Minnie Vautrin

明妮·魏特琳（Minnie Vautrin）1886年9月27日生于依利诺州司考尔。她在依利诺大学攻读教育学专业，1912年以优秀成绩毕业。基督会任命她为传教士并派她前往中国，最初几年在安徽庐州一所中学任校长，1916年金陵女子文理学院成立教育系，由她出任主任。在德本康夫人（Matilda Thurston）校长回国筹款期间，她担任代理校长。日军占领南京期间，华群再次受命照管校园，并开放校园作为妇女和孩子们的难民营，在高峰时金女大曾收容近1万人，使许多妇女免遭日军强暴。国民政府为表彰她保护难民的业绩，于1938年7月30日授予蓝、白、红三色襟绶采玉勋章一枚。

Minnie Vautrin was born on September 27, 1886 in Secor, Illinois. She majored in pedagogy in the University of Illinois and graduated with honors in 1912. And then Christian Church sent her to China as a missionary. During the first few years, she served as principal of a high school in Luzhou, Anhui Province. In 1916 when the Department of Education was established in Nanking Women’s College of Arts and Sciences, she was invited to chair the department. When the president of the college, Mrs. Thurston went back to the U.S. for fund-raising, Ms. Vautrin became Acting President. During the Japanese’s occupation, Vaultrin was again entrusted to take care of the university properties and opened the university campus as a refugee camp for women and children. The campus once accommodated nearly ten thousand refugees and thus saved many women from being raped by the Japanese soldiers. In recognition of her devoted efforts in protecting refugees, the Nationalist Government awarded her on July 30, 1938 a blue jade medal with silk ribbons in blue, white and red colors for her noble deeds.

明妮·魏特琳 Minnie Vautrin

在困难中长大

Growing In Hardships

明妮· 魏特琳,1886年9月27日出生在美国伊利诺州西科尔小镇，其父艾德蒙·魏特琳，法国移民，是个铁匠；其母宝玲·李尔(Paulin Lehr)，在明妮· 魏特琳6岁时不幸因病去世。明妮· 魏特琳过早地承担起家务，从小养成了吃苦耐劳、好强上进、勤奋勇敢的个性。

Minnie Vautrin was born on September 27, 1886 in a small township called Secor in the State of Illinois. Her father Edmond Vautrin was a blacksmith, an immigrant from France. Her mother Paulin Lehr died of illness when Minnie was only 6 years old. Minnie had to take up the household loads at a very young age, which, however, had nurtured in her the spirit of hard-work, diligence and bravery.

明妮魏特琳的父母——艾德蒙·魏特琳夫妇

Her parents: Edmond and Paulin Vautrin

明妮· 魏特琳初中照片

Minnie as a junior middle school student

明妮· 魏特琳“髻龄就学，颖悟过人”。尽管家境贫寒，但她还是通过一边做工一边读书的方式读完了中学和师范学校。明妮· 魏特琳17岁正式皈依基督教，成了一名非常虔诚的基督教徒。在伊利诺大学读书时，她的学习成绩十分优秀；在1912年全校500多名毕业生中，明妮· 魏特琳成绩位居第二。

Minnie Vautrin started schooling very early. She was a quick learner. Despite the unfavorable financial family background, she finished high and normal school smoothly through work-study programs. She was converted and became a pious Christian when she was 17. At the University of Illinois, she exceeded others in academic performance. She was in second place out of over 500 graduates of the University in 1912.

1903年明妮· 魏特琳女士的高中毕业照

A photo of Minnie Vautrin taken in 1903 on graduation from high school

大学时代的明妮· 魏特琳女士

Minnie Vautrin as a university student

与中国的不解情缘

Bond With China

19世纪末20世纪初，美国大学校园里掀起了一场向海外传播基督福音的运动, 明妮· 魏特琳毕业后毫不犹豫地选择到海外传播基督福音。1912年秋，明妮· 魏特琳被美国联合基督教传教士公会派遣前往中国传教。

In the late 19th and early 20th century, a movement to spread the Gospel overseas was in full swing on the campuses in the United States. Minnie Vautrin submitted her application without hesitation. In autumn 1912 she was sent to China by the American Missionary Alliance.

创建合肥三育女中

Establishing San Yu Girls’ School

1912年9月，明妮· 魏特琳到达中国后不久，就被派往时称庐州府的合肥传教办学，先后担任合肥三育女子小学和中学校长。

Soon after her arrival in China in September 1912, Minnie Vautrin was sent to Hefei, Anhui Province to start a girls’ school. She was successively appointed headmistress of the San Yu Girls’ School and later the San Yu Girls’ Middle School.

合肥三育中学校牌现存合肥市南门小学展览馆

The sign board of the San Yu Middle School, now kept in the exhibition room of the Nanmen Primary School in Hefei

三育女中旧址，现为合肥市南门小学

The site of San Yu Girls’Middle School, presently the Nanmen Primary School in Hefei

受聘金女大

Joining The Faculty Of The Jinling Women’s College

1918年在合肥工作6年后的明妮· 魏特琳回国休假，当时她正准备结婚，但金女大因工作需要想借调她来校代掌校务，事业心极强的明妮· 魏特琳毅然接受了金女大的聘请并决定将婚期延后一年，结果婚约不久即告解除。她坚强地承受了这一打击，从此一直过着独身生活，终身未嫁。

1919年10月，明妮· 魏特琳来到南京，受聘为金女大的教务主任，并代理校长职务一年半。自此，开始了她与南京、与金女大长达20多年的不解之缘。

In 1918 after working in Hefei for 6 years, Minnie Vautrin went back to the United States for holiday and she was preparing to get married. Then she received an invitation from the Jinling Women’s College to join their faculty. Career-oriented, she decided to take the offer and to postpone her wedding for a year. However, her decision resulted in the break-up of the engagement. Though severely struck by the incident, Vautrin moved on courageously. Since then, she had lived on her own and remained single all her life.

In October 1919, Vautrin came to Nanjing and was appointed Dean of Studies and also Acting President of the Jinling Women’s College. She held the latter position for one and a half years. Henceforward, she began her strong bond with Nanjing and with the Jinling Women’s College for more than 20 years.

1918年回国休假，明妮· 魏特琳身着中装摄于西科尔友人家门前

Minnie Vautrin in front of the gate of a friend’s house in 1918 when she was back in the United States for holiday