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Show Letter From The Yoders Most ot our readers will recall Dr. and Mrs. P. A. Yoder, of this city until un-til a year ago, Dr. Yoder being Director Direc-tor of tho Experiment station. Sinco tho departure of these people, following follow-ing the Dr. 'a peculiarly vicious and extremely discourteous dismissal from tho A. C, they have been touring the world. Just now Dr. and Mrs. Yoder arc In Australia and from there comes a very Interesting letter telling of the sights seen In their travels. Though the reader docs not know cither of these excellent people, tho'lettcr will bo found well worth the while, Mrs. Yoder's narratlvo being well put together. to-gether. This letter is a personal one to Mrs. Wm. Drangham, and following follow-ing personalities reads as follows: "Hut I suppose you would llko me to tell you a little of our experiences while on this trip, but where shall I begin and where end? To beglu, Mr. Yoder and myself have learned the fine art of getting pleasure out of temporary tem-porary hardships, for there are many hardships connected with travel long railway rides, stage rides, poor beds, etc. but as I said; these we have learned to consider part of the fun. Tho thing that has struck me most on this' trip has been the generous hospitality of the people, especially In Japan and China, where we could not speak the language. They really seemed to like us; at almost every Japanese inn that wo left wo were presented with little gifts such as teacups', tea-cups', towels, toothpick holders, etc. From Japan we went up through Korea and Manchuria to Peking, a continuous ride of eight days on a lit-tlo lit-tlo narrow-guage road. Wc were repeatedly re-peatedly warned not to attempt that route as It was not considered safe for Europeans. At one Chinese town we were compelled to stay all night and sought shelter at a Chinese hotel, being be-ing guided there by a train olllcial. In the morning we discovered that a soldier In uniform, well armed, had guarded us all night while we peacefully peace-fully slept unmindful of any danger; the hotel man had saved the reputation reputa-tion of ills house. Wc paid him well and went on our way rejoicing. At Peking. Peking Is so Interesting, we visited several of the missionaries there who told us of their experiences during the siege at the time of the Boxer trouble. From Peking we went down to Hankow Han-kow on a better railroad, on an express which always carries many Europeans At one place about fifty beggars met tho train; we had encountered beggars beg-gars everywhere in China but this was worst of all old, blind, little children, some lepers all wore nothing but rags and they wcro lllthy. China makes no effort to care f jr her poor. From Hankow we went down the Yang-tse-Klangon a river steamer to Shanghai, a distance of (150 miles, with a most pleasant stop at Nan King where there arc several missionaries. It wasagrcat pleasure to me to vjsit these postsand actually see something of the life of a missionary in foreign lands. We went by boat from Shanghai to Hong Kong, thence to Manilla. A Cock Fight in Nanila. We didn't like Manilla, because It was too warm, yet they were having their winter. Wc went out to the end of one railroad, and seeing see-ing tho village was In holiday attire we went up the main street whero wo came In sight of a large pavilion. The noise within sounded very mucii like the Hoard of Trade In Chicago. On the outside many Filipinos carried roosters; that told the story to us there was to bo a cock tight. Horse-racing Horse-racing or pugilistic tournaments In the United States are not more popular popu-lar than cock lighting Is here. We purchased tickets and went In end instantly in-stantly we were noticed, (now please Mrs. Drangham don't laugh too heartily) heart-ily) and hats went off, two oflluials hastened down a flight of bambo pole steps and met us with deep bows; wc returned the courtesy, they beckoned us to mount the pole steps (we could not understand them or they us); we hesitated.' they Insisted, we went up and saw veiy comfortable seats, but they made a path through tho dense crowd and bowed us on further, led us across the arena to where a place was enclosed by 'a railing, whero two cnalrs waited the arrival of honored guests. And there we seated ourselves, having Continued on Pago 7 Letter From The Yoders Continued from Page 4. tho'honored seats at a cock tight. While we were being seated the hall had become quiet, but all at once the nolsa began again, bcttlnir was going I on. At last two roosters were carried Into In-to the arena and were Instantly greeted greet-ed by a shower of Mexican dollar. IIow on earth they keep track or those bets Is a mystery. At length the bets were all In and a great, silence came over the crowd In the meantime the seconds were taking oft the leather shields tint, covered the spurs with one of which each tighter was armed. These spurs are little sharp bladfs of Steel, In shape like a Moorish sword, and about two Inches long; they are sharp ss razors and are fastened on with thongs. Thoflght Is on a death silence reigns. They sptlng, one ducks and the other goes clear over It and quick as a flash they turn and face each other again, so on for several seconds, when finally one Is dealt with a death embrace, and a' few seconds more all I? over. The bats