Page 26 - To Dragma November 1924

TO DRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI 2j

European section of Shanghai is very lovely with fine hotels,
clubs, excellent shopping districts, and fine homes. W e were
also taken through the slums of Shanghai and may I never see
such a loathsome, horrible place again. The streets are even too
narrow f o r rickshas, only wide enough f o r two people to pass.
Little dark hovels appeared on either side of the narrow passage
ways. Because of many banners and bridges leading across from
the second stories, almost no daylight filtered through. Horrible
beggars i n rags and covered with sores clutched at us f r o m every
side. Because there is no sanitation in the native sections of
Chinese cities, as we have it, the odors are rather a w f u l and they
reached their limit i n the slums of Shanghai.

Hong Kong was our next port and it is one of the most
fascinating places I have ever been in—and such gorgeous things
to buy. Each little street was given over to certain things, for
instance, one street would be all jade shops, another hammered
silver, then brass, ivory, beads and beautiful linens, an egg mar-
ket and next a wooden shoe street. One felt the poverty of
China, the women take the places of beasts of burden and there
is an unhappiness that we didn't feel i n Japan. W e would see
the little women pulling great road rollers and the sign "Govern-
ment Licensed to be Pulled by 20 Women." They carried the
coal, brick, water, in fact did all the hard animal and manual
labor.

From Hong Kong we took a river boat up to Canton. The
sides of our boat were covered with barbed wire to keep bandits
from climbing over. Great brown armed Sihks paced the decks.
W e found Canton in a restless state because the armies of the
North and South were at each others throats.

W e spent a few days at Manila and from there sailed across
the equator to Java. Java, like all tropical countries, is truly
beautiful with its mass of foliage, great flowering trees, palms
and canals. A t Batavia we visited a batik factory and watched
Javanese women at work. A good part of our time at Brentzen
Zork was spent in the botanical gardens.

From Java we skirted up the coast of Sumatra to Singapore.
Singapore had always meant pirates to me but i t was f a r from a
pirate town.

The Shew Dagon Pagoda at Rangoon was one of the most
interesting sights of the trip. We had to remove both our shoes