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Show 30 NORTH CHINA MISSION The attempt to locate the mens sana in corpore sano in China is not always easy. Drill in the TAIKUHSIEN Academy has . _ „ been conducted bv an ex-Manchu soldier, who ATHT FTTf^ served in the Imperial Army on the wall of Peking in 1900, and is now doing evangelistic work in the city. Skating, on skates made by a local blacksmith, volley ball, foot ball and tennis have supplemented the drill, but baseball has not proved popular. PANGKIACHWANG and FENCHOW have tried to stimulate intra-mural athletics by track meets, in Pangkiachwang with another mission school, in Fenchow with the government schools of the city. In Fenchow, the magistrate offered gold (?) medals, and each school contributed its quota cf prizes. Our boys, like the ancient Greeks, prepared their own oval, and marked off the football field with lime. Beside the four schools who marched •on to the field with colors flying and drums beating, country schools came in from unexpected distances, and some 2000 men and women from city and town gathered. The contests began with basket-ball and foot-ball. Our boys gave an exhibition of base-ball and the track events followed. It was good to see the boys display an absolutely fair spirit in their very first contests, though under difficulties. The meet was easily won, much to the •disappointment of the magistrate, who had bet on the government contingent! That one school left the field early in the afternoon in beaten defiance, is but an evidence of the real service to the pupils of the country such contests can become! In China, where the tradition from of old has been that a scholar does no manual labor and as little real work of any kind as possible, it is refreshing to see the new spirit that is coming in. _ Manual labor is in the government curricula, and PRODUCTIVE , , . . .s . - EXERCTSF n uitroduced into some of our schools. The TAIKUHSIEN girls' school has been doing plain sewing, knitting and crocheting; producing an assortment of hoods, collarettes and mitts that look as though they belonged on the 75^ bargain counter, "marked down from $1.50." One looks at a small tam-o-shantcr done in circles of blue, white and yellow, with brown fringe, topped by a bright red ball, and never feels a twinge. It is partly due to the fact that the materials were mill-ends, but then colors never fight-in China! In the same station, the Academy boys take active share in a self-help department, which had thirty-nine boys employed, and a waiting |