Your Story Hour

Uncle Dan: Hello there, boys and girls. This is Uncle Dan.

Aunt Carole: And I'm Aunt Carole. By the way, we're not only welcoming all you boys and girls, but everyone who's listening.

Uncle Dan: That's right. We know from experience that many teens and adults are listening in, and we warmly greet you all as well. So, Aunt Carole?

Aunt Carole: Yes?

Uncle Dan: What do you have in mind for us today?

Aunt Carole: Well, I think I'd like to begin a two-part series today about a little lady who was not quite four feet, four inches tall, but who turned out to be a dynamo of energy and enthusiasm for God.

Uncle Dan: Wow. Just think, Aunt Carole. This lady, whoever she was, was a whole two feet shorter than I am.

Aunt Carole: Yes. And it just goes to show that good things can come in little packages, as they say. Big packages or tall ones are not a guarantee of great things, although I must say that some tall packages are very good indeed.

Uncle Dan: Why, thank you, Aunt Carole. Oh, I presume you're including me in that group? Tall, good package?

Aunt Carole: Absolutely, Uncle Dan. In fact, I can think right off of two great tall packages, each six feet, four inches tall. You and...

Uncle Dan: Oh, I know who you're going to say, Aunt Carole. Abraham Lincoln.

Aunt Carole: Exactly. And sometimes you even look like Honest Abe when you dress up with your black suit and stovepipe hat.

Uncle Dan: Well, I'll confess I truly enjoy presenting my Lincoln impressions, although I certainly don't claim to be as famous as he is. Anyway, dressing up as Lincoln and talking about his life links me to history in a very special way. And now, speaking of history...

Aunt Carole: Mm?

Uncle Dan: I presume the little lady you spoke of is a well-known historical figure.

Aunt Carole: Well, not as famous as President Lincoln, of course. In fact, some folks may never have heard of her, but I'm hoping to change all of that.

Uncle Dan: I see. And now I'm really curious. Just who is the subject of today's story?

Aunt Carole: Her name is Lottie Moon. And when she was born, Abraham Lincoln was a young lawyer in Springfield, Illinois. The country was relatively young at that point, less than 100 years old, and the family roots of some stretched back to America's beginnings.

Charlotte Diggs Moon, nicknamed Lottie, was born on December 12, 1840, to Edward Harris Moon and his wife, Anna Maria Barclay Moon, in Albemarle County, Virginia. They lived on a large plantation called Viewmont, which had been inherited from Captain John Harris, Lottie's grandfather, who had been the richest man in the county.

Lottie was the fourth child born into the Moon family. Her older siblings being Tom, age nine; Orianna, or Ori, age six; and Isaac, nicknamed Ike, age four. After Lottie's birth came Collie, Molly, and last of all, Edmonia, who was born when Lottie was 11 years old.

Our story, however, opens one evening just before Edmonia's birth, as Mother, along with Ori, Lottie, and Collie, are gathered around the hearth of one of the enormous fireplaces that heated their spacious home. I call this first story about her: "Lottie Moon: Child of Privilege."

Mother: Well, girls, that's the end of our story about Ann Judson, the first American woman to become a missionary.

Lottie: I don't think I'd like to go so far away from home.

Collie: Yeah, clear on the world to Burma.

Mother: Well, Lottie, Collie, she and her husband, Adoniram, were faithful servants of God, true to their Baptist faith.

Ori: Well, I think it's...

Mother: Ori, be careful of what you say.

Ori: But Mother, how are you supposed to know who is right and who isn't? I mean, there's Uncle James and Aunt Julia. And what do they do? First, they sell Monticello. Imagine, they sold Monticello, and it used to belong to Thomas Jefferson.

Mother: I know, Ori, but they...

Ori: And then they move back to Viewmont, and then he becomes a respected pharmacist, and then, without warning, he announces he's going to become a missionary.

Mother: But don't you see, Ori?

Ori: What if Grandmother had known that they became disciples instead of Baptists? And that now they're off to Jerusalem. And for what? To be a missionary to the Jews.

Collie: I miss my cousins.

