A VISIT TO CHINATOWN. 47

breaking down or without some epidemic occurring among them, is a mystery to me. In a large house occupied like this, three hundred men more or less make their home, if home it can be called. So that it is plain that a very limited area will accommodate 80,000 Chinamen. But they want room for their stores and industries as well as for their living-dens. The pawnshop is an institution common to the “heathen Chinee” and to the civilized white communities, and into a Chinese pawn

shop our conductor first took us. Down from the street by steep steps into the basement, through a kind of office with a counter and two Chinese pawnbrokers standing behind it, very stuffy and small, we passed on through a squeezy passage into a small dark cell which contained all the pawned articles neatly arranged and packed away on shelves, everyone with its label. The Chinese, with all their thrifty habits, are inveterate gamblers, and the pawnshop is in the main the fruit of it. Here were numbers of hats, blue slops, such as the working Chinaman wears, opium pipes, metal tobacco pipes, clocks, long two-edged knives or daggers with which occasionally they commit murder; and sometimes, our conductor told us, two or three of them will set on a man after having enticed him into a dark alley, and almost cut him to pieces. Here, too, were bundles of joss sticks, images, and many other kinds of property left in pledge. The owners of the shop knew the policeman so well and trusted him, that they let us go into the inner room without coming to see that we didn't help ourselves to any of the curiositle8. Emerging from these depths, we were taken into another house where there was a room about thirty feet by fourteen feet. This had been made into two rooms by the insertion of an intermediate floor, and in these rooms, being each about seven feet high, were eighty sewing machines, at which eighty men work from morning to night making the blue slops and pants which the Chinese commonly wear. It was ten o'clock at night when we went in, and a good many were still at work. So also on entering a jeweller's shop we found about five men still at work, each with a large saucer of oil before him to feed a flaming wick, to give him a strong light to work by and a fire to fuse the silver or gold in, by the help of a blowpipe. We saw them making and engraving silver bracelets and other ornaments. Next we went into a provision shop; almost all the comestibles are imported from China direct, except pork, and of that article the Chinese dealers have the monopoly in San Francisco and control the market. The white dealers all have to buy from them. At one establishment they sell 20 tons of pork a day. Of other kinds of food there were dried cabbage and other vegetables, several kinds of dried fish, among them octopuses; eggs preserved in earth, duck's legs in cans of oil (this is considered a great delicacy, and I remember one Chinaman in British Columbia, a clerk in a Chinese store, who had specially ordered a can for his own delectation, from China), certain kinds of edible seeds and several kinds of confectionery all direct from China. This is one of the greatest complaints against them, that none of their wages are spent in America, no goods or provisions purchased, but all are sent from China, and all their money goes back to China; and therefore instead of promoting the circulation of money, they are all the time withdrawing large sums from circulation, and from the country. Gambling dens are thick in Chinatown; but still gambling is contrary to State law, and therefore at the door of each gambling house stands a sentinel, and as soon as a policeman is seen he gives the warning, and the door or doors, for they are often doubled and cased with iron, are closed and locked; and if the policeman should force his way in there is always a back door or two for escape. Our conductor pointed out several of these sentinels

A VISIT TO CHINATOWN. 49

to us on the other side of the street, standing at open doors, but sure enough, as soon as he was seen, though in plain clothes, the signal was given and the door was shut. We entered one, however, and saw the table on which the game is played, though there were no players there then. As I understood, the game is played with a number of beans, and the betting is made by guessing at the number put down, which however the croupier can always change # i. little clever cheating, and so the game is generally in his

and 8.

