Part 19 (1/2)

When we reached the city of Shanghai it was quite dark, but we found coolies awaiting us with chairs I shall never forget my first impressions of China All of my anticipations of the beautiful Orient were fully realized, and, as I was carried through the crowded streets, visions of the Arabian Nights enchanted ht The streets of Shanghai, however, after the broad thoroughfares of Washi+ngton, appeared like shted with public lamps at this time, but myriads of lanterns of every conceivable shape and color carried by wayfarers met the eye at every turn and made the whole scene appear like fairyland But, alas, the following ht revealed to my vision a very squalid and dirty city We were carried to the largest hotel in Shanghai, where it see when the sign over the door told me that it was the Astor House! Still another surprise awaited e land, one of the first persons to welcome me was a former acquaintance, the wife of Mr Robert Morrison Olyphant, the head of the pro_ of Olyphant and Company Her maiden name was Anna O Vernon and I had formerly known her quite well in New York and Newport

We did not linger long in Shanghai, but embraced the first opportunity to reach Foo Chow It was a coast voyage of several days and was attended with h which we sailedthe fact that during the whole of our protracted voyage we had not suffered an uncomfortable moment We reached Foo Choever, in due time, and Mr Gouverneur at once assumed his official duties Foo Chow is called by the natives _Hok Chiu_, or ”Happy City” It is also what is ternitude, and was the sole Chinese port where royalty was represented It is situated upon the Min River, about twenty-five miles from its ation of the river Min was regarded as dangerous, and the insurance rates for vessels navigating it were higher than those of any other Chinese port The place is surrounded by castellated walls nine or ten miles in circumference, outside of which are suburbs as extensive as the city itself Its walls are about thirty feet high and twelve wide at the top Its seven gates are overlooked by high towers, while s the walls

Upon our arrival in Foo Choe found no house provided for the US

Consul, and immediately made our residence with a missionary faustus Heard and Company provided us with a residence for which we paid rent The English government took better care of its representative Not far fro one in certain respects of the White House In another residence near by, and provided by his government, lived the British interpreter, a Scotchman named Milne

Walter H Medhurst, the British Consul, and his interpreter were descendants of early English missionaries We found Foo Chow to be a somewhat lawless city Many of its inhabitants were ion who had become pretty well starved out and had found their way into the city As a result of their early training, they gave the authorities much trouble

I was naturally much impressed by some of the novel and curious custouest was on the left of the host The uncovered head for a ly be severely reprimanded if he appeared before hishite, in striking contrast with the soue was a chalky white substance From these and other exa that I had been transferred to another planet and had left ”dull earth behind eous flowers and other vegetation were at their best

The month of April was a season set apart by the Chinese to decorate with flowers the graves of their ancestors; and co from a land where such a ceremony was unknown, it iests, moreover, the inquiry as to whether it was from the Chinese, or fro an outward expression, that induced the descendants of the Blue and the Gray, at a later period, to streith flowers the last resting-places of those whose hted to honor

Next door to the US Consulate lived a Parsee nalish subject He never uncovered his head, and his tarpaulin hat carriedat Miss Forbes's school He was extensively engaged in the opiue quantities of it stored in his dwelling One day he caranted that he was a fire-worshi+per, I inquired whether he cao his farated from that country to India, where their descendants had since resided I recall an incident which convinced me at the tiion Mr Gouverneur noticed sht was a remote portion of the Botelwalla home, and ithat his house was on fire Without a ether, and for a while they worked most strenuously to subdue the flames and to save from destruction the hundred thousand dollars' worth of opiued in the Parsee's home Somewhat later ere surprised to learn that it was our own kitchen which was on fire Our ignorance was due to the fact that the walls of the two houses were so irregular and so oddly constructed that it was at first exceedingly difficult, upon a superficial view, to distinguish certain portions of our own hohbor The one feature, however, connected with the fire which impressed us hbor and fire-worshi+per, did not allow his religious scruples to interfere with the safety of his valuable personal possessions My attention, as well as admiration, was frequently directed to a nu on his upper veranda and which, I think, were used for bed coverings

