-time
officials, China will remain as before, so far as the great mass of her
men are concerned.

I hear the children coming from their school, so I will say good-by for a
time. Ting-fang sends his most respectful love, and all my household
join in sending thee good wishes.

Kwei-li.

4
My Dear Mother,
Dost thou remember Liang Tai-tai, the daughter of the Princess
Tseng, thine old friend of Pau-chau? Thou rememberest we used to
laugh at the pride of Liang in regard to her mother's clan, and her care
in speaking of her father who was only a small official in the governor's
Yamen. Thou wert wont to say that she reminded thee of the mule
that, when asked who was his father, answered, "The horse is my
maternal uncle." She comes to see me often, and she worries me
with her piety; she is quite mad upon the subject of the Gods. I often
feel that I am wrong to be so lacking in sympathy with her religious
longings; but I hate extremes. "Extreme straightness is as bad as
crookedness, and extreme cleverness as bad as folly." She is ever
asking me if I do not desire, above all things, the life of the higher
road-- whatever that may mean. I tell her that I do not know. I would
not be rare, like jade, or common, like stone; just medium. Anyway,
my days are far too full to think about any other road than the one I
must tread each day in the fulfillment of the duties the Gods have
given me.

Some people seem to be irreverently familiar with the Gods, and to be
forever praying. If they would only be a little more human and perform
the daily work that lies before them (Liang's son is the main support of
the Golden Lotus Tea-house) they might let prayer alone a while
without ceasing to enjoy the protection of the Gods. It is dangerous to
over-load oneself with piety, as the sword that is polished to excess is
sometimes polished away. And there is another side that Liang
should remember, her husband not having riches in abundance: that
the rays of the Gods love well the rays of Gold.

But to-day she came to me with her rice-bowl overflowing with her
sorrows. Her son has returned from the foreign lands with the new
education from which she hoped so much, but it seems he has
acquired knowledge of the vices of the foreigner to add to those of the
Chinese. He did not stay long enough to become Westernised, but he
stayed long enough to lose touch with the people and the customs of
his country. He forgets that he is not an American ev