Class. Book COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT Copyright, 1896, by Mrs. Kate Bode. L Oct) Stywn fyuM'S t^fH«»«*i. W*A ««<£». tw*i^ "WV- perhaps it is not possible, wholly to realize, as we drift along the busy stream of Oriental life, that we have not been translated to a strange land. Buildings have been evolved, and others shaped out of semblance to their original design, wherever and whenever possible, with pagan architecture and imagery. It is here and there only that portions of solid masonry remain which have defied the sons of Confucius to mar; and some solemn griffin, or gargoyle carving, is yet imbedded beneath cornice, or gracing some Corinthian colonnade, as if looking down in apparent sadness at its own strange environment, reminding us that but a comparatively brief period has elapsed since dwelt here those hardy pioneers whose bending forms are only occa- sionally seen visiting the old haunts, rich in pathetic and tragical episodes and heroic deeds of a half century ago. Here the visitor is apt to regard the encroachment which the Chinese have made on the acreage of this section of the city as an interesting phenomenon, from a single primitive "wash-house," erected as a necessity on Portsmouth Square, now known as the Plaza, until this quarter now comprises over fifteen blocks of houses, wholly within the city limits, and wherein, as near as can be computed, about fifty thousand Chinese reside and do business, and, like the glacier of the north, still spreads and moves on. Fortunately, the salt ocean A f«s^*.. TlRfPLI^ \ ^V^V - V W>a%t »«««»«* VkUNt\. 0»*-\ ^MVf^t V tSp*** VK»»«. >* ^ 'At W% y ^ ^\J if,1 would bring them again in touch with distant hearts after, many months of weary and anxious waiting ; for the waters yet ebbed and flowed at Montgomery Street, and the deep golden esch- scholtzia, nature's floral beacon and emblem of the illimitable wealth in this el dorado, was not yet shorn nor ruthlessly riven from its native bed in the sand dunes above in the rush for greed and gain which subsequently followed. A decade later and these delightful and cherished homes were subjected to a transformation : a reign of the demi-monde was inaugurated, and the name of Pike Street was substituted for the euphonious Calle de las Rosas. Under this baneful regime its notoriety soon echoed to the base of the Rockies. There are associated with this era many sensational, episodes of good deeds and heinous crimes. Particularly characteristic C^1^f > and worthy of repetition is that story where the ^v "soul of goodness is mixed with things evil," and which has but recently reached its final tableau, after the curtain had been rung down and the dramatis persona? had left the stage of action five and thirty years ago It is told that the young and beautiful daughter of a wealthy Parisian, who had loved, "not wisely, NfiftiE^^ but too well," and had to flee the paternal wrath, made her advent in 'Frisco when the gold fever was at its zenith. Her youth, extraordinary beauty and dashing style created much admiration, and, being a person in fine, with natural and acquired tastes and propensities, she readily obtained an entr&e into the best society of that day. With a charm of manner rivaled only by the accomplishments of her mind, she successfully essayed the role of an adventuress, and by her wily intrigues soon amassed a small fortune. Her true character being revealed, she was soon forsaken, and drifted to this street, where she plunged into a career of reckless abandon. The finding of her body in the ransacked boudoir of her dwelling, with the imprint of a brawny hand upon her delicate neck, plainly told its story, and was the sensation of the day. Her male associate was held, and the evidence, although purely circumstantial, seemed incriminatory, when another deed, simi- larly perpetrated, for the same purpose and upon a like character, was discovered in the valley of the Sacramento River. No direct clue was unearthed to either of these atrocities until, at one of those Bohemian socials so prevalent in that early day, there was lost, and found, a diamond bracelet, on the reverse side of which was chased this inscription: A notre fille, (Marie Tlanier. It was a souvenir from the parents of the unfortunate Parisienne on attain- ing her majority ; it was returned to the claimant, a lady, who little dreamt that in establishing her right to this cluster of diamonds she had unconsciously raised the curtain upon the participants of this drama, and exposed to view the perpetrator of both of these crimes, and who was none other than her own husband. The arrested consort of the Parisienne was released and soon after reached Paris, where he succeeded in obtaining possession of, and lived in fine style upon, the income of his dead mistress' property, to the exclusion of the child she had left behind, and