Leonard was often told to "catchee plenty chow-chow," which means "eat a very good dinner," but as somehow he generally seemed able to do this, he hardly needed the kind advice.
Mrs. Graham's amah amused Sybil very much. She had been a great traveller, having visited both England and America, and she liked England much the best. One day she said to Sybil: "Melicā no good countly. Welly bad chow-chow. Appool number one. My hab chow-chow sixty pieces before bleakfast. Any man no got dollar, all hab got paper. Number one foolo pidgin. No good countly. My no likee Melicā. My likee England side more better." This meant: "America is not a good country. It has very bad food, but first-rate apples. I ate sixty before breakfast. No one has any dollars there, all use paper money. Very foolish business. Not a good country. I do not like America. I like England better."
Some pleasure or another was always forthcoming for Sybil and Leonard, and the few last "Peep-shows" were very precious.
"SING-SONG."
One day, when they were out, they saw a "Sing-Song," as the performance was called. Under a canopy, in the open streets, children were acting and dancing. To do so, they had dressed up in very gorgeous costumes, their ornaments and head-dresses being grander, Leonard said, than anything he had ever seen before; and the little Chinese actors themselves seemed to be thoroughly at their ease, and quite at home, in their grand attire.
"Why did that policeman come after you to-day, father, and take down the name of the boat that we got into?" Leonard once asked, when he and his father had been out together, and were returning home.
"Policemen have done that several times, if you had only noticed," was the reply. "That was to guard us from pirates. They took the name of our boat, so that the owner could be held responsible if we did not return safely. The Chinese are dreadful pirates, and are generally on the look-out for opportunities to rob. Sometimes a band of them will take their passages in a ship, and when fairly out at sea will all rise in mutiny against the captain and his officers, and perhaps murder them, so as to be able to plunder as they choose."
"I should think the boat-policemen had plenty of work to do," Leonard then said.
"Father, do you remember well when you were just eleven?" the child then asked suddenly, going, as it seemed, right away from his present subject. "Did you ever want to be a sailor then? ever think for certain you would be one?"