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Rev. A.W. Loomis (ND-ND) http://tinyurl.com/AWLoomis

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Sign of the Seasons

From Chinese in California: Their Sign-Board Literature, 1868. Read Online Download PDF

Reader: Wm Leslie Howard

Look around just about any California city and you're apt to be assaulted by advertising—billboards, baseball stadiums, even shop signs all make their pitch.

For Reverend A. W. Loomis, the American shop signs of the 1860s appeared as crass advertisements when compared with the subtle expression of Chinese sign-boards.

Each store has its particular sign, a motto which it has adopted, perhaps after consulting some scholar, or other person who may be supposed to know what sort of characters and sentiment may bring the most good luck. These signs, like every part of the establishment, are blessed, when put in their places, by religious ceremonies. Some of these inscriptions, when interpreted, read: Peace and felicity. Perennial spring....Everlasting plenteousness....Eternal affluence....Superabundant harmony....The sign of the seasons.

....What have we Americans in our sign-board literature to compare with this of our Chinese neighbors? We see sometimes on saloon windows the beer-mug and beer-bottle, with the foaming liquid bursting forth; a pair of crossed cues and the billiard balls adorn other windows; a carved Indian offers us wooden segars....These strike us as designed especially to draw customers, and are suggestive only of traffic.

Reverend A. W. Loomis contributed "Chinese in California: Their Sign-Board Literature" to The Overland Monthly in 1868.