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diff --git a/old/62940-0.txt b/old/62940-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index cc2d05e..0000000 --- a/old/62940-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9432 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mrs. Spring Fragrance, by Sui Sin Far - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Mrs. Spring Fragrance - -Author: Sui Sin Far - -Release Date: August 16, 2020 [EBook #62940] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MRS. SPRING FRAGRANCE *** - - - - -Produced by KD Weeks, Mary Glenn Krause and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - Transcriber’s Note: - -This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects. -Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as _italic_. - -Footnotes have been moved to follow the paragraphs in which they are -referenced. - -Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please -see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding -the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - _Mrs. Spring Fragrance_ - - _Mrs. Spring - Fragrance_ - - _BY - SUI SIN FAR_ - [EDITH EATON] - -[Illustration] - - _CHICAGO_ - _A. C. McCLURG & CO._ - _1912_ - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1912 - A. C. McCLURG & CO. - - PUBLISHED, MAY, 1912 - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - - - - - - - - - THE·PLIMPTON·PRESS - [W·D·O] - NORWOOD·MASS·U·S·A - - - - - CONTENTS - - MRS. SPRING FRAGRANCE - - MRS. SPRING FRAGRANCE 1 - - THE INFERIOR WOMAN 21 - - THE WISDOM OF THE NEW 47 - - “ITS WAVERING IMAGE” 85 - - THE GIFT OF LITTLE ME 95 - - THE STORY OF ONE WHITE WOMAN WHO MARRIED A CHINESE 111 - - HER CHINESE HUSBAND 132 - - THE AMERICANIZING OF PAU TSU 144 - - IN THE LAND OF THE FREE 161 - - THE CHINESE LILY 178 - - THE SMUGGLING OF TIE CO 184 - - THE GOD OF RESTORATION 193 - - THE THREE SOULS OF AH SO NAN 203 - - THE PRIZE CHINA BABY 214 - - LIN JOHN 220 - - TIAN SHAN’S KINDRED SPIRIT 224 - - THE SING SONG WOMAN 235 - - - TALES OF CHINESE CHILDREN - - THE SILVER LEAVES 242 - - THE PEACOCK LANTERN 246 - - CHILDREN OF PEACE 249 - - THE BANISHMENT OF MING AND MAI 265 - - THE STORY OF A LITTLE CHINESE SEABIRD 277 - - WHAT ABOUT THE CAT? 285 - - THE WILD MAN AND THE GENTLE BOY 288 - - THE GARMENTS OF THE FAIRIES 291 - - THE DREAMS THAT FAILED 294 - - GLAD YEN 296 - - THE DECEPTIVE MAT 297 - - THE HEART’S DESIRE 300 - - THE CANDY THAT IS NOT SWEET 303 - - THE INFERIOR MAN 308 - - THE MERRY BLIND-MAN 312 - - MISUNDERSTOOD 314 - - THE LITTLE FAT ONE 320 - - A CHINESE BOY-GIRL 323 - - PAT AND PAN 333 - - THE CROCODILE PAGODA 344 - - - - - _ACKNOWLEDGMENT_ - -_I have to thank the Editors of The Independent, Out West, Hampton’s, -The Century, Delineator, Ladies’ Home Journal, Designer, New Idea, Short -Stories, Traveler, Good Housekeeping, Housekeeper, Gentlewoman, New York -Evening Post, Holland’s, Little Folks, American Motherhood, New England, -Youth’s Companion, Montreal Witness, Children’s, Overland, Sunset, and -Westerner magazines, who were kind enough to care for my children when I -sent them out into the world, for permitting the dear ones to return to -me to be grouped together within this volume._ - - _SUI SIN FAR_ - - - - - - - _Mrs. Spring Fragrance_ - - - I - -When Mrs. Spring Fragrance first arrived in Seattle, she was -unacquainted with even one word of the American language. Five years -later her husband, speaking of her, said: “There are no more American -words for her learning.” And everyone who knew Mrs. Spring Fragrance -agreed with Mr. Spring Fragrance. - -Mr. Spring Fragrance, whose business name was Sing Yook, was a young -curio merchant. Though conservatively Chinese in many respects, he was -at the same time what is called by the Westerners, “Americanized.” Mrs. -Spring Fragrance was even more “Americanized.” - -Next door to the Spring Fragrances lived the Chin Yuens. Mrs. Chin Yuen -was much older than Mrs. Spring Fragrance; but she had a daughter of -eighteen with whom Mrs. Spring Fragrance was on terms of great -friendship. The daughter was a pretty girl whose Chinese name was Mai -Gwi Far (a rose) and whose American name was Laura. Nearly everybody -called her Laura, even her parents and Chinese friends. Laura had a -sweetheart, a youth