Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-12-03
THE STREETS OF PEkIN
VISITOR THERE FINDS 1T DIFFICULT
TO DESCRIBE THEM.
Dust and Microbes and Poison in the
Aria Journey by
Rail.

While in China, recently, Mrs. DR.. Fran
els E. Clark, of the leaders of the
United Society of Christian Endeavor,
wIote to a friend in this city, in part as
fellows:
I'm these days one can go to Pekin by
train, and it seems a comparatively easy
thing till you try it, then you think that
the only respect in which it is easier Is
that it is shorter. However. 1 speak as an
ignorant person, for l have never tried the
old way of journeyng; so, perhaps, it Is
sufficient to say that it is not an easy jour
ney even by train.
"In all our travelling l never felt so help
less and so dependent upon other people
l do here in China. In Japan it al
ways easy to find some official who knew a
little English; or. If you could not do that,
you could say the name of the city you
were bound for, and 1t was quite possible
to buy your ticket and travel alone; but
here n China even the cities have Chinese
names, and l doubt whether they would
know them by their English sound. Pekin,
for instance, is 'Bay-jin,' and L do not be-
Eeve the ticket master ever heard of Pekin.
The cars are not very elegant or very
comfortable; but they are endurable for
short journey, and you cannot yet make
long one IN China by train. The seats
were just hard boards, not upholstered at
all. and dustier than anything you ever
dI canned of In nice, clean Massachusetts.
But it was only four hours, and it could be
endured for that length of time. 1 think it
used to take three days in cart, and still
more by boat When we reached Pekin
Mr.. Ament met at the station 1 do not
know what would have become of US if he
had failed us, for 1 doubt whether we
could have made any one understand
where we wanted to go.
An Electric Railway.
I'VE cheerfully left the train and in a few
minutes found ourselves in-would you be-
lieve it?-a little electric car! Wonderful.
isn't 1t? Not really in Pekin, though; this
little car took us only to the city gates,
a mile and half away. That is as near
as the Chinese would allow the electric
road to go, and it has hurt their feelings
to allow so much.
Leaving the car. Mr.. Ament gave US
our choice of vehicles, carts or jinrikishas,
and we chose jinrikishas, thinking
might have other opportunities to try the
carts Our Chinese men-horses took pos
session of us and away we went, rafting
our bones over the stones, only globe-trot-
tiers whom nobody owns.
ION we went, on and on and on. over the
worst kind of streets that you could think
of, and through such dust as you never
dream of. If it had been only just clean
Cobb sand it would not have been so bad,
though it would still have been smothery.
But Pekin dust is full of microbes of more
varieties than the widest scientist
dreamed of inventing and of dirt and filth
breathing in poison, but when the wind
blows, as it usually does at this time of
year, you are having all kinds of poison
and filthy germs blown into your face and
nose and ears and eyes and throat.
ION ratified and clattered, through
one dusty street after another, till there
seemed no end to it. The streets of Pekin
cannot be described. | have tried again
and again while l was riding through them
and looking at them. but / cannot do it
There streets there much wider than
in any Chinese city l have seen.
AristOcratfc Street.
THE one aristocratic street in Pekin is
Legation street, 1 suppose where the for
eign ambassadors live. and that is respect
ably paved for half mile or more but
there is still the dirt-germy, microby dust,
and the open sewers from which they dip
out the filthy water to sprinkle the streets
give you a larger opportunity to breathe
in germs One Of the wide streets, which
you might call a Pekin boulevard always
reminds me of the abomination of desola-
ton spoken of by the prophet.
ION one side of the Abomination boule-
ward is the wall of the imperial city
stretching and into the distance
just a great, high blank wall, with an oc-
casional tower to break the monotony. On
middle, and all around are dust heaps mud
heaps and sand heaps and an occasional
mud hut, and dirty, ragged people and
pigs, and sometimes in the middle of the
street and sometimes on side a great
gulf fixed which no cart can cross, and
everywhere deep gullies and ruts which
almost jerk your head off when you go
over them in a cart. And, still, l cannot
describe these streets, make them seem
to you as bad as they are"