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130

Sunday, 22 November
Fortunately the day we had selected for a hike turned out to be a good day, so we and the Ennises and Louise made andearly start for Tung Pien Men or Eastern Side-Gate. We left our rickshas at the gate and set out along the old imperial road toward the east. We walked along at a leisurely rate until we came to the Princess' Tomb, and a favorite picnicking place. We gained admission to the tomb enclosure, and after a little fooling spread our lunch on the stone table that once held the five utensils, the broken remains of the last one of which lay nearby half-hidden in the leaves. We had a good lunch, finishing just before a few more visitors arrived. The chief of these was a foreigner who set up his tripod so as to get the tomb, the broken monument, himself, and a coolie with a straw-stuffed pigskins tied over each shoe for warmth, all in the same picture. We got out; but qs we went in came a party of men and women students from Yenching.

We wandered on along the river, or rather canal bank, through the tall feathery reeds that the peasants were gathering. These reeds are used for many purposes. They make excellent sun curtains in the summer, and they are often used to spread over a roof before the tiles are applied. 

After stopping at a few more old ruined tombs we turned our steps across country in the general direction of Chao Yang Men, the middle gate on the east side of the city. We soon struck the T'ung-chou road, which was well travelled, and eventually got to the gate. Near the gate we stopped at the Hell Temple and the Tung Yueh Miao, and then took rickshas for home. Though Tom and I delayed our progress we arrived at home in time to clean up and go to the concert at the Peking Hotel. Mears voluntarily added herself to our party, but we had a good time. Louise came home with us for supper, and the day was thus concluded.

Monday, 23 November

This morning Dorothy had a desire to change the room around somewaht, and I was not averse to a change myself, but my idea of a change involved