The Topeka state journal., 1919-10-25


American Consul, to Captain
Florence, of the Pacific Mail, who
had brought him over from San
Francisco just a few months before,
as they were having an after-tiffin
smoke on the porch of the Hong
Kong Hotel, 81 heard a very funny
story today about the Chinese idea
of why we put our flags at half
mast-perheps you already know of
II. If So
NO" answered the old Pacific
skipper. Il don't believe I do. have
listened to their queer tales for
years, and nothing that they do or
say ever surprises me. but I don't
recall just this one. Let's have it. d"
We'll" modestly continued the
Consul, 81 can't begin to do proper
justice to it, because. you see, I
haven't been here long enough to
become an adept in this 'pidgin Eng
iish,' as they call it, and it really
must be told in pidgin to be appre-
EldLCA- IL W d. SlFNA " liz ~ ny
friend Bradshaw, the surgeon of our
hospital in Canton, and he gets it
off perfectly. It was so good 1 made
him say it over several times and 1
Just wrote it down and committed It
to memory. He himself overheard
1t on the steamer coming down last
week, so I can vouch for the abso-
lute accuracy of it."
ooh, you don't need to garnish up
the truth at all to have it funny in
this country, I assure you. Things
are ridiculous enough just as they
are"
II begin to believe you, Captain,
from what 1 hear and see every day,
but here goes the story: Two China
men, one from Canton and one from
HGnkow, were conversing together
on the upper deck and. as you know.
the dialects of those places are SO
totally different that they have to
write on paper to make themselves
understood, unless they happen to
have acquired some knowledge of
pidgin, which, in this instance. was
happily the case. Noticing flag at
half mast on a German steamer lying
in the stream, the first one turned
20 his friend and asked, What for
Melican man he putchee dat flag mid
die side? No got top-side. no got
down-sfde, bIongee middle; how
fashion dat? My tinkee him no got
'nough lopez
&" You no tinkee ploper,' replied
his companion, plenty lopee have
got. Dat talkee sailor man go makee
die. Me1ican man go makee die,
s'pose he b1ongee velly good man,
must go top-side all samee flag;
s'pose he b'longee veIly> bad man,
must go down-sfde all same flag.
S'pose he PLETTY GOOD man must
stop middle-side all same flag"
We'll, that's pretty good philos-
ophy, isn't it?" smiled the Captain,
even if they do get the German and
American flags confused, eh?"
"Oh, a trif1ing distinction like that
between the two foreign countries
doesn't trouble them in the least
all white men look alike to them and
'Melican man does duty for almost
anything here"
when you're very, very good and
die, you go to the place that begins
with H. up above; when you're very
very bad, you go to the place that
begins with the same letter, dowT
below-that's it, amt it?-and
when you're only pretty good, they
don't know which way you go and sc
they just leave the flag in the middle
of the mast! A good yarn that.
must try to remember it for tht
smoking room going home on the
next trip"
Yes" answered the Consul. ''i
certainly is a good illustration o
their reasoning about US. AS my ole
friend, Hapgood, the pilot, says, anC
he's been out here well nigh on t.
forty years, Everything we do il
strange to them. from the time WI
get up in the morning till we go t.
bed at night, and their explanation
would fill library
Thank you," said the Captain, a
he rose to go, "for a very good story
III make note or 1t-aS OLD cap ]
Cutie used to say in Dickens-'AnC
when any man goes TO Davy Jones
locker aboard my ship, I'll do a lit
tie inquiring into his morals befor
we do any fiag-hoisting,' eh?"
AS the Consul rode along IN hi
iin-rik-sha, on his return from tn
hotel to the office. he suddenly cam
upon a great crowd of people at tn
corner of the KoW Loon wharf an
saw at once that an accident o
something had taken place and tina
the foreign and native police wer
.rying to push the ambulanc
through the excited throng. What
he trouble, Mr.. Wallace?" he asked
recognizing the tall, soldierly form
Of the inspector of police, any on
.njured?"
"Just a wharf-coolie fell suddenl
lead, sir, as he was a-carrying
.Oup1a 0f tea chests off the steamer