Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1900-10-04
CUSTOMS OF THE CHINESE.
Interesting Letter From Wilmington
Soldier in Tientsin,

following letter from his brother, g.
Pierce jackson, also OF this city. who
is a OF poral in the First United States
Infantry. now in China:
''Tientsin Aug II, 1900. I am alive,
safe, sound and well at this date. Tho
report reached Mapas1lia Japan,
before we reached there that the Grant
was lost. There was much rejoicing
there when we arrived. We reached
China about the first of the mouth,
but things have Just become so that
the mails can be rushed through regu-
lar. We Tiny company are quartered in
the walled city doing patrol duty. The
rest of our crowd went TO tho front and
are now, suppose, in Pelsin, They
are supposed to have reached there
yesterday. Our work here is not as
hard as the rest, for there is no march
ing. We turned out to meet the Boxers
three days ago, but it proved that they
did not come and attack as we expected.
They have gone north again and II
they go far enough, instead nf being
thica as they are now, they will be
| thin enough to look through (col-
| lectiyely, i mean), for the japan ese
are north of them and they slaughter
| Chinese like dogs. England, America
hua oupdu hEo buihB OH pho "oins
France and Russia have troops here,
hut for some reason they are doing very
little They 60 along, but the fighting
is being done by England, America
and JaraD.
Now, will tell you a little about
| the people. There are no wide roads.
| The streets are nothing more than
alleys, paved with stone in some places,
| in others with about six inches of mud.
You rarely see wagon. A coolie comes
along with a balance pole on his
shoulder, to each end OF which is sus-
| pended whatever he wants to carry.
| Up it goes balanced on one shoulder,
and off he goes almost in trot Then
they have sort of wheelbarrow. 1T
is not at all like one of ours. Instead
of the wheel being at one end like ours
it is about 10 inches high and placed
in the centre and boxed in. The load
is carried all around the body. 1t is a
queer looking thing, but they can use
il, and presume they have been doing
just that same thing for thousands OF
years. The working class OF people are
called coolies. The merchants and
others are practically idle. They loll
around, fat as pigs and smoke Ameri-
can cigarettes. They let their finger
nails grow until they are long enough
for an eagle's claws. This is sign cl
their position.
Nov about their food. can hardly
describe it, SO you will know exactly
what 1t is. Of course you know what
ohop-suey is. They put chop-suey in a
crust of dough and fry it, 1t makes Ia
good meal. Another curious thing they
eat is what you would call leather il
|
pared, but 1t comes ready foI use in
long sheets about the thickness of raw
hide. am told it is made Of green
peas. IL tastes very good. They make
fine pudding of rice, dates, nuts &c.
Another edible Is something like our
doughnuts. only not sweet They sell
for about cent apiece.
"Chinamen live together, a great
number in one house, and cook very
little. Early in the morning market.
ing is done and at other times of day
reddlera of edibles go through the
streets crying their wares. They buy
almost everything they eat ready
cooked; therefore they do very little
cooking.
"As to their personal appearance
Almost anybody OF any size in America
knows how Chinamnn looks The
women dress like men, except theil
hair. They put it up instead of wear
ing a queue. They have tiny feet. IL
fact there Is nothing to the foot hui
the instep and dwarfeu heel. The
development of the toes or the norma
shape of the foot is prevented by bind
ing the feet when the child is very
young. The men shave the face clear
in most cases. The eyebrows ant
ears are also shaved. The razor woult
make barber in Wilmington smile. 1
looks like a tiny butchers clever.
~ have just picked UP a little o
their language and believe if wer'
here year with little study coulc
master it. The effect of the shelinl
is sometimes terrible. They razet
about half the city to the ground
Order is maintained by means of arnet
,, patrols. The city is divided between
the different nations represented her,
and each furnishes an armed patrol o
soldiers We have captured numbe
of Boxers in the city. We Away
shoot them after trial. | had charg
of the South Gate with six men TO
four days. We captured 10 Boxers will
arms and ammunition. We tore a hous
down belonging to them. came nea
being killed by hair-brained sentr.
on the wall who fired at me one nigh
without challenging.
II believe we shall leave as soon o
things are settled. We go to Cavite
p. L., from here. / have secured
) number of relics-a rifle and ammuni
. tion from the arsenal, pipe, cigarett
holder, coins, &C., of native manu-
facture, which l will bring home witt
: me. 1 have travelled over 10, 600 mile
since l left Washington with tn
Fourth battalion on June oath, 1900.