The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1901-06-26
An Interesting Letter from Col.
Wharton No 3,

resting on the shelving rocks bathing
in the sunshine; said to weigh from
four to eight hundred pounds, each
resembling herd Of de-horned Jersey
cows. The laws Of the country give
them great protection, and no man darcs
TO molest or make them afraid.
We visited many other points Of In
terest but we must not tire your rea-
ders as night-fall is drawing near and a
treat is in store for us. We returned
to our lodging and alter hearty meal
we again gathered at Police hcaduuar-
tcrs, in charge OF a special detective. |
AS soon as the lights were turned on
we were exploring the sights OF China
Town, part OF the city OF San Fran
cisco, containing over one hundred
thousand Chinese under city police reg
ulatlons. When within its borders we
were as much in China SO far as custom,
habits and rites prevailed, as i'll
we had been in Hong Kong or Shaughi. |
We FIRST visited the mission church. |
about twenty members there present. |
lady missionary was in charge and |
they were engaged in worship-noth-
ing but the sound Of the organ and the |
voice OF the organist was homelike to |
us. We next went to the church as re-
cognized by the heathan Chinese. We
looked on their God Joss, and on a |
rostrum elaborately arranged was their
idol before which they bowed and paid
homage: close beside him stood his
horse Tin statue) held by Chinaman,
saddlcd ready for the ride. On the op-
positc side stood the figure Of Chinese
lad OF about twelve summers, the only
son OF Chinese parents left an orphan,
in devotion and loyalty to his parents
he had kept until the blood had trckled
| from his eyes and mouth and left the
crimson stain on his checks and face.
| This is the great object lesson present
| ed to them in connection with their
Joss lor God to bind them in loyalty to
china, her customs, her traditions and
| her precepts. Just outside OF this
court was the most ridiculous part of
their worship: n salesman behind
counter selling small bundle of sticks
inclosed in high colored paper from
| which the purchaser drew one or more
and inserts it in q vessel of earth or
ashes, applies match, and burns it to
retain the friendship OF the devil |
asked "do you serve the Devil here too,
| oh no was the reply we Just keep on
the good side OF him by this worship"
We next visited their theatcr which
was literally patronized, but not
word could we understand: thence to
the opium dives, men smoking their
lives away with no hope Of reform:
|
all the time and units him for ANYTHING
else. "A large number of the poorer
class live under ground in small apart
ments with u miserable future before
them; yet they seem happy with their
pipes. Some of them are wealthy and
are engaged in merchandising, and do
a line business. We visited whole
sale drug house where they compound
all the drugs used in China Town. 1t
a ,t.r1, 70, e.
snakes, Lizards dried aud shipped di-
rect from China constituted the princi-
pal ingredients Of their medicine The
dried Lizards, packed two dozen in a
package, appeared to be about the size
of ground squirrel and larger, but the
Chinaman will take no other medicine
except that offered by his own doctor,
and large renumerative practice
awaits each doctor. They have very lit
tie dealings with the other nationalities
in the city, in fact there is not single
individual living in China Town or has
employment there except Chinese We
visited the home of one of the wealth
lest families, consisting of husband,
vile and two children. The husband
had paid large price for his wife and
was very proud OF her, her foot was
just four inches long: he was delighted
TO see us examine it: and had her to
walk across the room to show us that
she could walk: however she had never
walked on the streets and was carried
| by servants when she went to church
or an entertainment. The value of a
woman depends largely on the size of
her foot: the smaller the foot the higher
the price they command. The little
uaugnterS leet were so incaSed as to
prevent them ever being any lar
ger than they were when she was q
week od; they expect a fine price for
her The men all buy their wives.
The room of this family though small
was elaborately furnished: the furni-
of pearl. We visited many other places
of interest and saw some OF their
strange customs. When they write
they begin on the right hand side of
the paperand write backwards: present
your hand for a hand shake he will
shake his own: go to barber shop and
you will see them using a small curved
razor, they do not shave the face but
shave out the ear, the nostrils and the
eyebrows to relieve the appearance OF
the slanting eye. The night was grow
ing old when we returned to our rooms
ready for rest.
SATISFIED with sightseeing in the city
alter the close of the convention turn
ed my face homeward and stopped over
to ,ook through some places OF interest
The old San Gabriel Mission, built by
the mission fathers in hi, Is still
in use and IS well preserved, built out of
stone and equals our modern structures
in workmanship and design. stopped
over at Los Angela, city of one hun
dred and three thousand inhabitants
in the heart Of the great grain fields of
Calafornia: there are about five hun.
dred South Carolinians in the city. A
pigeon and Ostrich farms are points OF
interest. ! saw q Wheat Header at
work in field Of wheat said to con-
tain one thousand acres, it was drawn
by eighteen large horses, three abreast.
Ire wheat was cut, thrashed, sacked,
and the sacks dropped on the ground
securely tied by machinery; each sack
said to contain almost the same number
of pounds. The machine would cut
forty acres per day, and at the close of
each day from sixteen hundred to two
thousand bushels of wheat would hn
secured along its track.
Oranges are bought for one cent
apiece.
My next stop was at Yuma, In New
Mexico. said to be the hottest place in
the world. | saw there for the first
time greaser; (old Mexican; he was
curiosity to me. | remarked to him
in conversation that Yuma was said to
be the hottest placp In tho ,yo,ld. ~,