Legs, back and other things," etc, etc.

There goes the bell, and here go I. I can appreciate the feelings of
a fire engine!



Christmas Day, 1901.


Had somebody told you last Christmas, as we trimmed the big tree and
made ready for the family gathering, that this Christmas would find me
in a foreign country teaching a band of little heathens, wouldn't you
have thought somebody had wheels in his head?

And yet it is true, and I have only to lift my eyes to realize fully
that I am really in the flowery kingdom. The plum blossoms are in full
bloom and the roses too, while a thick frost makes everything
sparkling white in the sunshine. The mountains have put on a thin
blue veil trimmed in silver, and over all is a turquoise sky.

And best of all, everybody--I speak figuratively--is happy. It may be
that some poor little waif is hungry, having had only rice water for
breakfast, it may be some sad hearts are beating under the gay
kimonos, and it _may_ be, Mate dear, that somebody, a stranger in
a strange land, can't keep the tears back, and is longing with all her
mind and soul and body for home and her loved ones. But never you
mind, nobody knows it but you and me and a bamboo tree!

This afternoon we are going to have tea for the Mammas and Papas, and