The Washington herald., 1919-03-04

New York. March a-Down In
Chinatown the denizens will swear
that "all Chinks are laundrymen." I"
Education, 1t Is believed. consists In
learning to spray water through the
front teeth.
But Chinatown and that section of
Second avenue that Is church going
got a rude awakening the other Sum
day when instead of the familiar
f1gurue of the priest there appeared at
the altar at the Church Of the Ma
tivity a young Chinaman who calm
ly proceeded to celebrate In perfect
ly good Latin the first mass ever con-
Quoted in New York by a Catholic
priest OF his race.
The Rev. Peter Chan, Jesuit,
80 years old and one of the
most learned members of his order
In proportion to his age, could have
conducted the mass just as well in
Portuguese. Spanish, French, Italian,
English or Chinese. He has a genius
for language.
Polyglot as the section is, Chinese
are not so common and Chinese
/ Catholic priests are never heard of.
He was born near Canton, China. and
has been studying for fourteen years
First he studied four years In Portu-
gal and then he journeyed into
/ Spain and remained in a monastic
school four years more.
/ After that he studied In Belgium
and France. He wears shell-rinnmed
glasses and is very studious but he
has the keen Chinese sense Of
humor. He is no sudden convert to
Christianity. He belongs to a family
that has been Christian for go years.
the first of them embracing that
| faith back in the time of St Francis
Xavier
Father Chan will return to China
in a few months to begin his life
work Mt little mission in the town
/ of Shiu-Hing. seventy miles from
Canton. There is no church only two
poor and very small chapels. How
ever, Father Chan expects to er-nt
church there that will cost scSA
More or less everybody who works
on the lower tip of the slender,
pointed finger that in Manhattan IL
drown on a sunny. warmish day, to
spend part of the noon hour wan
dering on the Battery.
The harbor is rich with ships, and
the salt waves splash sleepily
against the sea wall. and it is good
to sit on a bench and watch the sea
and the sky and-the stenographers
who. in groups of two and three,
have come there for a sniff of air
and look about.
There are sailors and soldiers
| galore. and the khaki is relieved
hrr
| iZon blue or crimson as the fighter
of some foreign land appears.
1t was one of New York's Iuxu-
| rious dining-rooms. Rose-colored
sn"ctacles were not needed. From
the carpet over which servants sped
| in lacquered shoes to the veiled
lights and the hangings-all was
rose colored.
There were fair women with their
jewels and laces, their satins and
cleaning shoulders. Down the
marble flight of steps at the en-
trance 70 the room came two women.
Even in that throng of youth and
loveliness and luxury they stood
out.
They wore pearls and diamonds,
but somehow they seemed alto
gether out of place-though appear
ing to be at their ease. A bus boy
came up He placed iced glasses be-
fore them, then looking sidewise
started and could not refrain from
saying: Its Myrtle and Gussie"
The girls gave a hurried order for
cocktails, slipped them and left.
There are many like them. Girls
unused to luxury whose husbands
have been made rich by the war and
now they are trying to splurge. In
a short while they will hit the stride
and feel at ease, but now every
place and thing seems awkward.
1t is reported that a former So
Ciety woman, now on lean days. has
started a little class to tutor women
whose husbands have suddenly ac-
Quired riches and who want to know
which fork to pick up first at dinner
and other little things that are not
, learned in more moderate circum-
stances OF life.