Wuhu Missionaries

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Dr. Edgerton H. Hart was born in China to missionary parents, was educated in America and returned to China to head one of the hospitals his father, Virgil Hart built in Wuhu, on the Yangtze River. His medical skills were highly regarded by both the Chinese and foreigners. From Caroline Harts’ personal journal, At last my preparation of years was rewarded, for I carried in my pocket a half-read letter that appointed me to China. That early afternoon in the spring of 1904 found me hurrying toward the operating rooms of Chicago’s huge Cook County Hospital, at that time said to be the largest charity hospital in the world. A brief luncheon period and a rush day in surgery had allowed only a glance at the letter, but it was my uppermost thought as I scrubbed up, put on cap, mask and gown and entered the room where an operation was already under way. I moved silently to my station and after a few moments, the chief surgeon, alert always to the personnel and efficiency of his assistants, looked up. He said teasingly, “So the little red-headed missionary is here to help, looking for the entire world as if she had seen a vision. Just when and where are you going?”