Omaha daily bee., 1919-01-05
Lives in Palace and Plays
Ball in Court
II Yard.


China, where she is preparing her
self for missionary work in China
at the North China Union Women's
college. Following are extracts
from a letter written Miss Irma H.
Gross of Omaha:
"Most people know so little about
Picking that | am sure l was not
alone in imagining it city of filth,
flies and sore eyes. That is true,
but along with it come a wealth Of
A gay streets, temples and royal pal
Il aces which can De compared to
nothing but Arabian Night 'ales.
This oriental city, with its multi
tudes of people, throngs OF rick
shas, low buildings, camels walking
with stately strides, awful beggar'
and painted ladies is very wonder
land.
II hav. just come from the Ten.
pie of Heaven. | visited the sum-
mer palace of the empress dowager
Thursday. One thinks of things
Chinese as gaudy red and tinsel, SO
is scracely prepared for the eS-
quisite coloring of the buildings
Decoration is all convention and IS
perhaps overdone, but it is not
cheap. The buildings are rooted
with tile, which are usually orarge,
ultramarine or emerald, and glisten
in the sun. The walls are wood or
brick and are covered with plaster
or frescoed A temple is never
building; it is group of many
buildings put on hill to give then
height. The hill is often made for
: the purpose. since Picking is as flat
as a table. China was old in the
days of Abraham Most OF the
buildings are set off in huge COM
pounds" as, everything enclosed
within walls are called. The Chi
nese do not seem to have much
taste in fixing up the grounds and
many of the finest buildings Lave
fallen into decay. The tile roofs are
covered with grass that has grown
in the> dirt that has accumulated
there.
Palace OF Heaven.
''The Palace of Heaven is the
place where the emperor went once
or twice a year to make sacrifices
for the nation. The altar is series
of circular marble terraces Z0O or
800 feet wide at the base. The sum
mer palace was built with money
raised for military purposes. 1t IN
cludes a large lake and very city
OF buildings. The old summer pal
ace looks like the ruins of the Forum
now. But even the empress dow.
ager never entered the Palace OF
Heaven, for only male members of
the royal family might set foot with
in. How the~world does move! 1t
was opened to the public in 1911.
81 am living in palace myself.
While Columbus was a barefoot boy
in Genoa, the Chinese children OF
the noble line were frolicking in. the
court ward where now we play bas-
ket bali. That is the boys were, tor
the girls were hobbling about with
their feet bound. Our chapel building
was the throne room! The property
was bought from degenerate de-
scendant. ,.
"But the thing that looms largest
in my horizon is the language. On
the overwhelming, engulflng dumb
ness that one feels in the face OF this
strange tongue and more strangely
written characters. You dare not go
far alone, you are at the mercy OF the
rickshas men. You cannot even Duy
.rv,h;np Won can only smile feebly
at the maid and it is not worth while
10 want anything done by the boy.
/ have actually mastered few
inches of sounds that a sympathetiSc
listener will admit are Chinese. l
don't know of anything that COM
mares to the thrill of the language.
Here is a school that takes neither
notebook. pencil or text. In TACT
there is nothing that one can bring
to bolster up his fainting spirit You
simply present your brains and ao-
sorb all you can, twist your voice IN
IN nnspeakable noises and then go
home to forget every bit OF it. Next
: dav YOU come and do likewise. bye
and bve you have the courage, to
trv a few words on some mortal. l
nave had eight days of this and my
hopes are high. | expose myself to
all the Chinese that | can stand on
SUNDAYS and incidentally to the
grippe which is staying its thou
sands As vet I seem to be immune
from both.
Chinese Teachers.
There is big class for all be-
einners with a Chinese teacher
dressed in American clothes. By the
aid OF pictures. acrobatics and all
sorts of ways the teacher tries to
convey his idea to the class. dhese
teachers are interesting men. When
I first saw them pacing back ano
forth in the court yard dressed ID
long robes slit in the sides with
their small, black dome shaped caps
I thought that they looked like the
cenii in the story of Aladdin's lamp
Thev have a high sense OF humor
and are Just as delighted when you
show gl:rnmer of intelligence as
mother teacheing her baby to talk.
"Even temples and palaces seen
;nsipid and pagodas mere NINA
lures compared to the towering
mountain Of this strange speech
But in spite of all that. we fee
hopeful and have the feelings OF /;