Catherine recounted, for instance, that "When I asked the child's sex, I was told 'student.' A girl is a girl, a boy is a 'school boy' or 'student,' an indication of the educational status of women in this land." Like Dr. Travis, many Canadian missionaries in the Far East made a special effort to establish schools and bible schools for girls and women.

Dr. Travis also opined about cultural differences in housekeeping styles, remarking dryly to her readers back in Canada: "You will understand the Chinese are conservative folk, and do not care to disturb their goods and chattels for daily sweepings and dustings, or for yearly ones indeed."