I am going to put on my prettiest clothes and do my yellow locks in
their most fetching style.

I shall lock up tight, way down deep, all heartaches and longings and
put on my best smile for these dear little people who have given to
me, a stranger, such full measure of their sympathy and friendship,
who, in the big service last month, when giving thanks for all the
great blessings of the past year, named the new Kindergarten teacher
first.

Do you wonder that I am happy and miserable and homesick and contented
all at the same time?

The box I sent home for Christmas was a paltry offering compared to
what I wanted to send, but the things were bought with the first money
I ever earned. They are packed in so tight with love that I doubt if
you ever get them out.

Our Christmas dinner was not exactly a success. We invited all the
foreigners in Hiroshima, twelve in number, and everybody talked a
great deal and laughed at everybody's stale jokes, and pretended to be
terribly hilarious. But there was a pathetic droop to every mouth,
and not a soul referred to _home_. Each one seemed to realize
that the mere mention of the word would break up the party.

I tell you I am beginning to look with positive reverence on the
heroism of some of these people! Tears and regrets have no place here;
desire, ambition, love itself is laid aside, and only taken out for
inspection perhaps in the dead hours of the night. If heart breaks
come, as come they must, there is no crying out, no rebellion, just a