Lin Gossips

OUR FAMILY--Adet & Anor Lin, with Foreword by Me/me/'--John Day ($2).

Adet, Anor and Meimei (16, 13 and 8) are the daughters of Lin Yutang (The Importance of Living), that hard-working and engaging Chinese exponent of the leisurely life. Says doll-like Meimei, who is spoiled and collects stamps: "Father told Adet and Anor to write some diary. Soon they began to write and it became very good, so Father told them that maybe it can be published." A Chinese equivalent of the Abbe children's travel diaries, Our Family is more charming, thanks to the contributions of tomboy Anor. Anor's family and travel observations, her Rats and Mice at Home, and the tales her Chinese nurse told her are shrewd, imaginative, lively, at least partly support Pearl Buck's statement that "I should not be surprised one day to see an actual genius declare itself in those clear eyes of hers."

Says Anor about her father: he has "a marverlas degestion," laughs at his own jokes, "is very fond of taking a bath as his exercise," can't write without smoking. His hobbies are playing with candle wax, coloring picture books, "smoking even in bed."

Of her mother: she is proud of her pointed nose, "mentions the word 'FAT' almost 8 times per day." What she likes best""'is to let father sit in a chair and not reading anything . . . and hear her talking without any moving or uttering a sound."

Of U. S. children, they are punctual, straightforward, "good at memerizing, but talk about love affairs too early," ask silly questions about China, and "the way they play scares me."

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