Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-18

= DuG j Will SGlCk W
: nv Peiping name for them-never
. stop. Now it might seem to be unin1ti-
@ated that rickishaw traffic Is quiet. Inc
runner goes silently as far as his loot
falls are concerned, but when all else
is still the rickishaw boy carries on
lively conversation with his fare. SO
all through the night the sound OF
voices rises to my window as the rlcKl-
shaw BOYS chatter. perhaps with one
another as they trot to their homes at
the end of their tour of duty, perhaps
: to their passengers.
3 O'Clock Is Liveliest Hour.
. Three o'clock seems to be about the
sliveliest time for this sort Of sociability
lin the street. The first night of our
sstay here was mystery to me. 1 was
awakened by the sound of much loud
talking. My first thought was that
Eight was in progress in Broadway. out
StY a few moments 1t became evident
Sthat the talking was pacific. Yet 1t
S$persisted I arose and looked out.
sThere was steady stream of ricki-
<shaws passing in both directions. most
@of them with fares, and every runner
sand every passenger was chatting in
THAT staccato style that carries like
smachine gun fire. Then looked at my
watch and it was 3:15. The noise con-
Stinued until the break of dawn and
Sslept no more till then.
The street opposite my window is
sSolid line of shops, two-story prick
Srow being thus occupied. with dwellings
~ahove the stores. Within my range are
ztWo silk stores; next. general store,
:where spices, coffee, tea. tobacco. vodka
sand other goods of that sort are car
~ried. Then comes bakery and cafe,
%evidently kept by stout German, who
appears from time to time at the front;
~~then a luggage factory, followed by a
Smoney exchange, hat factory, white
goods emporium and a shop for wom-
Sen's wear Somewhere up the street I
know there are three or four curio
sshops.
Trade is fairly brisk along this line
FAN the shops, whether kept by Euro
peanS or not, are stated by Chinese
clerks, who often stand silently at the
doors watching the passing show,
TONER appears. They are excellent
statesmen, these young Chinese. Some
sof them speak English-"a very little
English" they usually say when asked
by the non-Chinese customer and that
Every little" as a rule. proves quite
sufficient for purposes Of trade.
Japanese Noisy Shoes.
: Occasionally a japanese comes along
.his feet shot in "geta," or wooden
.clogs, which add to the streets noises.
The Chinese do not as rule wear
these wooden clogs, and so We miss
there, as elsewhere in China. the rather
musical note Of the geta. The peddlers,
with their climbing bits of metal, which
5tingle as they walk, contribute to the
~steadfast note of travel. There is no
lend to the devices of these street
ssvenders to draw notice to themselves.
Sometimes they use large cymbals to
which hammers are fastened loosely.
(which bang with the step Of the ped
edler.
= Coolie traffic is by no means noise
less. The two-man combination is usu-
ally decidedly vocal. The forward man
sounds a granting note and his fellow
follows it with another, in a different
key. Then the first man grunts again,
rin still different pitch. and the rear
man Sings" his part They keep this
up increasingly as they trot, keeping
rhythm that probably helps them on
their way. The bamboo poles yield to
the swing Of the burden and the trot is
pitched" to this motion. They carry
Incredibly heavy loads, seemingly With
out firing. The one-man porter also
has his grooming sing-song at times,
Though as rule he plugs on silently,
In contrast with the two-man outfit.
The rickishaw boys have their code
OF signals, consisting chlenY, as far as
can determine, in a peremptory grunt
of notification to persons ahead. But
there seems to be some system in these
sounds, for have observed that some
notes cause the obstacle to move to one
side, sometimes to the other. These
sounds may be actual words. One never
can quite tell when Chinese is saying
something and when he is just grunt-
ing. There is decided gutteral quail
1tu In the Chinese SnaoPh Tho cyllo hloc
are mostly complete words, and by the
same token the word is monosyllabic.
Thus, there Is no elision, or softening.
mo cadence Infections there are, of
course, for indeed great deal Of the
real significance of Chinese speech lies
in these intonations, which give the
language a sharp-edged chanting eff
feet. Now and then, listening to con-
syersation in Chinese. one is startled by