I  commenced  your  letter  this  morning,  and  in  the  meantime
a  home  mail  has  arrived,  bringing  me  your  dear  letter  of  Oc-
tober 28th.  I  am  glad  to  find  a  few  minutes  for  it  before  the
mail  closes.  I  hardly  know  how  to  choose  among  all  the
things  that  I  want  to  talk  to  you  about,  though  first  I  must
tell  you  how  glad  I  am  to  know  that  the  rheumatism  is  bet-
ter.
And  next,  I  must  tell  you  not  to  mind  that  I  am  living
alone.  T  would  never  choose  it  for  myself — I  do  not  think
that  it  is  wholesome  for  anybody — ^but  I  have  come  to  think
that  it  was  a  bit  of  experience  that  I  needed,  in  order  to  en-
able me  to  understand  more  thoroughly  and  to  sympathize
more  tenderly  with  my  feflow-workers  who  have  become  one-
sided, or  eccentric,  or  narrow,  from  living  long  in  isolated
places,  apart  from  companionship  that  could  help  and
strengthen.  Such  an  experience  comes  sooner  or  later  to
many  a  missionary.  I  see  now  that,  given  the  same  condi-
tions, I  might  become  as  peculiar  as  any  of  them — I  almost
surely  would.  I  already  have  a  new  tenderness  in  my  feel-
ing for  them.  I  guess  that  when  I  have  learned  all  that  God
is  trying  to  teach  me  by  this  new  life — ^new  phase  of  life,  T
mean — ^He  will  send  me  a  home  mate.  For  the  work's  sake
I  long  for  the  coming  of  helpers.    .    ..
TO  MISS  CALLAWAY.
Shanghai,  November  9,  1891.
