one day and says I'll give you my daughters if you'll

[00:02:42] pay for them.

[00:02:43] And she said I'll pay for mutton.

[00:02:45] I'll pay for you know, vegetables but I will not pay for a human.

[00:02:51] Good.

[00:02:52] Absolutely not.

[00:02:53] So he went away a little distressed but other families they gave her their daughters

[00:03:01] that were diseased or considered slightly demented that they didn't see as being

[00:03:08] valuable but Marie would take any girl that came and as these girls begin to

[00:03:15] transform under the tutelage of Acti and Kit and Mary Lysk more parents were

[00:03:25] willing to let their daughters go.

[00:03:27] So first she taught them reading and writing in the Chinese language.

[00:03:32] Some of them were also who could were given English lessons.

[00:03:37] They also learned skills like sewing and you know, making baskets and other skills

[00:03:44] that would be useful.

[00:03:46] They learned theology and she would teach them the Bible and so the school was thriving

[00:03:55] but she said this about it.

[00:03:57] She said about adding Kit.

[00:03:59] The two dear young converts who have followed me to this country have proved most valuable

[00:04:05] assistance not only or perhaps principally in the amount of work done for me with reference

[00:04:11] to the school but also in gaining from me the confidence of the people who are still

[00:04:15] greatly prejudiced against foreigners.

[00:04:18] Having formed for me a sort of link between the people and myself they being Chinese

[00:04:30] and may not adopting the costume of this province.

[00:04:34] So these women were indispensable.

[00:04:38] Mary Lysk she would let your say not only spoke like the natives and understood every

[00:04:45] shade of the vernacular idiom she felt with them and thought with them.

[00:04:51] So important.

[00:04:52] Mary Lysk is just incredible but about this time as the girls were getting older

[00:05:00] Mary and begin to be concerned about these women getting married.

[00:05:06] So she found Christian husbands for Atty and Kit and a Christian husband for Mary Lysk

[00:05:13] and that was the Reverend William Russell who became the bishop of Northern China.

[00:05:20] Okay that had to be a challenge to find three Christian men deep in China.

[00:05:26] Yep.

[00:05:27] That wanted to marry these women.

[00:05:28] Yes but she did.

[00:05:30] She was rather determined in all things.

[00:05:33] Yes and she loved matchmaking that became kind of a side thing that she did for herself.

[00:05:38] No but she felt that isn't that interesting but she felt that was her responsibility to

[00:05:43] these young girls.

[00:05:44] I think it's a way of securing their future.

[00:05:46] Yes.

[00:05:47] So Mary Ann Aldersey was known to walk in the early morning for her health

[00:05:55] and she would walk before it was light and she would carry a lantern.

[00:06:00] While carrying this lantern in the dark in the early morning started all sorts of rumors

[00:06:07] about her.

[00:06:09] The residents of Ningpo said she was searching for victims you know in the early morning

[00:06:15] by lamp light.

[00:06:16] I could just picture she's such a tiny woman and frail and the doctor had told her of

[00:06:21] them I don't think you're even gonna make it over there on the trip to get to China.

[00:06:25] And here she is out in the early early hours.

[00:06:29] And listen to this the women said this all English children have blue eyes with which

[00:06:35] it is of course impossible to see and the strange lady wants to receive our children

[00:06:41] only that she may pick out their eyes and send them as valuable presents to her friends

[00:06:47] at home.

[00:06:49] So there were other rumors that she had massacred the children that she had eaten the children

[00:06:55] and that she was fattening them up because the children were also fed that she was fattening

[00:07:00] them up just so that she could eat them.

[00:07:03] So some of the mothers who had given their daughters to the school began to believe

[00:07:08] the rumors and they actually broke into the school and sought to you know save their

[00:07:20] daughters.

[00:07:21] But when they came into the school and then Mary Ann let them in they saw that all the

[00:07:25] girls were well fed but then they said oh she's feeding them so she can you know

[00:07:29] sell them or eat them.

