ASIA \M X S « fJ CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ■^5 /(7o DATE DUE W^ i '^lyw ^ 1 CAYLOND FNINTCDINU.S.A Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022999746 Cornell University Library CT 275.F16 Nelson Fairchild. 3 1924 022 999 746 NELSON FAIRCHILD NELSON FAIRCHILD THIS THE PEOPLE SAW, AND UNDERSTOOD IT NOT . TO WHAT END THE LORD HATH SET HIM IN SAFETY WISDOM IV. 15, 17 PRIVATELY PRINTED 1907 COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY L. N. FAIRCHILD l76 THE MERRYMOUNT PRESS, BOSTON On the twenty-first of December, 1906, there were held five services — at Mukden, at Paris, at Santa Barbara, California, at Ma- dison, Wisconsin, and at New York City — for Nelson Fairchild, Vice-Consul-General to Manchuria, cut down in the flower of his years. But life is not a sum of months and days, and to him was given time to develop into a completeness not often granted to age, and into a beauty of chara6ler which makes the memory of every one of his twenty-seven years a joyous possession to us who knew him best. There is not much to be set down in formal record, and his own letters best express the happiness which came to him so unexpe6ledly, so unreservedly at the last ; but what he seemed to others, and never knew he seemed, they themselves may be allowed to indicate. The recoUedlion of a beloved friend becomes alens through which we see the future no less than the past; and those who look at life through the memory of Neil Fairchild can only behold it magnified in love and kindness, in harmless gayety and never-failing courage. NELSON FAIRCHILD Neil Fairchild was born, September 22, 1879, at Holiday House, Belmont, Massachu- setts, the sixth in a most happy family of seven children. He was a delicate baby, and for a long time unable to take his place in the ranks of his sturdier brothers and sisters; he said, years afterwards, that he remembered always feeling tired when he was a child. A great ca- pacity for sleep was almost the only hopeful sign of those first years, when a large part of every day had to be spent on a pillow, and the long nights seemed but just sufficient to re- pair the wasted vitality of the days. One even- ing, coming a moment late to say good-night, his mother was greeted by a whisper from the adjoining bed : " Neil was so tired he could n't wait, and I said it for him: 'Now he lay mes down to sleep, he prays the Lord his soul to keep.'" But in the fragile body was even then an unflagging spirit, and his early child- hood did not lack gayety or companionship, for Gordon, next younger, was a playmate who could not make too great demands on his slender strength, and Neil showed from the first a delightful readiness to take and make the jokes of the nursery. When he was four years old he was attacked by diphtheria in a very severe form. It was long before the anti- C 1 J NELSON FAIRCHILD toxin treatment, and the do6lors did not ex- pe6l him to live ; but the disease, once expelled from his system, seemed to carry off with it the seeds of early weakness, and from that time he grew slowly but steadily stronger un- til he reached a vigorous manhood. Six months of every year were then passed at Holiday Farm, and the children thought it a paradise. The farm was full of pets, and the summers were never long enough, although Neil's part in all the games had, at first, to be a very minor one. His winters also were full of the most natural and healthy enjoyment, for Boston did not present any obstacle to nor- mal boy life. As he grew older there were games of prisoner's base and marbles on the Mall in front of his own door; hare-and- hounds all through the safe streets of the Back Bay ; and in their season, " cutting " behind the boobies, where almost every coachman was a friend, building and storming of snow forts, and much skating and tobogganing in the empty lots. But for many years the dear- est playground was a few square feet in a brook flowing through an estate near Boston, easily accessible on Saturdays and even in the short afternoons of winter. There still exists a map of this principality of the imagination, drawn and colored by Neil with the same scru- pulous care with which he, like all the chil- NELSON FAIRCHILD dren in school, was obliged to make a map of " Boston in William Blackstone's Time." All the materials for adventure and travel were here provided; and "Tortoise Island" was to the little boy with two crowns already a con- firmation of the prophecy that he should eat his bread in two countries. And it is impossi- ble to speak, however briefly, of Neil's child- hood, without mention of Tug, beloved com- rade in all sports. Tug belonged to their eld- est sister, and accordingly Neil and Gordon became in family language "the little uncles," by which name they were known long after they were grown men. " It was always a pleasure to meet him in the street when he was a very little fellow," a friend of his mother has written, " because he bowed with such a cordial, happy smile, as if it were really a pleasure to see one. I remem- ber so well a talk I had with him one day in the Charles Street Garden, when he was about ten years old, full of a quaint philosophy of life, and showing such a brave, bright spirit." And another calls him "a dear lad, so gallant, so courteous to his mother's friends always." It must have been about this time that he met a lady who stopped him in mid-career. Neil gave her message pleasantly when he came home, but added: "It was most unmannerly of Mrs. to keep on talking to me when she must C3 ] NELSON FAIRCHILD have seen I was a hare!" His courtesy was equally spontaneous at home, and often very amusing. When he and Gordon were very small boys indeed, the son of some neighbours did a rough and overbearing thing which caused great excitement among the Commonwealth Avenue children. Their mother heard them discussing it one morning as she was coming into the breakfast-room. She paused a moment to consider how to present the difference be- tween the sin and the sinner, but Neil caught sight of her, got down from his chair and came toward her, holding out his hand. As she put her hand in his he made a bow and said: " Gor- don and I want to thank you for bringing us up so well." In 1886, Holiday Farm was sold, and after that the summers were almost wholly passed in Newport in the little house on Narragan- sett Bay, which stands, as a friend once said, " with its back to the world and its face to the Infinite,"and to which, twenty years later, Neil bade an afFedlionate farewell. The boys liked well enough the vacations spent in England or on the Continent, but their greatest joys were conne6led with the Bay, which they ex- plored and knew as pilots do. By this time the older children could all swim, and the little boys were learning from the "Captain" who hada6led as boatman on the short annual visits C4] NELSON FAIRCHILD to Newport before, and who for many years was the daily guardian of all the children. It was in his shop that they designed and built the fleets of toy boats for which their grand- mother hemmed endless racing sails, and it was he who taught them all in turn the man- agement of their catboats and the rules govern- ing the right of way. Fishing and family clam- bakes on Conanicut, — then, except for a few farmhouses, uninhabited, — driving through the quiet island roads or riding their little West- ern ponies over the beaches beside their father, filled the long holidays. Of course there were occasional mishaps, but they were none of them serious. Blair wrote the following account of one the day it happened, when he was nearly nine and Neil nearly seven years old: "A BRAVE BOY" "One day, on the i6th of June, I, and my bro- ther Neil, were fishing on the Samson's pear. After a while I pulled in a fish. Then my brother Jack came and fished for Neil. [Part 2] "Soon Jack pulled in a fish. We put him in the pail, and Jack left us. After a while I pulled in another fish. In a minute up came another fish on my hook. C 5-2 NELSON FAIRCHILD [Part 3] "I could not get him off the hook. At last I did ! I put him in the pail, and then took him out with all the other fishes to change there water. Neil was sitting fishing on the criscross of the pear. [Part 4] "I went down to fill the pail. Suddenly I heard a splash, I left the pail half full as it was. I ran up, and saw what it was, I ran and called out to the men who were building our pear — [Part Last] " Quick quick Neil has fallen in ! The boat came so quickly that the men could not stop it and it jamed Neil, though it did not hurt him. I cried out Brave Boy Neil Brave Boy. He was saved." As soon as the little boys were old enough for a catboat of their own the "Banjo" was given them, so small and light that they could handle her by themselves. At first they sailed her at the end of a long painter held by their brother Jack, shouting dire6lions from the pierhead ; then a " law " was made, establish- ing bounds up and down the shore inside the CO NELSON FAIRCHILD traffic of the Bay. These bounds were stri6lly kept (there is no record of a "law" being broken, public opinion had been too firmly es- tablished in the nursery on the side of right ) and they were gradually enlarged until there was no longer need of limit, and the two little boys knew every rock and the exaft state of the tide at which it became dangerous, every set-back current and helpful eddy, every head- land and hidden harbour. They built, them- selves, after their own model, a square, flat- bottomed tender for the "Banjo," inevitably called the "Banjorine," and painted her to match the small boats. Rather queer the older members of the family thought her, but she proved entirely seaworthy, and was always taken on cruises, in honourable preference to the other skiffs. The cruises were the crowning glories of the summers. Each lasted for two or three days and took place within the Bay. Fora week beforehand careful and exhaustive prepara- tions were made, and the sky was anxiously scanned ; not that the weather made any dif- ference — -it was just as amusing to be wind or fog bound in the harbour of Prudence. Some- times they went alone with the boatman, some- times with an older brother; and once a year, if possible, a cruise was arranged to include intimate friends of their own ages. So whole C 73 NELSON FAIRCHILD summers were passed literally in and on the Bay, and Neil grew to have a passionate love forthe sea. " The only out about Mukden,"he said, just before he left home, " is that I can't watch the sun set across the water." When Neil was thirteen he was given his first gun in accordance with what had be- come the family custom. He showed great ap- titude in its use, and to the longer cruises were now added shorter expeditions on the Bay, when he and his brother Charley, the keen- est sportsman among the boys, went off to- gether in search of wild fowl, — the younger eager to learn, the elder to teach, the notes and markings of the various birds. And more adventurous shooting-trips took place during winter holidays, welcome interludes in school life. "I remember once," his brother writes, " when he went up to Marlborough with me after foxes. It seemed the coldest place in the world, and I remember thinking what a game little chap he was. I could see even then in him the traits thatwere so marked afterwards ; he was always ready and careful. If we were going fishing or shooting early in the morn- ing, he would begin early the evening before to make sure everything was in order, and he noticed everything in stories or talk with older people relating to fish or game. When in the field, he would plod ahead, always C8 J NELSON FAIRCHILD using his brain and steadily careful that we were working together to the best advan- tage." If the game-bag returned light from these journeys, it yet held a great store of happy memories and brotherly intimacies to be drawn upon in the future. All Neil's childhood is full of happy memo- ries. His first school was Mrs. Shaw's, No. 6 Marlborough Street, where he went a slim little red-haired lad, and where his sisters as well as his brothers went also. It was while he was there that Neil acquired what was hence- forth known as his motto. One of the school exercises consisted in the repeating of short sentences by the children in turn, at the be- ginning of the day. These "quotations" were supposed to represent the child's own out-of- school reading, but they were usually pro- vided, at the latest possible moment, by some older member of the family. They must be short, as they had to be memorized between the breakfast-table and the schoolroom, and they must pass muster, too, on the score of morals and fitness. One day Neil started on his rapid way saying over and over to himself: " Fear nothing ; make the best of everything," which had seemed to answer all requirements. By the time the " quotation" was called for it had become : " Fear nothing ; take the best of everything." But the words are susceptible of C9 J NELSON FAIRCHILD more than one meaning, and although Neil was greeted with shouts of laughter that morning, they have truly exemplified much in his life. "Prove all things; hold fast to that which is good." From Mrs. Shaw's he went to Noble and Greenough's Day School for Boys, after it was removed to Beacon Street, and by his last year there his strength had so increased that he could play End on his School Eleven, although his weight was still under one hundred pounds. One of his masters, Mr. Francis Stewart Ker- shaw, says of this time : " The records of Noble and Greenough's School show that Neil Fair- child entered the fourth class in the fall of 1 893, was promoted in due course fromyearto year, and was sent up to Harvard University in 1897. During this period his work was of aver- age quality and prosecuted with steadiness. " When I first knew him, Neil had arrived at the beginning of his final year. He was a slen- der boy, appearing taller than he really was, with a finish of manner that gave an effeft of distance and pride. As I grew to know him better, this effe61: proved to have some shy- ness back of it, and a militant sensitiveness unusual in a boy of his years. His training had equipped him with a high-minded appre- ciation in certain matters of condu6l and taste, an appreciation that determined especially the C 10 ] NELSON FAIRCHILD attitude of his mind toward books. Coupled with this was a frankly outspoken contempt of 'cheapness' of ideas. This feeling was not always ingratiating to his fellows, but it was always sturdy, and always commanded re- spe6l. "Altogetherhewas a lad to be led, not driven ; quick to distrust ideas that he did not under- stand, but possessed of the saving grace that he could be persuaded. In persuading him, the difficulty lay in showing him the limitations of his own experience, — an experience not so narrow as is usual with boys of seventeen, but vigorously defended by the militant force of which I have spoken. Fortunately that force was dominated by a love of fair play. Whether the matter of the persuasion were a matter of fa6l, of opinion, or of condu6l, an appeal to his sense of fairness always won Neil over. It was an engaging chara6leristic, especially when brought into play in relation to a matter of condu6l. He might, on occasion, test one's patience by persisting in a bit of mischief, or by obeying the letter rather than the spirit of one's commands, but he could always be re- called to fairness and he always ' took his me- dicine.' "Among his fellows Neil had an attitude de- finitely to be counted on ; he had no indecision and his opinions were outspoken. Since he was C 11 D NELSON FAIRCHILD also alert and ready in the matters in which schools make appeal to a boy's loyalty, his influence in his class was clearly to be seen. Without consciousness of the fa6l, he had the weight and the power that result from definite- ness of chara6ler and from uprightness, clean tastes, and boyish kindliness." Neil found no difficulty in keeping up with his class, but he never stood near the head. His interest was not in languages or mathe- matics, but in books as literature ; and that was stimulated by his mother's habit of reading aloud at home. Every day she read to the chil- dren, from the time when they sat on the arms of her chair and listened to Hans Andersen, through Cooper and Scott, Parkman and the " Gerard book,"until they were grown up,and the readings, from force of circumstance, be- came rarer. Neil's dearest friends among books were made in this way, and the children all be- came, though quite unconsciously, very skilful in detedling style. " That is your Hawthorne voice," they would say, or " You read that like Thackeray." After the family had scattered, as grown-up families must, the habit of reading aloud still remained, although the groups shifted and changed like the patterns of a kaleidoscope. Sometimes it was a large group that gathered on the piazza at Newport after tea, sometimes C 12 J NELSON FAIRCHILD a very small one, as in New York, when Neil and his eldest sister were the only children at home, and in the last half-hour of the evening an old favourite was read or a new discovery shared. Of course there could be no continuity in such desultory and scrappy moments, but one custom has never yet been broken, one reading has remained invariable, and on the last night of the year as many as can be assem- bled have "read the New Year in" with the famous chapter on Habit from James's Psy- chology and Thackeray's verses "The End of the Play." It was not until he was at Harvard that Neil's interest in history developed, but he al- ways cared very much for folklore, and from the early days of Grimm in the nursery de- lighted to follow the variants of the tales through all the different countries. He liked epic poems and ballads; and certain humor- ous books, "Huckleberry Finn," "Happy Thoughts " and the " Bab Ballads," were among his favourites, read and re-read. His own "li- brary" was one of his great pleasures. "No gentleman's library can be less than five hun- dred volumes," he used to say ; and he counted his books anxiously from the time when they were only a shelf of fairy-tales in the nursery bookcase.Every addition was eagerly received, and he had a card catalogue with the date and C 13 ] NELSON FAIRCHILD any other matter conne6led with the book carefully entered. Bookplates were of great importance also, and at different times he had three, which mark the period when each was aqquired. The last letters from Mukden have a red stamp on the paper to which he alludes as his "new Chinese bookplate." It is inevitable that the record of Neil's life should be a family record. There are almost no letters from him in his school years because there were almost no separations. He was al- ways at home; and it was much more than merely living at home. He felt, as each of the children did, the common responsibility of the common hearth. Friends have always been eagerly brought to the house, and it has never been unusual to have some one come down- stairs unexpe6ledly to breakfast. Neil was sure of welcome for his friends, as he was sure to welcome, himself, those of any other member of the family. "Never were there such delight- ful boys," a visitor writes, " and never have I laughed more gayly than with them through those merry meals when I was with you all at 191. Such a fund of humour and delightful nonsense as Neil had, and how courteous a gentleman, although he was hardly fifteen!" Yet under the frank smile and the open manner have always been hidden immense reserves, which few, even of his intimates, have : 14] NELSON FAIRCHILD suspe6led, although they recognized the power of reticence which made him everybody's safety-valve. All confidences were secure with him, from the childish secret to the troubles and complications of grown-up life. A college-club friend , an older man , writes : ' ' Though we were of different ages, his nature was so sympa- thetic that it has often led me to confidences which I could not have told to another." And again: "I think one of Neil's most lovable qualities was his unconsciousness of his own good quahties and his admiration of those in others. He never spoke ill of any one, rather avoided the subject of people he did n't like, and was enthusiastic in praise of those he did." Andhisfriendandroom-mate,J. Grant Forbes, says: "Coming to Harvard from a Boston school, Neil had perhaps more friends than many of his classmates, but he lost no chance to make still more. His great interest from the start was in his fellowmen. While others still held together in little groups, bound by ties of school or city, Neil somehow seemed to meet men from everywhere. Many of them who came, perhaps alone, from far-away places, were diffident about taking the first step into this new life. These Neil met with the same ease and simplicity with which he treated his already intimate friends. He took them to Bos- ton on Sunday to lunch with his family ; he in- c 15 : NELSON FAIRCHILD troduced them to their more prominent class- mates, and in every way did his hospitable best to break down their shyness. Many a man I can think of now who has to thank Neil for inspiring him with confidence to take his pro- per place in the little undergraduate world." But in spite of the fortunate temperament and the reasoned philosophy of life which made Neil think almost everybody "nice" with whom he came in conta6l, it would be doing him injustice not to add that he was ca- pable of vehement prejudices toward both per- sons and things — for his nature was very con- servative — as well as of long-abiding dislikes. The prejudices were acknowledged but stoutly maintained; the dislikes — and there were one or two which must bear the darker name of hatreds — were grounded in what he felt to be some departure from the standards of hon- our. Of these he spoke very rarely, but when he did speak it was with a violence whose only excuse was that it measured his abhorrence of failure to play the man's part. His nature could not hold rancour or sullenness, but with the quick eye, quick heart and quick hand went also the quick temper that blazes for an instant and is gone, although as he grew older and his self-control increased, these outbreaks were more and more infrequent. The same qualities led him sometimes into extrava- C 16] NELSON FAIRCHILD gances he could ill afford; the value of money he never felt nor understood. Fertility of re- source was, from childhood, as chara6leristic of him as of the typical Yankee. Neil's "gim- let" passed into a family proverb so long ago that exa6lly what was happening when it was unexpe6f edly and providentially drawn from the first pocket he ever had, has been forgot- ten. The "gimlet" took many shapes after- ward, but it was always ready. His gayety made him everywhere a welcome companion. He was seldom at loss for a rejoinder, but his fun was never unkind, and his animal spirits nevertookthe form of pra6lical joking, though they were very high, and laughter seemed to follow where he went. It was impossible to be dreary or dull in his company; he had the "constant habit of good heart." All those who served him felt his thought- ful kindliness. "I always thank Heaven that I work for our Mr. Neil," Moriye, the Japa- nese who was in the household for years, writes. And another: "I can express to you nothing but a tear. He had been my master though it was 2 or 3 weeks, but the acquaint- ance of this time has brought me a great im- pression." In a letter to his mother one of Neil's associates downtown says: "I have sel- dom heard such wide-spread expressions of regret, and they come, too, from every quar- c 17: NELSON FAIRCHILD ter, not only his college friends and the Wall Street people, but from office-boys, elevator- men, all." "The nicest gentleman," a chauf- feur calls him. It was not that he looked for chances to be kind — kindness to every living thing was in- stinctive with him ; and he was never so pre- occupied with his own swift thoughts and schemes as to be oblivious. He never could bear to have any one left out ; whoever was with him, even for a short time, was made to share the moment, and this kindly feeling, combined with his quick perception, gave him in every relation an unfailing ta6l. It is an indication of character that everyone