Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to George C. Gardner, Springfield, Mass. November 16, 1922 (regarding Tommy Liang)
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to George C. Gardner, Springfield, Mass. November 16, 1922 (regarding Tommy Liang)
Subject
Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to George C. Gardner, Springfield, Mass. November 16, 1922 (regarding Tommy Liang)
Transcription
My dear Mr. Gardner:
Thank you for your frank and friendly letter received this morning. Dr. Perry is to be my guest Saturday in connection with our annual football contest with his school; and I will have a good opportunity to explain to him the complications that have developed over young Liang's school connection, and I am sure that he will understand fully and cooperate in a generous way. If any question arises in regard to fees due or already paid at Exeter, we shall be ready and glad to waive the first half year's payment here. There is no reason, therefore, why there should be any extra expense involved in the change. In justice to Mr. Liang this is as it should be; for I know from experience that our Chinese friends, regardless of their individual means, are, in the large majority of cases, very eager that their children should learn by actual restraint in expenditure the value of money.
Mr. Liang has often told me of his intimate relations with and affection for your family. My own associations with the Chinese began when Liang Chontung, one of that early group of Chinese Pioneers, returned to this country as Ambassador and almost at once visited his old school at Andover. We made a good deal of him at the time; and I had the privilege of passing several days as his guest at the Chinese Legation in Washington. On that first return visit to Andover he brought a group of boys whom he left in my charge; and, as a result of that beginning, I have had a hundred or more boys in school here during the last fifteen or twenty years and have filled the position of American guardian and adviser for some fifty of them. These most interesting relationships induced me to turn my eyes toward China, when in 1912 the trustees granted me a year's leave of absence. The warm and friendly hospitality extended so generously to me there has always been one of my most valued memories and has led to even closer and wider friendships with these most attractive people in later years. Mr. M.T. Liang, especially, had so often gone out of his way to show his friendship and goodwill that I felt all the more keenly the slip which had been made in my office in answering your letter of inquiry. I am delighted that there is now a good chance of making the Andover contact with Liang's boy.
Very sincerely yours,
Thank you for your frank and friendly letter received this morning. Dr. Perry is to be my guest Saturday in connection with our annual football contest with his school; and I will have a good opportunity to explain to him the complications that have developed over young Liang's school connection, and I am sure that he will understand fully and cooperate in a generous way. If any question arises in regard to fees due or already paid at Exeter, we shall be ready and glad to waive the first half year's payment here. There is no reason, therefore, why there should be any extra expense involved in the change. In justice to Mr. Liang this is as it should be; for I know from experience that our Chinese friends, regardless of their individual means, are, in the large majority of cases, very eager that their children should learn by actual restraint in expenditure the value of money.
Mr. Liang has often told me of his intimate relations with and affection for your family. My own associations with the Chinese began when Liang Chontung, one of that early group of Chinese Pioneers, returned to this country as Ambassador and almost at once visited his old school at Andover. We made a good deal of him at the time; and I had the privilege of passing several days as his guest at the Chinese Legation in Washington. On that first return visit to Andover he brought a group of boys whom he left in my charge; and, as a result of that beginning, I have had a hundred or more boys in school here during the last fifteen or twenty years and have filled the position of American guardian and adviser for some fifty of them. These most interesting relationships induced me to turn my eyes toward China, when in 1912 the trustees granted me a year's leave of absence. The warm and friendly hospitality extended so generously to me there has always been one of my most valued memories and has led to even closer and wider friendships with these most attractive people in later years. Mr. M.T. Liang, especially, had so often gone out of his way to show his friendship and goodwill that I felt all the more keenly the slip which had been made in my office in answering your letter of inquiry. I am delighted that there is now a good chance of making the Andover contact with Liang's boy.
Very sincerely yours,
Creator
Alfred E. Stearns
Publisher
Phillips Academy
Date
November 16, 1922
Rights
All Rights Reserved by Phillips Academy
Language
English
Type
Correspondence