September 1, 1918.My dear Miss Turner:-
I am just back from my vacation. After school closed, I had two weeks traveling. I was invited to attend two conferences one at Lake Geneva (Wis) other at Lake Junaluska (N.C). I came back to Ann Arbor for summer school. I had to have more modern language. I took six hours of French this summer for eight weeks. Altogether I had almost three years' [sic] of French. Now I can read French pretty well. That is scientific papers.
Do you know Miss Griffith? She was here last year. I asked her to carry you a personal message. She will tell you how well I look. We saw each other sometimes.
Just think, next year I shall be a junior. Time flies without noticing. I shall [have] half day hospital work next year. During our sophomore year we had very little hospital work. I had only one patient for my physical diagnosis.
I am enjoying my work. The only complainent [sic] I have is we have too few assistants in our medical school & we only see our professors in classes. They do not know us. There are quite a number of younger members of Faculty have gone abroad. Dean Vaughan devotes his entire time at Washington. Professor Huber is devoting a part of his time in a special problem on nerve terminations. Dr. Warthin has given a great deal of his time to soldiers at Battle Creek. We had a hard year. But we have learned to adjust ourselves to new conditions. Time and again we missed our lectures, we had to make up on Saturdays. We do not mind because our soldier boy [sic] at front are doing uttermost for world's freedom[.]
Because of the new condition, the university authority has given certain positions to women graduates. So far one internship and one assistantship have [been] given to women.
I was at Lake Orion. I met Miss Ruth Savage a Mount Holyoke graduate of 1914. Everywhere I go I come across the graduates of our college. We sang some college songs together. Miss Savage has charge of a Y.W.C.A. vacation camp in Lake Orion. I was at this camp for a vacation. I just played every [?] minute while I was here except sleeping & eating. I had a wonderful week there.
I heard from some Holyoke girls that you had a change of a summer school course. Was there a regular summer school? The authority of our university urge the students to attend summer school and finish in three years. In our medical department, the seniors are having a continuous session this summer. They will finish in spring 1919 instead of June. If the war prolongs, the government may require 1920 classes throughout the country to finish in spring of 1920. That makes half a year earlier.
For the rest of my summer, I am going to work in hospital. Our university hospital needs students' help in out patient department. I take history of these patients. I can do the physical examination but each examination is checked by my professor. I have learned the different kinds of murmurs of heart-sounds for my examination but never had real clinical experience[.] By the third week in September I expect to go to Chicago to see Dr. McLean. She has not been well for the last two years. She is taking special treatment at Chicago. We expect to attend some clinics together at different hospitals. Dr. McLean cannot use her voice very well. She had her tonsils taken out after that she has not been able to use her voice naturally. We feel very sad over it.
Our school opens October the first. There are quite a few Chinese girls coming to study medicine this fall. Mr. Barbour of Detroit has given a large sum to this university for Oriental women students to study medicine. Each scholarship is of $500.00 a year and there are ten. Five are occuppied by Chinese for the next few years.
There are very few American girls studying medicine. There are two in senior class - six in my class, eight in sophomore class. I do not know the number of this coming freshman class. There were only five in the last graduating class. I do realize we women students have to undergo many things. We have to work very hard everyday, yet there is not a rest room for us in our medical school. Sometimes we are forced to bring our lunches to school but we have no place to eat except our cloak-room.
Once I suggested to my class-mates to ask our dean to give us a room and we can furnish it for our use. If each student would give ten dollars - with sixteen women students we ought to be able to furnish a place for rest. But there is no enthusiasm among our students. May be when we have enough Oriental women students. I am going to try again. I won't be able to use it as I have to spend most of time in hospitals after this year - but for the benefit of the "coming generation."
Miss Turner, although I do not write to you as often as I would like to, I think of you real often. I am anxious to see you. I may have a possibility to go to John [sic] Hopkins after I graduate from this university.
My father has two hospitals at Shanghai now. I may disappoint him by going into some special line of work. I expect to take up public health work after a few years. I think preventative medicine is the only modern medicine. I am much concerned of the preventative diseases in China. You must have heard of the pneumonic plague last winter.It makes my heart ache to see thousands are dying because of ignorance. Even in this country, there are so few women who would devote their energy to health education. My health education is little different from what they are doing in this country. The details have not been worked out yet. After I finish here, I hope to go back to China for six months' investigation. Then I am coming back for this special course at John Hopkins. I hope everything will work out well.
How is your mother - will you remember me to her? Sunday is the best day in the week because it is the day that I can talk to my friends.
With my best love. Yours sincerely,
Me-iung Ting.127 N. State Street,
Ann Arbor, Michigan.