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WEI PEH T'I
adopted, the Americans proceeded to exert their influence in China. It is not my intention here to suggest that Protestant missionaries in China were a part of the American scheme to wrestle for themselves a corner of the Chinese Empire. It remains true, nevertheless, that there was a surge in the number of American missionaries in China at that time, consisting of 8 to 12 percent of the total Protestant missionary force in 1900.12
Altogether seven letters were found in Mrs. Ryder's attic. Two were written in 1903, one each in 1904 and 1906, and three in 1905. It is unlikely that there were others because there appeared to be no break in the continuity of the content. Despite the small number, Edith Rowe was able to convey a great deal of information about Louise and herself, as well as life of the Chinese populace as observed by a foreign missionary in a small inland Chinese town at the beginning of the twentieth century. In addition, the letters reveal certain attitudes of foreigners in China; some were quite different from the espoused idealism that had brought them to China in the first place.
The first letter was written at Yangchow where Edith was receiving language training, together with eighteen other recruits. Most of these new missionaries were English, but there was at least one German woman. The stamps on the envelopes were in five and ten cent denominations issued by the Post Office of the Great Ch'ing Empire. Some of the envelopes carried two-cent American stamps, bearing the likeness of George Washington, with cancellation stamps indicating that they were sent from the U.S. post office in Shanghai. It was the practice of the Chinese Post Office at that time to charge recipients additional postage for letters that were considered to be overweight. On one occasion, Edith had refused to pay the postage due on a letter from Louise, and the letter had gone back to Wuhu before it was finally delivered to Edith at Taiho. Apparently, Louise had apologized in her letter for having caused Edith anxiety. Edith replied:
Please, you misunderstood my letter. I did not pay extra postage on your letter, but they charged me with it so I sent