Early in February in 1867 he was down at Chefoo purchasing the brick and stone and lime; and so soon as the material was on hand and as the weather permitted, the actual construction was begun. It was an all-summer job, necessitating his subordinating, as far as possible, all other occupations to this. It required a great deal of care and patience to get the foundations put down well, and of a proper shape for the superstructure which was to rest upon them. In his Journal he thus records the subsequent proceedings: When the level of the first floor was reached I began the brickwork myself, laying the corners and showing the masons one by one how to proceed. I had no small amount of trouble before I got them broken in to use the right kind of trowel, which I had made for the purpose, and then to lay the brick in the right way. I had another round of showing and trouble when the arches at the top of the windows had to be turned, and then the placing of the sleepers took attention; and then the setting of the upper story doors and windows. The work went slowly on, and when the level was reached we had quite a raising, getting the plates and rafters up. All is done, however, and to-day they began to put the roof on.... I hope in a few days I will be able to resume my work again, as all the particular parts are now done, so that I can for the most give it into the hands of the Chinese to oversee. The early part of November, 1867, the Mateers lived “half in the old and half in the new.” On November 21 they finally moved. That was Saturday. In the night there came up a fierce storm of snow and wind. When they awoke on Sabbath morning, the kitchen had been filled with snow through a door that was blown open. The wind still blew so hard that the stove in the kitchen smoked and rendered cooking impossible. The stair door had not yet been hung, and the snow drifted into the hall and almost everywhere in the house. Stoves could not be set up, or anything else done toward putting things in order, until Thursday, when the storm abated.