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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1935-05-30, Page 3THE EXETER TIMES-ADVOCATJE Our Letter Box rjnlie following letter written by Rev. M. M. Whiting, of Japan, to Dr, F. q, .Stephenson, secretary of the Board of Mission?, Toronto, will be of interest to many of our1 readers. Rev. Mr, and Mrs, Whiting arrived in New York on May 24th and this week Mr. Whiting is attending the London Conference in Stratford. Mr. Whiting is a brother of Mr. Earl Whiting, of Usborne, and Mrs. Whit­ ing is the daughter of the late J. H. Holtzmann, of Crediton, and of Mrs. J, H. Holtzmann, of Cleveland, Ohio. is -a beautiful tropical city with high 1 palm trees bordering the boulevards, , and flowers, like the Roinsetta -ox4 • Oleander, which plants in Canada, grow to be ten or twelve feet high walled city which still exists, but the I moat outside the wall has been fil - Each for all and all for ed and converted into parks or golf are small house There is the eld motto is, each.’’ We need more of this spirit.1 qoureis. Our menu cards are printed in Ger-I The man, English and Spanish. We have cently now about 100 passengers in “Mittel Orient. Klasse”, representing over a dozen, city is nationalities. There are several mis-'home, __ _____ sionarjes of different-denominations heart of the city “however’^are --------- --------------------rible, T' cars, and hundreds of the best and newest motor cars. They have no jinrikisha like those in China and Japan, but instead, the natives have a two-wheeled covered cart which re- the the at the ter- There are up-to-date street magnificent pier, No. 7» built, is the finest in The American part of like an Arnericah city The traffic conditions in S. S. “Coblentz” on the High Seas between Manila and Singapore March, 20th, 1935 Dear Friends: We said “Goodbye” to Kobe, Ja­ pan, at 7 o’clock on the morning of Mar, 8th, just one week later, than we had previously planned. On ac­ count of bad weather and heavy seas oux1 ship was delayed several days on hex' outward voyage, and, -of course, there was nothing for us to do but to quietly wait until she ar­ rived . We are hoping t-hat we may regain a day -ox* two before reaching Genoa, as we very much wish to spend Easter Sunday in Rome. On our first day we had a marvel­ ous trip through the Inland Sea of Japan. The sea was like a mill pond, and the scenery among the hundreds of islands is simply exquisite. On Monday morning, Mar. 12th, we reached Shanghai, China, our first port of call. (The ship anchored at Woosung where pasee-negers are transferred to Shanghai, 14 miles distant, by launch. Shanghai is on an affluent of the Yangete, the Womgpoo. The Yangste is many miles wide at its mouth.) The wa­ ter of the rivex’ is a dirty yellow color, because of the silt and soil it continually brings down from the mountains along over 3,000 miles of its course from far Thibet. This yellow, murky’color extends out for­ ty miles into the -ocean. I think it is impossible for one to adequately describe his first visit to -Shanghai, this cosmopolitan city of -over 2,000,000 population. The surrounding country is quite flat, and one coming from Japan misses at once the beautiful pine-clad mountains. The river is crowded with scores and scores of Chinese junks and boats of every description fishing boats with their ponderous sails, so dirty and patched that impossible to know what color originally were; smaller boats pelled by one, or sometimes two at the rear, and little row 1 with a cover ovex' the middle part, which a man rows while standing up. These last crafts come swarm­ ing around the steamers as soon as they arrive, and filthy, ragged beg­ gars beg for “Monee, monee”. They come equipped with little net bags attached to the end of long bamboo poles to receive the pennies from passengers on the ships or harbour launches. Then there are tugs and river steamers, invariably dirty, crowded with hundreds of Chinese. Over against all this there are large ships 'from all parts of the world alongside the docks or tied to the buoys in mid-stream. On the Mon­ day morning when we arrived, the beautiful “Empress of Japan” the finest ship of the C. P. R. fleet; the “President Hoover” the newest and swellest linex* of the Dollar Line of U.S.A., the “Comte Rosso” another floating palace of t-he Italian line, and a giant motor hip of the French line were all in port. Really, all the world comes together in these Ori­ ental ports- and the* sights which greet one as he approaches Shanghai on a beautiful’morning such as we had, can never be forgotten. Then as to the city itself; people, people, swarms of people every­ where, There are the foreign con­ cessions with splendid double-dock tramcars such as you have probably seen in New York or London; stream lined motor cars of the latest model, large trucks, coolies carrying goods of all descriptions on spring poles over their shoulders, the -ubiquitous little jinrikisha with its human horse, running, sweating, yelling, all mixed up together with the thousands of pedestrians ... I will leave it all to y-our imagination . . . We had a most interesting day. Oui' ship left again the following morn­ ing for Hongkong. If you will look at your map you will see that we were heading- al­ most due south. When we left Ko­ be it was quite cool and we still needed overcoats. We were soon able to discard these and all neavy cloth­ ing. We are running into the tro­ pical summer and in another four days we should be able to see the Equator, if it were not an imagin­ ary