called him "Neil." He had a genuine faculty for making friends, and no one could with- stand the charm of his manner when he set himself to welcome a new-comer or to put a shy stranger at his ease. The last winter he was at home he was one evening at the Har- vard Club, where a newly-eledled member sat for an hour, quietly listening to the give-and- take of conversation where Neil's name was frequently pronounced. As the group sepa- rated at the door of the Club the stranger said: " What is your first name, Neil .'' I should like to call you by that." The household in Boston was not broken up until the end of his first year at Harvard, and I 18 ;] NELSON FAIRCHILD the college recesses during the next two win- ters were passed with his brother Jack, who was now married. By the time Neil was a Sen- ior the family was living in New York, and he could be at home for the winter as well as for the summer holidays. Harvard appealed to Neil's deepest loyalty and love. In his own family he was the fourth among the brothers to receive a degree, and for five generations Harvard had reckoned his kinsmen among her sons. The University was one of the great formative influences in his life ; and although his academic work was not above the average, in his Junior year Neil attended a course of le6lures which changed his attitude toward study from theoretical to pra6lical, and gave him what became his paramount interest. It was the course on the Eastern Question, known as "History 19," given by Professor Archibald Gary Coolidge ; and Neil's reading henceforth ceased to be desultory. Mr. Coolidge says: " In the autumn of 1897 when I came to make out the list of students to whom I was to a6l as Freshman adviser I saw the name of Neil Fairchild among those who had applied for me. I had not met him before that I remember, but I was glad to take him, as I had long known many members of his family. Besides advising him, I had him in my course. History I, but the relations between NELSON FAIRCHILD us were more than official from the start. Dur- ing his college career I saw much of him in one way or another, and had a chance to watch him from several points of view. Towards the end of his Freshman year he was taken into the Club, of which I was a member and of which he was later president, an honour he well deserved, for he was very loyal to its in- terests and looked after them well. I recolle6l vividly the first dinner at which he sat at the head of the long table. Through the Club I often ran across him ; he used, too, to dine with me occasionally or go out driving, and we had many talks on different subje6ls. In his Junior year he took a course under me on the history of the Eastern Question, the first manifesta- tion, I think, of his interest in Eastern affairs. From the very beginning of our acquaintance I felt the strong charm of his personality. He was a man to inspire affe6lion ; one whom his friends will always be glad to have known, and will not forget. I had nothing to do di- re6lly with Neil's going to Mukden, and yet I feel as if I had a distindl relation of my own to it all. None approved of his going there more than I did, and few, outside of his fa- mily, took a keener interest in the whole thing and hoped more for his success." After he was graduated in 1901, he went abroad with some college friends, and in the C 20 ] NELSON FAIRCHILD course of the summer took a trip to Greece and Constantinople with his brother Blair. It was the first time he had seen anything be- yond Western Europe, and it marked a se- cond milestone. Of this trip his brother has written : " On my way to Persia Neil met me in London, and we remained there together about ten days. It was then that I saw the Elgin Marbles for the first time. Neil knew them well, and had just been studying about Greek Sculpture at Harvard, so that he could tell me about them historically, which added a great deal to the immense pleasure of seeing them. We went to the various galleries, and in fa6l did a great deal. I had n't been in London since we were there together six years before, so that Neil adled as my cicerone and guided me about among the restaurants and theatres as well as the museums. I remember we used often to lunch at Hatchett's, and Neil used al- ways to have roast beef and potatoes, for he said that was distin6lly English, and when he was in a country he believed in eating the food of that country, for it was probably what they made best: we used often to laugh about that, and wherever we went that summer we put his theory into pra6lice. " We were only one day in Paris, and we went to Notre Dame and spent a long time there, Neil talking about the archite6lure, for C 21 1 NELSON FAIRCHILD he cared a great deal about Gothic, though I think he cared more for English Gothic than any other kind. That night we took train for Italy on our way to Brindisi. Neil had been anxious about me, for I had been run down before I left home, and his tenderness and solicitude were wonderful, and yet he was al- ways so gay that he made me laugh. I had fainted one day, and the first thing he said to me when I came to was : ' Well, Blair, you're a most convenient person — you just said "I think I am going to faint" and gave me plenty of time,' — and after that he was always con- sidering me. " At Brindisi we had a whole afternoon, and took a rowboat and went out to see the old fortress in the bay, afterwards stripping and swimming from the boat — a dip in the Adriatic. Neil's interest never flagged for a moment, and he was always hearing an amusing story from some fellow-traveller. There was an Englishman on the boat from Brindisi to Patras who delighted him by telling him how Lord Elgin 'had come along and chopped some statues off an old temple in Athens, and carried them home to London.' We saw him a- gain on the Acropolis, andhetoldNeil the story once more, pointing to the ' old temple,' which amused Neil more than ever. From Patras we went to Olympia to see the Praxitiles Hermes, C 22 ] NELSON FAIRCHILD and the next day went to Athens, where we stayed nearly a week, spending a great deal of time on the Acropolis, seeing it by moon- light and at sunrise, and visiting the various museums. It was delightful to do all this with him, for beside having a keen feeling for the beauty of what we saw he could tell me about it from an historical point of view, as the courses at Harvard dealing with the Fine Arts had interested him more than any excepting the Eastern Question. "We went to Constantinople by sea, arriv- ing in the early morning, and Neil had been up since before sunrise seeing all there was to see. He often said afterwards that this ap- proach was the most beautiful sight in his ex- perience ; and the efFe6l of the great Eastern City, mosques and minarets piled up before us in the radiant haze, was very wonderful. We did n't stay in the city itself, but went to The- rapia, and used to come down the Bosphorus almost daily, and taking a guide we poked a- bout in the Bazaars, went into many mosques, and tramped all over Stamboul. It was in the Turkish city that Neil liked best to be — Pera and Galata attra6ted him far less. We saw the Sultan's palace and stables, beside the great show places, and Treasury, and all the regular sights. Neil was so eager to do every- thing, — yet he was always ready to take it C 23 j NELSON FAIRCHILD easy, and loaf about and chat, always cheer- ful and gay, always quick to laugh and see the funny side of whatever happened, even if it was annoying at the time. We rode in the country behind Therapia, and along the Bos- phorus,went for long rows in caiques ; and I re- member one night after dinner we went over andlanded on the Asiatic shore,for Neil wished before leaving a6lually to set foot in Asia. " It was several weeks before he left me and returned to England, and I think he enjoyed being in Constantinople almost more even than our trip through Greece ; everything there ap- pealed to him, — the dirt, the dogs, the cos- tumes, and above all the people. He got to know his way about in the most surprising manner, and never forgetting a face, and quick to make passing acquaintances, it was not long before wherever we went he would find some old native he already knew. He gleaned in- formation everywhere, and only a few days after we arrived in Constantinople he was on most friendly terms with all the cavasses at the Legation, knew their histories, and had picked up from them all sorts of stray fa6ls of usefulness or interest." Neil joined his family in New York in the au- tumn and began work downtown, but with a new standard of beauty and an increased long- ing, which later grew into a determination, to C 24 ] NELSON FAIRCHILD go to the East himself; and his reading became as time went on even more specialized on the history and problems of these lands, so that when he was packing for Mukden, in August, 1906, all but two of the books suggested for his reading he already owned, and thirty-nine volumes of reference were ready for his cases. The five years in New York made the dif- ference between boyhood andmanhood.Itwas the beginning of regular work in an office, which is so unlike work in a class-room or lec- ture-hall. Neil was homesick, as most Bosto- nians are when they are transplanted, and for the first time in his life he found himself the only son at home ; the responsibilities which had been borne so lightly together heretofore ,were nowto be his alone. When he was a very small child it once happened that a family emergency arose with only the " little uncles" to meet it. "You see," Neil explained anxiously after- ward, " we had to do it, because we were the oldest boy at home." What could better show the solidarity of those early years ! And in the same spirit he now tried to make up single- handed to his mother and sister for the old, unbroken circle. All these experiences, faced as he faced them, brought an increasing sym- metry of development, and they brought their own compensations also, according to the eter- nal law. " I don't know anybody who got as NELSON FAIRCHILD much out of life as Neil did," some one said. In town he had the amusements that come from people, and at least every month in winter and every week in summer, he got into the coun- try over Sunday, and had the pleasures so dear to him, of space and fresh air. He found old friends when he came to New York, and he made new ones, some very dear ones; and above all he was again at home, and with his mother, who was always his dearest. "I felt, whenever I was with that dear boy, the times when he used to walk home with me after tea and tell me about the books he loved when he was a child, how much, how everything, had been his relation with you," an intimate friend has written. Every detail of home life was of interest and importance to him. It was he who found the house in East 40th Street, where the last three years were spent, and where the balcony outside his windows gave him such delight in gardening. His notes written on week-days during the summers are full of anxiety about the depredations of the sparrows and the fate of the plants and vines he watered with such care. In winter his room was very cold, but he always went upstairs at six o'clock to read until he dressed for dinner. He saw, he said, as soon as he came to New York that there would be no reading without a time re- gularly set apart for it. It was then that most NELSON FAIRCHILD of his reading on the Far East was done, for he almost never took up a current novel ; but this was also the hour when he read his Bible, which he did from beginning to end, in every one of his later years. The same reasoning, that family life must be as carefully planned for if it is to be preserved, brought him home regularly at five o'clock, where he was at once the most agreeable of guests at the tea-table and the most affectionate of sons and brothers. It is of this hour that a visitor writes : " He will always be to me a beautiful youth, making those he loved happy." If he were detained downtown, or at the Club, or if he accepted suddenly some invitation which did not involve going home to dress, Neil never failed to tele- phone to make known his change of plan, for he was as pun6lilious in small matters as if there were no such thing as hurry. Good man- ners often seem tg put one at a disadvantage in modern life, but they sometimes bring the unexpected reward of amusement! One day on a Cross-town car a middle-aged stranger behind Neil kept harrying him to get off be- fore the car had come to a standstill. Neil finally squeezed aside and said: "Perhaps you would like to get off first.?" which the other did, so briskly that he landed on his back in the wet, while Neil got off at a comparatively clean crossing when the car stopped, three or C 27 3 NELSON FAIRCHILD four feet further on. " The man did n't look as though he wanted me to help him up ! " Neil said, in telling his family the story when he reached home. In his eagerness to share every- thing he told them a hundred stories and inci- dents which he afterwards forgot,they seemed so unimportant. But it is of such small intima- cies that the daily charm of family life is made. Neil was at home in every nursery, and was always particularly glad when he could see his nieces and nephews. The children of his young- er sister were often in New York, and he saw his brothers' also whenever he could. All chil- dren instinftively loved him as he loved them. It was a source of real happiness to him, and one to which every day could bringits contribu- tion, since children are to be met everywhere. He was walking home one afternoon, with a friend, when he suddenly ran across the street and straightened a baby's cap. When they had come in to tea his friend said : " Neil finished his sentence as he stepped on the side- walk again just where he had left off to run across the street." But Neil could not remem- ber anything at all about it. He never had any self-consciousness, and the habit of help was really automatic. No pi6lures seem to those who love him to do Neil justice. There are the square shoulders and the stiff hair whose thickness prevented C 28 ] NELSON FAIRCHILD the smooth look he admired and tried for; but the smile cannot be reproduced, nor the swift, responsive lighting of the whole face, so keenly felt by all who spoke with him. When he went out of an evening the flower from his coat, freshened by a night in water, was always laid at his mother's place at break- fast the next morning; now and then at his sister's there was some favour from the dance. In the little language any gift is a " rich gift," and tradition requires that it be presented with the formula from Alice in Wonderland : " We beg your acceptance of this elegant thimble." The " thimble " may have no more aftual value than last night's flower, but love and gayety make it precious. The dearest memories cannot be set down. If the household had gone to bed when Neil came home, it was but seldom that he went to his own room, however late the hour, with- out stopping and making, very softly, a fa- mily signal outside his mother's door. When it was not answered the light foot went on its way upstairs ; but the day was not often ended without a talk with his mother. Of those hours, and of the deepest springs of Neil's life, his own reserve forbids speaking ; what he him- self held most sacred may not be laid bare. But it is still the "fruit of the Spirit," that is "love, joy, peace, goodness, gentleness, faith." C 29 J NELSON FAIRCHILD Last July, in New York, he had his third attack of appendicitis, when it was decided to operate, and he came to Newport at once for the purpose. It was while he was still in the hospital there that his heart's desire came to him in the opportunity to go to China, and the knowledge of this chance was the first plea- sure of his convalescence and the great in- centive to his rapid recovery. He was at home for three weeks after quitting the hospital, during which the happy preparations for his departure went busily forward, and on Aug- ust 26, he left Newport. It was a warm plea- sant evening, without a moon; the red and green fires burning side by side on the neigh- bouring piers showed clear in the darkness. The steamerwhistled her response to the part- ing greetings , rounded the break water , and the boy of many hopes was gone. But few months remain. On the 16th of De- cember he died in Mukden, by the accidental discharge of a pistol in his own hand. When the news reached America letters of help and comfort poured in from all sides. The follow- ing, although written in November by his Chief, since it only arrived after his death finds its place here: "You are doubtless well acquainted," Mr. Straight writes from Mukden, November 28, c 30 n NELSON FAIRCHILD "with our trials and tribulations as well as our simple pleasures, for I have frequently ad- mired the regularity with which letters are despatched; but perhaps you will permit me to add a personal word from the other side of the family. ' ' The Vice- and - Deputy - Consul - General has been the greatest help in the world, and in my reahzation of the blessing of his com- panionship I am able to appreciate what a dif- ference it must make to you to have him so far away. His cheerfulness never falters and he has the temperament which alone can qual- ify a person for residence in strange places and a life that is not altogether an unbroken calm. "He has turned to splendidly in starting things off, and does not obje6l, as many an- other would, to the drudgery of press copy- ing and recording and cataloguing, and all the little odd bits that have to be attended to in starting a new office in an old Chinese city. " He has been very well and seems to thrive in this wonderful Manchurian climate, and once we are running along a little more easily I hope that there may be more time for him to go shooting and tripping through the coun- try. There should certainly be a future in this work, and he should do well in case he con- tinues to like the service and China, both of which seem to please him at present. But best c 31 :} NELSON FAIRCHILD of all his true kindliness will win many friends everywhere and always, so that, which is after all the greatest thing, should make the world as pleasant a place for him as he wishes to make it for others." One after another the precious words ar- rived. "I don't think there is much consola- tion to be given or received, except the know- ledge that he has led a clean, straight life, has done evil to no man, and has, in his way through this world of ours, given pleasure to hundreds of his friends." "Neil was to me what one man's friend can sometimes be, but he had also the intimate afFedlion which one usually keeps for a woman ; a manly man, and yet with a girl's sweetness. One thing per- haps you can hardly realize as I, and that was his goodness. Neil had a record any man might be proud of. " Many and many a letter from the men who knew him has sentences like these: "Every one who knew Neil loved him." "I loved Neil — it is dreadful to think he is gone." "I had so little share in his life, and yet I loved him." "I never cared for anyone in just the same way as I did for him." " You know how much I loved your son Neil." "I had seen but little of him, and that not for some time, but one of the warmest places in my heart was for him, and he was far more to me than many I knew much more intimately." C 32 ] NELSON FAIRCHILD Nothing was wanting. "It was always so cheerful to see Neil at the office, always bright and cheery, and with a kind word for every- body. I can truly say that his influence was a great help to us." "I saw him every day, and every day I grew more to know and appre- ciate and admire him. When he went away I understood what he had meant to me, but I was glad, because I knew it was best for him." "Every member of the small American com- munity in Peking, particularly the Legation people, was gratified that our Government should have sent to China a young man of such exceptional personality and chara6ler." " Our country needs so much men of his kind, and his death is a distin6l loss to Her as well as to those who knew and loved him." " He has won the racebefore the burden and heat of the day," one letter says ; and another : " Neil has always been the sweetest and most sympathetic of boys, from his earliest child- hood, of whom I have never heard but one ac- count from anyone who knew him. With him, indeed, an unspotted hfe was old age." And one who knew him from his birth writes : " One of the presences that leave an unchanging memory, so that one always sees them at their best. No gentler spirit than his ever looked from a young face." February, 1907 C 33 J LETTERS FROM MUKDEN ' But the fair guerdon when we hope to find. And think to burst out into sudden blaze. Comes the blind Fury with the abhorred shears And slits the thin-spun life, — ^But not the praise.' " ''mBKI^''' l-H L/] w -4- ^ 3s- S h IH c G __! '5 Ft) M P ?D . I- 1- ""^ -2 =4 O 1 1 V 1^' 1 — 1 ^ -^ i^mn; ^^ ^ ^. I^H^^^^^^^^Hr^'' r^ ^ ;^ -^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ p\: ^ ! *5 n ■■ *i:4 -^ «; K n .... ^ < r" ["* *-i ^9m^^BB^^^99H^^ M C -X ^^^^^^^^Hp •PT^ ,^ ^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^K" ' . ' -c ~^ M^ ^^^^^B'^ 1-4 2 m *— t ■7^ puds now from it), and last night we ate a sterlet, which is quite the most delicious fish I ever dreamed of. Its meat is soft as a cream puff, yet it looks like a pike, and has a very hard shell on its head. It was just out of the river at Ob. To-day is my birthday, which fa6l was called to my notice ( the only calendar I can see is in Russian ) by Straight's coming into my room with kind remarks, and giving me a present from J. C. F. consisting of ten of those small volumes of "Shikspur." I was studying Chi- c: 67 n LETTERS nese, atthe time, and finding that Ssu has seven or eight entirely different meanings, so it was a very welcome thing ; since when I have de- clared a holiday, and to-night mean to have — or rather give — a dinner, with caviar and Rus- sian white wine, just to show. It is very exciting writing with this motion, as one never knows where one's pen will strike the paper. Also I have no stamps, nor could I get any at Bogotol, so when it will be posted, or if it ever gets to you, time only can tell. There is nothing in it — so it don't matter. By the way, this is the land of the Golden Horde still, now occupied by Kirgiz, who are even dirtier than the true Russ. Love, my dearest, Neil [FROM A LETTER TO H. L.] Sept. 23 Dear H— : I AM most thoroughly ashamed of myself for not having written and thanked you. How- ever, better late than never (though it may be never as the post here is very strange) and please accept my thanks. I am so dead sick of describing this old God- forsaken Russian landscape that I won't even attempt it except to say that the mountains [68 ] LETTERS we should call hills, the rivers trout-brooks and the forests shrubbery. And the people!!! Why, the way we know when we are passing a town ( you can't see it when you get there, partly because it ain't, and partly because the people live in haystacks ) is by the smell ; not cooking or any smell like that, but of unwashed human beings. Next you see a blue- white va- pour going up like a column, which is solidify- ing smell ; after the winter sets in this freezes, falls to the ground and is cut up for manure. Then you hold your nose and venture out on the platform for exercise. Once there you step over, around and finally into every sort of filth. Occasionally some of the passengers get bogged and left. There is lots of water, too, only one can't drink it because of germs, so the poor untaught Russian lets it be, not know- ing what to use it for. All this is outside, but we have our petty woes in the train as well. We have to pass through the 2nd class to get to our meals. We do it on the run, and once in the dining-car, find that our appetite is gone, so we eat one apple and gulp down some tea, and return fainting to our staterooms. Of course it is n't very nourishing, but it is cheap 1 After we have gained strength we poke our heads out and converse with a very dirty old be- whiskered General, whose English is as good as a Chinese puzzle. Poor chap! I am really [69 3 LETTERS sorry for him — he loves to talk, and