CHARLIE SING. 



ways that are dark, 

 And for tricks that are vain, 

 The heathen Chinee is peculiar. Harte. 



Charlie Sing was a Chinaman. He was the pro 

 prietor of what Ragan called a four tub shop in th< 

 rear of the stable in Albany where I wintered the ba] 

 horse in 1887-8. The Chinaman and Ragan, the fore 

 man of the stable, were friends. It was a peculia 

 mixture, but one that is apt to occur under the Ameri 

 can flag where all men this includes Chinamen ar 

 free and equal, if they behave themselves. At al 

 events, Ragan said Charlie Sing was a good China 

 man, and as Ragan was a clever Irishman and ; 

 splendid hater, I accepted it. As the winter wor 

 along I learned that Charlie Sing had money and tha 

 he knew how to keep it. He was not one of the fan 

 tan playing, opium smoking variety, but an up-to-dat 

 worker, even if he could not make himself understood 

 in English. He had a small stock of words that h 

 could roll out with the usual double e on the end o 

 them, but I soon found that he understood about al 

 that was said and could, with his slender stock o 

 English and a bunch of signs, carry on a busy conver 

 sation with Ragan. 



Ragan was not what you might call proud of hi 

 Mongolian friend, still he considered Charlie Sing ai 

 exception, and in speaking of him always closed hi 

 remarks by saying that Charlie was "bound to ge 



