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Astor House hotel
Mukden.

166.
[[strikethrough]] 8 [[/strikethrough]]

Mukden, Decem. 25th. 1910

My dear Colonel Hecker.

I arrived here from Peking last night, and this morning wired you holiday greetings and added that I expected to reach Shanghai January 2nd. This is a pretty desolate place to spend Christmas, especially in view of having received from friends at Peking, Tientsin, and Shanghai most attractive invitations for the day but one can't be in several places at the same time, nor participate in all of life's rarer charms. There's lots in retrospection however, and my mind has flown detriotward frequently during the day. I have seen only the fringe of this war-famous place as yet!- its arts of peace call me. Having seen [[strikethrough]] them [[/strikethrough]] the letter as I hope to do in two or three days, I shall go on to Shanghai via steamer from Dalnay-
I have finished at Peking and vicinity for the present, but must return there again in the latter part of next March- By degrees, I am learning how to secure the high-grade objects desired for my collection. Those of this sort are not now as easily secured in Peking as they were last year and at the time of my arrival in Septem. 1910. The news of my success has brought plenty of buyers from Europe and while they are getting very little of the sort I hunt for, they are booming prices terribly and are causing owners to hesitate to sell. Anticipating this contingency, in 1909, I sent one agent into the interior before leaving for America. He furnished a number of the fine things sent in the shipment of five cases concerning the safe arrival at my house of which you so kindly
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