108
When he landed in the United States, he had only three dollars on his person to begin seeking his own livelihood.
In those days, employment for Chinese immigrants was limited to working in restaurants, laundries, or importing businesses. Moreover, they had to work long and hard. When they had accumulated enough from their meagre earnings, they would return to their respective villages, get married (unless they were married already), raise a family, and enjoy their retirement. So it was that Uncle went to work for Sing Fat Chinese Emporium, an importing business. In a short time, he realized the importance of a good education, so used every opportunity to study English, even while at work. One day, while he was on the roof of the Emporium to dry some leather goods, he impressed an American neighbour, who, espying him poring over an English book, offered to tutor him.
Uncle was very resourceful. For instance, he would collect discarded Chinese newspapers and sell them at bazaars to Americans who would buy them out of curiosity or out of desire to help a struggling student. He would sell paper 'matches', rolled to the size and length of a drinking straw and used to light Chinese water pipes. At one of the World Fairs, he made money by telling fortunes. There is no information on the schools he attended, but we know that in the autumn of 1894, he was accepted by the Omaha Medical College at Omaha, Nebraska, and graduated on 22 April 1897, with a degree in General Medicine.
The earliest letter we have from Uncle to Father was dated 26 October 1894 from Omaha. In the letter, he noted that he had not seen Father since leaving home some ten years before and bemoaned the fact that poverty deprived him of the joy of seeing his family every day. He regretted that his ship did not pass Honolulu. (According to Toby, Uncle returned to China to get married in compliance with Grandfather's request, and no doubt was referring to this trip on his way back from the United States.) Uncle mentioned that he had seen Goon Sun MA, a second cousin, in Stockton the previous summer. It took him three weeks to get from San Francisco to Omaha to enter medical school. There, he had his dinner in a restaurant but cooked his own breakfast and supper each day. A year later, on 20 December 1895, he wrote that he was homesick seeing all the other students going home for Christmas.
108
When he landed in the United States, he had only three dollars on his person to begin seeking his own livelihood.
In those days, employment for Chinese immigrants was limited to working in restaurants, laundries or importing businesses. Moreover, they had to work long and hard. When they had accumulated enough from their meagre earnings, they would return to their respective villages, get married (unless they were married already), raise a family, and enjoy their retirement. So it was that Uncle went to work for Sing Fat Chinese Emporium, an importing business. In a short time, he realized the importance of a good education so used every opportunity to study English, even while at work. One day, while he was on the roof of the Emporium to dry some leather goods, he impressed an American neighbour, who, espying him poring over an English book, offered to tutor him.
Uncle was very resourceful. For instance, he would collect discarded Chinese newspapers and sell them at bazaars to Americans who would buy them out of curosity or out of desire to help a struggling student. He would sell paper ‘matches', rolled to the size and length of a drinking straw and used to light Chinese water pipes. At one of the World Fairs, he made money by telling fortunes. There is no information on the schools he attended, but we know that in the autumn of 1894 he was accepted by the Omaha Medical College at Omaha, Nebraska, and graduated on 22 April 1897, with a degree in General Medicine.
The earliest letter we have from Uncle to Father was dated 26 October 1894 from Omaha. In the letter he noted that he had not seen Father since leaving home some ten years before, and bemoaned the fact that poverty deprived him of the joy of seeing his family every day, He regretted that his ship did not pass Honolulu. (According to Toby, Uncle returned to China to get married in compliance with Grandfather's request, and no doubt was referring to this trip on his way back from the United States.) Uncle mentioned that he had seen Goon Sun MA, a second cousin, in Stockton the previous summer. It took him three weeks to get from San Francisco to Omaha to enter medical school. There he had his dinner in a restaurant, but cooked his own breakfast and supper each day. A year later, on 20 December 1895, he wrote that he was homesick seeing all the other students going home for Christmas. The
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