.MTE3.Mjg2NzM

American Board Mission Tunghsien, Chihli, China March 27, 1919. Would you have time, Miss Lamsen, to go with me this afternoon to the opening of the kindergarten at the Drum Tower Church? Maybe some of the other secretaries would like to come, too, since it is such a fine day.

  We will go down by the moat on the way into the city. This old gentleman we are meeting is my teacher. He has the proverbial classical teacher's air and walk; I suppose it must look strange to him to see us swinging along so fast. His greeting of, "Where are you going?" is partly curiosity, I shall have to confess, altho it is a polite greeting. And please do not think I am rude when I say, "Into the city," altho he can plainly see that that is where we are bound. Chinese etiquette does not require that we tell him the exact place.
  We go past the church and over to just inside the South Gate, and there we will find some rickshaws. In good Chinese fashion, we dicker for the price and jew him down one penny, because we do not want to change the custom, and they all know that we always pay ten coppers to Mrs. Wang's. As we go along, on both sides of the road are the places where the soldiers drill, and they are all drilling, too. There is a bunch doing the goose step, just as Germans would do.
  Now, this place where they have the fair is one the rickshaw men always seem to like to go thru, even tho it is a much slower way, because we have to stop for the crowds so. I always want to buy something, but there isn't anything that we could use very well. I wonder what that funny music is about. - I never heard anything so wierd or elaborate. I suppose when we reach the crowd we will find out. Oh, the rickshaw man says it is a funeral. It certainly is elegant, and I wish we could see the costumes a little better. There seem to be a large number of priests.
  Now we are past the main street and can move faster, altho these hutungs are very much in need of repair. This reminds me of one time in Peking when we were walking along and remarked, "What nice wide hutungs!" and then suddenly laughed to think how we would have looked at them a year ago when we were fresh from America and its wide streets. The last time I came over to Mrs. Wang's was in one of the biggest snow storms we had last winter, when she invited Miss Smith and me over to east cho-po-pos. Then there was a goat tied in the corner of the room next hers, and the rest of the room and another were filled with fodder and fuel.
  But, here we are, and Mrs. Wang is greeting us. A number of people are already here. I do not remember their names, but they are all women that I have met before. This is Ch'ien Lao Tai Tai that you may have heard about. She is certainly an enthusiastic church member. I suppose she has brought that brilliant great-grandson of hers over to the kindergarten. Sure enough, there he is, sitting in one of the little chairs, waiting for the show to begin. Mrs. Wang says he has been there day after day since the rooms have been fixed up, always sitting in the little chairs. I wonder what thoughts are running through his little head as he looks forward to this wonderful kindergarten.
  We will put up these bright-colored pictures that I have brought. This room with its clean, white walls and its little tables and chairs is truly a transformation from those two small room full of fodder. We might look around a bit while we are waiting for more people to come. That structure they are putting up in the yard is a mat awning. They say that the other family in this court is to marry the son soon. Look at that funny chicken tied to an old shoe by a string; that is a good way to safeguard it from running away.