From Job to Job around the World

by Alfred C. B. Fletcher

Richardson's duties started on a Monday and I took my leave, intending to spend a couple of months travelling through China and meet my side-partner in Manila. I went to Peking where I put up at the Y.M.C.A. for one dollar a day. I spent two weeks in this very fascinating city doing the rounds in a most tourist-like fashion. While sitting one afternoon on the great altar of the Temple of Heaven, reflecting on the fact that I was a lonely tramp wandering aimlessly through a land of strange people, I was approached by a slight male figure with a missionary caste of countenance. The man sat down and began to talk to me. He had one of those piping voices which always excite in me the desire to fight. This person, with the unfortunate and aggravating voice, was a Baptist preacher of the hardest shell variety. We spent the rest of the day together sight-seeing and at evening we agreed to meet the following day. For two weeks the Baptist and I trudged about the interesting city of Peking, visiting the Temple of Heaven, the Temple of Confucius, the Legation quarters and all the places of importance in the Tartar, Imperial and Chinese cities. The old fellow proved to be an interesting character in spite of his voice and my inclination to swing on him changed to a feeling of respect and admiration.

From Peking to Hankow but one fast train runs a week. This train makes the trip in a day and a half, running both day and night. The other trains travel only in the daytime, stopping on a siding at night, and require three days for the journey. I was at the station ready to leave in a few minutes on the fast train when I heard what I thought was my name being shouted about the depot. This startled me for, outside of the Baptist preacher and a few men I met at the Y.M.C.A., I knew no one. The name was shouted again and, seeing that a Chinese boy was the source from which it was emerging, I went to the lad to ascertain what it was all about. The boy handed me a telegram which read, "Chance for teaching till summer can you stay over wire reply." This message was from Samuel Sung Young, the President of the Tangshan Engineering College, whom I had met in Tientsin. The telegram didn't mean very much and I had only five minutes in which to make up my mind before the train departed. "Chance for teaching"—teaching what? I came to the conclusion that if I could not teach Chinese youths Hebrew or anatomy or anything else, I was no good. "Till summer"—what did that mean? Summer in China might not begin for six months. I decided to take a chance on that. The most serious difficulty, however, was that there was no mention in the telegram about pay. While I was reflecting on these matters the train whistle blew and it was time to act. I decided to wait over and investigate the position. I wired Young, "Teach what and how much?" The next day I received a reply which read, "Taels two hundred reply." I was as much at sea as ever. How much was two hundred taels? I soon learned on inquiring that it was the equivalent to one hundred and twenty-five dollars gold. But was that amount to be paid monthly or for the period lasting "till summer"? No mention was made of the subject I was to teach and the whole affair was an uncertain proposition. I rather liked this uncertain feature, so wired my acceptance and took the next train for Tangshan.

Shortly after night-fall I swung off my car at Tangshan and was greeted by President Young and Professor Shen Yen Jee, one of the instructors in the college. Jee, a Cantonese, was a graduate of the University of California in my class and we had been good friends. To meet him was a great surprise. It was nearly like coming home.

The welcome I received was as enthusiastic and cordial as any one ever had and the hospitality extended has never been surpassed and seldom equalled on this earth. We hopped into rickshaws and were off to the college grounds. President Young's mansion was a fine two-story brick building. I was introduced to Mrs. Young, a charming little Chinese woman, who spoke good English which she had learned at a Church of England school in Hongkong. I was also introduced to Miss May Wu, Mrs. Young's sister and a bright young girl of fifteen. Miss Young, the president's sister, and a very fine woman, was also present. But probably the finest of all were Mrs. Young's two dear little boys—one two years old and the other a three-months' old baby.

Provincial Officials Attending China's First Track Meet

The situation was a great novelty to me and such enjoyable and interesting things came in such rapid succession that it all seemed like a beautiful dream. We soon sat down to dinner and the many good but odd dishes which were served nearly baffled me. The chop-sticks, the sole appliances for conveying the food to one's mouth, unless one employed one's hands—which would be a greater breach of etiquette in China than in America—were handled by me with a certain degree of facility, for I had acquired considerable dexterity with these implements in Japan. Jee and I talked of old acquaintances at college and we all had an enjoyable evening before retiring.

The Tangshan Engineering College is the leading Imperial Government scientific school in China. Its ten or more buildings are of red brick and are thoroughly equipped with the latest classroom fixtures and laboratory supplies. There was an undergraduate enrolment of two hundred and fifty boys and a cleaner or finer set of young fellows cannot be found anywhere. The faculty number thirty, one-half of whom were Chinese and the other English or Scotch. President Young's house, which was part of the college plan, was enclosed in a compound of its own. In front were a pretty garden and a first-class tennis court. The interior was furnished in Chinese fashion with a strong American tinge to it, for Young had been educated in America. There were a half dozen servants and the household was conducted in a manner in keeping with the dignity of the president of a college. My bedroom was a large well-ventilated apartment containing a Chinese bed, upon which had been thoughtfully placed a pillow and bed clothes common to the West.

All the members of the household were dressed in Chinese costume. This Oriental apparel is very picturesque and demands the utmost care and taste on the part of those who wear it, both men and women, to be in style. The intricacies of Chinese dress are more complicated and require more attention, time and skill to be in accordance with the dictates of fashion than do those of the American woman with her manifold garments and her ornate headgear.