6
THE DAILY EVENING TELEGRAPH PHILADELPHIA, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 1870.
THE APRIL MAGAZINES.
PUTNAM A"
Turner A Co. semi ns Putnam' Miiguzint
for April, which lias the following table of
contents:
"American Dress," Professor de Vere; "A
Queen of Society," Colonel J. V. Deforest;
"Concerning Charlotte" (concluded), M. 0.
I1.; "A -Night on the Mississippi" (ia war
time), Ross Guffio; "Insect-Life in Winter,"
S. F. Cooper; "Madrid, from Noon till Mid
night," A. A. Adee; "The Eastern Tortal to
the Pole," Professor T. B. Maury; "In Ex
tremis," Edw. llenaud; "A Woman's Right,"
IV, Mrs. M. 0. Ames; "The New South
what it is Doing and what it Wants," Ed. de
Leon; "Predicatorlana : Old Sensation
Preachers," Rev. J. Vila Blake; "Mary Bus
sell Mitford," U. T. Tuckerman; "A Pom
peian Enigma," Leonard Kip; "The Ameri
can Doctrine of Neutrality;" "Editorial Notes;"
"Literature at Home," R. n. Stoddard; "Lite
rature and Art Abroad," Bayard Taylor. ,
From Professor de Vere's paper entitled
'American Dress" we make these extracts:
Unfortunately, here also the tendency of
republican institutions to level downward, at
least as much as upward, has not failed to
show its effects. Men in the so-called higher
' classes dress with a slovenliness, and an utter
disregard to comfort as well as to comeliness,
which is astonishing to the foreigner. If
questioned on the subject, they reply, more
Americano, by a question: Why should they
do otherwise ? Where the warehouse-porter
dresses in all points like the millionaire in
the counting-room, and where the maid
claims the right to wear the best robes of her
mistress, whenever she desires it, there is no
longer any incentive for dressing really well
and with speoial care. Even the slight pecu
liarities which mark the gentleman in Eng
land and on the Continent, the careful choice
of well-matched colors, the plain but be
coming cut of the clothes to suit the stout or
the thin man, and the cold or the warm
season, and above all the fineness and spot
less purity of the linen, are rarely noticed in
American society. All such special care be
stowed upon matters of dress would excite at
tention and might become an impediment in
courting popularity. The favorites of the
people, the rulers of the nation, are all of
them more or less self-made men; they have
been sitting cross-legged on the tailor's benoh
or they have been flatboatmen on the Missis
sippi, or carried loads of wood into town; and
however little this may interfere with the
development of stern integrity, brilliant
genius, and matchless valor, it produces out
ward results very different from those which
are caused by careful training in childhood
and hereditary good-breeding, The American
citizen must not dress better, even if he have
the taste and the leisure to do so, than the
idol of a nation or the victorious chieftain.
The "clothing store" is every man's tailor,
and the supply, manufactured by the hundred
thousand, is sent from the great trade centres
to every part of the Union. The man who
from the Hub of the Universe directs the
intellectual life of the nation, dresses exactly
like the Nevada miner in his meeting-house
costume, and the incorrigible Rebel of Geor
gia cannot be distinguished from the loyal
clerk in the departments at Washington, nor
the pious divine from the blatant Mormon in
the City of the Saints.
Young men, of course, are capable of the
folly of dressing in European style: they have
their morning and their dinner costume; they
dress for the country and for the opera as
long as their tailors' bills are paid from the
paternal purse or Cupid spurs them on and
they move in "the bloom of young desire and
purple light of love." But the change is as
distressing as it is sudden, when the motive
is withdrawn. No sooner has Young Hope
ful established himself in business or brought
a mistress to his "princely mansion," than
all such trifling attention to dress and out
ward appearance is forgotten, and he sinks
without a eioh into the vast army of citizens,
who all think and dress and act alike. Hence
forth he loses his individuality. The wisp
rarely absent from Lord Palmerston's lips,
the white cravat of Guizot, and the famous
"three hairs" of Bismarck, are of as little
interest to him as the little hat and the gray
greatcoat of Napoleon and the scrupulously
correct costume of the Iron Duke; and yet
these peculiarities are held by some not to be
entirely uninteresting and unmeaning.
How the traveller on his weary way through
the Union sighs for some change of costume !
How he loathes the unfailing black coat and
toll hat ! The everlasting costume, varied at
best only by more or less beard, meets him in
the counting-room and at the horse-race, at
the political barbecue and in nine pulpits out
of ten; the gambler behind his faro table sits
there in dress coat and "beaver," as national
custom has it, and so does the judge on his
benoh; dress coat and "beaver" travel on
crowded stages in outlying territories, and
follow the plough in ancient homesteads. It
is said that political feelings did for a time
at least hold out some hope that there
might arise a variety of costume; the
Northern Boys in Blue loved to see them
selves dressed in blue, and appeared in square
toed boots and regular dress coats on solemn
occasions, while the men in gray preferred
the Confederate color, abhorred square-toes,
and indulged, for the sake of opposition
mainly, in vast frockcoats hanging down to
the feet. Two such costumes have become
almost historical: The leader, who maintained
his ground so long against immensely supe
rior numbers and gross imbecility in the
councils of his chief, has become endeared
to the Southerner in his gray citizen s dress,
which harmonizes so well with the placid,
lofty features and the silvery hair and beard.
