Letter from Tsai Shou Kie, Tientsin, to Alfred E. Stearns, November 17, 1921
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Tsai Shou Kie, Tientsin, to Alfred E. Stearns, November 17, 1921
Subject
Letter from Tsai Shou Kie, Tientsin, to Alfred E. Stearns, November 17, 1921
Transcription
Tientsin, Nov. 17, 1921
Dr. A. E. Stearns, Andover, Mass.
Dear Dr. Stearns:-
I am in receipt of both of your letters and wish to express my most heart-felt appreciation for the care and concern you are giving to Kuo Feng’s welfare. I am not in the least worried over the after-effects of the operation, as over a month had now elapsed before your letters had reached me, and in the interim, "no news was good news".
As regards your authorizing the operation to be performed without my previous knowledge of the boy’s precarious plight, it would indeed have been a great indiscretion on your part, if any time was lost in getting my sanction before the commencement of the operation. The boy is in your hands, and opportunity is taken in this instance to express once more my wish of having him completely under your guardianship both in name and in fact. There is nothing you may do for his welfare which will not be approved of by me and his brothers.
Of course, I hope you will send me whenever it is ready, the entire bill for the fees and charges incidental to the operation, and I shall remit you the sum upon receipt of same. I presume he will have to give up his athletic activities for some time to come.
Just now our eyes are focussed towards the Washington Conference, and we hope as your President ,and I believe, the rank and file of the Americans hope that the program as laid out by your Representatives will be adopted in its entirety and that satisfactory solutions will be found for all the stupendous problems in the Pacific, which may be a menace to the future peace of the world.
If reasons and "fair play" prevail, if intrigues and conspiracy are not fostered, if secret diplomacy is banished, and if subtle propaganda are not perpetuated when the old World’s diplomats come together with our next door neighbor to block the success of the Conference, then I am very sanguine to believe that the Biblical saying, "Love thy neighbors as thyself", and the Confucian maxim, "All within four seas are bretherns" will find their fulfillments, the complete realization of which has taken over twenty centuries to do so.
I would very much like to take a trip to America if I were ten years or so younger. I had such an opportunity in 1913 when I was offered and honored by an appointment as Minister to Washington, but as I had then already made up my mind to retire from official life and devote all my time for my family, I declined the post. Now I find that I am so fondly attached to my hearth-stone that during the last five years, I have been scarcely been out of Tientsin for more than three occasions.
But on the other hand, I hope you will follow the footsteps of Professors Dewey and Monroe of Columbia, and Bertram Russell of Cambridge, or the American Educational Mission headed by President Wooley of Mount Holyoke, and the Board of trustees of the Peking Union Medical College of the Rockefeller Foundation, and make a trip out this way in the near future.This hope is cherished and shared by all your former students and friends in China. You contact, your magnetic personality and your altruism will gove them increased courage and fortitude to face the task they are performing.
My sons, Kuo-tsao and Kuo-pao, and son-in-law, Yit Sing Wong ('07) all join me in sending their friendliest greetings and best wishes to you.
With kindest regards, I am,
Very sincerely yours,
Tsai Shou Kie
Dr. A. E. Stearns, Andover, Mass.
Dear Dr. Stearns:-
I am in receipt of both of your letters and wish to express my most heart-felt appreciation for the care and concern you are giving to Kuo Feng’s welfare. I am not in the least worried over the after-effects of the operation, as over a month had now elapsed before your letters had reached me, and in the interim, "no news was good news".
As regards your authorizing the operation to be performed without my previous knowledge of the boy’s precarious plight, it would indeed have been a great indiscretion on your part, if any time was lost in getting my sanction before the commencement of the operation. The boy is in your hands, and opportunity is taken in this instance to express once more my wish of having him completely under your guardianship both in name and in fact. There is nothing you may do for his welfare which will not be approved of by me and his brothers.
Of course, I hope you will send me whenever it is ready, the entire bill for the fees and charges incidental to the operation, and I shall remit you the sum upon receipt of same. I presume he will have to give up his athletic activities for some time to come.
Just now our eyes are focussed towards the Washington Conference, and we hope as your President ,and I believe, the rank and file of the Americans hope that the program as laid out by your Representatives will be adopted in its entirety and that satisfactory solutions will be found for all the stupendous problems in the Pacific, which may be a menace to the future peace of the world.
If reasons and "fair play" prevail, if intrigues and conspiracy are not fostered, if secret diplomacy is banished, and if subtle propaganda are not perpetuated when the old World’s diplomats come together with our next door neighbor to block the success of the Conference, then I am very sanguine to believe that the Biblical saying, "Love thy neighbors as thyself", and the Confucian maxim, "All within four seas are bretherns" will find their fulfillments, the complete realization of which has taken over twenty centuries to do so.
I would very much like to take a trip to America if I were ten years or so younger. I had such an opportunity in 1913 when I was offered and honored by an appointment as Minister to Washington, but as I had then already made up my mind to retire from official life and devote all my time for my family, I declined the post. Now I find that I am so fondly attached to my hearth-stone that during the last five years, I have been scarcely been out of Tientsin for more than three occasions.
But on the other hand, I hope you will follow the footsteps of Professors Dewey and Monroe of Columbia, and Bertram Russell of Cambridge, or the American Educational Mission headed by President Wooley of Mount Holyoke, and the Board of trustees of the Peking Union Medical College of the Rockefeller Foundation, and make a trip out this way in the near future.This hope is cherished and shared by all your former students and friends in China. You contact, your magnetic personality and your altruism will gove them increased courage and fortitude to face the task they are performing.
My sons, Kuo-tsao and Kuo-pao, and son-in-law, Yit Sing Wong ('07) all join me in sending their friendliest greetings and best wishes to you.
With kindest regards, I am,
Very sincerely yours,
Tsai Shou Kie
Creator
Tsai Shou Kie
Publisher
Phillips Academy
Date
November 17, 1921
Rights
All Rights Reserved By Phillips Academy
Language
English
Type
Correspondence