Tea is drank about the same time. It is taken without milk or sugar. Coffee is not common in China, and we are not accustomed to drink cold water. Tea is the national beverage and is taken to assuage thirst at all times and occasions as water is in America. At noon a lunch of cakes or pastry may be served. The majority of people are satisfied with two meals a day. Supper, or dinner, is served at five P. M. In the interval between the two meals, the ladies of our family sewed, spun flax, embroidered or received company, that is, their lady friends who come in sedan-chairs, some to make short visits, some to spend the day. Guests were regaled at noon with confections and pastry, but tea was always presented to a guest soon after arrival. It would have been uncourteous to omit it. In the evening, after the lamps were lighted, the ladies, young and old, would sit down to a game of dominoes, tell stories, or gossip. A peculiar feature in Chinese domestic arrangements is that when sons are married they continue to live with their parents, while daughters, when married, are expected to live with their husband’s parents. Such an arrangement often causes a deal of trouble, and most of the domestic infelicity in Chinese home-life is ascribed to it. But the custom has been handed down from time immemorial, each succeeding generation being educated for it. It sometimes happens that the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law are suited to each other and live pleasantly together; but this presumes that both entertain exalted views of duty and are blessed with forbearing natures and yielding dispositions. The Chinese say that all depends on the son and husband; if he be dutiful to his parents and strict in family discipline, he can prevent domestic broils; if he only shut his ear against the complaints of his wife, peace will be preserved. But the son and husband is apt to lean to one side or the other, so either harbors resentment towards his mother or acts unjustly towards his wife. The father usually steers clear of the trouble, though he sometimes acts as peacemaker. Then again if the mother-in-law gets along well with one of her daughters-in-law, it is not certain that she can with the rest, or that the latter can get along peacefully with one another. “Every family has a skeleton in the closet,” it is said here in America. It is no less true of Chinese families. My grandmother’s was a character that inspired respect; so she had little trouble in the management of her large family. She had administrative talent of a high order, and therefore a fair share of household happiness fell to our lot. CHAPTER IV. GAMES AND PASTIMES. The active sports of Chinese boys are few.