The difficulties can be imagined. "When my father was alive, he would even borrow the money Great Uncle gave us kids to buy salt and rice for the beggars." (Shih Chien's uncle ran the famous Shih He-fa Lumber Yard of Tamsui, and was quite wealthy.)
「父親在世時，連我們去找伯公玩（施乾的伯父為淡水有名的施合發木材行，當時頗為富有），伯公所賞的袁大頭，都會為父親借用，去換成鹽米，供乞丐生活之用。」