Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-07-03
Sees Play, Talks With Bud.
dhist Priest, and Addresses
Many Women and Girls

.
! At the mid-week meeting OF Central
/ Union church letters from its mission
aries were read, the following inter
esting communication coming from
I Mrs. Dean r. Wickes, Central Unions
missionary in Northern China:
"Tungchou, May H.
Dear friends of Central Union
church: The three days just passed,
1 there has been a fair at Yen Chiao,
one Of our Stations, and ! went out
with Miss Leayens to keep her COM
Rany and to see the sights. This last
| was really the more important reason,
/ together with desire to have the ex-
/ perience Of visit to an out-station.
II have been to fairs outside OF
| Picking, to look on for few minutes;
! and ] spent the night in an out-station
OF Pang CHA Chuang on my way to
/ Lintsing last year, but this was my
/ first real visit to an Eont-station and
my first sight of the work that is done
! by our people in fair time. We left
/ Tungchou about 7:3O Monday morning
and got back about the same hour
Tuesday night Two women from the
church went with us to help in the
preaehing-one woman of good fami-
lv. having considerable education and
financially comfortable, the ether of
much humber origin and station, also
OF very humble and timid presence.
/ 1.-TWO Bible women had gone out
previously to talk with such as might
come en- Sunday, the first day of the
fair. That made six, counting myself,
who went from here. The wife CT the
/ chapel keeper lives there and there
were two elderly women, relatives Of
hers, / think These were our hos
tesses and looked after things gener-
ally.
Monday, the crowds were not large,
either at our place or at the fair.
though the open air theater was we'll
filled. even to the steps of the temple
that is opposite the theater. A scat
tering crowd was buying or looking
over the things offered for sale in the
temple courts and in the small booths
that lined and helped to crowd thu
narrow street and to fill up the open
space in front of the temple and be-
side the theater. In the inner court
of our chapel, where the women were
received. an awning of mating fur
nished shade from the sun, and four
square Chinese tables formed centers
about which groups could Sit or stand
while listening to the preaching. and
/ incidentally rest while, or where
some at least could sit and rest and
hear a little preaching. The men were
cared for by Mr.. Frame and some Chi
nese brethren in the outer chapel that
opens on the street.
81 spoke to a few women after our
arrival, my maiden effort at anything
of the sort Miss Leavens resigned to
my care a tableful that she had found
interesting and easy to talk to, group
OF six or eight. had tried to prepare
simple little talk that | flattereG
myself would lead up easily and in.
terestingly to the subject of cur doc
trines, and tried it on the ones thus
resigned to me.
They seemed to be giving close at
tention and / had gotten as far as IT
you heard that there was a place 10 II
from here where you could buy happi-
ness, wouldn't you want to go there
at once and get it?' when the most
eager listener answered, Yes, are you
married?'
After that | talked as ] could, try
ing to get in few words that hoped
might be helpful or at least arouse
some interest in the new teaching, be-
tween answers to questions as. to
which hand | sewed with, how old l
was, how many months have we in a
year, and examinations of my clothes
and shoes. We wore Chinese clothes.
trousers belted in at the ankle, and
upper garments ending between hip
and knee, with the addition of black
skirt, such as is worn now by many
Chinese women in the cities, and by
school girls in the higher grades here.
abouts.
They took it for granted that we
were dressed as all foreigners dress,
and were pleased to see how little we
differed from them, so unless asked,
we did not tell them otherwise. OF
course, our big feet and our strange
shoes created considerable interest,
Some of them were ready, to agree
that it was better to have natural
feet, but one said, But If a girl has
big feet you can't get her married,
and what can we do?' And what can
they. until public sentiment has been
changed by education?
AS there seemed to be more than
enough to talk to those at our meet
ing one of the women took me to the
fair Monday afternoon md to the the
ater Going to the theater consisted
in climbing up on one of the big open
carts that formed the back of the
houses. On the left there were two
boxes reserved for soldiers, and bal
cony for women, as were our rear
seats, and the men stood in the pit.
We saw three acts; the first sort of
ballet of clowns, men in gly, ffappy
at 312 Vineyard street (Spanisb