Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1881-08-25
Chinese Life in San Erancisco

Chinese Life in San Francisco.
A lady who visited the Chinese guar
ter in San Francisco, says: "a sudden
turn out of the bustling thoroughfare,
a few steps forward, and we feel that
we are in foreign land. We are es-
corted by private friend and police
detective, without whose protective
presence it would not be safe to ven
ture into those dirty courts and alleys
that lie fostering in the very heart of
the Flowery Kingdom Pig-tailed,
blue-blOused Celestials swarm in the
roadway and on the sidewalks. They
surge around us with their silent,
stealtby tread. At the sight of our es-
cort's face, or at the sound os his voice,
they slink away, and are gone like
shadows. The streets are dimly light
ed. The gas does not blaze-it blinks
behind its glasses; but the big white
moon gives light enough for us to see
the cheap and gaudy magniGcence
around us. We are passing the Joss
house. 1t ilaunts its scarlet streamers
overhead, and llanks its doors with
legends in saffron and gold.
Within is a glitter of tinsel, "a sub
dued light, and the flicker of = tiny
lamp before figure of barbaric ugli-
ness. The air floats out loaded with
the fumes Of smoking sandel-wood, and
strange Odors from the East. The
doors are open, but we do not enter
yet. We stroll up the street, takin
an exterior view before we penetrat
to the interior. Colored lanterns are
strung along some of the balconies, or
are hung from the windows. Red and
black signs in crooked characters are
everywhere, and from oil sides re-
sounds the echo, it seems, of Il hundred
unknown tongues. Lights stream
from cellar flaps, creep through open
doors and window chinks, but the
shops are only lighted by succession
Of dingy oil lamps. Discordant noises
of rasping liddles, gongs, and sur dry
unknown tuneless instruments, mingle
with the clatter o. strange tongues.
The very ;ughter comes to us tangled
and out Of tune, ard the air is filed
with Odors the reverse of sweet.
Moldy fruit, wlted vegetables, stale
fish too long divorced from its native
s,e-ssee.- {, ;....nsiTIgie IL Clie common alIJi
most unsavory scent.
The Chinese shops make no endeayor
to attract the eye or tempt the appetite
of the Celestial horde. But perhaps
what seems to us disgusting display
may seem to them tempting sight.
| xnv.n 10
chant as well, sells joss sticks, teapOts,
tobacco, and scores of other things.
He tanks his door on either side with
the carcasses OF huge slaughtered hogs.
They are not quartered and iointed, in
civilized fashion, but are hacked, hewn,
and torn asunder, just as the meat is
wanted, and present mangled, shape
less mass, sickening to look at. Split
chickens and birds are flattened out
like sheets and nP'led against the wall.
Delicate tidbits, STEPPED in oil and dried,
are strung up and hung like cherry
bObs across the windows; and scores
of oily cakes, ike Jumps of yellow
soap, are laid on benches. We pass on
our w5y, look down the cellar flaps.
I ttiiN SOO AhO NOih III llltlI
underground shops.
Within a radius of half mile there
are no less than fifty of these places
devoted to the cleansing and decOra
tion OF MongOlian heads. You may
glance down these steps at any hour OF
the day or night, and you will see the
operators busy at their tonsorial labor.
Never was such clean shaving; such
delicate cleansing of eyes, ears, and
nOstrils, such trimming and penciling
of brOws and lashes; such a scrapinp
and polishing of oily faces; such q
plating of the beloved and sacred pig
tail; and the Celestial pagan issues
from the hands of the barber a proud
and happy man-the perfect ideal of 9
Chinese beau. Every inch above hi.
shoulders is scraped and polished tC
perfection. This luxurious treatment
which he receives at the hands of hi.
barber is law among the followers oi
COnfucius. The Chinaman feels The
necessity of frequent rejuvenation un
der the razors, probes, and pencils o.
the barber, who is one of the best EN-
ployed and most important persons il
the community"