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Mennonite Historical Library Goshen College, Goshen, ind.

LETTERS FROM MARY

by Crissie Y. Shank

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1924

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By Clayton F. Yake

To the thousands of girls to whom life is just beginning to give an opportunity for service this book, depicting life in India as it would be seen thru the eyes of a missionary’s daughter by an author who is exceptionally adapted to teen- age writing, should have a gripping fascination. It por- trays actual life in so realistic a way that it appeals to you from the very first word and does not fail to hold your

interest to the very last.

“Mary” has the accomplished ability of telling things in an attractive way. She arouses one’s sympathy for those living in a non-Christian land by describing the pathos of their suffering, their grotesque institutions and their fan- tastic habits of thought. Then, too, she takes the discour- aging features of the missionary’s life and looks on the brighter side, even tho she does not enjoy them. She is just a missionary’s daughter going with her Missionary par- ents to India, and when she goes has no desire of ever becoming a missionary. Do you think she retains this idea? The answer is found in her letters which are an interesting

study in the development of her life purpose.

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There are many books on India and Indian Missions. At the same time there is great ignorance not only among young people but even among church leaders in the home- land, of missionary life as it actually is and of practical missionary tasks as they are being carried on ‘among people and in a country so essentially different from our own. To present, therefore, the subject of our own mission

in India anew, to help in making all India and the people

of India interesting and alive, and to stimulate to the study of the missionary work of the Church, the letters in this book were first published in “The Youth’s Christian Com- panion” and at the request of the editor of that paper and others are now collected into one volume.

The incidents used in the letters are accounts of actual occurrences and are not the creation of the imagination. The facts presented have been gathered from many sources, to all of which it is almost impossible to acknowledge the author’s indebtedness. Some are from the letters of mis- sionaries now serving well on the field. A number' ‘have been gathered from the columns of the religious papers and from the Annual Reports of our India Mission: Many of the statements given have been taken from. “Modern. Hindu- ism” and “Hindu Mythology’ by Wilkins, “India and Christian Opportunity” by Harlan P. Beach, “India Awaken- ing” by Sherwood Eddy, “India and. Missions,” and “India’s Place in the World.” The letters lay little claim to original- ity but are largely a compilation, in a new form, from ithese various sources, presenting the results of the labors of others. In order to make the letters more instructive

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and helpful a number of photographs have been added, most of which have been taken by the author or missionary friends.

It should be stated that local differences are so many and so marked that it is almost impossible to generalize with complete accuracy on any subject connected with India, and while the letters have tried to tell “things just exactly as I see them,” they are mostly the things about a very small district in the Central Provinces of India. Moreover, the foreigner in India can at best know but little of the customs and manners of the Hindus. We can be acquainted with some prominent facts, but a definite understanding of their manner of thinking and of their domestic habits and religious ceremonies must be lacking.

“Mary” has no one counterpart in actual life but is a number of characters summed up in one. The letter form of presenting the facts has been chosen as being an easy way to help the imagination in forming the mental pictures of things in India.

It is hoped that this book will serve the purpose of helping in some small way to a better understanding of our Mission work in India, to. a more intelligent and prayerful support of that work, and to some young person’s cheerful going to that field of labor where ‘the harvest indeed is plenteous but the laborers are few.”

Crissie, Y. > Shank: Orrville, Ohio.

PWC R, eNOoE

Safi FOnCIseO eC Ol ye Vl ay nO, DEAR COUSIN ANNA :—

At eleven o’clock we are to set sail. Father and James have gone out to make some last arrange- ments for our baggage and for funds for the trip while Mother and I are here at the hotel to write some good-bye letters to our friends. I don’t know whether ‘I’mj glad or sad. I don’t seem to have the least bit of a missionary feeling in spite of the fact that “Missionary” is stamped across the face of our passage tickets, but I suppose Father and Mother have—they’ve planned and waited so many years to go to India.

Yesterday afternoon we went with Father and James to see our ship. It is a Japanese boat 440 feet long, 50 feet wide, and it has a speed of about twenty miles an hour. Each cabin has an electric fan and electric lights and some sort of heating arrangement, so I suppose we are to be .comfortable whether the weather 1s hot or cold. Father and James have the cabin just across a narrow passage way from the one Mother and I occupy, and both cabins are light and well ventilated, having a port- hole opening on to the promenade deck. There is a wireless telegraphy apparatus and an ice-making

10 LETTERS FROM MARY

plant on board, and then there is a ladies’ room, a library, and since the boat does not carry second- class passengers we are to have the best there is. I hope they make sure that we shall have a good supply of fresh food.

