Kiukiang, China,

June 29th, 1877

My Dear Sister Rose:

It has been some time since I received your last letter, and indeed I am in doubt if your two last have been answered yet. I wrote a letter to Bro. N. C. Wyatt some little time ago, and another to Jeff Field; which two letters, though not exactly written home, were yet the next thing to it, so that I have not written any others in that direction since. Besides my health has been greatly broken up in the last two months, and my head has been in such a state that for a great part of the time I could not bear to write, study, or even read. I am glad to say I am recovering again but my head still troubles me occasionally with its aches and pains and strange sensations. During the last four days I have been able to accomplish more work and to get over more ground than in a whole month previous; and I hope in a week or so more to be fully re-instated in my normal state of health. Still I do not think I possess more than one half of the physical strength and power of endurance that I had when I first came to Kiukiang.

We are just now enjoying a visit from Rev. N. J. Plumb and wife, of our Mission at Foochow. You will probably remember them as being from Ohio Bro. Plumb is a graduate of Delaware, and came to China a couple of years before I did. His wife was sent out the Fall of the same year I came. He is superintendent of the M.E. printing press at Foochow, which has done a good work in printing Christian literature for the Chinese. Of course the present occasion is the first meeting I have had with him, and it is very pleasant to be able to claim so many mutual acquaintances in our native State, and to talk of matters which have been familiar to our common experience in former days. Bros. Hykes and Cook, Miss Hoag, and the Plumbs, have all gone away on the Mission boat for a brief tour up the Poyang Lake, so that Bro. Hart and I are pro tem, the only members left in the Mission.

In one of your former letters you sent me a few apple seeds, which I had planted in Bro. Cook's garden. I believe they have as yet manifested no disposition to come up, at least on this side of the world. It may be that having been transported to the under side of the globe, they have lost their reckoning and are growing t'other way. If so I am sure they will have quite a time of it before they find daylight. Still you would do well to be on the look out for their first appearance.

Your last letter was very interesting, and seems to have been written con amore. (If you are disposed to object to so much Latin in one letter, remind yourself it might be much worse -- Greek or Chinese). I was surprised to hear of Joe's sudden call to Cincinnati, but I hope the visit has been a very pleasant one. You seem to dwell on the event as quite an episode in the history of Blue Run; and from the ado which you make about it I infer that, notwithstanding your years, you are still only a girl. I have since received a letter from Joe, in which he fills three and a half pages of foolscap before he even once alludes to his visit; and then he gives a very meager account of it. Still I am glad the theme was so inspiriting as to draw from you a long and enthusiastic letter, the perusal of which afforded me much interest and amusement.

You inquire about Miss L.L. Combs, M.D. She is still in Peking, doing a good work as a medical missionary. Not only the Chinese, but also foreigners, have had reason to be thankful for her coming. There are two or three missionaries in North China who were saved from the very jaws of death by her instrumentality. I do not know whether it will ever be your lot in life to become personally acquainted with her or not; I should be glad if such should be the case, for she is a kind, warm hearted, self sacrificing, and devoted woman, and I have told her that she would never find a better sister than you. As to the nature of my visits to Peking, I will simply say that the Emperor's palace is there, and in going there I go to Court.

The last few mails have been bringing me an unusual number of letters from America. One of the last is from my friend R. H. Kinnison, who, as I suppose you know, is married and teaching a High School. He writes as spicy and entertaining letters as ever. As regards the habits of the Chinese, he wishes information on a certain point. "I have been told," he says, "that if you seduce a Chinaman into a pair of American boots, as light and airy as Cinderella's slippers, he will walk with as much effort and as little grace as a kangaroo with a stone bruise on its heel; but if you put him in his native elements, a pair of mud scows with cellar doors for soles, he will gambol around as gaily as the dear gazelle that gladdens you with his eyes of celestial blue. How is this, anyhow? Have a class in Natural History that are anxious to know."

I need not say in comment on the above report, that it is wholly an unfounded and malicious slur on the poor Chinaman.

We have had some hot weather, but just now it is cool, rainy, breezy, and agreeable. The musketoes have been put to silence by the sudden change. -- But my turning to the weather for a topic on which to employ my pen, is an ominous indication that I have pretty nearly run out; so the best thing for me to do is to acknowledge the fact squarely, and round off my letter to a close as quickly and as gracefully as possible. I am glad that you have all been so kind as to give me the local news in extensive detail, and I hope you will not fail to always do so. Remember me to all my friends, and assure them from me that I do not forget them. I remain, as ever,

Your affectionate brother,

A. Stritmatter