It cannot, however, be said that such
behavior is a common thing among the commercial class. My personal
experience has been that John does what he says he will do, and for
years he will go on doing that one thing; but it should not surprise you
if one fine morning, with the infinite sagacity of his race, he ceases
to do this when you are least expecting it--and he "does" you. Keep an
eye on him, and the Chinese to be found in Hankow having dealings with
Europeans in business is as good as the best of men.
We wended our way one morning into the native city, and agreed that few
inconveniences of the Celestial Empire make upon the western mind a more
speedy impression than the entire absence of sanitation. In Hankow we
were in mental suspense as to which was the filthier native city--Hankow
or Shanghai. But we are probably like other travelers, who find each
city visited worse than the last. Should there arise in their midst a
man anxious to confer an everlasting blessing upon his fellow Chinese,
no better work could he do than to institute a system approaching what
to our Western mind is sanitation. We arrived, of course, in the winter,
and, having seen it at a time when the sun could do but little in
increasing the stenches, we leave to the imagination what it would be in
the summer, in a city which for heat is not excelled by Aden.
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