and silk-mills; he makes slippers and binds shoes; he is skilled in the use of the sewing-machine; cellar after cellar in San Francisco is filled with these Celestial brownies rolling cigars; his fishing-nets are in every bay and inlet; he is employed in scores of the lesser establishments for preserving fruit, grinding salt, making matches, etc.  He would quickly jump into the places of the carpenter, mason and blacksmith were he allowed, for there are numbers of them whose knowledge of these and other trades is sufficient at least to render them useful as assistants.  He is handy on shipboard:  the Panama steamers carry Chinese foremast hands.  He is preferred as a house-servant:  the Chinese boy of fourteen or sixteen learns quickly to cook and wash in American fashion.  He is neat in person, can be easily ruled, does not set up an independent sovereignty in the kitchen, has no followers, will not outshine his mistress in attire; and, although not perfect, yet affords a refreshing change from our Milesian tyrants of the roast and wash-tub.  But when you catch this Celestial domestic treasure, be sure that the first culinary operations performed for his instruction are correctly manipulated, for his imitativeness is of a cast-iron rigidity.  Once in the mould, it can only with great difficulty be altered.  Burn your toast or your pudding, and he is apt to regard the accident as the rule.

The young Chinese, especially in San Francisco, are anxious to acquire an English education.  They may not attend the public schools.  A few years since certain Chinese mission-schools were established by the joint efforts of several religious denominations.  Young ladies and gentlemen volunteered their services on Sunday to teach these Chinese children to read.  They make eager, apt and docile pupils.  Great is their pride on mastering a few lines of English text.  They become much attached to their teachers, and it is possible, if the vote of the latter were taken, it would evidence more liking for their yellow, long-cued pupils than for any class of white children.  But while so assiduous to learn, it is rather doubtful whether much real religious impression is made upon them.  It is possible that their home-training negatives that.

We have spoken entirely of the Chinaman.  What of the Chinawoman in America?  In California the word “Chinawoman” is synonymous with what is most vile and disgusting.  Few, very few, of a respectable class are in the State.  The slums of London and New York are as respectable thoroughfares compared with the rows of “China alleys” in the heart of San Francisco.  These can hardly be termed “abandoned women.”  They have had no sense of virtue, propriety or decency to abandon.  They are ignorant of the disgrace of their calling:  if the term may be allowed, they pursue it innocently.  Many are scarcely more than children.  They are mere commodities, being by their own countrymen bought in China, shipped and consigned to factors in California, and there sold for a term of years.