Letter from Telly Koo, Secretary to Dr. Sze, Peking, to M.T. Liang, Tientsin, May 1, 1926
Letter from Telly Koo, Secretary to Dr. Sze, Peking, to M.T. Liang, Tientsin, May 1, 1926
Telly Koo
Phillips Academy
May 1, 1926
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May 1st.,1926.
The Honourable M.T.Liang,
314 Elgin Avenue,
Tientsin.
Your Excellence,
Minister Alfred Sze desires me to transmit to you the following cable message.
"Please tell Liang Munting,Tientsin,to inform C.Y.Sun that his letter March twenty ninth just received and Mary’s affairs are settled on lines of my letter April tenth? She is apparently satisfied and happy. Sze"
I remain,
Respectfully yours,
(Sgd.) Telly Koo
Secretary to Dr.Sze.
Forwarded from Tientsin on 2nd.May 1926
Received by Mr.Sun at Shanghai on 10th.Kay 1926
English
Correspondence
Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to M.T. Liang, Tientsin, June 24, 1921
Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to M.T. Liang, Tientsin, June 24, 1921
Alfred E. Stearns
Phillips Academy
June 24, 1921
All Rights Reserved by Phillips Academy
My dear Mr. Liang:
Your fine and generous letter of May 21st has just reached me. As we are just closing the school year and making our plans for the summer I am in the midst of an unusual rush and will only attempt to acknowledge the receipt of your missive and send you a brief word of appreciation and good will.
I find it quite a problem to make satisfactory arrangements for the summer for all the Chinese boys entrusted to my care. It seems best to let them all go to summer camp, but not too many in one place. The two younger Sun boys will go to my own camp at Connecticut Lake, and probably one other of their countrymen will be in the party. Arthur Sun, Quincey Sheh and Frank Lin will be placed in other and good camps which are in the control of men who are my personal friends, and who would take special interest in the boys in consequence. Only yesterday I slipped down to the Town Hall in the afternoon to attend the public exercises in connection with the graduation of upper grade of the Grammar School. Charles, Thomas and Mary were members of the class and they were anxious to have me present, as I was indeed to be there. Each pupil was called in turn to the stage to receive his or her diploma, and friends and partisans expressed their approval by the usual hand clapping. What interested me chiefly was to find that those three children from the Far East received greater applause than did any of the American classmates, a clear indication that they had won their way into the hearts and affections of their friends and play mates over here. I am not surprised, for it would be hard to find three nicer youngsters than these, and when I attempt to express an opinion of Mary I really can't find words to do her justice. I doubt whether I have ever met a child with a sunnier, sweeter and evener disposition than that girl possesses.
Before the summer is over I hope to send you some further word of our whereabouts and doings. How I wish you might be with me to enjoy the mountain air and glorious scenery of my summer home up in northern New Hampshire.
Accept please my heartiest good wishes for the days ahead, and kindly remember me to any old and inquiring friends of mine whom you may happen to run across from time to time in your part of the world. I always remember with deep appreciation and pleasure the friendly good will of Mr. Chow, good will which must have been tested pretty severely when I attempted so unsuccessfully to do something worth while — for his somewhat rebellious son.
Sincerely yours,
English
Correspondence
Letter from M.T. Liang, Tientsin, to Alfred E. Stearns, May 21, 1921
Letter from M.T. Liang, Tientsin, to Alfred E. Stearns, May 21, 1921
M.T. Liang
Phillips Academy
May 21, 1921
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English
Correspondence
Letter from Hsu Shian Lin (father of Frank Lin), Tientsin, to M.T. Liang, Tientsin, May 16, 1921
Letter from Hsu Shian Lin (father of Frank Lin), Tientsin, to M.T. Liang, Tientsin, May 16, 1921
Hsu Shian Lin (father of Frank Lin)
Phillips Academy
May 16, 1921
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Dear Mr. Liang,
My son, Frank C.F. Lin, is at present studying in Phillip's Academy, Mass, where Mr. Stearns is the Principal. As I am not acquainted with this gentle man, I shall therefore be obliged if you will kindly write to him to act as Guidance of my boy.
I would have to see you personally, had I not been called away to Peking for some important mission.
Thanking you in anticipation,
Yours sincerely,
English
Correspondence
Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to M.T. Liang, Tientsin, April 11, 1921
Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to M.T. Liang, Tientsin, April 11, 1921
Alfred E. Stearns
Phillips Academy
April 11, 1921
All Rights Reserved by Phillips Academy
My dear Mr. Liang:
Your most interesting letter of March 6 is before me and I have enjoyed it thoroughly. Although the Sun children hear frequently from home, they always relish a word from the home land which comes through another channel, and so when I passed on to them a few remarks from your good letter to me, they were welcomed with eagerness and delight.
