Chit Chat # 50 
"ME-TRES = Me-3"

Bob Chen

It is rare that S.S.'s "As time goes by" series not bringing in other Lighters to add to the memories. I found one that can touch upon James Koo's driving on the wrong side part of his Hong Kong observations. I remembered that before S.S. and I went to pick pears at the camp, we went to San Francisco looking for jobs with Danny Young, and Raymond Cheung. Ray was the driver of a gray 50's Dodge or Plymouth. There were many one way streets in down-town S.F. in the banking district, and no parking during business hours. Danny went into a bank, and the three of us were going round and round in right hand turns. We worried like mad for cops, cause Ray had a learner's permit only that required a licensed driver sitting next to him. S.S. and I didn't qualify in those days. 

The other part that relates to " ME-DOS" is the Soong sisters. Peter Sun could be right about them going to Eastern schools later on in their lives. I was lucky in finding two out of print books at a going-out-of business sale. The books were printed in '43. The first one called "The Chiangs of China" by Elmer T. Clark. Dr. Clark was a Methodist editor since '26. The book was published by Abingdon-Cokesbury Press of New York and Nashville, and dedicated to Rev. Charles Jones Soong and Madame Kwei-Tseng Ni Soong, the parents of the sisters. There is a page from the Wesleyan Female College Matriculation Book for 1908 to 1909. E.Ling (18) was a Senior, May Ling (10), and Ching Ling (15) unclassified. In the main body of the book, it mentioned that May Ling went to Wellsley after five years at wesleyan when T.V. started at Harvard after two years at St. John's in Shanghai. It said clearly E. Ling and Ching Ling graduated from Wesleyan. All three spent summers up North in NYC, Boston,...etc. Not like S.S. and I, looking for summer jobs. E. Ling met H. H. Kung when the latter was at Yale. The first meeting did'nt spark anything till years later. The second book entitled "The Virgil of A Nation" by Lin Yutang, and published by the John Day Company, New York. It was the last book in a series by Lin. The first one called "My Country and My People". This last one was for the time period of September 22, 1943 to March 22, 1944. The Chinese title of the book was "Cheung Kuo Dang Tai" - pillowed on Spears, awaiting the Dawn. It covered the last part of WWII's Chungking. There is an interesting passage on Lin Yutang's attempt to adopt a girl from a Sian orphanage. Mme. Chiang (May Ling) was the head of that organization , and she rejected the request. She told Lin that she even rejected Mme. Kung's request after the latter took two sick ones to her home in Chungking, and nursed them back to health after nine months. Mme. Chiang (May Ling) asked E. Ling to return the children to the orphanage, so that there would not be a set precedent. Mme. Chiang feared some people would treat the adopted children as slaves without pay. All these facts are written to reinforce my lackings in modern Chinese History. I doubt anyone will question Lin Yutang.