The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-02-21

begin on the day of the second new moon
in the year. This always occurs ,s the first P
gia to prepare for it early in January
and they very often don't get oyer it 4 I'M
beginning of the Chinese New Year takes
place on February. 10 this year. the month
will be pretty well gone before Mott ana
PeII streets settle down into everyday
life again.
There was a time in the history OF
New York's Chinatown when only a rev rev
of the more adventurous SPIRITS aIaUmS
the men-about-town invaded It's COZ Goni1 had
assignments to get ROOD story Oh 'ne
Chinese New Year" ,a
| materially within the last two years
Now Chinatown during New year tns
homes of the people where, as much as
possible the orthodox social and rsllgion ss
| houses where the offerings are laid at the
feet of Guam Wen Chung; the de NY
streets and restaurants where stunning
parties from uptown and the cu cur, eocl-
| in search of new sensations or to satisfy
their thirst for Information ra oer-
tered around three streets, that extena
| to the westward for a snort u Eaairs
| These streets are Mott. Pell and Doyers
i the first being the show street OF the the
| Viewpoint: the second has mild SAVIOR
of the sIum about Though as matter
as a anS street TT It on the East sdeand alse
| has won fame as being the home OF
| famous because of the Chinese theatre
| Pei street at nfeht is more like
| street scene in one of Harrigan's plays
| than anything else in the Worio- II nar
that CHASTITY quiet that always hdns &c few
! people passing to and fro. ana even Ine
policeman the corner doesn't iooN
Dover street has no particular liars cha Tefy
/ cI nrf md will
| tenements. Mott street is just the reverse
of this. 1t is fairly wide-indeetd II sef fwo
lothers-ft is asphalted and kept very clean
BY day the briliantly-colored signs e nda r.
| rants and shops. give the place festive
air. while at night the varizcolored LAMPS a %
ann 1aht you of Aladdin and the
charms of the, Arabian Nights. Az Hbi Tn1s
| town however. New Years time shows
a different picture.
On the eve of that day from every
point of the compass around New York.
by every regular means of convey .4,i1,s
sons of the Middle Kingdom in the Chi
nese quarter, steady streams OF Cnina amen
nEs t Th tWo in in t Iege ts 81
be observed en- route to Mott street, wnere
the joss-house is situated; -, Ihe aior o1 b1t
| their shoes are covered with embToldery
their stockings are either Of light p pd
| or spotiess white and of the hnest tex.
| ture, and beneath the wadded-oVer lacey
| an occasional glimpse may pc caugnt OF
| some lightly colored undergarInent tnat
rivals the ball gown of one Of the women
| of the Four Hundred in it's br1lIlancy.
| The quarter has taken on It's holi-
| day garb but as yet it is free from the
| inroads of outsiders. Along the curos
| are stretched rows of push carts ful! 90. of
| cheap trinkets for use New Years gifts
/ The Chinese shops are full of similar
wares of more costly nature: and and they the,
| in the sale of goods, but also in the settle
nent of accounts; for it is the hlghes1
| tradition of Chinese religions end social
| life that no one who can possibly avoid
| it must begin the new year with any I'M
paid debts.
It is in living up. to this custom that
occupies more of John Chinamans time
on this New Years eve visit than he
| spends in admiring the characteristic signs
| the shop fronts or the general illumina-
| ton of the place. So strong is this debt
paying custom a characteristic of the
\ Chinese that in almost any of the large
cities of the Celestial Empire impoverish-
1 ed members of old families often sacrifice
priceless bits of porcelain or lacquer ware
| from among the family treasures to settle
| up as many of their debts possible.
| But the American dollars are more plenti-