named Kai Tzu. Kai Tzu, who was American-born, and -as ruddy and stalwart as any young Westerner, was noted amongst baseball -players as one of the finest pitchers on the Coast. He could also sing, -“Drink to me only with thine eyes,” to Laura’s piano accompaniment. - -Now the only person who knew that Kai Tzu loved Laura and that Laura -loved Kai Tzu, was Mrs. Spring Fragrance. The reason for this was that, -although the Chin Yuen parents lived in a house furnished in American -style, and wore American clothes, yet they religiously observed many -Chinese customs, and their ideals of life were the ideals of their -Chinese forefathers. Therefore, they had betrothed their daughter, -Laura, at the age of fifteen, to the eldest son of the Chinese -Government school-teacher in San Francisco. The time for the -consummation of the betrothal was approaching. - -Laura was with Mrs. Spring Fragrance and Mrs. Spring Fragrance was -trying to cheer her. - -“I had such a pretty walk today,” said she. “I crossed the banks above -the beach and came back by the long road. In the green grass the -daffodils were blowing, in the cottage gardens the currant bushes were -flowering, and in the air was the perfume of the wallflower. I wished, -Laura, that you were with me.” - -Laura burst into tears. “That is the walk,” she sobbed, “Kai Tzu and I -so love; but never, ah, never, can we take it together again.” - -“Now, Little Sister,” comforted Mrs. Spring Fragrance, “you really must -not grieve like that. Is there not a beautiful American poem written by -a noble American named Tennyson, which says: - - “’Tis better to have loved and lost, - Than never to have loved at all?” - -Mrs. Spring Fragrance was unaware that Mr. Spring Fragrance, having -returned from the city, tired with the day’s business, had thrown -himself down on the bamboo settee on the veranda, and that although his -eyes were engaged in scanning the pages of the _Chinese World_, his ears -could not help receiving the words which were borne to him through the -open window. - - “’Tis better to have loved and lost, - Than never to have loved at all,” - -repeated Mr. Spring Fragrance. Not wishing to hear more of the secret -talk of women, he arose and sauntered around the veranda to the other -side of the house. Two pigeons circled around his head. He felt in his -pocket for a li-chi which he usually carried for their pecking. His -fingers touched a little box. It contained a jadestone pendant, which -Mrs. Spring Fragrance had particularly admired the last time she was -down town. It was the fifth anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Spring -Fragrance’s wedding day. - -Mr. Spring Fragrance pressed the little box down into the depths of his -pocket. - -A young man came out of the back door of the house at Mr. Spring -Fragrance’s left. The Chin Yuen house was at his right. - -“Good evening,” said the young man. “Good evening,” returned Mr. Spring -Fragrance. He stepped down from his porch and went and leaned over the -railing which separated this yard from the yard in which stood the young -man. - -“Will you please tell me,” said Mr. Spring Fragrance, “the meaning of -two lines of an American verse which I have heard?” - -“Certainly,” returned the young man with a genial smile. He was a star -student at the University of Washington, and had not the slightest doubt -that he could explain the meaning of all things in the universe. - -“Well,” said Mr. Spring Fragrance, “it is this: - - “’Tis better to have loved and lost, - Than never to have loved at all.” - -“Ah!” responded the young man with an air of profound wisdom. “That, Mr. -Spring Fragrance, means that it is a good thing to love anyway—even if -we can’t get what we love, or, as the poet tells us, lose what we love. -Of course, one needs experience to feel the truth of this teaching.” - -The young man smiled pensively and reminiscently. More than a dozen -young maidens “loved and lost” were passing before his mind’s eye. - -“The truth of the teaching!” echoed Mr. Spring Fragrance, a little -testily. “There is no truth in it whatever. It is disobedient to reason. -Is it not better to have what you do not love than to love what you do -not have?” - -“That depends,” answered the young man, “upon temperament.” - -“I thank you. Good evening,” said