Lottie: Me too, Collie. I wish they were still here with us.

Ori: Yes, so do I. And now we'll probably never see them again.

Collie: Really?

Ori: Yes, Collie, really. Who knows, anyway? And who knows what to believe? There are the Campbellites and the Presbyterians, which Father was until he became a Baptist, and then Uncle James and the disciples.

Mother: Now, Ori, let us not question the beliefs of others. Our Baptist roots are strong and our duty lies in being faithful to...

Ori: To what? Everything is so confusing and the whole town is divided, it seems, arguing about whether it's right to baptize babies or some other thing. That's why I don't even want to go to church anymore.

Aunt Carole: No doubt it was confusing to hear so many disputes about so many tenets of the Christian faith. All of the older children began to develop a dislike of religion, and Ori's frustration served to affect her younger sister Lottie as well.

Ori: What did you think about Uncle James's letter, Lottie?

Lottie: He's sure doing a lot of things over there in Jerusalem.

Ori: Yes, thank goodness for that, at least. He's an archaeologist, a pharmacist, physician...

Lottie: And evangelist. Don't forget that part.

Ori: I'm not forgetting it. I just think...

Lottie: What?

Ori: Going off so far away from home to be a missionary.

Lottie: I know.

Ori: Look at all he's left behind. Family, land, prestige. I mean, our grandfather owned more than 3,000 acres and had plantations clear to New Orleans. What a waste.

Lottie: I don't ever want to be a missionary. Leave our nice home? Leave my family far behind? Not me. Never, ever.

Aunt Carole: And it was true. Life at Viewmont was privileged and picturesque. The children wanted for nothing. There were vast lawns to ramble across, a great house to scamper through, a secret staircase hidden within one of the huge fireplaces, a loving mother and father, spirited siblings, and even special tutors to school the children in the classics, French, and music.

Edward Moon was a staunch believer in education, and by 1852, all of Lottie's older siblings were already away from home preparing for their professions. When Edmonia, Lottie's youngest sister, was born, Ori stayed home to help her mother. But higher education was a given for all of the Moon children.

And when Edward became gravely ill in November of that year, the will he dictated generously provided for their education, including the girls. His main concern, however, was for their spiritual well-being.

Father: I'm ready to die, but my two grown children, both unconverted, both hostile to the religion of Jesus. Oh, children, children.

Aunt Carole: His pleas, however, did little to change the hearts of his children, all of whom from Lottie on up had grown to disapprove of religion. Then happily, he recovered, and within a couple of months was ready to depart for a business trip.

Father: Now Mother, here are the instructions for the workmen. The new drive will be a grand improvement, right from the main road up to the front of the house.

Mother: Yes, and I'll make sure the trees are cut and trimmed just as you have directed.

Father: Very good.

Lottie: Are you going to be gone a long time, Father?

Father: For a while, I'm afraid, Lottie. I'm off to New Orleans and Memphis. Oh, you there?

Guest (Male): Yes, Master.

Father: Please load my trunk on the wagon, but be careful. It's very heavy.

Guest (Male): Yes, Master, already done.

Father: Excellent. It's full of gold coins for my business dealings.

Mother: Do be careful, dear.

Father: And don't you worry one little bit. Well everybody, I must be off. I'll be back before you know it.

Aunt Carole: But alas, it was not to be. Somewhere between New Orleans and Memphis, a fire broke out on the steamboat James Rob, on which Father was traveling. Fortunately, since it was close to the shore, passengers were able to jump overboard and wade to safety.

But Father, after dragging his heavy trunk across the deck, hoisting it onto his back, and struggling to the shore, suddenly collapsed. No one knew for sure whether a stroke or heart attack had struck Edward Moon, but he died as his body fell onto the bank.

The family was devastated, but Anna Barclay Moon, now a widow and mother of seven children, was a woman of breeding and resolve. In honor of Edward Moon's memory, she changed little Edmonia's name to Edmonia Harris Moon, who became known as Eddie to family and friends.

Although grief-stricken, Mother did her best to manage the affairs of Viewmont. She also honored her husband's wishes for their children in spite of the opinions of others.

