Roddy McPhee - Chinese Mandarin
From the book of short stories, "More Recollections of an Ole Salt", by Lorne Johnson, 1983.
From the misty corridors of two centuries comes this strange and fascinating story which may not have an equal anywhere, especially on P.E.I.
In the late 1700's, Danny Dhu McPhee, a tall good looking Scotchman in his early twenties, left the Isle of Barra on the west coast of Scotland with his young bride. No one knows if they were planning to land on the wild uninviting north east coast of P.E.I. or not, but land they did. When Danny carried his bride ashore and set her down on the barren rocks, she said, "Why Danny dear, the rocks here are as barren as they were back home on Barra." Hence the name Rock Barra, which is the name of that school district to this day.
The following spring, a bonnie wee boy named Roderick, arrived to brighten their young lives and apparently he was quite a boy. His mother and father taught him all they knew becuase until a few years later there was no school house. In turn, Roderick taught the neighbour's children in his parents home until the time he was able to help his dad clear the new land. When Roderick was approximately eight years old he had to quit teaching school, chiefly because his dad needed all the help he could get clearing the land.
As time went by new settlers arrived, and with the the clearing of additional land, new roads were opened. One evening Roderick was returning on one of these roads from the little village of Souris West. The late October sky was overcast and heavy frowning clouds skimmed the tops of the many hills of Gowan Brae, a small school district near Rock Barra. Young Roddie was in a hurry, he was cold and hungry, also he had to pass through the many hills and valleys made eerie to him in the early twilight because of the many fascinating ghost stories he had heard, as a young boy. Besides all of this, the roads of early pioneer days were rough, which made for a slow progress, especially after dark.
As if a young fellow of 17 didn't have enough worries, the black cat that might cross his path would scarcely put a dent in what might happen if a black bear happened along. As Roddie stopped to get a drink from a roadside brook he glanced apprehensively oover his shoulder at a tall dark handsome man approaching. The stranger didn't understand Gaelic and Roddie had no understanding of English. After using some sign language, Roddie realized the man was captain of a ship and was looking for a young man to replace one of his crewmen who had suddenly become ill.
The Gaelic language is very persuasive if one knows how to apply it in order to win a point. The fact that Roddie had been a school teacher until eight years of age stood him in good stead now, so much that he convinced his mom and dad to allow him to join the crew of the stranger's ship. He promised them that he would return some time soon. Little he knew what the future held in store for him.
Roddie, true to his promise wrote each time they were in port. Letters arrived from many parts of the world ... then no more letters. His mother pined and fretted and blamed herself for allowing him to leavel Some years later Roddie's younger brothers persuaded their mother to let them go and see if they might find someone who could solve the mystery of his apparent disappearnace. They promised to stay together and return some day. After receiving their parents' blessing, the two brothers along with his two cousins sailed the seas for many a day, to different ports of the world looking for news of Roddie but to no avail. A few years later, they were outward bound from Foochow, China on one of the great clipper ships in the tea trade. Apparently they were only a short distance from the coast when a typhoon struck and the clipper ship was driven ashore. Some of the crew were rescued, including the four sailors from Rock Barra. Now, it is one thing to be a shipwrecked sailor far from home but it was worse to be thrown in jail for being a so-called vagrant along the waterfront.
Several days later they appeared before a judge, who, in those days, was called a Mandarin. So the judge asked them in English to state their cases, which they did but apparently the mandarin didn't believe them, as he sentenced them rather severely. One of the four boys remarked in Gaelic, "too bad we didn't have the ol' !!??!/! on P.E.I. ..." That's as far as he got when the mandarin inquired "Where did you learn the Gaelic? I noticed you didn't pronounce it correctly. I know because I learned from my mother, how they spoke Gaelic on the Isle of Barra." The four P.E. Islanders were completely astounded and could hardly credit what they had just heard. The mandarin, who had been their judge, was their long lost brother and cousin Roderick. What a joyful reunion ...
Roderick then related his story of the events that happened. After he left home and how eventually he was shipwrecked off the China coast. He told how the previous mandarin had compassion for him when he had appeared in court and how he, in gratitude, had promised the mandarin he would follow in his footsteps as he had no sons to do so. He explained how he had taught Gaelic to the mandarin and in turn had been taught the Chinese language. His brothers and cousings pleased with him to come home but to no avail. Roderick felt he could not break his promise to the mandarin. His greatest regret was that he would never again see his parents, or P.E.I., the land of his birth.
Before his kinsmen bade Roddie farewell, and not knowing their mother had since passed away, they brought the tears to his eyes when they related the story of how his mother had erected a monument to his memory in St. Margaret's Church old cemetery. For his tombstone, she had chosen one of thelarge rocks off the shore where she had stood when they first arrived and had exclaimed "Why Danny dear, the rocks here are as barren as they were back home on Barra."