[00:07:31] But they saw how they were educated and how clean the facility was and she said

[00:07:36] you can come here any day and you know check up on your daughters check up on me.

[00:07:41] So it abated somewhat but the rumors still persisted about Mary Ann especially

[00:07:48] because she kept taking those early warning walks for her health.

[00:07:53] In 1848 a young woman named San Avong came to live at the school.

[00:07:58] Now she had an attitude that you would not believe there are about 50 girls and

[00:08:04] San hated being there and was both rebellious and belligerent but one day the

[00:08:10] Lord touched her heart in such a way that it transformed her immediately.

[00:08:15] And after that she became one of Mary Ann Aldersey's closest allies and

[00:08:26] companions and an asset to the school.

[00:08:29] She began to excel at all her studies and she became a star pupil and later

[00:08:35] began to be one of the teachers.

[00:08:38] And she also had another ministry where she would go into the houses of these

[00:08:44] Chinese women and unbind their feet.

[00:08:47] Really?

[00:08:48] And what was her name again?

[00:08:50] Her name was San Avong.

[00:08:52] Okay.

[00:08:54] And so.

[00:08:54] But hadn't damage been done or she was going to unbind the feet of women or

[00:09:01] the children?

[00:09:02] I think both.

[00:09:04] Yeah.

[00:09:04] But years later Gladys Elward would unbind the feet too and she had this

[00:09:09] special massage that would coax the feet back into wholeness even though

[00:09:14] they were small.

[00:09:15] But I guess the binding of the feet kept it constantly painful so just

[00:09:19] unbinding it and loosening the feet and giving them a chance to heal.

[00:09:24] So interestingly enough, a staff had been betrothed to grown man since she was

[00:09:32] nine years old and the man was just waiting for her to be educated.

[00:09:37] So it was time for her to be married and she was very concerned because her

[00:09:45] husband to be this grown man was very much an adult idolater.

[00:09:50] So Mary Ann, being Mary Ann, met with the husband to be and extracted a

[00:09:57] written contract from the groom not to force San to worship foreign gods.

[00:10:04] She was married but her in-laws were cruel and abusive.

[00:10:09] Her husband then died in debt and the family held her responsible for it.

[00:10:16] And he was older.

[00:10:17] He was like an older, older guy.

[00:10:19] So they took her into the temple of the gods and they forced her down and sought

[00:10:25] the gods to see for her forgiveness.

[00:10:29] So she was able to escape from that temple and get back to Mary Ann.

[00:10:36] And she hid with Mary Ann.

[00:10:38] Well, again, the family tried to raid this school because they wanted

[00:10:43] to sell her for profit.

[00:10:45] But Mary Ann, being Mary Ann, found a wonderful Christian husband for her that

[00:10:52] would satisfy the family and enter into a contract so that San could continue to

[00:11:00] serve the Lord and teach the Bible.

[00:11:03] Mary Ann had many close calls.

[00:11:05] And another time a blind woman came to her wanting to know the gospel.

[00:11:12] Mary Ann told her the gospel but she realized that this poor woman because of

[00:11:17] her blindness could not read.

[00:11:19] So this inspired Mary Ann to get the gospel of Luke in Chinese embossed so

[00:11:26] this woman could feel the characters thereby reading the gospel of Luke in Chinese.

[00:11:33] Wow.

[00:11:34] However, the blind woman's family was so upset that she was at this school.

[00:11:41] Mary Ann, they became very, very aggressive and they charged the school.

[00:11:48] Mary Ann and Mary Lesk were forced to escape to the river where they took a

[00:11:53] boat to the other side until the mayhem died down.

[00:11:58] However, later the blind woman would come back and she would help Mary Ann to

[00:12:06] make copies of the embossed book of Luke and distribute it to the Chinese blind

[00:12:15] people, whether they were men or women.

