THE JAPS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXXI, Issue 5310, 3 October 1885, Page 2

THE JAPS.

» Silver Pen" m the New Zealand J2eraW, writing from San Francisco, has the following .--The Chinese question has by no means been settled yet •" but as' "helps" they are now being quickly displaced by the Japanese, who, as servants, are infinitely preferable to the dirty; h> solent Chinaman, and also a wonderful improvement upon the still more insolent white women, who are more mistress than servant,. At any rate, the Japanese are a very studious race, not caring so much for money as learning, being thus the very antipodes of heathen " John." There are several societies here where any amount of Japs can be had for four shillings a week, but with this there is also a condition : the Jap must attend school from one to four, go to church three orfour times a week, and do a certain amount of "study." Therefore, i? you want a servant jn every sense of the word, you are left in the cold. These Japs come here for the sake of their education— a most praiseworthy end, 'tis true". They have no means, but live on the society until they get a place, when they think i£ a good thing to get board, lodging, and four shillings a week in return for a portion of their time. They are painfully polite, bowing and scraping every time they see you m parlor or kitchen : also, they dress like Christians, 1 and are; in fact an; improvement on many of these. I had one of these Japs for a few months. He was the son of a Government officer; and had ran away from home to improve his En°lish, having graduated from a college' m Japan. He stayed until his father, lenting from his first anger, sent h*im money, when he informed me he was "independent," and left at a moment's notice. He was invaluable as a servant ; but all these black races are the same in one respect— they have no gratitude or thought of anything but their own comfort. They will leave you in a moment, no matter how much you require them or how their departure may inconvenience you. But, bad as they are, they are better than wjiite help. It is amusing to see the airs f these half -savages give themselves. Their bedroom must be of the best, and everything to match. The style the Japs put on is remarka-le, though I must say that their manners are absolutely polished, and their sense of propriety would make an educated fine gentleman sink to nothing besides them. The boy I had possessed a handsome watch and chain. He informed me one day that he thought a 'chaini": very improper for house-workboy •» therefore he got a black ribbon: instead. This fine J sense of the fitness of things in his low position sho.ved more common sense than is often displayed by' ; our own race, who will, no matter how poor, generally contrive to dress up beyond their means. The Japs have, a wonderful contempt for their Chinese neighbors. "If we are foolish, at least we are honest," they say ; " not like Chinaman. " And they are right. I find the Japs, as servants, very Tonest, and their desire for learning is unsubduable. "I think of science and forget potato," said Kito to me one day, when I mildly represented to him that potatoes boiled to a jelly three days out of four; were not pleasant to ea!- ; nor did I believe in going without a well-cooked dinner, even in the cause of science. These boys call themselves "students," and only profess to work urtil they know enough of. English to enter the grammar school. So, you see, we are between three instead of two stools— the insolent white women, the dirty, thieving Chinese, and the "student Japs— and I leave it to you who read to determine which is the easiest to put .np with, since all are without the pale. A well-conducted excellent servant ib as hard to find as a diamond in afflini 1