yet is so lonely. By the way, he did tell me a very funny incident of the wars against the Bok- hariots in Persia. His troops had just crossed a river and no sooner were they on the other bank than they lay down and lifted their legs up to let the water run out of their boots. The Bokhariots saw it and thought it was necro- mancy, so they turned and fled. He is a bom aftor, and told it with more spirit than I can or have room for. Now we are at another town, where you get posted, so goo' bye. Neil Just wait till you eat Russian caviar in Rus- sia!!! [FROM A LETTER TO MISS J. M.] Somewhere between ani Sept. 23 This is the land of the glutton, not the two- legged kind one meets at New York dinners, but a great furry wild beast who is very hard to catch. That I know, because I have tried all day, leaning out of my window and mak- ing noises like every kind of meat or vege- table you can think of, yet he has not shown C 70 J LETTERS himself at all. I know he is here, because the guide tells me so, but what he is I have n't the faintest idea. I shall have to learn how to write a letter, because I never say what I want to; when you talk, things don't seem so foolish some- how! [TO HIS MOTHER] Baikal, Sept. 25 Dearest M — : The train is worse than ever in regard to jer- kiness, but about a thousand times better in other ways, cleanliness, appointments, etc. , for we changed at Irkutsk last night at 8. The change was a bore at first, we had to wait for an hour, I guarding our luggage that we have in our cabins, while Straight got the number of our berths put on the tickets. Luck is cer- tainly with us, for we were next an empty com- partment, and by a present of three roubles to the guard we got it, so now we have two clean rooms with a double door between; infaft, we are as comfortable as possible, and there are three bathrooms, or rather washrooms, on our car! The same crowd is with us still, augmented by an old Irishman whom I have only just spoken to. He is very investigating, and has a courier who looks bored to death. C 71 3 LETTERS However, as we have till Friday on this train, we shall probably get chummy with him, and perhaps borrow his courier at Harbin where the train stops for two hours. That is, if the American consul does n't meet us, but we hope he will, as we wired from Irkutsk. We asked the Pekinese Russian to dinner with us, for he had been invaluable on the platform, and dined very well in a much better diner, while the train stood still. ( One of the brakes was out of order, — had been all day, — but no one ever thought of fixing it till we were about to start. ) The result was that we were two hours and more late in starting; all the bet- ter, as we were able to see Baikal this morn- ing. Straight waked me at 6.30, and we sat looking out on a vast sheet of water under a leaden sky, with regular mountains on the opposite shore. The lower clouds were like very white mist, and hung round the tops so that they looked like snow ( we saw patches of snow yesterday in the fields ) , and on the other side were real snow-capped peaks, quite awe- inspiring in the early light. Suddenly, in the southeast, a very narrow rift in the clouds on the horizon of the lake appeared, and there, in a minute, the sun shot up, and the moun- tains were turned quite a wonderful pink. It was just like Homer and his "rosy-fingered Dawn." The rift did not grow any larger, so [ 72 n LETTERS that soon there was only a narrow line of gold, with the dark sky everywhere. This gradually lighted up, and now we have an or- dinary sunny day. After a while, about 9, we breakfasted, and since then, till I began this, we have written and looked at the lake. It looks the way Norway must with its fiords, for on the opposite shore, three or four miles off, there seem to be little inlets in the mountains. At times we have had to go very slowly, as the track is built right at the edge of the lake, and on sand. Also we saw the famous ice-breaker crossing the lake, looking like an ocean steam- er. At the last stop we left the lake, very sorry to part from it. I don't think I shall ever for- get that sunrise, — it is classed with my old arrival at Constantinople. Now we are going through the same old birch trees and firs. The people seem much the same, only there are more soldiers round, and more of those very large furry hats seen at the stations. But the air! it is perfe6lly clear, soft and bracing, rather cold ; but at stations when one walks furiously for the stop or tries to buy stamps (they are very hard to get — I took all there were at the last stop, and only got enough for three letters and five or six post-cards, and then had to divide with Straight, who had been wise and written letters while I did post- cards ) it only serves to get your blood run- C 73 ] LETTERS ning, and you feel splendidly after the exer- cise. I wish I had more nerve in taking pi6lures, but I cannot go up to a group of beggars and snap them. However, I have taken some, and only hope they will turn out well. Just think, inside of a week we shall be at Mukden. To-day is the first of our fifth week of travel, and only eight days' stop, all told. I may go to Peking after all, but it all depends on Arnell, of whom of course we have heard nothing, nor shall, till we get to Mukden. Best love, Neil [TO HIS SISTER] Somewhere east of Baikal, on your R.R. Sept. 2^t/i, 6 p.m. {Local Time) Dearest S — : Here I am a6lually more than halfway across Siberia, less than halfway around the world by one or two days, and sitting in a very com- fortable car ( rather jerky, to be sure ), writing on my own table with my own elediric read- ing-lamp ! The scenery is very monotonous, or rather has been until to-day, nothing but vast plains with patches of forest, — entirely birch for the first part and later more and more firs, till now n 74 J LETTERS the birches are scarce, and here and there lit- tle places where the peasants have attempted in the rudest manner possible to cultivate. The villages are very forlorn, sometimes like hay- stacks, sometimes dug-outs, and sometimes little wooden houses about as big as the shop — unpainted and showing every sign of decay. When they mend the roof they throw on a few loose planks, and then put dirt on top to hold them in place. In this, small bushes grow, giving the queerest possible appearance. Yet for all the monotony I would n't have missed it for the world, and when you come out to see me do it that way, only take the wagon- lit ^razVz, which leaves Moscow every Wednes- day, as our train as far as Irkutsk was too filthy for words. For all that we were very comfortable and thought ourselves lucky, un- til we struck this train which showed us how good it might have been. Here they a6lually brush the floors every day ! We are not very sociable with most of the passengers — only talk to a German ( he knows no English or French, so our conversations are not as brilliant or long as might be — and consist in pointing to a mountain and saying it is one, or a town, yet we are very friendly), the Pekinese Russian, a Frenchman (not very intimate here), the Dirty General, and now the Irishman, with whom we have exchanged C 75 ] LETTERS only a few words as yet. The General was our first friend, but is so dirty, and has so many fleas, that we try not to talk with him except on platforms. The Pekinese on the other hand is clean, speaks very good English, and looks and laughs like Rigo T. He was in the Russo- Chinese bank at Peking, but now is head of the Russo-Chinese schools in China — would like to join us and go down from Harbin, but has n't the necessary permission, so he goes by Vladivostok. We gave him a dinner last night in payment for his assistance at Irkutsk, for without him we should probably still be there. To-day the landscape has been marvellous — first the sunrise at Baikal, which I tried to de- scribe in the letter to M- - posted at one of the towns — then valleys and mountains with nice well-cultivated fields in the foreground. The villages too are better, and the roads well kept. In fa6l, there seems here to be a re- gular organized attempt to settle the country. Soldiers everywhere ; all the evacuated troops seem to have settled along the line with their arms and guns — in fa6l,it does n't look like a long peace out here. At the last station, too, we saw our first Chinamen, some dozen or so, and these with the Buriats give the appearance of a very Eastern place. As we were crawl- ing along at one place I saw a real troieka ( ? ) , C 76] LETTERS going much faster than we, with its driver in scarlet and a very much overdressed lady sit- ting back in it. Somehow I could n't quite re- concile her with the log cabins about,but there may be some big places farther back. Except for the mountains it still looks like New Eng- land when you don't see the houses. Whether any of my letters get through I don't know, but I hope so. It seems rather un- safe to post them in the little stations we pass, but it 's the only way. Probably my next will be from Mukden, where we hope to be on the 30th. Love to all, Neil [FROM A LETTER TO THE HON^" G. H.] Khitar, Sept. 26th Dear G— , M. P. I meant to write before to impress on your mind how very grateful I was for everything you did to make my departure from London a most painful one — which indeed it was, and not until I met a little vodka in Petersburg did I feel my old cheerful self again. However, this is so much earlier than my other letters to you that I hope it will do, and if they are needed, make the apologies I owe. C 77 : LETTERS So far it has been a very varied trip — friends everywhere — at St. Petersburg, Moscow, and now on the train, where, though we had no friends, we now have hundreds, both man and beast. In the first place there is a very dirty old be-whiskered Russian General, who speaks a little English of which he is proud. Of course he is awfully kind and all that ( he saved me once, of which more later), but during his 18 years' service in the Caucasus he has managed to pick up and train in Military Art a vast army of fleas, which, being moulded on Alex- ander's pattern, no sooner see a new being than they send out not only an attacking party, but colonizers as well. After the first few days the old Dirty General was rather lonely, poor old buck ! However, yesterday when he saved me he had another chance — ^and took it. At some small town, with a name consisting en- tirely of vowels written backward, I got off to post a letter. It was dusk and as I dis- mounted I spoke to the General ; when I re- turned I got aboard without his seeing me. No sooner was I seated than the signal to start be- gan, and I heard most powerful bello wings of "Mak'hast' — Spee-eed! "I vaguely wondered what it was till the train hands came in and counted me 2 or 3 times. Then I sort of caught on and went out to greet the D. G. He at once fell on my neck and gave me his largest C 78 3 LETTERS and most courageous flea as a mark of his joy in seeing me again. Then the train was al- lowed to proceed. Also we have on board an Irishman of the most inquisitive nature. After asking me whe- ther or no I was an engineer, a newspaper man, an army officer, a merchant, he gave up guessing and said: "Well, what are ye then .? " He is in the charge of the most forlorn-look- ing guide, who slouches around and sighs in a heart-rending manner every time any question is asked. When the Irishman got on ( at Irkutsk ) he came at once into the dining- car and made remarks about everyone's ap- pearance. We are quite friendly now. It came about after I stole all his stamps. The rest of the passengers are officers, merchants, wo- men, Chinese, French, Germans^ — in fa6l, quite a cosmopolitan crowd. For a revolutionary country give me Rus- sia. So far, except for some arrests we saw in Petersburg, and the fa6l that the police are armed with rifles and bayonets,there is never a sign of trouble. Everyone talks perfeftly freely, however, and here and there one sees revolutionary documents. The work of the country seems to go on; building everywhere, especially east of Baikal. I never saw such a country for shooting as there is here. Game of all sorts from shore c 79 n LETTERS birds to bears and elk, and no one to shoot very much. In fa6l, as far as I can see they spend most of their time watching the train come in ; a very ragged crew too. As ever. Nelson Fairchild [TO HIS MOTHER] Manchuria, Sept. ijth Dearest M — : At last we are in Manchuria, but still have three or four days before Mukden is reached ; at least, we hope that is all, but now comes the hard part of travel. Although the Jap Le- gation at St. Petersburg told us the R.R. was probably finished, it seems that we have some thirty miles to do, either in a hand-car or cart, before we reach the Jap lines. At first sight Manchuria is bleaker than anything you can imagine : avast, brown plain with snow-capped hills in the distance and the wind howling as I have never heard it before. Chinese appear at the stations now, not like our Chinamen, but big, brown, genial-looking people, wear- ing the strangest mixture of silk and rags. Their houses are mere dug-outs, which look like little mounds except for the chimneys. No sign of any extensive settlements, nor of cultivation, but here and there in the distance C 80 n LETTERS there are herds of cattle or horses. Most of the stations are fortified with trenches and bar- ricades, while a Russian R.R. guard marches up and down with a rifle. This is a mere sur- vival of the brigandage after the war, and I fancy from the desire of the Russians to keep troops here. Manchuria Station was the most forlorn spot I have ever seen, a mere hand- ful of barracks and a church. The platform was crowded with officers and their wives, who come down three times a week, when the trains come in, and talk, and board us to get caviar and coffee and vodka. Khitar was the same, only more so. Since then, the stops have consisted of the station and one or two houses. This, in fa6l,is the Manchurian " Bad Lands," and, thank Heaven, we leave them to-morrow at Harbin. The Irishman, whom I wrote of last time, made us quite a call this afternoon. I made an enormous hit when he gave me his card ( Gae- lic on the reverse ) by drawing on my store of Lady Gregory, and " Darby O'Gill" and "A Lad of the O'Friels," and showing a know- ledge of the thing. Then I told him about teaching Irish history in the Boston schools. Then I stopped, but he was open-eyed, and as for Straight, he simply thought he was dream- ing. After all, there is nothing like a gimlet at times ! He, of course, belonged to the League. C 81 ^ LETTERS In appearance he is very funny, being covered with strings : one for his hat, another for his handkerchief, a third for his pocketbook, and so on, through any quantity of eyeglasses, let- ter-cases,passports,etc. Outside of the League, his only pleasure in life is travelling ( his father was a chandler and starch manufa6lurer), and he has been everywhere but to Australia, for which he is now headed. Does n't speak a word of anything but Gaelic and English — and in that order, I fancy. So he tags on to any English-speaking person he can find, order- ing them about like a guide. The man whom I thought his courier turns out to be a lieu- tenant in the Russian Navy ! The old General is still with us, — almost all are, in fa6l, — but he is very friendly. One evening, when he saw me get out to post a letter ( the one to S — ) he held the train some time, as I got on another car, and so he did n't see me. When I heard a great deal of yelling, which after some time I made out to be Eng- lish, I went out to see what it was, and the General fell into my arms and explained. That is really the only incident worthy of the name since Baikal, and the way they have shifted the time around has made our days very short. For example: we got up (regu- larly ) at lo by our watches, which were cor- re6l last night, and when we got to breakfast C82 ] LETTERS we found it was 1.15! By regularly, I mean that at Manchuria Station we went out — we got there at 5.30 a.m. by some sort of time, and then back to bed. Now, when I feel rather ready for lunch, I find it is tea-time. I wonder whether any of these letters get through ! Best, best love, Neil [FROM SOME VERSES CALLED "RAILROAD RUSSIANS" WRITTEN TO E. H.] Sept. 27 The merry Kirghiz never begs. His only trouble is his legs. And very long they have to be To climb so many Steppes, you see. The Burials with Mongols play In a country far away; When to their houses once we came. We saw the reason for their name. And now I think that I have done. This lengthy verse at last is spun. Be secret, and I 'II tell you why, — My think-tank is completely dry! Written in great agony on this the twenty- C 83 ] LETTERS seventh day of September, in return for which I hope to get some news in two or three months' time. N. F. [ TO HIS MOTHER ] Harbin, Sept. 29 When we arrived here yesterday, and I was about to post the other letter, we met a man who spoke like an Englishman, but who, we now have reason to believe, is in the Russian Secret Service, who told me that the letters posted here never went. The reason we be- lieve he is a Russian is because when I went to the General Staff building, they knew where we were, and also because no one here knows where or who he could have been. He told me he was the agent of the "American Flour Company," which does not exist. Then when Straight was out ( I was left sitting in a bare room with one bed and washstand, guarding the three codes we have, because the Russian police have a way of going through your lug- gage ) he found the American consul had not come, and as two of the codes were to be left here with him, one for Vladivostok, we de- cided to wait over a day, and wired Vladivos- tok (I mean, the consul there) that he was C 84 n LETTERS to come and get a package. Since then we have found that the telegram was not sent, so we are off to-night on the sly, having made all sorts of engagements for to-morrow with Baron Hoven, head of the Secret Service. After Straight got back, at about 3 p.m., we lunched and I went out, he guarding, to see the town and buy food, for, for two or three days now, we shall be without dining-cars, etc. The Russians are good-natured and bright, so that by the aid ofpi6lures and pointing,! succeeded in getting quite all we need. The shops have pi6lures of what they sell, outside, so I drove till I saw a grocery and stopped, shopped and returned. Baron Hoven came to tea, and we talked till dinner-time. Straight knew him in Tientsin, and helped him escape the Japs when they came in ; so he is very friendly. For din- ner we went to a restaurant called the " Ports- mouth," where we carried the troublesome codes in Straight's camera case, and went hea- vily armed, as the town is rather worse than our frontier towns used to be. Then to bed, one sheet only, and no blankets, — and com- panions of the hungriest sort! To-day we saw Baron Hoven, thendrove to the Military Town and back to lunch. After lunch. Baron Hoven took us around, and after he left we did some more investigating, and so back to the hotel, and here I am. cssn LETTERS Harbin is pradlically only four years old, the strangest contrast of new brick or stone buildings, wooden houses and dug-outs. The streets are awful; unpaved and full of holes, so that it is a very common thing for the troj- kas to break, two broke with us to-day. It is divided into the Old Town ( military ) , the Ad- ministrative, the Chinese (two of these), the Manufa6luring, the Hospital, and the New Military, all of which we have seen on the sly, though our movements were well known, as we were followed everywhere. It is in the middle of a bare plain, and as nasty a place as you can imagine. Our hotel is the most re- spe6table, a family one, but it is awful. The rooms are as I have said, but the dirt and smell are quite beyond proper language, yet all the officers' wives who have only just come, must live here. No one speaks anything but Rus- sian, so that when we have to make ourwants known, Straight talks with the Chinese coolies, who in turn translate. Last night at dinner ( Baron Hoven said it was the best place to go to ) we were even worse off, and had all the waiters, guests and a spy ( he understood Eng- lish, because though we changed tables he followed and listened, and we saw him after us once or twice to-day — but we gave him a merry dance!) in a crowd round us, and yet we were not able to get one bit to eat. Not LETTERS a Chinaman was in sight, and we were about to leave when they dragged up a villainous- looking cook who spoke English. Then we dined in peace, but at a terrific price, for the war prices are n't down yet. Everywhere we went we saw the worst type of people; in fa6l, at night one walks in the middle of the street with revolver drawn, and the last Ame- rican here, a reporter, only 14 days ago, was warned to shoot in case of any sign of trouble. I saw one fight, but my driver was so scared that we turned and fled before I could see what happened. I shall be very glad to leave to-night. For a few minutes we almost thought I should have to go to Vladivostok alone, and round that way, but we decided instead to turn the codes over to the Minister at Peking. The funny thing is that the police want the codes, and know ( at least Baron Hoven does ) that they, and not the camera, are in the case. In fa6l, they have done everything to make us leave it behind. I must dine, pack, and run now, so good-bye. This will be posted at Muk- den. Great love, Neil C 87 J LETTERS [TO HIS MOTHER] Mukden, OS. 3 Dearest M--: Here we are at last, having got in last night just five weeks after our start. When I left off last, we were trying to fly very quietly from Harbin, but no sooner did we call for our bill than Baron Hoven came and kindly saw us off. Without him we should have been lost, as the train was crowded, and we found our compartment taken by a China- man. With the Baron's help we got another, however, and went to bed. I forgot to write that before we left the hotel an Englishman came up and asked if we were going south, and showed us maps with the latest informa- tion about the R.R., as he had that day come up from Mukden ! Of course we were delight- ed to hear, especially as we found there were only 30 miles to do by cart. When we waked up next morning we found ourselves in the last Russian post, where the officers took us at once to the commanding of- ficer's house. From there we went to the town ( Chung-chu-sa ) where we found the man- ager of the Bank, with whom we lunched af- ter having changed our money. It was a very long lunch, so we did not get off till about five o'clock, when they gave us a cart for our C 88 J LETTERS stuff, horses, a Captain and four cossacks, with whom we rode twelve miles to the first Jap outpost. Here we said good-bye, and went to bed dinnerless, for the reason there was nothing to be had. Then was my first night in a Jap bed ( or rather, on ) with my rug and coat as covering. The room was bare, and our breakfast nothing but tea and Albert bis- cuit, which we got thanks to the lone Rus- sian there, a telegraph man. The Jap captain gave us two soldiers, for this is the worst place for Hung-Hudsi, who are the Chinese brigands. Here started our agony, for to ride in a Chinese cart is like being put in a cage and shaken hard by a giant. For ten hours we were knocked, jolted, beaten about in those awful carts (we had three) with no springs, and roads like Virginia. I am sore all over still from it, every joint. You have to sit on the floor, and hold on to the sides, as your head goes bang around the top every time the cart lurches, which is every second, if you don't. We stopped for lunch with some Japanese of- ficers, and had a very decent meal of eggs, veal and beer, and then on till 8 p.m., when we reached Kung-chu-ling, worn out both mentally and physically ; but were partially re- vived by a very hot bath and dinner, after which bed, and never in my life was I so glad to get there. Once only did we see the Hung- C 89 J LETTERS Hudsi, but they did nothing, as at that time we were escorted by three Japs, and they were only six ; but I was so miserable that I hoped they would do something. As we were late we could n't get out and walk, and the carts were doing about four miles an hour at the end. No more of that, for it is a nightmare. Next day we got up, very sore, and went to the train. After waiting an hour it came and we started. Then from 10.30 a.m. till 1 1 p. m. we crawled, in a second class, with long stops at the stations, and not until we got to Tie- ling did we have any excitement. There we saw the soldiers searching the coolies for arms, as the Hung-Hudsi have attacked trains very often. Also a French Father got in there and talked to us till we reached Mukden. Our meals were of Albert biscuit and sardines, with mineral water. The missionary had been here eighteen years and was going home. He was most interesting, but I was too sore and tired to take much in. We had telegraphed to Mukden, from Kung-chu-ling, to a missionary, but when we got there, he had not come, and we were in despair, as there were no coolies nor carts, and the town two miles off. Just then we heard a very good old Yankee twang, and our one subje6l (we didn't know we had any) came up to see off a friend. Seldom have I [90] LETTERS been as glad to see anyone in my life. He had a cart, and we put our stufFin, and walked through the most wonderful harvest moon- light into Mukden ! It is well policed by Chi- nese, and so we were challenged every few yards. When we came to the gates we had a good deal of difficulty in getting in, but man- aged it, and then wound our way through wide, fairly well-lighted streets, to the Jap hotel, where we were soon fast asleep. This morning we went to the post office, but found no mail, as the only stuff that had come was for Straight, and sent back to Newchwang. We are now waiting for orders from Peking, to see whether we go there to-day or not, and I am guarding our things while Straight is out seeing about our house, etc., and calling on the missionaries. Of Mukden I can write no- thing yet, but the next time I get a chance I shall. At present I am listening to Japanese music off in the distance, and looking out into our little courtyard. Do you know, they tell us that, outside the Russians, probably not more than twenty- five men (or women and men combined, ra- ther ) have ever made the trip we did ! Some day, when I get more settled, I will try to write more about it. Best love to all, Neil C 91 -] LETTERS [ TO HIS MOTHER ] Mukden, 0(1. 