line. This ship is rather slow but t-he service is good. All mem­ bers of the ship’s staff and crew are Germane, and there is a wonderful spirit of ’comradeship” among tliem, from the captain to the lowest work­ er. I asked the steward why it was and he replied that Herr Hitler’s ; it is they pro- > oars boats but only one other from -our United! Church, Miss Crawley, a nurse from] Chengtu, West China. The food is; excellent and if we all keep on eat­ing as we are doing now, there may) be serious results before our six „„„ _ ______________________ weeks voyage is over. All passen- 1 carried two passengers and is drawn gers are weighed once a week and a by a small pony. There are hun- > dreds of these little red carts mixed i in with the faster moving motor ve- : hides, making it almost impossible for a pedestrian to cross the street, i Then this jam of traffic is punctuat- . ed occasionally by a long-horned water buffalo lumbering along with - a heavy wagon. We are still Tn the Orient where the old and the new are hopelessly mixed up, each trying to claim its share o'f the world’s work and gain. The city has many buildings and churches of Spanish architecture dating back to the Spanish regime. There are several old churches which were built by the Jesuit fathers. We yisited two of them. In one there is an old pipe organ built entirely of bamboo. It is some 300 years old but still makes a noise. The resident priest tr-ied to play a tune for us out I'm. afraid its days are done as a musical instrument. Later we vis­ ited the St. Augutsine church, a fam­ ous old cathedral built entirely of stone, with walls six feet thick. There are some rooms in it which look as- if they might have been used as a prison. The wide corridors are hun,g with 'famous work of art. The guide showed us one room which was used as quarters for the Spanish sol­ diers during the war. In the same room is the table on which the arm­ istice was signed—the treaty by which -Spain relinguished forever hei' claim to the islands. I was most impressed however, by a life -sized image of Christ on the -Cross, which was given by a Spanish Queen. It is erected just inside the entrance and about six feet' above the floor. While we were speaking with the guide, two native women came in and knelt in prayer before this crucifix, then going up the steps- to the little platform built for the puprose, they each embraced and kissed the feet of the image; dare I say ‘idol’? Thousands and thousands have done the same during the past two centuries. They have kissed the feet' until they are worn smooth and clean, while the rest of the image is soiled and dirty. Has Roman Cath­ olicism in this, merely given a new nomenclature to the idols and ritual of former pagan believers? Has- it merely given new names without the power to live a new life freed -from the power of sin and the lo-w ideals of the past? I wondered. In Budd­ hist temples in Japan I have often seen ignorant believers rubbing and kissing the image of “Binzurusan” the god of healing, but' never before in -a so-called Christian church. I was- touched by the faith and de­ votion of these native Filipino be­ lievers, but I silently prayed that I, that we, as young people of the United Church of Canada, may ex­ press oui' devotion, our faith and our consecration, not by kissing the feet of a wooden image, even, of the Christ, but by reasonable and vital faith in the Living Christ; by lives made pure and dynamic by His Spirit of loving service; by a holy ambi­ tion to be perfect even as- He was perfect, and to build a new world and a new society of brotherhood, peace and love. In three days we shall arrive at Singapore. Find it on your map. It is another very strategic point. From there mail, son’s shall when . British Military football team from ISingapore on board. They went to Manila to play and are returning with the trophy, having won all six games. They are a fine lot -of fel­ lows and we have good times to­ gether. It is very hot today. The prespir- ation is trickling down my back as I attempt to type this letter-, but my football friends say it it hotter in JSingapore, and they say the Red -Sea* is hotter still. •'Whew! But be­ fore you receive this letter we shall be enjoying the cooler climate of Europe, then England, and we shall celebrate Empire Day in New York, if all goes well. I shall bring my next lettei’ with me and deiver it in person sometime in June. Until then, I remain, Most sincerely yours, M. M. WHITING ! record of the weight is kept', We are ■ all on “full diet," and they feed us ' seven times a day. Terrible! isn’t it? On the forenoon of Mar. 15th, we ' arrived at Hongkong, As you pro­ bably know, Hongkong is a British Crown Colony. It has .great stra- ' tegic value. Hongkong has a won­ derful harbour which is completely shut in by the many high rocky is­ lands around, and every ship has to pass through a marrow gap between two islands before it can enter the harbour. On the peninsula across the channel from Hongkong is the city of Kowloon. This part is also leased territory, so England controls the both sides. Hongkong is the base of the Bri­ tish Far East Fleet and consequent­ ly all approaches are heavily forti­ fied. We were greeted on that beautiful morning by a warship pre­ paring for’ manoeuvers, and the booming of its great guns just after it had passedz us, were like special stunts put on' for our enterainment. Then a bombing plane flew over but immediately wheeled round and swooped down at terrific speed to within a few yards of our ship. It did this three times