Neighbor (Female 1): Did you hear what Edward Moon had in his will?

Neighbor (Female 2): You mean about the girls getting an education?

Neighbor (Female 1): Yes, how ridiculous.

Neighbor (Female 2): What a girl needs is poise and prettiness. To be accomplished in music, the harpsichord perhaps. Not higher education, to be sure. Why, my Emma had hardly any formal schooling but was well trained as a lady, and just look who she married.

Neighbor (Male 1): Exactly. In our society, we know a woman's place. She is to be a gracious hostess, raise children. You ask me, you educate them, and what man would have them?

Neighbor (Female 2): And those girls especially, Ori and Lottie at least, already so headstrong. What's to become of them, I ask you?

Aunt Carole: The next year saw Ori off to the Pennsylvania Female Medical School, and Lottie's departure for the Virginia Female Seminary, where both of them were awakened to the emerging struggle for women's rights. Older brother Tom, now a doctor, his wife, and young son resided at Viewmont to help Mother oversee affairs.

And when they decided to head to California during the Gold Rush, Ike, now a lawyer, returned home to help. Sadly, Tom died of cholera on the trip, and Lottie dove into her studies with a new vengeance to forget her grief.

The school, renamed Hollins Institute, supplied a busy round of classes and other responsibilities, including, as it seemed to Lottie, endless hours in the school chapel or across the street on Sundays at the Enon Baptist Church.

Preacher: And now, if you'll turn your Bibles to the book of Matthew, chapter five.

Lottie: Oh, Kerry Anne, I'd die of boredom if you weren't here.

Guest (Female): I know, dear cousin, the same goes for me.

Preacher: ...and his brother Andrew...

Lottie: Hey, look over there. You see him?

Guest (Female): The boy in the front row? Yes. Do you know who he is?

Lottie: No, but I'd sure like to know. Leave it to me. I'll find out somehow.

Guest (Female): Well, be careful, Lottie. You're already on the edge of trouble half the time.

Lottie: I know, but this place is too stuffy. Have to do this, have to do that. Anyway, I have a plan to liven things up a little.

Guest (Female): Oh, oh don't tell me. I don't want to know.

Aunt Carole: On the night before April Fool's Day, Lottie carried out her plan. Every morning, the peeling of the bell in the school bell tower awakened the girls to begin their daily schedule, so it was that bell which became the target of Lottie's scheme.

Lottie went to bed at the usual hour, but in the middle of the night, she slipped out of bed, rolled up her bedcovers, and tiptoed carefully past her sleeping friends, her blankets clutched under her arm. Silently, she mounted the stairs to the bell tower and opened the heavy door.

Lottie: Oh, it's so hard to see in here. So dark. Where is that ladder up to the belfry? Oh, there it is. So, up I go. Up to the top.

Aunt Carole: Finally reaching the bell and its dangling ropes, she secured the blankets around the clapper so it would only thump dully against the side of the bell when the ropes were pulled.

Lottie: Just wait until the caretaker tries to ring the 6:00 AM wake-up call. Is he ever going to be surprised.

Aunt Carole: Needless to say, the following morning brought much confusion when everyone overslept, but also much laughter.

Lottie: April Fool, everybody! April Fool!

Uncle Dan: We'll get back to Aunt Carole's story in just a moment, but we'd like to say a word to the adults who are listening in today. You see, *Your Story Hour* is an independent, listener-supported program.

Aunt Carole: And listener-supported means we sure could use your help. If you enjoy hearing stories such as this one about Lottie Moon, we'd like for you to consider making a donation to help defray our production costs.

Uncle Dan: *Your Story Hour*'s financial needs are met both by donations and by the sale of our stories. And by the way, you can find a listing of all of our stories we have available on our website at yourstoryhour.org.

Aunt Carole: There's also a place where, if the Lord leads, you can make a donation online. So think about it, won't you?

Uncle Dan: You can also call us at 800-987-7879 or write to us at *Your Story Hour*, PO Box 8, Niles, Michigan 49120. We'll give all of our contact information again at the end of today's program. And now, Aunt Carole, I'm eager to get back to your story.

