Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1895-02-22
SIIEW HO JOE.

OdA iduClSCO Will d large amount OF
money and soon afterward turned up in
New York and became a regular habitue
of the fantan dens and other establish
ments in Mott street where gambling was
h carried on without restraint. He sat
up late n night at the Mott street Monte
Carlo and dropped every dollar he had.
Though doomed to repeated d%isappoint-
ments, he borrowed money from his
friends and kept On gambling and hoping
in the Micawber idea that something
would turn up" He soon learned that
the something to turn up should be his
shirt sleeves for honest, earnest work, the
only lottery that could bring a prize with
out disappointment, the only investment
In which gam blers could not have the best
of him. The dying words of the English
comedian, Jeremy Rogers, 1.-The little rattle
is over" had much philosophy in them
for Shew when he found himself penni-
less. A f~atalist, like all his race, he did
not despair, however. Shew smiled in the
face of unkind fortune and looked around
for some means to make a fortune and 20
back to China and snap his finger in the
face of his eldest brother.
One day in the spring of 1884 it &C.
Cured to him that while his fellow
countrymen in Mott street favored veg
etables of common use in this country
they purchased several varieties of their
own peculiar cultivation and were de-
pendent on the Pacific slope for the unpro-
nounceable green's and other edible deli
cacies of their native land. "Why not raise
them in Astoria, on Long Island, near
New York city, and get rich?'' asked Shew
Ho Joe. Shew got the address of a florist
in Astoria who had a few acres of glebe to
rent on a hill and surrounded with trees
and strawberries.
The land was fenced off into several lit
tie gardens, and the florist consented to
rent Shew half an acre OF the ground and
wait for his rental until the first crop was
marketable. Shew next hunted up q Chi
nese tea merchant in Mott street, who lent
him the wherewithal to send to China for
seed and to purchase provisions until his
crop was planted. The next thing
Shew did was to erect a shanty in which
to sleep while it was too dark to be a-work.
ing. He gathered together a number Of
old scantlings and stray boards and got
an Astoria carpenter to nail them together
in the shape of a hut. This being accom-
plished, the intrepid son of the mandarin
set to work to be a Chinese farmer.
Cash on Delivery. .
Shew Ho Joe prospered from the start.
There~was such a demand for his vegeta-
bles that he could hardly make change
fast enough for his customers, and the
gourmets of Mott street were so intoxicat-
ed with delight over the new order of
things that they did not always notice
whether they got the right amount of
change or not. Shew did business strictly
on the lone price, motto, and before he
was two years in Astoria the fame of his
relishes had spread so far that he was I'M
able to fill the orders for garden truck. At
the end of the third year Lue Wah entered
the field as an aspirant for agricultural
honors and rented an adjoining farm.
Two years later Yu Lee, Yung Gee, Tschin
Chu Lick and Yum Yoh started rival
farms across the way n built a number
of little huts which served the double pur-
poses Of barns and dwelling houses. Sbsw
Ho Joe had now amassed q snug fortune.
He cared nothing for competition. He had
a prosperous and growing circle of, pa
irons, who found as much enjoyment in
his relishes as the Mclean man from his
potpourri of mixtures which bring with
them the attending evils Of dyspepsia and
indigestion. Three years ago he sold out
his interest in the farm to Yu Lee and re.
turned to China.
The Chinese farms have varied attrac-
tions both for the student of entomology
and the botanist. Four crops are raised ev-
cry year. The tillage is most thorough.
All farm labor is performed by hand.
A pillow is never used, and labor saving ma
chimes are unknown. The Chinese farm
ers work from dark to dark. Eight O'Clock
is their breakfast hour. Fifteen minutes
are usually devoted to this meal. They
work again until / o'clock, when they
take half an hour off for dinner. Then
they go back to their hoes and work until
it is too dark to distinguish objects. This
is the everyday life of this strange people.
When His New Year Comes.
The Chinese farmer throws aside all his
cares and responsibilities at least once a
year-on New Years day. The Chinese
New Years day took place Feb. 8. Some
keep it up for a week and some for a
month or more. This may be said to be
the greatest Of all Chinese celebrations
both at home and abroad, and while it
lasts only unbounded pleasure is sought
after and INDUCED in. When New Years
day arrived, the Chinese farmers scorn-
fully laid aside their hoes, and like true
Caucasians masticated turkey, duck and