Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to Alfred Tsai, Stearns School, Mont Vernon, New Hampshire, October 3, 1927
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to Alfred Tsai, Stearns School, Mont Vernon, New Hampshire, October 3, 1927
Subject
Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to Alfred Tsai, Stearns School, Mont Vernon, New Hampshire, October 3, 1927
Transcription
My dear Alfred:
I have your note of October 1st and am going to allow you an allowance of $5.00 per month. This is wholly for incidentals which can hardly be called necessaries. What you need for stamps and other necessary articles my brother will supply and charge to your account. I am asking him, however, to see that these expenditures are kept within decent and rigid limits.
Frankly, I am greatly distressed at your readiness to spend money freely and thoughtlessly whenever the inclination moves you. I have had several Chinese boys in my charge who have exhibited this tendency, and not one of them has ever amounted to anything or been a credit to his family or his country. The fact that you are still young leads me to hope that you are going to overcome this weakness and promptly. Unless you do, I shall be forced to write your father advising him to call you back to China on the round that your further stay here would be only harmful to you and a needless expense to him. The sooner you learn to cultivate and understand the value of money, the sooner I shall be ready to feel that you are gaining from the American contact. I have no desire to keep you from having anything your father would wish and that is necessary or likely to be of real value to you. When it comes to needless and foolish expenditures, however, I put my foot down and hard and with the full assurance that I have your father’s hearty approval of my position. The current year has got to be a year of reasonable expenditure and definite progress in your school work.
Faithfully yours,
I have your note of October 1st and am going to allow you an allowance of $5.00 per month. This is wholly for incidentals which can hardly be called necessaries. What you need for stamps and other necessary articles my brother will supply and charge to your account. I am asking him, however, to see that these expenditures are kept within decent and rigid limits.
Frankly, I am greatly distressed at your readiness to spend money freely and thoughtlessly whenever the inclination moves you. I have had several Chinese boys in my charge who have exhibited this tendency, and not one of them has ever amounted to anything or been a credit to his family or his country. The fact that you are still young leads me to hope that you are going to overcome this weakness and promptly. Unless you do, I shall be forced to write your father advising him to call you back to China on the round that your further stay here would be only harmful to you and a needless expense to him. The sooner you learn to cultivate and understand the value of money, the sooner I shall be ready to feel that you are gaining from the American contact. I have no desire to keep you from having anything your father would wish and that is necessary or likely to be of real value to you. When it comes to needless and foolish expenditures, however, I put my foot down and hard and with the full assurance that I have your father’s hearty approval of my position. The current year has got to be a year of reasonable expenditure and definite progress in your school work.
Faithfully yours,
Creator
Alfred E. Stearns
Publisher
Phillips Academy
Date
October 3, 1927
Rights
All Rights Reserved By Phillips Academy
Language
English
Type
Correspondence