Kiukiang, China, August 11th, 1876.

My Dear Sister Rose:

I find by reference to my memorandum book, that six weeks have gone since I last wrote home (how time does skip!) and that I might as well answer your letter of June 5th, which came by the last mail. I believe I owe Agnes a letter and Joe one or two, but I have got into the same habit of irregularity in answering their letters that they show in writing to me. And when I take up my pen to write home, it seems to come natural to reply to the last letter which has come to hand.

What a time you have with the hogs and horses on Blue Run! You ought to send to China for a supply of the former beasts, for we could well spare them, and as they are the most innocent and harmless and stupid creatures imaginable, they would never give you any trouble. The hog in China seems to be a universal favorite, and never does the least harm. If you go out among the wheat or rice or corn fields in the country, you will find nothing to keep animals from trespassing except a ridge of sod 18 or 20 inches high, or a little wicker fence made of thin brush or bamboo slits, such as an Ohio hog would only grin at. Often there is absolutely nothing to prevent hogs from roaming about at will, and the innocent creatures may be seen quietly rooting along the narrow paths which separate one field from another, never offering to molest the tempting grain on either side. If they do show any inclinations to trespass, the owner passes a straw rope around their body, and fastens it to a small stake in the ground. There the poor brute stays, walking about contentedly and demurely the length of its tether, and it would probably die of starvation before it attempted to break loose, or even uttered a squeal of impatience. When a man wants to transport his pig to the market, he leads him along the road by the straw rope; or if the beast is not too heavy, he puts him in a good sized basket, swings it over his shoulder, and sets out. A funnier looking object than a black pig, squatted down in a heap in a basket, unable to get out, and jogged along a stony road on the bare shoulders of a sun-browned coolie -- it is not often permitted one to see. Sometimes the hog is too big and heavy for one man to carry, and too lazy or stubborn to go itself; then three or four men tie a rope round its belly, and lift it on a bamboo pole, on which it remains suspended with its legs hanging down, a forlorn and helpless looking object. The hog seldom objects to this mode of conveyance, as it no doubt thinks it infinitely preferable to being compelled to waddle along the streets on its proper fours. Only when the brute's four legs are tied together, and it is carried back downward, does the poor thing protest, though of course to no purpose. So universal a favorite is the hog in China, especially among the poorer classes, that there are few families which are not so happy as to have a porker in and around the house, I say in the house for there is no spot too sacred for the pig to invade; the finest room in the house is probably his sleeping apartment, and the proverbial "pig in the parlor" is no myth in China. But enough of pigs for the present.

Your package of S. S. School papers was received some time ago, and last Sunday they were distributed among the scholars. They were very gladly received, especially by the girls. A foreign newspaper is a great curiosity to the Chinese, even when it has nothing but unintelligible characters for them to look at; but when there are pictures scattered through it, these make it doubly attractive. Our S. School now is very interesting and prosperous; and indeed the work among the children is the most encouraging and hopeful feature that is manifested. The Misses Howe & Hoag's boarding school is flourishing finely.

This has, been a cool and very wet summer. The rains have swelled the Yangtse to overflowing, and vast tracts of country have been submerged. Our streets are flooded, and we get about from place to place on staging. The native houses have several inches of water in them, and the people have to live up stairs. Our foreign houses are all built on higher ground, and the flood has not reached them yet. But the surplus water which stands in our yards has been generating myriads of musketoes, which do nothing but sleep through day, but sing, dance, and feast all night. A select band has been meeting every evening in my room for a concert. Their serenades might be acceptable were they given gratuitously, but I am grieved to say they are not. At the close of each musical performance they invariably present their bills. (N. B. This pun, clever as it is, is not original). They are as rigorous in their demands as Mark Twain's railroad conductor; and always whenever they take a fare, punch it is, and punch with care, right in the face of the passenjaire!

My health is excellent, and has been so all summer. I have been sick each of the two preceding summers at Kiukiang, but this season I have not had a touch of my old complaint. You say you were sorry that my name was not in the list of returned missionaries. I should have been exceedingly sorry if it had been, for I have an invincible reluctance to consenting to go home before ten years. It costs a great deal of money to go back and forward, and there are constantly many missionaries who have to be doing it, so that thousands and thousands of dollars of missionary funds are being spent every year for the sake of health. Now I am in excellent health, and love my work; besides I am only getting fairly started in it, and I can't bear to be of any more expense to the Mission than my salary, and what I need for traveling about the country on preaching tours.

I am glad to hear you speak so well of James Mitchell, and that he still remembers me. I shall never forget him, for when we went to school together I formed an affection and friendship for him which can never die. Please remember me to him in the warmest of terms. There are very few persons in America to see whom it would give me greater delight than it would to see him.

How the telegram thrilled our hearts which flashed across to us the intelligence that Gov. R. B. Hayes was the candidate of the Republican National Convention for President! Ohio first and foremost, always! I anticipate for the gallant soldier and chivalrous, upright statesman a sweeping majority almost unparalleled in the history of the country.

There has been a novel recently published in England, called "the Dilemma," which, if you ever have the opportunity, I should like to have you get and read. It is a story of the Sepoy Rebellion in India, is of thrilling interest, and written by a master hand. But the principal recommendation to it is that it depicts life so naturally and so graphically, as it is experienced by foreigners in the Orient. The author has been through many of the fearful scenes which he portrays with such vividness and fascination. I read the story as it ran through Littell's Living Age.

Goodby for the present. Daily do I remember you all at the throne of grace. Love to all. Your aff. brother,

A. Stritmatter

(The following is written across the top of the last page, upside down. -- RSJ.) Some unknown friend is sending me Harper's Weekly this year. Who can it be?