[00:12:18] So this woman ended up having a ministry.

[00:12:21] You know what's interesting is who was it that was in Japan and it was the

[00:12:26] gospel of Luke that was translated into Japanese?

[00:12:28] I think it was Lily Kalman.

[00:12:31] Yes, yes, yes.

[00:12:32] Lily Kalman.

[00:12:33] Yes.

[00:12:34] That's interesting.

[00:12:34] Luke, for both these Asian countries and cultures, that Luke was the most applicable to them.

[00:12:43] Isn't that interesting?

[00:12:44] I don't know why.

[00:12:44] Maybe it's the parables because that has more parables than the stories.

[00:12:50] Another time a very rich, old lady came to the school.

[00:12:53] She went to hear the gospel.

[00:12:55] She was wrinkled, looked grumpy, but Mary Ann invited her in for tea and told her

[00:13:00] the story of Jesus.

[00:13:02] The woman was 80 and right then she received the Lord and she said to Mary Ann,

[00:13:08] these Buddhists have just taken and taken and taken and never kept their word to me.

[00:13:13] And they want all my money and so does my family.

[00:13:16] So this woman went down to the bank of the river young and made a huge bonfire

[00:13:21] and burned all her money.

[00:13:24] Just saying she would live in dependency on Jesus for the rest of her life.

[00:13:28] I thought you were saying she went down to the river and got baptized.

[00:13:31] No, yes.

[00:13:32] Burned all her money.

[00:13:33] So Mary Ann, even though she lived in China, never took on the Chinese ways.

[00:13:41] She kept her school very English and very Victorian and she lived among an English

[00:13:48] settlement in China.

[00:13:51] She became such a strong influence in this British community in Ningpo that it was said

[00:13:57] even the British council obeyed her.

[00:14:00] Oh my.

[00:14:01] Um, once only once did she wear Chinese dress and that was only to protect her from anti

[00:14:08] foreign sentiments when she was 60 years old.

[00:14:11] That was the only time she ever put on the silken garment of the Chinese.

[00:14:16] She insisted on wearing her Victorian dresses and teaching these Chinese girls both the

[00:14:23] English ways.

[00:14:24] Right.

[00:14:25] So she was westernizing these girls as well as teaching these girls.

[00:14:29] Now you remember her friend Maria Tarn Dyer who had the school in Hong Kong.

[00:14:36] Well she died October of 1846 and her two youngest daughters, Brella and Maria, very young men,

[00:14:45] were sent to England to live with their uncle, Maria Tarn's brother.

[00:14:52] And they went to a Quaker boarding school but they were so unhappy.

[00:14:58] Maria had been born in China and Maria and Brella felt more Chinese than English and they

[00:15:04] really, really could not settle comfortably in England.

[00:15:10] To culturalize, yeah.

[00:15:12] In the meantime, Marianne had begun to write to them and they kept up a correspondence

[00:15:19] and Marianne invited them to come back to China, live with her to be teachers.

[00:15:24] So Brella and Maria Tarn both took teacher training classes.

[00:15:31] Now Brella was older than Maria so she was 18 and Maria was about 16 when they returned

[00:15:38] to China and worked with Marianne as teachers at the school.

[00:15:45] Now as they were...

[00:15:47] Matchmaking coming up?

[00:15:48] Well it is and it's not.

[00:15:51] It's a twist in the story.

[00:15:54] Here comes the twist.

[00:15:56] So a suitable man that Marianne approved of came another missionary for Brella, Brella Dyer.

[00:16:06] However in 1858, Maria is about 21, this Englishman comes to China and he does not fit in with

[00:16:21] the missionary society.

[00:16:22] He thinks they're too Victorian that they're too English and that they need to build a bridge

[00:16:30] to the Chinese.

[00:16:32] So this man begins to dress like the Chinese and he learns the Chinese language and he

[00:16:38] begins to preach to the Chinese dressed as the Chinese.