Soon after his arrival in Foo Chow, Mr Gouverneur was fortunate in securing the services of a Chinese interpreter nah order, ore the ”blue button,” significant of his rank In addition to this distinction he wore on his hat the peacock feather, an official reward of ence, well versed in English as well as in the Chinese vernacular, and was also the master of several dialects He surprised me by his familiarity with New York, and upon inquiry I learned that he had once taken a junk into that port, which was naturally regarded with great curiosity by the Gothamites He remembered many prouished lawyer, whom he had met in a professional relation He also recalled my old friend and Mr Gouverneur's kinsman, William Kemble, who lived next door to Mr

Lord opposite St John's Park Ling Kein and his family lived in our house, but they led such secluded lives that I seldom saw them; indeed, we never laid eyes upon our interpreter except when his presence was required He was not in the eovernment, but his salary of one hundred dollars a month was paid from my husband's private means

His services were invaluable and e first began housekeeping he secured our do, a Christianized Chinese, who took entire charge of the establish the servants and even handing thees For his services he received four dollars a month

I found this mode of life ideally pleasant and easy until I heard an uproar one day in the servants' quarters in which norant as to the cause of the commotion and for some time held my peace, as one of the first lessons I learned in China was not to probe too deeply into domestic affairs, since one derived but little satisfaction from the atte Kein in order to ascertain the cause of it It seees in Mexican dollars which were not of the proper weight There prevailed a craftythe coins, and this dishonest Chinaht to be simply unsophisticated woreement that in future I should personally pay the nurses their wages I gave each of these wo Ting, as a chef, and the four coolies, ere the chair bearers, were also paid four dollars a atekeeper, whose duties were to open and close the front gate and to look after the chairs of visitors, received a similar sum for his services I also employed by the month a native tailor, whose sole requirements for his ere a chair and a table He did the entire sewing of the established four dollars a month for his labor At least one of my experiences with him failed to confirm the extraordinary powers of imitation possessed by the Chinese, for upon one occasion when I trusted hiarave hinored ns

Fortunately for us, this retinue of retainers provided its own food and clothing, and I was in blissful ignorance as to where they stowed theht A laundryes were two dollars a hundred for articles of every description I ae that I never saw the interior of our kitchen, but our cook served our dinners in the uests to dine with us and as the butler, Ning Ping, was as , was in his, I was delightfully irresponsible and often wondered, as I sat at uests were principally s_ and officers of war-shi+ps lying in the harbor, and it was the custo with hihout the repast

There was quite a nuious denomination provided its ministers with comfortable quarters The Baptists were especially well represented and also the ”American Board,”

which was established in Boston in 1812 The English residents had a small chapel of their ohich ell sustained by them There was one missionary who commanded my especial respect and admiration I refer to the Rev Mr Williay exclusively with the natives and dressing in the Chinese garb which, with his Caucasian features and blond complexion, caused him to present the drollest appearance Only those who have resided in China can understand the repugnance hich anyone accustoard such a life He gave up body and soul to the spread of Christianity in a heathen land, recalling to my mind the early Jesuits, Francis Xavier, Lucas Caballero and Cipriano Baraza, who penetrated pathless forests and crossed unknown seas in conformity with the requirements of their sacred mission Mr Burns died in China in the earnest pursuit of his vocation I own a copy of his life published in New York in 1870, soon after his death

The Roman Catholic Church ell represented in Foo Chow and was under the general direction of the order of the Dominicans Each portion of China, in fact, even the most remote, was under the jurisdiction of some Roman Catholic Order, so that directly or indirectly almost every Chinae orphan asylum in Foo Chow, over whose portals, in Chinese characters, was the verse from the Psalms: ”When my father andbrought back to me my far-away Western ho from the belfry of this institution

