nstead of knives and forks. Why? Ask any of them. The
reply you will probably get is, "Oh, it doesn't taste the same when
eaten with knives and forks!" And the strange part about it is that it
is really true.

"But," you say, "chopsticks are so difficult to use!" Not at all! You
just need a little practice. Even knives and forks are difficult for
beginners to manage. You would know that if you had watched as many
beginners (adults) try to use them as I have.

"No, but you can't cut anything with them!" Of course you can't. The
kitchen is the place for cutting up food. To serve a slab of meat on a
plate, and expect the eater to saw off pieces with a dull knife--it's
utterly barbarous! Chinese food is properly prepared, bite-size, in
the kitchen.

"Oh? But what about soup or gravy? You can't eat _them_ with
chopsticks!" Quite true; neither can you eat them with knife and fork.
Chinese eat soup with a spoon, or drink it from a bowl.

"Well, chopsticks are awkward, in any case!" Awkward? What are you
talking about? They are just like pincers--you nip a bite and pick it
up daintily, instead of spearing, or shoveling, as you do with a fork.

It's amazing how hard it is for an American (I won't speak for other
nationalities!) to come to the place where he will appreciate the
fact that the ways of people in other lands are in many cases better
for them than our ways would be. If you are going to the foreign field
in order to teach "the American way of life," you had better stay at
home. In saying this I do not mean that Americans do not have some
skills that it might be advantageous for the people on some foreign
mission fields to learn. But any missionary who has the feeling that
his ways of doing things are better just because they are "civilized"
ways, or "American" ways, or just his own ways, is heading for
trouble.

When I first went to China I thought I had no feeling of race
superiority. Then an incident occurred that showed me I was not as
humble as I had thought. It was at the Chinese New Year season.
Chinese New Year is the time of preparing all sorts of special foods,
and frequently at that time some of the Christian women would send us
a bowl of this, or a plate of that. There was a neighborly feeling
about it all that warmed my heart. Then one year a fairly wealthy
Christian woman, who had just recently moved to our city, sent her
servant over with a gift of a different kind. It was not food this
time, but