[00:16:41] He grows his hair out to this ponytail and he takes on the Chinese culture, eating as

[00:16:50] the Chinese, living as the Chinese and living among the Chinese.

[00:16:56] Well Maria falls deeply in love with this unsuitable Englishman named Hudson Taylor.

[00:17:07] She falls desperately in love with him and Marianne thoroughly disapproves.

[00:17:14] She disapproves because of the way he dresses.

[00:17:16] She disapproves because she never finished his academic degree in England.

[00:17:23] He was studied to be a medical doctor so she sees no means of support or how he's going

[00:17:31] to work in China and he had even resigned from the Chinese Evangelistic Society.

[00:17:40] Now mind you, Marianne never was associated with the Chinese.

[00:17:46] With a missionary society, albeit, she would ask money and receive donations from the London

[00:17:52] Missionary Society because of her connections.

[00:17:57] From the time she started the school almost to the end, she was always asking them for

[00:18:01] money.

[00:18:02] The school costs in what is today the amount of money would be about $10,000 a year which

[00:18:11] isn't much but she didn't have that money.

[00:18:14] She was always asking them to supplement it.

[00:18:18] This is what she said about Hudson Taylor.

[00:18:21] Mr. Taylor, that young poor, unconnected nobody, how dare he presume to think such a thing?

[00:18:30] Of course the proposal must be refused out once and not finally.

[00:18:35] She cabashed Hudson Taylor's proposal to Maria.

[00:18:41] Hudson Taylor began to pray.

[00:18:43] If you're a lawyer, if this isn't your will then I accept it but if it is your will show

[00:18:48] us away.

[00:18:49] So in the meantime, Maria was so lovesick that she decided to write to her uncle and her

[00:18:58] aunt in England because they were the legal guardians of Maria and Borrella.

[00:19:05] So she wrote to them because even though Marianne was friends with Maria and even

[00:19:11] though she had Maria's girls, she was not their legal guardian like she had been of Mary

[00:19:15] Lys.

[00:19:16] The hostess.

[00:19:17] So Hudson Taylor also wrote to the tarnes living in England.

[00:19:27] In the meantime, Hudson Taylor was considered by Miss Aldersey as totally unacceptable

[00:19:32] as a match for Borrella whom she wrongly considered her ward.

[00:19:37] She put up determined resistance to their growing romance only finally being overwhelmed

[00:19:43] by a letter from Maria's true guardians.

[00:19:50] I'm trying to find the rest of this quote, guardians, the tarnes, that they approve the

[00:19:57] match though not without gentle criticism of the two young lovers and Miss Aldersey

[00:20:04] and her supporters.

[00:20:06] So there's a little bit of a rebuke in there to everybody for letting it get to this place.

[00:20:11] But here's Marianne who, nope I'm not part of a mission society, no you can't tell me

[00:20:14] I can't go to China.

[00:20:18] This rogue thing, she went that path now he can't.

[00:20:22] Right and look she's been absolutely amazing to this point determined and she's done

[00:20:27] all this wonderful matchmaking setting up the school but here's her fatal flaw.

[00:20:33] She does not like Hudson Taylor at all says Maria's going to die with him, Maria's never

[00:20:39] going to be anything, Hudson Taylor will never amount to anything which we know is not true.

[00:20:45] But on another podcast the podcast that also deals with Maria Tarn we're going to also

[00:20:51] talk about Maria Dyer Taylor because she does indeed marry Hudson Taylor.

[00:21:02] So soon after Maria married, Marianne became weaker and weaker but she said now she's in

[00:21:08] her 60s she said my weakness is my strength I have to live by rule and so I keep well.

[00:21:15] So she was very disciplined in her diet, very disciplined in her walking and exercise

[00:21:22] and in her sleep patterns everything in order to maintain her health.

[00:21:27] Now all the teachers at her school were now Chinese and the school was always brimming with

[00:21:33] pupils so she decided to give the school over to the American Presbyterian mission.

