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Show will be read with much interest by his I school and boyhood companions in I Ogden and Farr West. Dear Father: On tho evening of the ninth, when tho rumor spread around that the Georgia had orders to proceed to Colombo nt fourteen knots, we thought It was Just a "sandy," but at 10 we rang full speed ahead and sheered out of column, and for once we knew that a rumor had come true. We had a smallpox pa-I pa-I tlent on board and we were sent ahead I so the whole fleet would not be placed in quarantine. Early Saturday morning we arrived off Colombo and immediately a rllot came on board and took us through the breakwater to bur mooring. We were not yet anchored when the mall was brought on board, and not yet moored when the patient was removed. In a few hours the yellow flag was hauled down, although during the wholo stay we were in nominal quarantine, quar-antine, being permitted to go ashoro but not to receive visitors. Wo prepared immediately to coal i ship, and about 2:30 the collier came alongside. We coaled until 10 that night, and finished at 5 the next afternoon. after-noon. This gave us a great advantage over the rest of the fleet, for It took all Sunday to get them moored inside the breakwater. The ships were placed j so close that one could talk from one to the other. Early Monday morning I went ashore and. after doing the marketing for the mess (I am caterer again), I started around to see the city. The Jlnrlklshas are similar to those fn Japan, but the rlklsha men, compared com-pared with those of the Island empire, are as reeds to the oak and regular highwaymen. First, I went through the native quarter. The shops are regular holes In the wall, and the keepers try to drag you in. You have to fight your way through. They say, "Master, master, mas-ter, come In and look; no have to buy," and once you are In you must buy i something to get away. That isn't difficult, dif-ficult, though, for there are many attractive at-tractive things to choose from. About the most distinctive souvenirs are ebony eb-ony elephants and hammered brass. The one great trouble In buying la that you don't know how much you are getting cheated. They invariably ask from two to a thousand times as much as a thing la worth, especially so of Jewelry and stones. Many people peo-ple paid two or three pounds for "stones," only to find that they were worth only that many cents. Realizing Realiz-ing this. I purchased no Jewelry. I think few left the island -without finding find-ing that they had heen "stung" on something. - - The main street of the native section sec-tion of Colombo Is moderately clean, but some of the side streets were fairly putrid with squalor and filth. The natives aro said to bathe often, but a clean garb Is a great exception to the rule, which shows great indolence, indo-lence, for their complete raiment consists con-sists of, first, a narrow cloth wrapped about tho loins, covering about one-fifth one-fifth of the body, worn principally by coolies and laborers; or, second, a piece of cloth encircling the waist and reaching just below the knees, much like a shirt; or, third, the latter, with some kind of a waist or bodice, or, rather, an excuse for the same. ' It is very difficult to distinguish the women from the men, for they wear skirts and Jackets, wear their hair long, often bobbing it In the back and holding it on top with circle combs, with the front to the back. Many of the children were stark naked. I might say that among the better classes there are some very good-looking good-looking half-castes. The beast of burden Is the sacred cow of India, with tho hump over tho shoulders. They are driven single or double, and draw carts with nlpa covers cov-ers shaped like those of old Immigrant wagons. There are a few cariboos, too. On the wav to the market I passed a native laundry. The laundresses stand In large stone basins In which they soak the clothes, then gather them up and boat them on wide stones In front, whipping them over the shoulder, shoul-der, as a person cuts wood. (I wonder what happens to the buttons.) Modern Mod-ern methods are more expensive but much more to ray taste. Judging from reports, tho Europeans of Colombo had funny impressions of American sailors. Before we went there, the shop keepers appealed to the authorities to put on an extra force of policemen to keep their windows from being smashed and goods stolen. In the big native stores they watched us like hawks, and on the first day many of the smaller shops would close up every time they saw a sailor approaching. ap-proaching. They probably have had sad experience with other sailors,' or else, because they aro tho biggest robbers and the worst liars on the face of the earth, they are" suspicious of everyone. Tuesday morning I went on an excursion ex-cursion to Kandy, the inland capital of tho Island, seventy-four miles from Colombo, It was a very Interesting trip, chiefly because of "tho glimpse it gave of outside native life. Palms were thicker than weeds, and scat- j tcred all through them were huts of adobe with nlpa roofs. I thought the natives in Colombo were scantily clothed, but here tho men wore little more than a smile, and the women only a little more than that. I have seen pictures of negroes in the Jungles of Africa who wore more than these. We got fine view of old terraced paddy (rice) fields and tea plantations i 0GDEN' BOY IN HAMPTON MBS GERALD CHILD ARRIVES ON BATTLESHIP BAT-TLESHIP GEORGIA. Letter Written to Parents Descriptive of Many Countries Visited .. by Fleet. Mr. and Mrs. W. G. Child, Jr., of Farr West are in receipt of a letter from their son, Gerald, who is serving Uncle Sam in the navy. It is an Interesting Inter-esting communication, not only because be-cause It comes from a beloved son, in whom his parents are Justly pleased, but because it tolls something of the ways of the people of the Orient. The young man is now 25 years of age and ho has been on tho battleship Georgia over two yearB. During nls service in the navy ho has been promoted to the position of ensign on that ship. He graduated from the Ogden High school at the age of 17, after which he entered at Aanapolls, finishing a four years' coureef there in three and a half years. He has traveled around tho world with tie great white fleet and 13 now at Hampton Roads. His promotion pro-motion camo to him while in Japanese waters. His parents are very anxious that ho may have time while In the Atlantic waters to visit his home in Farr West. i Ensign Child had the opportunity to visit ills homq for five days last summer, but during his stay hero remained re-mained closely at his homo to visit his father and mothor, so that llttlo was seen of him by his many friends. Ho is a very exemplary young man and studious almost to a fault, which accounts for his 'achievement In the naval -service. The following letter j tors, came to tho ship but we didn't . let them on board, being In quarantine. I musnt forget the waUr rats. They paddle around the ships on rafts of logs lashed together, half awash, and dlvo for coins. In way -of persuasion they 6tand up on the rafts and, patting pat-ting their bare stomachs, sing "Ta-ra-ra-booin-de-aye" In a manner that would make a hit In American vaudeville. vaude-ville. Fling them a penny and over they go like frightened troga, always getting the coin. .Thy r as black as polished ebony, and seem as much at home in tho water as out. We arrive at Suo tomorrow morning, morn-ing, two days ahead of time. Eight hundred bags of mall await us. ... . . GERALD. Gulf of Suez. January 2. 1909. as the train wound upward In th mountain. At Kandy I went through an old Bud-dlst Bud-dlst temple, where there Is said to be a tooth of Budda himself. The placo was infested with beggars. I think all the natives arc either beggars or robbers, and I suppose many are both. They learn to beg before they can talk, and are still beg- glng when their teeth drop out They resort to all kinds. Qf tricks, and I believe be-lieve that many of them have cut off an arm or poked out an eye Ju6t to excite compassion. If you give them anything, you don't get rid of them, for they follow you for blocks, asking ask-ing for more. Fat. " healthy-looking youngsters accost you with "No fad-der, fad-der, no mudder, velly. velly hungly, and all the old men In the place are blind or maimed. They are a great annoyance, for they seize your hiria or your clothes till you can hardly drag yourself along. The best way to get loose Is to throw a handful of pennies pen-nies into the air and run. I didn't get to see any Indian fakirs, though I tried to find some.. I think tho Slngalese are such fakirs that tho others have no show. Snake charmers and dancer, and corn doc- |