. To California and back; . the twinkling ofan eye you become a foreigner in your ownland, a tolerated guest in a fantastic realmwhose chief apparent hold upon reality is itssubstratum of genuine wickedness. It is a gro-tesque jumble, a panopticon of peepshows;women shoemakers huddled in diminutiverooms; barbers with marvelous tackle shavingheads and chins, and cleaning ears and eye-balls, while their patrons sit in the constrainedattitude of a victim, meekly holding the tray;clerks, armed with a long pointed stick dippedin ink, soberly making pictures of variant spi-ders in perpendicular rows
. To California and back; . the twinkling ofan eye you become a foreigner in your ownland, a tolerated guest in a fantastic realmwhose chief apparent hold upon reality is itssubstratum of genuine wickedness. It is a gro-tesque jumble, a panopticon of peepshows;women shoemakers huddled in diminutiverooms; barbers with marvelous tackle shavingheads and chins, and cleaning ears and eye-balls, while their patrons sit in the constrainedattitude of a victim, meekly holding the tray;clerks, armed with a long pointed stick dippedin ink, soberly making pictures of variant spi-ders in perpendicular rows; apothecaries ex-pounding the medicinal virtues of desiccatedtoad and snake; gold-workers making braceletsof the precious metal to be welded about thearm of him who dares not trust his hoard to an-others keep; restaurateurs serving really pala-table conserves, with pots of delectable tea;shopkeepers vending strange foreign fruits anddubious edibles plucked from the depths ofnightmare; merchants displaying infinitude of119. curious trinkets and elaborate costly wares;worshipers and readers of the book of fate inrich temples niched with uncouth deities; con-ventional actors playing interminable histri-onics to respectful and appreciative auditors;gamblers stoically venturing desperate gamesof chance with cards and dominoes; opium-smokers stretched upon their bunks in a hotatmosphere heavy with sickening fumes; lepersdependent upon occasional alms flung by ahand that avoids the contamination of contact;female chattels, still fair and innocent of facedespite unutterable wrongs, yet no whit abovethe level of their deep damnation—such is theChinatown one brings away in lasting memoryafter three hours of peering, entering, ascend-ing, descending, crossing and delving. A veryorderly and quiet community, withal, for theMongolian is not commonly an obstreperousindividual, and his vices are not of the kindthat inflame to deeds of violence. He knowsno more convivial bowl than a cup of t
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidtocaliforniaback02higg
