Madras, Nov. 22nd.Dear Abby:
I am late writing Christmas letters but there is a bare chance that this will bring my Christmas Greeting to you in time; it will not leave Madras until Thursday - Thanksgiving Day.
We shall not be unmindful of Thanksgiving Day even if there is no morning walk to dig up cedar trees, nor turkey dinner. The Consul has arranged for a service in our chapel at 7:30 A.M. Yes, I shall be up for it. Then in the afternoon the Consul and Mrs. Jordan are to have an At Home for the Americans in Madras and the Thanksgiving Proclamation is to be read at 6 P.M. I hope that the four Americans at college will have a picnic that night, but that is not settled yet. It is to be at the beach if the weather permits but if it is stormy we can have it in one of the more or less protected verandahs on the science building. Edith and Eleanor welcomed the idea when I suggested it, but Olive Sarber said that was a full week! It is. As for Wellsey, she is out of it, poor thing.
Wellsey has been in the hospital in Vellore for a month being treated for dysentery and its complications - both types and liver trouble that goes with it. I am not sure how much she has said about it to anyone at home, so don't say much about it. She probably picked up the affliction in China as she has not been well since she arrived; her first digestive upset came three days after she reached Madras. The trouble was not diagnosed properly until she went to Vellore, where Dr. Innis is an authority on such complaints. Wellsey will be here for probably a week more, at least; she says she is not going to leave until she is sure she is all right, as no one at home would know so well how to treat her, and she could not get is [sic] done for the same price; she said she could not afford to be cured at New Yok rates. The college has a young man (a shy young Brahmin) come to take her classes and he will continue after she sails. She is to sail from Bombay Christmas Day. Dr. Innes said she could probably go north with Edith and me to Agra when college clese, Dec. 17th. Miss McNair is to join us and then we hope to go to Jaipur. I don't know what else we shall do. I may go to Hyderabad to the science meetings, if Edith comes back to college early as she says she will do.
Last week I made a long week-end and went to Rajahmundry and Guntur visiting the Lutheran missions. We had a holiday Friday for Depavali, the Feast of Lights, and I managed to take Thursday, so I left Wednesday night and returned to Madras Monday morning. Not bad for a week end? It is 360 miles to Rajahmundry. You may think that 115 miles is short for a night trip, but you never travelled on an Indian "passenger train". I came with two of the Rajahmundry missionaries who were coming to Chirali and we took the train at midnight, expecting to sleep until Tenali at 6:30, but unfortunately we got into a 3rd class coach which was detached at Bezwada at 5 A.M., so we had to get out and move ourselves and our bedding and all our possessions to another coach. I had a really interesting time at the two places; I visited primary schools, high schools, training schools for teachers, industrial schools[,] two hospitals and looked at the outside of the Roman Catholic and the Government hospitals in Guntur, a tuberculosis sanatorium, Bible schools, churches, a printing press, attended a prize-giving (not like "Right-ho Jeeves"), two Indian dinners (one dressed as a Parsee lady) a formal dinner party with the Principal and Vice-Principal and their wives, as the other guests, - (Principal of Andhra Christian College).
I made a speech at the school Assembly in Guntur with an interpreter, because the smaller children could not understand English. I felt like a fool; I did not realize that it would have to be interpreted when I said I would make a speech. Nothing that I had to say seemed worth the fuss of repitition. I made another speech for the H.S. and college girls but they understand English - I hope they understood mine. They are brought up on American English, somewhat diluted by German. I saw several of my former students. It is really gratifying to see how well they have come on and what good work they are doing.
As for speeches, don't be shocked when I say that I made a speech at our own college Assembly Friday after the American election, explaining the whole process and results. That sounds like a large order. It was. I thought it well to give some historical background. I got into it because Miss Rowe who teaches History here had asked me to give a talk to her class, and then when Miss MacDougall asked for suggestions for this Assembly which was left free on account of a Chinese lady, Miss Rowe recommended having me for it. I thought that if she thought well enough of it to have it repeated I need not be shy about doing it.