There was a native orphan asylum in Foo Chow, not far from the American Consulate--a fact I have never seen stated in any of the nudoest salary was paid the nurse who successfully reared the greatest number of babies When I lived in China, the laws for the prevention of infanticide were as stringent as our own, but they were often successfully evaded Poverty was so grinding in the East that the slaughter of children was one of its most pitiable consequences Infants were arded with the eye of affection

Fifty years ago slavery was prevalent a the Chinese, and one of its saddest features consisted in the fact that its victims were of their own race and color Poverty-stricken parents sold their offspring to brokers, and in Foo Choas recognized as a legitimate business

Theoretically there were no slaves in Hong-Kong, which is British territory, but in reality the city was full of thee cities of China, and boys and girls between the ages of ten and twelve were sent froirls were purchased to be employed as servants, and so the them off to their sons In this way, aspeople of China were spared the vicissitudes and discouragements of courtshi+p so keenly realized in soirl slaves sold with no other property except the clothes upon their backs Frequently their garments were of the scantiest character and in some cases even these were claimed by the avaricious brokers Many of the waifs were purchased upon trial as a precaution against leprosy which prevailed throughout the East One of the tests consisted in placing the child in a dark rooreenish hue, the slave passed e it indicated the early stages of this fatal malady Babies were not much in demand in Foo Chow and did not even command the price of fresh pork! I learned at an orphan asyluhai that they were purchased at twenty cents each This institution was conducted by irls all kinds of does, saw that they were given to suitable men for wives

Not far from the Consulate were the quarters of the Tartars They seemed to live very much to themselves, and most of the men were connected with the enerally known that ever since the commenceo, the queue has been worn by the Chinese as a badge of submission to the Tartars The feet of the women were not compressed by these early rulers and consequently the Court did not set the fashi+on as in European countries I understand that even now the bandaged feet are universal

In those days there were no railroads or telegraphs in China The E in Foo Chow and the news did not reach us until several weeks after the event, and then only through the medium of a courier The official announce certain Chinese characters All of the athered at the various temples to bewail in loud tones and with tearful eyes the death of their ruler

The palace of the Viceroy was naturally the chief objective point of all foreigners and especially of officials upon their arrival in port

Occasions frequently occurred when Mr Gouverneur was co an intervieith this high official These audiences were always proreat amount of pomp and ceremony very dear to the inhabitants of ”far Cathay,” but exceedingly tiresome to others Some distance fro called Examination Hall, used by the natives exclusively in connection with the civil service of the governe enough to acco overnmental positions were locked each year while they wrote their test examination papers The hall accommodated ten thousand students and the tiarded by the Chinese as a critical period in a young ely depended upon the ability displayed in his papers These were carefully read by a board of exaned to those who excelled in the exaarded as the chief condition of executive favor and, although personal influence naturally had its weight, its exercise did not seem to be as prevalent in China as elsewhere Itto the pride of other nations, but the fact remains that the civil service of China was the forerunner of the reforard as overnmental polity

While ere in China, the seas were infested with a formidable band of native pirates that had committed depredations for many years One day two rival factions dropped anchor at the same time in the Min River, directly opposite Foo Chow, and opened a brisk fire upon each other

Many of the foreigners beca around at a lively rate One of these which had entered the house of an Aht to the Consulate, and Mr Gouverneur was urged to take some action The natives of China were at tilad for an excuse to stir up the community and, in consequence of this battle of the sea-robbers, a mob formed in Foo Chohich threatened disastrous results The only foreign vessel in the harbor was a United States man-of-war, the _Adams_, under the command of James F Schenck, subsequently a Rear Admiral in our Navy

Only a few days previous the British shi+ps had departed for theopium upon the poor Chinese at the cannon's mouth The city authorities were requested to use their influence in quelling the riots but seeency

This state of affairs continued for several days, when one s and followed by a large retinue, arrived at the Consulate and requested protection for the city