4 Dearest M — : I AM now going to try and tell you what sort of a place this is, though I have only seen a little of it, and the job is quite beyond me. However, here goes. In the first place it is in the middle of a large plain of the most fertile chara6ler, — in fa6l, one remembers the " Letters of a Chi- nese Official," for everywhere there are neat fields filled with their grain or some other garden truck. Then there are little clumps of trees, where the houses of the farmers are, made of sun-burned brick, and either roofed with tiles or thatch. The roofs are not peaked as the ones we know in our plates, etc. ( those are southern), but slightly curved, with a chim- ney in the centre, or a very gentle angle when tiled. Everything is fenced off'(houses,I mean ) with either a brick wall or a rush fence. Roads abound, only they are simply awful, and so filled with dust that we wear automobile gog- gles always. The town itself is square, with walls about a mile long each way, and forty or fifty feet high, with battlements. Each gate has a pagoda-like top or watch-tower over it, and an outer wall in front. Inside the walls the streets run every which way, lined on all sides C92 :i LETTERS by either houses right on the road, or by walls of the various yamens or enclosed houses with four or five courtyards, surrounded by little three or four room houses more or less like this. (I enclose the plan — more or less — of our hotel; our rooms are marked x x. It is a Chinese place, we moved from the other yes- terday. ) The houses on the street are shops for the most part, with all sorts of gay-coloured things , and they have posts, tall red things, with gilt dragons, etc., all over them, sticking out over the street. Also the doorways and entrances are covered with carvings, so that the dull gray of the houses is very much relieved and en- livened. There are no side walks, so every body and thing mixes up in the street; men, carts, 'rickshaws, horses, etc., all kicking up a cloud of very fine gray dust which penetrates every- thing. Hawkers run about with their wares slung oh long poles, either in baskets or just tied on, calling out shrill cries. In fa6l,you can- not imagine a gayer or brighter scene. Above it all is the glorious blue sky of Manchuria, like our September skies. Once inside the courts, and you find a little garden (for the most part withered now, for we have ice at night ) , no dust, and quiet, with a few boys wander- ing around on their business. That is the sort of place we are trying to find ; or a temple, C 93 ^ LETTERS preferably. The Chinese are mostly in blue, with sleeveless jackets, but here and there in the crowd, either red or green show up. Their working dress is cotton, but silk is seen everywhere, and the house-boys all have silk as well as cotton clothes. The women do not bind their feet here, but do paint very much and wear their hair in a very curious man- ner on the top of their head, more or less like this<5j|porV|,^J7wit^^ imitation flowers and bright things stuck in them, and no hats. Another common sight in the streets is China- men on bicycles, which they love. In the city the houses are all tiled and have roofs at quite an angle with little clay images of dogs along the roof-beams to keep away the devils, and at the joint at the peak are dragons or sich. We also have a trolley line, about the size of a blanket-box on wheels, with seats for four in it. It runs on little tracks of about two feet gauge, and is shoved along by a coolie. It seems very popular, and people even stand in it. When they come to a down grade the coolie jumps up and sits on the roof! Mukden is in the throes of repairing the streets, so there is more confusion now than usual, but everyone is too good-natured to care, and all go along smil- ing and singing to themselves. The children are bully ; bright round-faced and round-eyed C 94 ] LETTERS little bunches of colour, with about as many little pig-tails as our little negroes, only they are all very neatly tied up with pink riband. Sometime, when I get more used to it, and more nervy, I shall be able to send pi6tures of both the women's head-dress and the chil- dren, and in fa6l of everything there is. Outside of the city there is another wall, which surrounds the first and encloses a kind of suburb made by the overflow. This looks much the same as the city proper, but less fine. Beyond this wall, and on the road to the sta- tion, are the temples and the newer suburbs still, which are chiefly Jap shanties, very thinly made, so that both Mr. and Mrs. Fulton (the Irish missionary ) say they don't see how they can stand the cold winter. Out here, in one of the temples, is the place where we are trying to get our houses and office. The temples are surrounded by walls of course, and are much like the other yamens, only more decorated, and very gay, with the Lamas running around in their yellow jackets and shaved heads. Of the ones I have seen, except for one or two great porcelain dogs on pedestals outside the outer gate, there are no images to be seen, for they keep them in the attic, and so far as I know, only the priests look at them. Mr. Fulton and I went this afternoon to look at some of the buildings in one, and had tea with C95: LETTERS the head Lama, a very jolly old man in great horn speftacles, who told us he would rent us some three buildings if we wanted. That sounds very large, but as each only has two rooms and a hall, and we are three ( Arnell is on his way ) and need the office as well, it is n't much. The idea of living there, cheek by jowl with a crowd of Lamas is fine, especially as we may get to be such very good friends that they will teach us their lore. Also their park is quite the finest I have yet seen, and even if we cannot have that it will be a plea- sure to look at it always. It was rather funny to be dickering over prices with the priests. We have n't taken it yet,because Straight has developed a fever, and his temperature jumps to 103 every night, so I have been keeping him in bed. The dodlor has seen him and says it's nothing but his being over-tired. To-mor- row he is going, and I hope we shall start repairs on the place next day. His fever is ra- ther awkward, because it means that I shall have to go to Peking alone for stores and orders, etc., and no one speaks anything but Chinese on the road, except for the first few hours, when Japanese is spoken. However, I guess I can do it, by aid of the various Ameri- cans at Newchwang and Tientsin and the like, who would put me on the train at each place. We changed hotels for many reasons. . . , C96:] LETTERS The chara6ler of the first inn was very bad, though it is the only Japanese hotel here, and by far the best known in Mukden ; all foreign- ers stay there. Also now we have two rooms and meals for just half what we had to pay be- fore, for one room without meals. And again, the Chinese servants are much more attentive ; we have a special boy to look after us, and two small things called "learn pidgins" who are learning to be house-boys, and who just pursue us all the time, to do errands or brush clothes or clean up. In fa6l, it is just as though we were staying our last night in an English house, and the servants were trying to insure a larger tip. Our two rooms are not very large, nor what people at home would call furnished, being merely fixed with a table each and two chairs, but no bed. We sleep on mats on a sort of dais atone end, called a "khan, "and strange to say, are very comfortable, having borrowed sheets from the do6lor ( a Scotch missionary named Christie ) . To-day, also, they put in a stove to keep Straight warm as the change in the evenings is very great indeed. By the way, in the last letter I spelt the name of the Chi- nese bandits in a way entirely of my own, and quite fantastic, as usual ; they are " Hung-hu- tsa." In time I may learn. ... So good-bye. Love to all, Neil [97 J LETTERS [FROM A LETTER TO HIS BROTHER] Mukden, Oa. $th Dear C— : A GOOD many times on my way out I thought of you, for with your love for the West I think you would be quite crazy about Russia, or ra- ther, Siberia. It is the most wonderful grain country I have ever seen, — so wonderful that with their poor tools and worse methods they get more than they can use there. It is a won- derful chance for modern farm-machinery men, and if any one would put up a grain ele- vator they would be bound to make money. Around Harbin, where there are quite a num- ber of flour mills, grain is so cheap that wheat costs, delivered at the mill, 40 kopeks per pud, or about 20 cents for more than a bushel! They showed us flour at from 1 rouble 80 kopeks, down to 1 rouble 40, per pud, which looked almost as good as our best. Of course the Russians put an awful lot of restri6lions in the way of the foreigner,but even with that, the country has got a wonderful future. If any- one tells you Russia is going bankrupt, don't believe him. The peasants are poor, but they have barely scratched the surface of their wealth ; what with minerals, coal, forests, graz- ing lands and, above all, wheat, they have far greater resources than we, for the land is C98 J LETTERS about the same, but the size, tremendous. The revolution I don't think means much, and I have talked with all sorts, all along the way. Of course in our papers it looks pretty bad, for they colle6l news from all the different provinces, thousands of miles apart, and make one column of it. We were in Moscow when they hanged two revolutionists, and aside from the fa6l that the police are all armed with rifles and bayonets, there was absolutely no disturbance to be seen, and Moscow is one of the hotbeds. The troops are faithful to the Government, having only one desire : to re- new the war with Japan, which they tell you openly, but still, it is better not to talk too freely. Manchuria is another wonderfully rich country, and here they have developed farm- ing much more than in Russia, but hardly touched their coal and gold supplies. In both places American machinery and canned stuffs, camp-beds, oil, filters (the water is all bad), fly-paper, cutlery, cotton goods, in faft almost everything is in demand, and if the countries were properly canvassed, a great deal more could be sold. The Chinese and Russians both are agri- culturalists, and hard-working, very decent people, in whom one cannot help believing very much. The fa6l is, the countries are too rich to fail, and when they have better methods i99:\ LETTERS they will be able to do wonders. China is wak- ing up for sure, and you see decent police, well-drilled soldiers in modem uniforms, and an air of general prosperity everywhere. . . . The German consul alone got here before us; we made the trip in just five weeks from New York, having stopped ten days, all told, en route. The train was good to Irkutsk, excellent to Harbin (a town like our old frontier towns, by the way, very tough and disorderly, everyone goes armed ) , but from there, we were pretty uncomfortable. Sixteen miles by horse, thirty miles by Chinese cart (a special sort of Hell) and then 14 hours by a rotten little 3 ft. 6 gauge Jap road. Now we are stopping at a Chinese inn, till we get a chance to get our permanent quarters, which seem very hard to find. When I have more time, and get some pi6lures developed and printed I am going to send them home, and then you can see what Mukden looks like. Love to M — , and regards to E. F- C, Mr, L., Mr. T. and the L— s. As ever, Neil C 100 ] LETTERS [TO HIS FATHER] Mukden, Oa. ith Dear P— : At last we are here in Mukden ; very far from settled, but still, not on the jump every day. Our quarters are very primitive, but after the long time in the train, they seem like luxury. Just now we have two rooms, about 8 by 12, one table and two chairs. Our beds consist of mats on a raised place at one end, with another mat for covering. Thanks to one of the mis- sionaries we have sheets ( a thing we did n't have for a week after we left the train ) , but our pillows are the ordinary Chinese ones, and very hard. If you don't know what they look like, imagine a thing about as big and hard as a brick, made out of china. Of course there are only very few foreigners here, not over a dozen all told, but so far, five have passed through, so we expedl to have quite a number during the year. Of course they are all people who have been in China always, no traveller ever gets here at this season. Of the residents I have only met four : Mr. Ful- ton, a very nice Irish missionary ; Dr. Christie, a Scotch one, also very nice, who took care of Straight who was laid up with malaria for a few days ; a man named Brown ( you see we have even that name here), who represents C 101 ] LETTERS some tobacco company; and our one subje6l, named Farnum, who came out as a private soldier during the Boxer trouble. They are all very busy, so we have n't seen much of them except Mr. Fulton, who has been helping us look up houses. That is worse than it used to be in New York, for the Chinese don't want us in the city itself. ... I have found a very fine temple for us, and just now we are pulling strings to get it Whether or no we succeed I cannot say, but I think we may. It is quite small, two courtyards only, and three houses of 3 and 4 rooms each. You have no idea how funny it is to see Lama priests only ten years old sitting up and receiving you. I made quite good friends with one of them, by patting his dog. He disappeared for a minute and then reappeared with a puppy in his arms, which he wanted to give me, but I explained that though he was very kind I had no place to keep one now. Then, of course, we drank tea ; you do that everywhere at any time; in shops, in houses, whenever any Oriental comes to call you give it them. This morning we started at 9 o'clock, when we were interviewed by a reporter, and have kept it up till now, in the evening, and such bad tea! I suppose it's like shoes in Lynn, they send the best away. Diplomatically, everything is waiting till April, when the Japs have to go, but we al- [ 102 ^ LETTERS ready have two consular cases on, with no typewriter or paper to report with. Also we are very busy with our reports on the trip and conditions, which we must hurry in. The day passes so quickly we have n't seen the town yet, nor have I taken a pi6lure ! We came out so fast we have beaten the mail, and so, not having got any papers, we have n't got any idea what has happened. Regards to all the «^^^- Much love, Neil [TO HIS SISTER] Mukden, OS. 9 Dear S— : Woe is me, there are no pidlure post-cards here, so until I get on to Tientsin or Peking I cannot get any for Gam, but please tell her not to care, as some day I shall find some of China. We are still here in our Chinese hotel. Straight all right again, searching in vain for a house. Those clever little people, the Japs, have occupied everything available by the simple process of taking it, and as they pay no rent it is very hard to get them out. However, Straight has seen the Viceroy and told him we must have a temple, and we went to see the Japanese Consul-General ( an old friend of Straight's ) and told him the same. The tem- C 103 n LETTERS pie is occupied by some tailors now, so we have hopes. Also, Arnell has not turned up, though we expe6l him daily, but that does n't matter so much, and I think we leave to-mor- row for supplies, — you can see by this paper we need them! — and I shall probably go on to Peking alone. I have a "boy" now, aged about 40, who is a veritable rascal, but as he is the only available one here who speaks English, I had to take him for a month. Inci- dentally he cuts hair, and mine is over my shoulders now. Still, when we get settled, if we ever do, I shall probably get another who is more to be trusted. Everyone is a robber here, and if it were not for Mr. Fulton I think we should be overcharged about loo per cent every time. He, thank our stars, has lived here over twenty years and knows prices and all that, which he tells us before we do anything. As yet we have made no official visits, — they begin, I think, to-morrow, — but I have drunk more bad ceremonial tea than I have ever had before. To-day we were interviewed by a re- porter from a Jap paper, in English, so he got nothing from us. Of course they all want to to know about the Russian troops, but we are very blind except in our reports to Washing- ton. I am deep in a report on the trip, chiefly a sort of guide-book, but at the same time a commercial one, which is very hard, as we can C 104 ] LETTERS have no more idea than of the land the R. R. passes through. No mail from home yet, though a large stack of official matter came on Saturday, dated from December last ! Some of the re- plies will be rather late, I fancy. . . . Then again we are handicapped till we get supplies, as this paper won't do. Mukden, as far as I have seen it, is per- fe6lly bully, though dustier than New York. The people are very friendly, and the small children and I get on splendidly by smiles. We cause a good deal of staring, but none of an unpleasant kind. Etiquette is too com- plicated for words, it seems to take years to learn properly. Now I must copy some letters for Straight. ^ ^^^' Neil [TO HIS MOTHER] Mukden, 03. 1 1 Dearest M — : To-day and yesterday were both very ac- tive ones, as our first official visit to the Vice- roy took place at 9, yesterday morning. We went in state, each of us dressed in frock coat and top hat (they are the only two in Muk- den, by the way), riding in two carts, pre- ceded and followed by our boys in official c 105 :i LETTERS hats, the top part being covered with red tas- sels, while the button is black. The Vice- roy received us in a large "foreign" room, filled with knick-knacks from every place but China. We all sat at a round table and talked of everything ( an interpreter for me ) for about twenty minutes, when a very sweet cham- pagne was brought in. After we had swal- lowed one glass as best we could, we left. This morning he called on us at the same hour, and a mighty important thing it was for the inn. We borrowed the best room from our host, and sat in very uncomfortable state, talk- ing, for about three quarters of an hour. Our poor host trembled so when he passed tea that I was afraid he would spill it, — but just fancy entertaining in your own house, for the first time, a man who has absolute power of life and death over you ! Again bad champagne closed the call, and then I fled cityward to look for houses, as we have been commanded by Mr. Rockhill to get one inside the city, a secret as yet. We must have made a hit with the Viceroy, because we were asked to dine there to-night, which we did. Again we went in great state, but no comfort, dressed in our best. The hour was six p.m. When we got there we found Mr. Oliver as well as the Vice- roy, the Tao Tai and the interpreter. After a little tea, we sat down to a "European" din- LETTERS ner. First came shark 's-fin soup, and very good it was, then fish, then pheasant, aspara- gus, sausage, pate ( the Lord knows of what ) , then bread and butter. All butter is tinned out here, so it was more of a luxury than it seems. Then liver, roast apples, and finally dessert, of pineapples and other fruits. Afterwards coffee, then tea and pretty speeches and home. To drink, we had first port, then white wine, then beer, then champagne, and green minthe to finish up with ! It was all very queer, as it sounds, but a very pleasant dinner. The Chi- nese love flattery, and really I blushed at the way we laid it on. Talk of a trowel — why, we laid it on with a shovel apiece. We have called on Hujiwara, the Japanese consul also. . . . Now he is helping us over a temple outside the city, while we are working like mad, but very secretly, for a place inside. To-night we leave at midnight for New- chwang. There I leave Straight and fly to Pe- king and back, while Straight does some work and returns here. Arnell has not turned up yet, though he was due two days ago. What with him and our letters not coming, we are mad as the dickens. Now I suppose my mail will come in those ten days when I am away ! Straight is calling me, so good-bye. Love, Neil C 107 2 LETTERS [TO HIS MOTHER] Shan-Han- KwAN, Oil. 13 Dearest M--: I AM now just inside the Great Wall which I saw first a few minutes ago, with the sun sinking behind it. Here I stop for the night, for trains don't run at night here, and I find myself in a very large comfortable hotel, built rather like our summer ones, and run by Enghsh people. When I last wrote, we were just off for Newchwang. After a horrible trip we got there at about 9 next morning ; or rather we got to the station, and then went on one of those absurd little so-called "trolleys" to the city. It was really nothing but a truck with a dos-a-dos bench on it, and run by a coolie pushing it. . . . At length we arrived at what seemed a very large town, and it a6lually has 1 50 Europeans in it ! We went at once to the " Manchuria House," and after breakfast sal- lied out to see people. The town is nothing in itself. Also we got hair-cuts, and new, very dressy, felt hats, for respe6lability. Then we met people: the Customs, the British and Ger- man Consuls (both of whom come to Muk- den in a few days for good ), merchants, mis- sionaries, do6lors, and above all, wives ! We lunched with some Americans called R. T. C 108 ] LETTERS ( very nice these were ) ,then went to our Con- sulate to read up the correspondence concern- ing the opening of Manchuria, etc. ( our con- sul is away on leave ) , which took us till 5 p. m. Then to tea with the Customs — a Harvard man, named Clark — and after that to make formal calls until 7, on all the officials. Then we went to the Club! and talked a minute or two, until we had to dress to dine with the R. T.'s. Mr. Fulford, the British Consul, is an old man, but seems very nice ; he came as far as the first jun6tion with me to-day , which was nice, as Straight is still in Newchwang — and at the station I met his Vice, who is young and very pleasant ; so we shall