The Dickinson press., 1915-03-27
WRITES FROM CHINA
IN DICKINSON LAST YEAR

>S~~S
North Dakota, who was in Dickinson
last fall and spoke to the members
Of the Methodist Sunday School one
Sunday and organized the Standard
Bearers, which is an auxiliary of the
Womna's Foreign Missionary society,
writes the following interesting let
ter to the local Standard Bearers,
Miss Agnes Smiley being the secre-
try:
M. r. Mission, Marking, China.
February II, 1915.
Dear Friends:
China New Year is here with all
its gaiety. We are having weeks
vacation. Not because we particular
ly wanted it but because our teachers
did. You see we never saw a China
New Year celebration and did not
know just what it was like. l think
all the students are agreed that they
are glad Of the vacation time to see
the sights.
The first day of the new year was
last Sunday. 1t was beautiful day.
The kind that makes you feel that
you are glad that you are alive. The
first thing did to disgrace the family
was to try and help Miss Youtsey
the parlor it was full of men. After
giving New Year congratulations Miss
Yautsey said, Sing se-Please be seat
ed. Next she said something about
the weather. That finished my vo-
Icabulary. Having nothing to say 1
sat like a bump on log. Miss
Youtsey had to go to see about re-
Ifreshments. I studied the guests and
kept silent: One looked strangely
familiar when I entered and on clos
Ter scrutiny I discovered it was our
lby all dressed up in new clothes.
They all have new togs if they can
Iget any money to buy with. This is
the time to fix up the house as we'll
Jas buy clothes. Every house is
cleaned after fashion. New mottos
are pasted on the door, new kitchen
god is pasted on the chimney. The
old kitchen God has molasses smeared
over his mouth so he will not tell
tales when he returns to the spirit
world. The children have all kinds
of paper toys.
I went to church twice Sunday, had
very interesting going through the
streets. In the P. M. we went to a
Sunday School in very poor district.
The city has provided shelter for
the soldiers widows. They live in the
worst hovel I have ever seen. 1t is
dirty and very unsanitary. The Sum-
day School was held in a shed. 1t
had Mother Earth for floor. We sat
on benches four feet long and five
inches wide. The room was about as
large as Is could easily be taken care
Of at home. There were over a
hundred here. They did not seem to
have much system. The teachers
were scattered through the crowd,
teaching as many as would listen to
the story of Samuel. After the serv-
ice we were invited to stay for tea
because it was New Years. We went
through a dirty court into a tiny
room, where one of our women lived.
It was large enought for one Chinese
table Aft. square. There were ten of
us around this table. They gave us
prune tea, peanuts, candy and fruit.
felt rather guilty eating the food
that cost so much. felt like putting
some coins under the table to pay for
what I had eaten. The hospitality
made up for lack of material COM
forts. Little Mary went with us. I
suppose you have all heard her story.
She is the little cripple girl who lost
her feet and most of her hands be-
cause her mistress became angry with
her and threw hot water on her. She
has one finger. 1t is great the way
she does things. She writes, reads
and sews. She walks on her knees.
She goes up and down stairs. It is
hard for her to go where it is muddy.
Our ricksha man carried her to and
from the place where we had Sunday
School. I sat by her at the table and
marveled at the way she fed herself.
You should see her crack melon
seeds. Did you ever eat watermelon
seeds? They are fine.
You must not get the wrong i'm
preston of the gaily dressed people.
They have new clothes but they are
not gay in color like the Japs. The
material is beautiful, brocaded silk
and the like bunt navy blue, dark
green, gray or black. It is not un-
common to see child with scarlet
NOe%o VI OAASAS SACCl zap IC
grown ups wear more somber clothes.
Navy blue seems to be the most popu-
lar color. From merchant to beggar
they wear blue. Only when it gets to
the beggar it is rather faded. Some
day shall send home some pictures
of beggars. They are about the worst
specimens of humanity one can find.
Some are lepers and have lost their
feet. They are called rolling beg
gars. They roll around the streets
and look perfectly terrible. Their
clothes are in tatters. It is the aim
of each one to look as bad as pos
sible. Some people are trying to raise
money for a home for these poor
folks. 1t will be very benifcial to all
the people. The last few weeks the
beggars have been terrible. They
wanted to get money for the New
Years feast. Some folks went on the
streets who are not accustomed to
beg, so anxious were they to have the
New Year good time. It was pretty