# The Heathen Chinee (1871)

The publisher of this edition asserted it to be the only illustrated edition sanctioned by Harte. Illustrations by S. Eytinge. See The Heathen Chinee for other versions.
THE HEATHEN CHINEE.
BY
BRET HARTE.
BOSTON:
JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO.
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"THE HEATHEN CHINEE."
BY
BRET HARTE.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY S. EYTINGE, JR.
BOSTON:
JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY,
LATE TICKNOR & FIELDS, AND FIELDS, OSGOOD, Co.
1871.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871,
BY JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO.,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
University Press: Welch, Bigelow, & Co., Cambridge.
PUBLISHERS' NOTE.
   Mr. Eytinge's illustrations to "The Heathen Chinee" have been submitted to the author, and have received his approval. The present is the only illustrated edition of the poem published with the author's sanction.
PLAIN LANGUAGE FROM
TRUTHFUL JAMES
TABLE MOUNTAIN, 1870.
Which I wish to remark,— And my language is plain,—
That for ways that are dark And for tricks that are vain,
The heathen Chinee is peculiar.
Which the same I would rise to explain.
Ah Sin was his name;
And I shall not deny
In regard to the same
What that name might imply,
But his smile it was pensive and childlike,
As I frequent remarked to Bill Nye.
It was August the third; And quite soft was the skies;
Which it might be inferred
That Ah Sin was likewise;
Yet he played it that day upon William
And me in a way I despise.
Which we had a small game,
And Ah Sin took a hand:
It was Euchre. The same
He did not understand;
But he smiled as he sat by the table,
With the smile that was childlike and bland,
Yet the cards they were stocked
In a way that I grieve,
And my feelings were shocked
At the state of Nye's sleeve: Which was stuffed full of aces and bowers,
And the same with intent to deceive.
But the hands that were played
By that heathen Chinee,
And the points that he made,
Were quite frightful to see,— Till at last he put down a right bower,
Which the same Nye had dealt unto me.
Then I looked up at Nye,
And he gazed upon me;
And he rose with a sigh, And said, "Can this be? We are ruined by Chinese cheap labor,"— And he went for that heathen Chinee.
In the scene that ensued
I did not take a hand,
But the floor it was strewed
Like the leaves on the strand
With the cards that Ah Sin had been hiding,
In the game "he did not understand."
In his sleeves, which were long, He had twenty-four packs,— Which was coming it strong,
Yet I state but the facts;
And we found on his nails, which were taper,
What is frequent in tapers,—that's wax.
Which is why I remark,
And my language is plain,
That for ways that are dark,
And for tricks that are vain,
The heathen Chinee is peculiar,— Which the same I am free to maintain.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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