The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-09-07
SOME QUEER OCCUPATIONS
WAYS OF MIXING 4 LIVING NOT
 COMMONLY KNOWN.

Professional Bride Carriers-SktlIet
 reaved-Praycr Merchants, steererl l For Quack Doctors and Razor Swap
 pers.
 A Chinese haled into court for selling
 lottery tickets a few weeks since testi fled that his occupation was solicitor | for an undertaken" It raised a laugt | in court at the time, but the Oriental's
 statement of his vocation was correct \ He is literally the drummer for the
 largest undertaking firm in Chinatown
 His methods are original. He has a
 list, to which he is adding constantly of the sick and ailing people in the Chi
 nese quarter. He keeps his eye on them
 and when one is likely to die he tackles | the victim while he is still of sound and disposing mind, sets before him the ad- vantages of his firm, in price, respecta- bility and strictly up-to-date funeral
 accessories and gets his order before 1t is too late. The business has paid this
 man so we'll that the other Chinese
 firms have followed the lead, and com petition among the sick of Chinatown
 is especially keen. The process is not
 unknown among Caucasian undertake CTS, but they are usually more guarded
 about it, and that is probably the first time that it has ever been registered as
 a profession.
 The incident recalls the fact that
 1f ,rio
 being carried on in San Francisco, oc-
 equations that are never listed in the
 city directory and that only bob up
 now and then through just such an in-
 cident as this of the arrest of the un-
 dertaker's drumer. The names of most
 of the professions and trades comprised
 under this head would convey but little
 meaning to the average reader. Here
 are some of them, just for example:
 Bride carrier, mourner widow consol- CT, schadchan, tenth man, razor swap per, steerer for quack doctors and prayer seller. All these are now being conducted in San Francisco, and all are
 making some one a living.
 Of course, the most singular of these are Chinese, and of these perhaps the AuCCICot ID llc lIdut Ol There are three women following this occupation in Chinatown and making comfortable, if spasmodic, income The excuse for this trade is the Chinese custom of making the bride an idler on her wedding day. forbidding her either to walk or stand and requiring her to be carried from her household to that of her husband by some one of her own sex. It would perhaps be permitted that the brides mother or some of her female relations should perform this delicate attention, but of late this is considered not"at all "swell'' among up- per class Chinese and their imitators. The real fashionable thing to do-and the lucky one as well-is to have a reg uar professional with reputation for luck and a correct and inside knowl- edge of the ceremonies to be observed. And when a Chinese family wishes to put on a little extra dog over the of a daughter, all three of Chinatown's professionals are hired.
 The leading light of this profession in San Francisco is a middle-aged woman, who has lived in Chinatown and prac- tised her vocation for the past decade She is the fashionable member of the
 trio, and it Is her boast that she has carried for the most exclusive families. l These women have practically a as they are the only Chinese In the city who are considered really | expert on all the ceremonies concerned | In the carrying of brides. They charge | according to the station and means of l f,, bp nd ;,,I the case of wealthy families the fee is | considerable, even when | measured by~our standards.
 Another band of old Chinese women, | also connected with an undertaking es- carry on the trade of pro- 'essional mourner. This profession Is better known than that of bride car fer, but it is doubtful if its full scope 8 rightly understood in San Francisco. | The business of the mourner is not sole y to mourn. They are masters and nistresses of ceremonies at fashionable unerals. They are instructed in all the 'ites and honors that should be paid he dead; they prepare the house against evil spirits; see that the win lows are sealed against devils, and Inally console the bereaved family The lead of the band in Chinatown is a wo- nan with a reputation for consoling and if the family can afford he luxury, she remains in the house or several days administering consola- ion.
 These people, as the name implies, elp out with the mourning at the time f the funeral, sobbing and lamenting S though the deceased were their earest and dearest, and throwing in y way of gratuity elaborate grimaces nd pastures of grief borrowed from he theater. The profession is said to e a paying one. It requires real tech ical knowledge, and the supply is mall. Those who handle or have to O with the dead form the lowest class mong the Chinese, a degraded caste elow even the actors. To take it up, therefore, means otracism. They know heir value and have a labor union to eep up prices and hold down hours. l S with the bride carriers, their rates re made to suit the people for whom ley work, the scale being governed by he cost of the funeral and the means f the bereaved. These, however are not the queerest | arners of bread to the Chinese them- elves. The most singular profession in an Francisco, judged by the Chinese tandard ie that of the actress now tho TaolySon Straa+ rrb> |