Mr. Spring Fragrance. He turned away -to muse upon the unwisdom of the American way of looking at things. - -Meanwhile, inside the house, Laura was refusing to be comforted. - -“Ah, no! no!” cried she. “If I had not gone to school with Kai Tzu, nor -talked nor walked with him, nor played the accompaniments to his songs, -then I might consider with complacency, or at least without horror, my -approaching marriage with the son of Man You. But as it is—oh, as it -is—!” - -The girl rocked herself to and fro in heartfelt grief. - -Mrs. Spring Fragrance knelt down beside her, and clasping her arms -around her neck, cried in sympathy: - -“Little Sister, oh, Little Sister! Dry your tears—do not despair. A moon -has yet to pass before the marriage can take place. Who knows what the -stars may have to say to one another during its passing? A little bird -has whispered to me—” - -For a long time Mrs. Spring Fragrance talked. For a long time Laura -listened. When the girl arose to go, there was a bright light in her -eyes. - - - II - -Mrs. Spring Fragrance, in San Francisco on a visit to her cousin, the -wife of the herb doctor of Clay Street, was having a good time. She was -invited everywhere that the wife of an honorable Chinese merchant could -go. There was much to see and hear, including more than a dozen babies -who had been born in the families of her friends since she last visited -the city of the Golden Gate. Mrs. Spring Fragrance loved babies. She had -had two herself, but both had been transplanted into the spirit land -before the completion of even one moon. There were also many dinners and -theatre-parties given in her honor. It was at one of the theatre-parties -that Mrs. Spring Fragrance met Ah Oi, a young girl who had the -reputation of being the prettiest Chinese girl in San Francisco, and the -naughtiest. In spite of gossip, however, Mrs. Spring Fragrance took a -great fancy to Ah Oi and invited her to a tête-à-tête picnic on the -following day. This invitation Ah Oi joyfully accepted. She was a sort -of bird girl and never felt so happy as when out in the park or woods. - -On the day after the picnic Mrs. Spring Fragrance wrote to Laura Chin -Yuen thus: - - MY PRECIOUS LAURA,—May the bamboo ever wave. Next week I accompany Ah - Oi to the beauteous town of San José. There will we be met by the son - of the Illustrious Teacher, and in a little Mission, presided over by - a benevolent American priest, the little Ah Oi and the son of the - Illustrious Teacher will be joined together in love and harmony—two - pieces of music made to complete one another. - - The Son of the Illustrious Teacher, having been through an American - Hall of Learning, is well able to provide for his orphan bride and - fears not the displeasure of his parents, now that he is assured that - your grief at his loss will not be inconsolable. He wishes me to waft - to you and to Kai Tzu—and the little Ah Oi joins with him—ten thousand - rainbow wishes for your happiness. - - My respects to your honorable parents, and to yourself, the heart of - your loving friend, - - JADE SPRING FRAGRANCE - -To Mr. Spring Fragrance, Mrs. Spring Fragrance also indited a letter: - - GREAT AND HONORED MAN,—Greeting from your plum blossom,[1] who is - desirous of hiding herself from the sun of your presence for a week of - seven days more. My honorable cousin is preparing for the Fifth Moon - Festival, and wishes me to compound for the occasion some American - “fudge,” for which delectable sweet, made by my clumsy hands, you have - sometimes shown a slight prejudice. I am enjoying a most agreeable - visit, and American friends, as also our own, strive benevolently for - the accomplishment of my pleasure. Mrs. Samuel Smith, an American - lady, known to my cousin, asked for my accompaniment to a magniloquent - lecture the other evening. The subject was “America, the Protector of - China!” It was most exhilarating, and the effect of so much expression - of benevolence leads me to beg of you to forget to remember that the - barber charges you one dollar for a shave while he humbly submits to - the American man a bill of fifteen cents. And murmur no more because - your honored elder brother, on a visit to this country, is detained - under the roof-tree of this great Government instead of under your