“On the last day of the old year, the married daughters must be at their husbands’ homes, and must not revisit the paternal roof till the New Year’s festival is over. The devotee rising very early on New Year’s morning, worships, first of all, the ancestors, burning incense, and red paper representing money, before the tablet, on each side of which candles have been lighted, and before which the offerings have been placed. Then the idols of the household are worshipped, and, next, those of the temple. Fire-crackers are snapped by the priests in the temple, and by all the people at their homes and their places of business. If any one has married, or is successful in gambling or in business, he expresses his gratitude by these explosives. Breakfast comes next, composed of vegetables only, for no blood must be shed or be used on New Year’s Day. Liquor distilled from rice is sipped from tiny cups. Now, calling and the exchange of cards follow. Only good words are to be spoken. It is a violation of etiquette, established by the custom of ages, to speak evil of, or to, any one during the first ten days of the New Year.” Such of these usages as are purely social are retained by our Christian Chinese: The house-cleaning which brings to our several mission houses a thorough renovation; the trimming upon the walls and elsewhere with evergreen wreaths, with bouquets of artificial flowers and other samples of Chinese art; the cultivation of the fragrant Narcissus, and the interchange of calls and cards and mutual good wishes; the treating with candies, fruits, and tiny cups of tea——guiltless of the American concomitants of sugar and cream——all these you will find our Christian Chinese carrying forward with no less zest than their heathen countrymen. In these cases, this year, they invited the teacher with the whole family to which she belonged, to a banquet after the Chinese style; and in _all_ cases the teachers seem to have been remembered with gifts selected often with exquisite taste and purchased at a considerable cost.