I cannot describe our trip to the coast for the scenery was most beautiful and beyond the power of words to describe—rivers and cascades and can- yons and swirling rapids and green mountains and snowy ranges and rocks. and forests and cattle ranches and mines and shimmering salt beds and orchards and vineyards. One night James got off of the. train ‘at a little station: and’ brought ina handful of snow for us to taste. It was on the Con- tinental Divide and about two miles above sea level. Our engine puffed and tugged up the Atlantic Slope and then rushed down the Pacific.

For twenty-four miles and through the Grand Canyon of the Arkansas River an open top obser- vation car was attached to our train that seemed to cling to every twist and turn. The red granite and gneiss, walls. sparkling with mica towered above, on either side of us nearly half a mile. Straight above, the sky looked like a mere thread and the stars could be seen though it was nearly noon. I must ask father the reason for that. I was too busy looking to talk, then. At one place in the Royal Gorge at Hanging Bridge the passage is only ten yards wide and the railroad is actually built out over

LETTERS FROM MARY ia

the boiling; foaming water. There was nothing but rocks to be seen ahead, but the river found a way through and in the narrow space between the rock wall and the mad river the train found its way.

I did want to stop in Salt Lake City and see

Royal Gorge “The passage is only ten yards wide.” .«

the Mormon’ Tabernacle and Assembly Hall ee Brigham) Young’s Quarters but I don’t believe they could be more interesting than the Lake itself. For eleven miles the railroad crossed through the Great Salt Lake and the waves tossed on either side of

12 LETTERS FROM MARY

our train, sometimes whitening our windows with spray. You know I’m always wondering “how big” and “how many” and “how much.” Well, the lake is one hundred miles long and sixty miles wide in places. It is six times as salty as the ocean and the only living thing in it is a very tiny shrimp. Near the lake there were miles and miles of flat salt beds that looked like white, hard-packed snow and James asked if all the salt in the world was held in storage there. We passed almost through the middle of this mass of salt that is sixty miles long, eight miles wide, one to fifteen thick and ninety-eight per cent pure:

Don’t. .forget .to write me every -week, Anna! Just think, the letter you write to me this week— maybe you have written it already—won’t reach me for nearly two months! And do ask me all the questions you ever think of, or that the other girls think of. I’m afraid there’ll be so many new things that I’ll forget to tell vou some of the things we’ve asked each other so often but wouldn’t ask a’*mis-

sionary when we did see one. I really think we were foolish to be half-way afraid of a missionary. And I’m going to write you things just exactly as I see them, not fixed up for a missionary meeting or calculated to make folks feel sorry for but inter-

ested in the poor heathen.

Tell Uncle Jacob and Aunt Martha and John

LETTERS FROM MARY 13

good-bye for us and don’t forget to tell me about our Missionary Society every month. Ever your loving cousin, Mary.

DER Re NOs

Nearing Honolulu, Hawau, May 12. DEAR ANNA :—

We are to reach Honolulu shortly after dinner and our steamer makes only a.short stay but I think it will be long enough for us to get a glimpse of the Hawalians.

Leaving San Francisco was going to be a great event I thought. You know Grandfather and Grand- mother were there and there was a large crowd on the pier watching and waving while our vessel slowly got under way and headed through the Golden Gate. We soon left them behind and our ship kept moving westward past the Farralon Islands while we stood on the deck gazing toward where we last saw the United States, and then—well, suddenly I felt a queer lump coming into my throat and decided I’d better go alone at once and investigate our cabin. I don’t need to tell you why.. Anyhow I can tell you from experience’ that-at “isn tytun toseave: America, and when I next saw Mother I could see there had been some tears in her eyes.

When I did finally investigate our cabin, the room in which we sleep, our trunks were stowed away under the lower berth and there were drawers. into which we could put some of our clothing. It

erusojed ‘oosisuelg ueg ‘a}ery uepjor)

16 LETTERS FROM. MARY

was quite roomy and. Porbrable looking, that is,.as roomy as a space seven feet square can be with two beds in it. And then dinner was ready and we went to the dining saloon which isn’t a saloon at all but only the large dining room where all the passengers eat together. The waiters are all Japanese, dressed in white, and they seem to exert themselves to wait on us. ‘Lhe “Boy” (as they -are-all called) who waits on us seems never to forget our comfort or convenience, and he is so courteous that I believe it might not hurt me to imitate that characteristic of his. Of course he gets paid for it, but if a Jap- anese ecame: be’ “courteous. tor money wcurelys laecan be courteous without it. I don’t suppose it will make my skin yellow or my eyes slanting, do you? for I don’t particularly admire those characteristics of his.

