The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. XX. No. 1021, July 22, 1899 — John Shaqi
The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. XX. No. 1021, July 22, 1899Various
General
The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. XX. No. 1021, July 22, 1899
Various
Children's literature -- Periodicals
One man I remember especially among these, who led us a fine dance! He
was a tall, thin, intellectual-looking fellow, with a handsome but most
cruel face. Some friends from a distance had sent us word that they
were coming over for the day, and I had provided a turkey for dinner.
All that I could prepare beforehand had been done. Dinner was to be at
one o’clock, and I began to be uneasy as the time passed, and I knew
the turkey to be lying white and cold and unstuffed upon the kitchen
table. It was dangerous ground to seem to interfere, or advise much,
and I had already twice said, and the last time with emphasis, that the
dinner must be punctual and the turkey well done. After anxious and
secret family consultations, however, as the time grew very late, and
I knew the great white thing to be still lying on the kitchen table, I
went in and told him that he must get the turkey into the oven at once.
He made no reply, and went on perfectly quietly with some unimportant
job; I waited a moment, and still getting no reply, I repeated my
order, adding, “Do you hear, Wong?”
Then he looked round at me, with a leer on his handsome face, and still
gave no answer. “Dinner is at one,” I said, trying to keep quiet. “When
will that turkey be ready?”
After a moment of silent laughter, when I could see his back shaking,
he said, “Turkey leady allie lightie to-mollow, not cookie him
to-day—no time!” Then his back shook again, as he bent over his bit of
work.
I confess I did not know how to deal with this. Nowadays, in such a
plight, I should storm and get very angry, and try to frighten him, for
they are all cowards. But I was too uncertain then, and our friends
were due directly, and I did not dare risk anything.
However, the end of it was, dinner was just a little late, but to our
amazement everything was beautifully cooked and served, and there was
no sign of that alarming mood in the grave alert man who waited on us.
I had not then realised how marvellously quick they are; what seeming
impossibilities they can accomplish without effort, slip-slopping about
in their loose, heelless little shoes with apparently tireless steps.
They are very methodical and orderly, and no doubt this is the secret
of their quickness. They certainly get through a great deal of work,
and with ease too, and have plenty of leisure besides.
One man we had always spent his leisure in sleep. He disappeared
regularly after the washing-up of the midday dinner. It was only by
chance that we discovered where he took his siesta. One of us went to
fetch something from the “cool” cellar we had dug for ourselves, and
of which we were very proud, and were startled to find a white figure
lying prostrate, stretched across three empty lemon boxes, in the
middle of the floor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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