Tientsin, China.
March 16th, 1934.
My dear Miss Turner:
It has been sometime [sic] since I have been at my desk for writing. With the addition of more beds to total capacity it means extra responsibility. With the addition of our new laboratory it means better service to our patients. Month of February and March I have had few very serious cases although interesting. One patient lost so much blood that we had to give three blood transfusions. She is on road to recovery. Twelve years ago when I first came to this hospital we had no facilities for blood transfusion and probably we lost a number of our patients thru lack of equippments. [sic] With better equippment [sic] we are rendering better service to patients from time to time. I am happy to see improvements of this hospital.
Now I am venturing on a dormitory for our nurses. We are going to tear down a number of our old small buildings and put up one second story dormitory for our student nurses. As it is now their living condition is not very satisfactory. They work so hard and at least they must have a comfortable living quarter. But we had to improve our hospital first, for we arehere [sic] for our patients. With little extra money we have on hand we are going to see if we could complete the payments on this dormitory. We shall use our old material as much as possible.
A grateful patient gave me a gift ($1000) the other day. I am putting away that for X ray apparatus. Now there is the portable kind which is very easy to operate and will be good enough for ordinary work. For special kind we can always get help from P. U. M. C. . [sic] This past week has been a very busy and happy week. Another patient offered to buy this hospital a transfusion set. We need a kind of apparatus that will keep blood in body temperature all the time. When I go to this coming medical conference I would see if I could get one for hospital.
We are beginning to see the reward of our years' planning and labor. Patients who stayed any length of time with us always talked about harmony and efficiency of this hospital. Mrs. R. T. Evans is coming to Mount Holyoke College with her daughter May Seaton [MHC 1938] this coming fall. She would be able to tell you something about this hospital. Ofcourse [sic] I hope to hear from the office in regard to Barbara Yen [MHC 1938]. I am anxious for her to come. She is a very fine student. If she could get a tutition [sic] scholarship she would be able to come this coming fall. Just now Dr. W. W. Yen is in China. It would be so nice if Barbara could get her letter of assurance before her father leaves for Europe. If Barbara should come I would ask her to bring you our personal love. She would be able to tell you all about your little namesake Abby. She is growing and is very promising in her ways. She is still slow in her movements but very quick in her mental work. Abby just loves to visit Yens for they have American dinner on Sundays.
By the time this letter reaches you it would be shortly after your spring vacation. I shall be at Shanghai that time. I have a nephew who is going to finish high school this coming June. I am going to help him to decide about his college. He is the third brother of my two girls. Mentally he is very promising but physically he is very weak. He wants to study medicine. If he could come to Tientsin for his permedical [sic] subjects I would be able to put him in better physical shape. Nankai University has a very fine premediacl [sic] course.
My niece at Bryn Mawr College is continuing her good work. Now there is turist [sic] ticket for summer. We are thinking of letting her return for summer after her graduation 1935. She can return for her medical course at Michigan University fall of 1935. I wish that you can plan to take this summer trip also. Miss Calder is coming to see her sister that year also. Do come for summer if you possibly can. We would just be happy to have you. We would be able to take you to see something of our country. My niece Vung Yuin could take you to see South China and I would be able to take you to see Peiping and the Great Wall. The American dollar is still higher than ordinary rate_ one to three- that is one of your dollar is equal to three our dollars. This is still favorable exchange rate for travelling in China. Not long ago my classmate Dr. Marion Stevenson visited me. I took her to see few interesting places of Tientsin. My friend Mrs. Lin took her around Peiping. She was very much impressed with many things_ but she could not get over the fact that almost everyone can use the English Language. She thought she would have difficulty to get around but to her surprise some ricksha coolies can use English also.
This is time for night round now. I will close this letter with love. The enclosed picture is a most recent picture of my two girls. They were flower girls to a bride that day.
Yours lovingly,
Me-iung.
[Inscription on reverse: "1933-34 Abby & Mary Jean Ting"]