The Yellow and White Agony. 353 



to collect this debt, and the last time, just as lunch was going 

 on, John said he had no money, and the man threatened him, 

 whereupon John took up the kitchen knife and murdered him, 

 hid him away, and cleaned up the "mess" actually between the 

 courses. As the man had until then borne an excellent character, 

 and this was put in for his defence, he got off on the charge of 

 manslaughter. 



Some friends of mine had a man who got sullen and refused to 

 go into town on any account on the plea that he was frightened 

 that someone would attack him. One day he ran in to the family, 

 and announced that the house was on fire. The kitchen really 

 had been set on fire, and he, being arrested, confessed to doing it, 

 and said that he had been threatened by his society or other 

 Chinamen that if he did not obey them and set fire to the house 

 that he would be killed. For some time he had not done so, 

 but fear at last had overcome his fidelity to his employers. 

 Probably some of these men hoped to profit by petty theft during 

 the fire. These solitary instances cannot condemn the whole class 

 of Chinaman any more than the fact of criminals being found 

 occasionally in the ranks of British domestics would justify one 

 in pronouncing them all a set of burglars and thieves, and as a 

 class dangerous to the community. Besides being servants, they 

 also act as " sewing women." If one requires a lot of shirts or any 

 kind of undergarments made, one has to cut out an exact pattern, 

 and have one pattern garment ready-made. Then one can engage 

 the Chinaman, who brings his own sewing machine, and will cut 

 out and make the garments precisely like the pattern, and all the 

 seams, tucks, and gussets will be most neatly done ; or if one wants 

 a habit or man's suit made, one has only to send the stuff and 

 pattern, habit or suit, to a Chinese tailor, and he will turn out one 

 exactly like it in every respect. If there happen to be patches in 

 the old garment sent, these patches will be carefully imitated in the 

 new garment, unless one has been thoughtful enough to warn th 

 tailor against it. 



A friend of ours engaged a new Chinaman, who declared he 



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