The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1886-12-03

ptIlu llO dLLCutlOu' LHCh, puOIAHS Alo
hand upon the shoulder of one of
them, he spoke somewhat louder,
telling them to stop their quarreling.
The one touched merely twisted his
head sufficiently to enable him to see
who the speaker was, but no other no.
tice was taken of his words. Then the
writer grasped each man by his queue
as close to the head as he could, one
queue in each hand, and by a sudden,
vigorous pull, dragged them apart.
Pointing to their clothes, he said:
"Pick up your garments and come
along with me.
Without word, and apparently
without thought of refusal, they gath
cred their coats and girdles from the
ground, put them on and walked with
him down street, the whole crowd fol-
lowing.
Having gone about third of mile,
and reaching u cross street, the writer
said to one of them, pointing to the
south: "You go that way" and to the
other, pointing to the north: go that
way" Away each went as directed,
without q moments hesitation, and,
for aught the writer knows to the con-
trary, they are still travelling, one north
and the other south.
The following curious incident, show
ING one manner in which disputes are
settled in Peking, and the way taken
to show outsiders that justice has been
done, can not fail to interest the read
er. In January, 1881, the butler en-
ployed by the writer, and who had
been in his service some ten years, in
formed him that he must leave his po-
sition. Upon being asked for his rea-
sons. he stated that on the previous
evening he had gone out after dinner
and had thoughtlessly locked the room
which he and the firemen occupied to-
gether, and had taken the key with
him. The fireman was also out, and,
upon coming home about eleven
O'Clock, was, of course, unable to enter
his room. He could easily have gone
into a room with another servant for
the night, but refused to do so, because
very angry, and going to the residence
of the buffers family near by, he had
worked himself into violent passion,
raved and stormed up and down the
street, calling the buffers wife and
mother all manner of evil names and
had effectually reused the entire neigh
borhood.
Having performed in this manner
for about an hour, he returned to the
Legation and went to bed with anoth-
er servant, as he ought to have done
in the first place. The butler added
that the offenso was so serious and so
public that he had decided to ''take the
law" to the fireman, and as it would
not be decent to take such step when
both remained in the masters service,
he must beg to be released.
pointed out to him, in the first
place, that no Chinese court could take
notice of his complaint so long as
the fireman remained in the service of
an officer of the Legation. Hence it,
would be idle for him to give up his
position unless the fireman were also
discharged. In the second place, l
pointed out to him, that TO take the mat
ter into the courts would only serve
to let five hundred people hear the bad
words used when not more than fifty
people had heard it in the first in
stance. | promised to look into the
matter carefully, and if the facts were
as stated, to see that the fireman was
properly dealt with. urged the but
Ter not to leave his place, and not to
take any further steps until | had
made an effort to settle the difficulty.
To this. after some hesitation, the butler
consented.
The writer then sent for the fireman
and asked for his side of the story.
Strangely enough, it agreed entirely
with what the butler had said. The
fireman admitted that he was entirely
in the wrong, said he was very much
ashamed of what he had done, and
promised to submit to any punish
ment which the master saw fit to in
fiict He was spoken to very sharply
about his offense, and told plainly that
had he been foreigner, his words, if
used towards the family of another for
eigner would very likely have cost him
his life.
After allowing the matter to rest two
or three days, the butler and fireman
were summoned before the master and
their fellow-servants. The master re-
cited the facts, which both admitted to
be correct The fireman then con-
fessed his fault, and went upon his
hands and knees before the butler,
knocking his head three times upon the
floor by way of begging pardon. He
was then sent with the butler and an
other servant to the buffers house,
where he made similar apology to
the wife and mother whom he had in
suited. This was the Chinese way OF
settlement, and with it the writerssup-
posed the trouble had ended, as the in
jured party said he was satisfied.
But two days later the butler came
to his master again to say that while
he and his family were satisfied with
the apology made; yet the insulting
words had been shouted in the ears of
all the neighbors, who knew nothing
about the tireman's confession and
apology, that the neighbors were al
ready looking askance at him, and, to
quote the exact words used by him.,
"unless he could find some way to re-
paint his front door that is, find
some way to make the fireman s
apology public-the neighbors would
refuse to have any thing 10 do with
him, and might drive him out of the
neighborhood.
The writer admitted the force of this
point, and after a moments thought,
said:
swell, | think you are right. And
[ will fine the fireman half a month s