Year: 1874

| he spoke French and English huentlY
In brief, I doubt II you could have


found the equal of this Pagan shop


keeper among the Christian traders OF
! San Francisco.


There were few others present: 6
! Judge of the federal court, an editor,


a high government official, and a prom.


inent merchant. After We had drunk
our tea and tasted a few sweetmeats
! from q mysterious jar, that looked as Il
| it might contain Il preserved mouse
among its other nondescript treasures,
| Hop Sing arose, and gravely beckOning
rs to follow him, began to descend to
| the basement. When we got there, we
were amazed at finding it brilliantly
| lighted, and that a number of chairs


we're arranged III half circle on the
! asphalt pavement. When he had cour-
| teOusly seated us, he said


&" have invited you to witness a per-
! formance which can at least promise


you no other foreigners but yourselves


have ever seen. Wang, the court jug
gler, arrived here yesterday morning.


He has never given a performance out


side of the palace before. I have asked
him to entertain my friends this even


ing. He requires no theater, stage ac-


cessOries or any othing


more than you see here. Will you be


pleased to examine the ground your
selves, gentlemen?" ?"


OF course we examined the premises.


It was the ordinary basement or cellar
of the San Francisco stOre-house, ce-
mented to keep out the damp. We
pOked our stick into the pavement, and
raped on the wall to satisfy our polite
host, but tor no other purpose. We
were quite content to be the victims of
any clever deception. For myself I
knew I was ready to be deluded to any
exrent, and if had been offered an ex-
PLANTATION Of what followed 1 should
probably have declined it.


Although l am satisfied that Wang's
general performance was the first of the
kind ever given on American soil, it has
probably since become so familiar to
many of my readers that I shall not
bore them with it here. He began by
setting to flight, with the aid of his fan,
the usual number of butterflies made be-
fore our eyes of little bits of tissue pa
per, and kept them in the air during
the remainder of the performance. I
have a vivid recollection of the Judge
trying to catch one that lit on his knee,
and its evading him with the pertinac-
ity of living insect. And even at this
time Wang, still plying his fan, was
taking chickens out of hats, making
oranges disappear, pulling endless
yards of silk from his sleeve, apparently
filing the whole area of the basement
with goods that appeared mysteriOusly
from the ground, from his own sleeves,
from nowhere He swallowed knives
to the ruin of his digestion for years
to come, he dislocated every limb of his
body, he reciined In the air, apparently
upon nothing. But his crowning per
formance, which I have never yet seen
repeated, was the most weird, mysberi-
GUS and astounding.


He cleaned the ground of its incum-
bering articles for a space of about ff-
teen feet square, and then invited us TO
walk forward and again examine it.
We did 50, gravely; there was nothing
but the cemented pavement below to be
seen or felt. He then asked for the
loan of a handkerchief, and as I CHANGED
to be nearest him, I offered mine. He
took it, and spread it upon the floor.
Over this he spread a large square of
silk, and over this again a large shawl
nearly covering the space he had clear
ed. He then took a position at one of
the points of this rectangle, and began
a mOnotonous chant, rocking his body
to and fro in time with the somewhat
lugubriOUs air.


We sat still and waited. Above the
chant we could hear the striking Of the
city cl ok and the occasional rattle Of q
cart in the street overhead. The absO-
Lutte watchfuluess and expectation, the
dim mysterious half-light of the cellar
falling in a grewsome way upon the
misshapen bulk of a Chinese deity in
the background, faint smell of opium
smoke mingling with spice, and the
dreadful uncertainty of what we were
really waiting for sent an uncommon
thrill down our backs, and made us
look at each other with forced an IN
natural smile. This feeling was height
ened when Hop Sing slowly arose, and,
without a word, pointed with his finger
to the center of the shawl.


There was something beneath the
shawl. Surely-and something that
was not there before. At first, a mere
suggestion in relief, faint outline but
growing moro and more distinct and
visible every moment. The chant still
continued, the perspiration began to
roll from the singers face, gradually
the hidden object took upon itself a
shape and bulk that raised the shawl in
its center some five or six inches. It
vas now unmistakably the outline of
small but perfect human figure, with
extended aims and legs. One or two of
us turned pale, there was a feeling of
general uneasiness, until the editor
broke the silence by a gibe that, poor
as It was, was received with spontaneous
enthusiasm. Then the chant sudd snly
ceased. Wang arose, and, with quick,
5axtrO17s ~nOvpuaDt strinT)ad both
shawl and silk away and discovered,
sleeping peacefully upon my handker-
chief, tiny Chinese baby


The applause and uproar which fol-
lowed this revelation ought to have sat
isied Wang, even if the audience was
small one 1t was loud enough to ava
ken the baby, pretty little boy about
a year old, looking like a cupid cut of
sandal wood. He was whisked away
almost as mysteriously as he appeared.
When Hop Sing returned my handker-
chief with a bow, I asked If the Jug
gIer was the father of my baby. "No
sabe, 5" said the imperturable Hop Sing,
taking refuge in that Spanish form of
on-committalism so common IN Cal
ifornia.


& But does he have a new baby for
every performance 2" I asked. "Per-
haps : who knows ?" But what will
become OF this one?" Whatever you
choose, gentlemen, - replied Hop Sing,
with a courteous inclination, it was
born here-you are its godfathers.


There are two characteristic peculiar
tiles of any Californian assemblage in
1856 it was quick to take a hint, and
generous to the point of prodigality ia
IFS resDOnse TO any charitable appeal