however, Great
Britain, next to us, and barring the opium business, has been the most
decent of all the great powers in dealing with China. I started out with
a prejudice to the contrary, and have been surprised to learn how little
grabbing England has actually done here. Of course, India is the only
thing she really cares about and her whole policy here is controlled by
that consideration, with such incidental trade advantages as she can
pick up.

(Later) July 27.

I think I wrote a while back about a little kid five years old or so who
walked up the middle aisle at one of my lectures and stood for about
fifteen minutes quite close to me, gazing at me most seriously and also
wholly unembarrassed. Night before last we went to a Chinese restaurant
for dinner, under the guardianship of a friend here. A little boy came
into our coop and began most earnestly addressing me in Chinese. Out
friend found out that he was asking me if I knew his third uncle. He was
the kid of the lecture who had recognized me as the lecturer, and whose
third uncle is now studying at Columbia. If you meet Mr. T----
congratulate him for me on his third nephew. The boy made us several
calls during the evening, all equally serious and unconstrained. At one
he asked me for my card, which he carefully wrapped up in ceremonial
paper. The restaurant is near a lotus pond and they are now in their
fullest bloom. I won't describe them beyond saying that the lotus is the
lotus and advising you to come out next summer and see them.

PEKING, August 4.

I went to Tientsin to an educational conference for two days last week.
It was called by the Commissioner of this Province for all the
principals of the higher schools to discuss the questions connected with
the opening of the schools in the fall. Most of the heads of schools are
very conservative and were much opposed to the students' strikes, and
also to the students' participation in politics. They are very nervous
and timorous about the opening of the schools, for they think that the
students after engaging in politics all summer won't lend themselves
readily to school discipline--their high schools, etc., are all boarding
schools--and will want to run the schools after having run the
government for several months. The liberal minority, while they want the
students to settle down to school work, think that the students'
experiences will have been of great educational value and that they w