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Show family at home. With a special gift we bot candy and peanuts, so it »w.a-s-really a great celebration for them and one that they will remember. They all stood up and made such nice bows to thank their friends in America and asked me to pass their thanks on to all you good friends who made their Christmas possible. The girls of the boarding school gave their two plays on Thursday morning to a church full of people: the school boys and teachers helped with the seating of people and there was much better order than we have some times.-The first play was ''Love, the Conqueror,*' with one of the teachers representing Love, with girls as shepherds and Wise men, and representing different countries that need help, and Wealth, Learning, and War, none of which could conquer the world and bring Peace. There was a good deal of singing, with girls back of the scenes helping, and it ended in acknowledging Love as the one thing to bring Peace to the world.-The second play was entirely foreign, with costumes taken from the wardrobes of the foreigners in the compound,-a time-consuming task for the one who borrowed them all and tried to return them intact! The scene was laid in Australia and London, the main plot being the disguising of a girl as her brother, after his death, and the complications that arose. There was some 'love-making' at the last, which added to the ''foreigness'' of the play and which was probably of great interest to some, especially the boys' school! Our assistant principal had it in charge and was the hero: we were all so busy behind the scenes that we could not tell much about how it went, but people seemed to enjoy it, as they always do when there are interesting costumes.•The boys gave their play that afternoon, which I did not see as we were having the day school entertainment at that time, and the men of the Bible School gave theirs the next day.-This year there seemed to be a contest as to who could give the longest play,-that the boys gave lasted over three hours and the other two were just about that long! On Christmas Eve the girls had a good time together in the main room of the school building. Six of the girls had prepared Santa Claus costumes of red, with red caps and cotton for trimming, and they looked very real. They led the good time, packing their three red bags .full of gifts for ''good'' children, then telling about the time they had getting down from the North. There were games in which every one took part and at the end the giving of gifts to the 'good' children who had played well, and more thanks to our American friends who remember us with gifts.-During the games some of the girls were called upon to do some Chinese singing and acting which was very good: they sing in a high falsetto or a sort of monotone, with a certain emphasis which brings great delight to the audience, and there is much flirting of imaginary fans and scarfs by the women and gesturing and posturing by the ''men''. The girls learn these when they are children and take great delight in reproducing them. We were awakened some time after midnight on Christmas Eve by the singing of Christmas songs by the girls: it always sounds so beautiful on the night air and they know so many Christmas songs that they sing a different one at each house. Later the boys came out also and sang.• On Christmas morning there was a service at the church, which was chiefly taken up with singing by the various departments. The day school children marched on with their red and green caps, much to the delight of the audience, and two of the larger girls rang bells for the chorus of .the song which added to the novelty. Later they brot their little chairs and sat in front and in the aisles, as the church was so filled there was no other place for them. This is the time of year that the outsiders like to come and see the good time, so we always have crowd's at the church. We foreigners had our Christmas celebration on Saturday, the day after, as there was no chance for us to get together before with so many other activities. We put aside as much of our work as we can and spend the day together, with breakfast at one house, dinner at another, and supper at a third. Our decorations were very pretty this year due to the lovely crepe paper and candles of all kinds sent out by our friends in the boxes that come. The gifts, of Christmas cards, seals, ribbons, tissue paper, etc, mean much to us for often we do not have any unless they are sent out. Such reminders of home make the day especially joyful and bring back the memories of home Christmases. This year our packages were much delayed but we had some just before Christmas and others came later, so we had our joy spread out over a month or two instead of having to get it all in two or three days! |