Deeply as I appreciate your generous sentiments, I do with that it were possible for us all to eliminate from our minds any thoughts of material and business benefits that may result to either nation from a more friendly and intimate contact and relationship. I get thoroughly disgusted at times when I read articles in the American press and magazines which harp eternally on that one theme. Perhaps neither eastern nor westen civilization has been of a high enough standard to disassociate material from the moral and spiritual realm, but Heaven knows we ought to strive a bit harder to attaint that goal, for it is the only one which offers a future of world peace and happy and inspiring relationship.
I congratulate you heartily on what you have done and are still doing in the work of your famine relief. It must be a tremendous burden and yet at the same time a most inspiring task. Committees are still actively at work in this country, and their appeals are constantly reaching us. I note, too, and with satisfaction that contributions are still coming in.
Please remember me to any of my good friends you may happen to see out there in the Far East, and accept for Mrs. Liang and yourself my very kindest regards and best wishes for the days ahead. I do hope that we may have the pleasure of welcoming you again to this country and to the Andover home with which you are at least somewhat familiar.
Very sincerely yours,
English
Correspondence
Letter from M.T. Liang, Tientsin, to Alfred E. Stearns, March 6, 1921
Letter from M.T. Liang, Tientsin, to Alfred E. Stearns, March 6, 1921
M.T. Liang
Phillips Academy
March 6, 1921
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English
Correspondence
Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to M.T. Liang, Tientsin, February 8, 1921
Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to M.T. Liang, Tientsin, February 8, 1921
Alfred E. Stearns
Phillips Academy
February 8, 1921
All Rights Reserved by Phillips Academy
My dear Mr. Liang:
Your welcome letter and the New Year’s card you were good enough to send me reached my desk this morning. As to-morrow is the date of your own Chinese New Year, you certainly timed your missive well. Many thanks for both the card and the letter, and most of all for the friendly spirit back of then.
We are planning to give the Chinese boys here something in the way of entertainment, and that will help them to remember the day, though apparently their memories need no jogging in that respect. I want them to feel, however, that though they are in a far away land, it is possible to do something that will make the day a bit different from the ordinary days of the American school year.
The four members of the Sun family who are under my roof are an increasing delight and source of satisfaction to us all. They have come to fit into the family in a way that would make us feel very much lost without them. Arthur of course rooms only at the house and is primarily engaged in his school affairs, but he is responsive, always a gentleman, and in every way a desirable boy to have in the house. The three younger children are all that could be asked for. They are interested and earnest in their studies, responsive, and friendly to a unique degree. They are ready to fit in in every way and every time developments or an occasional emergency may demand, and so good natured and willing about it all that they have won the good will and affection of us all to an increasing degree. I really don’t know just how I would get along without them. Quincey Sheh, the last comer, is quiet and a bit shy as yet, but in every way an acceptable addition to the home circle. Frankly though, I do not feel that it is altogether wise to have so many of these Chinese boys under the same roof, merely because they aren't so ready to pick up their English. It is mighty easy for them to talk Chinese when they are together, and one can hardly blame them, but at the same time it does not improve their knowledge of English with the consequent lightening of pressure in their studies which the gain in English would insure. The present arrangement was the best I could work out for the boys at this time, but I will try to figure out something better before the next school year begins.
I mean to write Mr. Sun in a few days, enclosing financial statements for all four of his children up to the beginning of the present term. This is the one item which troubles so, for I have found it very difficult to determine just what the children at the house should be charged. I do not wish to make anything out of the transaction, but at the same time it is of course necessary for me to cover the actual outlay and that is hard to determine. Rooms in private houses regularly bring $7 a week now, and board in the best private boarding houses is $12 per week. These two items alone would amount to $19 per week, therefore, on the basis of similar charges made to our boys in shcool [sic]. It is not possible for one in my position to give board at the same outlay on my par that would be true of a boarding house keeper who caters to a large number of boys, and by buying in wholesale lots can secure lower prices. On the other hand, I think I may fairly say that the board at my own table is as good as that supplied in the houses in question, for it is of course necessary for me to keep up a standard which is probably higher than I should think of indulging in were not the necessity constantly forced on me of entertaining guests of the school. Farther, the advent of these young friends at my house brought me immediately face to face with a demand from the kitchen for an increase in wages. I do not think any one in China can conceive of what the servant problem here is like. My two maids alone at the present time get as much money per week as I was accustomed to pay my highest priced cook a month only two or three years back.
Of course in addition to these two main items the wear and tear item is a very considerable one, but a very difficult one to estimate. Miss Clemons devotes most of her time and thought to the household and seldom leaves it, and it seem to me that if a way could be worked out, it would be only fair to include in the charge an item, though I know she would insist that I would be a comparatively small item, to cover the extra time and labor which she has so generously given to the work. I do not mean to imply that she does not enjoy it thoroughly, but I happen to know that she has given up many out of town and other trips simply because she did not feel that she could safely dispense with the responsibility even for a limited time.
