Norwich bulletin., 1909-06-12

It is mainly to your genial influence in our midst that we attribute the harmony and brotherly feeling which has so peculiarly characterized our community, and our social occupations have derived much of their success from the willing and sympathetic part you have always borne in them.
 Your refreshing good nature. your elasticity of mind and cheerfulness of spirits, your ready wit and abound ing humor, and above all. the noble example you have set us of a life with out guile and a tongue without reproach, have endeared you to our hearts. It Is for the great country which you have so worthilv repre- seited here to appreciate your off, cial success. But we, as a cosmopoh- tan community in the midst of Chi nese population, cannot Ignore the hon. orable part you have played in the maintaining of those good relations between natives and foreigners on which our well-belng greatly depends. Your dignifed attitude towards the Chinese officials and the breadth and soundness of your views on questions which have come before you have inc spired them with such confidence In your Justice as has led to the most beneficial results, not alone to your country. but to all foreign residents in China.
 Tn wishing you Godspeed we beg your acceptance of a trifiing souvenir to carry to your native land, and if 1t serves to remind you sometimes of the true friends you have left behind you in Tien-tsin the thought will give us all great pleasure" Your vacant place here, which cannot be filled, will never .l...I nU4a araIA consolation in parting with YOU is the thought of the warm hearts which are waiting to welcome you on the other side of the ocean. whithex we wish you a safe passage, and trusting you will have a happy reunion with your k family and friends. we are, dear MT. Bromley. Your loving Friends.
 (Here follow the slgnatures).
 While the address was being signed was overwhelmed by the kind. low ing expressions of those who gathered around me- and as I listened with grateful appreciation l could not but think to myself. What am l? Who am l. and what have I done that I should be the recipient of such un- bounded kindness and affection? ?" It was the event of my life. and it falls to the lot of but few men to be thus highly honored.
 I felt that it was much better to feel that l was leaving when thev wished me to stay, than to be sta--'-- when they wished me to go. This I told the tatoti when he asked me why my government should desire my return when l was such & favorite with the Chinese, and I had to add that my government had no Idea what fa- vorite I was and after all 1t wouldn't make much difference.
 The time came when had to bid long farewell to my dear friends, and the ship that would bear me away was to leave at seven o'clock in the morn- ing, which involved the necessity of those of my frineds who wished to say good by to me on the event of my departure rising at six o'clock a. m., an unusual hour for rising fin the Orient. But a large company of ladies and gentlemen was there. not withstanding the early hour and the band was also there, and when the band commenced to play. all the Chi- nese that were at work on tho ships and lighters on the river quit their it was all about. After a very affec- tionate leave-taking, the headlines of the steamer were cast off. and the ship commenced to swing with the tide. The passengers, knowing that the demonstration was in my honor, had given me the after part of the up- per deck to myself. and as I stood there alone the band struck up the "Swingle Waltz" and when 1t came to the chorus the ladies and gentlemen all locked arms and swung to the music But with the second chorus came the most affecting scene 1 have ever witnessed. for there on that bund were all those ladies kneeling in a circle with locked arms, keeping time with the music until the last note sounded. Never in my life has any event affected me as dld that farewell scene on the shore of the Pei-ho. and as long as I live vii that parting be cherished as a precious memory. afterward heard from those who were present that they had never before seen such look of wonder and bewil- derment depicted on the Chinese coun- tenance as was exhibited by those na- tives when they saw the gentlemen and ladies kneeling down. They made up their minds that I was some sort of a Joss Pidgin and that I was re- ceiving homage. And if was thus that I bade last farewell to a people among whom I had passed through the most important years of my life, and whose love and affection I prize beyond the power of language to ex- press.
 pr. Osborn once asked me why I did not write a book on China. He said from what he had seen and known of me. he was quite sure I could write the most readable book ever published. Judge Sawyer told me that same thing before I left San Francisco. but I thought then that it is much better to have people think you can write a book and not write one, than to write one and have peo- pie think you ought not to have writ ten 1t.