Very far east / by C. Winifred Lechmere Clift ; with preface by Albert A. Head.

  • Clift, C. Winifred Lechmere.
Date:
[pref. 1909]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Very far east / by C. Winifred Lechmere Clift ; with preface by Albert A. Head. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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bread, tea, biscuits, butter, jam and fruit, my passage was taken, and my good-byes all said. It was quite hard to leave my new friends, especially my dear little teacher “ Peace,” one of Mrs. Anderson’s school- girls. We started off in the early morning soon after it began to get light, my new woman-servant and I, and several of the Chinese Christians came out and stood in a little crowd at the top of the river bank to see us off. We soon found the little river steamer waiting for passengers and cargo, and were shown a tiny cabin, which we were to share with a young Chinese girl. The next thing was to settle in our baggage and belongings as tightly as possible, for the cabin was little more than a cupboard, and we had to sit on the floor and make ourselves as comfortable as might be under the circumstances ! The Chinese girl spoke Mandarin, so I found my small amount of that language very useful, and she became most enthusiastic when I promised to teach her to read a little book I had with me. She would sit for hours and go over and over the words, until by the end of the journey she had the whole book by heart. Of course it was the pleasure of being able to say she could “read character” which made her so diligent, not a desire for the Gospel. But the words are there in her mind, and some day they may bear fruit. That first day everything seemed very new and strange —the yellow faces everywhere and not another foreigner beside myself, the clumsy-looking steamer with its huge stern-wheel, which towed our boats along, the Chinese food, the noise and the chattering. But in spite of it all I slept well that first night, my mattress spread on a piece of matting upon the floor of the cabin. The fifth day, Sunday, they came to tell us that all passengers must move on to the steamer—the river was so