The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1875-06-25

we buS pTbuAuJou W my bSlOA0 Ouh /
readers the following interesting letter
from George ]. Fitch, Missionary to
China. 1t will be read with interest by
his many friends here.
SoocHow, April 26th, 1875.
Ny DEAR MoTHER:-
Again hail you from Soochow after
having been absent from here some five
months. haven't your last letter with
me, but remember you asked in some
of your letters about our servants, how
many we had. what they ate and whether
they ate with us, &c. I will try and an
swer these questions in the order given.
First, then, as to the number. For our
household affairs we have two "boys,
as all the Chinese men, servants, are
here called. Women very seldom act in
this capacity. The cooks and washer
men are all boys "boys." The two ser
wants were quite necessary as there were
two families of us living and eating to-
gether, and then in China, two servants
are almost always necessary for the rea-
sons which give below. The expense
of the matter will not shock you when /
tell you that we paid the two, less than
the board of an ordinary good eater
would cost at home, and these two board
ed themselves. They received from us
Just 81 so per month, and out OF this
they were to ofeed land cloaths themselves.
And this is not poor wages. If working
for wealthy Chinese family the two
would probably get five or six dollars
per month.
As to what they eat. The food of the
lower classes in China is very plain, con-
sisting manly of rice and few vegeta-
bles; meat, perhaps twice a month.
That is luxury they do not frequently
indulge in. They eat a great deal OF
fish, however. You will ask, l expect, do
they eat cats, rats, and dogsl 1 have
never seen any such animals offered in
t their markets, but I have heard that
they do sometimes, or in some places,
eat such things, but have never seenit.
But suppose they do2 What shall we
: say of people who eat hogsl Ny i'm
j preston is that what we eat is SO much
1 matter of custom, that we better not
say much about the Chinese. For l
D have vet to see that they eat anything
so much worse than we do after all.
: Beef is not eaten by the generality of
g the people, and living here in Scochow
it is only during the cold weather that
, we can procure it at all, and then only OF
i the Mohammedans, of whom there are
g good many in this city.
The idea of using butter and milk is
about as distasteful to most of the Chi
nese, as eating rats would be to an
American. Mutton is used to q limited
8 extent, but is too expensive for the COM
8 mon people. The great staple with the
multitude is rice aud vegetables; rice
for breakfast, rice for dinner, and rice
: for supper. They use wheat flour, but
: sparingly, and have au idea that the
! continual use of it is not conducive to
. good health. Coffee is unknown to
them. Tea is always without sugar.
They would no more think of putting
q sugar in their tea, than you would Of
a putting vinegar in yours. Nor do they
ever drink tea atmeals. But all through
/, the day big pot is kept in sort of a
4 basket or box, lined with cotton to keep
+ warm, and is ready to do service at a
t moments notice to any guest or strang-
er who sits down for rest or talk. The
Chinese have abundance of sweetmeats,
and some of them are very good and
q sometimes find their way to our tables,
: though they are very different from any
s thing we have.
Third. Do they eat with us? No, and
for various reasons. They prefer to eat
: their own food, in their own way, that
: is with chop-sticks, (of which will try
and send you pair. Being too of such
different character from ours, it re-
quires different utensils for cooking,
Z so is served and eaten at different times
/. from ours. They can do nothing what
ever with knives and forks, and indeed
chopsticks are not so bad when once you
get used to them A while ago we invit-
t ed our landlord, with his brother, to
= come and dine with u.s. They used the
+ forks to some advantage, but would
hardly make an attempt at using the
: knives for fear of being laughed at. We
y got them to eat some custard pie, with
+ out telling them there was milk in it,
@ and they pronounced it excellent, and
called for more. We laughed to Ourselvse
; for if we had said word about there
: being milk in it they would not have
e touched it.
: The Chinese are beginning to change,
slowly, in some things. and it is possible
= that a change in their habits of eating
and drinking will come by and by, but
f [ believe it will be among the last
! changes effected. They like the things
: their fathers liked and to do as their
= fathers did, not hundred or two humid
: red years ago, but two thousand years
ago. And when those upstairs from
, across the great waters come here, John
, dose'nt talk to them SO kindly'with their
big guns and fast straw boats and fast
3 ways, as might at first be expected.
When a Chinese gentleman accompanies
his guest to the door, he says, imam
man chill go slowly" And that is the
prevailing idea in all his character. And
It will be long time still before this
5 people are brought naturally to change
their ways. Gods truth will be one Of
the most powerful agents in changing
them, and to that we look.
7 GEORGE J. FITCH.