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Foreign News
November 13, 1891
The Roanoke Times
Roanoke, Virginia
What is this article about?
A Toronto Globe writer describes the opulent bachelor life of two young English merchants in Singapore, living in a spacious bungalow with sixteen servants and offering lavish drinks like gin fizz and champagne to guests.
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Full Text
BACHELORS IN SINGAPORE.
The Luxurious Existence of Two Young Merchants.
Many of the white men in Singapore keep bachelor quarters, and one description of a bachelor's bungalow will suffice for all. Two young Englishmen, says a writer in the Toronto Globe, have a one-story, rambling house among some cocoanut palms, covering a lot of ground and open on every side.
Enter in and sit: leave your pith helmet at the door, and one of the bachelors says: "Now, wouldn't you take a gin fizz? It's very nice." And before the visitor can answer he calls out: "Boy!" when from some unforeseen screen or crack a China boy appears and gets the order. In a few minutes he returns with a long glass filled with "gin fizz" and powdered ice, and then the host goes on and asks the guest to take champagne and port and sherry and cognac and a julep, and I can't go on; there were more, but I really forget the names. This is hospitality in the orient. There are sixteen servants for these two white boys, and such attendance and obsequiousness spoils them, let alone the question of ruining their stomachs by so many liquor concoctions.
The Luxurious Existence of Two Young Merchants.
Many of the white men in Singapore keep bachelor quarters, and one description of a bachelor's bungalow will suffice for all. Two young Englishmen, says a writer in the Toronto Globe, have a one-story, rambling house among some cocoanut palms, covering a lot of ground and open on every side.
Enter in and sit: leave your pith helmet at the door, and one of the bachelors says: "Now, wouldn't you take a gin fizz? It's very nice." And before the visitor can answer he calls out: "Boy!" when from some unforeseen screen or crack a China boy appears and gets the order. In a few minutes he returns with a long glass filled with "gin fizz" and powdered ice, and then the host goes on and asks the guest to take champagne and port and sherry and cognac and a julep, and I can't go on; there were more, but I really forget the names. This is hospitality in the orient. There are sixteen servants for these two white boys, and such attendance and obsequiousness spoils them, let alone the question of ruining their stomachs by so many liquor concoctions.
What sub-type of article is it?
Colonial Affairs
What keywords are associated?
Singapore Bachelors
English Merchants
Colonial Lifestyle
Luxurious Bungalow
Oriental Hospitality
Where did it happen?
Singapore
Foreign News Details
Primary Location
Singapore
Event Details
Two young Englishmen maintain bachelor quarters in a one-story rambling house among cocoanut palms in Singapore. They offer extensive hospitality including gin fizz, champagne, port, sherry, cognac, julep, and more, served by sixteen servants including a China boy.