St. Landry democrat., 1879-05-31

and the nobier qualities, ingratituIe is
not in his heart, and one can but res
pect his sound good sense and manly
independence. As a fighter John is not
a success.
Every one among them could read
Chinese, but all could not write it. And
when we consider those odd tea chest
characters represent no alphabet, but an
infinite number Of signs designating
sounds Or series of sounds, there is some
apparent truth in the saying OF tie *
noramus: " 1t takes a scholar to learn
to read"
But ere the two years Of service had
expired, the cOmprny was thrown into
bank -ru ptcy, and poor John saw hard
times. His rations were short, he often
suffered for food. lie made cigars and
baskets and fancy ornaments, and picked
berries and sold them, and tistcd and
grubbed in the mud for craWiiShs; bNt
he never begged, never accepted glatH!-
ties unless he saw the way clear to re-
turn some eQulValcnt Agents from
sugar plantations came up from i-nNiS-
lana and took away hundreds, ether
hundreds went to the Mississippi river
and built lcvecs, others scalttrrG in
small companies to different cities, and
many returned to Frisco.
Along the line in Alabama anci Ni>Sis
sippi there are about Il hundred mounds
containing each Il skeleton awaiting
transportation to the FloWCrY Land.
Disease carried off about one-trlith Of
their number-throuyh exposure and
malaria of the swamps. Two were kill
ed by accident, none met death by vlO-
lence, though in the latter days they
had many a desperate battle with the
,,hnp, +l,ny f1acyi sod n,,l I,a@.l
If the foregoing statements cont trHdict
any ones experience, or run against
prejudice, or cast cloud upon hopes,
have no apology to offer for telling til"
impartial truth as see it on this OF. any
other subject. Personally, | ain 50 mar
row minded yet as to disil" John
Chinaman, and hope that he will never
form any considerable portion of our
country's population. II he hccnmrs
one of rs as he will never as>imilatc to
us, we must assimilatc to him, or meet
him three fourths of the way upon a
convenient (?) mutual status. At the
same time, while cordially preTcrrrng
his room to his company, | have thus
far failed to discover why he has not
the same and a better right to come here
than my ancestors had two centuries
and half ago. And it he comes here.
know of no just reason why he should
be debarred from any Of the rights and
privileges that so jealously claim.
Our fathers stood upon the shores of
the Atlantic, the uneNplored wilderness
behind them, and hailed Europe: come
over here ye oppressed aud doWutrn"dcn
of all nations, and find q refuge and
asylumn in this board land Of liberty"
They little dreamed how literally the
invitation would be accepted, and that
within hundred years the refuge and
asylum would become Il trcmlug con-
tinent. They never once imagined that
their oft-rcpeated invitation WOnld roll
backwards and across the Pacific, and
catch the ears of millions of.ovcr- crowd
ed Asiatics Those millions, too, have
begun to respond i'll person, and now
we are not anxious to repeat lhc call ;
but without furnishing our own con
science and the world any just and
satisfactory reason why, We are bu>ly
engaged in search of measures and
means by which we may close and bal
the Pacific door against them.
Probably in the years to come,
John Chinaman will find free access to
this country through the wide open
Golden Gate, and become as one Of us.
Possibly our children, Or our chidren's s
children will look with surprise upon
the page of history which records the
blind and vain efforts of their fathers
to exclude the American- -Mongolian,
even as we now look with mortiiica-
ton of the pages which tell of the cx-
clusions of Baptists. and the pcrsecu-
tions of Quakers, and the Know
nothing movement ''--1ishtly named,
We should learn some wisdom by
abundant experience and" go slow,''
Certain it is, that whether our action re-
news Chinese exclusiveness towards us,
or welcomes him among us, even the
humblest of them possess not Il few char
acteristics which we might emnlate so
our individual and national profit.