New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-08-30
WAN LEE, THE PAGAN.
A SKETCH BY BRET HARTE.

AS opened Hop Sings letter, there fiut-
tered to the ground uare strip OF yellow
paper covered with hieroglyphics which at
FIRST glance innooently took to be the label
from pack of Chinese fire crackers. But
the same envelope also contained a smaller
strip of rice paper, with two Chinese char
acters traced in India ink, that j at once
knew to be Hop Sings visiting card. The
whole, as afterwards literally translated,
read as follows:
TO the strau ger the gates Of my house are not
closed; the Tce jar is on the left, and tie
sweetmeats on the right as you enter.
Two sayings OF the Master:
Hospitality is the virtue of the son and thu
wisdom of tho ancestor.
The Superior man is light hearted after the
crop gathering; he makes a festival.
When stanger is in your melon patch observe
him not too closely; inattention is often The
highest form of ciyilitY
Happiness. Peace and Prosperity.
Admirable, certainly, as was this morality
and proverbial wisdom, and although this
last axiom was very characteristic of 10y
friend Hop Sing, who was the most somber
of all humOrists, a Chinese philosopher,
must confess that, even after very free
translation, l was at loss to make any
immediate application Of the message.
Luckily | discovered o third Enclosure in
the shape of little note in English and
Hop Sings own commercial hand. 1t ran
thus:
- The pleasure Of your company is re,
quested at No. - Sacramento street, on
Friday evening at eight O'Clock. A cup of
tea at nue-sharp. HOP SING"
This explained all. 1t meant a visit to
Hop Sings warehouse, the opening and ex-
hibition of some rare Chinese novelties and
curioS, a chat in the back Office, a cup of
tea of perfection unknown beyond these
sacred precincts, cigars, and q visit TO the
hne two ~. IL.
fact the fayorite programme of Hop Sing
when he exercised his functions Of hOspi-
tally as the chief factor or superintendent
of the Ming Foo Company.
AT eight o'clock on Friday evening | en-
tered the warehouse of Hop Sing. There
was that deliciously commingled mysterious
foreign odor that | had so often noticed;
there was the old array Of uncouth
looking objects, the long procession
blending of the gro;esque and the
mathematically neat and exact, the same
endless suggestions of frivOlitv and
fragiity, the same want of harmony in col
Ors that were each, in themselves, beautiful
and rare. Kites in the shape Of enormous
dragons and gigantic butterflies; kites SO
ingeniously arranged as to utter at inter
walls, when facing the wind, the cry of a
hawk; kites so large as to be beyond any
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 impossibility; jars of sweetmeats COW
cred all over with moral sentiments from
Confucius; hats that looked like baskets,
and baskets that looked like hats; silks SO
light that hesitate to record the incredi.
bic number of square yards that you might
DaSS through fha RING littla fipupr-
these and great many other indescribable
objects were all familiar to me. | pushed
my way through the dlmly lighted ware
house until l reached the back office or
parlor, where found Hop Sing waiting to
receive me.
Before describe him / want the average
reader to discharge from his mind any idea
of Chinaman that he may have gathered
from the pantomime. He did not wear
beautifully scalloped drawers fringed with
little bells-l never Eet a Chinaman who
did; he did. not habitually carry his fore
finger extended before him at right angles
with his body, nor did ever hear him utter
the mysterious sentence, Ching ring
ring chaw," nor dance under any provoca-
ton He was, on the whole, a rather grave,
decorous. handsome gentleman. His COM
plexion, which extended all over his
head except where his long pigtail grew,
was like very nice piece of glazed
brown paper-muslin. His eyes were black
and bright and his eyelids set at an angle
of fifteen degrees; his nose straight and
delicately formed his mouth small, and his
teeth. white and clean. He wore q dark
blue silk blouse: and in the streets on cold
days, short jacket Of astrakan fur. He
wore also pair of drawers of blue brocade
gathered tightly over his calves and ankles.
offering general sort of suggestion that ne
had forgotten his trousers that morning,
but that, so gentlemanly were his manners.
his friends had forborne to mention the fact
TO him. His manner was urbane, although
quite serious. lie spoke French and
English fiuently. In brief. doubt if you
could have found the equal Of this Pagan
among the Christian traders Of
San Francisco.
There were q few Others present;a judge
of the federal court, an editor, a high gov
eminent official and prominent merchant.
After we had drunk our tea, and tasted
few sweetmeats from mysterious jar, that
looked as if it might contain preserved
mouse among its other -nondescript trea-
sures, Hop Sing arose and, gravely beckon-
ing us to follow him, began to descend 20
he basement. When we got there, we
we're amazed at finding it brilliantly'lighted,