we had finished with the basin of hot water, Mrs. Wong took
advantage of it, having found her own washcloth in the meantime. Just
at that moment the daughter returned with her apron full of cucumbers,
and politely offered a large one to my sister. Her mother quickly
snatched it away.

"As big a girl as that, and you don't know anything about hygiene!"
she reproved, sternly. "You haven't even washed them!"

As the cucumbers were being washed with the cold well water, I thought
to myself that they were probably no more germ-free after the bath
than before. Unboiled water from shallow wells is not necessarily free
from germs. I said nothing, however. After the daughter had finished
scrubbing the cucumbers, the mother got a knife and carefully peeled
two big ones. Then she handed them to us. Her own she did not bother
to peel.

"We Chinese are very unhygienic," she apologized. "Of course _you_
wouldn't eat cucumbers without peeling them!"

What would she have thought if she knew that to our minds neither the
washing in cold water nor the peeling made them safe to eat? I glanced
at my sister, who was usually very particular about seeing that all
raw fruits and vegetables were scalded before eating, and was
astonished to find that she was placidly and unconcernedly munching
her cucumber. She and Mrs. Wong were already striking up a lively
conversation about something else. I followed her example, and found
the cucumber very refreshing.

"How can you be so particular about scalding things at home, and then
go out to the country and eat unscalded cucumbers?" I asked, as we
were wending our way home.

"Oh, we couldn't possibly offend Mrs. Wong by refusing to eat what she
had to offer us!" was my sister's reply. "We certainly ought to be as
particular as we can when we are in our own home; but when we are
guests, and it's a question of offending someone--well, I think the
Lord looks after those cases!"

* * * * *

Teacups! Beautiful Kingtechen china of the thousand-flower pattern,
thin and exquisite; or perhaps just a rough earthenware cup, with the
handle missing. Everywhere we went in China we found teacups.
Everywhere we went the first thing we were offered was a cup of tea.
Fragrant tea, bitter tea, hot tea, cold tea; tea served in
hand-painted china, tea in an earthenware bowl--whatever the cup was,
we lifted it to our lips and drank. What was the first thing we
thought of as we tas