have nice compan- ions in Mukden ; I met also Mr. Mezger, the German Consul, who is young and pleasant too. Dinner over, we went to work till 12, then I slept, and started this morning at 7. The trip was comfortable and interesting. In the first place it was my first glimpse of China proper. Everywhere it is cultivated, except a lot of things I first thought were haystacks (very small), but which turned out to be graves. At every station were well-drilled sol- diers, who stood at attention while the train was in. Crowds of hotel runners came to meet the train, each with the name of their hotel marked in Chinese on a little flag, and as soon as the Chinese passengers got off", they set up [ 109 1 LETTERS a shout for all the world like a football field when the teams appear. The day was soft in colour, and to look over the large flat plain to the pale blue hills beyond was delightful. The hills were just what they ought always to be: a jumble of irregular peaks rising sheer out of a perfe6lly flat plain. Here and there on them were watch-towers showing black against the sky. Once in awhile we would pass an old walled town, with its pa- goda-gates and temples. Everywhere the land was teeming with life ; little blue Chinese work- ing, children playing, cattle, dogs, pigs and so on. Storks also were flying over the towns in numbers. Really, I did n't wonder the Chi- nese want their country for themselves, and hate having foreigners butting in and putting up railroads and telegraphs. It is all like the "Letters of a Chinese Official," except that Lowes Dickinson omitted the dirt. Why they leave it and become Westerners I can't see. Mukden is,of course, wilder, but yet I have n't seen such a pi6luresque place. Mr. Fulford and I are planning trips as soon as we get set- tled — I mean, short ones, exploring the city and tombs. As I said, the sun was sinking when we reached the Wall, and the great gray thing stretched miles in each dire6lion, like a sort of rampart, with its little watch-towers here and there. It is not in very good condi- C no ] LETTERS tion, I saw, when we got nearer, but it only adds to the sight. For a while I wondered how we could get through, and imagine my dis- may when we suddenly passed through a great breach made for the purpose ! It seemed like sacrilege, almost, to break a thing as old as it is, yet it had to be done I suppose — or I never should have been able to get to Peking. By the way, the real reason I am ordered there is to deliver those two troublesome codes which gave us so much difficulty in Harbin. Tient-Tsin, where I stop to-morrow, is like Shanghai, and only 3 hours from Peking. It is full of foreigners, to a lot of whom I have letters, so my day will be pleasant as well as busy. My "boy" is with me; really, for $7.50 a month to get an English-speaking boy who does everything for one seems very reason- able. Where he sleeps or what he eats I don't know — I mean, he is within hearing every time I want him. Now for dinner, then to work at my report till bed. Lo^^' Neil [TO HIS MOTHER] Peking, China, OS. 14 Dearest M---. ... At last I am here, staying inside the walls, n 111 1 LETTERS with Mr. John Coolidge. There is a Japanese Prince here, who has taken all the rooms at all the hotels, so when I arrived late last evening, I had no place to go. At first they thought they might be able to put me in the barber shop, but found even that full, so I applied to Mr. Rock- hill, as Billy P. was away at the moment (he got back later). Mr. Rockhill had no- thing to suggest ; so I went and dined, having burst into an American's room to wash. He turned out to be one I had shghtly known in New York, an old Harvard man of '94. So we dined together. In the middle, Mr. Coolidge came in, and told me he had a bed for me, so now I am ensconced in a little house in his compound, living like a prince. This morning I called on Mr. Rockhill with despatches, and got rid of those bothersome codes, and then went for lunch with the P — s. You cannot ima- gine how pleasant it was to have three nice American girls to talk to — they have a Miss H. staying with them. As usual I have seen nothing of the city, except for a minute's walk on the walls, and a 'rickshaw drive to the A. P. man's house — a man Straight had known, and as he is go- ing home, we want to get some of his stuff. That drive brought me near the Forbidden City. From the outside, the place looks like an enlarged Mukden ( that is, the whole town [ 112 ] LETTERS does), a square, walled town with its many gates, only all the colour and decorations are more vivid. The Forbidden City is surrounded by a red wall and all the roofs are dull bronze- gold, very beautiful indeed. To-day is rather cloudy, so the country was hidden more or less, but with the sun it must be dazzling. It cannot be described — we were talking about it at lunch, and I found they were in the same dilemma I am, wanting to tell about it, and quite unable. Post-cards, which I will send Gam, give more or less of an idea. I want to get Mr. Coolidge to take me round to-morrow, and then I go to Tien-Tsin ( I came straight through this time) and back to our Chinese Inn. Mr. Rockhill has ordered us to get a place inside the city, which is well-nigh impossible, so good-bye to our temple ; I suppose we shall live in some small dirty compound. . . . Mr. Rockhill has been very kind. Really, I wish I could be here a week at least, but I simply have to get my report off, and help Straight at Mukden. It is funny how natural it all seems. To walk along a Chinese road seems the thing I have always done — and so pleasant! I think it has been the best thing I have ever done — and things look very bright. Now I am going to explore. Best love, Neil C 113 H LETTERS [FROM A LETTER TO H. N.J Peking, China, OSi. 1 6 Dear Old H — : Mukden is a pretty place. It has four walls, eight gates, twelve Europeans, seven million two hundred and forty-two thousand Chinese, three hundred and ninety-six thousand eight hundred and twenty-three and a half Japs. Houses there are none; at least, in the ten days I was there we could n't find any, and lived at a Chinese Inn, where I left Straight while I went on to this village to rubber. Like burglars we arrived in the dead of night, quite dead ourselves, and sneaked into the old town upon whose astonished gaze the American Consul-General and self burst the next day. Great ceremonies, much tea con- sumed and such a wealth of compliments were exchanged as never yet have been imagined. Each morning from 8-9 we are interviewed by various newspaper men who learn nothing. Then at 9, either we call on His Excellency the Viceroy or the Tao Tai, or one of them calls on us. Sweet champagne at this time. Then home and work till our cook serves us his invariable lunch, then more work or calls or errands, dinner and bed. It may not sound exciting, but it is. Of course our hotel is n't a Waldorf, we C 114 n LETTERS have no beds or sheets or any effete luxuries like that, but by and by we may have a real roof of our own and chairs, etc. . . . For all myjeers Mukden is a perfe6lly bully place, for all the world like a pocket-piece Peking. Just now the streets are rather torn up, as a reform movement is sweeping the town and they are repairing, but that only adds, and shows the merry little Manchu at work. I could have a few shops and not kick, as it is absolutely impossible to buy anything there. Still, the awful port of Newchwang is only nine hours or sixteen dollars ( Mex. ) off, so when we want a smoke or drink we can go and get it, or a hair-cut, for though my Boy is a barber he only knows the Chi- nese style, which don't become us. . . . Happy as a lark, Neil [TO HIS MOTHER] Mukden, OB. 25 Dearest M--: Here I am, back from my wanderings and once more in my little Chinese Inn, which begins to seem like home. Two letters, one 10th and one i8th of September, and one full of clippings, came this week, together with one from S — wishing me a birthday wish, — C 115 J LETTERS mighty welcome they were too, the first news since St. Petersburg. It seems less like writ- ing at a stone wall now than it did, not that I ever thought you a stone wall, but some- how to fling letters off the Siberian express and never hear, was rather a bore after the first three weeks. I wonder if you ever got them. Peking, on the whole, disappointed me ; it is really only an enlarged Mukden, and of course most people see it for the first native city. I forget whether I wrote from there or not. I was rather busy most of the time, so did n't see many sights ; in fa6l, only one Lama temple and the famous Temple of Heaven. That is certainly one of the wonders of the world. The altar where they worship Heaven (a wonderful idea) is a round marble plat- form with three steps up, and in its extreme simplicity is one of the most gorgeous things I have ever seen. The view from the walls, too, is splendid, — I mean the city walls, you look quite into the Forbidden City with its gold-bronze roofs; but the Legation quarter is so very new and European that it seems out of place and spoils the effe6l. I stayed with Mr. Coolidge and played with the P — s all the time. On my way back I stopped off at Tien-tsin, did a little shopping, fled to Newchwang and : 116 3 LETTERS so home. Once here I found Arnell, a plea- sant fellow, whom we don't see much ex- cept at work, which we are very busy at now. My report is done ( thank Heaven ! ) and will be off as soon as our supplies come and I can type- write it. Fancy me type- writing ! Our house seems as far off as before, and as win- ter is coming fast, we may have to stay here till spring. However, it 's fairly comfortable, and this week there have been three Euro- peans here. When we are not adlually writ- ing we are either paying or receiving official visits at very odd moments, anywhere from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. And on Saturday we dine the Viceroy and members of the Foreign Office. Then things are nearly over, also our first press of work ; so in a week or two I hope to be able to see a little of the place. We shall have to get ponies first, though, as the roads are impassable for 'rickshaws and too dirty to walk much. I did walk on the walls yester- day, on my way to see Mr. Ross, the oldest missionary and extremely famous. It was a pleasant walk, and surprising to a degree, for I suddenly discovered a small thing which looks just like the Forbidden City. It turned out to be the Palace. You cannot imagine the beauty of this place at sunset, when everything fades away into a sort of gloom. It makes me wish I could paint. C 117;] LETTERS Straight does, and I '11 try to get a pi6lure from him to send you. Many thanks for the clippings. Just think how sorry Barrie will feel that he fell in love so soon, when he sees her! Do send me clip- pings of her success. The other things ( ex- cept about Lawton's valley ) I knew, for the papers out here publish the strangest lot of miscellaneous stuff; they announced — 's en- gagement, for example. Hosie's book on Manchuria is a very good one to read, and Colquhoun has written one of his readable things, called "Overland to China," an enormous volume, but much what we did. One, I forget which, has a good de- scription of Mukden. I must go to bed as it's late, and the Taotun Tao Chu calls to-morrow at 8.30, which means frock coat, cakes, tea, cigarettes, and a sip of very bad champagne before work ! It's lucky you are not supposed to do more than wet your lips. Best love, Neil [FROM A LETTER TO HIS FATHER] Mukden, 0£l. 26, 1906 Dear P— : Except for the fa6l that we are still in the Chinese hotel with no immediate prospe6l of LETTERS a house things are going on in a very pleasant way. We have two small rooms for office and a couple of bedrooms as well, only it is an awful bore to live in a trunk and sleep on a mat! However, we are pioneers and cannot expe6l much luxury. My Peking trip was fine, not only in see- ing the place, but it let me get more in touch with what is going on out here — and besides I saw a number of people whom I was very glad to. I am awfully sorry not to have seen Sir Robert Hart. The city itself is most inter- esting, only Mukden in many ways is much finer, so I was a little disappointed. Still the Temple of Heaven is one of the finest things I have ever seen. We are not very gay here — only about half a dozen Europeans that I see, except for the occasional tourist. The latter is very few and far between. The more I see of the Northern Chinaman the more I like him, and at pre- sent we are very friendly with the Viceroy and his Foreign Office. Our third man has turned up, and, what is extraordinarily lucky, is an expert stenographer. Now that we have a type-writer we keep him fairly busy. Please give my regards to Mr. L. and the rest, and love to C — . Love, Neil C 119 J LETTERS [FROM A LETTER TO J. G. F.J Mukden, OSl. 27 . . . My life here so far has been one round of official visits; little Willy in a frock coat and topper sitting cross-legged in a Chinese cart, waving a large red visiting card, with outriders going before, is a well-known sight. Also I have dined at theYamen with the Vice- roy, and to-night we gave a bang-up dinner in return. It does n't sound, perhaps, as queer to you as it is, but just remember that there are only seven Europeans here in this city of 400,000 Chinese, missionaries excepted. I came in at about 5.15, the dinner being at 6.30. No sooner had I arrived than the Tao Tai's card was announced, so out I bounced and sat him down with a cigarette, while Straight dressed. For twenty minutes we sat ( bespeaks no English ) and bowed andsmiled, and then the door opened, and instead of Straight in walked an utter stranger, one Tou- Tung ( also no English ) , again bows and ci- garettes. Then Straight appeared and I fled to dress. When I got back — it wasn't yet 6.15 — the whole crowd was there. More bows and cigarettes, then tea, and finally a good old- fashioned dinner. . . . There is one saving thing about Chinese C 120 ] LETTERS official dinners, they may start early, but they certainly finish soon. By 9 we were through, and Mr. Oliver and all of us went to our rooms and smoked. Really, though, it was quite a fancy dinner; the Viceroy, two Tao Tais, the Tou Tung, and a man named Lo, whose title I don't know. Now, thank Heaven, it is all over, and we shan^t have to give a state affair for some time. One funny thing is the way everyone peeps through the windows at us, always. A Chinese Inn is made up of a number of one-storied buildings with large windows and no curtains. The rooms are about 10x10, with a raised place on one side on which you sleep. Of the conveniences the less said the better. However, I think we shall get a house soon, in fa 61, we have a nine-room one in mind now. Things are horribly expen- sive here; I pay my Boy I7.50 a month, which is terrific here in China. . . . Thine, Neil [TO HIS MOTHER] Mukden, Nov. z Dearest M — : Your missing letter of the 6th turned up a day or two ago, together with one from S — . I 121 ] LETTERS Also your letter of the 26th arrived here on 061. 26, which makes us seem much nearer than before. Very little has happened since I wrote, ex- cept routine office work and a vain search for houses. Now I am afraid it is too late, as it is 28° to-day, so the time for repairs is over and it looks as if we should stay here all winter. However, we are fairly comfortable, and no- thing suffers but our dignity. The Japs have promised to give us one of the many unoccu- pied buildings they are still holding, . . . and the Tao Tai has now said he would help us, so we may have something before the year is out. We gave a dinner on Saturday last to the Viceroy, the two Tao Tais, the Tu Tung and a Mr. Lo. It was called for 6.30, but when I strolled in at 5.15 after a walk to the Fulton s ( to try to borrow some candlesticks ) , I found them all assembled, and Straight only half dressed. In I went and bowed low, — it is a great honour for the Viceroy to come to dine at a hotel, I can tell you, — gave them ciga- rettes and tea, and then sat and looked plea- sant while they talked Chinese until Straight appeared. Then I dressed in haste and re- turned just in time to prevent my fool Boy from passing round chocolate in cocktail glass- es, thinking that was what we meant. That C 122 2 LETTERS was corre6led, and the celestials burned their throats and sat with tears in their eyes from our "American" drink. Mr. Oliver and Ar- nell made up the party, which broke up at eight, after a long dinner and short smoke. The Tu Tung ( I don't know what he is ex- cept that he is second only to the Viceroy ) is a real Manchu, about 5 ft. 10, very good- looking, and the colour of the old fishermen round our coast. He has never been even so far away from Mukden as Newchwang, and won't believe America is where it is, in fa6l, rather doubts its existence. We told him about the tall buildings, and he merely smiled sadly, so we showed him a circular we had, with a pic- ture of the Park Row Building in it, which he merely thought was a clever pi6ture, but any- one could draw a house like that. He and the TaoTaiand the Viceroy are very nice, friendly, witty and very progressive. The Viceroy has started an Agricultural College, and is talk- ing of getting some man from home to come and demonstrate machinery. Also, he has a mint, — and I am sure I must have written about the street repairs ! every one is so torn up that it is as much as your life is worth to walk. On Sunday we went out to the North Tomb. It is a four or five mile walk before you strike the entrance, a patch of fir trees with shrubs I 123 ] LETTERS covered with mistletoe, with red and yellow berries, and then you walk up an overgrown path for about half a mile to the gates. Again, it is beyond description. I '11 take pidlures now ( by the way, I have n't had any developed yet ) and that will give you some idea of it, only nothing can show the- brilliant reds and yellows, blues and greens, of the walls and roofs. They are perfe6lly barbaric, yet they blend perfe6lly. First you come to a stone arch beautifully carved, back of which is the gate to the first courtyard. The door was n't open, so we climbed the wall and got in. This court is about 1/4 of a mile long, a broad path running up the middle to a small shrine, lined on either hand with carved animals, all the size of a house ; lions, bears, camels, elephants ( de- lightful fat ones) and horses. Back of these are the firs, which look like the pi6lures on plates. Beyond the shrine is the main court with the Tomb, but here we could n't get, as you need a pass. Everything brilliant, with a gorgeous blue sky overhead. ... As Straight said when we got back, a place like that to live in and you would have to be good always. A Newchwang man named D — was with us. He wants to come up here and work, which will be splendid. . . . Have I told you that our office furniture has arrived, ten carts full ! It has been knocking C 124 n LETTERS around here since before the war, when a Con- sulate was to have been opened, but could n't be, and the stuff will make excellent firewood. In notifying the Department of its arrival I told them it was broken, and that we had unpacked the " following pieces ;" but whether they will see the point I don't know. Some day I hope I can get a job there for a year or so, to see how they work, for out here it seems as if they just go ahead without ever think- ing. The different countries are divided alpha- betically, I believe, so that one man takes Chili, China, Costa Rica, etc. The trouble is, we are so sore about the house that I am afraid we complain a great deal. You see, we had just about engaged a temple when the de- spatch came saying we were to locate inside the walls. I am not going to buy a bally thing this year, it's not worth while until I know more about these things, so no one must expe6l a Christmas present. I am sorry, — but until I can talk there is no use buying things, my Boy is a regular high financier in the art of robbery by commission, and I cannot ask my Chief to do errands for me ! Best of love to all, Neil If M — is going to be sent out here, I wish LETTERS he could come to Newchwang, for his Bank is going to start a new office there, and it is only 9 hours off, very cold ones, to be sure, for the Japs don't heat their cars, still we could meet every once in a while. [FROM A LETTER TO HIS BROTHER] Nov. 2 Dear J — : It is awfully interesting work out here ; rather lonely, but a wonderful place and climate. There are not many of us, only 6 mission- aries and their families and about half a dozen of us, all told, but pretty soon the other con- suls will turn up, and it will be a little more gay. My trip to Peking was bully, but really I find that I have a tremendous amount of lo- cal pride, and really prefer Mukden. I want to get a pony as soon as possible, and then perhaps I shall have time to see some of the sights here. Any description I can make of the place goes to M — at once, so you will have to ask her to tell you what it is like. I wrote you from the Trans-Siberian to thank you for the " Shikspur," but have a sus- picion that those letters never got through, so once more, many thanks indeed. What do you think of me as a Typist.'' pretty fancy, I think. Give my love to C — and G — and anyone t 126 ^ LETTERS like J. G. F., H. L., R. E. B., F. S., etc., and especially E — . As ever, Neil [FROM A LETTER TO MISS J. M.] Mukden, Nov, 4. Here it is worse than New York in the way things slide along ; before you know it another week has gone by. It does seem extraordi- narily natural — and pleasanter than even my most sanguine thoughts. Winter has set in, think of that! and all our clothes are somewhere on the ocean, for in an unwise moment we shipped them from Bre- men instead of taking them. The result, as you may easily imagine, is one of purple noses and fingers. Do you remember telling me about a book called "The Silent Places," I think, in which intense cold is described.'' Well, that is what we feel here in summer clothes with the mercury refusing to budge over 20°. I had a most wonderful time in Peking and saw most marvellous sights. The Great Wall was one — an enormous, snake-like thing crawling away in the distance, over mountains, through streams, not troubling or stopping at C 127 n LETTERS any obstacle. I saw it first in the twilight at Shan-Hin-Kwan, where it looked so mysteri- ous and silently powerful that I was glad to get back to the lights of the hotel. The twi- light here always a6ls on me like that, I want to get in and dream, yet I hate to leave it when the time comes. Such nights ! — the moon nearing the full, not a cloud anywhere, and only the little twinkling street lights, the offi- cials with their lantern-bearers walking on ahead, huge lanterns three or four feet high, of oiled silk with their titles painted on them in large red Chinese letters. I tell you, it's worth all the discomfort and the distance just to see it. And the days are just as beautiful, only I am usually too busy to see them. To-day we walked out of the city on the other side, to call on some missionaries. Walk- ing back it was perfeftly beautiful ; the sun just setting over the walls and gates, more like a fine old print than anything you can imagine, only the colours were so soft and blended ; the long gray walls with their pa- goda-gates against a faint pale pink sky. Night comes very quickly here, so the end of our walk was in darkness, except for the street lamps andhere and there an open door through which we could see shadow-like forms sitting. Flitting up and down in the dark were little Chinese lanterns, and every little while the : 128 ;] LETTERS gleaming lamps of a 'rickshaw would pass. Really it seemed as though we were in a sort of dream, yet it was strangely familiar too. At first the mud-coloured walls seem queer, but you soon notice a kind of beauty in them, especially here where the lights are very clear and the colours are soft. With all the charm and beauty, however, one gets very lonely and there is a lot of time to think. That may change when we get our other quarters, but I notice it in every white person here. It is driving me to poetry and dreams — and letters. [FROM A LETTER TO N. B.J Mukden, Nov. 5 Dear N — : As nearly as I can recall, to-morrow