THE SOONG FAMILY 147 



Chinese sailor to America. He landed in Wilmington, N. C, in 1880, and 

 had no expectation of becoming the founder of such a magnificent family 

 as happened later. Captain Jones continued to befriend him, and he made 

 a living by selling cord hammocks which he had learned to make aboard 

 ship. After some time he became a Christian and adopted the name of 

 his benefactor, Charles Jones. 



Mr. Soong evidently made a good impression on those with whom he 

 associated, especially by his integrity and intelligence. Dr. Julian S. Carr 

 of Durham, N. C, became interested in him to such an extent that he saw 

 him through Trinity College, now Duke University. But the new convert 

 was eager for a theological education, and he managed somehow to go to 

 the seminary of the Southern Methodists at Nashville, Tenn., and received 

 a theological diploma from Vanderbilt University in 1885. And he kept in 

 close touch with these institutions until his death in 1917 or 1918. 



On his return to China he settled in Shanghai as a missionary and teacher; 

 he built a church, was a member of the first Y. M. C. A. committee in 

 China, and later built a home of his own and had a printing press established 

 in a small building in the rear of his house for the translation of the Bible 

 and Christian tracts into Chinese. The success he attained in these varied 

 and numerous activities prove that he was a man of exceptional ability and 

 showed competence in whatever he undertook. 



This competence guided him in choosing as a wife a Miss Nee (orNi) 

 Kwei-Tsong — a vigorous and intelligent young woman of eighteen, with a 

 high-school education and interested especially in music and mathematics. 

 She was able in home management and took care of the family whenever 

 her husband was absent from home. She died in 1931 at the age of sixty- 

 three. 



More is known about her ancestry than about that of her husband. Her 

 father, named Nee (or Ni) Yin-Shan, was a scholar interested in jurispru- 

 dence. Her mother came of a military family, but not of the bandit kind; 

 in fact, Mr. Nee lost his life in defending his local community against 

 bandits. Whether that event turned his wife toward Christianity is not 

 known; but she was an earnest member of the Methodist Church and 

 brought her daughter up in that faith. Mrs. Soong was thus a Christian 

 from childhood while her husband became one at the age of twenty-five or 

 twenty-six. 



SOONG 'S LATER LIFE 



While the life of Mr. Soong thus far is strikingly interesting, it is perhaps 

 of no particular importance; he was shrewd, capable and circumspect in 



