The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1886-07-13
A JOSS-HOUSE.
tine OrnAmentations Of the Denver Estsb-
lsshment and Their Significance.

Denver's Chinatown, like all we'll
regulated collection of Chinese houses
and inhabitants, has a joss-house.
This joss-hOuse is unpretentious as to
size, but very bold and cheeky as to
the manner in which it forces itself
upon public attention. 1t is situated
on Wazee street. in close proximity to
the dwellings OF the Chinese women,
and it is, as such affairs 60 in q
Christian country, daisy" To the
casual observer the joss-hOuse looks
like either a two-stOried barber shop
Or small dime museum. 1t is gayly
painted, and the prepOnderance of red
in the decoration gives the barber shop
idea rather the choice with guessers,
but the more studiOus will at once
notice that it has upon the front of its
second story balcony, and the Oldest
patron of those establishments where
man can get shave, little blood
letting and a summary OF the current
history of the world, all at the same
time, for fifteen cents, never remembers
seeing a tonSorial parlOr with a bal
cony. This balcony is an argument m
favor of the dime museum theory, for
as is well known, it is customary for
those establishments TO have a brass
band stationed upon balcony well out
of reach of an Infatuated populace.
and whose mission is TO make such
music that the listeners, unless stone
deaf, are glad to give up a dime in
order to get inside and out of hearing
of all, except the dull thud of the bass
drum.
On festive occasions the balcony of
the ioss-hOuse is further ornamented
by Chinese lanterns, and these lanterns
are what give the snap away and es-
tablishes the identity of the building as
a place Of worship. The joss in the
Denver house is an object of mystery,
and there is a discussion as TO whether
the object popularity known as Joss is
really he. Some who profess to be
well informed say that it is simply
COnfucius with couple of his friends
for there are three of the kind
while others are equally strong in the
opinion that it is joss. Whatever
it is intended for, it is simply apicture.
and in any other place might be taken
for circus advertisement. 1t hangs
against the partition at the southern
end of the house, and might as well be
the trademark of a superior band of
tea, SO far as inspiring any feeling
of awe in the mind of any but China
man.
The three figures upon the picture
are rather pleasant-looking gentlemen,
the center one having long mustache,
which reminds one of Cool Burgess
and several other old-time minstrel
men as they were wont to appear when
off duty and with the burnt cork washed
from their faces they would stand upon
hotel steps of country towns and mash
or seek TO mash the susceptible maid
ems. AT the right and left of the figure
are two quite common place-looking
individuals, with nothing at all re-
markable in their STYLES other than
heir clothes. which are gaudy in the
extreme. And there they hang and
stare and stare, and will probably con-
tinue so to do until the joss-house burns
down, is removed or the joss gets so
faded and worn that he has to be super
seded by brand new god.
In front of him is large table filled
with Chinese .dainties of various kinds
and qualities. 1t is rather a reflection
upon the average Chinese opinion of
joss shrewdness, this spread, for a
large majority of the vfands set forth
for his delectation are counterfeits of
the rankest kind. There are various
kinds of shell fish, made apparently of
pasteboard, and lots of fruit of the
same sham style. There are nuts which
may be real, and oranges which GER
tainly are not, and there are many
things there the intention of
which the uninitiated looker-on can
not catch on TO. But there
is real whisky of Chinese distillation
made from rice, and possibly by
Oriental moonshiners. These cups of
whisky stand and collect dust, and
Joss never touches them, his position
as painted parsonage forcing him TO
an extreme habit of abstinence. And
there is incense, but if Joss appetite
for incense is at all sharp he must be in
a constantly unsatisfied state. Little
bits of tapers send forth a stream of
smoke like that of an expiring match,
and it is hard for anybody excepting
Joss, who stands there and watches all
the time. TO discover that there is any
smoke at all.
When New Years comes around,
Joss is we'll remembered. The table is
enlarged, and many luxuries, real and
bogus, are added, and one or two adj
ditiOnal tapers are lighted, and during
the period of the holidays the smoke
can be seen and smelt. This, with a
crowd of Caucasian visitors larger
than usual, makes up the respect shown
to JOSS on New Years.
There are a great many josses In
Chinatown. Hardly a household is
complete without one, and some of
them have girls for the right and left
bowers to the central figure ANY or
binary sign-painter can get up pretty
looking joss, but one speci-
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