Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 December 1896 — CHOUSE CHARACTERISTICS. [ARTICLE]

CHOUSE CHARACTERISTICS.

MONGOLIANS IN NEW YORK ARE FUNLOVING PEOPLE. Always Joking and Playing Pranks With One Another—All of Them Are Very Fond of Companionship. The Chinese, writes Helen F. Clark In a Century article on “The Chinese of New York”! are a fun-loving jieople, ju spile of their general air of indifference in the presence of strangers. They race up ami down stairs, or sometimes through rl:e stmHs. on a frolic, every msui laughing until he is out of breath, pulling cues, stealing lints and playing all manner of practical jokes on one another. I recently heard a great commotion in Iloyers stret on a hot Sunday afternoon, when the street was crowded with Chinese, and, fearing trouble, hurried hastily to tin’ place, only to find one man the butt of another man's joke trying to get away front his pursuer, while about live hundred laughing men joined in the fun, and finally administered good-natured justice to the perpetrator of the joke. At another time ou Sunday afternoon I heard a sudden outcry and scuttle overhead, and the running of scores of feet. 1 ran into the hall, fearing that the building was ou tire, and with a sickening dread in my heart for the Italian children In Bethany Sunday school, which was tlieu in session in the Mission rooms. 1 saw a man coming down stairs, and asked him wlmt was the matter. Witrh a shrug of infinite disdain, lie remarked: "Oh, my people too in lichee laugh,” and passed oil Ids way. It was only a Hvltool-l>oy joke played by one group of men on another, followed by a general melee, in 'which shouts and laughter, and the incessant clatter of wooden soles on board floors made us think of "pandemonium ltd loose.” Sonic of the keenest and purest humor and some of the wittiest sallies I have heard have fallen from the lips of China men in lower New York. 1 well remember the amused and contemptuous look with which a Chinaman once sttid, “Mellean man savee (understand) China man a lie same liumebr one fool. Chinaman savee Meltean man nllee same. Chinaman every time getite top side Mol icon man”— which does not contain a reference to pugilism, but merely means t hat in a battle of wits tile Chinaman “sees through” the American mail, and will come out on the “top side.” They are very quick at repartee, and their black eyes will sjiarkle with amusement and fun if you jest with them, or when they start the ball rolling among themselves. They dwell together for years in the same apartments, happy and comfortable. They minister to one another In sickness, bury n relative or neighbor when dead without calling on public charities for help, and in the case of a relative assume the support of the family of the dead man when he is gome. These people—these much derided people—spend hours together in one another’s ajwirtinents, conversing together, eating together, sometimes smoking the long water pipe, always with a pot of steaming tea between them. In two years I have seen thousands of such groups, hut never yet have I found these men drinking liquor together. I have found them playing games—sometimes, but not always, gambling; have found them playing their musical instruments, which are harmonious to them, however much they may lack of melody to other stirs; or have found them reading or diseussiug the last llong Ivong or Shanghai dally; hut 1 repeat I have never found them drinking liquor, or in any degree under Hie influence of intoxicants. The Chinaman celebrates his wedding,, not by a drunken carousal, but by the finest feast that his poekefbook can command, to which not only his immediate relatives are Invited, but al! who have rhe slightest claim of friendship upon him. A Chinaman who was recently married in Mott street gave three large feasts in as many restaurants, entertaining hundred people at each before he had gone the round of his acquaintances and friends. Yet this man was not one of the most prosperous ones. A child’s birthday is likewise celebrated with a feast, the wife entertaining her friends in the family home, while the husband entertains his friends at his place of business or in a public restaurant.