Norwich bulletin., 1909-05-29

ana fortune aSnOre, put nc nad the uncomfortable appetite for strong drink, and was sent to sea to keep hira out of the way of temptation.
 Captain Nelson and the officers of the Palos also made many friends during their season in Tien-tsin. Some of the Palos men were very good sing CTS, and as there were some fine mu- sicians among the officers there was always plenty of music on board l was invited to tiffin on the Palos one day chiefly because they were to have buckwheat cakes. They were very nice cakes, and remember that while discussing them Mir. Stevens, the ex- eeutive officer of the ship, told me a most interesting ghost story. an ex- perience of his own in a Newport cot tage. The cottage was afterwards in it,l and as Mir. Stevens vividly de- scribed some of the incidents that oc- cured while he was living there I al- most forgot that I had come aboard ship to eat buckwheat cakes and not to listen to ghost stories. l remember reciting Tracking Ship or Shore" on one occasion at a sailors tea party given by Mrs. Walker, one of the mis- sionaries, to the men of the Palos. l never reeited it to an audience that so thoroughly appreciated It's points as did those men-o'-war's men.
 When the news came that General Grant was dead 1t created a feeling of profound gloom in the settlement as many had met him during his sojourn there. and all spoke of him with sem timents of high regard and admiration. I had the flag of the consulate lower ed to half mast. The day before the one appointed for the funeral I sent out circulars giving notice to the oth- CT consuls that in token of respect to the generals memory the flag of the consulate would be hoisted at halt mast. The other consulates were in- tending to do the same when it was discovered that the day was the em- peror's birthday and for any flag to be flying half-mast on such an occasion would be to the superstitious mind of China a very bad omen. Consequently the flags all flew from the masthead.
 The first Chinawoman, that I had ever seen shed tears I encountered during my second year in China I was sitting at my desk writing when heard distressing sort of a wall that l at first took for a China boy calling out his wares for sale, for In doing this they get out the most un- earthly sounds imaginable. But after hearing the doleful lament several times I found 1t too painful to endure, SO I stepped out to the gate to have it stopped. I found the noise pro- ceeded from an elderly Chinawoman who seemed to be calling imploringly on some one who was nowhere fin sight. I inquired of the gatekeeper what was the matter, and he said she had lost her little boy; that he had been losr six days, and the poor wom- an looked as if she had eaten nothing in all that time. Her garments show ed her to be of the coolie class. At times she would weep as though her heart would break. like "Rachel weep ing for her children and would not be comforted for they were not" How ever I gave tho gatekeeper twenty cents for her and told him to ask her if she would not go farther up the street He gave her the coin and as it was more money than she often saw she took it and prostrated herself be- fore me in token of gratitude. But I heard her for a long time afterward still moaning up the street
 MT. Leith, a Scotch gentleman mar ried to an American lady and resi- dent in Tien-tsin, told me of having sent his father-in-law in Maine a box of tea from Foo chow. Merely as a joke he had the chest marked as tea from the emeprors tea garden. When the tea arrived 1t was duly heralded in all the newspapers that Mir. Leith had sent this extraordinary box of tea. When the news of the items in the papers came to Mir. Leith he was somewhat exercised about it, If the Chinese newspapers should get hold of it, people would be wondering why he was so highly privileged. As he told me the story. I showed him a San Francisco Call I was reading. ir which ran across the item: "A retired ship captain in Camden. Me, is luxuriatiug on tea raised in the garden of the em- uerOr of China" Mr. Ieith cried "The jig is upl My fame is secure.". One of my interesting experIences WAS a dinner ct the Chinase yesidssca