We. have seen a fish called the porpoise in great numbers. They are about five feet long, black above and gray on the sides, and they belong to the same family as the whale. They have to come to the surface of the water very often to breathe and look like horses galloping along beside our ship. (I wonder if you can pronounce porpoise correctly.)

We have seen many flying fish too trying -to escape from our boat. They look rather small but some of them are said to be about eighteen inches long. Their large fins enable them to keep them- selves up in the air, sometimes as far as two hundred

LETTERS FROM MARY 17

yards, and so they can get away from other fishes, especially the porpoise. I tried to get a picture of them but all you can see is a splash on the water.

The seagulls from the island coasts are follow- ing our ship again, swooping daringly down into the waves beside us, soaring about us, and then swing- ing in circles far out to sea. They are bluish gray in color and are very graceful on the wing, sailing and poising, and flinging and darting untiringly. I think I’ll choose to be like the seagull instead of like the dove. I like it better because it is unafraid and eager to dare the sea and the storm. You can be like the gentle dove. I’m going to be like the gull and dare and do.

Next time I’ll write you things as I saw them at Honolulu.

Your affectionate cousin, Mary. ©

eA Ee UNTO Re BEE

Nearing Yokohama, Japan, May 22.

DEAREST ANNA:

Hawaii is lovely, charming, wonderful! I’ve been dreaming about it ever since we left and while we were there I felt like singing for sheer joy, be- cause life seemed so good. There was not the rush and noise of our country, but a drowsy, peace- ful. sort of atmosphere, in a climate like =the most perfect May’ Day you.can, imagine. “And every- where there were soft, feathery ferns and palms and trees and shrubs and vines; and there were the most peculiar and fragrant and brilliant flowers.

How the Hawaiians sing! I’ve never heard music quite the same as theirs, sort of a sweet, sad music.

There are thousands of acres of pineapples and we have been having Hawaiian pineapple to eat every day since we left—fresh, ripe, juicy pineapple! Yum! Yum! Oranges, limes, grapefruit, alligator pears, papayas, mangoes, bananas, watermelons and other common fruits. I didn’t get to see either a papaya or mango tree so I'll tell you about them when we get to India.

LETTERS FROM MARY 19 And the fish! We had time for but one outing and we went to the Aquarium’ in a tropical looking’ park called Kapiolani, where we saw a collection’ of fish said to be, because of their bright colors and queer forms, the most remarkable and beautiful in- the world. I never could have imagined such odd shapes and the colors are all the hues of the rain-_ bow that look as if they had been painted on and yet I’m sure no painter could put on colors as they are. The fish all have long queer names that I cannot remember, but I wish you might have seen the black one with rich, shaded, chiffon fins and tail; and the one with wonderful colored dots all over its body. And then there were the Octopus or Devil Fish having eight arms each with two rows of suckers. They were fierce looking creatures and while we were looking at them one darted straight at. me as if he wanted to wind all his arms around me. I was glad there was glass between him and me anyhow.

The park is along the bathing beach at Waikiki where we saw the surf boaters and surf board riders. The whole beach is enclosed in a great barrier reef of coral, there is no undertow and no danger. The surf boaters start their canoes from the outer reef and so turn them in front of a breaker that the wave drives them straight to the shore. Adepts

take a long pointed board and standing upon it let the wave drive it upon the sand. The fine beach

20 LETTERS ‘FROM MARY

and: warm’ water were tempting, but we had to hurry back: to our ship. is

-- -Fames and I decided that it would be fun to be ‘missionaries or church workers or something in ‘Hawaii and we told mother we were both going there to work after we had gone back to America and: finished school. But Mother told us in that

ie

A Pineapple Field

quiét way of hers that we couldn’t be missionaries ‘for fun and that if there wasn’t a real reason for tis to stay at home that we ought to go to one of ‘the lands where so many people are unhappy and aire dying unhappy. She told us that a king by the name of Kamehameha abolished idolatry through- ‘cut all the Hawaiian Islands in 1819. Then the first missionaries went there from America in 1820

LETTERS FROM MARY 21

and began teaching the people. Now more than half of the people are Protestant Christians. There

A Bungalo in Hawaii

are great numbers of Chinese and Japanese who generally hold to their old religions, and there are

22 LETTERS FROM MARY

some Catholics. Mother said that we could work for God at home or any place, but that things were not divided up even, with so many more workers at one place and.so much more and harder work at another place like there are in the world to-day, and she said that we ought to help even it up somehow. But maybe there’ll be a good reason for me to stay at home.

