le bowls of pickles, pears, and
peppers; platters of odd-shaped nuts; and beans baked black as coffee.
As I stand looking curiously at these, a well-dressed Chinaman pauses
before me, and making a gesture with his hand towards the stand, says,
"All muchee good. Buy eat. Muchee good." Hung Wung, the proprietor, is
kindled to hospitality by this, and repeats the words, "Yaas, muchee
good. Take, eat," offering me, with the word, the bowl of peppers.

Next comes a very gay restaurant, the best in the empire. Hang Fee, Low
& Co. keep it, and foreigners go there to drink tea. There is a green
railed balcony across the front, swinging full of high-colored lanterns,
round and square; tablets with Chinese letters on bright grounds are set
in panels on the walls; a huge rhinoceros stands in the centre of the
railing: a tree grows out of the rhinoceros's back, and an India rubber
man sits at the foot of the tree. China figures and green bushes in
flower-pots are ranged all along the railing. Nowhere except in the
Chinese Empire can there be seen such another gaudy, grotesque house
front. We make an appointment on the spot to take some of Hang Fee's
tea, on our way to the Chinese Theatre, the next evening, and then we
hurry home....

After all, we did not take tea at Hang Fee's on our way to the theatre.
There was not time. As it was, we were late; and when we entered the
orchestra had begun to play. Orchestra! It is necessary to use that
name, I suppose, in speaking of a body of men with instruments, who are
seated on a stage, furnishing what is called music for a theatrical
performance. But it is a term calculated to mislead in this instance.
Fancy one frog-pond, one Sunday-school with pumpkin whistles, one
militia training, and two gongs for supper on a Fall River boat, all at
once, and you will have some faint idea of the indescribable noise which
saluted our ears on entering that theatre. To say that we were deafened
is nothing. The hideous hubbub of din seemed to overlap and transcend
all laws and spheres of sound. It was so loud we could not see; it was
so loud we could not breathe; it was so loud there did not seem to be
any room to sit down! The theatre was small and low and dark. The pit
and greater part of the gallery were filled with Chinamen, all smoking.
One corner of the gallery was set aside for women. That was full, also,
with Chinese women. Every woman's hair was dressed in the manner I have
described ["drawn bac