'The winter so far has been superb—bright sunshine, no wind and consequently no dust. 'The old' year, however, was not going to leave us without one more effort to impress himself, upon us by a severe storm with clouds and dust and a bitter cold, in the last days of his existence. Boreas fortun nately lulled his blast in presence and in honour of the entertainment given by His Excellency the British Munster and Mrs. O'Conor on New Year's Eve and so allowed our Peking residents to witness the most successful and magnificent pantomime ever placed upon the stage of the Theatre Royal and of which we hope to send you wu account. The temperature fell to 24 degrees below freezing and coats at the theatre were in requisition.—The Week of Prayer is being observed here by the missionary body and in consequence of the New Yenr beginning on a Sunday, the usual visits have been abandoned this year by the Missionary community.
3rd January.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.