RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1979
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938
118

REVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS

14-There is a softball game almost every evening now and that gives us something to look forward to, although swimming is also a good attraction during the day. Tweed Bay Beach is a very fine sandy one, but not very large. We learn that the Holy Father has given $15,000.00 HK to victims of the war, and each internee at Stanley will receive about $5.40.

—

15 Feast of the Assumption. Only one Mass in the Club Chapel today. We are hoping to receive our long-looked-for permission to leave Camp today, as hitherto something important usually happened on a Feast Day, but there is as yet no news from "The Hill." However, we did have quite a surprise when the Sisters gave us a dish of ice cream for supper. How they manage these things is more than we can fathom. No show tonight, but a farcical game of softball between the Police and the Ladies.

The next few days are quite uneventful, with baseball the main feature of the day. As clothing is becoming quite a problem for the internees, flour sacks are being utilized for articles of apparel. On the 17th there was another death at the Hospital. The British are also having lectures each Tuesday for those who wish to attend. Rain kept us indoors at times and it looks as if we might have a typhoon. One of the patients who had been allowed to go to St. Paul's Hospital for X-ray treatment failed to return to Camp and as a punishment no more patients will be allowed this privilege for a month, no matter how sick they may be.

20-Seven months in Camp today and at last the good news has come: we get our call to sign our papers on "The Hill" at 9:30 a.m. These papers merely say that we shall do nothing against His Imperial Majesty's Japanese Government if we are paroled, and we gladly accede to such a request. Accordingly, promptly at the appointed time, we 13 Maryknoll priests, Brother Thaddeus and two of the remaining four Maryknoll Sisters, Sister Dorothy and Sister Henrietta Marie, sign the required papers and are informed that we may leave in a "few" days. Fathers Meyer and Hessler, with Sisters Eucharistia and Christella, will remain in the Camp to look after the Catholics. At present there is only one other priest left, Father Charles Murphy of Scarboro Bluff, Canada. He is seeking his release.

21 — Packing up our few belongings and Dr. Talbot gives us cholera shots. Softball gives us a good evening's entertainment.
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1979
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938
The Maryknoll Mission, Hong Kong 1941-46

125

This literally took the wind out of our sails and we were in the doldrums. Bishop Valtorta also interviewed Mr. Oda on our behalf but received the same categorical answer. However, Sister Paul made application about this time for Sisters Marie Regis and Dorothy, the former having been released from the Camp on a third national status, but the latter with us. As a result, Sister Regis was allowed to board the boat but Sister Dorothy was turned back. So we returned to Bethany, sadder but wiser.

Our status in Hong Kong now being determined for us, we began to think about resuming Language Classes, and looked around for some teachers. We found one for the Mandarin and one for the Cantonese, but could not easily get a suitable one for the Hakka-ites.

From the 11th to the 15th of October we went on Retreat, it being conducted by Father McCarthy, S.J., from Wah Yan College. About this time, Father Knotek's electrical ability having been discovered, his services were much in demand, both at Carmel and at St. Paul's Hospital, Causeway Bay.

It may be of interest here to describe briefly Hong Kong, as we saw it, some eight or nine months after its capitulation. The downtown section, at least along Queens Road Central, was fairly normal, and business seemed to be going on as usual, that is, on the surface, but actually business was pretty poor. All the stores had long since reopened; the larger foreign stores, of course, being taken over by the Japanese, and prices were on the military yen basis. The Chinese department stores were likewise open, but their stock seemed to be depleted, and not only were prices high, but it was difficult and even impossible to purchase many articles, especially of clothing. In many cases, about all that was left were extra large sizes of things. Along the streets in many places, and just outside of the department stores, sat vendors of various small articles. On the streets, the crowds seemed to mill about almost as in normal times, but little money changed hands. There were only the strictly necessary purchases made. Even for the Chinese populace, rice, oil, and firewood were rationed and on certain days, the purchasers had to line up and wait their turn at depots in various parts of the city. The Gloucester Hotel is now the Matsubara Hotel, and is open for business, but of course, mostly Japanese business. The Japanese Army and Navy have taken over almost
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q
172

teachers. Miss McCorriston, the geography teacher, inspired me to devote much time at home in drawing and colouring maps to pinpoint certain places. Miss Kelley determined that we should know English grammar backwards and forwards and had us forever parsing and diagramming. Miss Davis was an avid horsewoman who stood tall and erect as she whipped up our speed in doing arithmetic mentally while she called out the numbers in quick succession. I cannot recall what Mrs. Crockett taught, but it was in her class that Miss Daniels (who was later married to Charles King), a part-Hawaiian singer of some size and weight and exuding the warmth and joviality of her race, came once in several weeks to lead us in singing Hawaiian songs, using a tuning fork to keep us in key. I cannot recall who my history teacher was. Last but not least of the teachers was Miss Gertrude Whiteman, quite elderly and often the butt of laughter from some of the girls when she adjusted her wig. She was especially kind to me, probably because she knew my Father and also had special affection for the Chinese, having raised a Chinese girl as her foster child. I missed four months of the last year because of our trip to China, but I was able to graduate with the rest of my classmates in June, 1920.

The transition from elementary to secondary school was not easy. There was much less involvement between teacher and student, and the relationship between them was quite impersonal. As a freshman, I was completely crushed by my English teacher, Dorothy Stendahl, who was also my Sunday School teacher and an intimate friend of Mary Lam, one of my early playmates. Miss Stendahl selected many of us Chinese for her class. She was not only stern and exacting, but also very sarcastic, and I felt she was picking on me unnecessarily. As a result, I had a miserable year and dreaded going to her class. Some years later, I had occasion to meet her socially, but I could not warm to her. Perhaps she did not realize that I had come from a protected home, was exceedingly shy and sensitive, and was not able to deal with aggressive mannerisms.

I had two years of Latin with Clara Ziegler, who would urge me on with my translation of Caesar in Gaul by jabbing her left palm with a finger of her right hand in rapid succession and would finally comment, in frustration, "You are not like Me Lan!" My sister had preceded me in her class and had been an excellent student. To myself, I would respond, "Who wants to be like Me Lan?" It was poor psychology on Miss Ziegler's part, as it only made me more determined to prove myself.
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