while i have been waiting to be prepared to "come out," i determined to walk around the streets and see some more of the doings of americans. grandmother gave her consent, with a warning to keep off certain streets.
"it is quite safe for a young girl to[pg 79] walk alone in most places in our country, thank god," said dear grandmother devoutly, "and i am very willing that you should look about you. i remember when i was a girl i liked to walk and see things, too."
but aunt gwendolin knocked the whole thing in the head—apparently.
"it is so plebeian for her to go tramping through the streets," she said to my grandmother. "cannot she be satisfied to go out every day with us in the automobile? the grounds are spacious around this place, and she can have all the exercise she wants right here."
so the question was settled—to all appearance.
a week after my aunt's fiat i read in the daily newspaper that in the "house of jacob," a certain jewish synagogue downtown, there was conducted on a[pg 80] certain afternoon every week sewing classes for young jewish girls. instantly i decided that i wished to visit it, and see those "children of abraham," about whom grandmother had been teaching me in the bible, those people who were god's favourites, and i set about laying plans to accomplish my desire.
happily, when that afternoon came around, aunt gwendolin went out to a bridge party—i have not yet found out what that means, but i hoped that afternoon that she would have a good many bridges to cross, so it would keep her a long time away—and it was betty's day out.
previous to this i had found in a closet a black skirt and shawl formerly worn by grandmother, and a bonnet which she had laid aside.
as soon as my aunt had safely [pg 81]departed (i had seen betty go an hour before), i hastily threw the heavy black satin skirt over mine, draped the black embroidered silk shawl around my shoulders, and tied on the bonnet. with a black chiffon veil, which was not very transparent, tied over my face, i felt very comfortable. it was quite proper for an elderly lady to go anywhere she wished.
grandmother was taking her customary afternoon nap, as i slipped down the backstairs into the kitchen. yick, preparing the flour for his biscuits, saw me and started. i could not keep my secret from him; i decided to take him into my confidence and trust him.
so lifting my veil, i looked at him markedly, and told him rapidly in chinese that he was not to tell any one he had seen me.
he smiled, winked, and nodded knowingly, assuring me in voluble chinese that he would keep my secret.
"you no tellee onee me," he said significantly, with grimaces and gesticulations.
going out through the back door, and down through a lane at the back of the house, i was soon on the street.
taking the street-cars—in which aunt gwendolin thinks it is very plebeian to ride—i was soon whirled down in front of the "house of jacob."
what a mercy it is, in this curious america, that so many people are plebeian and ride in street-cars that they do not pay any attention to one another. nobody noticed my grandmotherly garb.
a woman reporter entered the front door of the synagogue along with me,[pg 83] and i imagined that i was regarded with some deference—grandmother's old skirt and shawl are made of rich material.
i followed the reporter around the room in which the classes were held, a few yards in the rear.
there they were, a hundred or more little jewish children, red-headed, black-headed, blonde-headed, and jewish women had them arranged in groups, and were teaching them to sew.
"these little red-heads are typical russian jews," i heard the director of the ceremonies say to the reporter, "only in this country a few months. there's one that has the marked jewish features," she added, pointing to another type of child. "they are all fond of jewellery—an oriental trait."
dear, dear, i only stayed a short time looking at them. they are not much[pg 84] different from others, those people who struck rocks and water gushed out, had manna and quails rained down on them, and walked through a wilderness led by a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. i have seen hundreds of chinese who looked just as remarkable. i cannot understand why god showed partiality to abraham's children.
i went out onto the street again, and wandered on till i came to what i recognized as chinese quarters. there were the laundries of hoy jan, lem tong, lee ling, and the shops and warehouses of moy yen, man hing, and cheng key. the dear names; it did me almost as much good to look at them as it could to make a visit to my own country.
as i walked down the quiet street, a wistful oval face looked down on me[pg 85] from a window. a chinese woman's face, and the first i had seen since coming to america. stepping into a little shop near by, a shop containing preserved ginger, curious embroidered screens, little ivory elephants and jade ornaments, i asked who lived in the house where i saw the face at the window, and was informed that it was the home of mr. and mrs. lee yet.
it was drawing near dinner time in my grandmother's house; already i had stayed out longer than i had intended: i had no time to investigate further regarding mrs. yet.
when i got back to the house i found that my aunt had returned before me, but fortunately had not noticed my absence.
when yick walked into the dining room with the steaming plum-pudding for our dinner, aunt gwendolin said:
"yick, who was that little old woman i saw coming up our back lane half an hour ago?"
"me nevee see no little old womee," returned yick, with a child-like smile.
"how stupid those chinese are," said my aunt, when yick had left the room. "i certainly saw an old woman, and there that creature never saw her!"
the creature had helped a young woman take off her black bonnet and shawl, and escape up the backstairs half an hour before.
i suppose it's "that oriental blood—half witch, and half demon" that's at the bottom of my tantrum of this afternoon.
