The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-09-17
CHINESE JUGGLERY FEAT.
BY BRET HARrE.

b1 bhEI hAhIE.
As I opened Hop Sings letter there
auttered to the ground square stripof
yellow paper covered with hierogly-
phics, which at first glance ] inuocently
took to be the label from a pack of Chi
nese fire crackers. But the same envel-
ope also containei a smaller strip of rich
paper, with two Chinese characters traced
in India ink, that I at nee knew to be
Hop Sings visiting card. The whole,
as afterward literally translated, ran as
follows:
To the stranger the gates Of my house are not
closed the rice jar is on the left, and
the sweetmeats on the right as you enter.
Two savings of the master;
Hospitality is the virtue of the son and the
wirdOm Of the ancestor.
The superior man is light-hearted after the
crOp-gathering: he makes a festival.
When the stranger is in your melon patch OBJ
serve him not too closely; inattention is Of
ten the highest form Of civility.
Happiness, Peace and Prosperity.
HOP SING.
Admirable, certainly, as was this NOR
atty and proverbial wisdom. and, al
though this last axiom was very charac-
teristic of my friend Hop Sing, who was
that most sober of all humorists, a Chi
nese philosopher, must confess that,
even after a free translation, was at
loss to make any immediate application
Of the message. Luckily I discovered
a third inclosure in the shape of lit
tie note in English and Hop Sings own
commercial hand. It ran thus:
The pleasure Of your company is requested
at No. - Sacramento street, on Friday even
ing at o'clock. A cup Of tea at 9-sharp.
This explained ALL 1t meant a visit
to Hop Sings warehouse, the opening
and exhibition of some rare Chinese
novelties and curiOs, chat in the back
Office, a cup of tea of a perfection I'M
known beyond those sacred precincts,
cigars and a visit TO the Chinese theater
or temple. This was in fact the favor
ite programme of Hop Sing when he
exercised his functions of hospitality as
the chief factor or superintendent of
the Ming Foo company.
At o'clock on Friday evening en-
tered the warehouse of Hop Sing.
There was that delicously-cJmmingled
mysterious foreign odor that / had so
often noticed there was the old array
of uncouth.lookin objects, the long
procession of Jars and crockery, the
same singular blending of the grotesque
and the mathema ically neat and exact,
the same endless suggestions of frlvoli-
ty and fragility, the same want OF har-
mony in colOrs that were each, IN them
selves, beautiful and rare. Kites IN the
shape of enormous dragons and gigantic
butterflies; kites so ingeniously ar
ranged as to utter at intervals, when
facing the wind. the cry of a hawk;
kites so large as to be beyond any boys
power of restraint-so large that you
understood why kite, flying in China
was an amusement for adults; gods OF
China and bronze so gratuitously ugly
as to be beyond any human interest or
sympathy from their very imposslblllty;
Jars of sweetmeats covered all over with
moral sentiments from Confucius hats
that looked like baskets, and baskets
that looked like hats silks so light that
I hesitate to record the incredible num-
Der of square yards that you might pass
through the ring on your little finger
these and a great many other indescrlb-
able objects were all familiar to me.
pushed my way through the dlmly-
lighted werehouse until reached the
back Office or parlor, where found hop
Sing waiting to receive me.
Before / describe him l want the av-
erage reader to discharge from his
mind auy idea of Chinaman that he
NAV have gathered from the pantomlme
He did not wear beautifully scalloped
drawers fringed with little bells-I new
er met a Ohinaman who did; he did not
habitrrally carry his forefnger extended
before him at right angles with bis body,
nor did ever hear him utter the mys-
terious sentence, "Ching a ring ring
chaw." nor dance under any provoca-
ton. He was on the whole rather
grave. decorous, handsome gentleman:
His complexion, which extended al
over his head except where his long pig
tail grew, was like a very nice piece ot
glazed brown paper muslin. His eyes
were black and bright, and his eyelios
set at an angle of fifteen degrees ms
nose straight and delicstely formed, hls
mouth small and his teeth white and
clean. He wore dark blue silk blouse;
and on the streets, on cold days, short
Jacket of astrakhan fur. He wore also
"A pair of drawers of blue brocads, gath
cred tightly over his calves and ankles,
offering a general sort of suggestion
that he had forgotten his trousers that
morning, but that, so gentlemanly were
his manners, his friends had torporhe
to mention the fact to him. Ills man
ner was urbane, although quite serious.
He smoke French and English huently.
In brief I doubt if You could have
fonnd tbe equal of this Pagan shop
keeper among the Christian traders Oh
San Francisco.
There were few others presenl!t
Judge of the federal court, an eolIor'
n bigb cover nment official, and prom
ipent merchant. After We had drunk
our tea and tasted a few sweetmeat.ss
from a mysterious Jar, that looked as II
IL might contain a preserved mouse
among it's other nondescript treasures,
Hop Sing arose, and gravely beckonlDg
MS to follow him, began to descend to
the basement. When we got there, We
runro n.-,nnna lot -findinol IL hrilliantlN