The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-09-08

lmmemorial custom among the Chinese
prescribed the exact manner in which
they perform almost every action of their
lives The slightest variations from ira
ditional usage. whether in eating. drink
lngs or the manner of wearing their dress
Is noticeable. and such variations are
made 10 serve as fraternal signals among
members of the society
Lifting the cup with the thumb and
two fingers, or shaking il thrice over the
bowl when drinking are among the many
signs employed. To advance one foot
within the doorway of a house and place
an umbrella on the sill is a signal for
assistance given by a fugitive from officers
Of the law
The initiation fee varies with the means
of the candidate, and is devoted to paw
ing Tor the dinner that always follows
the ceremony. 1t is usually about so,
besides which each member is assessed
from IS 10 500 annually. Large sums
OF money are expended for the defense OF
brothers who have come within the
province of the law while acting in behalf
OF the society, or for the prosecution of
outsiders who may have offended il.
Romance and tradition dominate the
minds of the Chinese who emigrate TO
America. Tales of fairies, demons and
genii, of warriors and necromancers,
drawn from the ineXhaustible stores of
their popular literature. amuse their
leisure. 1t is from one of these histories
or romances that the plan of the Heaven
and Earth Society is said by some of
the Chinese to have been derived. This
tale is accounted one of the ten literary
masterpieces of China.
1t is an account of the lives and advent
ures of $50 chivalrous robbers who lived
during the reign of the Empeor Cheh
Sung, SEQ years ago. They drew to their
ranks the outcasts and disaffected from
in he
Businesses of the mountains, for many
years they successfully resisted all at
tempts TO subdue them, devoting them
selves to succoring the poor at the ex-
pense of the rich and oppressive officials
whom they plundered.
The Chinaman has become a we'll estab-
lished character in the popular literature
Of the United States. The professional
humorist has paid his respects to him,
and the playwright has made his figure
as an amusing parsonage in the drama.
But the Acknowledged Oriental of cOtempo-
rary humor and of the stage is a creation
of fancy rather than a reality. He talks
or sings in "pidgin'' or business English.
though in point of fact he is usually al
together unfamiliar with that jargon,
and most of the immigrants come from
districts remote from the cities where it
serves as the trade language in communi-
cation with foreigners.
adopted country seems to be one of the
highest ambitions of the imported Chi
naman. He realizes the intrinsic value
of such knowledge, for 1t may enable to
obtain a well-paid position as interpreter
in some shop in Hong Kong or Canton on
his return to his native country
The difference in speech and tradition
and the influence of tribal sentiment serve
as elements of dscord in the Chinese
communities Thus they are constantly
quarreling, as the disputes of each indi-
vidual are apt to be taken up by his
relatives.
These quarrels give rise to endless talk,
and often so engage the communities
that for time everything else is forgot
ten. Usually they are only wars of
words. In one reported instance a man
was brought from a distant city and
all his expenses paid, simply to say bad
things at the other party, in a trifling
dispute.
The Chinese seldom come to blows. They
are not given to crimes of violence, and
such assaults by Cinnamon as are reported
in the daily press are committed as
rule by professional criminals, who are
held in detestation by all the better class
Of the Immigrants.
The notion that the Chinese are aston
ished at our civilization and its mechanics
al conveniences is a mistake. They take
it entirely as a matter of course. They
have much less respect for our own
laws than for their own CODE which rests
upon public sentiment in their little COM
munities. No organized form of self-gov-
eminent exists is any of the Chinese
colonies in our cities In the east the
Six Companies exercise no authority what
ever. The colonies are democracies, which
regulate their own affairs. They have no
priests of any religion.
Many laundries and shops contain small
shrines, before which incense and candles
are burned. Gamblers make offerings to
the god of war for luck The Chinese are
extremely afraid of ghosts-particularly
the unlaid spirits of foreign devils"
The Chinese in this country make great
use of both the postofflce and the tele-
graph They are most generous patrons
of railways. They are unwilling to take
our medicines, and they will not go to hos
pitfalls if they can help it, They believe
that when a man goes to a hospital he
always dies. They say there is a devil
there that catches and kills people.
The notion current among us that
Chinaman who has lost his Queque would
be put to death should he return to China
is probably due to the fact that the cut
ting off of the queque forms part of the
ritual of the rebel secret society, men,
bership in which is punished with death
by the government.
LEGENDS OF THE DELUGE.