The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-07-28
NOT THEIR WAR.
Topeka CeIestfals Not Particularly Inter
estsd IN the Oriental Dine uItlsa-

Topeka Ce1egkfRls Not Particularly inter-
estsd In the Oriental Dimc uItisa-
It is really surprising what an amount
OF innocent ignorance the average Celes-
tial displays about the affairs Of the
country he came from At least il Is 50
as regards the washee-washee man. lie
knows nothing beyond his work, his in
come and his pipe. The Mongolian has
never been greatly known in this country
as leader IN affairs either political or
social. He is too steadfastly attentive to
his own business for that
There are only three Of these interest
ing bits of humanity in Topeka and IN
view of the fact thai there is now IN
process of evolution war between } apan
and Corea (which is a part of China and
is under its protection a JOURNAL re-
porter thought il would be funny to call
on them and see what they had to say
about IT, 1t was.
Kwong Hing and his younger brother
Long keep little washee shop in the
basement of APO Kansas avenue. The re-
porter fell down the rickety stairs few
steps at time and found Kwong alone.
Kwong came from Yokohama, Japan, to
this country less than four years ago.
When the reporter dropped-that's the
the word-in on him he was sleepy and
did not feel gOssipy. If one might
judge from the number of clothes he
didn't wear he should have been cool. He
was barefOOted and had his legs drawn
upon the chair he sat on. He evidently
was not expecting that any Of the girls
would drop in sOOn- He was tanning
himself-with little effort possible
and it seemed to the reporter that he
had never seen more INDECENT, cOmforta-
bic looking being on earth or in the
Cherokee strip.
Hello said the reporter by way of
arOusing his victim.
'Huh.7 was the rather discouraging
reply. The scheme didn't work Kwong
ha6 M n rn-
porter was not to be bluffed.
what do you think of the war between
China and Japan9"
The fan stopped moving slowly. swat
wah?"
Haven't you heard of it91
"Nuh." This was truly discouraging.
'Why, the king of Corea has been
seized by the Japanese army"
This was the reporters trump card
and he played it with a flourish. Kwong
closed one eye and slowly opened it
.sWant shirt washer" he asked with
some slight sign OF animation. The re-
porter didn't and KwOng refused to be in
terviewed'son any subject other than
shirts.
lie turned his attention to his fan and
the reporter climbed back up the stair
railing to the street
Wah Lee is more interesting. He was
at his laundry on East Seventh and was
4 working 1nduStrlOusly. lie has been
here seventeen of his thirty four years,
aud is a genuine Chinaman. His body
was full OF activity and his mouth was
full of water when the reporter found
/ him
His salutation was simply a nod and
grunt The reporter explained that there
was war on, but Wah hadn't heard of
it
He was interested right away. "Le
helIe," he exclaimed, as he squirted the
last batch of water from his spacious
mouth onto and rolled it up-tne shirt.
swat hghtee for?"
This was a sumner. The reporter
/ didn't know, and he saw that he had
fallen considerably in Wah's estimation
] because of his ignorance.
swell, me no care diam, anyway. Me
not in it, and Wah grinned cOmplacent-
ly. ME blet you two week washee bill
on Chiny"
The reporter hadn't any money to bet
and few shirts to wash, and as further
conversation only revealed the fact that
/ Wah didn't even know there was such a
place as Corea-"AIe had Study school
teacher Cora in Sian FIancisco. but she
no fight" said he-and didn't care any
way, he concluded to end the interview.
The only other MongOlian in town
didn't talk American, and the reporter
was glad of it