River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1895-07-18

several hundred laundrymen work and
i've there. 1t is only about quarter
of a mile from the capitol building,
and is near Pennsylvania avenue. So,
when all the Cinnamon turned out at
night to set off fireworks, e,y.ybody
could sec and enjoy their celebration.
They very seldom spend any money,
and il was remarkable to see them
wasting so much money in flame and
smoke. Not less than two hundred dol
lars were spent In Chinatown for fire.
crackers and Roman candles, and the
square at Four-and-a-half street just
south of the avenue was filed from
early dusk till midnight with an eager
c.owa., who waited and cheered each
fresh outburst of sulphurous enthusiasm
rom the laundrymcn. 1t was manifest
taat while John Chinaman is a very
economical fellow he is a lavish Mel.
lean man in celebration.
Usually the doors and windows of the
houses in the Chinese quarterars closed
to the world, or else darkness reignS
within, so that no one can see beyond
their portals, but all of their homes
were wide open on the night of the
Fourth of July, and the opium-smolSing
tea-drinlSers were madly merry as they
played with fire. The habit of setting
Off firecrackers one at a time Is appar-
emily an American idea: for the So
called Celestials s"orned such little ex-
blossoms. They did not seem to think
that even n whole pack at time was
noisy enough, for they brought out
whole basxetfuls OF firecraclxers and
set them off in the street all at once.
Rattle, crackle, roar, zip, ping, bang,
they exploded like voileys of musl1etrv
on a battlefield. The laundrvmen were
wilder than children and acted IKE
mob of dancing, grinning fire-fiends
capering about with both hands full of
exploding crackers. Their red crack
crs were very small, not more than
half the size of our crackers, but they
were twice as loud, and to the end of
each pack was attached a particularly
viciously sounding cracker of twice the
ordinary size, which emphasized the
close of each pack explosion with de-
cided bang. When the explosion of a
basketful of crackers was finished, the
ground for yards around would be COW
cred with the red paper wrappers al
most an inch deep. In the very midst
Of the fire and smoke these funny-loolx-
ing fellows played. They laughed,
shouted and acted like escaped luna
tics. You could scarcely realize that
they were the same solemn-looking,
stolid fellows WHO aimlessly iron and
wash. and wash and iron, all day long,
with never smile on their reflective
faces.
While whole baskets of crackers were
exploding. the Cinnamon with big Ro-
man candles in their hands would jump
into and over the fire, shooting off their
yellow fire balls in the air at the same
time. Their gauze shirts and wide
trousers were i'm and out of the flames
so quickly that none of them caught
fire, although they seemed to be rum
ming great risks. There was peculiar
fire dance in which about forty partici-
pated. Each one of them swung out
string of crackers about & re feet long,
and lighting one end they ran back and
forth swinging these exploding strings
over their heads, while the baskets OF
explosives were kissing and banging
about their feet. Each string must
have carried about two hundred crack
ers, and the noise was almost deafening
half block away. How they escaped
losing their eyes or being dcafcned is
almost miraculous. Everything APP
peared to be done according to some
system. Squads If them were dancers
and wielders of the enormous strings
of explosives. while others appeared To
be expert with Roman candles.
Then there were three or four little
Cinnamon who handled the Chinese
rockets, funny-looling things over two
feet long. They carried these fireworks
into the middle of the street, lighted
the fuses and held them until they be-
gan to savagely spit fire; and then
tossed them into the air so that they
went sinuously far above the house
tops. all the while sending forth sparks
of red. green and yellow hues until
they exploded like mortars in the sky.
-Four or five of them exploding al once
resulted in veritablc rain of fire which
could be seen from many parts of the
city. The laundrymen who we're not
acting like salamanders sat upon their
porches. in doorways and in windows
chattering like monkeys and GSTinning
like idiots, gesticulating like French
men and blinking their almond eyes
with glceful glitter. All of them had
big packs of crackers nd lighting the
fuses they occasionally threw them into
the crowds of small boys on the side
walks Before the little fellows real
lied the attack, the crackers were
cracking. Sizing and prancins about