Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-05-22
CHINATOWN BY GASLIGHT.
Some san Francisco Sights That
Are Ret Attractive.
Tsan Francisco Cor. baltimore American.


OF course, we. went to Chinatown
Everybody goes there, just as in Mexico
everybody goes to a 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 sui
fcient to last one for d centuiy. [ had
been through Chinatown once, and did
not care about going through it a second
time. but as my companions had not
seen it, / made one OF the party. The
Chinese. quarters are to be found in por-
tons of Sacramento, Commercial, Du
pont, 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 res
taurants as washer, ironer, rOOm-maid
and cook. We found him in the kitchen
aud on the doorstep and in the garden of
the private residence. We discovered
him on the ranches, in the vineyards and
at the wineries. In fact, whenever it re
quired work OF any kind, there was John
Had we only seen him in this 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 4 misar-
able, loathesome, dirty creature that robs
him OF all sympathy. 1t may be that
the bounds OF Chinatown are not large
enough to hold 10000 human beings, and
that, therefore, John is compelled to re-
strict his person to marrow limits.
Whether this be so or not, he lives and
breathes in dark, damp cellars ana sub
cellars, lit only for the habitatlOn Oh rats
and other .varmin, - de Is found boxed
up in narrow, low rooms not larger than.
an ordinary clothes press, and with no
visible means OF obtaining q breath OF
pure air. He is seen. laidaway on shelves,
Ike defunct bodies in q charnel house or
sardines in q box. The fumes that
emanate from these subterranean dwell
! ing places are simply horrible, and why
they do not all die, God only knows. The
smell OF their opium dens IS q something
sui generis, and deiies any imitation, and
why q respectable white man wants to
encounter it can only be accounted tor OF
the theory that there is an unhappy de-
sire in human nature to see everything.
We encountered it twice, and we promise
never to do so again.
Chinatown by daylight is lar more re-
spectacle Why this should be | 90 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,
listlessly gazing at the windows ana look
inc up at the ROOF tops. Judging lrom
fine number continually filing thestreets,
7 take it there are many hundreds VINO
have nothing to do. They laugh and
chat and 90 in and come out, as II TINS
was their principal employment. but
Holm in his store, shop or workhouse IS a
cunDing. industrious fellow. / DEFY any
one TO cheat him. He 'no sabeS' any
thine when he does, not want to-Dut
when II is to his interest he. ,saoes
avervthinr. He never offers to snow you
Lanvthing. and seems reluctant to do 1t,
wan when asked. We saw john as a
Shoemaker. a ieweler, butcher, aPoJnes-.
carv and barber. and he was perfectly
Of home in all OF his employments- as q
.horhar. he is the closest manIpulatof
oyer saw. and when he once gets hold OF
a Chinese skull he leaves very little mar
ON If. lie not only shayes all the halr on
Of the head, but inserts a delicate razor
up the nose and into the ears aud taxes Is II
I'll I'll ont ont Of their apertdres. His jewelfyy
is IS not worth much 10 an American, and
not near so fine as Mexican or japanese
work. We visited q restaurant an en- IA
addition to various chicken dlshes' Wt' ,-l
we POLITELY but positively declined we
49,, mo lN traafad TO some Chinese music, said
10 have been delicious. The musicians
were a man and two Chinese girls.
Neither were attractive, and yet the, gris
were said to be Chinese beauties. Their
complexions were fine, their HAIR very
black. and prettily done up, but their
faces were too oval and their eyes TOO
much like beads.
There appears to be two opinions about
Cinnamon in California-one Is, they
ought to 60; the other, they ought TO