The other is the stereotype bridegroom of
the Southwest: patent-leather boots, glossy
broadcloth from head to foot, with vast over
flowing skirts, white satin vest with a superb
diamond pin in the embroidered and frilled
bosom, and a patent paper-collar.
It must be added, however, that if the
American shows in his dress neither remarka
ble taste nor strongly marked oharacter, he is
on the other hand infinitely superior to the
European, en masse, in point of cleanliness
and abundance of clothing. The foreigner
may rarely meet with a really well-drensed
gentleman, dui lie win bmii more raroiy come
in contact with that untidiness which instinc
tively recalls the tiny basins and miniature
pitchers of the water-abhorring Gerrnaa or the
discolored hands of many a Frenchman, who
is evidently not "well off for soap;" and, bet
ter still, he will see no rags in the States. This
is not merely the effect of the facility with
which employment is found and good wages are
obtained, but also of the self-respect which
republican institutions develop in every citi
zen. Every man feels that he has a voice in
the affairs of his country, and that he is
therefore sure to be respected in proportion
as he commands the respect of others. This
consciousness of his own rights and his
power, this court which is paid him by every
candidate for oflloe, from the aspirant to the
White House down to the ambitious town
sergeant, and the certainty that there is no
ftocial barrier in his way to the highest place
in the land all there give him a Bonse of his
own dignity, which instinctively seeks utter
ance in a becoming dress and a more or less
dignified carriage.
Nature has endowed the American lady
with a profusion of rich gifts, far beyond
their less favored sisters abroad. If really
great beauties are comparatively rare and
even on this point the diversity of taste may
lead to a difference of opinion the majority
of women are more thnn merely fair. They
are almost without exception delicately made,
and in this respect very different from the
robust type of the English girl of the period,
with her ruddy color, her full form, and her
deep, masculine voice, and still more differ
ent from the heavy, angular German girl,
who combines so mysteriously an immense
amount of sentimentality with an unlimited
appetite. The neck and the extremities are
uniformly so small that European establish
ments have to make collars, gloves, and
shoes, especially for the American market,
certain sizes of these three articles being
utterly unsalable- in Europe. Hence, when
the Amoricen girl reaches her national
heaven, Paris, and has been for a few weeks
in the hands of French artists, she is
simply perfection. She outshines the Pari
sian on her own privileged ground. Elderly
men will remember a fair New York beauty,
who visited Paris when the Emperor was still
President, and the furore her exquisite toi
lettes created, whenever she appeared at the
opera, at the Elysee, or at the Bois. Younger
men need not be reminded of the recent
rivalry between one of their beautiful coun
trywomen and the brilliant Metternich, and
the desperate but futile efforts made by the
great arbiter of fashion to wrest the crown of
victory from her hands. Combining great
natural advantages in beauty and grace with
admirable taste and an almost instinctive per
ception of the becoming, American women
abroad very easily outstrip all competitors in
the art of. dressing.
All the more is it to be regretted that their
taste at home has been vitiated by fierce
competition, so as to make them prefer rich
ness of texture, brightness of color, and often
simple costliness, to what is handsome in it
self or becoming in individual cases. From
the days of Mad'lle Victorine, Parisian mo
distes have had their show-rooms for their
country-women, another for English ladies,
and still another for transatlantic visitors: in
the first are seen things pretty and elegant,
but cheap; in the second, marvellous struc
tures, specially designed to please the
peculiar taste of Miladi; and in the
third, the most expeasive articles, the
most gorgeous costumes. But worse
still is behind. When the great New
York milliner performs her semi-annual pil
grimage to the Mecca of Fashion, she knows
full well how happpily the interests of her
purse agree with the taste of her enstomers,
and she selects only the most striking and
most expensive of novelties. These, and
these only often worn by none but the
demi-monde, but endorsed4by the prestige of
her name become the fashion, and the
Americon ladies, to their great injury, forego
the immense variety of less showy and less
costly articles of dress, which enable the
Frenchwoman, in her judicious selection of
what is really pretty and becoming to her size,
color, and character, to appear always to great
advantage at very little expense. And if this
is the penalty paid by the fashionable lady of
New York and New Orleans where alone
fashions are directly imported sad is the fate
of the American lady in the remoter inland
town. Never was there known in history
such abject slavery to fashion; not even in the
saddest days of Germany, when she was
Frenchified from the courts of her forty odd
princes down to the humblest home of the
green grocer. If Flora McFlimsey wears
crimson gloves, the epidemio spreads like
wildfire, and in a few weeks every
lady, from Maine to Texas, and from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, has bloody
hands. If Mme. La Mode proclaims
the crinoline defunct, the dresses collapse in
stantly all over tne union, and present mar
