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Notable Women of Modern China by Margaret E. Burton
page 43 of 176 (24%)
This, however, is more easily said than done; for Dr. Hü's sympathetic
heart makes it very hard for her to spare herself as long as any one needs
her help. For nine years after taking charge of the Woolston Memorial
Hospital she worked almost unceasingly, with practically no vacations
except those caused by the necessity of closing the hospital in the summer,
and these she made as brief as possible. But during all this time the work
had been steadily increasing, until finally, in 1907, when the number who
thronged the hospital and dispensary was greater than ever before, the
doctor's health broke down under the strain, and, although with the
greatest reluctance, she was forced to stop work. Her fellow-missionaries
insisted that she leave the city during the terrific heat of summer, and go
to Sharp Peak for some rest. She had been there only two days when she was
taken dangerously ill, and for weeks and months the gravest anxiety was
felt concerning her. But she received the best of care and nursing, and
finally, in March of the following year, she began gradually to recover.

Some advised that the hospital be closed. But Dr. Hü's younger sister, Hü
Seuk Eng, who had received her medical training in the Woolston Memorial
Hospital under Dr. Hü King Eng, and had been associated with her sister in
the hospital work for some years, said that to close the hospital would be
a great shock to Dr. Hü, and a bitter disappointment to the people, and
that she would undertake to keep it open. "The load was indeed very heavy
and my heart was truly frightened," she admitted afterward. "Every day I
just repeated that comforting verse, 'He leadeth me,' and marched forward."

At first the people did not have the confidence in Hü Seuk Eng which they
had in Dr. Hü King Eng. Hü Seuk Eng tells of their great eagerness to see
her sister: "The faith of many of the patients has been so strong that they
thought their illness would at once be cured, or at least lessened, if they
could only touch Dr. Hü's garment or hear her voice, or merely look into
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