Letter from Thomas Sun, New Haven, Conn., to Alfred E. Stearns, March 28, 1931
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Thomas Sun, New Haven, Conn., to Alfred E. Stearns, March 28, 1931
Subject
Letter from Thomas Sun, New Haven, Conn., to Alfred E. Stearns, March 28, 1931
Transcription
My Dear Dr. Stearns,
Soon after I mailed my last letter to you, I received a letter from home dated March 2, 1931.
In the letter Father did not say anything about the prospects of my going home at all till I finish the work down here at Yale. However, the date of the letter made me think. If he mailed the letter on March 2, he must have received either your letter or even Mary’s asking him to let me to go home. And yet, he said nothing about it to me. Mary received a letter from him the same day, and he said nothing about in that either. Now I am asking you, whether or not you have heard. Any information will be greatly appreciated.
One thing which I did definitely is that I wrote to Father myself asking him to let me go home. I did that right after I received the letter. In the letter, Father said that due to the exchange of silver, he has to furnish five dollars to every dollar I spend here. On that ground, I asked him to let me go, because the whole family can almost live, in Chinese money, on what he has to send to me every year in American money, I wrote rather lengthily, and I hope that he will be taken over by my sincere arguments. Maybe, a personal appeal from myself will tell him that I myself want to go home. At any rate, I hope he will consider my proposal seriously.
I saw Mary last night, and failed to get her to come to a definite plan. One thing she is certain on, and that is she wants me to go with her. The situation is this: —She refuses to make any definite plans till she hears from Father about my prospects of going home with her. If I can go with her, she will probably want to go by way of Pacific if Dad will not Down to insist on her going to Europe. But if Father does insist, she will go that way and take me along with her. In case if I am not allowed to go home with her, she does not know exactly what to do. She does not want to travel alone across the Pacific, and yet she is rather uncertain about going by way of Europe. Some girl friends of hers are going to leave New York around the middle of June and go to Europe and thence to China by way of India. One of the girls asked her to go along, but the invitation was merely a casual one and Mary hates to receive any invitations of that nature. Miss Sze, the daughter of Minister Sze in London invited her to come to London and visit them for a while. Miss Sze is a student in Wellesley and plans to leave New York some times soon after her graduation from there. To Mary the invitation was a very good one, because she will have a chance to see Charlie and at the same time see Europe according to Father’s wishes. But she will not go the rest of way alone from London to Tientsin. It is not exactly safe to travel all by herself for half-way around the world, and I do not blame her for hestitating [sic]. The ride from Berlin to Pekin on the Trans-Siberian Railroad is not a very comfortable one, and Mary has to have some one to look after her. The boat trip from Genoa to Shanghai through the Suez Canal, India, Signapore [sic], and other Strait Settlement is not of the best, and I personally will hate to see Mary travel all that distance all alone.
Therefore I see her point in waiting before making a decision.
She wants me to go with her, because in that way she can choose to travel any one of the three ways, across the Pacific, by Trans-Siberian Railroad, or by way of India. I think I will be able to take care of her. But as for going all along, I doubt she will venture it, and I can see her reasons for refusing to do so.
She is hoping, I dare say, against hope that I can go with her. Although I am hoping that I may go with her, I hold little chance of being able to do so.
There is the situation, and I am at a loss as to know what to do with her. The girls who asked her to go with them casually sails far too soon for Mary's convenience. I think they plan to sail for Europe and then by way of India to China sometimes early in June even before Mary receives her diploma. That, of course, will make it impossible for Mary to go with them. Even if Mary could go, she will feel that she would be imposing upon them, because the invitation was so casual so as to be a mere formality. They asked her, because it looks nice, and I do not exactly blame Mary for refusing to go with them.
It may seem that I am confusing matters up for you. But at the same time, I think Mary should not travel alone. I did not exactly see her point before, but after last night’s talk, she more or less "took me over" by her arguments.
I hope you can make a valuable suggestion.
Sincerely yours
Soon after I mailed my last letter to you, I received a letter from home dated March 2, 1931.
In the letter Father did not say anything about the prospects of my going home at all till I finish the work down here at Yale. However, the date of the letter made me think. If he mailed the letter on March 2, he must have received either your letter or even Mary’s asking him to let me to go home. And yet, he said nothing about it to me. Mary received a letter from him the same day, and he said nothing about in that either. Now I am asking you, whether or not you have heard. Any information will be greatly appreciated.
One thing which I did definitely is that I wrote to Father myself asking him to let me go home. I did that right after I received the letter. In the letter, Father said that due to the exchange of silver, he has to furnish five dollars to every dollar I spend here. On that ground, I asked him to let me go, because the whole family can almost live, in Chinese money, on what he has to send to me every year in American money, I wrote rather lengthily, and I hope that he will be taken over by my sincere arguments. Maybe, a personal appeal from myself will tell him that I myself want to go home. At any rate, I hope he will consider my proposal seriously.
I saw Mary last night, and failed to get her to come to a definite plan. One thing she is certain on, and that is she wants me to go with her. The situation is this: —She refuses to make any definite plans till she hears from Father about my prospects of going home with her. If I can go with her, she will probably want to go by way of Pacific if Dad will not Down to insist on her going to Europe. But if Father does insist, she will go that way and take me along with her. In case if I am not allowed to go home with her, she does not know exactly what to do. She does not want to travel alone across the Pacific, and yet she is rather uncertain about going by way of Europe. Some girl friends of hers are going to leave New York around the middle of June and go to Europe and thence to China by way of India. One of the girls asked her to go along, but the invitation was merely a casual one and Mary hates to receive any invitations of that nature. Miss Sze, the daughter of Minister Sze in London invited her to come to London and visit them for a while. Miss Sze is a student in Wellesley and plans to leave New York some times soon after her graduation from there. To Mary the invitation was a very good one, because she will have a chance to see Charlie and at the same time see Europe according to Father’s wishes. But she will not go the rest of way alone from London to Tientsin. It is not exactly safe to travel all by herself for half-way around the world, and I do not blame her for hestitating [sic]. The ride from Berlin to Pekin on the Trans-Siberian Railroad is not a very comfortable one, and Mary has to have some one to look after her. The boat trip from Genoa to Shanghai through the Suez Canal, India, Signapore [sic], and other Strait Settlement is not of the best, and I personally will hate to see Mary travel all that distance all alone.
Therefore I see her point in waiting before making a decision.
She wants me to go with her, because in that way she can choose to travel any one of the three ways, across the Pacific, by Trans-Siberian Railroad, or by way of India. I think I will be able to take care of her. But as for going all along, I doubt she will venture it, and I can see her reasons for refusing to do so.
She is hoping, I dare say, against hope that I can go with her. Although I am hoping that I may go with her, I hold little chance of being able to do so.
There is the situation, and I am at a loss as to know what to do with her. The girls who asked her to go with them casually sails far too soon for Mary's convenience. I think they plan to sail for Europe and then by way of India to China sometimes early in June even before Mary receives her diploma. That, of course, will make it impossible for Mary to go with them. Even if Mary could go, she will feel that she would be imposing upon them, because the invitation was so casual so as to be a mere formality. They asked her, because it looks nice, and I do not exactly blame Mary for refusing to go with them.
It may seem that I am confusing matters up for you. But at the same time, I think Mary should not travel alone. I did not exactly see her point before, but after last night’s talk, she more or less "took me over" by her arguments.
I hope you can make a valuable suggestion.
Sincerely yours
Creator
Thomas Sun
Publisher
Phillips Academy
Date
March 28, 1931
Rights
All Rights Reserved by Phillips Academy
Language
English
Type
Correspondence