Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1916-01-06
THE CHINESE WAY
Taking a Street Car Ride In the
City of Shanghai.
A PUZZLE FOR A. WHITE MAN.

Experience of an American Tourist
Who Made Bluff at Appearing to
Know All the Ropes-A Patient Con-
ductor and an Interested Cargo.
nese city OF Shanghai, Homer Croy, in
Leslies Weekly, tells of the expert
ence he had there in taking a ride on
a street car:
The car was full of Cinnamon, with
not another white soul aboard. all sit
ting there in their skirts, their faces
as expressionless as the heads of
drums, out as soon as l came in their
faces began to fill with interest, one
nudging another until the whole car
was looking at me.
felt that something was wrong, but
| could not figure out just what
knew that it shouldn't create that
much of a sensation for white per-
son to get on a car in Shanghai, but
still they were looking at me as if l
could be signed by a circus. | strug-
gled to look unconcerned. but | knew
that my cheeks We're backfring
The conductor, in his suit of blue
jeans. with satchel over his Shout
der. came up and said something to
me, while l nodded with earnest care
lessness and handed him twenty cent
piece. knowing that he could get
enough out Of it to satisfy his wants.
Mum stau chong dup he asked
nodded again and held out my hand
for the change. plainly showing that I
made the trip on the line twice day.
Mum stau chong du t'aing kaing
shon da?" he asked with more feeling,
pointing down the street with one
hand.
Il didn't catch the drift of his re-
marks, but | wasn't going to show him
that | wasn't an old citizen and tax
payer. SO l shook my head this time
and nestled back in the seat as if it
were all settled. But the conductor
became more excited than ever. draft
ed the other hand and gurgled:
Mum stau chong du t'aing kaing
shon da feah ola tsu 81 whoo peh
quong?"
So | waved in the other direction
and tried to nestle again. but the con-
ductor came back with another round
of monOsyllabic re-enforcements. With
that his fellow men in the car came to
his help with an artesian of words,
each one thinking that he could make
it plain by raising his voice just bit
higher than any one else.
Reaching in his satchel the conductor
offered me Il slip of paper spoiled with
Chinese writing | took it and started
to stuff it nonchalantly into my pocket,
but he became more excited than ever
and came back with another string Of
empties, while | put the slip back into
his hand as if it made not the slightest
bit Of difference in the world TO me
whether | kept it or whether he had
it would leave the details of the trip
to him
The conductor used his hands some
more and then turned and signaled for
somebody from the car ahead. Anoth-
err man in blue jeans with a satchel
over his shoulder came and listened for
Il few blocks while my conductor ex-
! planned A Chinaman can never ex-
plain anything in sentence or two;
he has to go into details and go
through his whole selling talk before
he feels that the other has grasped the
general drift Of thought
The other man bent over He was
evidently master of English. How
muchee far you goee, mister? You
payee how far you lidee''
Then | understood. When you get
on you have to tell the conductor how
far you are going. and he charges you
for just chat distance. But even after
my fare was settled the natives on the
car kept looking at me and pointing
with their chins, as is their custom.
When | went to get off saw several
other white people piling off, but they
were all from the front end of the first
car. Then looked at the markings
on the car and saw what was the mat
teri had been riding in the third
class section with the coolies!
All the Shanghai street cars are di-
vided up into classes-first, second and
third. The white people all ride first
class, the better to do Chinese second,
while no one ever ventures third ex-
cept the coolies,