This is an anonymous account of Reynolds from 1905. Given the focus on her time at Carleton, we can discern that the writer must have known her during her college years. The paper is also different from Reynolds’s own papers and thus may have been written and circulated from the United States, rather than sent from Beijing.

“Among the missionaries who go out to foreign countries this fall, Mary Reynolds is our in whom we are all very much interested. She graduated from Carleton a year ago, and during the years in which she has been a student in the institution, her cheerful unassuming Christian life has been a source of help and inspiration to all who have known her.

The qualities which combine to make her character one of exceptional strength are, a conscientious sense of duty, clear and…

…liberal judgement, deep sympathy and a genuine interest in people.

She has also a keen sense of humor and whenever any good natured fun was going on she was sure to have a hand in it. Her ability to see the humorous side of things will help her very much in adopting herself to her new work. 

She has also considerable ability literary ability, especially in short sketches and forms – almost every college event was commemorated by her in a poem, Mary of which have been published in… 

… the Carletonian.¹

This will aid her materially in her teaching where she will need so often to resort to stories as a means of presenting the many ideas which American child already has.²

With several years of experience in public school teaching and the broad mental equipment she has we feel sure that she goes forth peculiarly well fitted for her work.

Perhaps it might be interesting to know how this unique mission came to her.

Miss Miner a missionary…

... in Pekin was appointed by the Emperess Dowager to find a suitable American young woman to educate her grand nephews  in English.

Knowing of our institution thru her sister who attended here several years ago, Miss Miner at once applied to Carleton and as a result Miss Reynolds was chosen.

Besides the two children of the royal family, she will have several other pupils belonging to the nobility. Since the Emperess set the fashion of having her children educated in English, it has become a fad among the nobility.

Miss Reynolds will live at the Mission Compound and go to the royal palaces and the various homes of her pupils each day. 

Her life at the Mission Home will be very pleasant. There are several other missionaries boarding there, all of them interesting and beautiful characters.

She will no doubt find her work hard and at times discouraging, before the children gain a sufficient vocabulary so as to understand her in English.

She goes forth bravely to her work not afraid of…

…facing hardships.

She has already shown herself capable of mastering difficulties.

All thru her course she did some outside work for her support and by soliciting subscriptions for the Ladies Home Journal she earned enough to take her thru her senior year.

She feels very deeply the responsibilities of the undertaking, not only because she is sent as a representative of the Carleton Mission, but also for the influence she may exert towards bringing the…

…Chinese nobility, thru their children, into a more cordial attitude toward the missionaries and the Americans generally.