According to the Census of 1870, there were twenty-three Chinese
inhabitants of New York, but the actual number of Celestials in the city
at present is believed to be about seventy-five. The most of these are
very poor, and nearly all reside in the Five Points district, generally
in Baxter street. Some of them are wretched and depraved, but the
majority are industrious and well behaved.
The Chinese candy and cigar sellers are well known. They stand on the
street corners, by little wooden tables covered with broken bits of
candy, which they sell at a penny a piece. They are dirty, dull, and
hopeless looking. No one ever sees them smile, and they rarely pay any
attention to what is passing on the street. Of all the dwellers in the
great city they seem the most utterly forlorn. The patience with which
they remain at their posts, day after day, and in all weathers, is
touching, and one cannot help pitying them. Their earnings must be very
small, but they manage to live on them.
The cigar makers are more fortunate. They buy cheap remnants of tobacco
from the dealers in that article, and at night make these lots up into
cigars, averaging from 150 to 180 cigars per night. They dispose of
these the next day at three cents apiece, and some of them earn as much
as $30 or $35 per week. The cigar maker has a peculiar song which he
sings or chants while rolling out his cigars, and varies this chant by
occasionally puffing a cigar.
There are scarcely any Chinese women in the city, but nearly all the
Chinamen are married. They have a great fondness for Irish wives, and
nearly all have two, and some of them three wives apiece. Families of
this size are very expensive luxuries, and it takes all John's industry
to provide for them. A gentleman not long since asked one of these much
married individuals how he managed to keep his wives from fighting. He
was answered that they got along very peaceably together. Upon being
pressed, however, John admitted that they did fight sometimes.
"Then how do you manage them?"
"When he fightee," said John, dryly, "me turnee him out in the yardee.
Me lockee the door, and let him fightee out. He git tired soon, and me
let him in. Me--what you call him?--boss here."
The children by these queer unions seem to be healthy, and nearly all of
them speak Chinese in talking to their fathers, and their English has a
decided brogue. Many of the Chinese decorate their houses with the
letters they have received from home. These letters are curious
collections of hieroglyphics, some of which are executed in brilliant
colors.
There is a Chinese boarding house for sailors of that nationality in
Baxter street, kept by a Chinaman and his wife, who is also an Oriental.
These Chinese sailors are simply cooks or stewards of vessels arriving
here from China or California, and not able-bodied seamen. They do not
frequent the ordinary sailor's boarding houses, and are never seen in the
dance houses or hells of Water street. They pass their time on shore
quietly in their countryman's establishment, and some of them use this
season of leisure in trying to acquaint themselves with the English
language. All are opium smokers.
[Picture: CHINESE CANDY DEALER.]
The main room of the boarding house in Baxter street is fitted up with a
series of beds or berths, one above another, extending around it. At
almost any time one may find several Chinese lying in these berths
smoking opium. The opium pipe is a large piece of wood pierced down the
centre with a fine hole. The stem is very thick, and is about eighteen
inches long. The smoker has before him a box of soft gum opium and a
small lamp. He takes a little steel rod, picks off a small piece of
opium with it, holds it in the flame of the lamp for a few minutes, and
when it has become thoroughly ignited, places it in the bowl of his pipe
and puffs away, repeating the operation until he is satisfied, or is
insensible.
They are very fond of cards. Those used by them are brought from China,
and are curiosities. They are about one inch in width and five inches
long, and are gorgeously painted with old time Chinese men and women. To
each card there is attached a certain value. The cards are divided into
six lots of equal size. Each of the two players chooses one of these
packs alternately. The first player places a card on the table, and his
opponent places another immediately across it. The others are placed
obliquely to these, in the form of a star, and each player scores the
value of his card as he lays it down. The game is won by the player who
has the largest score.
Altogether, in spite of the misconduct of a few, the Chinese of New York
are, barring their bigamous affection for the Irish women, a very
innocent and well-behaved class.