Page images
PDF
EPUB

were supplied will be made the basis for a short series of bibliographies which will appear in coming issues of THE ASSOCIATION MONTHLY. Certain of our own publications appearing for the first time in connection with the Convention may well be brought to the notice of those who

were not able to know of them in this way:

Report of the Commission on Social Morality: 5 cents; 30 cents per dozen. Report on Thrift and Efficiency: 5 cents; 30 cents per dozen.

Report on Character Standards: 5 cents; 30 cents per dozen.

Report on the Training of Volunteer Workers: 10 cents; $1.00 per dozen.

Summer School of Agriculture

A bulletin has been issued by the Extension Service of the Massachusetts Agricultural College descriptive of the sixth annual Summer Life, School of Agriculture and Country to be held at Amherst,

Mass., July 1-29. Extended courses

will be offered for the benefit of the many people who wish a general knowledge of theoretical and practical agriculture and who can come to the college conveniently during the summer season. Special attention will also be given to the needs of teachers.

The courses to be offered this summer will include practical agriculture and horticulture, elementary sciences,

A Delegate's prayers, written for the agricultural education, agricultural

seven days of the Convention by Miss Jessie Woodrow Wilson. 10 cents. A few copies of these are available if ordered promptly.

The Ministering of the Gift, The Book of the Pageant, by Miss Helen Thoburn. Contains full libretto of Richmond performance and suggests adaptation to local use. Price 15 cents instead of 25, as incorrectly stated in the April AssoCIATION MONTHLY.

Religious Meetings in a Student Association, by Miss Oolooah Burner. Completes the technical student leaflet series. 5 cents.

The World's Young Women's Christian Association, by Miss Elsie I. M. Boyd. Written for the United States by a number of the World's Executive Committee. 5 cents.

The Foreign Annual for 1913. Contains the "Story of the Year" in China, India, South America and Japan. Illustrated. 25 cents.

Report of the Fourth Biennial Convention. Contains verbatim all dresses and proceedings of the Richmond gathering. If ordered before May 15, 50 cents; if later, 75 cents.

Postal card pictures of the national headquarters building in color. Two for 5 cents, or set of fifteen different views,

25 cents.

economics, domestic economy and household science, organized play and recreation, and a group of courses arranged especially for rural social workers.

A feature of the Summer School will be the courses on organized play, recreation, festivals and pageantry. William Chauncy Langdon, President of the American Pageant Association, and Master of the Pageants of Thetford, St. Johnsbury and Meriden, will lecture on pageantry and will also conduct round table discussions on practical details of the subject. Demonstrations of organized play and folk dancing will be given during the late afternoon and early evening periods.

Another forward step taken by the Extension Service is shown in the announcement of a summer camp for boys, the purposes of which are to interest boys in agriculture and rural life, to impress on the boy his responsibility as a member of society, and to teach him clean, wholesome sports and recreation. The camp will be under military discipline. During the morning instructions will be given in agriculture, hygiene, and citizenship. Afternoons will be given over to organized play, recreation, games, tramps through the hills, and evening camp fires, all managed by experts.

Summer Conferences for 1913

The Department of Conventions and Conferences announces the Conferences for 1913 as follows:

Southern General-Blue Ridge, N. C., June 6 to 16.

The usual Conference for Rural Community Leaders will follow the Summer School, July 20-August 2. At this conference definite instructions will be given in the morning, with special and general conferences in the afternoon, followed by demonstrations of organized play and folk dancing. June 17 to 27. The evenings will be given over to music and lectures on rural sociology, economics and education.

Amherst is acknowledged to be one of the most delightful towns in New England, noted both for its natural scenic beauties and because it is an educational center. Expenses are very low.

Write for bulletin to Professor W. D. Hurd, Amherst, Mass.

School Girls-Eagles Mere, Pa., June 1I to 17.

Northwest General-Gearhart Park, Ore.,

Eastern Student-Silver Bay, N. Y,, 20 to 30.