for whose education and welfare she had sacrificed her honor and very life. During all this time San Francisco was undergoing its wonderful transformation : the city was spreading beyond the hills ; the old-fashioned little cottages, and the mountain goats that browsed around the flinty heights of Nob Hill, were disturbed by the advent of the cable car ; magnificent and palatial mansions were being erected thereon, and what was at one time a fashionable center soon became the habitation of the incoming Mongolians. With this third transformation came the name of Waverly Place. The gay characters who had flitted here for over a decade sought other pastures, and the Chinese took possession of the street. With the date of their advent we enter upon the second part of this sensational drama. Under the shadows of two cathedrals, Grace and St. Mary's, stood the cottage where the unfortunate Parisienne dwelt. It had now passed into the possession of the Chinese, who felt that the time was opportune for the erection of a pagan temple that would vie with its stately christian sisters, gracefully and strikingly imposed upon the terrace beyond. In the removal of this cottage was unearthed' a box con- taining title deeds to valuable property in Paris from Marie Banier to her son, Perrier Banier, and a certificate of deposit for a princely sum of money in bank. This information soon reached Paris, where it was learned that the legacy of her early love had now grown to man's estate. By the accidental discovery of these papers he was enabled to receive this long buried and now resurrected tribute of maternal devotion. Further along this street, just at the corner, there has been erected a small Protestant church, to do battle, as it were, with the number of divinities of the heathen Pantheon ensconced along the line, a Lilliput among the Brobdinags. A few Chinese A VIEW OF BARTLETT ALLEY. - if <& \i I 1 FISH-MA RK.ET MEMORANDA. under its influence have dared to emancipate themselves from conventional . mannerisms, and enthusiastically seek proselytes even at the very doors of the sanctuaries where the orthodox Chinese worship. No one but a person who has lived in China can form any idea -^ ^ of the hindrances in the way of christianizing ^ &- r "^IIE=r=3 the native residents. Three things are responsible for i ^VJ this, says a recent convert, " the worshiping of ancestors of idols, and the fear of the. Chinese that the Christians wish to destroy the native customs and traditions, and eventually enthrall them." Filial reverence and obedience are characteristic traits of the Chinese. These sentiments extend beyond the grave; so that, when parents die, prayers are addressed to them as guardian spirits. By them the subordination of individual rights to those of the family is regarded as a fundamental and irrev- ocable principle; hence every Chinaman, in forsaking paganism, must obtain the consent of his family if he wishes assurance from future proscription. Every divinity is endowed with certain characteristics, and the embodiment of some special function or attribute of humanity, the unvarying belief in the existence and personality of their deities, upon whose active agency their votaries rely, is, without doubt, the underlying principle of their superstition. The Chinaman is a great believer in spirits, particularly those with an evil disposition. His upper world is peopled by Gods and his under world by multitudes of devils. Incense is freely burned before the household shrine, and fervent and divers prayers are continually offered to rid their houses of these unwelcome visitors. Among the peculiar features of paganism there is none more revolting than the cruelty practiced upon young girls, based upon a system of slavery. It is a prolific source of cor- ruption and degradation, and has had much license in this quarter. The profound pity felt for these unhappy victims, who, from ignorance, adverse conditions of heredity and environment, are being continually bought and sold, smuggled on steamers or over the boundary lines, has awakened an effort to abridge, if not actually suppress, this traffic, which prevails in all the heart- less cruelty which characterized that condition at the close of the Roman Republic. By the untiring and zealous efforts of a missionary lady, who has devoted nearly a score of years to ameliorating the condition of her sex, there have been rescued from brothels five hundred or more Chinese girls, whose ages range from nine to fifteen years, and the purchase price of whom aggregated over a jM lift- ■.