is Elec- tion Day in New York, which fadl reminds me of some we spent together — therefore this. Also another thing which has kept you pain- fully before my mind is that I think, or rather fear, that I owe you a dinner for Port Arthur. That is naturally brought home to me here, only 24 hours from the spot, and also because I feel more than ever that I was right and you wrong in our desires about the war ! . . . You'd like this place immensely. A fine old walled city, with its eight gates surmounted by pagoda-like houses, the tiled roofs with n 129 ] LETTERS porcelain dogs on the ridge-poles to keep off the devils, and its genial population, merry as the Devil, working and singing all day. The Northern Chinee is a fine big chap, not at all like our Pell St. friends, and the women's head-dress is so pi6luresque that you walk about smiling because you are here. Then be- sides the town, there are the tombs, and all their splendours, and great stretches of plain simply covered with wild ducks and geese, grouse, snipe, quail, pheasant, fox, wolf, deer — in fadl, every sort of game ready to drop when they see a gun. Though our quarters are not of the best ( brick beds and mats to sleep on, and very queer Chinese food ) , and though there are only about 20 white people here, it appeals to me more than any place I have seen for the devil of a while. New York — Oh, Lord — I hope I shan't see it for years. It 's hard work too, for the country is pra6li- cally virgin, and we have to pile off reports every week, on the R. R.'s, the forests, rivers, mines, and besides we have to keep close tab on the political doings. Thank Heaven there is absolutely none of the ordinary consular work, such as invoices, etc., here, it is purely a diplomatic post. If we can ever get a house I shall be glad, because to work, eat, sleep and receive Chinese officials in two rooms palls, and especially when we have to watch t 130 J LETTERS all our letters and keep our things in locked trunks. Houses, though, are very hard to get, there being an influx of countrymen whose houses were burned in the war, and a number of new officials ( our Viceroy is very progres- sive and has started an agricultural college as well as a number of others ) . . . . We are bending every energy to getting some pro- stitutes out of an old official yamen, but the Japanese Consul seems rather doubtful. Some did ofi^er to move if we would pay for the improvements they had built — a bathroom — but their bill was $3100, Mex., which, as our contingent fund is considerably less than that, we politely refused. The whole thing could n't have cost $100, Mex. That's what we are up against ! The Chinese, on the other hand, are bully. The only trouble is that official calls — and you have to call on every bally official — take place before a true Southern gentleman, like B — , would have dreamed of getting up, and are celebrated by a flow of champagne, indige- nous ( I hope ) to China, which makes our Cali- fornia brands taste like ne6lar in comparison. The Viceroy is a corker, but the one I like best is the Fu-Tu-Tung, an old Manchu who has never been 100 miles from Mukden. When I pointed on a map to New York, and then showed on a teacup where it was in re- C 131 3 LETTERS ference to Mukden, he merely smiled and said he did n't believe there was any place so far away. Then, to utterly flabbergast him, I produced a pi6lure of the Park Row building which we had in a catalogue. That he merely thought was a nice idea, and treated it as he might a pidlure of a dragon, only I fancy he takes more stock in the latter. Once the Vice- roy gave us a dinner. I wish I still had the menu. Everything was mixed up. First tea, of course, then port, then beer, then white wine, more beer, then champagne, sherry and green mint. The eatables were just as confused — all foreign, except shark's-fin soup, which is very good indeed. That was all the poor old fellow could eat. I took a run to Peking ( four days' trip ) and it seemed as if I had reached an enormous place. One adlually met Europeans in the street, whereas here you do perhaps once a week. Besides that I stayed with Mr. John Coohdge and played with B. Phillips and his family, so that I might as well as not have been in Boston. There were two other Har- vard men there at work, Marshall of New York ( '94 ) and a young '04 man in the Cus- toms. The cities are much alike in appearance, so I shall have to confess that I was disap- pointed. Most people see Peking as their first Chinese city, but coming as it did it seemed C 132 J LETTERS more foreign than native to me. Eleven hours in a Chinese cart through Northern Manchu- ria shows one a good deal of the native life. From what I have seen of the Treaty-port Europeans, I am thankful we have so few here (incidentally it gives me more time for my study of Chinese ) , for they are a pretty tough set. Their general conversation would open C — 's eyes as to lost opportunities. Make a general sprinkling of my regards, etc., among the G — s, F — s, H — s, O. B., C. H., C — s (twain) and anyone else, espe- cially to E — . Do write me sometimes if you have time to spare. . As ever, ^^^^ [FROM A LETTER TO HIS BROTHER] Mukden, Nov. 6 Dear B— : I WONDER if you ever got my scrawl from the train containing my thanks, and if you did, were you able to read it.'' I hope so, not because it contained anything of value, but because I don't want to seem ungrateful, for that I most certainly am not. As you may have heard we got here on the end of last month, exceeding glad to do so too. Since then, with the exception of a two weeks' C 133 H LETTERS trip, — to Peking and back, — we have been hard at work straightening out things and looking for houses. . . . It is a wonderful place. The city itself is a miniature edition of Peking, square, walled, gray houses, and a palace with its gold-bronze roof to take the place of the Forbidden City of Peking. For all the fighting around it, and the long occupations by both Japanese and Russians, it is an absolutely unspoiled and untouched Chinese city, where we handful of Europeans are still enough of a novelty to have crowds follow when we walk out. The crowds, however, are merely genial, friendly people, who ask your name, or whether you are a do6lor or not, just as different from my beloved scowling Turks as anything that could be imagined. If you liked Persia, you would go crazy over China — at least the parts I have seen. The other consuls have not yet arrived. I have met both the British, and his Vice, and the German, who are very nice; but the Russian and French are unknown quantities. How- ever, we have more than we can do, and lack of company helps the study of Chinese. Once we get a house and we can get ponies, and then the country will be open to us. I have n't seen the Palace yet, but if it 's like the Tombs it will be about the finest thing going. The C 134 ] LETTERS North Tomb is too wonderful for description. It gives the same contemplative feeling you get at one of the English Universities, only with a wealth of colour. Every day I am thank- ful to be here. Shooting also is excellent, but my gun, like my heavy clothes, is somewhere on the way, and it's about 20" here now! Give my love to E — , also Julian P. if you see him. Do write a line once in a while. Affly, Neil [from a letter to h. g. m.j Mukden, Nov. 8 Yesterday, as I was walking down the Ssu Ping Gai after a matinee at the opera, and looking at all the eleftric lights spring up in the dusk, conscious of the annoying clang and clatter of the street cars, I — well, that 's not what it is like, but it's a great deal easier to say what it is not than what it is. Howsome- dever, what I wanted to say was that I hear your bank is to open its doors at Newchwang, so if you are to be sent to the East, why don't you go there if possible, for there we shall be a mere 9 hours apart } . . .\ certainly like the place well enough to stay here five or six years. . . . c 135 :i LETTERS [TO HIS MOTHER] Mukden, Nov. 8 A HOME mail to-day, with a letter from you, one from S — , and two bunches of clippings, for which I was very thankful. Some of the ships carry the mail through to Shanghai, so we are very uncertain when to expe6l any. It is funny to read of my Moscow letters — it all seems ages ago. Thank S — , and ask her why she did n't send the pi6lures of the family under the "forest" as well as the one of Miss H. and the spider."^ None of the things we sent by water have arrived, so I am entirely without pi6lures of my family ; and there are times when I want them very much. So I hope some future mail will bring them. To-day I sent, via Shanghai, . . . the pi6lures I had taken on the way. They went addressed to J. C. F. partly because I was n't sure where you were — they are registered — and partly because if you are in California, they will be looked at by those in the East and then sent on to you. So you had better tell them they are for you, though I marked a "--" in the corner of the envelope. I forget when I wrote last, but I think it was about a week ago. At any rate I have been to the Emperor's birthday party since, [ 136 : LETTERS and there I saw some Chinese juggling. Glory be ! For one hour and a half I sat spell-bound, watching a little Chinaman do impossible things. You remember Ching-Ling-Foo in America.?' Well, this man did all he did with one hand. Where Ching took out one bowl from nowhere, this one took nine. A few days later he came round to get a testimonial, and showed us what he called a simple little thing. It was merely to set a cup upside down on the table at which we were sitting, and throw five little beads into it without touching it. That is, they were in his hand, and then suddenly ap- peared in the cup, and he was more than two feet away all the time ! Then he made one dis- sipate from his hand and materialize again ! ! ! If we ever get a house we are going to give a blow-out and have him. He has two sons of 6 and 8, who are learning it; he is the fifth generation at it, but so far their efforts are di- re6led towards contortion, which they do bet- ter than any I have seen, and not in such a manner that it looks painful. ... So let it suffice that I tell you to read Millard's book called " The Problems of the Far East," and tell everyone else to read it also. Everyone out here recommends it as a "sane, impartial and fair book." We have found a perfe6lly bully compound in the city, but its price is very high. How- l 137 J LETTERS ever, as it is apparently the only one, I rather guess we will take it if we can get it. As nei- ther the Russians or Japanese ever paid any- thing for the houses they took, the Chinese are rather unwilling to rent to foreigners. At present we are trying to have a Tientsin ar- chite6l buy it and rent it to us, hoping we can persuade our Government to buy it later. If we get it we shall have by far the most com- fortable house in North China ; but I 'm afraid it's merely a castle in the air. Only one visitor this week ; but there is an- other up here, though I haven't seen him, and a French officer staying here who does n't seem to want to know us. Straight has gone to Yingkou for a few days, so I am keeping up a solitary state here, as Arnell continues to Uve at a Japanese hotel. Still, it gives me a much better time to study Chinese, as the teacher is our "writer," and now I can do six hours a day and make no progress. It is so funny to sing out phrases with him that I got hysterics to-day once, much to his alarm; but really, to shout out a foolish sentence about " a hill 200 li high," in unison, is too foolish. My Boy gets bluer and bluer as my lessons go on, for he knows he will get chucked as soon as I can talk any. It 's his own fault, for he cer- tainly steals mightily; not by taking our things, but by commissions, and once I caught him [ 138 ] LETTERS trying to squeeze our washerman. There was an awful scene, and since then he has been much better. It is getting more and more interesting here all the time. Now the Viceroy has decided not to receive us any more, but to let the Tao Tai, and of course we have to refuse that, which is rather complicated. Also, they maintain that the city itself is not open, whereas the treaty specifically says it is — that is why we are to live inside — and so there is a great deal of talk about that. Gradually the others are com- ing up; the German next week and Fulford soon after. Both of them have houses, though, while I poke daily into the dirtiest sort of compounds imaginable. One great thing about the house we are after here is that it is new and fairly clean. We should have room for a tennis-court inside our wall, and quite a big garden as well. No one outside believes that it is hard to get houses, but besides the influx of Japs, there are any quantity of Chinese who were burned out during the war and have come to live here. To corre6l the idea, we are trying to get Mr. Coolidge to come up here on his way home. The German is spending ^750, Fulford ^400 ; while we are allowed $900 ! It means Straight going into his own pocket, but, thank Heaven, it is not so expensive here as in New York, so he can afford to. C 139 J LETTERS I had quite a touch of local pride the other day, when I was walking on the walls with a Newchwang man. Really one gets awfully fond of the place, and once we are settled and have time to explore, it will be wonderful. It's fairly small too, so you get to know some of the people. Almost every day I am out, I meet some Chinamen I know. All I can say is " hao," but it does. Of course I could tell them about my hill, but unfortunately that leads nowhere ( if it did I should be stumped ) , so we bow and walk on. Such weather too ! only one rainy day so far ( then the mud was over your boots, but who cared), clear and frosty, with glorious sunsets. My report is gone — hurrah ! — and now I can turn my attention to the situation here. Our report on that will open people's eyes, I think. Love, Neil [FROM A LETTER TO J. G. F.] Mukden, Ntv. 8 . . . The East is one of the most narrowing places there is, I suppose, for I certainly won- der how anyone can be seriously interested in anything anywhere else. Then besides, Muk- den seems such an important place, on account C 140 ] LETTERS of its being the capital of Manchuria. In some ways ( I am going to bore you with some of our mix-ups ) it must be more or less like the very early days in China, except that there is a new element now, — Japan. For example, by our treaty with China, Mukden, Antung, Tiding and other places were to be opened, but now China says that it only means the land out- side the city, not the city itself. To show them that we mean the city proper, Peking ( that is, our Legation) has ordered us to live in the city. Then the Viceroy— a most pleasant old boy to meet — has just issued a note to the foreign consuls saying that he won't treat with them, but his Tao Tai will, instead. Of course we refused that, but if he refuses to meet us, what can we do.'' Since the move nothing has come up which has necessitated our seeing him. Then again, though there is a foreign con- cession outside the city, the Chinese Govern- ment has bought up all the land and refuses to sell to us foreigners, which is a thing we shall have to force them to do. . . . All these things make our work here very interesting. So far everything has been smooth, but it looks to me as if there were breakers ahead. c 141 ;] LETTERS [TO HIS SISTER-IN-LAW] Mukden, Nov. 13 Dear C— : I HAD a letter from M- - to-day, saying how ill your mother is, and I want merely to say how sorry I am, and that I hope she will be up and about long before this reaches you. There is a lot of time in which to think out here, away from the " world " and completely out of touch with one's friends, and I have been regretting that I did not have time to say good-bye to you at all ; but things went at such a pace, there did not even seem time to realize that I was going — and I cannot fully realize that I am here yet. We are pretty busy with routine work every day, besides which I am immersed in Chinese up to my tuft. I used to think that you and I had pretty bad hand- writings, but bless me, the Chinese print puts us to shame, and their writing is simple h — 1. The worst of it is that one never seems to ad- vance at all, and were it not for the fa6l that Mr. Oliver— the Customs man here — has been at it for 25 years and still takes lessons, I should begin to think I was merely dumb. The Chinese children have won my heart and my pocketbook. They are perfe6lly bully, bright-eyed, friendly little chaps, who smile at me whenever we meet. Really, if we did n't [ 142 :i LETTERS have such laws I'd adopt one, and bring him home when I come. They have the same ex- pressive eyes that Hermann K. has — do you wonder they get all my pennies? Their pa- rents live in constant dread of the devil run- ning off with their sons ( daughters don't seem to count ) , so to fool him they put earrings on their children when they are very young, and the foolish Old Nick thinks they are all girls. Really that seems the only fear they have, and they even put little porcelain dogs on their roofs to scare him away. The only pur- chase I shall make for some time is one of these dogs, for I find I can get one off one of the tombs which they are repairing. It is n't stealing, for if I didn't get it, it would be broken up and thrown away. Mukden is the most charming city I have ever seen. Great gray walls and houses with their gold and gayly coloured signs outside. At twilight especially I love it, when from the wall you see a sea of tiled roofs with the little white smoke coming up against the most glo- rious sunset sky you can imagine. Somehow at such a time you forget every sordid thing, and feel as you do in a cloister. I never have wished that I could paint till now, but if I could get the effe6ls and colours down I should be perfe6lly satisfied. There is absolutely no society here, beyond C 143 H LETTERS three missionary wives and half a dozen of the consular men. Our evenings are usually spent at work till about 10.30, then reading or writing till we go to bed. To-day I de- clared a holiday, and just enjoyed living in the open air. It was a glorious Indian summer day, with home mail in the morning, and just eleven weeks since I left, and six since I ar- rived. My Chinese teacher went about with a very puzzled expression when I only read three pages with him. I fancy he has quite given up trying to understand me. Love to J — and the children, and your father and mother. Affly, Neil [TO HIS MOTHER] Mukden, Nov. i8 Dearest M — : Viceroys — pish! Carts — pooh! To-day we went in chairs ( carried by four men, with a sort of outrider along also ) and called on H.R. H. Prince Ssai Chien, cousin of the Em- peror, who is up here on some investigating junket (China is fully awake, you see), and found an a6live young man, rather bored with the continual hand-shaking. Just the three of us, his interpreter and councillor, Mr. Oliver I 144 J LETTERS and himself. It did n't last long, thank Heaven, else we should have frozen, for it's already well below zero, and the Chinese houses are not heated. All a Chinaman has to do is to put on another furred robe, and he is all right. It gives them a very funny look, and men who looked quite thin when we first knew them, now look like a Russian coachman. Straight has to go there to dinner — is gone,infa6l — but took precautions to put on three suits of underclothes. I — thank Heaven once more- — am sitting here in our inn, warm and comfy. And that is what we did to-day, when I sup- pose Harvard is playing Yale — and, I hope, winning. One more event marks the day ; I have a Boy. We have been deciding to change ours for some time, and yesterday got a wire from Newchwang that two new ones were on the way, so we screwed up our courage,— but decided to put it off till to-day. All night I had nightmares, not that he would refuse to go, but that I should n't have courage to do it, and should find myself with two. Luckily he was rather worse than usual to-day, so I exploded, and said he might go for good. I told him he was lazy, dirty, went out too much without leave, stole too much, and was in short a bad one. All this was done in fear and trem- bling, and then, when I was quite through, he eagerly asked if he could go at once, C 145 2 LETTERS grabbed his wages ( full for this month, and cheap at that), and fled, without either wash- ing dishes or making my bed. My new Boy is quite the reverse of the other, being a6live, small and thin, and I am glad to say he does not smoke opium, as my other did. But one thing I know ; this is the last change I shall make, no matter what this one turns out to be! Straight did the same, so except for our faith- ful old coolie we have an entirely new outfit. Our coolie looks like the pidlure of the Sim- pleton in Howard Pyle's "Simpleton and his Little Black Hen." Our house situation is the same, so I rather guess we are here for the winter. It 's not bad now that our supplies have come and there are thick clothes and blankets, not to speak of books. The latter we don't have time for, be- cause there is so much back work to catch up. Of course all our official stuff has been knock- ing around for three years out here, and as the Government must have a complete invoice I have been busy counting the forms and en- velopes and generally checking up. What we are to do with a Census of Cuba for 1899, 1 cannot guess, but it's here. But then we get lots of stuff. Only yesterday we had an inquiry from a manufadlurer asking about the sales of diving-suits ! I answered that the wells were small, that one could wade the only river near, C 146 ] LETTERS and that a glance at the map would show where Mukden was if they turned to the northeast part of China. Next week I am ordered off to shoot wild turkey for Thanksgiving. I may get a deer or two as well, and perhaps a Hung-Hutze ! for r shall have to go to Khaiylian, a town north of Tiehng. It will be fun, but rather cold, I fancy. Did I tell you how I bought my gun.? The owner ( I did not know ) was in Peking, the gun in Shanghai ( I only knew its size ) ,and I in Tientsin, and I bought it overthe telephone. Rather like buying a pig in a poke, is n't it.? There were eight foreigners at this inn one day last week, not counting us. Love, Neil [FROM A LETTER TO J. G. F.] Mukden, Nov. i8 . . . Now that supplies have come, we are fairly comfortable, but cramped. The good Lord watched out and kept fairly moderate weather until our thick clothes and blankets arrived, but now it is around the zero mark with an alarming persistency. Also one drawback to playing pioneer is that it is too cold to get any bottled goods here, or have them sent up. We C 147 J LETTERS are forced to drink boiled water only now, for the six dozen claret and one whiskey we have won't go very far in four months. . . . My Boy I have changed, and got a nice small one who seems good. To-day, I asked him about Christianity, and he said he knew all about it. " One piece man named Jesus, his Father belong God, and they kill him, and he belong topside." Nice simple history! The other rascal I had got the go-by as soon as I found this one, and for a while we had no- thing but a faithful old cooHe left. He is a wonder and keeps me laughing all day. Every once in a while he stops and stares at the clock for five minutes in pure wonder, and when we typewrite he can hardly go out of the room. One day when we had no mail to go he was frightfully disappointed, and kept giving me his official card-case ( an enormous red-and-gold oiled paper affair) and staring. Our two old Boys worked him to death, but now he is quite chipper, for we raised his wages a whole dol- lar ( Mex. ) a month ; he gets |io next month. To-day, while all of you were at the Yale game ( at least I have figured that it came to- day ), we were in our very gladdest rags, very cold, riding to meet a Prince. No carts for us to-day, . . . and we suffered for it with the cold, our toppers gleaming and our white waistcoats shining. The Prince is up here investigating C 148 -] LETTERS something, and everyone is trembling for his head. He was most genial, sent for us and re- ceived us before the others. . . . Really I cannot catch on to the idea that I am an important person here, yet I