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Home would be beneficial. It was a harrowing experience when the sedan chair carrying Father did not reach the junk on time, and Mother had me run back to the wharf to wait for him, just in time to help him up the junk as it was edging out. If I had fallen off the narrow plank which served as the passageway between land and boat, no one would have wanted to take my place to appease the water spirits.
We left Hong Kong on the S.S. Nile, this time first class, in December 1919. The passengers were required to line up on deck on that very cold New Year's Day at Kobe (?) to pass inspection by Japanese officers. As a result, Father became seriously ill and died the next day, 2 January 1920, reportedly of double pneumonia. Mother was extremely grief-stricken and I was too stunned to be of support to her then. A telegraph to Mr. C. K. Ai paved the way for Father's remains to be admitted into Hawaii without difficulty, because Father had been originally admitted under the status 'labourer' which gave him no right of re-entry in those days of strict immigration regulations for the Chinese. Father was laid to rest in the Pauoa Chinese Christian Cemetery that had just been organized in 1919. Because he had often expressed his distaste for an elaborate funeral that included a noisy Hawaii band, Father's services at the church were simple and dignified. In 1932, Mother had his remains cremated and reburied in a beautiful porcelain urn beside the cremated remains of Ruth and Me Yuk in the Pokfulam Chinese Christian Cemetery in Hong Kong, since Father had often expressed a longing for the land of his birth. And he, like his father, never saw his native village again once he had left it.
In his letter of recommendation dated 14 September 1899, F. W. Damon described Father as 'faithful, industrious, and of good and reliable character'. Father was more than that. His love for his family is revealed in his frequent letters to his father and his brothers. His gift of Me Yuk to First Paternal Uncle and the gift of Ting Cheong to Second Paternal Uncle to Father's memory are manifestations of their closeness and love for each other. Whenever I recall Father reading to us "The Children's Hour" by Longfellow, I feel his tremendous love for his children and sense the happiness we gave him. Always striving to increase his knowledge and to better himself and his family, he often quoted his favourite poet, 'Let us be up and doing, with a heart for any fate, still achieving, still pursuing, learn to labour and to wait'. For, from his own past experience,
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Home would be beneficial. It was a harrowing experience when the sedan chair carrying Father did not reach the junk on time, and Mother had me run back to the wharf to wait for him, just in time to help him up the junk as it was edging out. If I had fallen off the narrow plank which served as the passage way between land and boat, no one would have wanted to take my place to appease the water spirits.
We left Hong Kong on the S. S. Nile, this time first class, in December 1919. The passengers were required to line up on deck on that very cold New Year's Day at Kobe (?) to pass inspection by Japanese officers. As a result, Father became seriously ill and died the next day, 2 January 1920, reportedly of double pneumonia. Mother was extremely grief- stricken and I was too stunned to be of support to her then. A telegraph to Mr. C. K. Ai paved the way for Father's remains to be admitted into Hawaii without difficulty, because Father had been originally admitted under the status 'labourer' which gave him no right of re-entry in those days of strict immigration regulations for the Chinese. Father was laid to rest in the Pauca Chinese Christian Cemetery that had just been organized in 1919. Because he had often expressed his distaste for an elaborate funeral that included a noisy Hawaii band, Father's services. at the church were simple and dignified. In 1932, Mother had his remains cremated and reburied in a beautiful porcelain urn beside the cremated remains of Ruth and Me Yuk in the Pokfulam Chinese Christian Cemetery in Hong Kong, since Father had often expressed a longing for the land of his birth. And he, like his father, never saw his native village again once he had left it.
In his letter of recommendation dated 14 September 1899, F. W. Damon described Father as 'faithful, industrious, and of good and reliable character'. Father was more than that. His love for his family is revealed in his frequent letters to his father and his brothers. His gift of Me Yuk to First Paternal Uncle and the gift of Ting Cheong to Second Paternal Uncle to Father's memory are manifestations of their closeness and love for each other. Whenever I recall Father reading to us the Children's Hour by Longfellow, I feel his tremendous love for his children and sense the happiness we gave him. Always striving to increase his knowledge and to better himself and his family, he often quoted his favourite poet, 'Let us be up and doing, with a heart for any fate, still achieving, still pursuing, learn to labour and to wait'. For, from his own past experience,
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