Wichita eagle., 1888-11-23


which sounds to my ear like that of the Digger
Indians of Nevada, but is said to be gibber-
ish or slang peculiar to the black districts of
| Naples. Like all the poorer Italians they
have an aversion to soap. Next / am ap-
pealed to by wretched remnant Of man in
the last stages Of alcoholism, and then comes
decided relief. A clean and intelligent
young man, with fair complexion and toler
ably well dressed, takes a seat by me, and
after the commonplace greetings of strangers,
l find that he is Piedmonter-an Italian
from the northern border of the kingdom.
find that he regards these dark and unsightly
Neapolitans as his countrynen about as
regard the South Carolina crackers" as
mine. We are all Americans SO are they
all "Italiansn-with difference. He is 8
bankers clerk, as there are several Italian
banks in the city.
In company with this man walk down to
the next street, Mulberry, which is simply a
street Of Naples reproduced in New York.
Pen cannot describe the peculiar life Of this
quarter: the street crowded with dark peo-
pie talking and gesticulating; the saloons full
of laughing, singing and dancing men, whose
hats bear the badges Of the various societies
the sidewalks thronged by brown women,
and everywhere among them the scantily
clad children, who tumble about in the dirt
without thought Of modesty's requirements.
But there is no fighting, and only the mildest
of intoxication. Beer and sour wine are the
common drinks. 1t is rare, indeed, to hear
an Italian call for ardent spirits, and when
one does / observe that ne takes very small
ria of ok led ot
5 cents drink The Italians rarely fight
with their fists. Their women are notably
virtuous. How it is in their own country l
cannot say, but the police report that they
find no abandoned women of that race in
this city.
One block further east brings us to Mott
street, the greatest Chinese center in Amer
lea outside of California. Indeed l know of
no street in San Francisco where the race is
more closely crowded than in this Here are
the Chinese gambling rooms and opium dens,
which last are said to be patronized by not a
few Americans. In theory Of law they are
watched over by the police, but in fact the
Chinese are very rarely interfered with in
any way whatever. Nor is it, from the po-
lice standpoint, necessary to interfere with
them. Their intoxication is OF the kind
not go out and fight; and as long as men only
kill themselves, law can seldom interfere.
One strong point in CALIFORNIA; Indictment
against the Chinese is that they do not bring
their respectable women with them Well, in
Mott street they have none of any kind. Per-
haps there are few in the dark recesses of
their curiously partitioned residences, but no
American visitor to the street sees any. 1t
haiti iy mas
At the functions of Worth with Mott and
Mulberry, and along it between the two
streets, the two races have mixed; and in all
that peighborhood is an occasional Asiatic Of
some other race. Here and there, too, negro
has located and more rarely a European
from some of those .'uureccgnizable" tribes
east Of Germany. And those mixtures have
already produced results" Among the
children one often sees type which cannot
be assigned to any race with which we are
familiar. If the hair is straight-itis always
of q coarse black-we know that there is No
African blood. If there is but the slightest
trace of an almond eye, we suspect Chinese
infusion, but if the nose is very prominent,
no possible China" in the eye can make us
doubt that the mother is Italian. Polish, Ser
Wan or Bohemian. And as most Of these
people appear to be here to stay, the question
naturally rises to the mind; how long before
all this foreign mass will fuze into a COM
mon Anaricanism and what sort of Ameri-
can will it bel We may be reasonably suro
that the attrition of free society will fast
wear out these now radical race distinctions,
and that thousands of these brown children
Will be valuable American citizens thirty
years from now.
In region but little over mile square
live 10, 600 people, ''too thick to thrive" our
farmer friends would say. And they do not
thrive. In hot weather the rate Of mortality
mounts up rapidly, especially among chill
dren; but it Is hero, as 1t is among the col
ored people in the West Indies and the Cult
states-the per cent of mortality is SO much
greater than among white Americans that
the superficial observer declares 1.-THE race is
diving out" but the census taker discovers
that the birth rate is much larger still.
There are districts III the south where the
average life of colored people is but twenty
five years, while that of the whites is forty;
yet there are GS many very old coiored as
white people, and the latter increase some
what faster. And SO it is here. That high
death rate in New York which shocks our
country cousins and makes them think this
en- unhealJhful city, is due to infant NOR
tality among the poor. Among the well to
to do indeed, to tlree-fourthS of mankind,
this is among the most healthy cities in tie
world. But with the immigration of later
years, we verify have the wretchedly poor
always with US j. II. BEADLE.
A Dincuit Literary Performance.
Young Author ito friend)-I say, Fred,
did you read my last article in The Every
Other Monthlyi
Friend enthusiesticallyl-Yes indeed, old
boy; read it through twice!
Young AuthoT-Oh, then you must have
found il very Interestingly