Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 January 1876 — Chinese Habitations. [ARTICLE]

Chinese Habitations.

Between fights tlie Chinaman is an industrious animal. Just now' he is turning his energies to building, and, like his fighting, some ot it is contrary to law, and also shocking to a correct architectural taste. On the northwest corner of I and Union streets John has created a marvelous affair. It is built out far enough to occupy a third ot .the roadway. The front elevation (height five feet) is composed of odds and ends of stone picked up in the neighborhood. The one window is formed of three oil cans—two upright and the other laid across the top. The roof of this edifice—which has a frontage of about twenty-five feet and a depth of thirty or more—would make a handsome playground for a school, as it is perfectly flat and composed of earth. The interior, which the reporter doubled himself up to enter, is divided into numerous little dens and one spacious saloon, with earthen floor and one oil-can window. The place is shortly to be opened as a restaurant, provided the police don’t interfere, which they should do. The idea of utilizing oil-cans for building material has been eagerly seized by other Celestials, and the consequence is numerous fire-proof shanties. The cans, tilled with earth and piled one upon another, make a solid wall, and no bullet can penetrate them — not a slight consideration these times. Underground residences are also popular. A big square hole is dug into the hillside, covered in with sticks, straw, and an occasional plank. The door is naturally furnished by the eflstem slope. Although such trifles as light and air are left out of consideration, the bomb-proof character of the underground structure has a charm for the Chinese innabitants. The only drawback to such a house is the probability that on some rainy night an enemy may take it into his shaven head to dig a. trench and direct the water of tlie street down the chimney.— PT'rpwiia City (Nev.) Chronicle. A Quakertown man has solved Mrs. Livermore’s query: “What shall we do with our daughters?” He has purchased* two washing-machines and will take in washing. His wife and seven daughters are to do the work and he will superintend the business.