The Heathen Chinee
Music by "F.B"
Words by Bret Harte
Published 1870 by Oliver Ditson

[Verse 1]
Which I wish to re-mark
And my lang-uage is plain,
That for ways that are dark
And for tricks that are vain,

The hea-then Chi-nee is pe-cu-li-ar,
Which the to same I would rise ex-plai-n.

[Verse 2]
Ah Sin was his name;
And I shall not de-ny
In re-gard to the same
What that name might im-ply.

But his smile it was
pen-sive and chi-ld like,
As I same I would rise to ex-plai-n.

[Verse 3]
It was Au-gust the third;
And quite soft was the skies;
Which it might be in-ferr'd
that Ah Sin was like-wise;

Yet he play'd it that day
up-on Will-i-am And me
in a way I de-spi-se.

[Verse 4]
Which we had a small game,
And Ah Sin took a hand;
It was Eu-chre, The same
He did not un-der-stand;

But he smiled as he sat by the ta-ble,
With the me in a way I de-spi-se.

[Verse 5]
Yet the cards they were stacked
In a way that I grieve,
And my feelings were shocked
At the state of Nye's sleeve;

Which was stuffed full of aces and bowers,
And the same with intent to deceive.

[Verse 6]
But the hands that were played
By that heathen Chinee,
And the points that he made,
Were quite frightful to see-

Till at last he put down a right bower,
Which the same Nye had dealt unto me.

[Verse 7]
Then I looked up at Nye,
And he gazed upon me;
And he rose with a sigh,
And he said, "Can this be!

We are ruined by Chinese sheap labor"-
And he went for that heathen Chinee.

[Verse 8]
In the scene that ensued
I did not take a hand,
But the floor it was strewed
Like the leaves on the strand

With the cards that Ah Sin had been hiding
In the game "he did not understand."

[Verse 9]
In his sleeves which were long,
He had twenty-four packs-
Which was coming it strong,
Yet I state but the facts;

And we found on his nails, which were taper.
What is frequent in tapers, that's wax.

[Verse 10]
Which is why I remark,
And my language is plain,
That for ways that are dark,
And for tricks that are vain,

The heathen Chinee is peculiar-
Which the same I am free to maintain.