Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to Sun Fayuen, December 26, 1908
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to Sun Fayuen, December 26, 1908
Subject
Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to Sun Fayuen, December 26, 1908
Description
Typed letter sent from Alfred E. Stearns to Sun Fayuen. Sends requested $20 with reluctance. Urges Sun to curtail expenses, stating Sun always requests more than other Chinese students. Explains current Chinese Minister, Sir Chentung Lian Cheng, believes Chinese students in America tend to overspend. Asks for statement of funds spend during vacation. Wishes to hold Sun to standards set by Sun's family.
Transcription
26 December 1908
Mr. Sun Fayuen
Cambridge, Mass.
My dear Sun:
I have this morning received your letter of the 26th inst. and am enclosing, as requested, check for twenty dollars, though I do so very reluctantly. I don’t see why you should always need more money than the other Chinese boys. I don’t mean to imply that your father may not have the money to give you, but Mr.Tong’s definite instructions were that the boys in his charge should be kept within reasonable limits in their expenditures. The recent Chinese Minister, Sir Chentung Liang Cheng, told me again that one of the greatest dangers besetting the Chinese boys in this country lay in the tendency to undue extravagance in money matters. I feel in a measure personally responsible for the development of the character of every Chinese boy with whom I come in contact, and the best character cannot be developed where a boy is careless and extravagant in money matters. This is just as true of our American boys as it is of our Chinese students. Under the circumstances I merely wish to emphasize what I have said before, that it seems imperative that you should attempt to curtail your expenses more than you have done thus far. Will you please also send me a detailed statement of the way in which you spend the money sent you for the vacation.
Please understand I do not mean to criticize unnecessarily, but I do not wish your father or your friends to feel that I have been negligent in holding you up to standards that will mean the most for future usefulness to China and to the world.
With the best wishes for the New Year, believe me.
Sincerely yours.
Mr. Sun Fayuen
Cambridge, Mass.
My dear Sun:
I have this morning received your letter of the 26th inst. and am enclosing, as requested, check for twenty dollars, though I do so very reluctantly. I don’t see why you should always need more money than the other Chinese boys. I don’t mean to imply that your father may not have the money to give you, but Mr.Tong’s definite instructions were that the boys in his charge should be kept within reasonable limits in their expenditures. The recent Chinese Minister, Sir Chentung Liang Cheng, told me again that one of the greatest dangers besetting the Chinese boys in this country lay in the tendency to undue extravagance in money matters. I feel in a measure personally responsible for the development of the character of every Chinese boy with whom I come in contact, and the best character cannot be developed where a boy is careless and extravagant in money matters. This is just as true of our American boys as it is of our Chinese students. Under the circumstances I merely wish to emphasize what I have said before, that it seems imperative that you should attempt to curtail your expenses more than you have done thus far. Will you please also send me a detailed statement of the way in which you spend the money sent you for the vacation.
Please understand I do not mean to criticize unnecessarily, but I do not wish your father or your friends to feel that I have been negligent in holding you up to standards that will mean the most for future usefulness to China and to the world.
With the best wishes for the New Year, believe me.
Sincerely yours.
Creator
Dr. Alfred E. Stearns
Publisher
Phillips Academy
Date
December 26, 1908
Rights
All Rights Reserved By Phillips Academy
Language
English
Type
Correspondence