own - humble roof. Console him with the reflection that he is protected - under the wing of the Eagle, the Emblem of Liberty. What is the loss - of ten hundred years or ten thousand times ten dollars compared with - the happiness of knowing oneself so securely sheltered? All of this I - have learned from Mrs. Samuel Smith, who is as brilliant and great of - mind as one of your own superior sex. - - For me it is sufficient to know that the Golden Gate Park is most - enchanting, and the seals on the rock at the Cliff House extremely - entertaining and amiable. There is much feasting and merry-making - under the lanterns in honor of your Stupid Thorn. - - I have purchased for your smoking a pipe with an amber mouth. It is - said to be very sweet to the lips and to emit a cloud of smoke fit for - the gods to inhale. - - Awaiting, by the wonderful wire of the telegram message, your gracious - permission to remain for the celebration of the Fifth Moon Festival - and the making of American “fudge,” I continue for ten thousand times - ten thousand years, - - Your ever loving and obedient woman, - JADE - - P.S. Forget not to care for the cat, the birds, and the flowers. Do - not eat too quickly nor fan too vigorously now that the weather is - warming. - -Footnote 1: - - The plum blossom is the Chinese flower of virtue. It has been adopted - by the Japanese, just in the same way as they have adopted the Chinese - national flower, the chrysanthemum. - -Mrs. Spring Fragrance smiled as she folded this last epistle. Even if he -were old-fashioned, there was never a husband so good and kind as hers. -Only on one occasion since their marriage had he slighted her wishes. -That was when, on the last anniversary of their wedding, she had -signified a desire for a certain jadestone pendant, and he had failed to -satisfy that desire. - -But Mrs Spring Fragrance, being of a happy nature, and disposed to look -upon the bright side of things, did not allow her mind to dwell upon the -jadestone pendant. Instead, she gazed complacently down upon her -bejeweled fingers and folded in with her letter to Mr. Spring Fragrance -a bright little sheaf of condensed love. - - - III - -Mr. Spring Fragrance sat on his doorstep. He had been reading two -letters, one from Mrs. Spring Fragrance, and the other from an elderly -bachelor cousin in San Francisco. The one from the elderly bachelor -cousin was a business letter, but contained the following postscript: - - Tsen Hing, the son of the Government school-master, seems to be much - in the company of your young wife. He is a good-looking youth, and - pardon me, my dear cousin; but if women are allowed to stray at will - from under their husbands’ mulberry roofs, what is to prevent them - from becoming butterflies? - -“Sing Foon is old and cynical,” said Mr. Spring Fragrance to himself. -“Why should I pay any attention to him? This is America, where a man may -speak to a woman, and a woman listen, without any thought of evil.” - -He destroyed his cousin’s letter and re-read his wife’s. Then he became -very thoughtful. Was the making of American fudge sufficient reason for -a wife to wish to remain a week longer in a city where her husband was -not? - -The young man who lived in the next house came out to water the lawn. - -“Good evening,” said he. “Any news from Mrs. Spring Fragrance?” - -“She is having a very good time,” returned Mr. Spring Fragrance. - -“Glad to hear it. I think you told me she was to return the end of this -week.” - -“I have changed my mind about her,” said Mr. Spring Fragrance. “I am -bidding her remain a week longer, as I wish to give a smoking party -during her absence. I hope I may have the pleasure of your company.” - -“I shall be delighted,” returned the young fellow. “But, Mr. Spring -Fragrance, don’t invite any other white fellows. If you do not I shall -be able to get in a scoop. You know, I’m a sort of honorary reporter for -the _Gleaner_.” - -“Very well,” absently answered Mr. Spring Fragrance. - -“Of course, your friend the Consul will be present. I shall call it ‘A -high-class Chinese stag party!’” - -In spite of his melancholy mood, Mr. Spring Fragrance smiled. - -“Everything is ‘high-class’ in America,” he observed. - -“Sure!” cheerfully assented the young man. “Haven’t you ever heard that -all Americans