am, and never a Prince can come to Mukden but he must shake my hand. Think of that! We have been rather gay of late, eight for- eigners here at one time. That is one of the funny things about China ; when we first came here no one ever came to this inn, but now it is the popular one. . . . How news travels so fast I don 't know, but everyone knows of it now, and the landlord thinks we are corkers. In fad:, he thinks we are so nice he won't help us to find a house ! [FROM A LETTER TO MISS J. M.] November zznd This morning we had a frightful shock when the innkeeper announced that he was going to close up because some one had waltzed into his office and eloped with $200. We invited him in, poured gallons of tea down his throat, gave him a million or more cigarettes, and fi- nally persuaded him he was foolish to close just when he was getting the foreign trade. That trying affair was no sooner ended than c 149 ;] LETTERS the barber came to chop off some of our long Bill Cody-like curls, and Straight being No. i took the chair first — one of our dining and reception room best. Right in the middle of the operation, who should walk in but the Tao- Tai — in case I never told you, he is the Mayor — to make a very formal call. With my usual presence of mind I jumped up and played the " Wall" in imitation of " Midsummer Night's Dream," — while Arnell carried on a polite conversation in Japanese somewhat like this : Arnell: Mr. Straight wishes \snip-clip\ me to say [clip-snip] that he will [snip-clip] be in in a [clip-snip] minute. Tao: Mr. Straight [snip-clip] speaks Chi- nese like [clip-snip] a true Pekinese. Straight: Arnell — help! tell this Jap bar- ber not to cut my hair all off. Me ( through Arnell) : Won't Mr. Tao have [snip-clip] another cigarette.? Straight {emerging): How do you do.'' I am sorry I was out when you came. Whereupon the conversation is carried on in Chinese. Arnell and I retreat and get pretty well clipped, so our hair ( what is left ) is pom- padour. And in the middle of that who should come in but our one subje6l wanting a pass- port. Really, life in a few rooms in a Chinese inn has drawbacks — and our house is a very fancy article in Spain as yet. c 150 :\ LETTERS However, to change the subje6l before I get too excited, I '11 babble on once more about the North Tomb. I went there a few days ago and by great luck got into the very tomb itself. Before, I felt the peace and quiet of the place, but this time I really felt the san6lity. The inner tomb is surrounded by a wall about 20 feet high enclosing a space of two or three acres. Not a sound is heard in here, and the little temple building had a feeling of abso- lute peace and quiet. Overhead was a cloud- less blue sky with an occasional pheasant whirring across. Napoleon's tomb in Paris gives one more or less the same feeling, but there you do not have the joy of the open air. It is like the Altar to Heaven at Peking inas- much as you feel so very close to the Power. Walking away (I was entirely alone) again I felt the wonderment that anyone should ever do wrong. Yet they call this a heathen country ! Why, the Parthenon is nothing to it, and we call that the greatest piece of archi- te6lure there is. Nothing that I have yet seen would suit me better as a haven to end my days in. It seems almost profane, yet the next time I go there I am going to take pi6lures of it, and then you will have some idea — except of the colours. . . . C 151 ] LETTERS [FROM A LETTER TO MISS A. L. P.] Mukden, November iind, 1906 Dear A — : Your letter came like a pleasant thunderbolt, if there be such a thing. . . . Do you want to know what Mukden is like? We are eight, but the Chinese are as numberless as the tears that were shed at Southampton on hearing of my departure — and even then some more. If you could see the two old beggars we have for coolies, and our two spick-and-span little " Boys," who a6l like useful shadows all the time ! We don't even have time to light a match before they do it for us. It is like being a king without its worry. Why, at last I have found the — There I go. I almost forgot I was broken-hearted and mournful — but don't tell. I am now going to pick up a gun and take a fall out of a few turkeys and hares. Thanks for writing; keep it up. Be good. . ° As ever, ,,. Neil [FROM A LETTER TO H. N.] Mukden, November 23 And the cold crept on like a flow of ice till everything was frozen hard, and the unfortu- C 152 ] LETTERS nate Bottled Goods who were taking a jun- ket from Newchwang to Mukden, in order that they might make a short stay at the Ame- rican Consulate-General, froze up in the train, and burst with a loud noise. Meanwhile, having been notified of their expedled arrival, all was bustle at the Con- sulate-General. The table groaned under an array of expeftant glasses, while the sand- wich lay in glorious isolation on an erstwhile snow-white napkin. All at once the deadly stillness was broken and carts were heard, creaking as if under a heavy load, to approach the courtyard, and the kind Consul-General with true hospitality went to the door in order that he might give the travel-worn party a hearty welcome. The Deputy walked quickly around the room, giving the fire a poke and straightening the glasses. At the sound of voices in the hallway, he hurried to the door, which was hastily dashed open, and the Con- sul-General burst in, white and gasping, mur- muring: "All, all is lost!" (Curtain, hastily, while the audience sob.) Thus began the long dry winter of 1906-7. For there ain't a drop in Mukden. Written while sitting on a stove and watch- ing the mercury drop down the thermometer till nothing is left but a small globule rolling round in agony in the very bottom. C 153 ] LETTERS Thus do the pioneers of Mukden lead the Simple Life ! '& %^ [FROM A LETTER TO H. M.] Mukden, Nov. 24. . . . The most wonderful place and climate that it has been my luck to see. It is rather cold, . . . but with the dry climate i o or 1 2 below zero doesn't count much. China, and more particularly Manchuria, for me forever ! The Chinese too are fine, just as genial as the best. They do have some rather nasty habits, though, — for instance, we ran across a couple to-day, who were selling their children in the street, because they were out of work and cold. It gave me a rather funny feeling to see the poor little beggars snivelling off in the corner, but as there was n't anything to do, I gave them a few dollars to get food with. C 154 ] LETTERS Then they have another nasty trick of throw- ing their dead children into the ditch outside the outer wall, wrapped in straw matting. It is nasty to see the stray dogs fighting over such things. I always shoot when I do. Never before have I known what it meant to live like a king. Here we are still in a Chi- nese hotel and likely to be all winter, but what with two Boys and two coolies who do every- thing short of eating for us, I begin to see what is meant. . . . [TO HIS MOTHER] Mukden, Nov. 25 Dearest M — : The Empress Dowager's birthday, and half frozen. It is now 10.4.5 P- m. and we are just back from a dinner that started at 5, — in a barn-like spot, with a million doors and no heat. Of course we knew it would be cold, and wore as much as we could get on under our outer clothes, but nevertheless we were fro- zen quite stiff when we got back. Forty-one of us sat down to the intermin- able feast, where their motto is: "When in doubt, serve soup," and ate for four hours to the accompaniment of sele6l portions of the Chinese drama. Thanks to my humble posi- LETTERS tion I was placed at the head of the second table, with Arnell on my right, and the old Fu Tou Tung next me, so I was able occasion- ally to talk. Dish after dish came on, and clash after clash of the brass instruments followed, till we were nearly frantic. Once, towards the middle, a gleam of hope came when they brought on English plum pudding, but it turned out to be merely an eccentricity, and meat followed. Next but one on my right was a splendid old Manchu who had never been to a foreign dinner before, and really I felt quite sorry for him when I heard him sigh after trying in vain to use his knife and fork. On the other side was a Japanese who went to the other extreme and ate his bread with a knife and fork. . . . In one large square room the tables were arranged three sides round a court, with the stage opposite the head table. On all sides were crowds of retainers and soldiers, who, I think, were the only ones who appreciated the play. Just behind me, on a raised platform or k'ang, were the rows of various high officials, all young — six or seven — and quite the nicest- looking children I have seen for years. They didn't quite know which way to look, foreign- ers were an awful rarity and the play was ex- cellent, so, poor chaps, they kept turning their heads as we do in a three-ring circus. If only C ^56 ] LETTERS I were rich enough I would adopt one of them and show you all what a true "heathen" is like. Dinner ( I lost count after the first six or seven dishes ) consisted of soup, fish, soup, meat, soup, plum-pudding, meat, and then about ten more dishes in much the same order. I am enclosing the menu and my name-card. When I tell you that I wore three sets of Jaeger underclothes, the "iceman's jacket," a flannel shirt, two waistcoats and my frock coat, and was still cold, you can fancy what it was like. The only comfort I got (outside of the children) was seeing the others shiver. But these dinners are over till the Emperor's birthday in June. I wish I could write a decent description of it all, but not only I can't, but my ideas as well as my body are frozen. It has n't been 5° above for a week past. Love, Neil [FROM A LETTER TO J. G. F.] Mukden, Nov. 28 Many happy returns of the day. Sir, only I take care not to wish you any returns of the deed. I meant to telegraph, but got rather confused by the Chinese calendar till too late, c 157 :\ LETTERS so this will follow you for a month or two, to show you that I was thinking of you. God bless me — it's awful the way you all go and double up to zero, leaving me more thor- oughly alone than miles only could do. Well, it's all for the best, and when I get bored doing this I may try my hand at it. Last Something or other was the Empress Dowager's birthday, and with relu6lance we rode out to a dinner at 5 p. m. Near me was a splendid old Manchu who had never been to a "foreign" dinner before. I fancy, poor old chap, he wished he hadn't come before we were through. The three soups were all he could eat, though he tried manfully each time to handle his knife and fork, only to lay them down on the plate and utter heartrend- ing sighs. When the fish came on somewhere in the middle of the dinner, he had a brief hope, but unfortunately saw me take sauce from the cruet, and thinking that that was quite the thing, and that all the bottles were alike, grabbed the mustard and helped him- self to a mountain. I was laughing so I had to look down at my lap, but one mouthful nearly caused a riot, however, he soon forgot his woes, and even consented to smile and drink with me. On Arnell's other side was a Japanese who could speak English. Suddenly I heard Arnell chuckle violently, and he told C 158 3 LETTERS me when we got home, that the Jap had said: " Excuse me for cockroaching on your time." Arnell politely said : " Oh, you mean encroach- ing — but you have n't been doing it." Where- upon the other said: "Oh yes, that must have been a mistake. I forgot the word was femi- nine." A6lual fa6l. So you see that except for the intense cold the dinners are rather amusing — and the work is getting more and more interesting. [TO HIS BROTHER] Mukden, November ^2>i<^ Dear B— : We are still in our hotel, with no prospe6l of getting a house at present, though we have made the Legation write to the Department recommending the purchase of one we found in the city. Yet we manage to be pretty com- fortable here, with a couple of new rooms which we have just taken, and our two Boys (mine is far better than Ali ever was) are demons for work. They are new, for one day we had a revolution and chucked our other rascals. The Chinese are getting mighty uppish just now, and are trying to make us think they own China. Fortunately the only things we run against them in are when we have trea- LETTERS ties to back us up, but they are slower than ever, and rather inclined not to meet us at any cost when we try to see them on busi- ness. When we meet socially we are great friends, though. Still, that is to be expedled, and we cannot kick. As to Mandarin robes, so far I have n't seen them here, and I believe there are none to be picked up. They cost, I am told, in Peking, $60, $70 Mex. apiece, but if there are any here they will probably be about 1 o per cent more, as that is the general rule, for here the Russians have been in the habit of spending freely, and everything has a false value. How- ever, I am on the lookout, and if I get hold of any I will get them for you. . . . I don't know what other consulates do, but we are busy, busy every minute, only time enough for a five or six mile walk each day. Then in odd minutes I plug away at Chinese, which, without exaggeration, is H — 1. Lately I have been looking for houses with the teacher, and we carry on an animated kinder- garten conversation all the while. He is a splendid, dignified old cock, who is highly amused by me and my lessons. For the rest, I am devoted to the Northern Chinese, the children are wonderful, and the men and wo- men just as genial and friendly as can be. Will you do me a favour, and send out some C 160 -] LETTERS of your English and Italian songs? Straight sings ; besides, I like your things. . . . Love to E — . Neil [ TO HIS MOTHER ] Mukden, Dec. i Dearest M--: I AM enclosing a map of Mukden, showing as nearly as I can, where we all live. The R. R. is about two miles off to the west on the same road that we are on, and though the map does n't show it, the road is for the most part lined with houses. The population varies in estimate from 150,000 (the British- American Tobacco Company's man) to 300,000 (the missionaries), so the handful of whites is thoroughly lost. The place where Mr. Oliver lives is the Foreign Office Yamen, where all our interviews take place. Houseless still, and desperate ; for there has been a misunderstanding with our innkeeper. He has found that hotel business is unpro- fitable in the winter, and so, after an agree- ment by which we pay $100 per month for our rooms and $65 apiece for food, — all Mex- ican dollars, — he handed in a bill for I5 a day ! At present we are arbitrating through Mr. Fulton, and I rather guess it will come out C 161 ] LETTERS our way, as Mr. Fulton knew of our agree- ment; but it may break our friendly relations. Added to this we have bitten off our noses by asking Peking to recommend the purchase of a place, which they have done. Now we shall not hear for three or four months, and if the Department orders us to buy they won't allow rent for any other place, and the Chi- nese never rent a house for under a year. We are going ahead on the hope they will ignore our recommendation if we find a house, and hoping they will let us know by cable if we don't. Also, as Peking has ordered us to live in the city, and the Viceroy has just said for- eigners can't, we expe6l to have much fuss and trouble. Our house will be taken by our " writer," if we find one, so that the first thing they know is that we are inside with Old Glory above us. Meanwhile I am perfe6lly comfortable here — we have taken two more rooms and Arnell has left his Japanese hotel to live here with us — but feel rather insecure. The worst of it is we are more or less un- packed, so if we merely have to move to an- other hotel it will be a bore. On Thanksgiving we had our subjedl to dinner, and, as I was not able to go to Khai- yiian and shoot wild turkey, a pheasant in- stead. Rather a tedious affair it was, but it's C 162 ] LETTERS over for a while — our next celebration will be Christmas. Last night Straight and I dined at the Ross's — a dinner of 9 ! ! ! Dr. Ross is nicer and nicer every time I see him, only he does n't ever know us apart. The Christies were there, Miss Davidson and Dr. ( Miss ) Starmar, both from the Woman's Hospital, where there are four, not three, as I said on the map (they are back of the Christies'), Dr., Mrs. and Miss Ross and ourselves. All of them were here during Boxer times, and were quite thrilling about it. Dr. Starmar took the last train out! These ladies travel all over Manchuria alone, preach- ing and nursing. . . . I continue to suffer from eupepsy, but Ar- nell now has bad eyes and I spend the greater part of each day in applying lotions and drops to them. Straight, under my nursing, has dis- covered that if one goes to bed at twelve in- stead of one-thirty, one feels much better. Work continues as he6lic as ever, and my Chinese suffers accordingly, but I think next week I shall have more time for it; that is, the teacher has been persuaded to give me more time in the evening. Mr. Mezger and Mr. Fulford are both up here now, so we are rather gay. Next week we are going to a tea! Mrs. Fulton has asked L 163 ] LETTERS us to meet the lady dodlors, and Mrs. Huji- wara. In fa6l, if it were not for our trouble with Chao, we should be happy. My books are unpacked. Many thanks to you for " Captain Simeon" and Emerson — he is better out here than ever — and to S — for the surprise of Bernie. I gave "Reje6led of Men" to Straight to read, with the result of throwing him into a fit of hatred against the slow-witted public, and a desire that everyone he knows should read it at once. There was an autograph letter of Pyle's in front, which he begged to read — of course I told him to — and now he is unhappy because it says no- thing about the book. He wants to lend it to the missionaries ! My new boy is my "Ali" and never have I been better taken care of. The only trouble is my Mongolian boots, which he thinks make me lose "face" to wear, and as they are very comfortable I wear them always in the house. It does make me feel rather like a slave- driver, though, to have him call me "master." My room is a work of art — on the lines of what a Chinese thinks a European room should be, and he is so modest that he has curtained off my bed, so that it cannot be seen during the day; but as one dresses with a continual stream of coolies pouring through, washing the floors, etc., I am not really mo- c 164 ;] LETTERS dest. Beside that we are on the ground floor, in fa 61, on the ground, with a wood floor be- tween, and have no curtains — but one soon gets used to that. First I must fix Arnell, then put Straight to bed and then myself, so good-night. Best love, Neil [FROM A LETTER TO MISS J. M.J Dec. 2 I KNOW your feeling about Bernard Shaw — and share it myself to a great extent, but do read" Captain Brassbound's Conversion." The lady in it is so exa6lly like it made me scream with laughter all the time. His plays, when they are " Pleasant," are extraordinarily clever, at least they seem so here, where books are scarce. Emerson is all very fine at home, but to truly appreciate him one has to be thousands of miles away from everybody. I revel in him for hours after the good little Mukdenites are all in bed and asleep. We don't have any too much time to read, luckily, for our books are few, and I can tell you, you turn to serious things when that's the case, with only a few things like Shaw in odd mi- nutes. C 165 ^ LETTERS The British and German Consuls are both up here, and their Consulates open, so we have a very welcome addition to our society. Last week we were very gay — went to a dinner where there were nine whites! They were all missionaries and we could n't smoke, but as they had all been here through, or rather up to the Boxer times it was very interesting indeed. There are four missionary-lady-doc- tors here, who travel over Manchuria alone, stopping in Chinese inns and travelling in carts. I can understand how a man could do it, but how women can is more than I can see. Religion as they have it is far stronger a thing than I ever conceived of. My Chinese has come to a standstill. Now I feel as one does when one looks at the stars. It seems such a task one cannot grasp it. Dr. Ross the other day asked me how I was getting on, and said that it wouldn't mean anything for a year at least ! Unfortunately I have too quick an ear, and can repeat sen- tences, but the chara6lers mean nothing — nor does the sentence have much meaning. Have I written you since we first saw the children being sold.? It is quite common now on account of bad times, and the early cold, but I never can see it without a nasty feeling around my waistcoat. They are well treated. LETTERS I believe, but the family relation is so strong among the Chinese that it must be an awful thing for both. Poor China! [FROM A LETTER TO LIEUTENANT F.M.,U.S. N.] Mukden, December \th Dear Mr. M.: It suddenly seemed to me that we were quite near neighbours now, so I thought I would say howdy. It's true that when I was in Pe- king I learned you were in Tokio, but things have been moving pretty quickly, and what time I have had for letters I have written home in. By the way, they were quite sore at Peking that you had never visited them, though why a Naval Attache should wander as far from the sea as that I do not know ! However, if you do you had better brave the perils of the railway, and come by way of Mukden. . . . I am out here in the Consulate, and have found just the life I want to lead. There is always plenty to do, in faft, we could work night as well as day and still have work left. But the climate! It is perfeft; a trifle cold, but clear and invigorating. After a five or six mile hard walk one feels in splendid fighting trim. We are living in a Chinese inn — with C 167 ^ LETTERS no very bright outlook for a house ; still if you come you will find a bed and a welcome. I left home at the end of August, straight from Newport, which is just as nice as ever. I had been laid up for some weeks before I started, so I had the full benefit of the boats. The family, I believe, are going to winter in San Francisco this year, but it was n't defi- nitely settled when I left, nor have I heard yet. Sincerely, Nelson Fairchild [FROM A LETTER TO HIS BROTHER] Consular Service, U. S. A. Mukden, December 5, 1906 Dear J — : We are still houseless and at the same hotel living in filth, but as happy as can be, with only a spare minute once in a while. The num- ber of reports that we are sending ofF will keep the State Department busy, that is, if they ever read them, and keeps us working pretty much of the time all day. My Chinese lessons have suffered in consequence, but I hope to pick up a fair amount in the course of the win- ter, though the chara6lers are the devil. Our home mail is about as erratic as it well could be, we have n't had letters for two weeks. . . . Mr. Fulford, the British Consul-General, C 168 ] LETTERS and Mr. Mezger, the German, have arrived, so vv^e are nearly complete here now, yet the total number of Europeans here is only 33, most of them missionaries. These, however, are a mighty nice lot, and work like the Devil for the Chinese — with no very great results; a possible 2,000 out of 300,000 inhabitants are Christian, though the missionaries have all been here since before the Boxer days. It is awfully queer to see how everyone dates events from the Boxers, though several have been here for twenty odd years. Outside of the consular and missionary bodies there are three merchants, an American, an English and a German, which after all is a perfe6lly fair division. The American gives us a fair amount of trouble owing to his imperfe6l knowledge of Chinese, which lets him in to all sorts of crooked deals with the Chinese merchants who want a foreigner in the firm in order to escape taxes. I don't think he has sense enough to go wrong by himself, and he so far has saved himself every time by trying to get the Viceroy's consent through us each time his allies try a new game. He is perfe6lly honest, but certainly is n't making money, yet his is the best chance in the world, — the first American trader in Manchuria. If only some one would form a company on the lines of the British-American Tobacco Co. they would [ 169 3 LETTERS pull in money faster than they could count it. That Company's sales jumped from loo cases of 50,000 cigarettes each, last September, to somewhere nearly 35,000,000 cigarettes for one of the past months. Naturally I see a good deal of the agent here, the English merchant, and though I know the last month's sales I told him that I would not send them home, as he ought not have told me. This was done, too, when the country was still under Japa- nese military control, and when their own mo- nopoly was given transportation by rail — the B.