Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1902-08-15
Laundry cAEcKs.
rnreuious Celestial Method Of Iden-
Trying Customers.

.aana celestial Method Of Iden-
flying Customers.
Tho ingenuity Of the Monaghan mind
10 well displayed in the system of
accounts and checks in the laundry
business. II their written language
wore as scientific and accurate as our
own it would be an excellent crea-
tion but they labor under many dis
advantages which are unknown to the
civilized world. There are no charac-
ters in Chinese for letters Of any such
simple variations as Roman and Ara
bic numerals. 1t is therefore impos-
sIble to translate or transliterate into
Chinese such common marks as "a. y
or Nv. g.. In place Of this the China
man uses the ideographs for the com
moner facts Of life, such as "house,"
"moon," dog" 'lion," "bear," table"
"chair and street"
In addition to these he employs the
numeral characters from ! up to 100.
A customer comes to a laundry UNI
able to speak Chinese and delivers his
wash to q man unable to speak Eng
lish. He receives in return a check
containing two characters. One repre-
sents the day Of the week or month
and the second one Of the facts NEIL
toned. such as moon" or "lion." The
slip is torn through the middle. upon
the principle Of the legal indenture Il
IS Impossible 70 initiate the torn piece
so that It will fit the half Fetained by
the laundry. Then upon the daybook
Of the laundry the proprietor enters
under the day OF tbs week Or the
month the telegraph moon or Hon as
signed to the customer and beneath
this the articles left to be Numbered
He then takes down from hook o 10
/ Of muslin tags on which are writer
In indelible Ink "moon" or "lion," l, ?
8, 4 and so on. One Of these tags Il
affixed to each article, excepting to-
cuffs and collars. 70 these one tag \
affixed, which Is fastened by stronl
thread or cord tied through the button
hole IN each article. In addition Il
this they often put private mark up
on the article to be cleaned, although
this is not very common. When tn
goods are washed and irOned, they ar
done up in a package and the day an,
special character written on the Oui
side In addition 10 this the hal
ticket Is fastened to II with 2 PHI
When the customer enters. h6 give
his half ticket up, and II be is know
by sight the package Ii handed over
/, him. If he Is not known or Is suspect
7 ed Of being confidence operator, hi
half ticket is fitted to the laundry hal
I ticket before the package is handle
over.
/ The daybook Il often amusing rea'
Y ing. It is difficult to write Wester
S names in Chinese characters and
= most cases impossible. The laundr.
man therefore writes down some sal
9 ent feature Of the customer. In d.
4 ing this he manifests quick percel
! ton and considerable humor. "Tw
Gold Tooth" appears on the same pag
3 with "Redhead Scar Cheek" IRE
. Nose Man" follows "Old Woman Wit
White Hair" MAN Who Looks Lii
: Horse" "Man With Much Long Hair
livery Tall Thin" and 'Alan Very Fl
jolly are familiar entries. Often Il
! !, customer is described by bis calling
a grocer, butcher, policeman. carpiai
man or expressman. Doctor and de
fist are frequent titles, Upon this sy
= tenn the little laundryman transacts h
z business with great smoothness al
= satisfaction. 1t may be asked If 1
American would DO as well in Il
I, FlOwery Kingdom.-New York Post.