Show maynard bergener writes from china U S steamship elcano hong hone kong china march 10 1919 dearest mother father and all at home I 1 thought I 1 would drop dro pyou on a few lines from this far aiace io to let you know that I 1 am well and happy my hope and prayer la is that this finds find you all the same As see by the date I 1 am now at hong kong kon chana ch na arrived here er a yesterday it Is it very nice place to look at from a distance but when walking about the streets it la Is like any other china town harln having that chinky chanky smell I 1 1 I was ashore yest yesterday erda y it la is certainly 1 interesting in to visit foreign cities it hong kong Is a city of 0 about 1 not including the ford foreign agn population which numbers many tiou thousands more an american sailor is scarcely noticed here he is looked upon and classed just the same as a coolie or in other words the lowest kind of a chink I 1 will be glad when we leave leae this place and go up the coast I 1 th we nie will leave is in a day or two from reports I 1 will be in russia w within the next month or so and expect to go aboard tile the lyn which we think will sail for the united states about next july the ile collies coaled up our ship today these fellows w 11 work all day tor for a Alex mexican ican dollar or eighty centa gold the women here do nearly all the work nork the people nere are so poor that they will atch the slops we throw and eat it with apparent relish they merely exist it is very cold here we perhaps feel the cold more keenly on account of just coming from a vann climate has potts got home yet and where here Is george I 1 guess the men folks are all Nv working I 1 must close hoping to hear from you soon and that you are all veil mell and contented and praying that god will guard us at all vines fines I 1 am as ei ever er your loving nor MAYNARD BURGENER U 8 S E leano eleano asiatic fleet cavite P V via san francisco P S do not know just where w we e are going but mail will reach us just the same al B |