The daily sentinel., 1910-04-12


came to me and asked if it were pos
sible to get summons" to bring
his wife back. He said that she had
run away after the wedding and
would not live with him. That he
had paid her father $4,000 and that
he had been to lot of expense He
was brokenhearted over the money
! part of the deal. A few days after
ward she came around and told me
her tale of woe. asked her why she
| had taken the Chinaman's money,
married him then refused to live with
him.
! She said that her father had made
the deal with the Chino and that she
took none of the money because she
did not want to marry him. She told
him on the way to the Justice of the
Peace that she would not marry him
but that when the judge asked her
the vital question during the cere-
money she looked at her father and
through consideration for him answ-
cred in the affirmative. She had
carried out her fathers part of the
contract but she would die before she
would live with the Chinaman. She
was i'll love with a Filipino but he
had not enough money to square it
| with the Chino, and was not likely to
have in lifetime, although the
celestial would be glad to compromise
If he could get his money back.
In this country man over is
years of age has no legal standing
without cedula and no signature is
valid on legal document without
the number and date of the cedula.
These cedulas cost S100 and are is
sued from year to year and designate
mans nativity, age, married or
single, etc. The Chinaman's cedula
designated his as married and the
Justice of the Peace demurred at
performing the ceremony. The groom
went out in town, found two INDECENT
or avaricious Cinnamon and hired
them TO come in and swear that his
wife in China was dead. The other
Cinnamon here who knew him well
and also knew his family in China.
claim that he talkee big dam lie"
Parents bartering their daughters
to would-be husbands is the rule, and
not the exception, here among the
masses. OF course they will deny
that it is barter and sale but that
they take the money as good faith on
the part of the bridegroom.
In speaking of the masses. !. mean
the people who work, the ones that
create the wealth OF the land and not
the class that wear shoes and strut
around in white clothes, living Off
what the others produce. Little is
known in America of the customs of
these people. Those who came here
to investigate the country and to
write about the people are met by the
fellows who wear the shoes-and the
best shoe is always. put forward
given the glad hand and is made to
feel that everything is lovely. He is
treated to beer and liquors and is
fed on the fat of the land He is
taken out over the plantation and
shown the workmen along with the
oxen and cal-iboos.
Where the entertainer lives in
pretentious house there are fifty who
live in shacks without furniture and
exist almost exclusively on corn, rice
or sweet potatoes with some dried
fish to flavor It, Their intelligence
and thinking capacity are in keeping
with their mode of life. The investi-
gator sees these people at work or
sees them on Sunday at the cock pit
dressed in their best and having
good time. He does not go to their
shacks and dine with them, he
dosen't know their language and
cannot learn, except at second hand.
their traditions. superstitions, de-
sires and ambitions 90. Until some
of these superstitions be eliminated.
desires changed and ambitions in
creased there will not be much pro-