Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1914-02-26
FROM sunny CA
LIT ORN|A FRIEND
An Interesting Letter From Mrs.
Fred Staff. Formerly of
Grand Rapids

/ MISS dCDe5fnIQs teacher III our pun
lie schools, received a good letter
from Mrs Fred Staff-a portion OF
which We are privileged to publish
as OF general interest to their many
friends in Grand Rapids:
Newport Beach, Cal, Feb. 4. 1914
Ny Dear Miss McDermid
Yes, We had roses-a great bowl OF
red ones on our dining table and
from our own yard, too. In the othel
rooms We had poinsettias and holly
not the eastern kind but having red
| berries in large clusters, a little
| like mountain ash. Mrs Crook
shank sent us about two dozen poiG-
settfas and they were beautiful. We
have a few in the yard but they did
not bloom very well. Many of them
I see growing now are much more
| beautiful than they were at Christ
mas as they have been growing larg-
er all this time.
We have had roses all winter and
have 80 calla buds and blossoms
now. But to return to Christmas, We
had a small but pretty Christmas
tree with candles but Mr. Staff was
not well and We only had it lighted a
little while one evening. Our Christ
mas eve exercises in the church
were very good. Christmas night in
the church the Japanese had their
exercises and [ wish you might have
seen it. I finally got around to send
paper to Mr.. Fontaine but the ac-
count was poorly written. Mr.. Staff
would have written it himself had hs
been well. There was some very
clever acting and | almost had to
pinch myself to realize | was still
in America It does seem so strange
to be working with japanese and to
have them as friends. | wish you
could see the pastors wife, Mrs. Ban.
She is just a dear girl herself but
she has two little ones. The baby
came Just before Christmas and
gathered a layette for it from our
church people. They are so grateful
they can't seem to do enough for us
and they can so little afford to spend
money on others. l don't see how
they live on what they get. A.
Christmas Mr.. and Mrs. Ban gave us
carved wooden tray and lacquer
box. The Japanese branch half
dozen carved wooden plates about as
large as saucers and half dozen
Japs cups and saucers with dainty
coloring. Another Japanese gave US
a lacquer cabinet or jewel case. 1t
is full of drawers and compartments.
Our own church people gave us
solid silver salad or berry dish with
glass lining and spoon to go with
if. Then we had some canned fruit
and a turkey given us besides Vari-
Gus small gifts.
II seemed very strange TO have
Christmas warm | couldn't seem to
think it was coming but the tree and
decorations made it real after all.
That was no joke about going bare
foot. Many children do that all Win
ter. Mr.. Staff and 1 were both in
the ocean bathing, Feb. End, Candle
mas Day. The water was rather cold
but that is always true. The air
was like summer
Now you will wonder if | ann new
er going to tell you why / ann WIFI
ing from Newport. Mr.. Staff gave
out completely the Sunday after
Christmas and we have been here
ever since. It is only ten miles
from Santa Ana but We have had
complete rest and quiet. One OF our
| church members has a cot age, very
comfortably furnished, and he gave
us the use of it. 1t is within a
stones throw of the ocean and COM
handing a splendid view especially
/ of Catalina Island and also very
close to the street car line. Mother
has stayed with the children but
they have all been with us over
Saturdays and Sundays. We We're
| here during the recent storm which
| did so much damage to some of the
| beaches. It washed out one OF the
| streets here but the waves We're
very, beautiful to watch from a safe
/ distance.
We go home Friday. Mr.. Staff
is feeling very much better. We will
probably come down for a couple OF
days every week for a while. 1t is
certainly an ideal spot to rest.
Ruth has had another light attack
of quinsy but is well again. The
children are all growing very fast
and doing good work in school. Ruth
will probably skip the 7th A gra1e
| and go into 8th B next week. She
has been repeating work most of this
Hast term-not a bad showing for
the Grand Rapids schools is it?