The Press., 1891-06-04


 mH pedagogical career, and
 Mb was an indefatigable as-
 !MfEV sistant in the details as
 .!#HN below stated.
 sF " An Sam loved Miss Hi
 DV Sing. An Sam was by profession cook in California miners boarding house and trading post com bined, at little mining camp on the Tuolumne river. Following minutely the culinary teachings of his employer, having no conception of cooking save as mere mechanical operation-dead to the pernicious mental and physical effect which his i'll dressed dishes might have on the minds and stomach of those he served-Ah Sam, while dreaming of Hi Sing, fried tough beef still tougher in hot lard, poisoned four with saleratus, and boiled potatoes to the last extreme of soddenness, all of which culinary out rages promoted indigestion among those who ate; and this indigestion fomented a general irritability of temper-from whence Swett's camp became noted for it's frequent sanguinary moods, its bat ties by midnight in street and barrooln, with knife and sixshooter, and, above all, for it's burrying ground, of which the inhabitants truthfully boasted that not an inmate had died natural death.
 Hi Sing was the handmaid of old Ching Loo. Her face was broad, her nose flat, her girth extensive, her gait a waddle, her attire blue sacque reaching from neck to knee, blue trousers, brass rings on wrist and ankle, and wooden shoes whose clattering heels betrayed their owners presence, even as the shaken tail of the angry rattlesnake doth his un- pleasant proximity She had no educa- tion, no manners, no accomplishments, no beauty, no grace, no religion, no morality, and for this and more An Sam loved her. Hi Sing was virtually slave, having several years previously, with many other fair and fragile sisters, been imported to California by Ching Loo, and not until meeting An Sam did she learn that it was her right and privilege in this land of occasional laws and uni versal liberty to set up for herself, be- come her own mistress, and marry and unmarry whenever opportunity offered But Ching Loo had noticed, with a suspicious eye, the growing intimacy between An Sam and Hi Sing; and arguing therefrom results unproftable to himself, he contrived one night to town, which happened at that time to be my place of residence; and it is for this reason that the wool of my existence temporarily crossed that of An Sam and Hi Sing.
 An Sam followed up his love, and dis covering in me an old friend who had endured and survived whole winter of his cookery at Swett's Bar, told me his troubles; and 1, resolving to pay evil with good, communicated the distressed Mongolian's story to my chosen and par ticular companion, lean and cadaver- ous attorney, with whom fees had ceased to be angels visits, and who was then oscillating and lowering between two plans-one to run for. the next state legis- lature, the other to migrate to Central America and found new republic. At torney Spoke, on hearing An Sam's case, offered to find the maid, rescue her from her captors and marry her to him per manently and for ever in consideration of thirty American dollars; to which terms the Mongolian assenting, Spoke and myself, buckling on our arms and armor, proceeded to beat up the filthy purieus of "Chinatown;" and about midnight we found the passive Hi Sing hidden away in hencoop, whither she had been conveyed by the confederates of Ching Loo.
 We bore Hi Sing-who was consider ably alarmed, neither understanding our language nor our purpose-to Spoke's office, and then it being necessary to se- cure the services of a magistrate in unit ing the couple, departed to see the jus tice of the peace, who was still awake for justice rarely slept in camp at that hour, but was commonly engaged at the Bella Union playing poker, while Spoke sought after the groom, An Sam, whom he found in 8 Chinese den stupidly drunk from smoking opium, having taken such means to wear the edge off his suspense while we were rescuing his af6anced. Not only was hesstapidly but perversely drunk, but he declared in imperfect English that he had concluded not to marry that night, to which obser- vation Attorney Spoke, becoming pro fane, jerked him from the cot whereon he lay, and grasping him about the neck with strangulaing hold, bore him into the street and toward his office, intimat- ing loudly that this business had been proceeded with too far to be receded from, and that the marriage must be consummated that night with or with out the consent of the principals. An Sam resigned himself to matrimony. The office was reached, the door opened and out in the darkness bolted the bride, for she knew not what these prepara- tions meant, or whether she had fallen among friends or enemies. 8st After lively chase we cornered and caught her: and having thus at last brought this refractory couple together we placed them in position, and the jus tice commenced the ceremony by asking Hi Sing if she took that man for her law full welded husband, which interroga- tory being Chaldaic to her, she replied only by an unmeaning and unspeculative stare. Spoke, who seemed destined to be the soul and handspring of this whole affair, now threw light on the Mongolian intellect by bringing into play his stock of Chinese English, and translating to her the language of the justice thus, "You like 'um he, pretty good?' Upon which her face frightened, and she nodded assent. Then turning to the groom he called in tone fierce and threatening, "You like 'um she?'' and Ah Sam-who was now only passive ob- ject in the hands of Spoke, forced and galvanized into matrimony-dared not do otherwise than give in his adhesion, upon which the justice pronounced them man and wife, whereupon two Virgin