Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1918-07-31
Shanghai. China. Januarv I'D.

IN the institute OF IeehnolOgy.i
Shanghai, China, January 30.
Dear Hope: Your letter was one
of the first l received on reaching
Shanghai. So thoughtful of you, /
/ appreciated it to be sure, inspite of
my delay in answering. Mail plays
an important part in ones life in the
Orient. Your Christmas greeting
came on the last mail. | have found
much TO take up my time. You know
well how much time it takes to get
a home IN running order | have had
lplenty of help. We have a cook and
house boy The washing is done at
the laundry.
The Trip Pleasant-Met Old Friends
| EnrOute
| We reached Shanghai five weeks
from the day we lei: Viroqua. Our
| trip from Viroqua 20 Seattle was
pleasant one. We had our own draw
ing room. We spent one day in Min
neapolis and two in Seattle. We met
/ the Silbaughs and through them
learned that Lille Smith Wright lived
there. Mr.. Silbaugh called them on
| the telephone. She and her husband
called on us. Mrs. Silbaugh is as
busy as ever lecturing, etc.
! From Seattle to Y okohoma was rot
as pleasant. The ocean was far from.
what its name, Pacific, signifies.
| There We're two or three storms and
| a heavy sea. However | did not
feed the fishes" as they say, while
on board the ship. 1.-The men played
| Shovel Board out on deck part of the
time. There were some pleasant peo-
pie on board. We often played bridge
with them. Elaborate meals were
served.
Excitement on Sighting Japan
| There was much excitement when
| we neared Japan We had only seen
land at a great distance, the islands
near Alaska. The japanese have
their harbors well protected. As we
entered we saw aeroplanes, gun boats
and submarines. The harbors at Yo-
kohoma and Kobe had many more
ships and shipbuiIding yards than
Seattle. We spent about six days in
| Japan. If it were not for the ser
wants yCu migth think you were in
large American hotel. The Grande
| Hotel III Yokohoma was fine. AS you
entered from the street there was
well kept garden. The other side fac
ed the water. From the veranda we
watched the sailing vessels and sun
set. | never saw such beautiful sun
sets as in and near Japan. The col
oring was wonderful.
had my first ride in a ricsha in
Japan. 1t certainly seemed strange
to get in two-wheeled rubber tired
vehicle and be taken about by a man
on a slow run. l rather enjoy riding
in ricshas. We did some shopping
| in Japan. Ordered our dinner set,
tea set and some vases The dinner
set has gold bands with initial, the
tea set represents the four seasons
of the year.
We sailed on different boat from
Kobe to Shanghai The trip through
the Inland Sea was especially enjoy
able. The scenery, together with the
numerous sail and fishing boats made
wonderful picture. In the Inland
Sea were many flying fishes. On the
Pacific we saw whales and large pOr
poise fish.
China an Agreeable Surprise
I Shanghai was an agreeable sur
prise for me after having seen Che
Japanese cities. 1t is so much larger
and more modern. The foreign sec
ton has much wider and better paved
streets and more modern buildings.
In fact Shanghai is called the Paris
of the Orient" One finds many
strange things and customs. The ser
wants talk pidgin English if they can
| talk at all. The word pidgin means
work to them For instance | take
care Of the drinking water and filter.
| In order to make them understand
that desire to do so | must tell them
| rLrA ko1a,nCre n ii N
| other phrase that amused me was
calling upstairs topside. Just a few
days ago quite a joke happened at
Sheldon's. The tailor was trying to
increase his vocabulary and when
speaking of the buttons on the waist
said, "The buttons upstairs" and for
the buttons on the skirt, "the buttons
downstairs If you desire to tell
them never mind you would say
"Mosky." When you want something
in hurry the expression is chop chop.
When you want a drink of water you
say, PAY me one piece glass water"
Besides the few expressions mention
ed there are numerous amusing ones
to foreigners.
There are many little green houses
in this section of Shanghai For four
fifty or five dollars they will keep sew
eral plants and large punches of cut
flowers in your house for month.
This is the season for China lilies.
At Christmas time we had beautiful
flowers. They certainly make good
use of their land, raising two or three
crops each year. They use the spade
as a means of turning the soil but in
larger tracts they use wooden plows.
For work animals they have waiter
buffalo. 1t is interesting to see the
women gather the cotton. They do
not wait until practically the entire
field is ready for the harvest but go
over the field again and agin..
Some of the Customs
1t is the custom to have four meals
each day-breakfast 1880, tifin 1900,
tea at 400 and dinner 1880 to 500.
The tea is more elaborate than it
may sound to you. The menu is, two
kinds of sandwiches, tea or coffee,
cookies, two kinds of cake, sailed nuts
or dates. People seldom call before
tea time, and then on until $50 1t
! is expected that you serve tea to any
, one calling from four until five. Much
is made of formal calling here. l
think that may be explained by the
fact that foreigners are coming and
: going constantly.
Americans Amusements
, The great sport for Americans IS
tennis. There are many tennis and
! tea parties combined. There are two
fine tennis courts on the campus for
/, 1 ,15rsk an1 one