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Show I am wonderine if the crop turned out w e l l , I t is a shame the way your pay for l a s t year was held up. Is i t sure to come l a t e r ? I hope so. How i s t h i s years crop? Some l e t t e r s w i l l come soon t e l l i g g about the prospec ¥e are having a p r i c o t s here but they have to be shipped in from the south.We have had peaches once. The folies here r a i s e white p o t a t o e s and I am enjoying them g r e a t l y . The Chinese>eat them t o o . In Shansi they do t o o , b u t our people do not l i k e them. Mr Eastman p l a n t e l some in the yard-but not enough for the w^bl* _ Lon¿.W( y n buy from T i e n t s i n . The Heiningere have a cow and the milk i s good] We nave r e a l cream for b r e a k f a s t s and ice-oream nearl.y every n i g h t . The v e g e t a b l e s are fiae too! I am l i v i n g high! ..ere are L r i g a t ed gardens not far away.I t a i n k we must v i s i t them*" . Mlss Cowdry i s an e l d e r ly E n g l i s h lady who goes ... Ln a cha i r , - w i t h two boys to c a r r y i t . She takes a d a i l y t r i p onto the b i l i s or some place and o f t e n I go with her. There are so many l o v e l y p l a c e s and v a r i a t i o n s of the view but aivays we are e n c i r c l ed by the wonderful b i l i s and can look down upon the c i t y and the f i e l d s. The two Heiningejr b r o t h e r s and Mr Cowdry have gone for a t r i p into the b i l i s by c a r t and donkcy. They have had wonderfujb weather and moon-light • and we expect to hear g r e a t things about the i r t r i p , The| have been gone a week. The f i e s t day they spent a t a o u t - a t a t i o n c i t y wbere there is a church and 7!rs E e i n i n g e r and I thought i t would be i n t e r e s t i n g to go t o o . The men had taken an e a r l y t r a i n and a t b r e a k f a s t time she proposed that-we follow. We had a. book and a misquirto net to add to the i r equipment! and according to " r e l i a d l e Information" m.other t r a i n between ten and eleven would g e t us tker by noon/ That would be in time for the meeting. An eve- ilng t r a i n would bring us home in time for supper. , Well we s t a r t e d on time and walked the mile or more to the s t a t i o n to be t o l a t h a t the t r a i n went a t a.¿Mrshb i n s i s t e d that t h e r e must be an e a r l i e r one too and f i n a l l y the Stationf I J a s t e r said,"Oh ther i s a f r e á g h t t r a i n but i t would not be p o s s i b l e for l a d i e s to r i d e in áo poor a t r a i n " . lias H. t o l d htm we were not a f r a i d of r i d i n g in i t and were eager to get there as e a r l y as p o s s i b l e and a t l a s t r e l u c t a n t í y - t h e y sold us t i c k et I suppose t h a t they couldnft understand how we coula caae so l l t t l e - f o r " f a c el But buying t i c k e t s was not a l l there was to g e t t i n g t h e r e . They s a i d i t didnt s t a r t u n t i l one. lira H. hala f r i e n d near and aenl to c a l i on her.She is a rs Evans whose husband i s in the s a l t c a b e l l e , b u t she was i l l . a n d so i n s t e a d 6% asking her for some lunch as we might have done I toba a r i c k s h a a c r o s s the c i t y home to the Heiningers and hunted around in tae ice-box and p a n t r y and put up a l u n c h , t h e n met Lulu a t t h e depot and we preparen to board our t r a i n, To make a long s t o r y short i t was about two t h i r t y before the t r a i n p u l l e d out ,m r i d i n g in the caboose,and i t was four o ' c l o c k when we a r r i v e d a t - t h e c i ty and the r e t u r n t r a i n was due soon a f t e r f i v e . But we walked to the chaoel t h r u s t r e e t s crowded with booths of a very l a r g e f a i r j c e r t a i n l y surprised" the f o l k s and met the Chínese p a s t o r and his wife ana family,had time for a oup o f ^ r e f r e s h i n g hot George Washington coffee and s t a r t e d back! The r e t u rn t r i p the t r a i n was l a t e so Lulu and her husband had time for a i e a s u r e l y v i s it a t the s t a t i o n and we were home befare dark. But even tho we d i d not reach th p l a c e for the church s e r v i c e we did have a most i n t e r e s t i n g day and I w i ll never f o r g e t the b e a u t i f u l b e a u t i f u l mountain scenery t h a t we saw a l l along 1 the way. The place was t h i r t y miles west . She R . R . i s being extended and it goes s e v e r a ! hundred miles in t h a t d i r e c t i o n now. There are two fine bridgeS c r o s s i n g r i v e r s . The r i v e r beds are very wide and grave!1y and look almost d r y , b u t Isuppose there is a good deal of water under the grave1 and when i t r a i n s they would f i l l up f a s t. This woald be a g r e a t place to study geology. The rock for-mations are so v a r i e d and he r e are such p r e t t y coloras too. I oicked up some a g a t e b i t s and have red which they say i s j a s p a r. On J u l y 4th we were i n v i t e n to a recep.if.on given by the American Vice-consul and his wife. We went by c a r t way a c r o s s the c i t y , a nd saw a l o t of i n t e r e s t i n g p l a c e s on the way,but when we got near and over the high wall saw a white f l á g - s t a f f and Oíd Glory waving i t looked b e s t of a l l! The Vice-consul i s a Jew and h i s wife a C a l i f o r n i a g i r l . They have a l a r ge lawn and garden á n d e n t e r t a i n e d on the aorch and lawn. Both Chinase and f ' r ' .e g u e s t s were t h e r e . Maybe you remember mention of bumping along in Spring-l e s s c a r t s in Shantung but mud roafrek no m a t t e r i f uneven c o u l d n 1 t campare 1 I / |