The other great diversion of the Chinese is the theatre. Everyone said that our idea of Chinatown would be incomplete without a visit to their theatre; so after paying half-a-dollar each at the little ticket window (i.e. 25 cents more than would be charged to Chinamen) we mounted some dark narrow stairs, and found ourselves in a large hall or room with a kind of stage at one end, the floor or pit crowded with Chinamen, and a few women in the gallery opposite to us: we were taken to a box near the stage. There was no scenery whatever. The orchestra was at the back of the stage just behind the players, and on one side of the stage were a number of men standing and looking on. The music was sui generis; it might be roughly described as a combination of twanging and clanging; the instruments were a species of violin, a wire instrument like a zithern, cymbals, and a small drum. The only thing good about it was the time, which was very precise. Sometimes they had theatre pieces, sometimes operatic; this night it was operatic. Their pieces are very lengthy, the same piece running on for three or four weeks, leaving off at a certain point each night, and continued from that on the next. The audience knew the pieces well, and on the uninteresting night they stay away, and wait for the more exciting parts of the plots. The play begins at 2 p.m., and lasts until midnight, so you can get a good deal for your money if you like to sit it out. Indeed it is only by the police regulations that they close at 12 p.m.; formerly they used to carry it on till 4 a.m. . If the same players act throughout they must earn their pay fairly enough. One of the actors who takes a woman's part always, is paid 4,500 dollars a year. There were about five principal characters in the scene, besides some soldiers and other attendants. As the opera was in Chinese we couldn't follow the plot, but the singing was the queerest I ever heard. The audience neither smiled or applauded, but looked as if they were sitting there as a kind of unpleasant but necessary duty. Half-an-hour of this was more than enough for us, and there was still the Joss house and a restaurant to be visited. The former occupied two rooms of an ordinary house, with, I think, three altars in them, with images, and joss sticks burning before them. The joss sticks are strips of sandal wood which are lit, and gradually smoulder, sending up a sweet perfume. The images are representations of Chinese worthies who have received an apotheosis, and whom it is beneficial to propitate, especially one who is the god of wealth. There was a great deal of handsome carved woodwork, gilded. I believe the only real religious sentiment among them is the dread of vengeance of the departed, who must therefore be propitiated; and probably mingled with this there is some fear of powers of devils, but they seem utterly void of any idea of a benevolent or supreme being. This is what makes it so difficult, I suppose, to arouse in them any desire of spiritual good. I can't give you any adequate idea of all the strange and sometimes appalling sights we saw—the dens of filth, and the horrible abodes of vice—the dark holes and alleys we penetrated, the dreadful smells which assailed us; these must be personally experienced to be realized. But it certainly makes one feel what a joyless oppressive thing life is without Christian hope and love, and how completely the vast multitudes of China are under the power of the prince of the world, being as they are without hope and without God in the world.

G. E. SHEPPARD.

OUR PARISH BOOK GUIDE.

MAXIMs FROM DR. Pusey's WRITINGs, compiled by C. M. S. (Rivingtons.) An exceedingly choice collection of passages, varying in length, one for each day throughout the year. Mr. Sadler of Honiton recommends it in a short introduction, and he trusts many, now ignorant or prejudiced, may be induced by these specimens to study the Great Doctor's writings. READINGs on OUR LoRD's MIRACLEs, by S. W. (Masters). This little book, first issued in 1871, is by the Author of Readings on some of the Parables, Stories for Every Sunday, d:c., all of which are just suited for schools and poor people. I know a lady who has found it very useful for a backward servant. SKETCHEs of ENGLISH NoN-CoNFoRMITY (? Dissent) by Rev. A. Saunders Dyer (Wells Gardener, de Co.) 1s. 6d. The Bishop of Winchester recommends these “Sketches, as useful and generally written in a kindly spirit, with a loyal attachment to the English Church.” Perhaps there is no other book so cheap and containing so much information on the eight sects, Independents, Roman Catholics, Baptists, Quakers, Unitarians, Wesleyans, Plymouth Brethren, Irvingites. CHURCH or CLUB? which is it? This is one of the Rev. J. Sidney Boucher's pamphlets, No. 10 of the Lecture Note Series. (Mowbray). Price 9d., per dozen. Thoughtful and Catholic, beyond many country-folk, but likely to be of great service to the inquiring Dissenter and Low Churchman, SEEK AND FIND by Christina G. Rosetti (S.P.C.K.). A double series of short studies on the Benedicite. Much to be commended (say in this coming Lent) for its reverential tone and wide range of scriptural illustration. FIVE MINUTEs daily readings of Poetry, selected by Mrs. Sidney Lear. (Rivingtons.) A nice book for your drawing room, or dressing-table: suitable also as a present for an intelligent youth or maiden of fifteen. A KALENDAR of the English Church for 1883. (The Church Printing Company.) This volume seems quite equal to its predecessors. Besides valuable Liturgical and Ritual Notes, it contains Legal Notes and Instructions, the recent decisions of the Law Courts during the past year on the St. Alban's and other cases, together with valuable notices of Homes, Penitentaries, &c. A LENT witH Jesus. (Rivingtons.) A very admirable little manual, consisting of short Readings for the whole of Lent and Easter Week, with a few meditations on the Holy Eucharist. It is dedicated to the Church of England Working Men's Society, and is just suited for the ten minutes which busy people may give to their daily meditation.

