New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-05-26

high, long drawn out key, the cooiie ~.
spending with short bass "Ho" This is fol-
lowed by a long. low ''Heigh'' in front, with Q
high quick "a-ho" in the rear all Of which, WITH
infinite variations is continuously kept up und
stop is made for rest the destination -
reached. With hundreds of loads like thesa
composed Of ducks, chickens, pigs, rice an
kinds of grain vegetables of every variety,
wood, drygoods. groceries babies and every
thing else movable one can to some extent i'm
agine the confusion of the atmosphere in adapt
Ing itself to the corglomerated entanglements
of the sound waves
One of the most unbearable noises is the hid
eous yell Of the night thief catcher who has .
par or lungs stronger than those Of half .
doZen ordinary men. and any donkey save .
Chinese born and bred would turn from their
sound and flee in abasement. He usually starts
out between 10 and II at night, just at the
time when one is ready to fall into comfortable
sleep, and launches his shrill cultural shrieks
every two minutes, interspersing them with .
Gathering piercing sound like to that OF the
hammering of a steel plough intensified to tho
Tooth power. All this pandemonium Of noise -
produced for the purpose OF frightening thieves
and burglars from any evil design. To
stranger such method may appear most fooS.
ish, as it serves the thefs purpose in indicaA-
ing the wherea bouts of the officer of the Law,
but a stranger would think of it no more a
foolish could he but once hear the blood curdling
yells and hammer and tongs and tinplate rack
ct. Heard for the first time. it is enough To
brighten any innocent white man into spas1ns7
guilty could hardly survive.
OF less intensity, but equally as disagreeablA
are the inharmonious. screaming. screechins
songs Of foot passengers in city or country 1t
all hours of the day and night These SUP
posed songs consist usually Of four Of the high
est keyed and longest drawn out notes In tfso
Gamut yelled over and over and over until .
foreigner who begins to listen to It is soon
threatened with nervous prostratlon.
Orchestras in theatres perhaps produce moro
racket to the minute than anything else In an
China. The success Of the play seems to depend
upon the intensity of the ear-splittins, raspinG
noise. The piercing reed whistles. the shrin ono
strlnged instruments. the rasping OF saw -toothed
boards. the Changing Of bells and cymbals. and
the fury and dcmonstrativeness of strangs
stringed brass, wind and other unnamed instru-
ments vie with each other in attempts to maks
the flesh crawl. and all OF them succeed most
admirably.
Even the Chinese funeral is characterized by .
great Gathering. Clamoring hUbbub. The process
sion is often headed by a Chinaman with a gun,
or, rather, an old blunderbuss. which he fires
off every few minutes with a twofold object
to clear the way in front. and 10 brighten of an
evil spirits. If the funeral is that of an official
any member of his family there is usually
mounted upon high carts and scattered through
the procession huge red figures with unsghtY
grinning faces. which. If not designed. are GER
tainly sufficient to frighten any evil intentioncd
spirit into the realms OF obscurity.
Another deafening, night splitting noise is ths
firing Of crackers, China is the home of fro
works of almost every conceivable kind. and the
nrecracker. because Of its noise is the Celestiars
chief delight. He fires them off at all hours q
Continued eighth page.