The Hawaiian gazette., 1908-04-17

Marshall P Wilder. who visited HIS
: wall some years ago:
a To one accustomed only TO Atlant
, travel the element of novelty begin
at once on a Pacific steamer Instea
OF SNUG English stewards. neat CHI
) namen in spotless linen gowns of blu,
; long cues. immaculate white stock
) ings. and the broadest of smiles, Il
, nimbly about carrying baggage o
waiting on passengers with mos
cheerful disparity.
! The Chinese stewards interested u
exceedingly, and when. directly afts
sailing from San Francisco, we de
scended TO luncheon, We saw them Il
new way. The leng tables in tn
saloon were laid out invitingly Will
massivl silver and piles of fruit
around which the neat boys whisked
making an attractive picture. Her,
We received our first introduction tC
the far-famed ''pidgin English" which
We had previously conceived TO bt
| very largely a figment of the story.
/ teller's brain. II was to be later i'm
! pressed upon us how universal the use
| of ii is. from San Francisco right
/ through TO Ceylon. wherever the Chi
nese .coolie lives and moves and has
his being
In the dining saloon the boys wore
starch. high cuffs over their sleeves.
and each smooth and jetty cue fin
ished at the end with a silk tassel,
neatly tucked through a little strap
at the side of the gown. This is 10
keep it from slipping over the shoulder
when STOPPING over the tables.
Win at hard or outdoor work. a
Chinaman will twist his cue up like
woman, but never in the house. as
it is a disrespectful act to appear be-
fore a superior with the cue bound
up. Foreigners in many cases do not
know this, and the Chinaman, who in
stinctively hates all foreigners. will
often resort to this method of insult
ing them. taking a deal of comfort
out of it, even though the foreigner
may be in blissful ignorance of the in
tended disrespect.
Some of the dining-s saloon BOYS had
been in the service long enough TO
speak and understand English very
we'll: with others it was necessary 10
resort to the ''pidgin" dialect which is
a ridiculous hybrid of baby talk.
broken, or rather mangled, English, |
and few stray Chinese words.
1t was my luck 10 draw a waiter |
who was particularly shy on straight |
English. and when I asked for a nice |
piece of rare roast beef, and vegeta-
bles such as my wife had, his face
remained as blank as a newly white !,
plexity, a kind neighbor taught me
what to say. and, though feeling
rather silly, I repeated: boy, you
aetchee me number one piece roast
beef, no too well done, and vegetables
alice same lady have got" His face
oeamed with intelligence, and my
order was executed with neatness and
dispatch.
I subsequently discovered that if a
hair was desired from the upper
ieck an order in plain English would
lot be understood. But say TO him,
Boy you go topside. ketchee my one
'iece chair, bring to me- He will
epart cheerfully, knowing just what
-ou mean.
''Pidgin" is the Chinese word for
business" and a great many years
got this motley means of communica-
ion was evolved, piece by piece, as a
Medium through which the English ,
peaking traders carried on business
nth Tha chinese 70 =
hat numbers of Chinese, especially a..
Ne merchants, speak excellent Eng :
n, this absurd polyglot has held its
~7n, and it is a benighted Chinaman, .
ldeed, who can not conjure up a few >,
ipe phrases. 1t is a means of COM h
~ lication, even among Cinnamon, so 4
II said: for the different provinces n
that country differ in dialect as so +,
any countries, but with a little of "
lie universal ''pidgin" they make k
lemselves understood. h
During our entire trip across the Il
acific We were never off an almost A
zen keel. 1t was so different from W
y first ocean trip, which was across d.
le Atlantic I'll never forget that. I HI
idn't been feeling well, and was told p'
at the sea voyage would make an NJ
her man of me. Imagine making ST
lother man of me. when there was
irdly enough material for onel al
Well, the minute the ship left the &c
ck I felt better. 1 threw out my i'
a lot of other things I 81
in't need-and prepared to enjoy ce
e. al
By the time We got to Sandy Hook -,
g ship was having st. Vitus' dance. -
d most of the passeng ers decided -
go below TO unpack. I started to :.
Id my stateroom, and 1 think I but AZ
] into every one there's was 1 was
ally hurled into one just as the oc- ei,
pant lady, was climbing into the 20
per berth. She said, "Sirl" Then 81
2 ship went the other way. and 1 tn
as never so completely sat on by TT
1y in my life, vi
At last I found my own stateroom. ar
itch was a locker with a couple Of pc
elves in il. frl
The ship now seemed to stand on ey
T nose and wag her tail in the air: pc
dsliberated whether 1 should close or
e port hole and go to my berth, or tn
'se my berth and go to the port ell
le. On the fourth day I began to po
ze notice Of things, and crawIed out II
deck just as the ship was doing a pr
ok and wing I was shot from one