Aunt Carole: All right then, here's the conclusion of "Lottie Moon: Child of Privilege."

Enjoying the diversion, the girls happily scrambled to get ready for their classes, but the scene which followed with the school officials was less funny. However, Lottie escaped being expelled for her prank and graduated within a few weeks with excellent grades.

During the following summer and fall, Lottie became a tutor for her little sister Edmonia, and by Christmas, Ori returned home, now a licensed physician. Lottie was still restless to continue her education, and soon an opportunity presented itself.

Lottie: Did you hear, Ori? Reverend Broadus has organized a new school, and it will have the very same classes offered for women as the University of Virginia offers for men.

Ori: Good for him. It seems the Baptists have taken note of the new push for women's rights, although I must say the country doesn't seem to embrace the idea of a female physician.

Lottie: I know. I'm so sorry you haven't been able to find a position yet.

Ori: Well, all things in good time, I suppose. While I'm waiting, though, I think I'll go abroad. Do a bit of travel.

Lottie: Oh, what fun.

Ori: Anyway, about my profession, I take courage from Elizabeth Blackwell.

Lottie: The first lady physician in the entire country.

Ori: Exactly, and a great leader in the women's rights movement. Anyway, Reverend Broadus's Albemarle Female Institute is a step in the right direction.

Lottie: I can't wait to get started. And church isn't even required. I mean, encouraged, for sure, but not required. I think I've had enough chapel and church to last a lifetime.

Aunt Carole: At the institute, Lottie applied herself diligently to her studies, especially excelling in foreign languages. But she just as diligently avoided religious services and other Christian activities, and was so well known for her practical jokes and pranks that she once told her fellow students that her middle initial D stood for devil.

Then during her second year, when a special evangelistic series began in December of 1858, she totally shunned the idea of attending the first night, but mischievously decided to go to the meetings on the second night.

Guest (Female): Hey, look. It's Lottie. She's actually coming to the meeting.

Guest (Female): Well, that's wonderful. Our morning prayer group has been praying for her.

Guest (Female): Well, brace yourself. You know her. She's probably just come to gather more ammunition for her taunts.

Guest (Female): Well, maybe so, but you never know. Look, she's going to the front row.

Guest (Female): Ooh, a front row seat. She won't miss a thing.

Aunt Carole: In fact, Lottie didn't miss a thing. While she had indeed attended to learn as much as possible so that she could continue her ridicule, she found that Reverend Broadus's message gripped her heart. All night long, she lay awake wrestling with the impact of what she'd heard.

Lottie: How did I get to be so anti-religion? But does it really matter what arguments I heard when I was little? Squabbles about this belief or that belief. Oh, I do wish that dog would be quiet. I'll never get to sleep.

Anyway, should all those long-ago debates make any difference about my relationship with God now? I mean, I went to the meeting last night so I could pick it apart, but everything made perfect sense. What really matters is what Jesus did for me. His sacrifice. God's great love for me.

Aunt Carole: Two nights later, Lottie Moon was baptized and almost instantly became a popular religious leader at the institute. Two years later, she graduated with a Master of Arts degree, a rare achievement for a woman in her day, making her, according to some, the best-educated woman in the South.

But just as she was poised to pursue a career, the Civil War broke out in April of 1861. Lottie returned to Viewmont, as did Ori, who had now returned from her travels.

Naturally, after so many discussions between the two sisters in the past in which church and religion in general were discussed with ridicule, Lottie was a little hesitant to tell her sister about her spiritual awakening.

Lottie: So, I... well... Reverend Broadus is a wonderful speaker, and he put it all so... well, clearly. So I...

Ori: Oh, Lottie! It's wonderful. I'm so glad you've really given your heart to God, haven't you?

Lottie: Yes! Yes, I... but wait. Wonderful? You said wonderful? I thought you...

Ori: Me too! Oh, I was baptized while I was in Jerusalem. You know, Uncle James...

Lottie: What? Oh, that's amazing!