vellous shapes in the insane desire to obey
the edict before the newly-devised substitute
can be procured. As every woman is a lady
as Biddy, the Irish maid, dresses as nearly as
sue can line ner mistress, ana even Dinah,
the scullion, now has entered the lists the
trade in fashions is brisk beyond all concep
tion. The example of New York is followed
by the great milliners in the largo cities of
each State; from these centres the smaller
towns are supplied, and thanks to the niatoh-
less facility ot travelling and of conveying
goods to vast distances by means of express
agencies, tne last novelty reaohes the
most remote regions in an incredibly
short time. The traveller can hardly over
take them, and is pretty sure to find the far
mer's wife in the Far West in a costume he
has seen in Broadway, and to meet the last
style of a bonnet that came over in the same
vessel with him in every shop-window
throughout the land. At least he will recog
nize a faint resemblance; for the exaggera
tion increases with the distance from New
York, the great metropolis of the Union; and
the short dress, which nearly touched the
mud-defiled pavement of the city, has shrunk
np above the boot-tops by the time it has
reached the South, while the little rosebud in
the coquettish hat has bloomed forth into a
colossal bouquet, glowing in all the colors of
the rainbow.
But the sad effects of this universal and
almost slavish submission to fashion are not
limited to the injury done to taste and pro
priety; they go much further and do more
fatal damage. As economy is an almost un
known virtue in this land of plenty, so that
even a five years' war could not teach it, the
good people of the South and their women
dress as richly and brilliantly now as ever.
No one thinks of wearing last season's finery,
or turning a half-worn dress to make it serve a
second year. To be suspected of being too poor
to buy new articles of dres for every one of
the four seasons of the year, would be a mis
fortune; but to have to wear old-fashioned
things that horror could not possibly be
borne! And yet there are hard-hearted
fathers and brutal husbands who will not
perhaps caunot aff ord the enormous out
lav, and the result is that the peuting
dii nisei stays away from church, or marries
the first man who offers, merely that she may
have the moans of dressing well; while the
discontented wife finds a pretext to visit an
other State, where generous laws and a whole-
souled judge grant her a divorce, so that she
mav marrv a richer husband. What matters
it that blood is shed in consequence, that
murder is committed, and disgrace covers
her and her children? She finds renowned
divines willincr to sanction the fearful act,
she is supported and praised by her sisters
"in solemn council assembled," and famous
authors nse her name to fill religious papers
with rapturous eulogies on Free Love!
This extravagant fondness for fashionable
and expensive dress has, of course, its happy
effects also, according to the same theory
which makes the French Emperor order his
guests at Versailles or Coinpeigne to make
five "toilettes" a day, thot trade may be
benefited, and induoes powerful poten
tates in Germany graciously to patro
nize gambling saloons, that the poor of
their miniature realm may be supported
by foreign visitors. Millions flow into the
treasury of the United States from the high
duties imposed upon silks and laces; a Stewurt
grows rich in almost every large city, and
builds matble palaces from the profits he
makes on the sale of what here is called dry
goods, and opulent milliners drive their
phaetons in the park or on the shollroad.
There is not a village of a few thousand in
habitants that could not at needs supply the
means of dressing a lady in a style fit for Picca
dilly or the Champs Ely sees; and what in Europe
is still largely the exclusive property of
the high-born and wealthy ia here, in true
republican style, within reach of every one
who is willing to spend a few dollars for
there seems never to bo a question as to the
ability. This produces two pleasing results. '
In the first place, American women, through
out the length and breadth of the land, are
infinitely better dressed than their sisters in
Europe. Go to the smallest inland town
go to country-seats remote from railway and
stage line go even to the border States,
where civilization in its highest type comes
still in immediate contact with savage life,
and everywhere you will find persons well
dressed andlooking unmistakable ladies. The
slender figure, no doubt, sets off the simple
dress, the small hand instinctively seeks
Jouvin's gloves, and the pretty foot demands
a small, well-fitting boot; but there is always
more or less taste to be seen in the choice of
the colors and the fit of the dress. The bold
mixture of colors so fatal to the attractions
of English girls, the pinched look produced
by the habitual rigorous economy of German
ladies, and the careless slovenliness so often
seen in Italian women, are rarely found in
America. The facilities and cheap rates of
travelling enable almost every girl in the land
to visit the larger cities occasionally, and her
observant eye and quick wit enable her soon
to find out what is the prevailing style, and to
acquire a generul idea of what is suitable and
what is becoming. The thorough-bred pro
vincial air, which is such a constant source
of amusement to the traveller in the Old
World, hardly exists in the States; and the
inmate of a log-cabin in the territories often
looks as well dressed and as aristocratic in
bearing as many a high and noble lady abroad.
