The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1885-04-23
JOHN CHlNAMAN.
SOME SAN FRANCISCO SIGHTS THAT
ARE NOT ATTRACTIVE.
Chinatown by Revelations OF
Degraded Humanity - Loa:hesome
Creatures Scarcely Deserving OF
Sympathy-Tw Opinions.
Isan Francisco Cor. Baltimore American

VI course, we went to Chinatown. Every
body goes there, just as in Mexico every
body goes to bull fight. But as one bull
fight is enough to satisfy the cravings of any
ordinary depraved taste, so one look at
Chinatown by daylight and another by
moonlight or gaslight is sufficient to last one
for century. had been through China
town once, and did not care about going
through it a second time, but as my COM
panions had not seen it, l made one of the
| party. The Chinese quarters are to be
| found in portions of Sacramento, CONNER
| cial, Dupont, jackson and Pacific streets.
| Not that John Chinaman is not to be found
| anywhere else. In fact, we scarcely visited
any place where John was not. He seems
| to be ubiquitous, and whether he is wanted
or not, he creeps in some way, and
when he is once in, he STAYS. We
found him in the hotels and restaurants as
washer, ironer, room-maid and cook. We
| found him in the kitchen aud on the door
step and in the garden of the private resi-
dence. We discovered him on the ranches.
| in the vineyards and at the wineries. In
fact, whenever it required work of any kind,
there was John doing more than his share
| of it,
| Aietu No ouly seoH III UQlS way we
might have come home bearing nothing but
a good opinion of him. But we saw him in
Chinatown all to himself, and we confess
that in Chinatown he is miserable loathe
some, dirty creature that robs him of all
| sympathy. 1t may be that the bounds of
Chinatown are not large enough to hold 40,
900 human beings, and that, therefore, John
is compelled to restrict his person to mar
row limits. Whether this be SO or
not, he lives and breathes in dark,
damp cellars and sub-cellars, fit only for the
habitation of rats and other vermin. He is
found boxed up in narrow, low rooms not
larger than an ordinary clothes press, and
with no visible means of obtaining a breath
of pure air. He is seen laid away on
shelves, like defunct bodies in charnel
house or sardines in a box The fumes that
enanata from these subterranean dwelling
places are simply horrible. and why they do
not all die, God only knows The smell of
their opium dens is a something sui generis,
ana deiieS any imitation, and why a respect
able white man wants to encounter it can
only be accounted for on the theory that
there is an unhappy desire in human nature
to see everything. We encountered it
twice, and We promise never to do so again
Chinatown by daylight is far more re-
spectacle. Why this should be l do not
know, but it is. The stores and shops are all
open, and all who have anything to do are
at work, whilst the unemployed walk around
or file up the narrow streets, lStlesSly gaz
ing at the windows and looking up at the
roof tops. Judging from the number con.
tinually filling the streets, take it there are
many hundreds who have nothing to do.
They laugh and chat and go in and come
out, as though this was their principal EN-
ployment But John in his store, shop or
workhouse is a cunning Industrious fellow
l defy any one to cheat him. He mo sabes'
anything when he does not want to-but
when it is to his interest he "sabss" every
thing He never offers to show you any
thing. and seems reluctant to do it,
even when asked. We saw John a.
a shoemaker, tailor, a jew
eler, butcher, apothecary and barber
and he was perfectly at home in all of hi,
employmentS. As a barber, he is the closes
manipulation ever saw and when he once get
hold Of Chinese skull he leaves very littl
hair on it. He not only shaves all the hai
off of the head but inserts delicate razo
up the nose and into the ears and takes it al
out of their apertures His jewelry is no
worth much to an American, and not nea
so fine as Mexican or Japanese work. W
visited a restaurant, and in addition to va
rious chicken dishes, which We politely bu
positively declined, we were treated to som
Chinese music, said to have been delicious
| The musicians were man and two Chimes
girls. Neither were attractive and yet tn
girls were said to be Chinese beauties Thei
compilations were fine, their hair very black
and prettily done up, but their faces wer
too oval and their eyes too much like beads
There appears to he two opinions abou
Cinnamon in California-one is, they ough
to go; the other, they ought to stay. Tn
laboring class hold to the first the employs
class the second. We hardly know what t
say about him, but / am inclined to til
- opinion that the more he is scattered, til
better did not like him when concer
trated, as at Chinatown but in small doses
do not think he does any harm. He is quiet
Industrious apd sober wherever you fin
him, and the best thing you can say for hill
is, he does not care to vote. All he asks is
he let alone, and when he is dead to allo
his bones TO go back to China.