What Heals the Heart by Karen A Wyle

Author:Karen A Wyle [Wyle, Karen A]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oblique Angles Press
Published: 2019-10-15T04:00:00+00:00

Thaddeus was, albeit with some difficulty, able to get Joshua the text of the bill. It made for difficult reading. He puzzled over it, trying to match up the words with what the congressman’s aide had claimed. It seemed to be about making sure that anyone who took ship from the Orient hadn’t somehow ended up agreeing to involuntary servitude. Except it mentioned a law that already did that. This was about one kind of servitude, for “lewd and immoral purposes.” The law would put some penalties on United States citizens that tried to get away with bringing people in for such. That didn’t sound like a bad idea.

He stopped by the inn where lawyers usually stayed when the circuit brought them to town. He was lucky enough to find one, and lucky again that the lawyer was bored and saddle-sore and in need of a drink. For the price of a couple of whiskeys, Joshua got a lawyer’s-eye view of what all the verbiage actually meant, or would mean once it was a law and people started acting on it.

“You see, no one is going to get in trouble for stopping Chinese women from coming. The only way they get in trouble is by letting them through. And you’ve got all these people encouraged to throw their weight around. First the U.S. consul at the port they’re leaving from, and then the officials at the port where they show up. And if those officials decide some Chinese woman is here to be a prostitute, they can keep that woman, or maybe any ‘alien’ — it’s unclear — from leaving the ship. That puts the ship’s master in a bind. So whether any of the women who want to take ship are prostitutes or not, plenty of shipmasters will just say no to Chinese women passengers.”

Joshua ground his teeth. “So even an old lady like our laundryman’s mother, not to mention his wife, might not be able to join him here.”

The lawyer drained his glass and thunked it down. “Free legal opinions are worth what you pay for ‘em. And whiskey, however welcome, is close to free compared to what I charge for words I have to stand by. But that’s how I see it.”

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