The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1882-04-29

A
|, made up the complement, with the assistance
Il of the sauce pan artist who chimed in liz
J. singing IN high G to elevated Y, and was only
k prevented from running higher by the alpha
!. bet running out. Three or four actors helt
}. the boards-and Of course there was woman
h there O. to whom the gorgeously costumet
d Don was bowling, salamng, gesticulating ant
e talking with much animation. What thu
a racket" was all about was Greek to US, bu
!, an almondeyed son of the Flowery Kingdom
t "who sawed Mclean" gave us an interpreta
C ton of the play, and told us that the players
c were
\ "The festive All Goo,
/ And Too Hay, the fair;
81 They met and the two
Concluded TO pair.
/ "They 'spooned' in the way
I That most lovers do,
And All Goo kissed Too Hay,
And Too Hay kissed All Goo.
'Said the festive All Goo,
AS his heart swelled with pride,
II Me heap likee you,
You heap be my bride|
; 'And she looking down
al All 80 modest and pretty,
i 'TwiYt smile and frown,
i Gently murmered, You betee
Then the pantomIne went on, within which
. appeared the Tilted lover, the angry parent
the hardened william, accessory roles, such as
we see in the modern society drama, but how
the thing ended cannot say as a tap on the
shoulder from the Corporal caused us to turn
and follow him along narrow hall from the
back of the stage to rlckety stairs, down
which we plunged, and then we were IN the
green room" O. where lounged the actors.
some twenty in number, to whom we were
separately introduced by the manager, Young
4. tIn, #
Sang, Cav One Lung All You, All Kee, All
| Yen, Sun Yen, All Too, All Cow, All Ban,
All Bow, All King, All Sing, All Lie, All
Hing, Die Kee, All Hoe, Kong Bow, ing
Yen. All the actors were male, the female
characters being personated by clean-shaven
rouged and black false hair adorned specimens
of the sterner sex, who talk and sing in falset
to voice, with deception that is almost COM
plete. The Chinaman does not consider wo-
men capable of such mental capacity as Is
required in acting. Six or eight of these
beauties" lounged around the "green-room,"
, den of some ten or twelve feet square, located
two Easements below the sidewalk, and where
Cinnamon were packed thicker than sardines
in box, and from the smell one would sup.
pose breath of fresh air knew its precinsts,
but lnrtead the foulest atmosphere and most
damnable odors prevailed this hole, which
hell itself would be paradise compelled to it.
As we were not blessed with pair of cast
iron lungssnor leather stomach we took our
departure from this den of pestIlence, making
our way through a labyrinth of torturous
wndipgs, up short flights of STAIRS through
bagnios and opium dens, tenanted by Supplied
inmates, and finally reached the street where
we readily cast up" accounts and deposited
our half digested supper on the sidewalk.
THE OPIUM DENs
are more numerous than any other class of in.
|stitunons, and perhaps outnumber all others
combined Nearly every shop and every house
has its opium room; and IN addition to these
are the public dens, styled club rooms, where
oriental and Mclean may assemble daily and
nightly to abandon themselves to the seduc
tive poison that 0ozes from the innocent pop
py on the distant shores of the Flowery King
dom There is something wonderful in this
habit of opium smoking, that dupes its victim
and makes him slave forever. And to think
that the juice of weakly plant drawing Its
mysterious properties from the balm and light
Of earth and sun can take captive the mind of
man, dethrone fair reason, and set up In lts
stead the widest fancy, exchange reality for
the imagining of a dream, and dnpe him, who
has chained and tanned the widest beast of
earth invented engines with ribs and limbs of
iron, sinews OF steel and a soul of flame capa
BILE of crushing the most Obdurate OF known
substances as easily as breath can burst a
bubble. Once formed this habit can never be
given up, and will In less than 5 years wreck
the strongest constitution and nOblest man.
hood. Entering one of these dens, you observe
a raised platform, on which may be reclining
one, two or more Cinnamon. A block about
three times the size of a brick answers for a
pillow. The pipe is of peculiar construction.
1t has stem made of bamboo, about the size
OF or like a flute, perhaps two feet long and an
inch in diameter from end TO end. About SIX
inches from the lower end Is bowl with flat
circular top in the center of which is hole
about an eighth of an inch IN diameter With
an instrument that looks like knitting needle
a drop is taken up and held over the flame Of
a lamp, which in a few moments forms putty |
looking ball of sizzling juice like soap bub-
BILE, half an inch In thickness, and when roast |
cd enough Is applied to the orifice in the bowl
of the pipe and held to the flame, when the
smoker seizes the blunt end of the pipe in his
mouth, against his teeth, and draws for all |
there is in it, when suddenly there is a dense
volume of white smoke bursting from the
mouth, ears and nostrlls. This is repeated I'M
til the desired effect is obtained and the victim
falls back in a state of silly stupefactlon, ina
ginlng himself IN heaven or ut home In the
Flowery kingdom.
A CHINESE FUNERAL
IN itself is whole circus, and picnic for the
Hoodlums. The corpse is sometimes placed
on the sidewalk, with a roast hog and any
quantity of other dishes of cooked food near
it, when hired m0urners with white sheets
about them, and two or three Josscs as masters
of ceremonies, and an orchestra of their lnfor-
nal music, keep up for hours such TN uncarth-
ly racket, to brighten the evil spirits away from
tho soul of John. Then John is dumped into
an express wagon and driven TO the bone yard
Chinese burying ground. In half an hour
or so the band follows in truck, discoursingl
strains of such excruciating dlscord that the
only surprise Is that the corpse don't rise up
and murder the musicians. Soon after the
ho c,p,no a LONG pr,caSSinp pf Cinnamon