Kiukiang, March 21st,/76

My Dear Sister Rose

Although I have not received any letter from home since I wrote the last -- more than a month ago -- yet I guess I might as well send a few lines home by this outgoing mail. I have enjoyed most excellent health this spring, and now the warm weather is beginning to set in, which always uses up the extra store of energy laid by in the cool months. I have nothing new to furnish in the way of news, as "all is quiet on the Yangtse," and has been for months. We have had a British gunboat -- the Hornet -- lying by us all through the winter, which is something unusual for Kiukiang. The crew are a fine looking set of men, but desperately addicted to whisky. The Constable of the foreign community, an Irish Roman Catholic, keeps ardent spirits for sale, and when the sailors come on shore they usually go to his place, spend their money in drink, and come reeling out on the street. Sometimes, though not often, they get noisy, and attract great crowds of Chinese, before whom they play their drunken pranks, to the wonder and amusement of the simple minded heathen. Once in a while some get so tipsy that they give up trying to walk or stand, and lie quietly down in the mud and snore off their intoxicated fumes. Often two or three men may be seen leaning against a wall, bracing each other up, and talking all sorts of maudlin nonsense to one another. All this is done on the open street, before the face of hundreds of Chinese, who are constantly passing back and forth and it is one of the most shameful and humiliating spectacles which the missionary is compelled to confront. The Chinese themselves, heathen though they be, have in some respects a higher standard of morality than these representatives of civilization and Christianity. They are very seldom addicted to drinking as foreigners are, and though they are slaves to opium, they always go into the private shops to smoke, where they will not be exposed to the gaze of people on the street. It is impossible to tell how much mischief is occasioned to our work, simply by the degrading and vicious habits of foreigners lost to all sense of moral principle, and who abandon themselves to the most reckless licentiousness before the eyes of these Chinamen. Natives frequently take us to task in our chapels for this strange conduct of our fellow countrymen, and seem quite at a loss to reconcile it with the teachings of our religion.

With this mail will go home two missionary families, one from England, and one from the United States. The former consists of Rev. Wm. Scarborough and wife, Wesleyans, who came to China ten or twelve years ago. They have been stationed at the large city of Hankow, 150 miles above Kiukiang. Bro. Scarborough is a good man, and one of the best missionaries along this river. He and his wife are going home by way of America, and will spend some months in the States.

The other family is one you know a good deal about -- that of Rev. H. H. Lowry of Zanesville, O. It may be that you will meet him in Ohio -- the distance between Zanesville and Blue Run is so very trifling when compared with that between Blue Run and China -- and you will find him a very pleasant and genial missionary. He will only need to hear your name in order to claim your acquaintance, for he will at once say, "Why there's a young man in China by that name." Bro. Lowry has not been in China

ten years (the length of time missionaries are usually expected to remain before going home for a change), but both he and his wife are not in good health, and their Mission and the Secretaries have given them leave to return this year.

We are greatly interested in the stirring events which are to characterize the history of our native land during the current year. The General Conference, the grand Centennial Exhibition, and the Presidential Election -- all these are topics which we often discuss on this side of the water. We are very curious to know who the Presidential Candidates will be, and I have not heard anybody yet say decisively who he felt sure would be on the list. I wish you would run down to the Republican Convention in Cincinnati in June, and tell them for me that we want to see Gov. Hayes in the Presidential Chair.

I send a few Cantonese pictures on rice paper in this letter. Please give two or three of them to Mrs. Mollie Reiniger, with my very kindest regards. I hear the city of Portsmouth is about to inaugurate the institution of street cars. I suppose the place will be very much changed by the time I see it again.

Be sure to remember me kindly to Agnes and to all the friends. I shall be glad to receive anything that old Mother Varner may wish to send me. Are all the old neighbors still living on Blue Run? or what are the changes, if any? Tell me all about the Sunday School. What do you sing in now? etc. etc.

I am your affectionate brother

A. Stritmatter