[00:21:41] In that at the same time she kept in touch with her nieces and nephews and her brother

[00:21:47] and most of them had migrated to Australia and they were very concerned for their aunt

[00:21:53] knowing her health, knowing how it really was not a safe situation and there were tensions

[00:22:00] anti-foreign tensions growing again in China and they begged her to come to Australia to

[00:22:09] live with them.

[00:22:10] So she boarded a boat and she left for Australia settling in Adelaide just outside the

[00:22:20] city and she had a house and she named it Tseunggau because that was a province near

[00:22:26] Ningpo that she had really loved and really admired.

[00:22:33] So in 1861 or 62 news reached her that her school had been burned down and her girls

[00:22:39] scattered by the rebels.

[00:22:42] However, within six months the British Army restored order, her girls all returned

[00:22:48] safely and the Church Missionary Society rebuilt the school and ran it.

[00:22:55] So Mary Ann even in Australia continued to minister to the sick and needy until she died

[00:23:02] September 30th, 1868 and that's the story of Mary Aldersey and again I had read about

[00:23:11] her.

[00:23:14] Hudson Taylor mentions her quite a bit in his story and in biographies of Hudson Taylor

[00:23:21] Mary Ann Aldersey is mentioned not in a good light and Hudson Taylor really talks about

[00:23:28] his courtship with Maria and the opposition, the cruel opposition, the mean opposition

[00:23:36] I mean Mary Ann did her best.

[00:23:39] She was determined throughout her whole life determined determined determined determined

[00:23:43] and even when she had it wrong she was still determined to stop this love, this loving

[00:23:53] couple from getting married but she failed.

[00:23:56] But her purpose prevails.

[00:23:57] It did and I love that Hudson Taylor Maria were really praying and praying and praying

[00:24:01] but she was still loved, she was loved by her wards and that was why it was a struggle

[00:24:07] for Maria because she actually really really loved Mary Ann Aldersey so to choose between

[00:24:14] Mary Ann Aldersey who she actually loved, who was a friend of her mother's and Hudson

[00:24:19] Taylor who dressed like the Chinese.

[00:24:22] It was quite a hard decision but in the end after praying about it she married Hudson

[00:24:27] Taylor.

[00:24:28] I'm glad you're going to do an episode on her.

[00:24:30] Oh she's fascinating.

[00:24:31] She's so sweet.

[00:24:32] I imagine.

[00:24:33] We'll probably throw in Jenny Hudson, Jenny Taylor at the same time to that episode.

[00:24:39] I think I can hit three at one.

[00:24:41] You can.

[00:24:42] We'll see.

[00:24:43] Isn't it interesting how really where in life sometimes your strength can also be a

[00:24:47] flaw but God can pour grace on all of it.

[00:24:52] And I think that's such a great lesson to leave this podcast with that she wasn't

[00:24:56] perfect and yet God used her and her determination in such a great way.

[00:25:02] Amen.

[00:25:03] I love it.

[00:25:06] Thank you for listening to Women Worth Knowing with Cheryl Brodersen and Robin Jones Gunn.

[00:25:11] For more information on Cheryl visit CherylBrodersen.com or follow her on Instagram or Facebook.

[00:25:17] For more information on Robin visit RobinGunn.com or follow her on Instagram or Facebook.

[00:25:22] Join us each week for a lively conversation as we explore the lives of well known and

[00:25:27] not so well known historical and contemporary Christian women.

[00:25:31] If you think there is a women worth knowing we'd love to hear from you.

[00:25:34] Email us at www.cccm.com.

[00:25:40] We hope you've enjoyed today's episode.

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[00:25:46] Thank you again for listening to Women Worth Knowing with Cheryl Brodersen and Robin

[00:25:50] Jones Gunn.

[00:25:52] Women Worth Knowing is a production of Calvary Chapel Coast Amesa.