Conservative *
wore thought to make the trip in an
almost incredibly brief period. Now ,
the scene changes. "We are no longer
'out of the world. ' The telegraph , a
sure forerunner of railroads , is here.
And judging by the progress of the last
four years , is it too much to expect that
four years hence we shall hear the snort
of the iron horse as he prances and
charges up the Valley of the great
Platte ? 'There's a good time coming ,
boys , wait a little longer. ' "
At that time there were no railroads
nearer to Omaha than St. Joseph , Mo. ,
on the south , and some point near the
Mississippi River on the east.
The Missouri and Western Telegraph
Company , C. M. Stebbins president and
R. O. dowry superintendent , con
structed the telegraph line up the west
bank of the Missouri River to Omaha ,
and thence to Julesburg , Nebraska. The
Pacific Telegraph Company , Edward
Creightou superintendent , built the line
from Julesburg to Salt Lake City , and
the California State Telegraph Company ,
James Gamble , built the line from Salt
Lake City to Sacramento , where the
wire connected with a line to San Fran
cisco. When the overland line was
completed , it was organized as the Pacific
Telegraph Company from Brownville ,
Neb. , to Salt Lake , and placed in charge
of Edward Creightou. The Act of
Congress required that the line should
start from some point opposite the
western boundary of the state of Mis
souri , hence.Brownville . , Neb. , was
made the legal eastern terminus , but
Omaha was the real terminus.
I have another reason for being fond
of Omaha , and for claiming the right to
bid you welcome to its hospitality. It
was here that I found my beloved wife ,
and here still live her aged and honored
parents. In this good city also reside
two men who deserve well of our
fraternity I have reference to Edward
Rosewater , the true and steadfast friend
of his old telegraphic associates , and
John J. Dickey , whose heart and hand
are always open to his fellow tele
graphers. From The Telegraph Age ,
September 16th , 1898.
Twenty years
FALSK SING tow.n8 ° Sl ° S Low had
been a thin , meek ,
Chinese coolie , toiling in the rice-fields
of the Soo-chow province. Insufficiently
clad and insufficiently fed , he had many
times been weary of life , and , but for
the vows of his secret society forbidding ,
would have put a summary end to it a
double quantity of opium in the pipe is
an easy way 1 But Sing Low had per
severed and starved until , one day , there
was an exodus of many of his own
society ( now renamed "Sons of the Sil
ver Land" ) to the western coast of
.Mexico. With them journeyed Sing
? Low and his newly married wife , Fay
Lee , for there was demand for Chinese
colonists , and the promoters told it
loudly that there was plenty of money
to be made in the "silver land. " For
once the truth had been spoken by a
promoter ! Had you , ton years after the
exodus , known the Chinatown of Madre
do Dies , and the restaurant and "tea-
place" of Sing Low , you would better
appreciate the fact. For the Chinese
colonists had made unto themselves a
place of their own in the western part
of the city , out beyond the marshes ;
many narrow streets wore filled with
the shops of the Chinese , who wore no
colonists but citi
longer , full-fledged
zens.
In the very centre of the Chinese
civilization , and fronting a view of hot ,
blue gulf water ,
Thu Shop. „ , . ° .
Sing Low s name
was blazoned in gaudy Chinese script
over a tea-shop and opium-den ; while
uptown where Mexicans and mining
men most did congregate , another
building , made of yellow adobe and pine
boards , bore the legend , "Chinese Res
taurant of Sing Low : American Pies. "
In front of this restaurant generally sat
Sing Low , but not the Sing Low of the
Soo-chow rice-fields far from it. This
was a very fat and important Sing Low
in full and flowing Chinese garments ,
pig-tail neatly wound about a sleek and
shining head , and silk-shod feet thrust
into flapping embroidered slippers. A
large , gold , American watch dangled
from his sash , and yellow Mexican
diamonds glittered on his pudgy fingers
truly had Sing Low , head of the "Sons
of the Silver Laud , " prospered and
waxed fat in a far laud.
