Weekly Trinity journal., 1870-10-08
NUMBER 40.
Girls for sale-A Scene In China.

whlle the husband and father was in California:
and perhaps cannot do better than to tell you
about 1t. There were five children-three girls
and two boys, We had passed them three times
in our chair during the day as they stood beside
the road dressed in their holiday attire of black
The silence they observed when any person
passed, and their down-cast looks, created curl
osity on our part, to know their business there
Arr Hung, our waiter, was called up and asked
the cause of this little parade. why" said
he, " the girls, and perhaps the whole family,
are for sale" We stopped our chair and step
ped out to have "A talk with them, using Arr
Hung as an interpreter. The mother was
wrinkled and gray, and hung her head, as if she
were afraid to look us in the face. But the chill
dren, vita the exception of the oldest girl looked
cheerful, and were QNte pleased with their holi-
day attire. The oldest girl was sixteen, and the
oldest boy fifteen. SO said the graft old broker
who had the party in charge, and who seemed
quite anxious to dispose of his wares. After a
great deal of quzzing and evasive answers, the
broker told us that the husband and father was
in California and had neglected to pay his note
given for his passage, and that his family were
now offered for sale to pay the debt. He hoped
to be able to pay the debt with
THE SALE OF THE TWO OLDEST GIRLS,
but as yet, had received no orders. He said that
the family became security voluntarily, and he
never knew of case where they did not volun-
tarily offer themselves for sale if the note they
secured was not paid. In reply to our questions
he said that when customer bought child or
person, the person was made at once the owner
of the child body and soul No Chinaman
would dispute the purchaser S rights to do what
soever he pie0ses with the human being he had
paid for The boys would make good servants
he said, and in the course of few years would
be worth fortune to the owner. The girls
would make good 'armcrs," or nurses, as they
are called in America. He would show us their
! physical beauty--would make them sing and
play tricks if we thought of buying. How much
would we give? The oldest girl, she would sell
for four hundred dollars the next one for two
hundred, and the little six-year-od for fifty.
The boys he could not sell until the girls were
disposed Of, We thought the price too high
The market was
GLUTTED WITH sALABLE GIRLS,
and he must not think of getting over one hun
dred for the Oldest and handsomest, while for
the little one he must not expect over ten dollars
| lie sneered at that and said Englishmcn ALWAYS
talked that way when they wanted to buy,
While we were talking, party of blue-robed
chinese aristocrats came up and began to inspect
the family. They opened the mouth of the old
est girl, raped her teeth to see if they were
sound, pulled open her dress and thumped her
ribs, laughed at her little feet, told her to show
the whites Of her eyes, ordered her to sing,
and to show them the trinkets which the fond
mother had given her as u parting gift. All
the while the salesman kept up a constant ab-
ber, in which took no interest. Time pres
sing, we passed on, leaving the parties disputng
about the price, and discussing the probability
of their running away IL taken to Hong Kong.
After making our call, we returned the same
way, to ascertain the result of the sale Ouly
the mother and boys left. The debt was
only $500 and $50 of 1t still remained unpaid.
bave often been told by residents in China
that the parents would as soon sen their children
as COW or pig, and soon began to believe that
such was the case upon passing the group the
first time. But the scene had changed. The
girls were gone, and now boy must go also.
The mother sat in the dirt, with her arms around
the youngest, wailing in a most piteous manner,
and as Arr Hung said,
CURsING THE MEN,
That sold her husband n ticket to America ut
$500, which cost them but $40. The broker sat
listlessly by smoking his pipe, and twirling his
cane, looking MS il it was the smallest matter of
business with him. The boys were CRYING and
seemed very much afraid of us, now it was GER
tain that one of them must CO. But we passed
on and left them in their misery. We never
knew whether the boy was sold to a childless
man to be treated as Il son, to n Portuguese to bs
carried to the West Indies under u nominal
contract, or to Il native landowner to be his
slave. But that one of them was sold into servi-
tude for the sum of 500, there can be no doubt
The girls were doubtless purchased for the vest
of purposes, unless they had the rare luck to fall
into the hands of some native in search of le-
climate wife. am told that the price of girls
has gone up within few months, owing, per-
haps, to the fact that less number of emi-
grants have forfeited their bond in California
than was the case six months ago | was shown
four bright, plump, rosy appearing girls yester-
day, who were purchased less than year ago,
the whole lot for $50. Now they will sell read
lily for $500 each,