The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1885-10-07

Something unusual is certainly arousing
them. Here comes the horses. How
queer the jockeys look, how strangely
they are hunched up, how wildly they
throw theiar arms about. how fiercely
they fog, what diabolical faces-and,
bless my heart, why, they have got pig
tails streaming in the wind The puz-
zle is explained. 1t is a race ridden
under special arrangements by Chinese
''mafoos" or grooms-the best race of the
meeting, the only one which has caused
any real enthusiasm. Reused by the half
laughter, half-cheers, of their white mas
ters, stimulated by the cries of their fell
low countrymen-"Go it, Fordham!" /
once heard an encouraging Chinese lad
shout-the mafoos, as they "fnish" up
their Walpurgis ride, wild with excite
ment, seem to have lost still further their
semblance to humanity, and to be trans
formed into distorted -visaged, horribly
frenzied demons. The race over, how
they strutted about in all the pride Of
jockey caps and jackets, and how they
clung to their costume to the last posi-
BILE moment2
The tenants of the numerous mat-fash
ioned grand stands belonging to the
higher class natives have become very
jubilant and vivacious in consequence of
the above described race, and l avail
myself of an opportunity to enter one
tenanted chiefly by Chinese and Japan.
ese ladies. l must confess that my bash
fulness compelled me to retreat after q
very few moments from the battery of
their half wondering, half scornful
c,lo % 81. 1 I.
before l had time TO remark that their
faces were flushed all over with skilfully
applied pink tints, excepting in patches,
which revealed disagreeably even and in
tensely Opaque whiteness. Theireyebrows
were penciled into narrow stiff arches;
their headdress, vests and trousers-for
in China all the women wear large, loose
trousers-were of variegated colors,
quite ingenious in their contrasts and
brightness; their black hair was dragged
back into lumpy, Shiny rolls like jelly
fish; their stature was ugly and stunted,
and their feet, their extraordinary feet,
in many cases had been contracted since
childhood into mere deformed knobs,
hideous to look at, on which they pain
fully tottered for few yards.
A wide detour round ditch brings us
into the very thick of China race course
dregs. Gambling booths for large sums,
gambling booths for small sums, gam
bling booths for nick. nacks, gambling
booths for high-priced drinkables, gam
bling booths for low priced carrion; each
booth with an eager throng of both sexes
and of all ages around it, which renders
circulation difficult.
What is this fragrant and yet some
what sickly smell, mixture of burning
spills and sandal wood, emanating from
some of the closed chairs conveying home
the Chinese ladies2 1t is due to the joss
sticks, in consuming which they utilize
their leisure moments, an exercise which
they consider as equivalent to an act of
worship.
Rapidly, yet steadily, the pedestrian,
the sedan chair, and the rickshaw lines
of wayfarers stream into the ordinary,
quiet town, just beginning to glitter
with gas jets from the English lamp posts
those ubiquitous lamp posts which, in
common with the gallows, may now be
regarded as the symbol of advancing
civilization. - London CorRhI.