Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1870-09-21
The Girl Market
4 Scene IN Chind-AH Episode Of Chin
csc Emigration to america.

RUSSELL writes from the Hong Kong
as follows: I saw the sale of a family
last week for debt, where the husband
and father was in California, and per-
| haps I can do no better than to tell you
about it. There were five children
three girls and two boys. We had pass
ed them three times in our chairs du-
the day, as they stood beside the road
dressed in their holiday attire of black.
| The silence they observed whenever
any person passed, and their dOwncast
| looks, created curiosity 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
chairs, and stepped out to have a talk
with them, using Arr Hung as an inter
prefer.
THE mother was wrinkled and gray,
hung her head, as if she was afraid to
look us in the face. But the children,
with the exception of the oldest girl,
looked cheerful, and were quite pleased
with their holiday attire. The Oldest
girl was sixteen, and the oldest boy fif-
teen. So said the gruff old broker who
4du GlG pal III CllGl anu W AAO
quite anxious to dispose of his wares.
After a great deal of quizzing and eva
sive answers, the broker told her that
her husband and father was in Cali
fOrnia and had neglected to pay his
note given for his passage, and that his
family were now offered for sale for his
debt. He hoped to be able to pay the
debt with the sale of the two oldest
girls, but he had received no offers. He
said that the family became security
voluntarily, and he never knew a case
where they did voluntarily offer them
selves for sale if-the note they secured
was not paid:
In reply to our questions he said that
when a customer bought child or per-
son, the person was made at once the
owner of the child, body and soul. No
cinnamon would dispute the purchasers
right to do whatsoever he pleased with
the human being he had paid for, The
boys would make good servants, he
said' and in the course Of few years be
worth fortune to the owner. The
girls would make good 'aTmers,' or
nurses as they are called in America.
He would show US their physical beau
ty-wOuld make them sing and play
tricks if we thought of buying. How
much would we give? The oldest girl
he would sell for S400; the next one $500,
and the little six year old for $50. The
boys he could not sell until the girls
were disposed of. We thought the
price too high. The market was glut-
ted with saleable girls, and must not
think of getting over 500 for the oldest
and handsOmest, while for the little one
he must not expect over $40.
He sneeTed at that, and said that En-
glishmen always talked that way when
they wanted to buy. While we were
talking, party of blue-robed Chinese
aristocrats came up and began toinspect
the family. They opened the mouth of
the Oldest girl, raped on her white
teeth to see if they were sound, pulled
open her dress, thumped her ribs, laugh
ed at her little feet, told her to show the
white of her eyes, ordered her to sing.
and to show them trinkets which the
fond mother had given as a parting
gift. All the while the salesman kept
up a constant iabber, in which we took
no interest. Time pressing, we passed
on, leaving the parties dispUting about
the price, and discussing the probabili
ties of their running away if taken to
Hong Kong.
After making our call, we returned
the same day to ascertain the result of
the sale. Only the mother and her
boys were left The debt was only
three hundred dollars, and fifty of it |
still remained unpaid. I have been Of |
ten told by residents in China that the
parents would as soon sell their children |
as cow or pig. And I had begun 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 mart with her arms |
around the youngest, wailing in a most |
piteOus manner, and as Arr Hung said |
cursing the men that sold her husband |
q ticket to America at three hundred |
dollars which cost them but forty dol |
lars. The broker sat listlessly by smO- |
king his pipe, and twirling his cane, !
looking as 1T 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 go. 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 a |
son, to a Portuguese to be carried to the |
West Indies under a nominal contract,
or to native landowner to be a slave.
But that one of them was sold into ser
VlLu0e IOr Cne sum OF QIGy dollars, Unere
can be no doubt. The girls were doubt
less purchased for the vilest purposes,
unless they had the rare luck to fan into
the hands of some nature in search of a
legitimate wife. I am told that the
price of girls has gone up within a few
months, owing, perhaps, to the fact
that less number of emigrants have
forfeited their bond in California than
was the case six months ago. was
shown four bright, plump, rosy appear
ing girls yesterday, who were purchas-
for @ eighty E dollars. s. Now the they seIi Elf Feadi.
ly for three hundred dollars EACH