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Show - 6 st varied and interesting. The pictures mean lots of cutting and pasting, ani the finishml rap book are enjoyed by all family. Post cards are pasted together with bits of ribbon and hav f Img C o n n e c t m g S l x double ones. These they receive later in Sunday School when they 1 ^01Je a g l v e n a l m°unt of reading or memory work. A rubber stamp to print animals and enciis to draw them and other things furnish pictures for coloring. Never do we have to be o careful of the crayons because our supply is limited, either. The older girls enjoy their biVi'M-°° °K? i Water CoIor p a p e r ' t h e i a t e r b e i n S n e w t o t h e m t h i s ye a r - Tinkertoys, unamg blocks, and our wee bit of molding clay, of which we are very proud, give them a cnance to use their ingenuity. The scraps of cloth are pieced together to make book oags or Jarge squares for them to wrap their clothes, bundles of clothes being the style for the arge majority, they being unable to afford a box. Does this show you how much we depend upon the home base for supplies? The industrial department has grown to the number of thirty-six this year. My Happiness Garden children made an excellent beginning, and we were able to add others with money sent to help poor children. It was rather hard on the teacher to have so many new ones to each at once, and some seemed a bit small so we are going to allow the ability they have acquired to lie somewhat dormant this term, having them work only the hour when 'all the Sf th +m h a n d w o r k a n d s o giv i ng the teacher three or four fewer to look after. Not one o the tlrrty-six was there who did not enjoy washing her hands, and we enjoyed knowing tnat we would not have to buy the poor apoJogv for soap which we get on the street, even if we did give them some for baths, too. Miss Long always rejoices when books of crochet patterns come, for she has no small task in keeping so many at work making things which will be f t ? Kec, e n t ly s h e has found something which we like very much. Native to this part th *lc o u r i ty is a course white cloth which the women make in their homes. They spin their thread and then do their weaving as our grandmothers did. Miss Long had heard a number of people in other parts of China exclaim over the novelty of the cloth and had thought there ought to be some way of using it, but was at loss for thread that was suitable to use with it, then she tried having thread they use to weave the cloth twisted and spun tightly. If you could see the work the youngsters are turning out with it, you would all want some of our new table runners and cushion covers. I am sure. At present we have only two day schools in the city and one (in the country) of which we are not particularey proud. The teacher is not one we would use if we had anyone else, but the people were so anxious for a school that we let her return a second year. Next year we hope to have more of our girls ready for work and so be able to open at least two and possibly three more schools in the various parts of the city. Even five schools in a city of fifty thousand would not seem many, would it? The people of Lintsing have been rather bickward in coming into the church. One of the reasons is that there have never been enough Bible women to visit in the homes and another is that we have not been able to reach them with schools. Unless a child comes from a church home she will not be allowed to go very far from home to attend school, so the need for more scattered about the city would be great even if the two we have were not already filled to overflowing. We want to stress co-education in the first two grades too, so that these schools will be feeders for both of the boarding schools. 1 hen my next dream is to have a Bible woman who will give her full time in visiting the homes of the pup Is. It gives us an excellent opening, for a woman is much more wiling to listen when she knows that she is being told of something her child knows. This is the day after New Years, but the fire-crackers are more in evidence than they were yesterday. When we inquired of the servants the cause we were told that yesterday the people were at home giving thanks for the blessings of the year, but that today the merchants opened their shops firing off firecrackers to show that the were ready for business. The earlier the shops are opened the more likely business is to be prosperous, so we were aweaken in the wee small hours. The trade of the day is indicative of what will follow for the year. People take advantage of this superstition and buy as much as they can, giving what ever they choose for the article, sometimes not more than a fourth of the price, for the merchant does not want to lose a customer. Another noise we heard proved to be the setting out of the boats which have been turned up on the banks all winter undergoing repairs. We exclaimed that the ice would not be out, and were told that business must be begun today whether it was or not but that there probably would be no ice, or if here was they would chop it open enough to get a few feet from shore and then come back! This afternoon we went out to see, and sure enouah, the river was clear and many boats had left. A day for nearly everything and everything done on its day seems to be the motto of China. It is queer how the weather conforms to these days. China is a queer and fascinating place anyway. If only all of you could come and see it and our work far yourselves, how nice it would be! Your very sincerely, Ruth E. Van Kirk |