Waterbury Democrat., 1901-01-24
BARGAINS III PEKfN.

about twenty yards. How much shall say for the mandarin silk?'
 l 'Three dollars
 -Four
 .Any advance on four dollars? Go ing for four dollars! Going! Gone for four dollars to Captain Philips 2 Then Captain Pell brings up another article out of the heap, and the auc- sioDeer, old 'iDick" Herring, the cor stable of the British legation, takes an other sip of whiskey and water, then puts up a warm blue silk coat, full length stands erect at six-foot-two and holds from shoulders to ankles, lined throughout with foxskin and embroid- | cred on the outside with silk.
 We are expecting the winter short ly and tailoring is rather at premi- um.
 "How much shall I say for this beau tiful foxskin coat:' says Richard. His phrases are not much varied; in fact, you know what he is going to say before he opens his mouth. He turns the long cloak back to front and vice versa, and his white shirtsleeve drops down to his shoulder as he lifts 1 the foxskin well off the ground.
 1.-Two dollars says an Indian deal- CT, with reckless prodigality. The article is worth $3O or GG in any part of tue world.
 Three dollars" says q corporal of ] marines from the outer ring.
 Four says a colonel. seated on one ! of the forms in the inner ring. Five" from an American war cor respondent. It has never before been discovered that press correspondents were men Of means, but this loot auc- tion draws them out. 'S1N!'' shouts Dr Dudgeon from the form. He knows the value of things, aud people smile So the bidding runs up to twenty.
 "Going for twenty! Gone! Name. please? Oh, Dr Dudgeon. Didn t knoW it was you. sir, or would haze sent the bidding higher.''
 ~Whereat the company laughs. Dr Dudgeon is not the man to pay too much. Then there is put up q piece of Chinese ink or a chunk of bird nest soup, solid and dirty, or 8 dozen arti- cleS may have just been sold in sue ceSsion a less than half their market value, thls trific will be run up to q ridiculous figure. Its intrinsic value is less to a European than that of q single lracebNtton (which, indeed, is sometimes precious possession in the clrcIllnStances). but the company is seized With the humor of the thing
 Every afternoon except Sundays these scenes occur under the colonade ill front of the British legation. Sir Claude Macdonald. is frequently among the crowd, and General Gaselee, Gen eral Barrow and the officers of the staff, together with colonels, majors, captains and subalterns. warrant off ce,'s, non-coms, and men, Sikhs and Royal Marines, Royal Engineers and Welsh Fusiliers,' Japanese, Punjabis and Baluchls and Indian camp fol- lowers, Chinese traders and even cool ieS, with q sprinkllng of American of fcers and men, and of Germans. The sale is free and open to every one who chooses to come. The Russians and the French de not choose to come.
 That is loot systematized. This Chin3 expedition affair has been the biggest footing excursion since the days of PizZaro. There are different ys of footing, and the other nation aiities have not pursued the English way, but all are agreed that loot is the correct card. It had to be. Peking was q wealthy and populous city, full OF big houses, busy marts, thriving banks, large warehouses and crowded pawnshops. Half the population rushed helter skelter through the northern and western gates when the troops entered by the southern and eastern. Those who fled took with them what they could carry, and bur- jed, or attempted to conceal, the best part of what they had to leave behind.
 But thousands of pounds worth of property. was left derelict, with no likelihood of it's owners coming to claim it. On the entry of the troops an honest endeavor was made by the British commander to keep his troops within bounds. The Indian troops, ill particular required a tight rein. But there lay the unclaimed, owner less portable property, and meanwhile Russians. French and Germans were freely gathering it in, as well as the Chinese themselves, as soon as they gathered courage to invade the empty houses.
 1t became clear that the virtuous abstinence of the British troops from the appropriation of goods would not in the least help the former rightful owners, and as many of these must have been participators in the Boxer attacks their goods would, in any case, be- liable to contiscation. This was the situation when the British troops were given permission to bring in what they could find.
 While the wealthy houses and the crowded pawnshops wer stripped of their silks and furs, the poor mans cottage was spared, and men found footing beyond bounds were court martialed. The coolie's necessary goods and chattels, his baskets, his wretched clothing, his needles and thread, even his paltry ornaments of artificial flowers and cheap bases were left as they stood. Though gratitude is not perhaps the strongest point in the Chinese character, I cannot but think that this step, which did no one any harm, did something to enhance the reputation of. British troops.
 There is another method of dealing with the Chinese. I will not now make mention of D1rtic1l1ar natiOna1itjaS