are paid, and before we had time to leave, two fresh roosters are Introduced and tl e Hrst event Is repeated. There Is not one feature about a cock Hght that Is civilizing In the faintest de-greet de-greet and In consequence the future welfare nf th race demands that it be stampi'd nut., Nearly every Filipino househo d ynxicss'-s its righting cock that Is reared with all the tenderness possible and ulth free access to the living looms of the family Accident to Boat. On our vot iii.' in Australia one of our ports of call was at XamboatiKO In southern I'lilllpme IsiaiitN Mure we find ihf natives living the "simple life " W went ashore and soon we had a following of about, three dozen little tios and ghls In all their Innocence, Inno-cence, not a string or a rag to mar tho beauty of their rich birthday dress. A This was the most picturesque spot we have yet seen, little bamboo straw huts back In cocannt groves, the water buffalo hitched to large wagons rilled with natives slowly wending his way homeward, etc., etc. The voyage from Manila to Brisbane, Australia) was the most delightful we have yet had; the sea was glassy smooth, It was also Hie most dangerous because of hidden reefs. Several nights wean-chorcd wean-chorcd iiihI waited for dawn to pre-ceed pre-ceed and many places we saw parts of half sunken boats. Leaving one port of call our tioat collided with a sailing vessel and within four minutes she had sunk. There was much excitement, excite-ment, but all were picked up. It gives one a little Idea of what a great dlt aster at sea would mean. Two Days Lost. ' On this voyage we crossed the equator equa-tor without any III effects. Of courso our ship's speed was very poor while we were climbing up the bulge toward the center of the globe, but when we once got over at the equator and start ed down hill we simply Hew. (The captain told me-this ) On our way to Japan we had this experience; We commenced eating dinner on Sunday and ate and ate until un-til when we left the table it was Tuesday. Tues-day. We worn not, usually hungry and we did not eat unusiiallv much, but the explanation Is this; during our noon hour the boat crossed the 180 de gree west, longitude and ISO degree east longitude, aryl so n must drop out a day cast It ovcibo.nd. If all boats sailed westward there would bo a fearful loss In the matter of valuable time, bin futtiitiatclv about as many sail east and they plui. up the discarded discard-ed dajs and add lliem tn I lie world's stock tigaip, and about us good as new too, I am told, for of course the salt water preserves them. Australians Like Americans. Tho Australians do not seem to differ dif-fer noticeably from Americans either in dress, ways, or general appearance. However there are fleeting suggestions of their English origin; now and then one hears lydy for lady, tyble for table. That mislaid y Is rather striking when a person gets enough of it In a short sentence. In a hotel In Sydney the chambermaid said one evening: "The tyble Is set, and here Is the pyper, and if the lydy is ready I'll tell the wyter to bring up the breakfast." You will recall how very fond Mr. Yoder is of pie; heieas well as In England they do not make pie. One day at a railroad rail-road restaurant Mr. Yoder went to pay for our dinners, the waitress said: 'P.vc at the counter." Visions of delicious de-licious Juicy pies came before him, and looking from counter to counter and seeing none, a cloud suddenly came over his countenance when he recalled that the waitress meant "pay at the counter." Avstralia Very Liberal. One is sure to be struck by the liberal liber-al way which Austrafla spends money upon public works, such as legislative buildings, parks, botanical gardens, etc. At Sydney the botanical garden covers thirty-eight acres beautifully laid out and rich witli the spoil of all the lands and all the climes of the world. Sydney has the most beautiful beauti-ful harbor in the world. It Is shut In behind a precipice that extends some miles like a wall, and exhibits no break to the Ignorant stranger. It has a break in the middle and near by that break Is a false break which resembles it. It caused the memorable disaster of the Duncan Dunbar some years baek when two hundred persons lost their lives. Only one on that vessel was saved, and he was Hung upon a shelf (rock) by the sea and rescued. This man still lives and visits the spot every year. Man-Eating Sharks. This harbor Is very populous with the finest breeds of man-eating sharks In the world. Some peoplo make their living catching them and they tn turn make their living catching catch-ing tho people. Kvory few days we read of some one losing his life, yet the people do not seem to be afraid of them. The beaches are well patron-i.ed patron-i.ed by bathers. Tho government pays a cash bounty on the sharks the larger the shark tho larger the bounty, boun-ty, and some arc twenty feet long. They not only get the bounty, but everything ev-erything in tho shark. Sometimes the contents arc quite valuable. Wo sail from Adelaide on February 28th for Colombo, Ceylon. After a month in India, will go up tho Red Sea to Egypt , then to Jerusalem. For mall leaving United States between April 10 to in, address Jerusalem, caro ofThos. Cook and Son. For mail leaving United States between March Sand April 10, address Tort Said, Egypt, care of North German Lloyd Steamship Company." |
