Read Online The Unexpurgated Diary of a Shanghai Baby by Elsie McCormick - Free Book Online
Authors: Elsie McCormick
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cards,â said mama. âYou neednât worry about the collection either, as all you have to do is sign a chit.â
âYes, but I hate to think of all those chits waiting for me in Heaven and being chased by shroffs with wings,â papa answered.
Mama said that if papa really expected to see chits in the Beyond he ought to write them on asbestos. No answer from papa, except prayer about razor.
May twenty-ninth
Spent morning in basement while amah pressed clothes with iron having smokestack in top and told cookâs wife about zoo in ancestry. Trouble because cookâs wife said amah went to place called Great World with cook. Cook very busy in pantry taking ice out of refrigerator to sell to step-uncle running sherbet stand.
May thirtieth
Rainy day. Papa came back from Hongkew Park and said that baseball game would have been great success if players were only allowed to use sampans. Fat lady called later with other lady just from America who is translating Chinese poems into English.
âYou learned Chinese pretty quickly,â said papa.
âOh, I donât know any Chinese, said lady, swinging brown glass beads, âI just translate.â
âIâm familiar with that type of work, as Iâve done a little of it myself,â said papa. âHere is a fragment I translated from Li Po: âOh laundryman, spreading wash in Hongkew, How the morning sun shines on sheets and pillow-cases! Are you thinking of Confucius as you stand in the sun-light, Or are you merely wondering if family will miss those silk pajamas?ââ
Poetry lady said poem was very unusual, and papasaid it was not easy to write, as he had lots of trouble getting poetic license from Municipal Council. Papa then asked if he should recite another poem, but lady said she guessed sheâd better be going.
May thirty-first
Quiet day. Mama told papa he ought to improve mind by going to meeting of Shanghai Psychic Research Society.
âItâs all about spirits,â said mama.
âWill they teach me how to make home-brew in case I go back to the States?â asked papa.
Mama said it was not that kind of spirits, but the kind you see through.
Papa answered that in that case he didnât want to go, as he could do research work enough sitting in lobby of Palace Hotel and watching summer girls come in door.
Chapter XI
In Which the Baby Has a Brief Glimpse of the Far Eastern Olympics ⦠Economical Phases of the Dinner Dance ⦠The Battle of the Sukiaki House ⦠The Mosquito Massage as an Indoor Sport.
June first
Nice morning. Sat on floor upstairs and watched coolie put up netting to keep mosquitoes from getting away from bed. Papa came home from Hongkew Park and said he hadnât seen so many kimonos outdoors since big hotel burned down in America.
âWas the track meet any good?â asked mama.
âYes,â answered papa, âbut I know a ricsha coolie that could beat any of them. The only trouble is that they wouldnât let him enter his ricsha and he wouldnât know how to run without it.â
Mama said track-meet might be pretty good, but that she could see a better one by standing at corner of Nanking and Szechuen Roads and watching people cross street at noon-time.
June second
Not much doing today. Went to Hongkew Park, but Sikh policeman said perambulator and its chauffeur would have to stay outside grounds. Heard noise inside like orphan asylum calling for bottle. Must have been chorus of Jap babies.
June third
Nice day. Lady who is house-hunting called at tiffin and mama asked her if she had found any place.
âYes,â said lady. âWe have the choice of sharing an attic room with two poodles or renting apartment for summer, provided we take over furniture and husband.â
Mama told papa that family landlord had called and asked for two hundred taels a month, but papa said to tell him that he was no Rudyard Kipling and couldnât think up
âYes, but I hate to think of all those chits waiting for me in Heaven and being chased by shroffs with wings,â papa answered.
Mama said that if papa really expected to see chits in the Beyond he ought to write them on asbestos. No answer from papa, except prayer about razor.
May twenty-ninth
Spent morning in basement while amah pressed clothes with iron having smokestack in top and told cookâs wife about zoo in ancestry. Trouble because cookâs wife said amah went to place called Great World with cook. Cook very busy in pantry taking ice out of refrigerator to sell to step-uncle running sherbet stand.
May thirtieth
Rainy day. Papa came back from Hongkew Park and said that baseball game would have been great success if players were only allowed to use sampans. Fat lady called later with other lady just from America who is translating Chinese poems into English.
âYou learned Chinese pretty quickly,â said papa.
âOh, I donât know any Chinese, said lady, swinging brown glass beads, âI just translate.â
âIâm familiar with that type of work, as Iâve done a little of it myself,â said papa. âHere is a fragment I translated from Li Po: âOh laundryman, spreading wash in Hongkew, How the morning sun shines on sheets and pillow-cases! Are you thinking of Confucius as you stand in the sun-light, Or are you merely wondering if family will miss those silk pajamas?ââ
Poetry lady said poem was very unusual, and papasaid it was not easy to write, as he had lots of trouble getting poetic license from Municipal Council. Papa then asked if he should recite another poem, but lady said she guessed sheâd better be going.
May thirty-first
Quiet day. Mama told papa he ought to improve mind by going to meeting of Shanghai Psychic Research Society.
âItâs all about spirits,â said mama.
âWill they teach me how to make home-brew in case I go back to the States?â asked papa.
Mama said it was not that kind of spirits, but the kind you see through.
Papa answered that in that case he didnât want to go, as he could do research work enough sitting in lobby of Palace Hotel and watching summer girls come in door.
Chapter XI
In Which the Baby Has a Brief Glimpse of the Far Eastern Olympics ⦠Economical Phases of the Dinner Dance ⦠The Battle of the Sukiaki House ⦠The Mosquito Massage as an Indoor Sport.
June first
Nice morning. Sat on floor upstairs and watched coolie put up netting to keep mosquitoes from getting away from bed. Papa came home from Hongkew Park and said he hadnât seen so many kimonos outdoors since big hotel burned down in America.
âWas the track meet any good?â asked mama.
âYes,â answered papa, âbut I know a ricsha coolie that could beat any of them. The only trouble is that they wouldnât let him enter his ricsha and he wouldnât know how to run without it.â
Mama said track-meet might be pretty good, but that she could see a better one by standing at corner of Nanking and Szechuen Roads and watching people cross street at noon-time.
June second
Not much doing today. Went to Hongkew Park, but Sikh policeman said perambulator and its chauffeur would have to stay outside grounds. Heard noise inside like orphan asylum calling for bottle. Must have been chorus of Jap babies.
June third
Nice day. Lady who is house-hunting called at tiffin and mama asked her if she had found any place.
âYes,â said lady. âWe have the choice of sharing an attic room with two poodles or renting apartment for summer, provided we take over furniture and husband.â
Mama told papa that family landlord had called and asked for two hundred taels a month, but papa said to tell him that he was no Rudyard Kipling and couldnât think up
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