The Penn's Grove record., 1923-03-16

1>NAAN 81 AAAf VI o. = S'N
The Ricsha riding is certainly pleas.
antable. | want to bring one coolie
and all to America, and also Arthur's
house boy. He is just the incest,
cleanest, p~olitest little chap you ever
saw. His mother is Carols Amah, q
very quiet, careful soul, who spends
her whole time with Carol, keeping
her in the pink of perfection in every
way. Carol and Buzz speak Chinese
as correctly as a native and it is anus
ing to see and hear Carol tell the
Amah what to do.
Christmas morning, 10 o'clock.
Such a lovely Christmas and how
we have all enjoyed the tree, the ex-
change of little gifts, most of which
were for the children. How | wish
you could have been here; a real
American affair, turkey and all
Arthur has been fattening this tur-
key for several weeks and it will grace
our table today. Turkeys are not
plentiful in China, but wild pheasants
are in abundance. We have then
often. They are delicious indeed.
The finest game | ever ate.
o, dear me, | could write on and on
of the many interesting things l have
learned and seen. For instance,
Chinese wedding professions in theil
regalia of gorgeous trappings, the
bride being entirely hidden from view
in a magnifcently trimmed and cur
tanned Sedan carried by six or eight
coolies call dressed up" and walking
very slowly, taking little short steps
in order that the procession may APP
pear as long as possible. The richer
the bride, the longer the procession OF
flying dragon banners, drums anC
tom-toms, queer sounding horns and
guitars, all followed by many boxes
and chests containing presents for the
bride, all carried by coolies dressed in
gorgeous c%olors, being mostly in red.
lots of red, orange, green and gold.
Funerals present very much the
same appearance except that in place
of the brides coach, the coffin is car
ried, draped in royal fashion. The
marriage and death ceremonies are the
two events in a Chinese life and much
saving for them is exercised.
Of course the Chinese New Year is
a season of holiday celebration, when
they all receive and pay their debts
and begin again. Arthur has, nc
doubt. told you lots and lots of true
tales about these strange people who
live so miserably but who have done
such beautiful, wonderful things eX'
pressive of the highest form of art
and done with the most simple, print
tive equipments. | wish you could
see the rug factories with their hun
dreds of little s%ore-eyed, ~sore-headed
bows, sitting in rows before the great
rough primitive looms, making their
little dirty fingers fairly fly over the
warp, tying the wonderful rug knots
so beautiful and interesting to a
thoughtless world across the seas.
We are all well, happy and prosper
Gus and I know all join in sending
hearts full of love to you so far
away. Ny dearest love to your son
Burt and family and to Emma. ]
regret deeply not seeing you this last
summer. but shall look forward to a
real visit later. Arthur has mention
ed the possibility of a trip to America
this coming summer and his wife IS
urging him on; so you must keep well
and take every care of yourself in an
ticipation of such a visit.
MY "Trip dCIOSS was IOC NCIS piCo'
ant because of in%cessant sea-sickness.
It was fierce and prevented much en-
ioyment so happily anticipated. How
ever, I was able to get out toward the
last and all was so interesting. Hon
olulu is a real Paradise, lovely in
scene and air and color. Ny! such
lovely color. The sea so blue and
green and all charming. We stopped
there "a hours, giving us plenty of
time for rides and sightseeing. Japan
is fine, too, but over-stops in 4oko-
hama and Kobe were of short duration
and mostly at night. However, we
did visit some queer old temples
where services were in process, APP
pearing much like our Roman Church
ceremony in that there were great,
magnificent jars of burning incense.
priests in gorgeous robes and much
kneeling, intoning and mumbling of
the service.
We had to remove our shoes before
entering these temples which were
spotlessly clean and carpeted with
mating. No choirs were in evidence.
Everyone was squatting Or kneeling on
the floor.
Goodbye for this time, and with all
good wishes for the New Year, I am
as ever,
Your sincere friend,
HANNAH CUTBERTSON.