Letter from S.Y. Hu to Dr. A.E. Stearns, November 24, 1920
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from S.Y. Hu to Dr. A.E. Stearns, November 24, 1920
Subject
Letter from S.Y. Hu to Dr. A.E. Stearns, November 24, 1920
Description
Typed letter from S.Y. Hu to Dr. A.E. Stearns giving him an update on Chu and Fang and asking Stearns for information regarding various Chinese students studying at Phillips Academy. Catches Stearns up on recent political and economic developments in China as well.
Transcription
1008 Ayars Place
Evanston, Ill.,
Nov. 24, 1920
Dr. A. E. Stearns
Phillips Academy,
Andover, Mass.
My dear Dr. Stearns:
I have received both of your letters of October 18 and 22 for which please accept my best thanks. Please excuse the delay in answering. To-morrow is our Thanksgiving Holiday so I take this opportunity to write you a letter. First of all I wish you a most enjoyable Thanksgiving tomorrow. I have been invited out to a Thanksgiving Dinner by the College YMCA here eo I anticipate to have some nice turkey and cranberry to eat then.
Allow me to tell you some thing about the two restless boys,Chu and Fang, who after a few weeks’ private study found that they might not be able to get into the Boston University next Spring thus causing them to think of coming over to some small college in the Mid-West but I am afraid that might act thotless again and I really do not know what to do with them. I wish they could see their follies and reform. How about other new Chinese boys there? I know the Sun Boys and their sister. One of the Sun boys, Thomas,is naughty at times. How is Lee Tsoo Yung?
I insisted on his entering your school when we were on the boat coming over. He is a brilliant boy and I like him. I believe all of them could do first-rate work if they only try their best. Please remember me to all of them and ask them to write me at their convenience. I would like to hear from them regarding their experiences there. Their experiences if told must be quite interesting. Thanks! I stand by strict "discipline" in the practical sense of the word with the High School boys who need it badly and on which their future as useful citizens depends. China must feel very grateful to you for your invaluable services to her sons at this time-time of regeneration in more ways than one.
Let me tell you briefly what heart-rending news I have heard from China regarding both of her political status and her economic status at present. Politically China has been worse than ever as some of the older factions with an idea to get even with newer factions have been trying desperately to put up another monarchy instead of Republic. The latest news I had was that China is now having both an emperor and a president at the same time. Would that be too awful to tolerate? Besides a terrible famine has been raging in several of the provinces in the North of China especially Honan, Chili and Shangtung provinces. All the students in China now have been devoting their time and energy in the Famine Relief Work. The Chinese Students here in America have been doing the same and I have been elected as the chairman of the publicity committee here but I have not done very much yet, pending further instructions from the Central Board at New York. What China needs most is her capacity for both political and social cooperation as Mr. Goodnow, former adviser to the Chinese president and now the president of Johns Hopkins University, has once so well-said. His remarks will get more and more sacred as the days go by. If China does not hurry up to effect a union China’s future as a nation would be unthinkable. I have been perfectly frank with you in my report of China at the present time because I realize to the full that you do have China’s best interests at heart. God knows what is best for China at this time but "God only helps those who help themselves’’.
You know that I am entirely dependent on my personal resources while studying here . I have secured a little work in one of the tea rooms here and I have been putting in two or three hours everyday in the work and I do enjoy in it. I believe that it is the difficult loads that make for manhood and in bearing than we grow to the full stature of our manhood. To all my senses American people is hard-working people and that alone has been impressing me more and more.
With every good wish, I am.
Respectfully yours,
Evanston, Ill.,
Nov. 24, 1920
Dr. A. E. Stearns
Phillips Academy,
Andover, Mass.
My dear Dr. Stearns:
I have received both of your letters of October 18 and 22 for which please accept my best thanks. Please excuse the delay in answering. To-morrow is our Thanksgiving Holiday so I take this opportunity to write you a letter. First of all I wish you a most enjoyable Thanksgiving tomorrow. I have been invited out to a Thanksgiving Dinner by the College YMCA here eo I anticipate to have some nice turkey and cranberry to eat then.
Allow me to tell you some thing about the two restless boys,Chu and Fang, who after a few weeks’ private study found that they might not be able to get into the Boston University next Spring thus causing them to think of coming over to some small college in the Mid-West but I am afraid that might act thotless again and I really do not know what to do with them. I wish they could see their follies and reform. How about other new Chinese boys there? I know the Sun Boys and their sister. One of the Sun boys, Thomas,is naughty at times. How is Lee Tsoo Yung?
I insisted on his entering your school when we were on the boat coming over. He is a brilliant boy and I like him. I believe all of them could do first-rate work if they only try their best. Please remember me to all of them and ask them to write me at their convenience. I would like to hear from them regarding their experiences there. Their experiences if told must be quite interesting. Thanks! I stand by strict "discipline" in the practical sense of the word with the High School boys who need it badly and on which their future as useful citizens depends. China must feel very grateful to you for your invaluable services to her sons at this time-time of regeneration in more ways than one.
Let me tell you briefly what heart-rending news I have heard from China regarding both of her political status and her economic status at present. Politically China has been worse than ever as some of the older factions with an idea to get even with newer factions have been trying desperately to put up another monarchy instead of Republic. The latest news I had was that China is now having both an emperor and a president at the same time. Would that be too awful to tolerate? Besides a terrible famine has been raging in several of the provinces in the North of China especially Honan, Chili and Shangtung provinces. All the students in China now have been devoting their time and energy in the Famine Relief Work. The Chinese Students here in America have been doing the same and I have been elected as the chairman of the publicity committee here but I have not done very much yet, pending further instructions from the Central Board at New York. What China needs most is her capacity for both political and social cooperation as Mr. Goodnow, former adviser to the Chinese president and now the president of Johns Hopkins University, has once so well-said. His remarks will get more and more sacred as the days go by. If China does not hurry up to effect a union China’s future as a nation would be unthinkable. I have been perfectly frank with you in my report of China at the present time because I realize to the full that you do have China’s best interests at heart. God knows what is best for China at this time but "God only helps those who help themselves’’.
You know that I am entirely dependent on my personal resources while studying here . I have secured a little work in one of the tea rooms here and I have been putting in two or three hours everyday in the work and I do enjoy in it. I believe that it is the difficult loads that make for manhood and in bearing than we grow to the full stature of our manhood. To all my senses American people is hard-working people and that alone has been impressing me more and more.
With every good wish, I am.
Respectfully yours,
Creator
S.Y. Hu
Publisher
Phillips Academy
Date
November 24, 1920
Rights
All Rights Reserved By Phillips Academy
Language
English
Type
Correspondence