are princes and princesses, and just as soon as a -foreigner puts his foot upon our shores, he also becomes of the -nobility—I mean, the royal family.” - -“What about my brother in the Detention Pen?” dryly inquired Mr. Spring -Fragrance. - -“Now, you’ve got me,” said the young man, rubbing his head. “Well, that -is a shame—‘a beastly shame,’ as the Englishman says. But understand, -old fellow, we that are real Americans are up against that—even more -than you. It is against our principles.” - -“I offer the real Americans my consolations that they should be -compelled to do that which is against their principles.” - -“Oh, well, it will all come right some day. We’re not a bad sort, you -know. Think of the indemnity money returned to the Dragon by Uncle Sam.” - -Mr. Spring Fragrance puffed his pipe in silence for some moments. More -than politics was troubling his mind. - -At last he spoke. “Love,” said he, slowly and distinctly, “comes before -the wedding in this country, does it not?” - -“Yes, certainly.” - -Young Carman knew Mr. Spring Fragrance well enough to receive with -calmness his most astounding queries. - -“Presuming,” continued Mr. Spring Fragrance—“presuming that some friend -of your father’s, living—presuming—in England—has a daughter that he -arranges with your father to be your wife. Presuming that you have never -seen that daughter, but that you marry her, knowing her not. Presuming -that she marries you, knowing you not.—After she marries you and knows -you, will that woman love you?” - -“Emphatically, no,” answered the young man. - -“That is the way it would be in America—that the woman who marries the -man like that—would not love him?” - -“Yes, that is the way it would be in America. Love, in this country, -must be free, or it is not love at all.” - -“In China, it is different!” mused Mr. Spring Fragrance. - -“Oh, yes, I have no doubt that in China it is different.” - -“But the love is in the heart all the same,” went on Mr. Spring -Fragrance. - -“Yes, all the same. Everybody falls in love some time or another. -Some”—pensively—“many times.” - -Mr. Spring Fragrance arose. - -“I must go down town,” said he. - -As he walked down the street he recalled the remark of a business -acquaintance who had met his wife and had had some conversation with -her: “She is just like an American woman.” - -He had felt somewhat flattered when this remark had been made. He looked -upon it as a compliment to his wife’s cleverness; but it rankled in his -mind as he entered the telegraph office. If his wife was becoming as an -American woman, would it not be possible for her to love as an American -woman—a man to whom she was not married? There also floated in his -memory the verse which his wife had quoted to the daughter of Chin Yuen. -When the telegraph clerk handed him a blank, he wrote this message: - -“Remain as you wish, but remember that ‘’Tis better to have loved and -lost, than never to have loved at all.’” - -When Mrs. Spring Fragrance received this message, her laughter tinkled -like falling water. How droll! How delightful! Here was her husband -quoting American poetry in a telegram. Perhaps he had been reading her -American poetry books since she had left him! She hoped so. They would -lead him to understand her sympathy for her dear Laura and Kai Tzu. She -need no longer keep from him their secret. How joyful! It had been such -a hardship to refrain from confiding in him before. But discreetness had -been most necessary, seeing that Mr. Spring Fragrance entertained as -old-fashioned notions concerning marriage as did the Chin Yuen parents. -Strange that that should be so, since he had fallen in love with her -picture before _ever_ he had seen her, just as she had fallen in love -with his! And when the marriage veil was lifted and each beheld the -other for the first time in the flesh, there had been no disillusion—no -lessening of the respect and affection, which those who had brought -about the marriage had inspired in each young heart. - -Mrs. Spring Fragrance began to wish she could fall asleep and wake to -find the week flown, and she in her own little home pouring tea for Mr. -Spring Fragrance. - - - IV - -Mr. Spring Fragrance was walking to business with Mr. Chin Yuen. As they -walked they talked. - -“Yes,” said Mr. Chin Yuen, “the old