These ten days at.sea have been very much alike, long, luxurious, glorious days. But they have been days in Wonderland or rather Wonder- water, to me. Most of the time there has been scarcely’ a ripple on the shining surface of the great, peaceful. Pacific, and it looks as if one could skate right away to the horizon. And just think how broad the ocean is! A voyage lasting a week and three days without seeeing land! The Captain says the weather on this trip has been the most agree- able he has ever seen. |

But ‘I lost my birthday! I really lost it! This as how it happened: We have been sailing “out into the Wes where the sun goes down” to the “point where the West meets the East and away out somewhere in mid-Pacific: we crossed the 180th imeridian. There we left the West behind us and dropped a day from the calendar and that day was my birthday. .But since I couldn’t have a birth- ‘day party for you and John or even a birthday

LETTERS FROM MARY 23

cake with sixteen candles, it really doesn’t make any difference I guess.

‘The, ocean is “blue,’ just as blue as ink, when you look straight down into it.

But I can’t write another word for James says we can see Japan and I want to be the first to see Fuji. Lovingly,

Mary.

PEER Nee

Off the Japanese Coast, May 25. DEAR COUSIN: I have seen Fujiyama the sacred mountain of the Japanese people, but I had to be shown. It was beautifully clear when we entered the harbor at

Fuji from Tagonoura

Yokohama and the Japanese passengers were very enthusiastic about their king of mountains when I got out on deck after sealing your last letter. I could hardly make out the hazy outline of the shore and then a vague outline of bluish hills, the farther range of which seemed pale and milky and part of

LETTERS FROM MARY 25

the floating clouds, but I couldn’t make out anything that looked like a snowy peak twelve thousand feet high, though I looked and looked in the direction in which everyone else was looking. And then a dignified old Japanese gentleman said, “Oh, you must look above the clouds!” And there, high above the clouds, with its snow-capped peak like the petals of a great lotus flower, stood old Fuji! No wonder the Japanese are enthusiastic about it!

We are actually in Japan, the Flowery King- dom,* the Hand» ois thes Chrysanthemum -and the Rising Sun! And it 1s more bewitching and fairy- land like than you can dream. The cherry blossoms are gone and the Chrysanthemums are not yet blooming but there are peonies and wistaria and iris in bloom. Everyone “seems~to\ be ~happy for the Streets, are full or ‘polite, courteous, little people smiling and saying nice things to each other. The women and girls are very pretty in their rainbow colored kimonos and stilt-like wooden sandals.

We took several short trips to the business part of Yokohama and visited some of the shops with their ivory, silver, brass, silk, porcelain, bronze, paintirgs, and curios. I’ve found some things I’m saving to show you. Oh, I know we're not away for just a little visit and coming back soon. We're almost three weeks from home and we're still going! But anyhow, I bought a little image of three mon- keys to bring with me when I do come. One mon-

Oro, ‘pysedg

[etiadwy

LETTERS FROM MARY 27

key holds his hand over his eyes, one holds them over his ears, and the third holds his hands over his mouth. These monkeys are to be seen in nearly every shop and illustrate an old saying, “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.”

One day we all went to Tokio, eighteen miles from Yokohama and a fifty minutes’ trip by train. We went to the railroad station in a jinrikisha, more commonly known here as the “riksha.”’ The natives haul you about for a very few sen. (You don’t know what a sen is, do you? Well, find out.) And they seem to fave the rikshaws everywhere all the time. It is a very comfortable way of riding, too.

