Christmas will always be another happy memory. The carols, the marching
around the ship of the choristers Christmas Eve, the services and the
story of Christmas by Mrs. Barton gave a contrast of seriousness that
made us appreciate the frivolities all the more. How cheery the dining
room was with its garlands of red berries and huge Christmas tree,
swaying with the motion of the ship, and what fun when jovial and
popular Captain Nelson, as Santa Claus gave a present to all. How
surprised and happy the Captain, the officers and Mr. Grady were when
Warren Shannon presented them with the beautiful gifts purchased by our
party. Everyone was coaxed to display their "parlor tricks." Warren
Shannon gave his masterpiece "Tiger Fat," Reese Lewellyn sang, followed
by Mrs. Schwabacker's charming rendition of "What Irishmen Mean by
McCree," Dr. Thomas Hill recited cleverly, Mrs. Brandeis read the
farewell poem she had written, Mrs. Brown sang beautifully. Will we ever
see a Korean costume without thinking of Louis Mooser and the excellent
resolutions of thanks he drew and how he regretted the loss of his first
diary? If it was half as clever as the second diary we can well
understand his feelings. The laughter, singing and dancing kept up until
way past midnight. No wonder everyone seemed in the best of health and
spirits after this wonderful tour.
Last Few Days of Trip
The women of the party, led by Mrs. Frank Panter, gave a vote of thanks
for being permitted to be a part of such an important tour penetrating
an area where 900,000,000 souls are living, and wrote a resolution to
the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce to that effect. It was up to the
women to send "the last word" from the party, as Ou Wee of Canton, said,
"The women of America are the real dictators,' 'and since the days of
Eve, every man knows that women must have the "last word." But after
seeing the treatment of the Oriental women, all the party of the
feminine gender, were doubly glad to be Americans and to be going home.
We all understand the meaning of the phrase, "The best part of going
away is the coming back," and when we contemplated that the famous
"Peace Ship" could only stand it for three days, we felt quite pleased
with our three months' record of friendly relationship, not only with
our associates on board ship, but also with all those of the Orient, on
this, the First Commercial Relationship Tour that any Chamber of
Commerce has ever attempted and successfully accomplished.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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