order is passing away, and the new -order is taking its place, even with us who are Chinese. I have finally -consented to give my daughter in marriage to young Kai Tzu.” - -Mr. Spring Fragrance expressed surprise. He had understood that the -marriage between his neighbor’s daughter and the San Francisco -school-teacher’s son was all arranged. - -“So ’twas,” answered Mr. Chin Yuen; “but, it seems the young renegade, -without consultation or advice, has placed his affections upon some -untrustworthy female, and is so under her influence that he refuses to -fulfil his parents’ promise to me for him.” - -“So!” said Mr. Spring Fragrance. The shadow on his brow deepened. - -“But,” said Mr. Chin Yuen, with affable resignation, “it is all ordained -by Heaven. Our daughter, as the wife of Kai Tzu, for whom she has long -had a loving feeling, will not now be compelled to dwell with a -mother-in-law and where her own mother is not. For that, we are -thankful, as she is our only one and the conditions of life in this -Western country are not as in China. Moreover, Kai Tzu, though not so -much of a scholar as the teacher’s son, has a keen eye for business and -that, in America, is certainly much more desirable than scholarship. -What do you think?” - -“Eh! What!” exclaimed Mr. Spring Fragrance. The latter part of his -companion’s remarks had been lost upon him. - -That day the shadow which had been following Mr. Spring Fragrance ever -since he had heard his wife quote, “’Tis better to have loved,” etc., -became so heavy and deep that he quite lost himself within it. - -At home in the evening he fed the cat, the bird, and the flowers. Then, -seating himself in a carved black chair—a present from his wife on his -last birthday—he took out his pipe and smoked. The cat jumped into his -lap. He stroked it softly and tenderly. It had been much fondled by Mrs. -Spring Fragrance, and Mr. Spring Fragrance was under the impression that -it missed her. “Poor thing!” said he. “I suppose you want her back!” -When he arose to go to bed he placed the animal carefully on the floor, -and thus apostrophized it: - -“O Wise and Silent One, your mistress returns to you, but her heart she -leaves behind her, with the Tommies in San Francisco.” - -The Wise and Silent One made no reply. He was not a jealous cat. - -Mr. Spring Fragrance slept not that night; the next morning he ate not. -Three days and three nights without sleep and food went by. - -There was a springlike freshness in the air on the day that Mrs. Spring -Fragrance came home. The skies overhead were as blue as Puget Sound -stretching its gleaming length toward the mighty Pacific, and all the -beautiful green world seemed to be throbbing with springing life. - -Mrs. Spring Fragrance was never so radiant. - -“Oh,” she cried light-heartedly, “is it not lovely to see the sun -shining so clear, and everything so bright to welcome me?” - -Mr. Spring Fragrance made no response. It was the morning after the -fourth sleepless night. - -Mrs. Spring Fragrance noticed his silence, also his grave face. - -“Everything—everyone is glad to see me but you,” she declared, half -seriously, half jestingly. - -Mr. Spring Fragrance set down her valise. They had just entered the -house. - -“If my wife is glad to see me,” he quietly replied, “I also am glad to -see her!” - -Summoning their servant boy, he bade him look after Mrs. Spring -Fragrance’s comfort. - -“I must be at the store in half an hour,” said he, looking at his watch. -“There is some very important business requiring attention.” - -“What is the business?” inquired Mrs. Spring Fragrance, her lip -quivering with disappointment. - -“I cannot just explain to you,” answered her husband. - -Mrs. Spring Fragrance looked up into his face with honest and earnest -eyes. There was something in his manner, in the tone of her husband’s -voice, which touched her. - -“Yen,” said she, “you do not look well. You are not well. What is it?” - -Something arose in Mr. Spring Fragrance’s throat which prevented him -from replying. - -“O darling one! O sweetest one!” cried a girl’s joyous voice. Laura Chin -Yuen ran into the room and threw her arms around Mrs. Spring Fragrance’s -neck. - -“I spied you from the window,” said Laura, “and I couldn’t rest until I -told you. We are to be married next week, Kai