The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1901-09-05
Miss Kate Schaeffer Writes to Her
KenOsha Friends of Her Work
in China and Hainan.
BOXER INsURREcTION IS OVER
Foreigners Are Kindly Received by the
One Time Turbulent Chtnese-Much
work Done by the Missionaries.

and your readers to spend short time
lthe time it takes you to read thls)
with me in the country in China.
I closed school the last of June and
came out here, fifteen miles from
Kiungchow, for two weeks change
We Miss Jouro1mon, OF Ho1how, ana
y are staying IN the u. w. House,
which has recently been repaired.
We are trying to rest, but as this
house is a new institution and as two
foreign women are not an everyday
sight, we are quite run over by visit
ors; on market days lone day IN FOUR,
we are literally crowded out OF the
house. Day before yesterday had to
stay outside nearly all day to keep the
crowd from becoming too dense in the
house. Two assistants were busy
there ali day, while l outside was the
center of a crowd all the time. L
think about a thousand people must
have seen us and heard something OF
the Gospel that day. l1 ~
This market is on high ground near
a hill which is the center of beautiful
stretch of country. The soil is a
brownish red which has probably been
lava rock at some time, but which un-
der the action of wind and rain has
crumbled to dust. From the top Of the
hill one gets a fine view of cultivated
fields of peanuts, sweet potatoes hemp
and mil1et, whose different colors make
the country look as if spread with a
patchwork quilt; clusters of trees and
bamboo hedges show where villages
are hidden. Two rivers, are in sight
and the ocean way off in the distance
can also be seen, while low mountain
peaks are visible in almost every
direction.
After living in low house in XII
ungchow City, from which nothing
can be seen except the sky overhead
and the neighbors' walls on four sides,
the view of all this wide expanse of
country seems almost like home to me.
The air is cool and clean too, and that
is another delight. Song birds are
numerous and game is PLENTIFUL; my
cook has shot several pigeons and
missed a number of fine fat ducks.
This market town is a very old one,
having been established in the Tang
DYNASTY about 1,O00 years ago From
the ancient time down to within few
years ago, it was famous all over the
Island as place for barter4ng IN COWS
and buffa1oes, bat now rival market
has sprung up and managed to rob
this one of it's glory and profit. A
conversation with any of the old resi-
dents can hardly be carried on without
calling forth wall about the good old
DAYS when the COW market was here.
In those days from 1000 to 5000 head
of cattle were won't to change hands
every market day.
The rice harvesting was about over
with when we arrived here, but we
were in time to. see several late planted
fields cleared. Of course no harvest
ing machinery has gotten so far as
Hainan and it is question what Kind
of a machine could be operated IN
fields in which the mire is knee deep.
The grain is all cut with the hand
sickle and carried home on the Shout
ders of men and women; it is stacked
in the house and threshed in the most
primitive fashion, the women folks of
the house stripping off the grain be-
tween two little pieces of bamboo.
Next, the grain is hul1ed by pounding
in large stone mortar and then the
rice is ready for use.
A popularity that have noticed IN
Chinese cities is the crowding together
of shops dealing in the same kind OF
wares. For instance, walk from the
q. w. House through the market takes
one successfully past the basket and
little pig markets, pork stalls, salt fish
shops, the bone corner, restaurants,
general stores, beef stalls, the vege-
table and fruit square, the rice market,
the sweet potato market, and then out
to the COW plain where there are nc
COWS, however. On this cow plain are
several magnificent banyans nearly
hundred years old, under which Miss
Jouro1mon and I get cooled off after
talks, walks and meals.
The Chinese seem almost incapable
of understanding foreigners love Of
scenery and since we have been here
story is going the rounds to the efect
that I am planning to buy the hill be
cause I have found treasure in it, ant
they look at me skeptically when
tell them the treasure is in the fresh
air and in the view one gets from such
an elevation. Said one old grand
mother to me: cit is fifty years since
married into this market and have
never been out to the hill, so what i:
there there to seer"
I notice marked difference in th'
reception accorded us by those who
have been to the Mission hospital II
Hollow and by those whom have ME
on former trips. They are mucl
friend1ier than the total strangers wh'
invariably look upon us with suspic
ion. A little g1immer of the real oh
iect of our coming to Hainan SEEM
gradually to be dawning upon them.
Yours reSnecff111v