In itront ofa ‘modern depot of stone a porter with red cap and brass buttons was ringing a big bell. And then there was a loud whistle, a banging of doors, and we were on our way in a little railway coach containing two seats which run the length of the car. Beside mother sat an elderly Japanese lady in a beautiful dove colored silk kimono and next to her was a girl about my age in a kimono of deep purple and gold brocade. I did want to talk to her! Across from us sat an old gentleman who took a pipe and tobacco box out of his girdle and smoked; near him was another old gentleman read- ing a Japanese newspaper while his little boy sat beside him holding some. bundles in his sleeves; and at the other end of.the seat were three school-

28 LETTERS FROM MARY

boys in the dark blue uniform with bright buttons that all schoolboys wear.

We passed many little rice fields that were flooded with water and that were laid out like a big checkerboard.

The people, both men and women, dressed in blue and white with white cloths or big straw um- brella-looking hats on their heads, were weeding in the fields. And where the country wasn’t marshes

Japanese Students

it was hills that were terraced to the very tops to make tiny level fields. The villages looked as if they had come right out of a picture book with their clean bird-cage houses.

In Tokio we got a good view of the outside of the Imperial Palace. It is in the central part of the city and is guarded by moats which surround it so that no one can get nearer than the entrance which is formed by twin bridges.

LETTERS FROM MARY 29

And then we got some letters of introduction and were allowed to go into the Imperial University where we saw some interesting things. There are

Huge Statue of Buddha

about three thousand students and I got a picture of some of them near the science buildings.

Oh yes, and best of all we were invited to tea

30 LETTERS FROM MARY

at the home of the President of our Steamer Com- pany. The house was all so clean-looking you hated to step on the porch but you didn’t get a chance to step inside for some little maids came and took off our shoes and put on some nice straw sandals in- stead. I won’t try to describe the house with its paintings and silk tapestries and images. Instead of hanging paintings on the walls they have paint- ings on sliding panels that take the place of doors in our houses, and often the whole solid walls are painted. Painted screens are also a part of the decoration of the rooms. It was like a dream house. Two pretty little daughters came in, bowed until their heads touched the floor, and then brought us some tea in tiny bowls and some cakes.

In one of the parks where we had dinner under an arbor of wistaria we saw a huge statue of Buddha who is worshiped by so many of the Japanese.

It’s getting so windy I can’t hold my paper any more and I don’t want to go into our cabin.

Lovingly yours, Mary.

ERE Ran Ove

Hong Kong, China, June 10. My BELoveED CousIN:

We did have a real storm between Yokohama and Kobe. I stayed out on deck as long as I could and after all the other women had gone in but I soon had to go to our cabin and that upper berth where I was glad to stay. The next morning I felt pretty limp and weak-kneed but we all dressed early for we reached Kobe in the night, and about six o’clock we went ashore where we saw a very pretty waterfall.

Between Kobe and Nagasaki we went through the Inland Sea, a distance of 240 miles. Romantic and picturesque are the words that I think of that best describe it. There are about a thousand oddly shaped islands and islets in the Sea and each one we could see seemed the most beautiful. At one point the shores were so close that we could have thrown a stone over the water on either side of the boat. We could not go ashore at Nagasaki for we stopped only long enough to coal.

We stopped in Shanghai a few hours, long enough for us to go ashore and buy sun hats. Fa- ther’s and James’ are white-covered cork and Mother’s and mine are ugly, heavy things made out of sola pith and covered with coarse white cloth

URUIOM 2IQIq pue IN9}10d]o0 syosdoyy YUM Suneq USsIIO AA BSOUTYD

LETTERS FROM MARY 36

these topis from now on until we: leave India again. ; feet She 3 ; Bo Ba Pot 3

tie qu i »;'; Chinese .Schqol Girls

But I see people with nothing on their heads here in Hong Kong arid I don't see why we’ couldn’t get ased to-it'too. I<think I'll try it- some time.

34 LETTERS FROM MARY

We have been waiting here seven days for a steamer to Calcutta; tomorrow we are to leave and not one of us is sorry. The season to enjoy Hong Kong is from October to May, but now with the temperature about ninety degrees and the air very moist it is too uncomfortable to see the interesting things that are here or to do anything but stay under the electric fans in our hotel rooms.

Hong Kong, meaning the Land of Sweet Waters, is an island about ten miles long and four miles wide, with a population of about 350,000. Most of the people are Chinese, but there are Japanese, English, Americans, and I think almost every na- tionality must be represented. There are many Indians who have yards and yards of cloth bound about their heads like that missionary showed us.

