Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1876-03-10
OUR CALIFOKxrA LETTER.


OUR CALIFORKrA LETTER.
aCaliforniar' There is something
fascinating about that word. The
school boy turns to his map, and
among the whole galaxy of States,
his mind wanders with him to the
golden one. The young man just
starting out into the world, has de-
sires westward-theugh many of
them have not the ambition to move
this way. The gray-haired sire says,
"Were / young, would strive for
fortune in the far west;" and it is an
almost universal ambition to at some
time cross the Continent. Did you
ever see, in your country, a return
ed Californian who did not again de-
sire to have his home near the Pa
ci6c? Our equable temperature has
its inducements; our people are hos
pitable and obliging. Then our laws
leave man as a free agent to do md
to act as his will indicates, provid-
ing he does not overstep the bounds
of propriety, and interfere with. the
same rights in his neighbors We
are not hampered by any Puritanical
ideas of morality. We have our
churches and our theatres; our
camp meetings and beer gardens; /;
The Sabbath comes--there they are,
you can take your choice. 1t is this
freedom of choice that, somehow,
makes man feel his independence,
and weds him to the State that pro-
tects him in this freedom.
We are a colony of souls isolated
in some respects from the outside
world, with the mighty Pacific in
front, the Coast Mountains in the
rear, and flanked on.either side with
long and rugged miles intervening,
before our eyes see the beauties of
more advanced civilization. Yet we
are q peaceable community, and en-
ioying ourselves among ourselves,
An occasional isiuerant shnRlhuEh-
bugs us, and social dance enlivens
us; we patronize the one, and enjoy
the other. We are not cLdnnish; our
community isnot cut up into sections
anything white, mofesln the first
circles. We do make a little dis
tinction on account of color. The
Mongolian occupies helowest strata
in our society-no one has a good
word for him; be is looked upon as
a-usuFper; he keeps down prices, and
wherever the energy of the white
man has established improvements,
there he is found, ready and willing
to labor. - srf@sf1#E
"John,a forms an interesting stu
dy to me. We have about rs of
them here, and only one China wo-
man. The manner of their dress,
and their sleepy, indolent looking
eountenances, gives them an idiotic
look. Habits with them are univer-
sal. They all, invariably, use OPT
um and tobacco, and ''likee'' gin
still, an intoxicated Chinaman is
rarely ever seen. In the use of to-
bacco, they always smoke it; have
never yet seen one with the "weed"
in his mouth. Their principal study
seems to be economy, and SO ayari-
cious are they, that they never spend
an idle moment of their own accord.
They have their head men, who man.
age their fnnancial affairs, and in
San Francisco, their agents, to whom
they send all their spare coin. They
all seem to know how to read and
write, in their own particular way,
and in this respect are entitled to
much credit. They place explicit
confidence in Wells, Fargo 8 Co.'S
Express, and do all their business
through them. Their letters must
be sent in Wells, F. & Co.'S envel-
opes, as they have no confidence in
the trail looking, leather mail bag of
Uncle Sam, bat ike the strong sx-
press box better. As Wells, F. q
Co.'s acting agent here, / am placed
in business relations with them
Though we have our regular tariffs,
the price to them is invariably "too
mnchee." To me they bring all of
their letters for direction, and l have
written, "Gee Tau Hong" and "Sing,
Chong, Hop 8 Co.. . SO much that
my pen almost voluntarily starts of
on "Gee," whenever / see q China
man. After each mail, they elamol
for letters, and no matter how such
are directed, it is, 81 sabe him, al
the same-my cousin No Other
ties of consangninity seem to bind
them They are a prolific race Of
cousins, In their business transac
tions they are quite shreWd, and IN,
commonly careful; where money il
paid out, receipt corresponding
must be given, They seem to be Ia
boring under q fear, all the time
that they will be wronged out of
cent, or that in their deal they vii
not get the worth of their money
This fear places them in ridicuIon
situation, and makes them buy No
| ten boot, when they wear skies, an,
3 40 inch pair of overalIs, when a 8.
| inch pair will eiTcumscribe them. Il
the latter cases they get more leath
er and cloth for their money-don'
you see? They have only one am
bition, and that is to save. To SAT
isfy this miseFly quality, they vii
stretch the rules of honesty, an
oyerstep the bounds Of decency.
In our community we have anotl
er class of citizens that we look ~
on with more favor, not that the
are intellectually or morally ahea
Of our Cinnamon, but through syn
pathy for the race, as we know the