The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1880-03-31
JOHN CHINAMAN IN NEW YORK

Life I'm the Tr0nsplanted section OF the
FloVvery KtnKdom-The Interior OF n
Chinese store.
The great obstacle in the way of the
growth of the Chinese population OF
New York city at present is the difficulty
they have in procuring buildings for
habitations and business purposes in
any desirable part of the town. They
are now scattered in all sections of the
city, by twos, threes and half dozens, in
the laundry bus mess, but their quarter
is the lower end of Mott street. There
their peculiar institutions flourish
there their stores are; there their fire.
cracker and tea chest lingo is Haunted
glaringly upon red paper at almost every
door.
Here in New York there is not, as
yet, any such overcrowding rs in San
Francisco, yet the manner in which they
utilize space is really remarkable. Take
Wo KEGS store for example. 1t is the
principal Chinese store on Mott street,
consequently the leading ono in New
York. It contains apparently some
where near a million different things of
the most incongruous character. There
are an infinity of diminutive pasteboard
boxes, filled with Chinese medicines
gigantic pills, roots, herbs, barks, seeds,
and such like. There are incense sticks,
jade bracelets strange evolutions of
Celestial fancy in the way of ornament
alton, like glorified valentines; quaint
and pretty tea services, dried sharks
fins, looking like bangled strips of
amber-tinted glue; ducks split, baked
in peanut oil, and fattened out dry, so
as to look like strange caricatures OF
dragons; sweetmeats in infinite variety,
nuts that nobody but Chinaman
knows the name of, dried mushrooms,
opium and pipes for smoking it, to-
bacco, teas of many kinds, some of them
exquisite and much more expensive
than any American store sells; silks.
ngus-looking black Jumps, of which it
is guaranteed that small bit will make
the drunkenest man Immediately sober
sandals and Chinese clothing. In short,
1T is grocery, dry goods store, jewelry
shop, drug store, curiosity shop, and
twenty other things, and vet is all COM
prised in the space of a small front par
lor, with narrow branch into back
room, necessarily small, so as to leave
space for well-patronized lodgings de-
partment. There is a little open space
in the center of the store, just enough
for Three or four customers to stand in,
but beyond that not an inch is wasted.
On little table near the window stands
the inevitable tea pot and n number OF
little cups, preparation for hospitality
that the Chinese merchant extends to
every one. Behind the narrow little
counter is Wo-Kee himself, bland,
courteous, deft in running up sums
with the buttons of his Chinese abacus.
artistic in the manipulation of the
camePs hair brush with which he paints
the mysterious symbols of his account
books, graceful and exact in the weigh
ing out by his ivory and thread BALANCE
(on the steelyard pattern) of the minute
quantities of opium constantly in Gle.
mand by his customers.
In the basement of Wo-Kee's house
meets the Po-Lan-G -Gung-Se, "a benevolent
society of Cinnamon numbering about
seventy-tive- members. Further down
the street is the meeting place of the
Sam -Hop-We, another association 70,
mutual benefit.
The Chinese quarter contains couple
of opium-smoking shops, where the
slaves of the soporifc drug lie in narrow
hunks and sleep dreamful slumbers
Those addicted to this vice show it il
their listless, Indifferent stare, stupidity
and bodily weakness when it has 2aineC
a great hold upon them, but neafv al
the Chinese seem to smoke opium to q
moderate extent without suffering any
harm from it. There are no Chinese
liquor shops, and a drug IN Chinamar
is exceedingly rare, although most o
them drink little beer. They have nc
temple here as yet, and no theater, but
in course of tine hope to have both
when they are here in sufficient mum.
bers for th0suppUrt of such institutions
In neither devotional nor histrionic ex err
cises have they any disposition to favor
amateur effort. The one vice most
prevalent among them seems to b(
gambling. They play for very s'nal
stakes generally, but with an eagernes:
and lnfatuation that mo other people car
excel. Their games no white man evel
dreams of undertaking, and hence it il
that when party Of Chinese gambler;
are arrested it is hardly possible, excep'
a stretch of presumption und&hC
law, to convict hem. They have, how.
ever, awholesq n respect for American
law, and are Anely cautious in ad
mlttlng a stranger to any knowledge o.
more Ignorant of them fear more THAI
| PSAAS ANhs AOl ll1ClL lnlCl pIClNlb ldNS
taught them: cit is only by the publ
cation in the newspapers of the matters
you permit the reporters to know about
you that the police ever find out any
thing. So long as the policeman is lef
to the resources of his own intelligenc,
you have nothing to fear from him.
So it is very hard to get any informa
tion from them about their lives anC
habits. When a Chinamap is very sicl
and feels that he can afford it, he goe
to IN American physician for treatment
but tor ordinary ailments, lust beyonC
the limits of his own knowltdg of tn,
resources of Wo-Kee's red boxes. h,
| goes to the one of the two Chimes,
physicians located here. Chun-hIan
Wy, their principal physician, doe
quite thriving trade upon a basis o
prices regulated to meet the iinancia
abilities OF his countrymen. Sometime
a Chinaman pays him as much as 5!
for being thoroughly cured. Quong
Lee affirms that there has never We
been case of leprosy among the China
| men in Nevy YO1 b