The longest trip we took was to Victoria Peak which is that part of the city where pretty summer homes have been built to get the benefit of the winds, and we found it much cooler up there 1300 feet above our hotel. We went up by a wire-rope tramway in a few minutes and then after it was cooler we walked down a shady, winding road in a half hour. The view over the city below us, and over the sea with its islands and the harbor with its boats I shall never forget.

One evening we spent in the Botanical Gar- dens where we saw the Tree Fern, Bamboo, Lotus,

LETTERS FROM MARY 35

Cocoanut and Sago Palms, and so many queer looking trees and plants.

In both Shanghai and Hong Kong there is a settlement of Europeans with well kept and well lighted streets, pure water, good police system, and all the other things we have in our cities; and then there is a Chinese City with narrow alleys swarm- ing with people and dirt and smells and noise. Any- how I’m glad we're not stopping in China—the:

A Chinese Village

people are so dirty and there are so many crying babies and crippled beggars. But James says he likes the Chinese because they are quiet and respect- ful and civil, and because they are contented and energetic at work.

One evening I went with Father and Mother to a Missionary Conference where there were a lot of pale, tired, faded-out-looking missionaries. But they were glad-looking too and after awhile I saw only

36 LETTERS FROM MARY

the glad look» and not .the: faded-out ‘part.:. One of Mother’s old college mates and her: husband have been in’ China for two years and they gave us ‘some interesting pictures of their work. Don’t you think so? And no wonder missionary folk are: a glad- looking’set if they can help to make people look and live like clean Christians instead of dirty heathen.

I haven’t had any lotus seeds or bamboo shoots or roast pigeon Mongolian style or shark fins or bird nest soup yet, and the eating is fairly good. Only sometimes the food is so hot with curry and spice that it nearly takes my breath. James says I have to. finish my plate of food: even if it does make the tears come for | won’t get anything else but curry and spice in India. But I don’t believe it!

Your loving Cousin,

Mary.

LETTER“NO! ‘Vio

Penang, Straits. Settlements, June 24. Dearest ANNA :— con ee :

We have been within one degree of the equa- tor and now we have come north ‘again about 500 miles. We stopped at Singapore for several days to shift ca:go and found it very damp and warm, but the nights were cool enough to sleep and they weren't atc tions.icong.-) lt irained every day we were there and they say it rains practically, every day in the year. The city is not on the Malay Pen- insula but on a small island lying off the southern point.

The namersineaporeymeans “The City:of Lions” but there are only tigers and no lions on the island. But there are elephants and James saw some of them at work.

One afternoon we went to the Botanic Gardens in double rikshaws. The road was made of a red- colored stone and was lovely and wide and smooth and for over three miles our coolies, one for each rikshaw, trotted along without ever stopping. In the gardens are rubber trees from all parts of the world, a lake with such large lilies, and many giant trees all so tropical looking.

But the busy streets gave you a different im-

Joquiy Suryseig jueyds[q

HOOLS INH 2:

LETTERS FROM MARY ay)

pression—such a din and turmoil! Such ‘a’ picture of gay head-dresses and bright clothing! - Such a motley crowd of humanity passing and repassing and thronging everywhere— Malays of different tribes, Chinese, Japanese, Indians, Armenians, Par- sees, Arabs, and Jews.

I didn’t even know there was such a place as Penang, but it’s here, a good harbor on a little island close to the west shore of the Peninsula. Mother and I went ashore for a little while but it is raining all the time and there is nothing worth seeing any- how. There have been so many new and strange sights that I haven’t had time to think, but now I have to sing pretty hard and write pretty fast to keep a queer feeling away. Oh no! I’m not home- sick! But I wish I could go with you out to the hay-mow and talk and hear some sensible sounds instead of all this hubbub.

This steamer is really only a cargo boat and the only passengers beside ourselves are another mis- sionary and his wife, an English captain and _ his wife and a business man from, Australia. There were about forty first class passengers on the steam- er to Hong Kong and we learned to know each other real well. There were two girls who came to Shanghai with their Mother who is a missionary too. They had been in America a year and they said they wouldn’t stay in America if they could. Well, I know somebody who wouldn’t stay in Japan

40 LETTERS FROM MARY

or China or the Straits Settlements if she could help it! | Here’s. hoping India will be better. ,.Tomorrow we leave for Calcutta and jin; four days we will be ea Until then, mee hy

: | Good-bye!

MARY.

