Letter from C.Y. Sun, Tientsin, to Alfred E. Stearns, January 15, 1922
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from C.Y. Sun, Tientsin, to Alfred E. Stearns, January 15, 1922
Subject
Letter from C.Y. Sun, Tientsin, to Alfred E. Stearns, January 15, 1922
Transcription
Dear Dr. Stearns,
First of all, I wish to offer you my apologies for having delayed to reply to your letter dated September 16, 1921 for such a long time, propbably [sic] you will excuse me if you know that ever since your kind letter was received, I spent all my time in Shanghai until day before yesterday. In Shanghai, I was fully engaged in the campaign to send relief to the millions of suffering people from floods in Kiangsu, Anhwei and Chekiang, three densely populated provinces in mid-China. In Kiangsu, not all the flood water has subsided. It is still six or seven feet deep in many places.
From your letter, I noticed that my remittance of $3,000 has been received and placed to the credit of Mary and the boys.
I was also exceedingly glad to learn that Arthur was entering the Boston Tech., Thomas and Charles were about to enter Phillips, and Mary was going to Northfield Seminary with your daughter to whom, I am proud to learn, she is a very good friend.
It has been very thoughtful of you to lighten the school work for the younger boys by allowing them to take five instead of four years to complete course so as to enable them to acquire a good, firm foundation in English. Regarding Latin and German, I happened to offer a suggestion because I was anxious that they should prepare themselves to be highly educated men. I thank you for your thought on this subject and will leave it to your wise discretion.
As you knew, Arthur was baptised in China. I always wished him to be under the Influences of the Church. Now he is in Boston.
I will ask you to see that he is properly guilded [sic] in that direction while he is attending college.
I have just seen a letter written by Thomas to my grand nephew, Wang. In that, I could get an impression that he, too, is much inclined toward Christianity. I am very much pleased with some of the remarks he made in that letter. Now I am hoping that soon I will hear from the children that they actually join the Church.
Not little have I heard about the summer camps from the children. They all wrote that they were pleased with the camping life and the lesson it taught them. Especially, Mary told me that she was very pround [sic] because she was able to help in household work.
I have already written to my children about doing house-work. I suggested to them that they should offer assistance in any way possible. I think it is to their advantage that they do so. They should consider it a privilege to be permitted to participate in the American home life.
I must confess that I was a bit concerned when I heard from our friend, Mr. Liang that Mary felt homesick and wanted to return to China with her sister, Mrs. Chen. I understand from the latter that she and her husband called upon you and looked up Mary in Northfield. I wired Mr. Liang to persuade Mary to stay. In the next mail I hope to receive a letter from Mr. Liang and to learn the real causes of Mary’s desire to come home. I hope Mary was comforted by the visit of her sister and that she has overcome her home-sickness now.
Yes, I love to see my daughter home. But I also love to see her being educated. I shall be totally disappointed, if she returns at this time. I sent her to America because I wanted her to receive modern education. My country sorely needs highly educated women and I want to see Mary become one. Please pray for her.
Permit me to say, my dear Dr. Stearns, that I am really deeply indebted to you and Miss Clemons for the added work I impose upon you in putting my children under your care. During the year that has past, they all have received untold benefits both in their studies and in life itself.
If not for my prolonged trip to Shanghai, I would have already sent you a new remittance. But my work in connection with the flood relief has upset all my personal program. So I am forwarding you the remittance within this week. I hope that the delay on my part has not inconvenienced you to any great extent.
Going with the same mail, I am sending you with my very sincere regards, a copy of my portrait. I hope in this way we will know each other even more intimately than ever and that you will someday favor me with a copy of your portrait.
Faithfully yours,
CYS/D
First of all, I wish to offer you my apologies for having delayed to reply to your letter dated September 16, 1921 for such a long time, propbably [sic] you will excuse me if you know that ever since your kind letter was received, I spent all my time in Shanghai until day before yesterday. In Shanghai, I was fully engaged in the campaign to send relief to the millions of suffering people from floods in Kiangsu, Anhwei and Chekiang, three densely populated provinces in mid-China. In Kiangsu, not all the flood water has subsided. It is still six or seven feet deep in many places.
From your letter, I noticed that my remittance of $3,000 has been received and placed to the credit of Mary and the boys.
I was also exceedingly glad to learn that Arthur was entering the Boston Tech., Thomas and Charles were about to enter Phillips, and Mary was going to Northfield Seminary with your daughter to whom, I am proud to learn, she is a very good friend.
It has been very thoughtful of you to lighten the school work for the younger boys by allowing them to take five instead of four years to complete course so as to enable them to acquire a good, firm foundation in English. Regarding Latin and German, I happened to offer a suggestion because I was anxious that they should prepare themselves to be highly educated men. I thank you for your thought on this subject and will leave it to your wise discretion.
As you knew, Arthur was baptised in China. I always wished him to be under the Influences of the Church. Now he is in Boston.
I will ask you to see that he is properly guilded [sic] in that direction while he is attending college.
I have just seen a letter written by Thomas to my grand nephew, Wang. In that, I could get an impression that he, too, is much inclined toward Christianity. I am very much pleased with some of the remarks he made in that letter. Now I am hoping that soon I will hear from the children that they actually join the Church.
Not little have I heard about the summer camps from the children. They all wrote that they were pleased with the camping life and the lesson it taught them. Especially, Mary told me that she was very pround [sic] because she was able to help in household work.
I have already written to my children about doing house-work. I suggested to them that they should offer assistance in any way possible. I think it is to their advantage that they do so. They should consider it a privilege to be permitted to participate in the American home life.
I must confess that I was a bit concerned when I heard from our friend, Mr. Liang that Mary felt homesick and wanted to return to China with her sister, Mrs. Chen. I understand from the latter that she and her husband called upon you and looked up Mary in Northfield. I wired Mr. Liang to persuade Mary to stay. In the next mail I hope to receive a letter from Mr. Liang and to learn the real causes of Mary’s desire to come home. I hope Mary was comforted by the visit of her sister and that she has overcome her home-sickness now.
Yes, I love to see my daughter home. But I also love to see her being educated. I shall be totally disappointed, if she returns at this time. I sent her to America because I wanted her to receive modern education. My country sorely needs highly educated women and I want to see Mary become one. Please pray for her.
Permit me to say, my dear Dr. Stearns, that I am really deeply indebted to you and Miss Clemons for the added work I impose upon you in putting my children under your care. During the year that has past, they all have received untold benefits both in their studies and in life itself.
If not for my prolonged trip to Shanghai, I would have already sent you a new remittance. But my work in connection with the flood relief has upset all my personal program. So I am forwarding you the remittance within this week. I hope that the delay on my part has not inconvenienced you to any great extent.
Going with the same mail, I am sending you with my very sincere regards, a copy of my portrait. I hope in this way we will know each other even more intimately than ever and that you will someday favor me with a copy of your portrait.
Faithfully yours,
CYS/D
Creator
C.Y. Sun
Publisher
Phillips Academy
Date
January 15, 1922
Rights
All Rights Reserved by Phillips Academy
Language
English
Type
Correspondence