Remembering Eunice Tietjens #2 – The Beggar

Written sometime before 1917 in Hwai-yuen (Huaiyuan), Anhui where Eunice visited, probably with the well-established Presbyterian Mission in the town….Tietjins (who had not been in China long at this point) was obviously quite shocked by the poor state of the beggar, refers to him/her only as “it” and suggests (as was believed of most beggars at the time, and was true of some) that the beggar had been professionally maimed to increase their income opportunities….

The Beggar

Christ! What is that-that-Thing?

Only a beggar, professionally maimed, I think.

Across the Narrow street it lies, the street where the children are.

It is rocking back and forth, back and forth, ingratiatingly, in the noisome filth.

Beside the body are stretched two naked stumps of flesh, on one the remnant of a foot. The wounds are not new wounds, but they are open and they fester. There are flies on them.

The Thing is whining, shrilly, hideously.

Professionally maimed, I think.

Christ!

(Hwai Yuen)