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82

when I returned from a visit to the Y.S.C.S. And in the afternoon we managed to find a good looking pine tree for our front room.. We have made our own curtains. We had wood blocks cut from a Japanese towel pattern I have, mountains and pines, and we printed them ourselves on orange silk. They look fine indeed in our living room, and on dark and cloudy days the room is radiant with yellow light. 

Margaret Ruby was in for tea, and I had to show her my new desk. It is all finished now, including the Chinese style brass drawer pulls with my Chinese monogram on them. With its Chinese lines and design and color, and its western practicability it is quite the most satisfying desk for my purposes I have ever seen or imagined. I get an immense amount [[strikethrough]][[illegible]][[/illegible]][[/strikethrough]] of pleasure out of showing our house to people, but the house and the better pieces of furniture and decoration. For  we have some stuff that is of high quality and good value, and we have some things like my desk and our remodelled Chinese sideboard, that are good suggestions for people who are interested. We have quite the nicest house in the Yenching group, and I know none in Peking I like better, everything considered. 

With Dorothy's help and Mrs. Marshall's and George Loehr's we managed to get the examinations out of the way today, everything reported and in order. It has been a stiff week. 

Sunday, 13 September

Lee and Frieda are going home next spring and want their kids, especially the older ones, to see a good many things around Peking this year for the sake of the memeory when the things are no longer available. They do not expect to return to China. So today we went to the Great Wall. There were the Miles, including the three kids, Dr. and the new Mrs. Eastman, and Dorothy and I. We took lunch and had a good picnic, and all three of us men got some good pictures with our respective and more or less competitive outfits. Someday I shall have to drag the new YSCS outfit, the one we bought from Warner, out and get some real pictures. The wind blew hard and chill, but we had a good time, and returned in good time and good order. 

In the evening I helped with the procession