Aunt Carole: Although Lottie and Ori were overjoyed at learning the good news about the decision each of them had made, other news surrounding Viewmont, indeed the entire South, was not so happy. The Confederacy was embroiled in a bloody war with the Northern army, and hundreds, even thousands, of soldiers were being killed or wounded.

Mrs. Moon, along with Ori, responded to the call of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and traveled to Charlottesville to exchange the family silver currency into IOUs and bonds to help finance the Southern cause. While there, Ori recognized her opportunity to serve.

Ori: Sign me up, sir. I am a physician, and if I don't miss my guess, you can use all the available doctors for the cause.

Aunt Carole: Soon Ori was called into service. Lottie and younger sister Collie accompanied her to serve as nurses. Ori organized a surgical ward at the University of Virginia, and before long, at Ori's request, Lottie returned to Viewmont, where she set up an office to serve as hospital clerk.

Within a year, Ori also came back to Viewmont. The war, the bloodshed, and the overwork had caused her to collapse during a surgery. Soon, Doctor John Andrews, a fellow doctor at the hospital, arrived to repay a debt he owed to Ori and also to ask for her hand in marriage.

Brother Ike also returned, having been injured in the war, and helped them all carry on the business of operating the plantation. Lottie meanwhile spent time tutoring various students. When news finally came that General Lee had surrendered, thus ending the war, a new crisis presented itself.

Guest (Male): Whoa! Hold there. Whoa.

Guest (Male): Mrs. Moon! Mrs. Moon!

Mother: What is it? What's wrong?

Guest (Male): It's the soldiers, ma'am. The Union soldiers are destroying everything in sight as they're returning North. They've just burned down Carter's Mill.

Mother: Oh no!

Guest (Male): Yes, and they're heading this way.

Mother: Quickly, everyone! We have to do something to protect our home.

Ori: The soldiers will loot all of our valuables and maybe burn our house to the ground.

Mother: Let's get all the silver collected and family jewels.

Collie: Right, Collie. And maybe we can bury them.

Mother: Yes, and quickly. And call old Uncle Jacob to bring the wagon around. We'll load our clothes and food on it.

Aunt Carole: A whirlwind of activity followed. Lottie ran to the orchard, her arms full of family valuables. Finding a good spot, she quickly dug a hole, emptied in the treasures, and hastily buried them, trying to take note of the exact location. The others hurriedly loaded clothing and supplies onto the wagon.

Mother: Now Uncle Jacob, take the wagon far away into the woods and hide it well.

Uncle Jacob: Yes, I most surely will. Move on! Move on there, move on!

Aunt Carole: And then the family nervously watched the road for approaching soldiers, but they never came. Viewmont was saved, at least from that fate. However, all of the IOUs and bonds that Mother had bought with the family money were worthless now that the South had lost the war.

And in spite of the family's best efforts, the valuables which had been buried were never relocated. The family never knew if someone had seen the hasty burial and dug up the treasure for themselves or if, in the rush and confusion of the moment, the exact burial place had been lost.

Whatever the answer, the next few years were difficult. Viewmont was now heavily mortgaged and most of its land leased. Lottie and later younger sister Molly both went to Kentucky to teach at the Danville Female Academy.

Then in 1870, Mother, Anna Maria Barclay Moon, stressed with finances and brokenhearted over some of the religious decisions made by her children, but still strong in her faith, passed away. Within a few days, Lottie and her youngest sister Eddie discussed future plans as they rode through the countryside.

Lottie: I know Mother was distressed about Molly and Collie both leaving the Baptist faith, but it seems that I am even more deeply involved than ever before.

Eddie: I'm sure Mother took much comfort in that.

Lottie: There is one thing I never mentioned to her, but I...

Eddie: But what?

Lottie: Well, I'd like to do something for God, and I think I know what He wants me to do.

Eddie: Oh? Well, don't just sit there. Come on, tell me.

Lottie: Well, what would you think about my going to...

Eddie: Going to where?

Lottie: China.

Eddie: China?

Lottie: As a missionary.

Eddie: What? You don't like the idea?

Lottie: Oh, it's not that.

Eddie: Well what then?