-A. T. Co. did a great deal by cart — and when the other merchants were not allowed to have a look in at any of the best locations, all of which had been grabbed for " Military necessity." . . . After that tirade I '11 stop. Do sometimes when you have time write and tell me how things are going both in Boston and New York. M — wrote that Mrs. H. was ill. I hope she is better. Love to everyone, especially any member of the family and C — and the three children, though I don't suppose the baby ever heard of me nor could understand if he had. As ever, Neil C 170 n LETTERS [TO HIS SISTER-IN-LAW] Mukden, December 8 Dear C— : A DAY or two ago I got a letter from M — telling me of your mother's sad death. Though I knew that she had been unwell it never occurred to me how serious it was, and when her news came it was a terrible shock. Those early winters, when you and Jack were just married and made such a pleasant home for G — and me — I grew to know Mrs. H. quite well and, like anyone who came in contact with her, at once fell under her great charm. What your loss is, I can understand more readily for this. Her wonderful courage and calm have made me think a great deal, and were a constant source of happiness to me when I suffered any petty disgruntlement. There never was a more delightful compan- ion either for work or play, and I look back on those days when we tried, or rather she succeeded and I followed way behind, to make flower-pots. The way she could turn her hand to everything was marvellous; the more so when one knew how many worries there must have been. Dear C — , I wish I were n't so far away and that there was some little thing I could do to help you. My heart is at home a great deal C 171 J LETTERS these short days and long evenings, and some- times at night I can almost hear you playing — then I suddenly wake up and realize how far away and helpless I am. Nevertheless my heart has been with you a great deal of late. Love, Neil [ TO HIS MOTHER J Mukden, December 9 Dearest M--: Your letter of the ist November telling of Mrs. H.'s death, one of a day or two earlier, and one from Gam came this week, the first mail for two weeks. Mrs. H.'s death was a shock, for somehow I didn't realize how ill she was. Poor C — ! I wrote her after one of your letters in which you told me that her mother was ill, trying to be cheerful, and I am quite sure it was posted after her death. That's the trouble of being so far away. No house yet, though we are trying to put through a deal for one now, which may give us a palace in ten days or so. The row with Chao ( our landlord ) ended in a compromise, but there is considerable hard feeling, espe- cially since we have discovered that he raised the price of one house we looked at 4000 taels ! That we rub into the missionaries, for he is t 172 ^ LETTERS (or was, till he took a second wife) a pillar of the church. . . . Two more families of missionaries we have called on this past week: the Gillespies and Robertsons, and they are delightful. The Rob- ertsons' is the smallest place yet; a three- "chien" house — that is, three rooms about 1 2 X 16, but so nicely fixed up and " lived in." Dr. Ross and Dr. Christie built large Euro- pean houses after the Boxer times — while Mr. Fulton, Mr. Turley, the Robertsons and Gillespies all fixed over Chinese houses. Dr. Ross is a splendid old patriarchal sort of man with a long white beard. Mr. Turley belongs to the Bible Society and is rarely at home, so we never see him. Mr. Fulton is a truly deeply thinking man and very religious. The fa6l is, they are all nice. Lately we have been seeing a good deal of the various merchants, who now flock to us every day arid look at catalogues or ask ad- vice. We know so many that every time I walk along the Ssu Ping Gai I meet a lot! The fa6l is, we are marvelled at, for we work all day; Mr. Mullin, the Postmaster, keeps asking me what we find to do when we send off $2 or |3 worth of mail every day. The poor State Department will be flooded by us ! It's settled into cold weather now, at least the others find it so, but it is not very differ- ed 173 n LETTERS ent from Boston, and when there isn't too much wind it's delightful for walking. If this press of work ever lets up, I shall take a trip north for shooting, and get a little material for more reports. These are my newest pi6lures. I don't keep any, but have all the films in case you want any more. y •^ Love, ,T Neil Our quarters at the Mao-Un Kwan ICang Straight's room and general wash-place -1-rt- K^ang Reception- room^ office and dining- room — i-rl — Room for two boys and one coolie fCang Office typewriter, presses, etc. H h ICang My bedroom and Chinese writer's office The rooms are 1 2 x 1 2, not counting the raised K'ang, on which we have beds in our two rooms, a bookcase ( with our stores behind it ) on the reception-room one, and official sup- plies on the other. We face south, so we get the afternoon sun. The * shows the window to be seen in the photograph. In the reception and sitting room we have a large roll-top desk, four chairs, a table, two easy-chairs, two book- cases, two Korean chests ! ! Puzzle, find the [ 174 J LETTERS floor. These additions came after I drew the chart, which was meant to go earlier, but for- gotten. [FROM A LETTER TO J.G.F.] Mukden, December 9, 1906 ... I AM laid up with as cunning a little cold in the head as anyone ever had the luck to get, all because, to swell the dignity of our country,! appeared at some fun6lion. It simply doesn't matter how much you put on, you get back home shivering, call for hot drinks ( and get tea ) and bundle into bed. . . . We manage to keep ourselves pretty busy every day, and rarely get out of the house be- fore 3.30, and as it gets dark about 4.30 there is very little time to do anything. Then also there is a good deal to do in the evening, Chinese, clipping the papers, reading law, — a thing I have begun to do, — so that we don't seem to have any time for ordinary reading or letters, though Straight has solved that by sitting up till 1 2 or so ; but that is altogether too strenuous for me. Ideas have ceased, dinner is ready ( we dress every night ) and I feel too stuffed up to think. So, so long. Deild Fairjild [ 175 ^ LETTERS [ TO HIS BROTHER ] Mukden, December 12 Dear B— : Your letter of 06lober 28 got here to-day, and welcome it was. I don't know what came over me to write to Paris from the train, but I rather guess my wheel was running round too hard. However, you will probably find it, unless the Russky postmaster found the stamp alluring, or the contents questionable — but, as Grant wrote, I need n't be pitied for study- ing Chinese, for they would find my writing harder than ever I could find theirs, so the Russian censor would have had a hard time. To first answer your various questions : the best way to send books, letters, thimbles or any other articles of furniture is by Marseilles and Shanghai, for the Chinese port is safe, and the Russian too. . . . Out of two months' "Lifes" which ought to be here I have two copies, and not one of Straight's "Collier's" has yet turned up. However, it is just as well, for we have no time for them — not that we shan't have plenty for any books that might find their way, especially Monsignor Vay's. The domestic situation is unchanged. We are looking at two houses, but expeft them to vanish into thin air, which is a most re- c 176 : LETTERS markable custom of the Mukden houses, and we continue to live in the luxury of the Mao- lin Kwan. In spite of the luxury it is rather inconvenient; for example, last night I was peacefully dreaming about shooting and was very annoyed to be continually pursued by a Japanese voice. Finally it got too persistent and I waked, only to find a little man with a dark-lantern bending over me and shouting the Japanese equivalent of "wake up." When I was thoroughly awake I asked him in my most exquisite Billingsgate what he was do- ing, upon which he handed me a telegram, all this at 2 a.m. in my own room! I was so mad that I nearly shot him, but finally got Arnell ( he has come to live with us ) and sent the brute away, I saying what I thought, Ar- nell putting it into polite, flowery Japanese. By that time we were both awake, and the messenger having gone ( he was n't satisfied with my signature and wanted me to put the impression of my thumb on the receipt) we decided to wake Straight, and ask him to read the important thing, which was in code. Ac- cordingly we did it, and poor Straight unlocked the code and found that it was written in the Blue one instead of the Red one which we have, so we don't know yet what it means. Arnell and Straight both thought it was bad [ 177 ;] LETTERS news, whereas I was too angry to, and merely wanted to kill the messenger. We are having a fine time politically here, for the Chinese are trying all sorts of games (it being a brand-new field, with no prece- dents), each of which we politely but firmly throw down. It seems too bad, for Chao (the Viceroy's name is the same as our old rascal landlord's ) , I think, means well, and wants to reform China, but he has no conception of what a treaty means, and runs against them all, every time. Then besides that, it is a per- feftly new country, and we are busy as the devil, getting off reports, etc. To-morrow we are going to give a swell dinner for Mr. Fulford, Mr. Mezger and Mr. Oliver. Our Boys are frightfully excited (it is the whole Consular body, except the Japa- nese ) , especially because we have given them uniforms, all silk, for $30 ( Mex. ) for the two. It is funny to think of Straight being senior to all the others, when you realize that he is at least ten years younger than Mr. Mezger and twenty or twenty-five younger than Mr. Ful- ford. What do you think of my letter-head and bookplate ? It is my discarded name ; discard- ed, because the Legation gave me a three- chara6ler one, not half as swell, for two mean Manchus. Personally, I think it is rather fancy. C 178 n LETTERS Now to bed — but first lock my door, with a chain, and woe to any telegram that comes ! Love to E — . Neil [TO HIS MOTHER] Mukden, December 15 Dearest M--: Just a few minutes ago we had the mail, and in it a letter from S — from the Southern Pa- cific, dated November 18, — and I still have to send things to Newport, having no other ad- dress ! I am awfully glad that you are really there now, it ought to be delightful, and we are nearer each other. This has been a he6lic, broken-up week, the Royal Commissioners are back, and every- thing on end; just now we are waiting for a call from them by proxy, after which we have to represent our nation at the opening of a petty Japanese Bazaar Exhibition, which means hours, and poor food. In the first place, Arnell went to Dalny on Tuesday; next, — Wednesday, — the Royal Commission arrived, and we had to go down and meet them. That night we gave a dinner to Mr. Mezger and Mr. Fulford, an historic event; the first meeting of the Consular body, which was a great success, and did n't break up till near C 179 ] LETTERS midnight, which considering our youth and their age was a great compliment. Next day we had to call on the Princeling and talk a min- ute about his trip, then off to look at a house which the Japanese had given up Then a long walk with Mr. Oliver down to the river Hun, tea with him, home to work and now here we are again, waiting, and rowing with the landlord about glasses for the Proxy to drink out of. Chao gets more insufferable every day, and no house in sight, though we are playing our last card for one. Apart from all this, life flows on the same as ever, regular work, lots of interest, two hours' walk every day and sleep. Our domes- tic staff is excellent, but we nearly had a row because of the Christian washerman whom one of the missionaries gave us. According to custom he has either to pay a "squeeze" to the Boys or wash their clothes free. My old rascal tried to squeeze, and I ordered him to stop, or pack up and go. That unfortu- nately made the washerman think he could do as he liked, and now my new treasure is kicking because his things are not washed. I fancy I shall have to go without any clean things, for I simply won't part with my Boy, he is too good. Straight is awfully jealous! It is awfully funny to watch my Boy pro- te6l me in the morning, for, as I have said, C i8o -] LETTERS we have no privacy. The coolies want to wash up my room when I get up, and Clarence comes in and looks round at the ceiling ; then as soon as my Boy's back is turned he starts work. My Boy gets very angry and shoos him out, till I go out for my bath. It happens every morning, — part of a game, I think. Have I ever described a Japanese bath? It is a wooden box, about four feet each way, filled with water which is heated to about 110° by a fire underneath it. In you go ( very slowly ) and soak for about two minutes, then hop out and sponge off^ with icy (literally, nowadays ) water. There is nothing like it to make one feel splendidly. The only trouble is they only change the water once a day, but no one is allowed to use it before we do, so that objeftion is more or less overcome. . . . I had a letter from B — last week, written on the steamer, but outside of that and S — 's, I haven't heard since your letter of the 1st November. He told me to tell you to send over the Vay book after you had all finished it — I mean, out here. They tell me it ought to be good, especially as he really knows what he was writing about. I have n't been reading anything lately, that is, new things, there is no time; but I have just discovered the "No61:es." Really they are perfedlly de- lightful — everyone ought to read them. C 181 ] LETTERS Since the above, hours and hours have elapsed. The Proxy came, one Chu, a Yale graduate, who stayed half an hour or so, talked nicely in excellent English, refused champagne and asked for a cocktail ( ! ) which we managed to conco6l out of all sorts of in- gredients that don't belong in 'em. Then we bolted our lunch to rush off to the Exposition, but just before we started, a merchant, Tien Ho Tung, came in to ask advice about paying taxes. Half an hour later we got off, it then being 2.15, and the invitation reading for 1. However, the East is slow, and it hadn't begun, though everyone (Fulford, Mezger, Siebert, Christie, Oliver, Mr. and Mrs. Ross, Mr. and Mrs. Fulton, that is ) was there. Most of them had thought it meant lunch, but we had speeches till 3-i5, then a walk round the Ba- zaar, and finally a cold lunch in a colder tent at about 4. Then Mr. Hujiwara had us all in for tea, and at last we got back here, worn out. These Japanese entertainments are not as good as the Chinese — both are awful — for they are semi-European and dreadfully arti- ficial. . . . However, they are fairly interesting once — and thank Heaven, there won't be another for some months. Love, Neil [ 182 :\ LETTERS [FROM A LETTER TO H. G. M.] Mukden, December l6, 1906 . . . Another little errand you might do, if your kindness remains as it used to be, go to 1 8 Waverley Place and get me a couple ( half a dozen would not be amiss ) of those Fibrin- loid collars, 15K5 provided they look at all possible. This nation of washermen is certainly h — 1 on linen of all kinds. . . . The Japanese opened a Bazaar yesterday We were asked for 1 p. m., but Straight and I had some one with us, and lunched, and ar- rived at 2.30. . . . Two hours of speeches fol- lowed. Then we looked at the show. Then went into another tent for a cold lunch. . . . The last affair I '11 go to for a long time, for I waked up last night with neuralgia in my teeth and head. . . . Whoop up the market, marry lots of money , and come out here on your wedding-trip. Meantime write me some gossip. c 183 n '■'■IVhen we are dead, seek for our resting-place Not in the earth, but in the hearts of men." (jalAlu'd-din rumi) NELSON FAIRCHILD [FROM W. PHILLIPS SECRETARY OF LEGATION AT PEKING] American Legation, Peking December 27, '06 . . . Mr. Straight telegraphed to me to come at once to Mukden, and I started at once, but as it is a three-days journey, I could not ar- rive until the fourth day after the accident. On the day after my arrival the funeral ser- vices were held, condu6led by Dr. Ross, in the temporary quarters of the Consulate, at 10 a.m. There v^^ere only a few^ foreigners present, because, as you know, Mukden is a deserted spot, but there were several English missionaries, the British and Japanese Con- suls, and a few Chinese officials. The Viceroy sent a guard of honor of one hundred men, and we followed the coffin to the little Rus- sian cemetery about two miles distant, where a temporary grave had been prepared. Straight and I walked diredlly behind, the others followed. Once we passed an old temple, and the sombre and discordant bell rang out sadly. Another prayer was said at the grave, and then the coffin, wrapped in the flag and covered with Chinese artificial flowers, was lowered, while the bugles were sounded. We decided that Neil should be removed to the C 185 ^ NELSON FAIRCHILD foreign graveyard at Newchwang, which is a much more permanent and attra6live place. I could not help feeling that the little Russian compound would disappear within a few years, and I strongly recommended the plan of only a temporary burial at Mukden. I can assure you that Neil had been happy and absorbed in his work up to the last. When he was in Peking, a short time ago, we were all very much impressed with his earnest- ness and very real interest in the life which he was to follow, and I was especially struck at the time by what seemed to me a new en- thusiasm. I cannot tell you how deeply I grieve over his death. . . . William Phillips [FROM W. D. STRAIGHT CONSUL-GENERAL AT MUKDEN] [^Not dated'\ If I might see you I could tell you what I feel, how much I feel, but it is hard to write. It all seems so impossible that I cannot realize what has been taken from us — what has come upon us. He was the sunshine of the office and in our lives, and was always so gay and cheerful and NELSON FAIRCHILD unselfish, so kind to everyone and thoughtful of others, that, as I have already written you, he was an example to us and an inspiration. He was so interested in everything, and so keen about his work — and so willing to learn and to do the drudgery that must always be done. Here everyone liked him very much, and to-day nearly all of the little community have come to offer their sympathy to you. The Viceroy has been here, and will furnish a guard of honor. He told me that he could hardly sleep last night when he heard the news, and said that he had liked Neil very much from the first, for his manner would go straight to the hearts of the Chinese. The flags have been at half-mast to-day, and offers of help come in from all sides. For me he was everything, for we used to talk and talk about all manner of matters; and his ideals were so high and his thoughts so clean, that it meant everything to me here, where it is so lonely and far away. He could see all the bright spots and none of the som- bre ones, and it all seemed fresh and wonder- ful again in seeing it with him and through his eyes. He seemed always so happy that I was sur- prised sometimes, for I was afraid that with time it might pall, and that he might regret the life he had left behind, where he had al- C 187 J NELSON FAIRCHILD ways been a centre, living and enjoying things with so many. WiLLARD Straight [Not dated'] To-day came a letter from Tientsin, from a man through whom he had ordered a Christ- mas present for me ; the rumor had only just reached him, and he was broken-hearted. From Newchwang come the letters from those who had known him and liked him dur- ing the few hours that he was there, and they all ask me to express to you their deep sym- pathy. Dr. Christie, who came that night, and Mr. Fulton, who was also here, and myself did everything at the last, and he wore a blue suit, a color of which he was so fond. We had services here, and again at the grave, and the Viceroy sent bearers, twenty- four, and a guard of honor. The officials have all been very kind, and they too have asked me to express their sympathy. In a day or two, when arrangements have been made, I shall move him to Newchwang, where there is a pretty ground, with trees and flowers, and in the shadow of an old church with a quaint English tower, that has been a C 188 ] NELSON FAIRCHILD landmark for years, since the port was first opened. I held him at the last, and hoped and prayed that there might be some relief, that he might be spared, but there was no hope. Although the do6lors came as soon as possible, there was nothing to be done. He suffered no pain, the bullet had gone into the brain. WiLLARD Straight [Not dated] You will wish to know of what we did here at the last. There were many wreaths and some beautiful mistletoe, and all of these we put on the casket. The Boys were heart- broken, and the last day brought chrysanthe- mums ; where they found them I don't know, for flowers were terribly difficult in this cold weather. Then they wished to walk with us to the cemetery which was two miles away, and to which we followed the bier on foot. It was very cold and the ground was covered with snow, but the day was clear and fine save the biting wind. There was a prayer and a short service, and that was all. It was very simple. He was so kind to everyone. He looked after the sick and sent them books and papers ; : 189 J NELSON FAIRCHILD French journals to the poor lonely priests and the papers that came in to those who other- wise would never have seen them. He looked after poor Arnell whose eyes went wrong. WiLLARD Straight Newchwang, February i6, 1907 We had only a very simple service, and the casket was wrapped in the flag. Newchwang is only a little place, and the foreign commu- nity is very small, but the people are open- hearted and very kindly, and had received him as one of themselves, even though he had been here for such a short time. Yesterday almost every man in the community came to the cemetery and stood bareheaded. It was a beautiful day, clear and cold and bright, a typical Manchurian day ; and all will be very quiet and peaceful. Near by is the grave of a brave missionary who was killed by the Chinese, while in ser- vice too, and there are many others who have all done their best in this far country. He too has done his best, and made us better able to meet the world with a brave heart. WiLLARD Straight C 190 ] NELSON FAIRCHILD Massachusetts is ever present to those whom she has reared. Her high standards and ideals accompany them into whatsoever land they go, and wherever they may be they are always her sons. Some have left names that will endure in history ; some, no less noble, that history will guard only in the lives and deeds of other men. Some rest within our Commonwealth, some in distant lands, but whether at home or abroad, far-famed or cherished in the hearts of few, they have lived and died a tribute and an eter- nal legacy to the soil that bore them. [ 191 ;] " Tet, stricken heart, remember, remember How of human days he lived the better fart. April came to bloom and never dim December Breathed its killing chills upon the head or heart. *'■ Doomed to know not Winter, only Spring, a being Urod the flowery April blithely for awhile, Took his fill of music, joy of thought and seeing. Came and stayed and went, nor ever ceased to smile. '■'■Came and stayed and went, and now when all is finished, Tou alone have crossed the melancholy stream. Tours the pang, but his, his, the undiminished Undecaying gladness, undeparted dream. '''All that life contains of torture, toil, and treason. Shame, dishonour, death, to him were but a name. Here, a boy, he dwelt through all the singing season And ere the day of sorrow departed as he earned R. L. STEVENSON Davos, 1 88 1