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Show "See you later, Fritz," and off he went, whistling singing his Chinese hymn again. I was expected at the hospital; so I decided to go. I had become very suspicious. Had not Chinese art books given me the impression that China was a beautiful country? Didn't the map deceive me, showing Tehchow as a "larger city"? Work in a foreign-style hospital was promised me. I had come with confidence, but I could not help wondering what kind of a hospital this would be. I stepped out. It was a beautiful day, bright sunshine and no clouds. The dust from the day before had settled. I looked around: The sky here seems so much wider than in other places because nothing interrupts the low line of the horizon. Around me were gardens with trees, real trees, neatly cut hedges, clean paths. Houses and other buildings in western style but partly with Chinese roofs looked promising. There were lawns, not exactly green, but still one could imagine they were lawns; and suddenly I felt much more at home. As I proceeded towards a little gate I met a foreign lady. I had met them all yesterday, but now I didn't know who it was. ' "Good morning, Miss Dizney," I said straight away. "Good morning, Dr. Baumgarten," was the answer, "but I am not Dizney. I am Alice Reed." "Oh yes", now I remembered again, "She is principal of the school. How can she manage so many boys and girls?" I thought. "Isn't she afraid of them? If these student are fellows such as I saw yesterday in the train, I certainly wouldn't even enter a classroom. Think of the smell only!" I scarcely had time to end this thought when I observed a crowd coming up the main road of the compound. They were all young boys. I took refuge behind a little wall and watched the students. They all had black hair and dark skins, but not as yellow as I had always thought the Chinese had; and like the men I had seen in China before, they did not have queues. Their bodies were mostly slender; they walked more softly, more noiselessly, than students at home would walk; and I found out: that they all wore a kind of slippers and not shoes. They were neatly dressed in plain, long garments of a very cheerful blue with white trousers underneath. For the first time I was relieved. This wasn't so bad after all. They weren't dirty, and the only thing they had in common with the people in the train was the language. They didn't speak words or sentences; they just made sounds. And this morning Mr. Robinson tried to make me believe that he was going to preach a sermon in this language. I was looking for the way to the hospitaTwhen another crowd came along from the opposite direction; only girls. Quickly I disappeared behind my wall again and let this crowd pass too. The girls looked nice, they mostly had the same sky- |