Lottie: That's what I want to do, too.

Eddie: No!

Lottie: Yes! Reverend Burton, you know at Danville? He talked about it. He was a medical missionary to China before the war, and I felt God speaking to my heart when he told me his experiences.

Eddie: You're not serious.

Lottie: Yes, I am. But I guess it's just a dream. The Southern Baptists don't send out single women as missionaries, and they haven't sent anyone out as a missionary since the war ended. Besides...

Eddie: Besides what?

Lottie: The church doesn't allow women to preach. We're just supposed to serve as good examples or some such, and we can't speak out like men can, but I do so want to share the gospel in China.

Aunt Carole: Lottie returned that fall to teaching at the Danville Female Academy, and the following year she and another Danville teacher, Anna Safford, joined with a distant cousin of Lottie's to open a high school for women in Cartersville, Georgia.

The old cannery they converted into a school building soon was the site where education of excellent quality was offered to the 100 girls who were in attendance. And then the following year, Lottie received amazing news.

Anna Safford: Oh, there you are, Lottie. Can you give me a hand for a moment? Lottie? Lottie, what is it?

Lottie: Oh Anna, I just received this letter.

Anna Safford: You look so strange. Not bad news, I hope.

Lottie: Oh no, no, it's...

Anna Safford: What then?

Lottie: It's my sister Eddie, Edmonia.

Anna Safford: She's ill?

Lottie: No, no, she's not ill. She's on her way to China.

Aunt Carole: And it was true. Both Lottie and Eddie, as they were able, had been supporting missions financially, and Eddie had corresponded with Tarleton and Martha Crawford, who had first become missionaries to China 20 years before.

News had come to her that the mission board was somewhat relaxing their stance about appointing single women as missionaries, as well as information about a possible position. Eddie had lost no time in applying.

By the time Lottie held Eddie's letter in her hand, her youngest sister was already sailing to her post in Tengchow, China, to live with the Crawfords.

Anna Safford: This is such wonderful news, Lottie. I know you've wanted to go to China as a missionary. So if the mission board is willing to send Eddie, after all she's only 21...

Lottie: Then surely there'll be a position for me as well.

Uncle Dan: Well, don't quit there, Aunt Carole.

Aunt Carole: I'm afraid I have to, Uncle Dan, but don't forget we have another installment about Lottie Moon coming up.

Uncle Dan: Oh, that's right. It certainly is interesting, isn't it, that a little girl who thought becoming a missionary was a complete waste of time is now so eager to become one herself.

Aunt Carole: Yes, it just shows you what a difference it makes in a person's life when he or she is open to God's calling. Not every Christian is destined to become a missionary, of course, but the truth is that we can trust God to know exactly how we can serve best and just what will bring us the most happiness.

Uncle Dan: Amen. So true. Are Lottie's dreams fulfilled? Does she become a missionary?

Aunt Carole: Well, perhaps.

Uncle Dan: Hmm, I guess that means we'll all have to wait until next time to see what happens.

Aunt Carole: Yes, I'm afraid you will. However...

Uncle Dan: Come on now, Aunt Carole.

Aunt Carole: All right, I'll give you a big hint.

Uncle Dan: I'm ready. What's the hint?

Aunt Carole: Well, the second chapter of my story is called...

Uncle Dan: Yes?

Aunt Carole: "Lottie Moon: Woman of China."

Uncle Dan: Oh good. Now that's what I call a big hint. And I hope everyone will tune in to find out exactly how that happens. In the meantime, we'd certainly love to hear from any of you adults who'd like to have a part in this ministry. As promised, here's our contact information once again.

Aunt Carole: Our website is yourstoryhour.org.

Uncle Dan: Our phone number is 800-987-7879.

Aunt Carole: And our address is Post Office Box 8, Niles, Michigan 49120. Let us hear from you, won't you?

Uncle Dan: And please be sure to be here again, same time, same place, for the conclusion of Lottie Moon's story.

Aunt Carole: This is Aunt Carole...

Uncle Dan: ...and Uncle Dan saying...

Both: Goodbye everyone. See you again next time.