Tzu and I. And all through -you, all through you—the sweetest jade jewel in the world!” - -Mr. Spring Fragrance passed out of the room. - -“So the son of the Government teacher and little Happy Love are already -married,” Laura went on, relieving Mrs. Spring Fragrance of her cloak, -her hat, and her folding fan. Mr. Spring Fragrance paused upon the -doorstep. - -“Sit down, Little Sister, and I will tell you all about it,” said Mrs. -Spring Fragrance, forgetting her husband for a moment. - -When Laura Chin Yuen had danced away, Mr. Spring Fragrance came in and -hung up his hat. - -“You got back very soon,” said Mrs. Spring Fragrance, covertly wiping -away the tears which had begun to fall as soon as she thought herself -alone. - -“I did not go,” answered Mr. Spring Fragrance. “I have been listening to -you and Laura.” - -“But if the business is very important, do not you think you should -attend to it?” anxiously queried Mrs. Spring Fragrance. - -“It is not important to me now,” returned Mr. Spring Fragrance. “I would -prefer to hear again about Ah Oi and Man You and Laura and Kai Tzu.” - -“How lovely of you to say that!” exclaimed Mrs. Spring Fragrance, who -was easily made happy. And she began to chat away to her husband in the -friendliest and wifeliest fashion possible. When she had finished she -asked him if he were not glad to hear that those who loved as did the -young lovers whose secrets she had been keeping, were to be united; and -he replied that indeed he was; that he would like every man to be as -happy with a wife as he himself had ever been and ever would be. - -“You did not always talk like that,” said Mrs. Spring Fragrance slyly. -“You must have been reading my American poetry books!” - -“American poetry!” ejaculated Mr. Spring Fragrance almost fiercely, -“American poetry is detestable, _abhorrable_!” - -“Why! why!” exclaimed Mrs. Spring Fragrance, more and more surprised. - -But the only explanation which Mr. Spring Fragrance vouchsafed was a -jadestone pendant. - - - - - THE INFERIOR WOMAN - - - I - -Mrs. Spring Fragrance walked through the leafy alleys of the park, -admiring the flowers and listening to the birds singing. It was a -beautiful afternoon with the warmth from the sun cooled by a refreshing -breeze. As she walked along she meditated upon a book which she had some -notion of writing. Many American women wrote books. Why should not a -Chinese? She would write a book about Americans for her Chinese women -friends. The American people were so interesting and mysterious. -Something of pride and pleasure crept into Mrs. Spring Fragrance’s heart -as she pictured Fei and Sie and Mai Gwi Far listening to Lae-Choo -reading her illuminating paragraphs. - -As she turned down a by-path she saw Will Carman, her American -neighbor’s son, coming towards her, and by his side a young girl who -seemed to belong to the sweet air and brightness of all the things -around her. They were talking very earnestly and the eyes of the young -man were on the girl’s face. - -“Ah!” murmured Mrs. Spring Fragrance, after one swift glance. “It is -love.” - -She retreated behind a syringa bush, which completely screened her from -view. - -Up the winding path went the young couple. - -“It is love,” repeated Mrs. Spring Fragrance, “and it is the ‘Inferior -Woman.’” - -She had heard about the Inferior Woman from the mother of Will Carman. - -After tea that evening Mrs. Spring Fragrance stood musing at her front -window. The sun hovered over the Olympic mountains like a great, golden -red-bird with dark purple wings, its long tail of light trailing -underneath in the waters of Puget Sound. - -“How very beautiful!” exclaimed Mrs. Spring Fragrance; then she sighed. - -“Why do you sigh?” asked Mr. Spring Fragrance. - -“My heart is sad,” answered his wife. - -“Is the cat sick?” inquired Mr. Spring Fragrance. - -Mrs. Spring Fragrance shook her head. “It is not our Wise One who -troubles me today,” she replied. “It is our neighbors. The sorrow of the -Carman household is that the mother desires for her son the Superior -Woman, and his heart enshrines but the Inferior. I have seen them -together today, and I know.” - -“What do you know?” - -“That the Inferior Woman is the mate for young Carman.” - -Mr. Spring Fragrance elevated his brows. Only the day before, his