■> Si — - — .4*1 ( .s^fm^m^^ **£ y> million dollars. They have been comfortably housed, their religious instruction fostered, their physical condition toned, and every possible effort enlisted to lift them up to a sphere of honor and usefulness. By the aid of these simple elements, the employment of time, with a certain customary and moral dis- cipline controlled by kindness, a great work has been done, and many of them are now the happy wives and mothers of pleasant homes. The law in regard to this slave traffic is specific and exact- ing ; but there is a spirit prevalent in this neighborhood which the French call " Pesprit de localzte" which often warps the judgment of the most upright and honest men, and when, by the assistance of legal techni- calities, this spirit is coupled to a writ of habeas corpus proced- ure, to be subsequently investi- gated by the Federal courts, the law becomes elastic, and the W ~J| victim is permitted to land, to be as readily delivered to some execrable hag of moral uncon- sciousness and indifference of ^s_^ ->^q^u__ f ee iing, of insolent manners (^l> and savage temper, for a moneyed consideration varying from five hundred to four thousand dollars, according to the girl's age and personal attraction. Should the child be one of tender years, she is now made to perform menial drudgery, and is frequently treated not only unkindly, but cruelly. At maturity the slave girl becomes more valuable. Here for a time she is kept under strict surveillance ; her avocation and environment leave no opportunity for intel- lectual effort. She is bedecked with gaudy trinkets, zealously guarded, and now begins a slavery of many years and of a fiercer kind. Her mind generally is dethroned under her former treatment, and she generally subserves the will of her owner. The best part of her life is wasted amidst unfriendly and degraded companions ; she finds l no comfort in life, nothing to love, nothing to hope for; family and friends are to her as though they were not, and very few, if any, have any recollec- tion whatever of parents or relations. It is not indeed strange, when the door is .closed and the key turned on these deluded creatures in a strange land, that they occasionally awake from their terror to a realism of - the condition which deprives them of bodily and mental free- dom, and attempt to break from this bondage and flee at the peril of their lives to the refuge home provided for them by a kind and humane association. \ \ t^\HtSE N^«\H^ fcru-iii-- Ik !l (l Whenever it becomes known that there is a girl of legal age thus environed, efforts are made to ascertain the opinion she entertains as to the desirability of her removal. It is known that, in their powerless and help- less condition, so much insincerity has been forced upon them, and such frightful pictures presented to their ignorant minds of the brutalities and enslavement practiced by Christians, that it becomes necessary to free her mind from these prejudices, as initiatory measures to a successful rescue. A careful diagram of the building is made, and every known avenue of escape guarded, when a raid is attempted, and the rescue party, under police surveillance, ultimately removes the trembling victim from her surroundings, amid a crowd of infuriated "high-binders," human hyenas, whose fierce anathemas and savage threats fill the air. Fre- quently, however, notwithstanding all of these carefully planned measures, the victim is quickly spirited away through some secret trap or panel leading into an underground or overhead network of passages, to be again secreted until the rescue is abandoned or given up in despair. There is something of interest to be learned in every square foot of these old precincts. For years I thought I knew all that there was to know about this quarter, but every additional some new interest ; and the traveler who simply pays a flying visit here has only sipped, not drunk, at this fountain. He must explore for himself the various regions of interest, which will open to him a boundless source of wonder and study ; for in this, one of the finest parts of the town, and the oldest district, occupying, I may say almost profaning, in many respects, its once stately homes, is deeply intrenched and emphasized a condition of society and civiliza- tion of which its adaptability to circumstances is our marvel, and the fruit of thousands of years of abnegation and Oriental estrangement. There are no words wherein to describe, no measure wherewith to measure, the subtleties and eccentricities which, living constantly in a thickly settled section like this, and among these people, is apt to generate, where so many people are crowded into so little room, where the aggregate of suffer- ing must be multiplied by every individual tale of woe; yet how unlike the east side of New York, the tenement districts of London or of Paris. The traveler here can go where he listeth, and at whatever hour he pleaseth. He is not disturbed by beggars nor by drunken brawls ; nor is he liable to the dangers which bestrew his path among Christians in either of the places mentioned. He is free from molestation, ridicule t •' N t*^\>** ^>\\-U M . \ ix '•5%