Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1875-05-14

pig WHICH NC was duOuC " AOdsb III
| nv bedroom. 1t would have taken
a long time to make him compre.
hend my objections, but fortunately,
III had a actotum, undertaking the
multifarious duties of valet, cham
bermaid, courier, interpreter, foot
man, chair-bearer, seamstress, laun-
dress. Aa-Sing was his name, and
the most valuable servant l ever
had; and only the difficulty of his
tail, which would have caused con-
tinual mernment in Europe, but
which Chinese have an insuperable
objection to cut off, l should have
I imported him. Poor Aa-Singl his
only fault was, as clear starcher he
used to starch my stockings, and if
had new bonnet, he would have
contrived his best to make it look
exactly like the old one, such a pos
| tive dislike have the Chinese for
any change whatever. If you like a
feather in the front of your hat,
| they say, wear it there, of course
but what reason have you for plac-
ing it at the back next month, 'or at
the side the following year? But
upon other matters apart from milli-
merry Aa-Sing and myself were of
one mind, and we soon hoisted the
cook elsewhere; for here was space
which smelt deliciously, and to have
this perfume commingled even with
the odor of roast pig seemed a pro-
| fanation. The cook went off
grumbIing, and whether he took
himself on to the bridge of the steps
l was interested to know, but I be-
lieved he burned the pig out of
spite. The front of my house over
hung the Pearl River, and was over
shadowed by an immense gnarled
tree, whose roots might have been
in my bedroom, or parlor, or veran-
da, for aught l could discover. AL
though l studied the intricacy for
many a day, 1 never found out from
where it drew its sustenance.
It burst out from the walls and
stones in all directions, fourishing
green, bright and cheerful, and use
full too, for 1 often caught by its
branches to steer myself on to the
landing when entering my house
from the river side, which l usually
did. 1t was, I understood, a sacred
6o tree of Cuddha, and as there was
a temple hard by, it was just posi-
BILE that the. mother root had her
domiciIe or origin in the holy pre-
cincts-such a distance do these
trees extend, and SO peculiar are
they for growing ostensibly without
soil. Through its leafy shade what
a wondrous scene was presented to
me! To a person with eager sus-
capabilities and keen, observant fac
ulties, the first entrance into China
proper enough to cause temporary
alteration O. mind. All the senses
are suddenly attacked by such out
rageous incongruities-novel sensa-
tions which, in his philosophy he
has never dreamed of. He is induc-
ed to doubt the intelligence he re-
ceives through them-to believe
rather that ne is dreaming, cham
pagnized, mesmerized, illusionized
in some way.
Having already seen a greater por-
ton of the earth's surface, I was yet
taken quite aback by the startling
contrasts and marked differences
Still more wonderful must appear
these strange features to one accus-
toned to a narrow margin of men,
and things. The very mountains
and hills on the Pearl River stood
out in such unwonted outline, that
I had constantly to place my fingers
on my eyes to give them the chance
of correcting any optical delusion
they might have made. Moreover,
the Olfactory nerves are constantly
on the inquirendo. Pish! faugh!
What on earth is that? Surely moth
ing on this planet ever smelt so bad
ly! Cologne, with its thirty-six diff
ferent stenches, is a bower of roses
as compared with Canton. Yet more
dire perplexities await the aurieular
organs. They are so barbarously
tested, that they come to the point
of doubling their own sanity, so ter
rible are the discordant sounds which
clash and jangle~on the tympanum.
The Chinese talk in a series of hard
sounds, jerks, digs, and snaps. The
sneezed aspirates T. S. z. make ones
flesh creep. Quarreling is indiscri-
badly overpowering, and makes ones
though no coward-curdle
to water, so ferociously bitter are
shrill sounds emitted. Yet still tn .,
is more terrible ordeal to come
Chinese music. 1t is simple odious
and revolving to every feeling of
harmony, melody, sympathetic ca
dence, or dulcet sound of any de-
scription suggested by musical ma
-ture. 1t is nasal, screeching, yOwl- /
ing mee-mawing, wailing-every
sound excrutiating to ears refined.
Two tom-cats encountering on a
midnight prowl are faint, though
truthful illustrations of that fearful
rending of the air. And to that an
enraged turkey-eock viewing red,
and indignant gander, two pea
fowls, and a bewildered donkey,
doubtful about most things in life,
and his next supper especially, and
you will have the chromatic scale of
Chinese music. Whether Chinese
are endowed by Providence with
sonorous bass voices, sympathetic
Raritones, or thrilling sensational
tenors, l do not know; Inever heard |
anything but falsetto, and that of !
the most agonizing quality-more or
less shrill. 5
Having once obtained pied-a-
terre in Canton, / was enabled |
through the kindness of British |
merchants and residents to be intro
duced to some of the high manda-
rims and chief families of the city. |
And once received inside the man
sion. had no trust to my own au-
dacity and savoir;fuire for my in
PRODUCTION to the ladies of the estab-
lishment, as it was not etiquette to |