Inside the restaurant many Chinese
waiters and cooks rushed about , serving
all sorts and coudi-
Cusloms. .
tious of men at the
manta-covered tables. For Madre de
Dies was a steamer-town , whence hides
and silver and bullion were shipped to
Lower California and even San Fran
cisco , and many men of many sorts ate
chili con cnrnc , and tortillas , and
"American pies , " in the restaurant of
Siug Low. There were dirty Greasers
and swaggering , be-armed Mexicans ,
who drank bottles upon bottles of fiery
mescal , and calm , deliberate , mining
Americans , who consumed untold num
bers of pies and American canned beans ,
while Sing Low smiled from afar , with
a keen eye upon collections. For twenty
years had ho saved and toiled , but
another year would see the end. Then ,
with Fay Lee , who was now old and fat ,
and the twenty thousand Mexican dollars
lars that they had made , they would go
to San Francisco. Back to China ? No !
Fay Lee had once timidly proposed it
for she had no children , and her heart
was sick for her native laud but Sing
Low said a decided "no. " Ho had not
yet forgotten the rice-fields. And ,
besides , in these American lauds , oven a
coolie of low birth could bo as mighty
as a mandarin ; he , Sing Low , had been
of no import in China , nor would even
his twenty thousand dollars make him |
a mighty man there. In other words ,
better to reign in hell than to serve in
Heaven , or one's native land.
To all of which poor Fay Lee had to
consent , of course , Sing Low being a
husband of no
Persuasion. . ,
small persuasive
power , particularly when aided with a
bamboo stick. And he hesitated not to
chastise the wife of his bosom when
occasion needed , for did not even the
laws of the Christians say "Wives , obey
your husbands in the Lord ? " Not that
it often became necessary to impress
this latter fact upon Fay Leo , for she
loved the fat , pompous Siug Low now ,
in the midst of his prosperity , oven as
she had once loved humble Sing Low of
the rice-fields. It is the way of many
women. And , though there were few
friends , and no children for her to caress
with affection , she was content to live
the life that her husband bade , em
broidering his costly garments and
waiting on him as though she were his
bonded slave , instead of his wife. And
during the long hours that he spent in
the opium-house or in the secret lodge
of the "Sous of the Silver Laud , " she
consoled herself with many cups of tea ,
and admiring thoughts of the brave
figure that her "honorable lord" was at
that moment of a surety making as the
head of his society. Poor Fay Lee !
I say "poor Fay Leo" with a purpose ,
as you will find. For , oven as the best
laid plans of mice and men go astray , so
did the plans and hopes of Sing Low
and his wife vanish into naught
through the fault of the man , of course.
Sing Low , to make a long story short ,
fell in love one bright day. It is a thing
that Celestials are not given to , for
which reason Sing Low made a bad mess
of it , and loved far more desperately
than any other Chinaman on record at
least , so his sighing protests to the lady
in the case ran. Not that he could be
blamed overmuch , for Felipa was the
prettiest girl , out and out , who had ever
been seen in Madre de Dies as well as
one of the naughtiest. Her brother ( a
gambler from Mazatlau ) had used her
many mouths as a lure , and more than
one hapless Mexican had come to grief
for her sake , but Sing Low was the best
gaino that she had ever caught.
There is in Spanish a proverb setting
forth the same sentiment expressed in
our own "There's
Afo l Idiot. „ . . . . , ,
no fool hko an old
fool , " and never was there an old fool
so deeply in love as Sing Low , who soon
became the laughing-stock of the entire
very mixed population of Madre do
Dioa. Fay Lee , of course , know noth
ing , and supposed that her lord's fre
quent absences were due to secret society
meetings. To bo sure , Ah Toy , the
sprightly young wife of Sam Lung , had
considered it her duty to go to the de
ceived and neglected wife with a full
description of the doings and misdoings