June

East Central Student-Eagles Mere, Pa., June 24 to July 3.

Eastern City-Silver Bay, N. Y., July

I to II.

Pacific Coast General-Moss Beach, Cal., August I to II, or thereabouts.

Western City-Estes Park, Col., August

12 to 21.

Central City-Lake Geneva, Wis., August 12 to 21.

Western Student-Estes Park, Col., August 22 to September 1.

Central Student-Lake Geneva, Wis., August 22 to September 1.

Trained Workers Needed

With the growing interest in the work of the Playground and Recreation Association of America and the rapid increase in the number of municipal playgrounds and recreation centers in hundreds of our cities, comes the demand for experienced and trained workers. In order to bring together recreation workers and those in need of their services, a plan has been worked out by the Playground and Recreation Association.

Anyone qualified and free to undertake recreation work either during the summer or throughout the year should send an application to the office of the Association-1 Madison Avenue, New York City. Application blanks will be sent on request. The plan of last year will be repeated, namely, that of printing lists of available workers in The Playground and of sending these lists to recreation officials throughout the country who have charge of the employment of recreation workers. A. moderate charge is made for each insertion which includes a brief statement of the applicant's training, experience and references.

STATEMENT OF THE OWNERSHIP, MANAGE-
MENT, CIRCULATION, ETC.

Of THE ASSOCIATION MONTHLY, published
monthly at New York City, New York,
required by the Act of August 24th, 1912:

Name of Editor.-Mary Louise Allen. Post office address-600 Lexington Avenue, New York City.

Name of Publisher.-The National Board of the Young Womens Christian Associations of the United States of America. Post office address-600 Lexington Avenue, New York City.

Name of Owners (if a corporation give names and addresses of stockholders holding one per cent or more of total amount or stock). The National Board of the Young Womens Christian Associations of the United States of America. Post office address-600 Lexington Avenue, New York City.

Names of known bond-holders, mortgagees, and other security holders holding one per cent. or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages or other securitiesthere are none.

(Signed) MARY LOUISE ALLEN, Editor. Sworn to and subscribed before me, this third day of April, 1913. (Signed)

JESSIE MACKINLAY.
Notary Public.

Copies of THE ASSOCIATION MONTHLY for January and February, 1911, are very much needed to complete files.

Official Organ of the National Board of The Young Womens Christian Associations of the United

Volume VII.

States of America

JUNE, 1913

Number 5

Р

Seven Years Away from China
Katharine King*

ERHAPS no other words so well describe the present condition of this great people as those now so often applied, "The Changing Chinese," and in writing of some of those changes which have resulted during the seven years I was in America I shall limit myself chiefly to those wrought in this conservative old city of Peking, where nearly one-half of my life has been lived. It will doubtless be true that statements made regarding this great capital would not be true of other parts of China, although in all large cities throughout this empire kaleidoscopic changes are taking place. The revolution which within so amazingly short a time retired an old established monarchy and opened up a new era has rightly been called the great miracle of the twentieth century.

Of the political changes I need say little save, perhaps, to mention the new spirit of patriotism, so long latent, and the love of country which is being so strongly manifested by the student classes in particular. Whereas the old dragon flag of China was but a few years ago rarely seen save on very particular occasions, we now see the new Republican flag flying from all school flag-poles, over all large public buildings, often in the homes of the

*Miss King, who has been general secretary at the University of Michigan, has recently been appointed as one of the secretaries for North China, under the National Board.

