The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1909-09-01
BELLVEW THE REFUGE or THE YELLOW MEN
81 AND THEIR W7TE WIVES, ON LAKE WASHINGTON
Squalid Settlement on Shores Of
Lake Washington = Drsary, Pur-
poseless Experiment In Mixing
Blood Of occidsnt and Orient.
BY a. s. COSTELLO.

BY a. s. COSTELLO.
special 0orrsspondsncs TO The Press
BELLEVUE, Wash, Sept. L.
And what Of the children, and the
children's children? r
Looking down from the lofty
banks upon the waters of Lake
Washington, hidden away by clus-
tering frs from the eyes of world
that looks with disfavor and sus-
pfcion on the mingling Of yellow
blood and white, Is Bellevue, lit
tie settlement, half yellow, half
white; community of yellow hus.
bands and white wives, of children
neither yellow nor white.
Assimilation can never be-" has
been the verdict Of the theorists
who have undertaken to solve the
race problem In white and yellow
rising out Of the peaceful invasion
of this. a country Of the white man
by the Oriental.
At Bellevue the theories of the
learned man are being tested, not
purposely, perhaps, but none the
less surely.
A few squalid little shacks stray.
Cling along clearing back from
the shore of the lake, few little
vegetable gardens from which dir
ty, almond-eyed, yellow skinned
men exc out miserable existence
for themselves, few weary-eyed,
Over-burdened white women and a
few dirty, ragged, frowsy children
In whose veins pulses at once, the
blood of Occident and Orient-that
Is Bellevue.
spent two hours in Bellevue.
talking with the women. did
not talk with the men, because the
men would not talk. 1t was clear
that to them q visit of a newspaper
reporter from the big city nearby,
Seattle, was a suspicious circum-
stance. Knowing full well, perhaps.
the bitter feeling in the Northwest
against them and their race, they
were. with one exception. surly,
feigning, when pressed to talk, an
ignorance of English. To the
women, the visit was clearly a
pleasant diversion. They talked
| freely, and during the two hours,
there was not one of those women
who could be led to say that she
was not satisfied with her life and
surroundings. Yet in only two or
three instances was there a face
illumined by smile. In all that
they said. these white helpmates
of the yellow men, most Of them
| care-worn and clearly in poor
health, gave an impression OF
forced cheerfulness, a vague hint
| that they were not quite up to the
task OF living the life they had
chosen.
Mrs. c. Matsura, wife of the set
Elements tailor and laundry man,
was one of the most cheerful. She
talked freely Of her union with a
Japanese.
Il have my life to live" she said,
"and l am living 1t according to the
dictates Of my conscience and my
heart. My husband and l are hap
by. Isn't that enough? Yes. a
marriage like mine may involve
sacrifices. Is there anything worth
while in life that does not? We
] do not trouble otner people. Let
them leave us alone"
Mrs. Matsura. who is now ~
| years old, was once a Methodist
missionary in Japan. There she
met Matsura. An attachment grew,
which resulted in her abandoning
her work and her people for life
of poverty In practical exile. The
Matsura's have one child, a daugh-
ter.
The Matsura's nearest neighbors
are the Papa" Haraguchis. Hara.
guchi was the one man in the col
ony who was not surly. Mrs. Har-
aguchi was once the wife of a we'll
TODD Kirkland, Wash. merchant.
Fifteen years ago, when she was a
comely young woman of 20, she de-
serted the white man for the yell
low one. She Is the mother of a
| 4 ~