Hence, also, the almost marvellous facility
with which the American lady adapts herself
to foreign habits and foreign styles of dress.
Many a fair daughter of this favored land was
born in a humble cottage, sent to a publio
school, and compelled to earn her livelihood by
the work of her hand or the teaching of chil
dren. She may have married, when she was quite
youDg and unused to the ways of the world,
an industrious mechanic, a modest school
master, or a youthful barrister. She has
risen with her husband from step to step,
rarely seeing the world, till one fine day she
awakes to find herself the wife of a foreign
minister. She crosses the ocean, she appears
at court, she mingles with the highest in the
land, and as there is not a trace of awkward
ness in her manner, so her dress is in perfect
keeping with her new station in life, and she
wears her unwonted splendor with the same
simple ease and perfect grace which in Europe
are deemed the precious prerogative of the
high-born. Nor must the revere de la mcdaiUe
be forgotten. The sudden rise is not more
frequent than the sudden fall; the am
bassador is recalled by a new President,
the millionaire sees his wealth take
wings in a day of panic in Wall street, the
owner of thousands of slaves is left penniless
by a President's proclamation, and the wife
has to lay aside her splendor and to exchange
her velvets and her diamonds for simple cali
coes and modest ribbons.
But, with the same innate dignity and out
ward grace, she remains the lady still in her
homely dress, and gives to the cheapest mate
rials and plainest forms a charm which
neither poverty nor seclusion from the great
world can ever efface. This rare gift of
the American lady was most signally
exhibited during tne late civil war,
when the Southern States were for five
years almost hermetically closed to the outer
world, ana tne ladies ot tne boutn were com
polled, from destitution as well as from sheer
ignorance of foreign fashions, to dress as well
as they could. And yet .bngusn travellers
and Continental officers, who saw them during
that time, bear uniform witness to the unmis
takable cachet of good-breeding which they
knew to impress upon toilettes, which tinder
all other circumstances would have ap
peared most odd and extraordinary. There
was something indescribably touching, , we
are told, in the homely, unadorned
costume in which ladies reared in luxury,
and even splendor, would welcome British
lords and irencn princes in bare rooms;
their calicoes were worn with a distinction,
and their homespun fitted with an elegance,
which made them only the more attractive,
and reminded the visitors that the carpets
had been transformed into blankets, and the
silk curtains into coverlids, while the fair
owners spent their days in nursing the
wounded and working for the ill-clad soldiers
in the field.
Since the war, however, the tendency to ex
travagance which has taken possession of the
American people has not failed to affect the
fair sex also, and naturally shows itself most
in the injury it has done to their native good
taste. Still, there is a very perceptible dif
ference in this respect also, between the
dress of the North and the boutn, tne
East and the West. As all the levelling
power of republicanism has never yet suc
ceeded in totally effacing the differences
which climate, soil, and occupation produce
in men's speech and manner, so fashion also
has to bend, bon grc mul gre, to the same
influences. The down-eastern girl, strong iu
her well-trained mind and almost mascu
line independence, is apt to affect stern
simplicity in dress; she eschews bright
colors and ornate fashions; she weais
stout shoos, thick waterproofs, and
loves to cut her hair thort. New York
is far more cosmopolitan, representing, in
countless varieties of dress, the wonderful
mixture of nationalities that muke up her
population, and bearing, like a true metropo
lis, no distinctive mark of her own. Vry
different, indeed, is, in this respect, the
southernmost city, New Orleans, where Indies
dress in genuine French stylo, having ParU
fashions imported directly, and oopying them
with matchless taste and brilliant success.
As a traveller makes bis way from New York
southward, ho notices, not without
an occasional smile of amuse
ment, how the sober colors ; of
the North gradually give way to brighter
shades; how flounces grow in number and
bows in size; how flawers begin to abound in
the hair and on bat and bonnet, and a slight
tendency to exaggeration beoomes more and
more visible, tempered and restrained from
running into extremes only by admirable
good taste. If he travels westward, a similar
change will attract his attention; but here it
is a growing fondness for the richest stuffs
and the most expensive jewelry, till he meets
the Western belle, still in her teens, but
fairly bending under the weight of the heavy
silk of her dress and the number and size of
her diamonds.
Take it all in all. the Americans dress re
markably well far better, as a people, than
any other nation on earth. It is trne, the
number of men and women who can be said
to dress really very well in bqt small; but,
what is of far greater importance, when we
endeavor to read the character of a people in
its outward appearance, the number of down
right ill-dressed persons is still smaller; and
the immense majority show, by the happy
juste milieu which they observe in all matters
concerning dress, that tne Americans prove
here also that good taste, sound judgment,
and legitimate self-respect which, applied to
subjects of higher importance, have made
them the leading nation of the world.
"THE ATLANTIC."