Chinese, and, upon all special gala days, decorating all the larger shops upon the street. True it is that mere patriotism does not make a country, that the Chinese Republic is far from being on a firm basis, and that many of the lower classes are by no means alive to the privileges and responsibilities of a Republican form of government. In fact, it was only during the last elections that the honest, faithful old gardener employed by one of the missions in Peking went to cast his vote for the first time, his heart warm with patriotic pride, but hardly schooled in his country's laws. Upon his return he replied to questions as to how he had voted, "I went in and read over all the names printed on the slip and, as I knew none of those men, I just voted for myself." Though many amusing incidents of that kind might be cited, still we cannot forget that the higher and more educated classes of Chinese are alive to the

problems and responsibilities of their new form of government and are bravely trying to meet them. A Peking

Students' Social Service Club has recently sprung into existence and in the large Indemnity School, where are some of the finest and most capable young men of this land, the students are teaching the servants and other lower class men of this new government, and what it means to be a citizen of the Republic of China. A certain Chinese gentleman of large means living not far from here, often called an

[graphic][merged small]

idealist because of the large reforms he desires to bring about, is working to alleviate the conditions of the lower classes and scheming to uplift them in all ways. Through him a school for wage earners has been started within the past year, and courses in tailoring, cooking, and other industries are given to teach a trade to the men and women who otherwise would be upon the street begging. Probably no country can boast of more beggars nor of a more carefully worked out system of begging than can China, and it is significant that the Chinese are beginning to realize the needs of this class. At present there is meeting in Peking a nationally appointed committee, with representatives from all the provinces of China, to unify the language. Once this is accomplished, though doubtless it will be many long years before the change is everywhere adopted, a great obstacle in the way of China's complete unity will have been removed.

A very large American College Club has been organized, which admits to its membership and brings together all Chinese and foreign men who are graduates of colleges and universities

in the United States. Its object is not merely social, but more particularly the development of fraternal and friendly relations between China and the United States. And it is noteworthy that the Chinese graduates of our American universities are to-day holding places of greatest responsibility in this new government, and that upon them will ultimately rest the leadership of China's new Republic.

In every newspaper, Chinese and English alike, one live topic is constantly discussed-the opium trade. The attitude taken by this people in their valiant endeavor to stamp out this awful curse, that has so long been sapping the very life of China, makes us realize that they are in earnest and that the day cannot be far distant when opium will be used as little in this land as in others. In many provinces the poppy is gone for good; in all others the growth of the flower is very greatly diminished; and were it not that large quantities of the drug are still being shipped into China against the protestation of the people, and that certain foreign settlements have been protecting its trade, opium would soon be

[graphic][subsumed][merged small]

an unobtainable product in this country. China is alive to its evil, and the fight she is so strenuously carrying on puts to shame some of our own American struggles with other evils.

Not only is there a strong antiopium society, but likewise anti-cigarette and temperance societies. Seven years ago I rarely saw a cigarette smoked in China save by foreigners from other lands; now one cannot go anywhere without seeing men and women, and often children, smoking cigarettes imported from Christian countries; and this is true of the lowest classes as well as of the highest. "A cigarette in the mouth of every man, woman, and child in China" is the motto of one of the big British and American tobacco companies, and great loads of boxes upon boxes of cigarettes can daily be seen being brought into the city. It is estimated that in just one storehouse in Peking, an American tobacco company sells $25,000 worth of cigarettes in one week!-an amount sufficient to pay the annual expenses of some of the best mission universities in China.

Under the Republican government some three months ago, at the time of the three days' opening of the Temple of Heaven, the temple sacred to the Chinese, where once each year the Emperor of China has gone to offer

in behalf of his nation sacrifices to the one supreme but unknown God, the

Christian people rejoiced that permission was granted the churches to preach the Gospel of Christ and tell of the supreme and known God, and that hundreds there heard for doubtless the first time in their lives of the Christ. But at the same time they were horrified that upon the altar of the very Holy of Holies men were offering cigarettes for sale. It verily makes one heart-sick to see the results of the activities of these tobacco companies who come from Christian lands.

I was greatly interested in seeing upon my return the change in the streets, then so poorly kept, cluttered with small shops, poorly lighted and non-policed, now cleared of all the small booths, macadamized, lighted with electricity, supplied with city water-works, and with a well-managed police force to keep even the crowded.

« EelmineJätka »