RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988
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converted to Christianity. Although I did not understand the import of the occasion, I sensed it was a special event the Sunday we were all baptized at the Fort Street Chinese Church to which Father already belonged. We were amused when Helen, then a baby, pushed the minister's hand away when he reached out to baptize her. Thereafter the family attended church regularly, participating in all the religious celebrations in new outfits, especially during Christmas when our excitement ran high. On Sunday afternoons we would worship again at the Kauluwela Mission on Vineyard Street, located midway between Liliha and River Streets. Mrs. Cooper had come from Chicago to carry on this mission work financially supported by Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Richards, in order to reach out to the different races (Chinese, Hawaiians, Portuguese, Puerto-Ricans, and even a few Russians) living in several camps in that area. Mrs. Cooper would often ask Mother to accompany her when visiting Chinese families. In time we became good friends. Whenever Mrs. Cooper visited us, she would have us kneel while she prayed long and fervently, giving me the impression that we were sinners needing forgiveness.

In 1917 we moved to 178 South School Street in order to accommodate a growing family, at a time when many of our Chinese neighbours were beginning to move to other parts of the city. The more affluent ones bought or built larger and better homes around and beyond Thomas Square. The arrival of the automobile, electricity, and telephone changed our way of life. Within several years tragedy came into our lives when Father died. After an initial severe grief reaction, Mother knew that she had to face reality. She heeded the advice of Bishop Bank to let the Bishop Trust Company administer Father's estate, and as a result, she discovered, to her regret, that she had no say in any decision-making. She was allowed only 60 dollars a month. It was a neighbour, Lam Ôn, who counselled Mother to contest the application of the trust company to continue as guardian of her minor children's share of the estate, and to retain I. M. Stainback as her attorney. Thus she was able to secure the guardianship. By careful management of the assets, she was able to turn over our respective interests to us when each of us reached the age of majority. Although Father did not leave much, there was enough to support Mother through life and for her to leave what remained to her surviving daughters.

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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
159

and playing among chairs and other furniture on the unpainted but gleaming parlour floor. Ruth was a sweet, lovable and plump child, obedient and seldom in mischief. She was so bright that Father began to teach her to read before she started school. I was somewhat sickly and rather homely, causing the sons of the Leong Yau's to nickname me "kitten". I seemed to drop and break things often, and Mother, thinking that I was careless, would scold me with the term Cho Bow Gwai, (Careless Devil). Active, impulsive and spirited, I usually made life difficult for her.

Our Wilci home was crudely built and sparsely furnished. We slept on a bed of boards, covered by a straw mat, under a square-shaped mosquito net, but we rarely used the hard, lacquered black pillows. Our home was lighted by kerosene lamps which cast such ghostly shadows that I was always afraid to go to bed by myself. At that time my Mother believed in ghosts and apparently transmitted her fears to me. It was not until I was about ten, after Mother had been converted to Christianity, that the fear of the rod was greater than the fear of my fantasies. The kitchen and toilet were located behind the house proper, but under cover, and cooking was done on little wood-burning stoves. Food was stored in a screened cupboard, which was called a "safe". There was no refrigeration and we had none of the amenities which we now enjoy and take for granted. Everything was done by hand.

In 1910 we moved to Smith Lane, off Fort Street, between Vineyard and School Streets, but we did not live there long. Two other Chinese families resided there: the Leong Chew's and the Loo Goon's. We were now not confined in the house, but had the opportunity to be outside to play with Willis and James Leong, and Florence and Louise Loo. It was here that Helen Me Chin was born on September 26, 1910, with Mrs. Leong attending Mother. That morning, after Father had gone to work, Mother sent Ruth and me out of the house to play. We returned later to find a new-born baby. On a few occasions, when Mother was very busy, I had to carry Helen on my back in an embroidered sling, which had four straps, two of which went over my shoulders and two of which circled my waist, that were knotted in my front. I remember feeling Helen's weight against my chest. Small wonder, for I was not quite five then. It was here that Ruth and I contracted the childhood diseases of chicken pox, mumps and measles.
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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
169

Before I started to go to school, we spoke Chinese exclusively at home, using the Heong Shan dialect, but I was able to understand much of the Nam Long subdialect (derived from Fukien Province) spoken in Father's village, and to speak it through the process of osmosis. Since my parents seemed concerned that their children become proficient in Western studies, my attempts to learn Chinese have been erratic and comparatively brief. Ching I Sun, a scholarly gentleman, conducted a small one-room neighbourhood school on Vineyard School and to him Father sent Ruth and me to study Chinese. It was learning chiefly by rote. When we were not memorizing aloud, we were practising calligraphy, something I did quite well. We did not attend school very long. Ruth went on to study under another teacher, Chang Garm Bo, but I did not resume studying Chinese until I was in my early teens when I went to Wah Mun School for a short time before transferring to Mun Lun School, where classes were held in the afternoons and Saturday mornings.

Our programme here also included history, geography, composition, calligraphy and the classics. Once a week one of the teachers would entertain us with stories from the historical romances, the most famous of which was the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I was very happy and proud to use the set of Ancient Classics that Father had used when a student in China, and he was pleased and patient in explaining the difficult passages.

The principal of Mun Lun School and some of the younger teachers were staunch supporters of the Loyalist Bow Wong Party, which supported the preservation of the imperial regime, and was opposed to the Revolutionary Party led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, whose supporters favoured Wah Mun School for their children. The teachers were also anti-Christian and were always making derogatory remarks about Christians, referring to them as "pigs, dogs and robbers", and being immature and sensitive, I took it as a personal affront. One day when I was late arriving from high school, the principal humiliated me by stopping his teaching to write on the blackboard that I was late. Having been conditioned not to fight for my rights, I decided to quit Chinese school in order that I could continue my afternoon typing class without further anxiety. This was the extent, about four years altogether, of my formal education in Chinese. The kindly and benign attitude of some of the other teachers, such as Tsze, Yee and Seto, elderly and scholarly...
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