Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1904-05-11
A Letter From The China Sea.
China Sea, March 10, 1904

ed on the Australian from Hong
Kong for Columbo, Via Singapore
This is a French ship. everything i.
t very frenchy including the language
but | think we shall be very com
Portable and already / feel quite al
home with nothing in sight but the
sea, sky, ship and an occasional is
land. Have we not had a long sea
voyage, and neither of us victims
of sea-sickness! Oh, the miles oil
blue, black and green waters that
surge without ceasing between here
and there, and yet after all this old
world is not so very large and the
more we see of it the more we wish
to see what remains.
We saw quite a good deal of Japan
but | am not to tell you much of that
now, save that they are an interest
ing people, their country picture
and in summer it must be flower
garden. Their cherry trees, that
we have read of, bear no fruit, they
are merely for the blossom, pink
nearly the size of an apple blossom;
artificial productions were displayed,
but in their season the gardens and
Istreets must be gay. Their vege-
table gardens, even when we saw
them, were green and they seemed
cultivated with such precision The
country seemed all in state of
patriotic enthusiasm, such crowds
at every depot, long trains given
over to the transportation of soldiers,
and room for their citizens or travel
ers is wanting. Their JOY over re-
cent victories called forth displays
of thousands of flags. Oh, what
gatherings of the people and the
children echoed the sentiment of
their elders with as much noise as
the boys of America.
But this letter was to talk with
you particularly Of Canton and few
things in general of China, and l
fear | shall not know where to stop,
the field is SO immense.
In the first place, we must rea-
lie the little space for the popula-
ton of the Chinese Empire of
4,O00,O0O,000 supposedly happy
people. We wonder they can be
happy in their mode of life, but
when we recall the history of old
London before the time of the ter
rible plague and great fire Of 1866,
we might have found state of
things corresponding with the Can
ton of to-day. And just as narrow
streets and alleys are still to be
found in some OF the older quarters
of many European cities, and poss-
IDLY the general health record of
old London in the 18th century did
not exceed that of Canton at The
present time, but here is the differ
ence. London progressed, China
stood still. Without doubt they
are the most industrious people in
the world, necessity conpels this,
and they are content, because the
masses nave little or no knowledge
of luxury. The average cost of liv-
ing for the ordinary native is scarce
ly more than So per month and this
cooked in the most primitive, man
ner
Canton, the southern capital of
the Empire, is the most interesting
city of south China. Unlike our
cities, where is heard the kissing of
steam pipes and boilers, we observe
slow pounding and creaking peculiar
to the early methods of plodding
industry, and those plodders move
all the heavy freight the large steam
ers carry have watched them
and their methods and, although
slow, results follow that almost sur
prise one. Canton is 80 miles from
Hong Kong up the Pearl river. AS
we near the harbor, we wind among
all manner ofwater crafts from the
heavy man-of-war and the freight
ers of the merchantmen to iunks
and launches. Sampans swarm in
the harbor by hundreds, each boat
managed by a shrill voiced woman,
who knows no other home, who
steers, SOULS, cooks, manages her
children and makes all bargains;
and before the ship fairly touches
shore, the din Of many voices are
heard. another Babel. These sam
pans are only as long as good siz-
ed row boat and they are the homes
of hundreds of thousands of people.
There seems sort of feud between
land and river people and there is
no association whatever. 1t is a
study to watch them, the women
have the strength of men, the little
ones gazing from back Of the palm
leaf covering of their boats, and
toothless grandmothers wrinkled
and stopped and half clad looking
with eager eyes to catch glimpses
of what to them is the other half of
the world. Women from the sam
pans clean the streets and carry,
like the men, heavy loads on their
shoulders, from bamboo sections
and in no instance did / notice any
rebellious looks On the contrary,
often when waiting for work they
would seem to exchange jests with
their companions. The women
were mostly bareheaded, and like
the men, were naked from the waist
up, the bamboo resting on their
bare shoulders. To be carried
by them in the sedan chairs seemed
actually cruel and yet how eager
they were for job, and seldom sat
isfed with the regulation pay and
| could not blame them and if YOU
stop to talk with them only for al
moment even such a crowd would
gather, the only way was to pay