LETTER NO mV il

Calcutta, India, June 30. My Dear ANNA :—

A storm at sea is terrible and I never want to be in another! The first evening after we left Pe- nang it began to get rough and until we entered the Hooghly River yesterday morning early we had such a storm as I could not have imagined. The ship rocked and rolled, and pitched and tossed, and seem- ed so helpless and frail. Yesterday morning we saw above the water the smokestack and two masts of a vessel that had sunk, but ours stayed on top all right, most of the time at least; and our captain said she rode the water like a duck. But the waves kept dashing against our port holes and the cabin was toouclose toppreathcaitcelyaurrartnopetie mine, | ielt I didn’t care anything about the ship—‘sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish,” it was all the same to me. Part of the time I was just able to get out on the upper deck where | ‘coulé fheht off the sea-sickness better. But through all those five days Mother lay in her berth and was the sickest, palest looking person I’ve ever been around.

One morning I started out to take my salt water bath and I got one unexpectedly on the way to the tub. A big wave completely covered me, but

BWNIeD ‘Weg Yoong

LETTERS FROM MARY 43

by the time I had recovered from the suddenness of it, it was gone again and I didn’t have time to rub it in.

Calcutta is not situated on the Bay of Bengal as I thought but on the Hooghly River, a branch of the sa- cred Ganges and one of the principal channels of the Ganges delta. It is about fifteen miles wide at the mouth and the one hundred miles from its mouth to Calcutta were smooth sailing again. How glad we were you cannot know! But we had one very ex- citing experience when we almost ran into another vessel. At this time of year the river is treacherous

and we sailed ever so slowly and even then almost collided.

While our steamer was on her way up the river a Custom’s Declaration form was handed to each passenger to fill up. Our baggage was all ex empt from duty except for a gun and a revolver that Father brought along for wild animals.

We are staying at the “Lee Memorial Home” where Mr. and Mrs. Lee and several other mission- aries are working. They have about three hundred girls in the institution who are being trained in school, in Bible work and in Christian service. A- bout twenty years ago six of the Lee children per- ished in a landslide in the Himalaya Mountains where they were going to school, and this Jarge Mission Home is a memorial for those children. —

Yesterday evening I went with Father to see

44 LETTERS FROM MARY

the sights and:to:purchase’some necessaries for. usé on ‘the’ way) to 'Dhamtari—bedding, soap, towels, lunch basket, and food. There is much of interest in Calcutta. Including its suburbs there is a popula-

“The monument is pathetic”

tion of nearly a million and the public buildings are really imposing. It is called the “City of Palaces,” and the houses of the British quarter are of brick, elegantly built, in large grounds, and many of them like palaces. But the quarter occupied by the na-

LETTERS FROM (MARY 45

tives has narrow, crooked, ill-kept streets and Oh, PATA) ib seallost asebadsas, China!

In the very heart of. the business quarter with magnificent stores and offices is the site of Old Fort William. and of. the disaster of June, 1756, miarked in the pavement in front of the Post Office’and the Custom House. ‘In a side, entrance. to the Post Office we saw where the pasition of the Black Hole has been located and perpetuated! :by a marble tablet. And nearby is a monument raised toi the memory of the 123 who died during that awful, night when 146 Europeans were thrust into a twenty foot square cell. The monument is not beautiful but it is pa- thetic. From that year Coleus has developed and progressed. ar :

One of the missionaries from Dhamtari came to the steamer to meet us and to help us in traveling. We are to leave for Dhamtari soon after noon and it is dinner time-now. : r

With much love, MARY.

LETTER NO. VIII.

Dhamtari, C. P., India, July 1. My Dear Cousin ANNA:—

Eight weeks ago today we left San Francisco and we are actually in Dhamtari! I can hardly believe it even with all these strange things around me. Just think of having to call this “home” and of having to live with such strangers! But to begin with everything seems just as I pictured it, the rice fields, the natives, the houses and all have that Indian appearance that I expected ‘and yet there’s something altogether different; there’s either some- thing more than I was looking for, or something less—anyhow there’s a difference that I can’t ex- plain. I guess

From Greenland’s icy mountains,

From India’s coral strand,” put some ideas into the back of my head that don’t fit with what is here, anyhow I don’t see any “palmy plains” or smell any “spicy breezes” here at Dham- tari. And I can’t see any difference in the people. I thought one could easily know the different castes, but everybody, Mohammedans, Hindus, Brahmins, and Sweepers, as far as their dress and general ap- pearance go, all look very much alike to me. And