The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-02-19
The Chinese in San Francisco.

4 Iating the .strects---In Service for Ten
! EIinutes.
I began to 90 into the. kitchens of
4 friends TO learn about the Chinese be-
fore hiring any myself. AS to the man
nef Of engaging them, there are plenty
of intelligence Offices, but the most ex-
peditious way is to go to the front door
and beckon one in they perambulate
the streets in gangs of three or four,
and, as you cannot look out without
seeing one or more, a mistress of a
! house need never be without a China
boy. The average wages for good
cook are $50 n month. A boy to do
chamber work, il he don't speak much
English, is not paid more than So a
month. But right here let me tell the
whole truth good cooks are almost as
scarce as diamond deposits between the
Battery and Trinity Church further
more, California women pay higher
wages and do more housework them
selves, while said servants stand and
look on, than any women [ have ever
seen anywhere. In the first place, the
most excellent Chinaboy withdraws
himself from the house Immediately
after dinner, which is eaten in this city
at six o'clock generally. Any service
required after that hour, such as bring
I ing coal, water, or answering door-bells,
the lady uncomplainingly does herself,
for no dear young Chinaboy will serve
after nightfall. He is expected to come
early enough in the morning to light
the fires and get the breakfast. If he
does not (and six times in ten he doesn't),
she gets breakfast herself. They, the
Chinese, as 1 have said, seldom or never
sleep in the house. The baggage With
which they enter place consists solely
of an apron and as they have no dis
atinctive names, being always Lee,
Chung, Wang, Wing, Sing, Chang, or
the like, they have no foothold any
where, and when they disappear it is
almost impossible to trace them, the
which is frequently desirable to do, as
their exodus from house is almost
always coeval with the vanishing of
some trinket or trifing sum of money.
They all look alike, and the names they
give are equal to our John, Sam, Joe,
etc., so that;amidst the swarms of Chi
nese one can never trace them.
They come over to this country by
the thousands. All the English they
are taught is Chow you call i'm l''
and then they are scattered broadcast
throughout the country as frst-class
English -spe aking cooks. -..
"I got even with one of 'em," said a
| '49er housekeeper to me.
,"How?"
| "Why, L got kind of tired of teach
ing so many of them cooking and Eng
hsh for nothing, and they only stayed
long enough with me to learn how to
do things SO one came one day, and,
as usual, he didn't know the first ghost
of an English phrase except, How
you call i'm p So, real sick at heart,
sits down and 1 says, I'm tired of
teaching English and cooking for moth
ing. Surely the intelligence of the
average New York woman (for L Uas
New Yorker) is equal to that of kltch-
en- Chinaboy. If so, it stands to reason
that if he can learn English I can learn
Chinese So, instead of having him to
say to me all the time, How you call
i'm ? show you call i'm? I says to
him, How you call i'm ?? how you call
i'm 2 and L made him tell me in Chi
nese. That Chinaboy stayed with me
three months trying to learn English,
but he didn't learn word, and I p,G picked ed
to them. No Chinaboy has ever learned
any English from me since. But oh,
madam I" she continued with shud-
der, sit was the most awful jawbreak-
ing experience of my whole life-it's the
'ungod1iest,. lingo you ever did hear.
Why, 1. do believe if pack of them
China fellows were to 90 buzzin' round
Beelzebub he'd send the whole crew
back to San Francisco. got ahead of
one of them, but that's enough for
me-"
Three months in one place! You
can estimate how long a time that is for
the Oriental when 1 tell you that no
husband and father, or any man, ever
expects to see the same Chinaboy wait
ing at dinner who waited at breakfast.
I have said that changing twice day
is not unusual, in order to break it to
you gently but the fact is, twice or
thrice a day is not often for f" Frisco"
l have known five fellows come in during
day, try the place and leave in an
hour. An hour ! Why, that's q good
long time. The noduS operandi is
this Ling Foo fails to put in an ap.
pearance at breakfast housekeeper
beckons in Sing Toa, who washes up
the dishes; he then says, "Me no
hkee-me go" "Why ?' inquiries
housekeeper. "Too muchee dishee."
He retlres, another beckoned in. Il
must not omit to mention the inevita-
BILE haggling about wages, and the also
inevitable coming to his terms by the
housekeeper). All Heung makes bed
or two and is told to sweep room.
He begins, smothers everything in
dust; then he lays dust-pan and broom |
IN the centre of the floor, saving. like |
his predecessor, =" Me NO likee-me
60" "Why ?" "Me no doee alice |
ting" This experience is repeated |
until the line bids fair to stretch out to
the crack of doom. I myself counted
Ssrteen Cinnamon who came in to try
the same place in one day; and really
1T wasn't a. very good day for Chinaboys
either. for it ;rained and there were not
many about. They are the most in
comprehensive set. They come for
no reason, and leave for that same.
-" I've got treasure at last, 1" said one
of my landladies. "He came early this
morning and brought his clothes"
j. "His what?"
"WellAhis apron. Why interrupt
me when you know perfectly well what
I mean :? He swept the kitchen and
made beautiful cup of coffee himself
and set the the table without any show
ing, and-here's breakfast let's sit
down."
We sat down. 1t was, as she said,
beautiful cup of coffee table well
spread, and plate of pancakes, each
about the size of the silver fractional
Dafts Of q dollar with which tba Gaora |