Connecticut western news., 1872-10-25
Selling Boys and Girls.

Children, here is story written by 6 at Hong Kong, China, l which reveals to you how boys and girls l are used there. It will interest you, and perhaps make you more thankful and than you are. The correspon- dent says:
 I saw the sale of a family, last week, for debt, where the husband and father was in California, and perhaps cannot do better than tell you about it. There were five children-three girls and two boys. We had passed them three times in our chairs during the day, as they steod 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 parj to know their busi- ness there. ATT 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 Q talk with them, mother was wrinkled and gray, and hung in the face. But the children, with the exception of the oldest girl, looked cheer ful, and were quite pleased with their holiday attire. The oldest girl was six teen, and the oldest boy fifteen. So said the gruff old broker who had the party in charge, who seemed quite anxious to dispose of his wares.
 After Q good deal of quizzing 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 he had received no offers. He sad that the family became security, volun- tarily, and he never knew of case where they did not voluntarily 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 purchasers right to do whatever he pleases 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 8 fortune to the owner. The girls would make good farmers" tor 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 l? The oldest girl he would sell for four hundred dollars; the next one for two hundred, the little six-year-old 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 hundred for the oldest and handsomest, while for the little one he must not expect ten dollars. He sneered at that, and said that Englishmen always talked that way when they want ed to buy.
 While we were conversing Q party of blue-robed Chinese aristocrats came up and began to inspect the family. They
 opened the mouth of the oldest girl, rapped on her white teeth to see if
 they were sound, pulled open her dress,
 thumped her ribs, laughed at her little
 feet, told her to show the whites of her
 eyes, ordered her to sing and to show
 had given her as parting gift. All the
 while the salesman kept up constant
 jabber, in which we took no interest.
 Time pressing, we passed on, leaving
 the parties disputing about the price
 and discussing probabilities of their
 running away if taken to Hong Kong,
 After making our call we returned the
 same way, to ascertain the result of the
 sale. Only the mother and the boys
 were left. The debt was only $500,
 and $50 of it still remained unpaid. ]
 have been often 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 sucl
 was the case upon passing the group
 the first time. But the scene had chang
 ed. The girls were gone, and now {
 boy must go also. The mother sat il
 the dirt with her arms around the young
 est, wailing in the most piteous manner
 and as Arr Hung said, cursing the mel
 that sold her husband ticket to Americi at $500, which cost them but $40.
 The broker sat listlessly by, smoking
 his pipe, and twirling his cane, lookin1 as if it was the smallest matter of busi
 ness with him. The boys were crying
 and seemed very much afraid of u
 now it was certain that one of then
 must go. But we passed on and lief them in their misery. We never kney whether the boy was sold to childles man to be treated as son, to Portu } guese to be carried to the West Indie under a nominal contract, or to nativ 2 land owner to be his slave. But tha } one of them was sold into servitud for the sum of $50, there can be n 7 doubt. The girls were doubtless pun chased for the vilest of purposes, unles they had the rare luck to fall into tn hands of some native in search of 5 legitimate wife. I am told that tn !, price of girls has gone up within fe1 months, owing, perhaps, to the fac that less number of emigrants hay
 forfeited their bonds in California tha ? was the case six months ago. I wa
 shown four bright, plump, rose appear } ing girls, yesterday, who were purchas ed less than a year ago (the whole lot } for $80. Now they will sell readily fo $500 each.
 WHAT THEY D1D.-A singular state ! ment is make in an Auburn newspaper A few weeks ago gentleman who wa passing through Auburn left package ( ! five hundred temperance tracts with tn chaplainof the prison for circulation anon the convicts. The tracts were searching ly scrutinized by the chaplin, who foun that they were written with great care , and likely to do good, They discusse ,, the various aspects of the temperanc z question, and, among other things, men ? toned the various drugs and poisons ( :, which liquors are so often made, givin 2 analyses and explanations of the wa they are manufactured, with view t
 show how deleterious they are to healtl 2 The tracts were distributed. Soon after l ward various convicts were found in a . intoxicated condition. On investigatio it came to light that number or ther had actually made use of the recipes i :. 1 .lz