The Hickman courier., 1874-09-11
CHINESE JUGGLERY FEAT.
BY BRET HARTE.

BY BRET HARIEt
As I opened Hop Sings letter there
huttered to the ground a square strip Of
yellow paper covered with hierogIy-
phics, which at first glance I innocently
took TO be the label from a pack of Chi
nese fire-crackers. But the same envel-
Ope also co2taine a smaller strip OF rich
paper, with two Chinese characters traced
IN India ink, that 1 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
wisdom of the ancestor.
The superior man is light-hesrted after She
crOp-gathering: he makes 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
..la.2 ana .s.P Psssssss ss . wisaen and a.
teristic of my friend Hop Sing, who was
that most sober of all humorists, Chi
nese philosopher, / must confess that,
even after a free translation, l was at
loss to make any immediate application
of the message. Luckily 1 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.
HOP SING.
This explained all. It meant a visit
to Hop Sings warehouse, the opening
4 - 4
novelties and curios, a chat in the back
Office, a cup of tea of a perfection nm
known beyond those sacred precincts,
cigars and visit to the Chinese theate:
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- y-cOmmingled
mysterious foreign odor that l had so
often noticed there was the old array
of nncouth- looking 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 frivoli-
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-fying in China
was an amusement for adults gods of
J Il
as to be beyond any human interest or
sympathy from their very impossibility;
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 great many other indescrib- |
able objects were all familiar to me- | |
pushed my way through the dimly, |
bads 0lrfce 81 Fllt1 VII 4 7 5Adf AfonDd NJ
ol2g %assingfe gfess3erfbe g him want the av-
erage 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 frineed with little bells-l new
er met a Chinaman who did; he did not
habituallv carry his forefnger extended
before him at right angles with bis body,
nor did I ever hear him utter the mys-
terious sentence, "Ching ring ring
chaw." nor dance under any provoca-
tion. He was on the whole rather
grave, decorous, handsome gentleman.
His complexion, which extended all
over his head except where his long pig
tail grew, was like a 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 a 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 brocade, gath
cred tightly over his calves and ankles,
Offering a general sort of suggestion
that he had forgotten his trousers that
morning, bat that, so gentlemanly were
his manners. his friends had forborne
to mention the fact to him. His man
ner was urbane, although quite serious.
He spoke French and English fluently.
In brief, I doubt if you could have
found the equal of this Pagan shop
keeper among the Christian traders OF
| San Francisco.
There were few others present
| Judge of the federal court, an editor,
| q high government official, and prom
| inent merchant. After We had drunk
| our tea and tasted few sweetmeats
from mysterious jar, that looked as Il
il might contain preserved mouse
among its other nondescript treasures,
kNWp Sing arose, and grsvely beckonine
ms to follow him, began to descend te
| the basement. When we got there, We
were amazed at finding it brilliantly