Norwich bulletin., 1909-05-22

arrived about nine in the evening. It was a beautiful evening, so. after reg istering at the hotel chartered jin- riksha and wandered over the city I had never heard much about Shang- hai, and consequently l was both sur prised and delighted to find it a city of magnificent public buildings. prl- vate residences, with streets brilliant- ly illuminated by incandescent lights, all of which served to make my first impressions of China most agreeable.
 But the contrast between the for
 eign settlement and the native city of
 Shanghai is simply astonishing. The streets are so narrow that the 3inrik-
 shas cannot pass each other on any of them. consequently none are allow
 ed within the gates of the city. The
 filth is something awful and the hor-
 rid smells are sickening, yet the city
 is well worth visit. For with all its
 disgusting sights and smells there are
 various attractions that amply reward
 the visitor for all the discomforts en-
 countered. You will see in the win
 dows of the shops Chinese women working the most delicate and exquis- :te embroidery, and next door, a dirty
 blacksmith shop. There are seen the
 beautiful and the disgusting in close BIOAlAlAlys III tlAc ORCh GQa0ANe
 about the city one can witness all
 sorts of performances, Chinese jug glers, rope dancers, and gymnastic feats. I saw one Chinese woman on-.a raised platform lying on her back with | her feet raised in the air. A ten foot l ladder was raised upon her feet and | a little Chinese boy ascended it. climb | ing in and out of the rounds until he reached the top, where he sat and waved his little cap to the standing audience. When our party came to the
 show the manager cleared an open | space for us toT enter through the | crowd, knowing that he would gather | in silver instead of the Chinese cash, | ten to a cent, which he had been re- | ceiving from his previous audience. | I spent several very pleasant days | in Shanghai and made a number of | agreeable acduaintances there before
 I took my departure for Tien-t tsin, the | field of my labors as United States | consul
 It was on the boat from Shanghai to | Tien-tsin that I had my first touch of
 seasickness since my introduction to the sea when a boy. When the ship got out into the open water with a strong head wind and a short ugly sea. the steamer being a short one, be- gan to make things quite uncomfort- able. In about half an hour my break fast had departed in two installments. -I had eaten an unusually hearty
 one, being hungry. I was sick. l went to my stateroom. lay down on the
 lounge, and did not move again until
 the evening, when I tumbled Into my
 berth with my clothes on and lay
 there quietly until ten the next fore
 noon, without taking a morsel of food
 or drink of any kind. I was just about
 as wretehed as they make them, my l ,or7Itr nncO1af fInr hafnor that r0y fellow
 passengers were great deal sicker than I was.
 We passed the Taku forts. coming through where the Chinese anchor
 their torpedoes. The first we knew
 we were right in the midst of them
 Each torpedo had a float attached to
 it about the size of g. barrel head. and
 as 1t was painted the color of the
 water it was not easy to detect 1t ir
 time to avoid running over it. But
 we got through all right. There Is nc
 danger from them, as they can be ex-
 ploded only by electricity from the
 shore, but in going over them the buoy
 rope might have become entangled In | the propeller, and so have wound then
 up. I was told that that had already
 happened to one steamer. AS ws
 passed ir by the forts I was impressed
 with their formidable appearance, ana in the hands of any but the Chinese
 they could effectively prevent entrancC
 to the river. It was nearly sixty mile: from the forts to Tien-tsin on thu | river but only fourteen miles by land While on board the Hating as sh, was lying aground I saw some of thu most Imaginable scenes that I have wit | messed in a long time. and which show 1 how utterly stupid the Chinese ar' when left in their natural state. Whei the ship. was aground in the bend Q the river there was a very strong edd. that set uo the stream for quite a dis tance. while the regular current wa. unusually swift on account of tn freshet. Well about eight o'clock il
 the evening one of the large lighter was filled with cargo, and the Chimes let go their lines from the ship to g' ahead and be ready for the steam tug
 Being in the eddy, the lighter wen ahead nicely until the bow struck tn [ current. and then, round went tn l lighter and back it came, alongside tn , ship and this manoeuvre was gon | through with in precisely the same wa, ' three times, each time letting go tn 1 anchor. so as not to come hard agains [ the side of the ship. All this whil ' they were trying to get over to tn l other side of the river, and they coul have done it in five minutes, if the. 7 had known how. There v,were soou
 1 twenty five Chinamen on the lighter ! and when they commenced the exer 2 cises they would have a lively son ! with everything they were doing, bu f along towards twelve o'clock they ha . lost all their hilarity, and the rattlin f of the anchor chain was all the soun 5 we heard. We watched and laughe v till about midnight. and as by that tim ! they had made a long distance up tn river in the eddy, we went to be( |. But I had not got to sleep befor $ down they came again and let go tn a anchor opposite my stateroom window ] and in the morning the lighter wa | hanging on to the stern Of the shi $ waiting for the tug while the poo ]. tired out and dlsgusted Chinamen wer e lying all around the deck fast asleel