Morning journal and courier., 1884-01-26

Chinese Bsggars-Tea Houses-Quack
 Doctors, Fortune TelIers, Gambling
 Games and JuGgIers.
 | SHANGHAI. China, Dec. 14.
 To the Editor of the JOURNAL COURIER:
 am in a savage mood at present, and I
 am afraid shall write savagely this time
 cannot write savagely enough, however, to
 do full justice to the subject under considera-
 tion in this letter, and my most poignant re-
 gret is that my gentle disposition and intel l lectual refinement such as to place imi-
 tations upon my capacity to describe vile
 stsnches, personal filth and unmitigated do-
 nestle squalor. My text is the native city of
 Shanghai. There may be fouler places on
 earth, but will not take anybody's word for it. Certainly there can be no other place on
 this mundane sphere where paradise and per-
 dition come so near to meeting. By paradise
 will be understood in this connection the fol- eign city of Shanghai, which is stately and
 elegant beyond any other place in the far East.
 | It was @ crisp, beautiful December after
 noon that l innocently promised to accompa-
 ny friend throrgh the native quarter At
 this point cannot help pausing to ask my
 self what would have been the experience
 had we taken the walk on a sultry July day :? l My brain reels at the very supposition. We
 did not go in 8 'rickisha, nor get in wheel
 barrow.-the most representative mode of
 conveyance in China,-owing to the extreme
 narrowness of the streets, many of which l were only four feet from house to house. Back in the interior the streets of the cities
 are more spacious, ranging from eight to ten | feet in width. Indeed, the Chinese city of Shanghai is always referred to as one of the | dirtiest and most crowded in the empire. The only conveyance that was at all feasible was the sedan chair, comfortable article borne by 8 couple of coolies, but one which does not afford the rider much chance to see. We might ss well not have gone into the | town at all as to have gone in one of these 1 curtained boxes. Accordingly we walked. '1t is pleasant day." said my companion, 1 who knew all the ins and outs of the city land there will be immense crowds upon the streets. You had better button up your coat and put your watch in inside pocket" Having observed these precautions we started down the Yangtse road and finally through ''Frenchtovn" to the wall of the native city. I This property, although occupied mainly by Chinese, was essentially foreignized and un- der French control politically. There were no sidewalks, but the streets were fifteen or twenty feet wide, and were kept scrupulous- ly clean. Dump carts were going about all the time, ready to collect the least litter that might accumulate. We encountered some English policemen, who, my friend informed me, had been put on the street service on ac- count of the inadequacy of native guardians of the peace. The foreign houses and some of ths public buildings were made to face the south, even on streets that ran north and south, in order that they might benefit by the southerly breezes
 Arrived at the great wall, we passed over Ia in yUhI oIi inv afa steaming under the influence of the warm vertical sun rays, and holding our olfactory organs with death-grip, passed through the narrow arched gate and started down a sewer like street, some six feet in width from house. front to house-front. The narrowest and flthiest street which I saw in Japan wes royal boulevard compared with this, and the most repulsive Japanese were models of per sonal cleanliness compared with the human vermin that swarmed here. The streets were laid with fiat blocks of stone about three feet long and one foot vide Of course 8 single stone would be ample for the pave ment of the street from ''curb to curb'' These stones were wet and cold, for the peo- pie empty almost every kind of slops rpon them. Several times as we were walking along women came to the front of their squalid novels and emptied 8 pail of liquid death at our very feet, so that we would have to step quickly in order to avoid an inunda- ton which would have lent to us an abiding perfume. The streets were of course crowd ed,. so that 1t required the use of every eye we could command in order to avoid colli- sions, and yet manage to see little some thing. The natives were carrying all sorts of articles of little no value about with them. There were chickens being conveyed from one place to another in nets flung over the shoulder. For while the Chinese car ried fowls about altogether with the head down, but law WAS passed prohibiting this, and now they stuff the poor creatures into nets. The same general method of convey ing pigs Is also in vogue. We many babes being carried on the paternal shoulder, their heads towering above those of the pa rents but never a one attached to the paren tai back 8 la Japanais. That man is in mourning" said my friend, and looking where he pointed I discerned Chinaman dressed in white outer frook with white shoes and white button on his hat
 On the fruit stands there were pumelos, pomegrsnates, oranges, Chinese pears, and score of other fruits, the names of which I did not attempt to learn, but which were more or less vile to the taste Some idea of Chinese poverty may be obtained when it is stated that the oranges were sold without the rind, ,-that being sold separately. Indeed, at one place 1 saw man selling oranges com plete at one place on his counter, peeled or anges at another, the removed rind at anoth- CT, and at fourth the stringy teguRent which grows between the sections of an or ange, and which he had laboriously picked out with his long finger-nails We priced these fruits and found that the peeled oran- ges were two cash each, while the whole ones were three cash each, As a cash is less than tenth of an American cent, I thought this was reasonable enough.
 My companion took every occasion to fur nish me with little gimpses of Chinese life such as many travellers seldom get for which was sincerely indebted to him. Stopping in front of nat-store he picked up five hot chestnuts about half the size of small egg, and asked ''how much" Imagine my amaze ment when the merchant got out pair of scales and coolly proceeded to weigh those five chestnuts. Announcing the weight aloud, he appeared to go through mental calculation, and then answered in pigeon English that the price would be ten cash. 70, you swindling rascal, " said my compen- ion, shaking his finger at the men, and only depositing six cash on the counter, for he could read the characters on the labels, and saw what the regular price was to natives But John did not seem to be the least sur- prised or discounted at shis detection.
 When person wants to get something worth as much as ten dollars of a Chinaman, he is surs to get cheated unless he IS willing to spend two hours in consummating a bar gain. That is the way the Chinese negotiate with one another, and it is the way in which a foreigner must negotiate with 8 Chinaman also. It seems to us like a criminal wasts of 
 worth more than one or at most two cents an hour, this is not such an important consider ation. Besides that, John Chinaman's father did business in that way, and that is all the argument John needs to persuade him that it is the best way. Chinaman in the employ of foreigner will get from $2. 50 to s per month and board himself.
 I had occasion to get strip of braid re- newed on the front of coat the other day, and took it to Chinese tailor. He agreed to do the job in good shape for twenty five cents, and not having the patience to beat him down in such small matter, said, All right P I expected to call and claim the coat in few days, but judge of my surprise the next day, when boy from the shop appeared at the hotel when was taking tlffin, having l hunted up my address in some way, and de- hvered it to me personally. I found that he had rebound the entire front of tho coat, re- l newed the lining, which had become little thin in one place, and pressed and ironed the whole. Five cent pieces are very rare in | China, and only happened to have thirty cents in change Handing this to the boy, | he took it doubtfully, and then said, No have got change. You come and trade it