I am going to send you a copy of the letter which I write to Mr. Sun, and I am going to ask you to be absolutely frank with me in criticizing any statements or conclusions made therein. I would give anything if I could sit down and talk out the matter face to face with you and Mr. Sun, especially when conditions in the two countries are absolutely different, as they are at the present time.
I do hope that your country is going to weather its present conditions and that by the time the winter is over at least will face a greatly improved economic condition and a freedom from the internal strife and turmoil that have been so injurious to China and so beneficial to her enemies. America is doing something for the relief of your suffering people. Would that she would do more.
Believe me with warmest personal regards and kind remembrances to any of my good friends over there whom you may happen to meet.
Very sincerely yours,
English
Correspondence
Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to M.T. Liang, Tientsin, December 13, 1920
Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to M.T. Liang, Tientsin, December 13, 1920
Alfred E. Stearns
Phillips Academy
December 13, 1920
All Rights Reserved by Phillips Academy
My dear Mr. Liang:
Your nighty nice letter of October 29th is before me. Quincy Sheh arrived at about the same time and has apparently found little difficulty in adjusting himself the new conditions, and already looks like a full fledged Phillipian. He has been at the house several times and his old friends here were most glad to welcome him. He seems like a very attractive fellow.
Just now the family circle is pretty well keyed up over the coming Christmas. We are planning a true, with all the fixings. I mean to make the event one which none of our eastern friends will be likely to forget. They are entering into it with the finest spirit and enthusiasm, which will mean much to the enjoyment of the affair by us all. I find that most of the other Chinese boys of the school are likely to be in town over the holidays and I have asked them to join us at the tree. This will make a group altogether of about twenty or more, which will keep Santa Claus a bit busy.
I have heard with deep distress of the wide spread and terrible famine from which so much of China is suffering at this time. We have already taken one collection among our boys to aid your good work in alleviating the suffering of these stricken people, and we hope to do more next term. What a suffering world this is these days, with cries for help rising from all sides; and the worst of it all is that a vast portion of this suffering is due indirectly, if not directly, to the incompetency, greed and selfishness of man himself, and his utter disregard of the Golden Rule. Perhaps we need something wide spread like this in the way of calamity and suffering to bring us to our senses and make us duly humble, which, after all, must be the starting point of all accomplishment and real reform.
With sincere good wishes for the Holiday Season and the coming New Year, believe me
Always faithfully yours,
English
Correspondence
Letter from M.T. Liang, Tientsin, to Alfred E. Stearns, October 29, 1920
Letter from M.T. Liang, Tientsin, to Alfred E. Stearns, October 29, 1920
M.T. Liang
Phillips Academy
October 29, 1920
All Rights Reserved by Phillips Academy
English
Correspondence
Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to M.T. Liang, Tientsin, September 9, 1920
Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to M.T. Liang, Tientsin, September 9, 1920
Alfred E. Stearns
Phillips Academy
September 9, 1920
All Rights Reserved by Phillips Academy
My dear Mr. Liang:
On my return to Andover this week from my summer vacation I find your letter and several other communications relating to the advent in the near future of the group of students from China who are to be placed in my charge. I can't begin to express to you how deeply I have been touched by this evidence of confidence and good will on the part of yourself and your friends in China. The significance of the responsibility now placed upon me I fully realize; but I welcome, and most gladly, this new opportunity for increased service, and especially when that service and be rendered for those who are so universally appreciative and responsible as I have always found the Chinese students to be. I can only assure you that to the best of my ability I shall endeavor to carry out the expressed wishes of yourself and the parents of these boys and girls and that in health and sickness as well they will have my most careful attention and will be given every care that I am accustomed to give my own children.
These are busy days just now, as school is to open next week; and I can only send you a brief note at this time. Later on I will write you more fully as to the arrangements which have been decided upon and as to how things seem to be working out for all concerned. On the arrival of the group in Andover I shall be ready to take care of them. Temporarily at least I may find it necessary to house all of those who are to remain here in my own home, since accommodations on Andover hill at the present time are taxed to the utmost limit. Indeed I am inclined to think that I shall decide to keep the youngest member with me throughout the year; though it may be necessary to allow two of the boys to take their meals at the school dining hall, owing to the difficulty of handling the domestic problem in a private home when the family circle becomes too large. Miss Clemsons is delighted at the thought of being able to be of service in this way; and as she has always devoted her life to the care of young children, a work in which she has been eminently successful, you may count on the best of oversight and interest on her part.
Again let me assure you of my deep appreciation of this renewed evidence of the confidence and trust which my Chinese friends are willing to place in me. I can only hope that I may be able to prove myself worthy of it all.
Believe me, with warmest personal regards,
Always most sincerely yours,
English
Correspondence