One of the most prominent men in Foochow during the latter half of the last
century was Mr. Ahok, a wealthy Chinese merchant. One who had known him for
years speaks of him as "a man of remarkable business integrity and
generosity of nature." He was very friendly to the Americans and English
living in Foochow, and Dr. Baldwin, of the Methodist Mission, was, during
all his stay in China, Mr. Ahok's most trusted friend and adviser. Mrs.
Baldwin gives a very attractive picture of this Chinese gentleman:

"When any great calamity through fire or flood came to the people,
he was quick to respond with the most liberal aid; and I have known
him in times of cholera or epidemic sickness to have thousands of
packages of medicine put up by our foreign physicians, for him to
give to the sick people. In all our acquaintance with him I never
knew him to turn a deaf ear to an appeal for help; in a
neighbouring city he supported alone a foundling asylum, in which
were one hundred little castaway girls to whom he supplied nurses,
clothing, etc., and he assured us that no one besides Mr. Baldwin
and myself knew of it. He had for some time been accustomed to come
to advise and consult Mr. Baldwin on various matters, and when
going away would give him a power of attorney to sign for the
firm."

When Mr. Ahok was married, he urged Dr. and Mrs. Baldwin to be present at
the ceremony, and gave them the privilege of bringing foreign friends with
them if they so desired. His wife was a member of a family of high rank,
the sister of a mandarin, and the possessor of an aristocratic little foot
two inches and a half long. Outside of those educated in the mission
schools, she was the first Chinese woman that Mrs. Baldwin had met who
could read and write. One day not long after the wedding, Dr. Baldwin met