isciplined crew.
One of them, whose father had occupied an official position in the City
of New York, had been quite a society "swell" and claimed acquaintance
with me. At times he was required by the captain to hold my younger
child, a mere babe, in the arms. Every now and then we were startled by
her shrieks and for quite a time we could not detect the cause until we
finally discovered that his task was uncongenial and that, in order to
get rid of his charge, the incorrigible youth had administered an
occasional pinch.

One Sunday afternoon while sailing in the Indian Ocean we had a narrow
escape from shipwreck. Every sail was set to catch the least breath of
air, and Mr. Gouverneur and the children were on deck with the captain,
when in the distance they saw what seemed to resemble a huge wall. The
moment the experienced eye of our skipper saw it he exclaimed, "My God,
we are gone!" It slowly but surely approached our ship and when it
reached us its force was so great that our sails almost dipped into the
ocean. The ship, however, gradually righted itself and we were naturally
more than grateful for our deliverance. I chanced to be resting in my
cabin at the perilous moment and in a most unceremonious manner was
thrown to the floor. After reaching the mouth of that stupendous river,
the Yangtze Kiang, we thought our long voyage was nearly ended, but we
soon discovered that we had not yet "crossed the Rubicon," and that
trouble was still in store for us. We had just passed the mouth of this
river and cast anchor when, to our surprise and dismay, we encountered a
severe storm, and during the night dragged anchor for about twenty
miles. The morning, however, dawned bright and clear, but our captain,
who had lost his temper during the storm, did not accord the Chinese
pilots who boarded us a very gracious reception. This was my first
glimpse of the Chinese within the limits of their own domain.

When we reached the city of Shanghai it was quite dark, but we found
coolies awaiting us with chairs. I shall never forget my first
impressions of China. All of my anticipations of the beautiful Orient
were fully realized, and, as I was carried through the crowded streets,
visions of the Arabian Nights enchanted me and it seemed to me a
veritable region of delight. The streets of Shanghai, however, after the
broad thoroughfares of Washington, appeared like small and complicated
pathways. They were not lighted with public lamps a