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Show - 2 - we can't now find a trace of the bashfulness, not even enough to make her conform always to the rules of quiet in schooll She spends half a day learning to crochet and finds only the greatest pleasure in being allowed to learn anything as interesting as crocheting, altho her work was one grand tangle and the teacher despaired of ever teaching her to use her hands; however, before school crosed she had learned to follow a pattern using coarse thread and some day she will probably make as nice lace as does her sister. One of the girls who uses the knitting machine is the daughter of a woman who sells opium and who was put into prison not long ago; the mother insists that the girl can not come to school if she has to spend half a day in working but the girl is most willing to do that in order to get some knowle lge of books, and we have been able to keep her thus far. The other girl that runs the machine is in the fourth grade: her father used to have money and she went to the government school for a while then the famine came and they hadn't enough to send her to school so she was out of school until some money came from a friend to help her. She does very nice crocheting and is a lovely girl and some day we hope she will make a most useful worker. The girls enjoy the change that working at the machine gives and have learned to make very good socks. Because of the comparative high cost of wool we are having difficulty in making socks that the Chinese can buy but we are planning to try cotton thread and perhaps can make cheap good socks that will be bot. The soap and to wells and aprons which have bean sent out are most appreciated by the children: they ju«t love to come into the room and find warm water and soap into which they plunge their little hands, rubbing until they have a lovely handful of suds which they enjoy sometimes until the teacher says it is time to hurrv so that some one else may come. If you had never had soap with which to wash your hands you could under stand the joy it can give. They are all so proud of their clean hands and rub away on their individual towels to get them in as good shape as possible for their work. Then they don the aprons of various colors and patterns, which help in keeping the work clean and are also a sort of badge of distinction which they enjoy. We have received some most lovely pink and white aprons which are to be used this next semester and then we will have to have our picture taken !!-We are grateful to those who have helped to sell the lace the girls make for it is a great help. Since the duty on lace coming into the United States is so large, we try to sell all we can here but can not dispose of all of it. We are now making articles of the native homespun and have thread spun to the right size for crocheting lace to be used with the oloth. Scarfs, runners, pillow covers, bedspreads, and curtains are very pretty in this coarse cream-colored cloth with the lace to'match in color and we are hoping that such work will sell readily. This coarse lace is something that the little children can make before they have learned to do the finest work, and there is little else that they can make that is saleable. Two of our g:rls who were in the academv at Techou last year are here teaching. Hsiao Lien Chu, "Lotus Pearl," has had the fifth and sixth grades; she was sold by her family when a little girl and then bot back by an old woman living in the same yard who had known and loved her, and who has managed, with some help, to take care of her all these years until now she is ready to repay some of this care. Liu Ch'un Hsiang, "Spring Fragrance", the sister of "Spring Beauty" who is in Techou this year, has the third and fourth grades: she is the_ daughter of the hospital gate keeper and has been one of our faithful students for years. Ch'i Mei Chen, "Beautifnl Purity", has had charge of the first and second grades with the help of a sixth grade girl. There have been over fifty children in these two grades for we have the boarding pupils go with the day pupils to the kindergarten rooms, as there is no kindergarten since M iss Tallmon went home. The boys and girls are together in these grades and the plan has worked successfully In some places they are putting boys and girls together thru the fourth grade and that will come here in time. Our play ground is more popular than ever now that we have so many day pupils with boys among them. The children come over from the kindergarten every night for exercise and there is a grand rush for the swings, or the teeter, or the Giant. Stride, which ever suits the desire of the moment. And at noon the children either take no time at all for ating, -most Chinese have only two meals a day, -or hurry back from a "cold lunch" so that no time will be lost on the playground. It startles us sometimes to see boys thus rioting in a girls' school yard but it shows verys plainly the New Day that has come to China. Of course we have boys of only ten years or younger and thev enjoy the same plays and games that the girls do. A Sunday School class sent us a gift which is to be used for a swinging board which will accomodate many children at once and furnish great fun: this will he a nice addition to our playground equipment which doesn't go all the way around when all the children are out for play, The older girls have Played volley and basket ball and their red cheeks and bright faces show the effect of the outdoor play. |