Mary Baldwin College - Bluestocking Yearbook (Staunton, VA)

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The Augusta Seminary Annual. 21 away togetlier. Scattered here and tliere over tlie field lie tlie yellow jniinpkins and streaked kershaws wliicli have grown unseen aniontjst tlie corn, and when tlie day is over the o;reat farm wa oii, with its load of merry chihlren, rumbles in through the hars to carry them homo, iany and swift are the hands that gather them, and soon the h(. rst ' S are turned home, the burdened wagon rolls slowly away and leaves deseited the field where the shocks appear like dusky wigwams in the light of the harvest moon. Ruth See. A Visit to China=Town. NO visit to San Francisco is complete without a sight of Cliina- T(»wn by midnight, for it is then that the Chinese may best be seen in their gambling and opium dens, their shoi)s and tem- ples. About eleven o ' clock our guide took us by cable-car to this little Chinese city of thirty or forty thousand inhal)itants. His tongue never stopped ; he knew everything, at least in his own estimation. We first entered a china and curiosity shop where everything, from back-scratchers and chop-sticks to the most beautiful china, might be bought. The old proprietor understood English well, and told us that he had been in San Francisco twenty-seven years, during which time he had made three visits to his native country. Then we entered a Chinese drug store, and here we saw curious preparations of herljs ; pills as large as birds ' eggs, and dried frogs prescribed fV r rheumatism. As we went through the streets we saw these curious people in all their occupations and employments ' , in their grocery stores with pressed ducks and frogs brought all the way from China ; in their dirty, narrow homes filled with boys in queer caps and red trousers, and i)oor little girls with their tiny feet in cruel, wooden shoes ; in their gambling-dens, crowded at that time of night. These gandjling holes are strictly against the law, and watchmen were stationed at every corner ; if a policeman came in sight they

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20 The Augusta Seminary Annual. Everything is still now save tlie rustling of tlie brandies and the occasional thnd of a falling apple. Sometimes a shrill whistle is heard or a snatch of song, which sends the startled hirds away in terror from the swaying treetops and from the new inhabitants who have taken possession there. Now and then a picker descends his ladder and goes to empty his load of fragrant frnit in the boxes in the cellar. When the snn is high in the heavens, and the air is no longer frosty, the children are permitted to come and watch the work. Now they gather np the fallen ap])les and vie with one another in making the largest heaps, chattering meanwhile like magpies, guessing how many bushels the Belleflower box M ' ill hold; wondering ' ' bout how Ions; it nll take John to finish the ' Wine- saps. ' Xow they play hide and seek behind the trees and scream with laughter as an apple falls alraoston some unccjvered head. Busy all day long are the pickers and the children, and wlien night has come their work is done; while the satisfied farmer turns his key upcjn the well-lilled apple cellai-. First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear is the thought that comes into the mind as one looks across the ripening corniields. The tassels tliat floated so gaily a few short weeks before are brown and I ' igid, and the blades, which waved gently in the breezes of early summer, clash harshly as tlie strong !Se})tember wind rus- tles through them. Around lie the brown stubble lields, the tields plowed for the autumn sowing, and beyond the forest just tinged bv the earlv frost, where the wilv crows caw lazilv, their eyes lixed upon the corn fields awaiting the time when the corn is to be cut. Nor need they wait long. From the far end of the field comes the sound of voices, and as they draw neai-er and nearer one may hear tlie strokes of the cutters ' blades and see the heads of the tall stalks as they trend le and disappear. And now the ends of the rows are reached and the cutters come into view, their wrists and necks well protected, for the corn does not yield vitliout a struggle, and its dry, rough Idades know how to wound. The line of workers turns, and, as they go back across the field, their voices and the rustling of the fodder die

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22 The Augusta Seminary Annual. would give a peculiar signal, and heavy iron doors were pulled to ; when the policeman passed, the scrambling and shrill chattering of a few minutes ago was hushed into silence, and no sign of gambling-den was visible. Their temples of worship are perhaps the most interesting spots in China-Town, On one side of a large room three huge and hid- eous images were sitting upon a platform, and before each god was a little bowl of tea which might have stood there for a week. Our loquacious guide showed us how they worshipped their idols and burned incense before them, and called our attention to two large blocks of light- wood on one side of the room, representing battle scenes, most delicately carved with only a small knife. From the temple we were led down some dark, narrow, under- ground steps ; the smell of opium grew stronger as we descended until it almost suffocated us. This underground hole was divided into many little cell-like rooms, and peeping into one of them we saw two men lying on a dirty couch with a little lighted lamp be- tween them, each smoking a long-handled opium pipe. The air was so offensive that we soon saw enough of opium- smoking, and we next made a brief visit to the Chinese opera- house, a rude, unsightly affair, whose greatest objects of interest were the highly colored and exquisitely woven garments of the actors ; then we went to a beautiful restaurant, witli hard-wood floors, flnely carved walls and handsome ebony chairs inlaid with ivory ; here we were served with delicious tea and cake. Then we took a car for our hotel just as a faint light Ijegan to glimmer in the east. Ida Ijell Gossom.