Last night we had our annual Indian Dinner which the sutdents give to the Staff. We are all dressed in beautiful Indian costumes. I went dressed as a Bengali, with an elegant mauve embroidered sari over a yellow silk blouse, and the accustomed amount of jewelery. [sic] I had four heavy gold chains and three strings of beads. My hand were [sic] too large for the bangles and I could get on only two. I had a red line along the part in my hair (it was parted in the middle) and a red line around my feet (this is designed to show the beauty of the foot). I wore sandals but I suspect that if I had really been a Bengali lady I would have dispensed with the sandals. I found some difficulty in getting out the red line in my hair and today there is a pinkish cast on my middle hair; this is a variation on the custom of using bluing on white hair. We had an excellent dinner; having a good appetite and good digestion and a good nerve I was both Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian. The decorations were wonderfully fine. I wish I could duplicate some of it for Christmas, but where sall I get the two banana plants 10 or 12 ft. high to hold the little lights? Sometime after 9 we began a few games, and about 10 an entertainment began which lasted until after twelve. We were refreshed by coffee (with sugar in it, according to Indian custom) cashew nuts and various hot Indian foods - the miscellaneous sort of thing that is referred to as "Palakaram" which so far as I can make out refers to anything to eat which is not rice and curry. I needed the coffee as I had spent the afternoon at the Prizegiving at Miss Paul's school and had watched another entertainment for nearly two hours - Hindu children from primary up to H.S. age. I enjoyed both performances but by midnight I felt that I had spent my whole life listening to miscellaneous programs.
This week I have been gardening - not with my own hands but influencing the gardener. Mrs. Thivy and I selected 20 rupees worth of trees and shrubs last Wednesday and then the problem was to get them in promptly. It is slow work with a maistry, two gardeners and a coolie woman. I am still struggling to get te maistry to cut down two ugly little shrubs which do not do much but raise caterpillars and occupy the space where I wish to put some choice shurbs, Ixora, Duranta and Brunfelsia. I had learned to persist and I hope in time to get the Nyctanthus arbor tristis out and the Ixoras in. At present some of the newly planted shrubs are sitting in water from the 4 inches of rain during the last two days.
P.S. Wednesday. They are out and the proper shrubs in
The monsoon is not heavy this year; we have had 20 inches and should have 30, but we may have the 10 yet, as the monsoon is not yet over. Nellore, 100 miles north of us had 14 inches in one day week before last. Today is the first day which has not seemed humid to me; it is better to have the 4 inches in the ground than in the air. The humidity is very high; it was 94% the day I packed to go to Rajahmundry. Imagine my clothes when I took them out of the bags. The best weather of the year comes after the monsoon, so we shall soon be enjoying it.
When I went to Rajahmundry I escored from Madras a new nurse who had just come to the Lutheran Mission and had arrived that day from Bombay. She was shocked at the hospitals, jsut as I was the first time I saw an Indian hospital. The Head Nurse at Rajahmundry, Miss Brosius, said that when she first came out, full of vigor and ideals, she thought she would institute some reforms. She was horrified to find all the relatives sitting around in the maternity ward on the floors and on the patients' beds, so she gave orders that no visitor was to be allowed to sit on the beds. That afternoon the six patients in the ward went home. Indians will not go to hospitals if they have to change their habits. Dr. Cort in Chegmai, Siam, when I was there in 1931, said that he made the Siamese conform to hospital regulations, but he had given up trying to discipline Indians. There is not time to give them the education necessary and they would die rather than conform when they do not see the reason for it - or even if they do.
I was so glad to get your letter after you reached South Hadley. I shall hope for more. I am eager to know about the new chapel and how it fits into the landscape. Also about the new President. As for letters to the papers and resignations, I cannot see how they can help the situation; the eggs cannot be unscrambled. Ethel Eltinge wrote to me that you had had a fall on the boat. How bad was it? How much did you accomplish this this summer - that question is not as silly as it sounds. But I could get results that made your trip worth while?
My greetings to the table and my other friends. I hope I can manage to send some Christmas cards, but can I?