It is a great thing, going with Mrs. Ahok, for one has a good
opportunity of learning many little customs which please them
greatly."

"We then proceeded to another house, where we went through much the
same etiquette. We were received by a very pleasant old lady and
her daughter-in-law, a nice young woman with four dear little
children, three of them boys. The old lady is a widow; her husband
when living was a mandarin, and her eldest son is now at Peking,
preparing to be a mandarin also. We were obliged to drink tea
again, and after some time the old lady invited us into her own
bedroom, a very much cleaner room than one sees generally, with
white matting on the floor and some good furniture. She was very
proud of it, but according to Chinese fashion kept exclaiming that
it was such a dirty bad room, that she could hardly ask us into it,
but we must excuse it, as it was 'an old woman's room.' We had the
concertina brought in again and sang several hymns to which they
listened very quietly. One of us read a verse and explained it
before singing it, and Mrs. Ahok joined heartily, most bravely
acknowledging herself to be a Christian, and telling her friends
how happy she was. We then went through the house, and about the
middle of the establishment we came on a little enclosure where
trees were growing, and a pond of water with a rookery behind it
looked quite pretty.... When we left they begged us to come again,
and Mrs. Ahok is so pleased with the reception we received that she
is anxious, if possible, to arrange for us to go again next week."

Even more formidable than ceremonious social calls in wealthy Chinese
homes, is the thought of entertaining the aristocracy in one's own home.