The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-08-07
R. C. Mission; sandakan,
Br. N. Borneo, Mar. 10, 1915.
Feast of st. Joseph.

| Dear Sister g.: Your letter to hand
short time ago. Although it is Lent
you will see / am writing to you
Well, do not be scandalized, for here
we have no rule preventing us from
writing, and hence, as today is our
patrons feast day, | am taking adj
vantage of it to write, although may
not be able to send it for a few days,
as there is no steamer here yet. An
other reason for writing today is to
wish you a happy Easter-it will be
over before this reaches you, know,
but no matter They say: Better
| late than never!" You will take the
will for the deed. I wish it there in
time; if it is not there, well, it can't
| be helped now.
You asked ia your letter if it were
true that people in Borneo live on
salt fish and rice" Well, yes, it is
quite true; plenty of people have moth
| ing else but fish and rice. We have
forty or fifty boys, "boarders" (don't
suppose them anything like girls in
a grand convent boarding school)
here at the Mission. They get rice
three times day with salt fish or
sometimes fresh fish by way of a
change, and just a little vegetables
once or sometimes twice a day. 1t
would cost. too much to give them
meat. They get meat at Christmas
and Easter. So far at least, the
Fathers have been getting something
more. Rice, of course, is the staple
food of the people, just as the potato
is in Ireland, but we also have meat
capital, we can buy meat or pork
without much difficulty Gas long as we
have the money!. Then we get vege-
tables for dinner always, and fish or
eggs with bread and coffee for break
fast; rice for dinner and supper. We
take also cup of tea in the after
noon at four o'clock, but jam, butter,
sugar, etc., we never see with tea
not like at home, and still enjoy it,
as matter of fact, / enjoy all my
meals. The Sisters look after our
cooking; the girls in the convent pre-
pare their own food; the boys have
an old man to attend to theirs. The
Sisters make a little "porridge" for
| breakfast sometimes. l do enjoy it.
| it reminds me of my young days at
home, but there we used to call it
"stirabout."
did laugh when you asked In your
letter if had "a comfortable bed to
sleep on" Well, | must say that out
here we don't bother very much about
such thing. When got your letter,
had been for few weeks sleeping
every night just in a deck chair, as
my camp bed was not in order. The
latter is simply a piece of strong can
vas nailed to a wooden frame with
two supports. / have two pillows and
a rug or old cassock, nothing else in
the way of blankets, sheets, quilts,
etc, and yet / "sleep like top" from
ten-thirty or eleven p. m, till S a. M,
when my alarm clock says: "Time
to be up!" Then l jump out-not
from under the warm blankets
but simply | jump out and another
day is begun. The boys sleep on a
mat on the floor, or on a plank bed. /"
which is just as soft or as hard.
whichever you like. But now don't
want you to imagine that | am com.
planning of my hard Let. / am not.
feel quite happy, quite well, quite
healthy with all this, or perhaps be-
cause of all this. I did not EXPECT
even as much before I arrived here.
am well satisfied with things here.
I wish you to understand, am not
grumbling, or complaining in the
least about my lot, and would never
have mentioned these things. only
you asked me about them. Further.
don't think we are "mnrtyrs, out
here. No; you get accustomed to
things, then 1t seems nothing. Pray
for us and for our mission. Prayers
are what we really want, as our work
is supernatural work, and much
grace is needed to help us on to ac-
complish what is intrusted to us.
/ believe we received the Holy Com.
munion cards you asked about which
were in the first box. gave all these
to the Sisters, as they look after the
church-hne and all that sort Of
thing.
With regard to the linen your sister
has got, | think it would be Just as
well to send it direct from ireland,
as there is no duty on things for the
church coming into Sandakan. II it
is not already cut, she need not even
trouble to get it cut, as the Sisters
here will do that, and then make
things just the size they want. I
have to thank you most sincerely for
thinking of getting your sister to send
this linen, also thank her for me.
Also ] must thank you for all, the
papers, cuttings, etc., which you sent
me, and especially for the beautiful
little calendar. It is lovely. [ Ike
II very much. wrote to your sister
La Salette about Christmas. / hone
she is getting wei again. Now +
must conclude, with best wishes to
you all.
remain, yours sincerely in Christ.
MISSIONARY SISTER.
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