The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1883-09-26

screaming Clarionet make th.epredominen
discord. The performers, generally six II
number, sit on the stage, which is 0bou
such stage as used TO be in vogue at Melo
deon Hall, at Wheeling, in old times, ant
perform their dresry discord all night long
through the thick and thin Of the perform
ancs, scarcely letting up wholly for mo
ment. There they sit, two or three smoking
long pipes, Excepting time, time, time, in 6
sort Of Runic rhyme" (so 10 speak, to the
rising and falling cadences of the idiotit
actors.
The "supe" aits at their head like an
"end man" in o minstrel band, In his check
shirt, and occasionally gets up and pulls of
or puts on some piece Of toggery from an
actor, or moves o chair from one place 10
another and then resumes his pipe and his
cross-le9ged position as end man.
There are no shifting OF scenes and no
dropping OF curtains in Chinese theatre.
They either stand to one side on the end oi
the stage or go through curtained door on
either side OF the orchestra and new lot
come out. The play is an endless chain
it Is the same thing, pretty much, over
and over, aud all the time, and in
sipidity and stupidity are no names
for the whole business. Strangers gen.
orally get all they can stand Of 1t in an
hour and leave in III Of disgust A special
performance was got up for the Willard
visitors the other night and no Chinese
were admitted except the nabobs among
them under whose auspices It was got up
and rendered to the guests. Outside Of some
acrobatic tumbling and some scant jug.
glery it was the same old thing. There
was really no play in our sense OF the
word. They seem to have no plan or plot,
and what little denouement there ia is 80
very bald and iarcical that it apparently
exciles little interest and never any ap.
plause from the pig.tailed audience that
sits in rows with their hats on in front, as
emotionless as so manyIQ Quakers at busi-
ness meeting Of the Society.
MENTAL CULTURE OF TIE CHINESE.
Ihave devoted more space to this theatri-
cal business than l intended at the outset
OF this letter. 1t may serve, however, in
connection with my observations on the
joss house worship Of the Chinese, to give
your readers some idea OF their general
mental calibre as developed at home and
manifested on this coast The more l see
OF the Chinese the more | am strengthened
in all the opinions expressed in the INTEL
LIdgSCRR at the time the Restriction act
was pending in Congress. IAN glad that
that measure passed Congress and only
regret that 1t Is TO some extent nullified
and avoided by surreptitious entrances
upon the coast from British Columbia, by
means OF Indian canoes across the main
water and inlets OF Puget Sound.
The people here, as everywhere else
on the Pacific coast, are unit IN opposing
the importation Of these people. Owing to
the great demand for labor on these Pa
citic railroads the real bane OF their pres
encs has not been felt. They are the foe
Of white labor, just as inferior coin ia the
underminer aad final exterminator Of su.
perior coin. Thetwo cannot exist together
in an old community, where work and
wages ara on a normal basis No white
man could support decent family on the
wages that suffice for aud even enrich them
in, a real competitive struggle. And much
as would deprecate violence towards these
creatures yet predict that when the day
Of trial comes-the days OF depression and
scant work and poor wages. for all, this
coast will be made too hot TO hold these peo.
pie. They are degraded set although
they are not without their virtues, one Of
which Is their industry and economy, and
another OF which Is their reliability as Ia.
borers as regards day In and day out, ad.
herence 10 their work and no stops or
strikes on account Of drink or factional
ightB.
AS house servants they are driving out
female domestics. They are fixing status
and a stigma to domestic service that event
ually will debar a decent white girl from
accepting any situation as cook or chamber
maid. It Is the old story over again OF black
labor degrading white labor. This is the
forbidding and the foreboding fact, and, IS
said, 1t will be the arousing fact when
white population multiplies and work and
wagts fall on this coast At present all
labor Is high here and in demand, and the
pressure that Is coming, and that the Re.
striction act has possibly and happily
warded of in our day, Is postponed for an
evil day further ahead. A.w.c.