Tnrner &, Co. send us the April number of
Tlie Atlantic, which has the following list of
articles: "Joseph and his Friend," iv; "The
English Governess at the Siamese Court,"
"The Advent Preacher," "Through the
Woods to Lake Superior," "Courage," "A
Lumber wouian," "Reviving Virginia," "The
Lauson Tragedy," i; "Right and Left," "My
Triumph," "The Gods of Wo Lee," "The
Blue-Jay Family," "Peter Titchlynn, Chief of
the Choctaws," "An Alpine Home," "Re
views and Literary Notices," "Bjornson's
Tales 'Red as a Rose is She.' "
From the article on the Chinese in Califor
nia, entitled "The Gods of Wo Lee," we quote
as follows:
The Chinese in California have no regular
day for re.Hcious services. Our Sabbath they
observe as a general holiday: then the barbers
and tne market-men and the opium-dealers
and the eating-houses do a driving business;
and it tne day be lair, the stranger in
the Quarter will have a view of joyous
and careless and exuberant life that he
cannot soon forget. There are festivals for
one or another of the gods on nearly a third
of the days in the year, but only a few of them
require universal observance on the part of
the people. The temples are open contin
ually, and can be engaged for the day or the
hour by any one wishing servioe. There are
no priests or publio teachers, but the gods are
severally waited on by a number of atten
dants.
The decorations of the temples are unique
and not easy to describe. The image is
generally in a niche or recess, on a platform
about four feet high. The altar is like a
large and heavy table; over it is the sacred
fire a lamp kept forever burning; on it are
tall, slender candlesticks, with copper vessels
in whicn incense and onerings are burned.
On each side of the room is the
row oi "eight holy emblems staves
six or seven feet long, with a fan
or an axe or a knife at the upper end. In one
of the rear corners is a bell or a gong, with
which the attention of the god may be at
tracted. There are numerous tablets fast
ened to the walls and ceilings, made of wood.
four or five feet long by fifteen or twenty
inches wide, mostly red or yellow in color,
covered with Chinese letters which may be
sentences of thanks or praise, or lines from
some of the classics. In one temple is a stove,
wherein are burned pictures of whatever one
would like to send to the dead. Banners
of strange device greatly abound. There
are rich vases for flowers: bronze lions
or dragons to watch by the god; mats
for kneeling worshippers: rolls of prayers
printed on yellow paper; chandeliers glitter
ing with cut glass; canopies and curtains of
gorgeous silk; the god's great seal of autho
rity; cloths with fantastic birds worked in
gold thread; slabs of bronze, with hundreds of
small human figures in bas-relief; carvings of
wood mat no wnite man can understand;
scrolls with notices and injunctions to visitors;
cups in wnicn divining-slips are kept; bun
dies of incense-sticks like pipe-stems for
size; fragrant sandal-wood tapers, and
through the room a languid odor of foreign
lands. The worshipper brings in his offering
r r ; i , i , , . .
ui nco ur iruus or uressea cnicKen, places IE
on the altar, lights the tapers and his incense
of some strongly scented mixture, and then
drops on his knees and inaudibly recites his
prayers while the attendant strikes half
dozen blows on the bell or cone. As he did
so at my first visit, I thought of Elijah and
the prophets of Baal: "Cry aloud; either he
is talking, or he is on a journey, or perad-
venture ne sieepetn and must be awaked.
Wo Lee worships in his own way and at his
own pleasure such of the gods as he chooses
to adore. If he is in bad luck, he goes to
the temple and pravs for good lack: if his
business prospers, he goes there and ren
ders thanks; he asks for guidance in new
undertakings; he makes prayers for
the recovery of friends from illness; he brings
offerings for a safe journey to his old home;
he puts np a tablet of praise when he arrives
from shipboard; he burns incense on the death
of his children; he seeks counsel from the
gods when he is in distress; he presents wine
and fruits after escape from calamity; he bows
down and implores help against his enemies;
he beats his head on the floor before Kwan Tae
when the courts refuse him protection. He
ascribes frowns and favors, troubles and bless
ings, joys and sorrows, to the higher powers;
and his whole round of yearly life is inter
fused with the forms and dignities and
ceremonials of religion. His faith may
be cold to our hearts, and his pomps frivolous
or blasphemous in our eyes; but in such light
as he has be walks, with ready and sinoere
acknowledgment of human dependence on
superhuman aid and mercy. His preoepts
are moral and kindly precepts; the adornment
of his house is a salutation of good-will; : he
respects old age, and keeps green the memory
of the wise fathers; the lessons o his youth
taught him to look upward, and in his
mature years he docs not forget this teach
ing. Such we shall find him to be when
we really begin the work of trying j to
Christianize him a man of great faith ' in
superior intelligence, but almost immovable
in devotion to many gods whereto he tan
give vibible form and body; of high reverence
lor powers and abilities greater than those of
earth, but uiaterialiHtio iu all his conceptions,
and blind to our ideas of Christ and the
Father.
