Soochow, Mar. 6.
The time for the opening of the Soochow Public Library has now arrived, but the library is not to be opened owing to lack of funds for the purchase of books, the whole of the money being used for the erection of the building. A Mr. Hsi, a dye merénant of Shanghai, just before his death about three years ago, left $50,000 to this, his native city, for a public library. The building is large and handsome but at present it stands as an empty shell. Some criticize its construction and believe it to be unsafe. Not far from the library is a new maloo (horse read) which was begun some months azo, but seems destined to remain unfinished for many months to come. The old Emperor's palace is now the assembly hall of the local educational association and this new boulevard was begun by fill-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.