Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-02-15
CHINESE "BOY" SERVANTS
INSTITUTION ONLY SEEN IN ITS PER-
FICTION IN THE ORIENT.
They Save Their Employers a Great
Amount of Trouble, but They
Have Their Limitations.


Shanghai Correspondence New York Times.
When a man comes east he hires
"bov,, No matter how humby he may
have got on before, he is a master with
valet as soon as possible after arrival, and
he proceeds to grow in Importance and to
feel as helpless as he thinks BELTS his aris-
,ocratic station The reason he is so quick
In supplying himself is that the necessity
of doing so is the first advice rendered TO
him. and as his mind is open to suggestion
and he thinks that those who nave hVeo
here ought to know better how to get on
than he can know, the assurance on every
hand that a boy Is indispensable Strikes
him as conclusive. In asserting, ne asks
a friend to help him. the friend speaks 10
the compradore. who opens some telepathic
bung and out flows boy.
The boys always look well Wasneo anu
ironed and If the stranger takes to the cam
didate who presents himself ana engages
him them master hands over MS Keys.
When he reaches ms room ma MS n,.am a ne
finds his effects distributed and as well ar,
ranged as If he were an old settler, anu
the boy in attendance to dress MIN 1or GI ON,
ner or ready for any other service. Inc
arrival Is at once quite sure that not only
is a hoy Indispensable but he wonders how
he ever managed to live without one.
Thereafter the boy Is his after ego, pre-
naring his bath for him In the morning
kIpn
Ter the numberess wants that occur 10
man when he does not need to spend his
own time over them.
The boy never rises to titular man
hood, although he grow gray In service
and he rarely acquires any other name than
boy" One may easily learn something
of the boys family and discover what MS
intimates call him. But the average 1or-
eiyners curiosity does not run in that d.
rection and the boy rarely volunteers in
formation about himself: SO that the for
eigner and his boy may always remain
strangers, although in close relation as
master and servant for years. A man alone
with a boy can usually get from him a
great variety of work, but II there are
other servants about the division of labor
Is clearly marked, and there Is no use IN
trying to bring about a deviation from It,
When a master asks boy to do something
tina; a coolie should do, and the boy says
NO belong my pidgin, that settles IT, All
the kings horses cannot make the boy do
IT, and his guild, which includes every boy
in the place, Will prevent any other boy
from doing II.
The "Ness' System.
If three or four men decide to live in
mess, each takes his own boy along cook
is hired, who agrees to pay himself and
furnish the table for fixed monthly sum
from 500 to $3.50 for four-and one Of the
boys is designated as No. l, who engages
coolies orders In drinks, tobacco or other
things not provided by the COOK, keeps the
accounts Of the house, and acts as dtSburS-
| ing agent for the mess and paymaster OF
the staff Since the help provides its own
| ing agent for the mess and paymaster for
a mess may not bother themselves to know
how many attendants an establishment sup
| ports, but the record was probably ap-
preached recently here, when, accounts
running higher than the members of one
mess liked. the No. boy. called upon to
explain, showed that he carried on his roll
| the names Of twenty-eight servants for the
| four men. The cook had an apprentice.
each body had a boy, and even scullion No.