He ia a great believer in ' spirits, particu-.
lnrly ia those with an evil disposition. His
upper world is peopled by gods, and his
under world by multitudes of devils. Nom
bers of his kinsfolk are professional devil-
killers, and their services are often in demand
to rid houses of these unwelcome visitors.
DuriDg my stay in California a dwelling at
Sacramento became infested, and thereby
ensued a high commotion in the
Chinese Quarter. The exorcist or dovil.
killer was summoned, and four or five hours
of hard work slew or drove out the evil spirits.
He burned incense before the family or house
hold god, and fervently repeated many and
diverse prayers; he mouthed numerous curses,
wrote them with red ink on yellow paper,
burned them on a porcelain plate, and stirred
me tabes into a cup or water. lie filled his
month with this holy water, took a stout
sword in one hand, and in the other held an
engraved bit of wood weighty with virtue for
the overthrow of demons. Then he stamped
np and down the rooms in a vigorous manner,
thrusting and brandishing his sword, holding
aloft his magio wand, spurting water from
bis month in every direction, . commanding
the devils in his loudest voice to depart,
yelling and howling and cursing and fighting,
till tne police hustled through the awed and
exoited crowd, swooped down on the magi
cian, decided straightway that the devils were
an in mm, and so carried him, panting and
exhausted, to the watch-house, there to medi
tate on the ways of the 'Melican man, and
renew himself for further fearful encounters
with the evil spirits that vex the good China
man's peace and happiness.
My Oriental friend's religion has a con
siderable element of superstition. His alnia
nao is filled with lncky and unlucky days. He
sees signs end omens in everything. The
fods give him a convenient excuse whenever
e wants to break an engagement or evade a
disagreeable duty. He has ivory pieces and
silver rings and sandal-wood blocks for
charms. He carries coins and bones in his
pockets or tied by a string round his neck as
guards against evil influences. He finds
token of bad luck or good luck in the most
common occurrences of every-day life. He is
frightened at the appearance of certain birds,
and rejoiced by an easterly wind on one
particular day and a southerly breeze on
another particular day. There is disaster in
clouds of a peculiar form and color, and
promise of good in the crackling of a fire or
the flaming of a lamp. Calamity is hidden
on every hand, and the gods or devils must
continually be propitiated.
Events are forecast by lottery, and decided
by divination. In the temple of Kwan Tae,
one afternoon, I was anxious to know my
chance for a safe journey homeward over the
Pacific Railroad. I took up the cup of spirit
ual sticks, shook it well, and then drew out
one of them; it was numbered, and the attend
ant turned to the corresponding number in his
big yellow-leaved book of fortune and gave
me this answer: "The gods prosper the man
of upright ways." It was impossible to
evade my fate, and I came home without
accident of any kind. Sun King said I
could have my life mapped out for a year by
going to one of the fortune-tellers and pass
ing in the date of my birth and a lock of my
bair. There was a cellar down in Jaokson
street where a fee of five dollars would give
me an interview with the shade of Miles
Standish or Cotton Mather; and three doors
nearer to Dupont street was a man who could
write me a correct history of my doings ten
years backward or twenty years forward, and,
in eommiseration of my inferiority of race,
wonld do it lor nothing, too ! 1 saw an
astrologer of long beard and sinister face,
for whom it was vouched that he could com
pel the stars to tell the date of any coining
event; and my friend said that before decid
ing on the proposal to go into partnership
with me as a dealer in tea and rice, he must
consult the gods on three successive days.
When a Chinaman dies, his body is at
once placed on the ground or floor, so that
his several distinct souls may have an oppor
tunity to withdraw and enter upon their new
stage of transmigration. It is then covered
with a white cloth white, and not black.
being the Chinese color of mourning and
large quantities of provisions are set near for
the refreshment of the dead man a spirit and
other spirits supposed to be waiting to conduct
it away. The undertaker told me that the cries
and howls of the real and hired mourners at
this stage of the burial ceremonies are most
doleful; he had been present on many occa
sions, but even felt some nervousness when
brought into the mourning-room. One thing a
Chinaman must have if possible a strong
and elegant coffin. Frequently at the fune
rals there is a great beating of gongs and
shooting of fire-crackers; this is to keep off
bad spirits, and remind the gods that another
soul has departed and will need attention in
the npper world. Scraps of paper represent
ing money are scattered about the house and
aloBg the road to the cemetery; these are
propitiatory offerings to the gods of evil dis
position for permission to bury the dead in
peace and safety. Clothing of various kinds
is put into the coffin, as are also at times
cups or small baskets of rice and fruits for
the soul's long journey. At the grave there
are further supplies of food and drink, and
things which it is supposed the spirit may
want are burned in flames kindled with holy
fire from the temple.
