Chapter 91 Chapter 12 Intimate Contacts with Europeans (Part 2)

When I was in Johannesburg, at one point I employed as many as four Indian clerks who were more like my sons than clerks.However, even with so many people, it still cannot meet my work needs. For example, typing, I can’t do without it, and among us, I am the only one who can type.I teach two staff members, but they have been failing because their English is so poor.Later, there was a staff member who I wanted to train as an accountant.I can't go to Natal to find someone, because no one can come to the Transvaal without an entry permit, and I don't want to go to the official who issued the permit for my personal convenience.

I just can't help it.Things piled up, and in spite of all my diligence, it seemed difficult to keep track of business and public affairs.I'd love to hire a European as a clerk, but I'm not sure there are any white men and women who would work for a colored man like me.But I decided to give it a try.I went to a typewriter broker I knew and asked him to find me a stenographer.There were female stenographers at the time, and he promised to find me one and try.He met a Scotch woman named Miss Dick, who had just arrived from Scotland.She had no objection to making a decent living for herself, working anywhere, and she needed work.So the agent called her to see me.She made a good impression on me right then.

"Do you not dislike working under Indians?" I asked her. "I don't care," was her firm reply. "How much salary do you want?" "Is seventeen pounds ten shillings too much?" "Not much, if you can do the work I need. When can you come?" "Now, if you want." I was very happy, and immediately dictated the letter for her to type. Before long, she was related to me more as a daughter or sister than as a stenographer.I can say that I can find no fault in her work, and I have often put her in charge of sums, amounting to several thousand pounds, and handed over the accounts to her.

She had my complete confidence, but perhaps more than that, she even told me her innermost thoughts and feelings.She also asked for my opinion on the final selection of a husband, and I even had the honor of officating her.After Miss Dick became Mrs. MacDonald, she had to leave my office, but right after we got married, when I couldn't get on with my work, she would come to me whenever I asked her for help. Now, however, I needed to find a permanent stenographer to take his place, and luckily I found another woman.She is Miss Shi Lixin, who was introduced to me by Mr. Karenbach.We will talk about Mr. Karenbach later.She is now a teacher at a secondary school in the Transvaal.She was about seventeen when she came to me.She has a bit of an eccentric temper that Mr. Karenbach and I can't stand sometimes.Rather than saying that she came to be a stenographer, it would be better to say that she came to seek experience.

She lacked that discrimination against people of color in her nature.She seemed indifferent to her age and experience.She didn't even hesitate to insult or reprimand someone face to face.Her brusqueness often got me into trouble, but her frankness of character tended to eliminate the problems it caused.Her typed letters, I often sign without checking, because I think her English is better than mine, and I have the fullest confidence in her loyalty. She was very self-sacrificing, and for a long time she was paid no more than six pounds, never accepting more than ten pounds a month.Whenever I persuade her to get more salary, she always blames me and says, "I'm not here to ask you for a salary. I'm here because I like working with you and I like your ideals."

She once drew forty pounds from me, but she must have been a loan, and paid it off in full last year. Her courage was also as great as her sacrifice.She was one of the few women I have had the pleasure of meeting in my life, whose character was crystal clear and whose boldness could outshine a warrior.She's grown up now.What she is now, I don't know so well as before, but my contact with this young woman will always be a sacred memory for me.So I would be sorry for the truth if I didn't tell what I knew about her. She works day and night for sports.When she went out to work alone in the dark, if anyone offered to send someone to take her off, she angrily refused.Thousands of daring Indians turn to her for advice.During the period of the civil resistance movement, almost all the leaders were thrown into prison, and she was the only one who led the movement.She supervised thousands of people, dealt with innumerable letters, and had the weekly Indian Opinion at her fingertips, but she was never tired.

I could write endlessly about such things about Miss Shi Lixin.But I'd like to close this chapter by quoting Gokhli's assessment of her.Gokhli knows all my colleagues.There are many people he likes and often praises them.Among all his Indian and European colleagues, he admired Miss Shi Lixin the most.He said: "I have seldom met a person who is as sacrificing, pure and fearless as Miss Shi Lixin. Among all your colleagues, she should be number one in my opinion."