to the great ex­ citements -of all passengers. It war were only this, without the fighting, suffering and the hate which fol­ lows, and our children could yell with glee and excitement instead of with terror, how happy we , should all be. The city of Hongkong is built on the mountain side and is really a wonderful city; it is like an Eng­ lish city. There are nearly 20,000 British and other foreigners living here, also several and marines. Of many thousand Chinese section of in the British part, clean and orderly. There are some magnificent buildings in the foreign city, The policemen are .Sikhs from India; men of splendid physique. Traffic conditions in the city are good. We took a motor- drive across the island to Repulse Bay. This is a most delightful drive over fine paved roads. At Repulse Bay there is a beautiful bathing beach, and a magnificient hatel; the flowers and lawns are simply entrancing, would be a wonderful place to- live if one were a millionaire, but not for a poor missionary. We could only stay a short time. At 8 p.m. the ship’s whistle blew, the band started playing and we were off again. It was then that we saw Hongkong at its loveliest. In the afternoon we had taken the cable car to the top of the mountain from where one gets a marvelous view of the city and harbour with all the ships, cruisers, etc., but' at night, the city illuminat­ ed, presents one of the most .gorg­ eous sights I have ever seen. We all stood on the deck for nearly two hours revelling in the beauty of the scene until our ship slipped through the gap and the islands cut off our view of the city. Hongkong is re­ garded as the most beautiful city in the Orient. At' Hongkong all members of the ship’s staff changed into their white summer uniforms. It was a real sum­ mer day. It has become warmer and warmer, On Mar. USth we reached Manila, and was it hot? ing from Japan, nearly while the ship was in passenger’s have now gotten their coolest summer clothes; men are dressed in loose sport shirts and short trousers, and several of tho ladies are similiarly attired. A canvas swimming pool has been erected on deck where the children are having a “whale of a time.’’ The children are not all email and young either, Manila is a bit of U. S. A. in- the Orient. Many of you will remem­ ber the Spanish-American war, at which time the United States gain­ ed control of the Pliillipine Islands. As you know also, negotiations are now under way which may give com­ plete independence to the islands in the near future. At' present Manila is the base of the American East Fleet; the foreign* part -of city is typically American. We a Very pleasant afternoon in city, leaving again about midnight. Borne of the islands are moun­ tainous and show signs of volcanic origin, but around the city of Man­ ila it is very flat; in fact drainage is difficult in some places. Manila thousands troops course there are ■Chinese in the the city, and also The city is very It We, com- sweltered port'.All into the Far the had the Too Many e Faces And Run Down Constitutions 4 There are too many females, all over Canada, who are broken down in health, apparently growing oldL while yet young. Often they have pale, sallow complexions, hollow sunken eyes; tho face has % pinched and haggard appearance; they aro weak, weary and extremely nervous, starting at tho least noise; become low spirited, irritable and fretful. To all women* who are weak and fun down wo Would recommend Milburn’s H. &> N. Pills as onq of the best remedies to build up the system and strengthen the weakened organs.* I will send this letter by air It ought to reach Dr, Stephen,- office in about two weeks. I be interested to. know later it was received. We have the DELUGE ALMOST AS BAD AS LONG DROUGHT Associated Press despatch from Chicago on Monday states: Last May the drought wouldn’t end; this year’ the rains won’t stop. Farmers over the Midwestern United States today were beginnng to coniplaiix about' the deluge. Already, near Hoopeston, Ill., the prolonged May showers have forced the tillers to night work to make up fo.r lost time. Tractors equipped with headlights chug nightly as the farmers plant the now corn crop. Automobile headlights are f-ocussed on the fields to aid the work. ' From Nebraska came reports that the tenth consecutive day of rain had left the State a land of a thousand lakes and puddles. Rivers were carry-] ing capacity loads. Farmers we-re un­ able to get to- their fields. IWRSPAY, MAY 30th, 1035 No need to wait now—no necessity for denying yourself and family the advantages and economies of Kelvinator electric refrigeration. On our exclusive METER-ATOR Plan you can easily afford it. Just 15 cents a day—and no down payment—no embarrassment and no increase in your household budget—merely deposit this small amount daily in the METER-ATOR (which can be placed any­ where near the refrigerator out of sight). That’s all there is to it. See the beautiful new models. Pick out the size and type you want and let us install it NOW. 18 models from which to choose. THE PLAN AT A GLANCE No down payment—no extra charge for the meter—select model you want—we install it—-you deposit as low as 15 cents a day, depending on model you select. Money is collected once a month—and after Kelvinator is paid for, the METER- ATOR is removed. W. J. BEER Phone 109, Exeter, Ont. “ All the others took their tarn in the repair shop..h [S beeu fa USe smCeceased express !e* Work > etc. fo<* their the never °ther Parts," tfaleh.,Qft Ont Says F. R. 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