The officers of the Six Companies report
that about eleven thousand of their country
men have died in the United States, and that
over six thousand bodies have already been
sent back to China for final burial, while
many more would be forwarded this winter
and spring, prior to the great feast for the
dead. Two of us had some talk with an edu
cated Chinaman about this custom of sending
borne the remains of those who die here. It
appears to rest on the belief that spirits con
stantly need earthly care and attention: and
they love the body and forever remain near
it, and are likely to be forgotten or over
looked if that is left in a strange land, among
people not holding the Chinese view of the
relation between the dead and the living.
The Chinaman wishes, therefore, to be buried
among his friends and ancestors, and reli
gion and sentiment alike lead him to make
provision for his body after death as well as
before death. It is not necessary that the
fleshy integument shall mingle with the soil
of home, and, as a fact, in most cases only
the bones of persons are removed to the an
cestral grounds. Many men enter into ar
rangements with their company or associates
as soon as they arrive here for the return of
their bodies, and obligations of this kind are
held to be as sacred as any that one
can assume. In the earlier days of the
immigration, provision for final burial
at home was made by everybody; but a
change of doctrine is taking plaoe, and now
one finds a considerable number of persons
who are, content to have their bodies and
those of their relatives rest in America for
ever. The wrk of removal will go on for
years, but the belief in its religious necessity
is likely to disoppear when our laws and ous
toms permit the Chinaman to establish his
permanent home under the stars and stripes.
The great religious festival of the Chinese
year is that of Feeding the Dead. It is a
movable feast, but always ocours in the
spring, and generally near the end of our
month of March. On that day the whole
Chinese population of Che Paoific slope sus
pends work. Then, as Wo Lee devoutly be
lieves, the gates of the other world are set
wide open, bo that spirits of every age and
condition moy revisit the earth and enjoy
the society of friends still in the body.
Then the incense of thanksgiving is burned,
and flowers tenderly and profusely laid
upon every grave. Then taper are
lit at the tombs with fire from the tem
ples, prayers of joy and penitence ara
offered to all the gods, while flume and
f)ARH fIVAV 4a 4 Via tnintfl wwafc siiiAmfX
v aivr'iJi vrj a j vytw w uouvi"
ties of things thought essential to perfect
linrtv4mnaa 1 t Atl.. ... 1 rati a a i
unjiunnn m umtr Hpneres. j nen me iiitnese
Quarter of San l'Tnfii-n t
ferred to the hills of the suburbs, and all
classes go to the cemeteries with baskets and
boxes and certs and wagons full of meats and
frnltd AD1 iniH. TriA nhurvinna r J
vu vji nuo gay
has its comic side, to be sure, as many other
Birnnge onsionin naye; uui Americans capable
of looking at the ceremonies in a CAthnlln
spirit speok of them as being extremely
touching and beautiful.
The Social festivala nra nnmtmni Knf an
far as I learned, not more than four or fire
01 tnem are universally observed. These are
New Year's, the harvest moon. All-souls day,
the feast of lanterns, and the winter solstice.
.new xearB is me great festival. Itooonra
near (he end of our month of .InnimM ikj,.
- - . j buies
year on the .'10th, and last year on the 10th of
j; eDruary. men an business matters are
adjusted, all accounts settled, quarrels recon
ciled, feuds healed; as far as possible the old
L 1 A Z 1 , A I .
uiuMii uo uiiiHueu ere me new is Degun.
Fravers are mnrlA in nrfvnf a nnrl at. iha
pies, - offerings of food and drink are pre-
. .1 . A 1 1 - J , , , -
bouicu iu lue Rutin, mouune is uurnea Del or o
the shrines of the dead, fire-criicknra am
exploded by the wagon-load, the
red of joy is everywhere dis
played, and tea and wines and
fruits and sweetmeats are set out in profusion
for all visitors. The feast of the harvest
moon is more generally kept in the country
and the villages than in San Francisco; it
lasts two or three days, brings business to the
astrologers, mv.ch gathering of persons out of
doors, many civilities to strangers, thank
offerings to gods, great slaughter of pigs and
chickens, and is in some respects not unlike
our Thanksgiving day. The feast of All
souls is for the special benefit of spirits who
have no living friends, and were not, there
fore, provided for in the grand religious
festival of March or April. It
usually falls in the month of Au
gust. There is a procession in which
images of certain ' gods are carried, and a
generous display in the streets and on
the balconies of houses of food and clothing:
and such other things as are either left at
graves or burned in cemeteries at the annual
Feeding of the Dead. On this as well as oa
all other occasions when meats are offered,,
what is not eaten by the gods or spirits may
be put into the family larder for home con
sumption. It is useless trying to corner a
Chinaman by asking if he believes that the
spirits can eat and drink: he answers that
there is more in the leg of a fowl than human
eyes can see or human palates taste, and that
bis duty is at least done in cooking and pre
senting the best of what he has for the sup.
port of existence.
