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Show School of Mapy Friends, Lin tslngf-Shantung, China, ^an,1024f . Bear friends. Our Christmas was busier than usual this je$&r for our ®eh@©l g i r l s were asked to give their play twice,on the Monday and Tuesday before Christmas,so that everyone could see i t , since that was the only m%@rta,±mmmt to "be given. This meant taking much time for practice,with a special dress rehearsal on the Saturday before and such a busy aid exciting time as i t was. Christmas in Many Lands1* was the name of one of the plays,the customs -of each country being told "hj a g i r l dressed in the costume of that countryi getting this dozen or so of costumes taxed t& the utmost onr small fjpfty of old garments,collected with this use in mind,but fortunately two ©f the g i r l s were to wear froeign clothes,-saine and l i t t l e J u l i e t Whi taker* »,•, and Mrs.Whitaker loaned us her' lovely gorgeous German peasant costume,and with the help of pieces of varied colored e}oth saved front the pieces sent out fey f*J«d8,we managed to have a variety of dresses altho some were not so d i s t i n c t i v e . The g i r l s especially enjoyed this dressing up,as did the audience. Another play told the story of a man looking for the •Reavenly" Road ,and #10 at last is led to i t by a friend! the other play was purely Chinese,*n which a wealthy family helped to make Christmas for a poor family. The g i r l s love to act anu. did very well with the help of the teachers anl tee audience was appreciative, At the ened the teachers gave a performance which delighted everyone,-one dressed as a efoild with her tends in l i t t l e shoes d£d the talking while the other teacher,behind, the f i r s t oiie,put out her hands and made the motions-giving the effect of a dwarfs the conversation of the •dwarf" was most lively and very amusing.- On M0nday the schools and people of our yard wore invited and the church was f i l l e d with! a very well behaved audiences the nest day was for outsiders and the church'was crowded with a noisy lot of people who came in t© have a l i t t l e fun,so i t was hard to give the plays but the audience seemed to enfpy i t altho only those in front could hear what was being said. There i s so l i t t l e of excitement here that everyone i s anxious to come when they hear of something unusual going en in the church. Our g i r l s were t i r e d out when the performance was over But in the evening they had a nice time l i s t e n i n g to the records on the new Path© machine,hot with a gift/fed brot in "froia Tslnanfu for this Christmas celebration. The records are Chinese and are very ranch • en joyed fey the g i r l s, and we are expecting to make use of the machine In getting ready' for our gymnastic exhibition in the spring. On"Friday afternoon before Christmas our two day schools celebrated together at the kindergarten roomss the children in the yard were so excited about asking the chapel children to be their f uests,for last year they had been guests at the chapel. There was a tree tot rimming*,sent out by ffctonds from America,and chains and ornaments made by the children,and bright pictures on the walls,and everyone dressed in his best and expecting a good time. There were some songs,and then a game,like ours of biting-an apple hung en a string,only here was used a cone-shaped piece of breads many of the children were too bashful to try but' two boys were game and one got bites out of the bread. Then the children acted a play which the teacher had dramatized from a story., and they did wonderfully well for f i r s t and second graders, They l i k e to put en long coats and caps" and ' y carry a stick and play they are men,and one g i r l mad/eqqlte: a h i t dressed as a soldier. Another g i r l as .a beggar was most comical and r e a l i s t i c and made • |