Sajikol, Seoul,
October 15, 1923.
Dear father and mother and Aunt Fannie:
Was so glad to get your letter last Wednesday with
its news from home which is always so welcome. You need not
think your letters are not interesting.  I was thinking how
little mail comes here compared to Princeton or home. "Yours
are the only ones I get except a few business letters from
the mission, and the Swinneys occasionally get one from America.
Every little description or^event gives me a definite mental
picture, which is a substitute for a visit. You and Mrs. Shuier
overrated my letters.  I have many interesting things to write a-
bout, and wish all the time that ydu could see them 'as I do.
I am sure that my letters are not half so interesting as they
should be if I could make you see everything just as it is.
Already the scenes are becoming familiar to me.and losing their
strangeness, which is a great handicap 'when it'comes to writing
to those unfamiliar with them. Before I came I Imagined travel
in foreign lands must be very difficult, and especially in the
Orient.  But I had not gone about in Japan very long before I
found1 out that it was not so very different after all.  There
are the regular train schedules/taxis, red-caps, ticket windows
and always someone who can understand enough English to give
you the necessary directions, and it does not take long 1  learn
some of the common Chinese characters on the signs. My ticket
from Yokohama to Seoul was ¥38.35, excess baggage ¥6.75, express
tickets ¥3.50.  The trains here have first, second, and third
class cars, each about double the price of the one before.
Nearly all the missionaries travel second class, which is very
comfortable.  The third class in the day is very crowded; the
third class sleepers have nothing but bare bunks to stretch out
upon, without any covers or curtains. The rules about baggage
vary with the class, and there is usually some excess to pay,
not as much being allowed as in America. Most of the .trains
which anyone would take for long distances are express trains,
and an extra ticket is required "on theft. We traveled at night
from Yokohama to Kyoto, and the sleeper was ¥5-00.. Only one
can occupy a berth because they are so narrow.. Japan has narrow
guage rails, originally brought from England; but the rest of
the Orient has the regular American width tracks. We had first
class accommodations on the boat from Japan to Korea (included
in our ticket).  Cheaper classes are almost impossible.  I saw
hundreds of people sprawled over the floor of a room for the
night, about as thick as they could* get. You must count on
making the trip some time. = Some people have made the return
by the Siberian railroad, twelve days I believe to Berlin, and
say it is very beautiful, even in Siberia.  I am paying ¥2.75
a dav for board.  The mission pays for my language teacher
¥45.00 a month, which is a good salary for a Korean, above the
average'family income. A notice was sent out a week or two
ago by the mission of a plan for paying half the appropriation
for certain things between now and next 'May, and of deferring
ail payments an certain other things till next May, with the
possibility that they would never be payed at all, if the board
ran short/ Language* teachers for Bro. Swinney and Mr. Price
(who married Miss Stem, -who came out on the boat with us), both
in their second year, were placed in the second classification.
They have asked for a continuation of the appropriation.  The
mission does not pay for language teachers for wives of mission-