When Wo Lee comes to dwell with us, we
shall have to consider his religious views and
his festal customs, but his desire for amuse
ment will hardly give us trouble or serious
inconvenience. After a quaint fashion he
greatly enjoys his holidays, but he is alto
gether too grave a man for anything like na
tional sport. His ear for the concord of sweet
sounds is so utterly unlike ours, that we may
properly doubt if he has any ear at all. There
are singing women in his gambling-shops, but
he rarely concerns himself with the question
whether their warbling is good or
bad. He drops into his theatre occa
sionally, sits patiently through the
long ploy, and then walks off with the air of
one who has killed time rather than found
delight. He is a social fellow, and somewhat
given to going in crowds, but mostly chooses
the mild excitement of a quiet chat over a
pot of weak tea, or with a good pipe and
plenty of tobacco. It he opens a place of
amusement in Boston or New York, we may
visit it sometimes to see his neat and curious
jugglery, but if those at San Francisco are to
be taken as a model, two or three evenings a
year of his regular theatrical performances
will be about as much at any of ns can
endure.
From Turner & Co. we have received
the following publications:
Our Yovng Folks for April is filled with
pleasant reading in various branches of litera
ture. The illustrations are numerous and
good.
T7ie Jiiverside Magazine for April is also
nicely illustrated, and it presents an excellent
series of stories, sketches, and verses.
lltelramatlantio for March 2D, and Every
Saturday and Applctan's Journal for March
2G, are filled with good original and selected
articles on a great variety of subjects. Tho
last two named are finely illustrated.
Arthur's Home Magazine has a number of
fashion plates giving the latest styles. Its
literary contents are up to the usual standard
of excellence.
The April number of The Children's Hour
is filled with attractive pictures, poetry, and
stories suitable for the entertainment of the
little ones.
WANTS.
BBBBBSBBBSIBBB I
O TUB WORKING OLAS8.-W rj now pr
pared to furnish all olsuM with oonatutt mploy
moot at home, the whole of the time or (ur the apare
momenta. Buaineaa new. light, and prolltabls. Person
of either aex easily earn from 60o. to $5 per evening, and a
proportional aum by devoting their whole time to the
bnmnesB. ltoya and git a earn nearly a mnob aa men.
That all who aee this notio may aend their add rasa, and
teat the buaineaa, w make thi unparalleled offer: To
each aa are not well aatisned, we will aend $1 to pay for
tt trouble of writing, lull partionlara, a valuable sam
ple, whioh will do to eommenoe work on, and a eopy of
Tht feuplr't Literary Cutnpaniunoua of the largest and
best family newspaper published all Bent free by mail.
Reader, if von want permanent, profitable work, addree,
J. O. ALLEN a (JO., Auxtuta. Main 116 8m
8TOVE8. RANGES, ETO.
THOMSON'S LONDON KITCIIENER
or KUROPKAN KANGR. for families, hotels, or
5J
publio institutions, in 1VYB-IK ULVt KRK T
kiv.I'N Also. 1'hilnueluhia Kanirna. II.it Air Knr.
naoes. Portable Heaters, Low-down Orates, Flrebogrd
Moves, Bath Boilers, Stew-hole Plates, Koilors, (Jookiug
btoves.eto. KUOAR L. THO.VISON,
Successor to S11AKPU A THOMSON,
1 1 87 wfm 6m Mo. 2U9 N. hKUUN Ojttreet,
PAPER HANQINQS.
LOOK I LOOK ! I LOOK 1 1 1 WALL FAFKRA
and Linen Window Bhadea Manufactured, tea
oheapest (n the city, at JOUNISTON'tt Douot. No. 1U31
KPKIMO O A KD EN Street, below Kleventh. Kranob. No.
tun KIVK.h A L Ktroat. Om1o. Nw ,Im. 5nm
IRE W O R K.
GALVANIZED and Fainted WIHB UDAHDS,
Store Irouts and ntidowa, for factory rind warelioti
wtudowH, tot charcbHS and cellar window.
IKON and WIRII RAILINGS, for balcontet, orooe
ceneti;ry and Harden fences.
Liberal allowance made to Coniracrorx. Muilrteo
and Cnrpuntera. AH orders filled wiui pi-ompiut
and work guaranteed.
BOBKRT WOOD A CO.,
tnthfro
Nn. 11RS KIOUB A en ut. Phil
J. T. KABTON. i. M'MAHON.
J bHltntia ANI VOHMTWSIItN MKKOHANVIL
No. a. OOK I'lKH SUP, New York.
No. 18 HOUTH WHARVES, Philadelphia,
No. 45 W. PRATT Street, llaltiuiore.
We are prepared to ship every deaoriptinu of FtoWht tu
Philadelphia, Mew Vork, W lliuluxKin, and intxruistlitta
points v ita tirotrptonu sad ripapntch. Uanal lioata and
Lte&rji-IUKS Inrnishod at the aboitea notiue.