THE CHILDREN's coRNER. 51

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of “NEw AND OLD.”

DEAR SIR.—As you are on the Committee of the Bloemfontein Mission, you will not think I am troubling you, if I ask you if you know of any one who would go out as a nurse for the Kimberley Hospital. It has been enlarged lately from about 15 to 250 beds, and my sister, Sister Henrietta, who is at the head of the Hospital, is in great need of nurses to help her with this increased number of patients. She does not require only trained nurses or ladies; good, intelligent girls of the servant class, willing to #. taught, not slovenly or dirty, and able to read and write well, will do very well indeed. I think any who went from the right motive would have a happy home there; I don't know of any one, nurse or patient, who does not speak of the Hospital with affection. The passage out is paid, and a salary given of either £18 or £30 a year, with a month's rest. Please forgive me if I have bothered you or told you what you knew quite well before.—Believe me to be, sincerely yours, C

CREATION BY Law.—Creation by Law means nothing but Creative Force .directed by Creative Knowledge, worked under the control of Creative Power, and in fulfilment of Creative Purpose.—The Duke of Argyll.

THE BIBLE TRUE BECAUSE INSPIRED.—The essential difference between Holy Scripture and any other books is this—As all truth comes from God, other books may be in a sense said to be inspired bocause they are true, but Holy Scripture alone can be affirmed to be true because it is inspired.—Bishop Samuel Wilherforce.

THE RULE FoR REPEATING EVIL.-One very self observant said to me, “I used to ask myself, May I say this ill of my neighbour? And I always found a reason for it. Now I ask myself, must I say this? And I never find a reason for it.” Yet the rule is obvious. Since God has said speak not Evil ! it must be a duty not to speak it, unless His Law of love makes it, on any special occasion, a duty to speak it.--Dr. Pusey

THE CHILDREN'S CORNER.

THE WINTER KUNG'S BRIDE. CHAPTER I. #NCE upon a time, many hundred years ago, a maiden left the valley in | which she dwelt, and sought the pine forest on the heights above. Now it was commonly said among the peasants who inhabited the \-4 valley that the forest was enchanted, and that those who were bold enough to explore it, seldom, if ever, returned. Moreover the path which led to it was extremely difficult and dangerous. But the maiden had a brave spirit, and her mind was filled with wonder and curiosity concerning the various legends relating to the forest, which she had heard '' by the peasants in the valley. Onward she went, climbing higher and ligher the almost perpendicular rocks which bounded the valley on one side; often in sore peril of losing her hold, or making a false step, which would have caused her to be hurled to the bottom of the precipice and dashed to pieces. Still onward, merely pausing occasionally for an instant to take breath, but nexor looking back until a last effort having brought her to the top, she drew herself over the edge of the rock on to the mountain-pass, which led to the enchanted forest. “Ah!” murmured she, with a shudder, as she glanced down into the deep abyss at her feet, “the old folks spoke the truth; it is impossible to return by this path without being -dashed to pieces. I must on.” But the wind blew in strong coldblasts, and sorely hindered her progress. She shivered, and drew her thin raiment more closely around her. “If I had but