wife’s -arguments had all been in favor of the Superior Woman. He uttered some -words expressive of surprise, to which Mrs. Spring Fragrance retorted: - -“Yesterday, O Great Man, I was a caterpillar!” - -Just then young Carman came strolling up the path. Mr. Spring Fragrance -opened the door to him. “Come in, neighbor,” said he. “I have received -some new books from Shanghai.” - -“Good,” replied young Carman, who was interested in Chinese literature. -While he and Mr. Spring Fragrance discussed the “Odes of Chow” and the -“Sorrows of Han,” Mrs. Spring Fragrance, sitting in a low easy-chair of -rose-colored silk, covertly studied her visitor’s countenance. Why was -his expression so much more grave than gay? It had not been so a year -ago—before he had known the Inferior Woman. Mrs. Spring Fragrance noted -other changes, also, both in speech and manner. “He is no longer a boy,” -mused she. “He is a man, and it is the work of the Inferior Woman.” - -“And when, Mr. Carman,” she inquired, “will you bring home a daughter to -your mother?” - -“And when, Mrs. Spring Fragrance, do you think I should?” returned the -young man. - -Mrs. Spring Fragrance spread wide her fan and gazed thoughtfully over -its silver edge. - -“The summer moons will soon be over,” said she. “You should not wait -until the grass is yellow.” - - “The woodmen’s blows responsive ring, - As on the trees they fall, - And when the birds their sweet notes sing, - They to each other call. - From the dark valley comes a bird, - And seeks the lofty tree, - _Ying_ goes its voice, and thus it cries: - ‘Companion, come to me.’ - The bird, although a creature small - Upon its mate depends, - And shall we men, who rank o’er all, - Not seek to have our friends?” - -quoted Mr. Spring Fragrance. - -Mrs. Spring Fragrance tapped his shoulder approvingly with her fan. - -“I perceive,” said young Carman, “that you are both allied against my -peace.” - -“It is for your mother,” replied Mrs. Spring Fragrance soothingly. “She -will be happy when she knows that your affections are fixed by -marriage.” - -There was a slight gleam of amusement in the young man’s eyes as he -answered: “But if my mother has no wish for a daughter—at least, no wish -for the daughter I would want to give her?” - -“When I first came to America,” returned Mrs. Spring Fragrance, “my -husband desired me to wear the American dress. I protested and declared -that never would I so appear. But one day he brought home a gown fit for -a fairy, and ever since then I have worn and adored the American dress.” - -“Mrs. Spring Fragrance,” declared young Carman, “your argument is -incontrovertible.” - - - II - -A young man with a determined set to his shoulders stood outside the -door of a little cottage perched upon a bluff overlooking the Sound. The -chill sea air was sweet with the scent of roses, and he drew in a deep -breath of inspiration before he knocked. - -“Are you not surprised to see me?” he inquired of the young person who -opened the door. - -“Not at all,” replied the young person demurely. - -He gave her a quick almost fierce look. At their last parting he had -declared that he would not come again unless she requested him, and that -she assuredly had not done. - -“I wish I could make you feel,” said he. - -She laughed—a pretty infectious laugh which exorcised all his gloom. He -looked down upon her as they stood together under the cluster of -electric lights in her cozy little sitting-room. Such a slender, girlish -figure! Such a soft cheek, red mouth, and firm little chin! Often in his -dreams of her he had taken her into his arms and coaxed her into a good -humor. But, alas! dreams are not realities, and the calm friendliness of -this young person made any demonstration of tenderness well-nigh -impossible. But for the shy regard of her eyes, you might have thought -that he was no more to her than a friendly acquaintance. - -“I hear,” said she, taking up some needlework, “that your Welland case -comes on tomorrow.” - -“Yes,” answered the young lawyer, “and I have all my witnesses ready.” - -“So, I hear, has Mr. Greaves,” she retorted. “You are going to have a -hard fight.” - -“What of that, when in the end I’ll win.” - -He looked over at her with a bright gleam in his eyes. - -“I wouldn’t be too sure,” she warned demurely. “You may lose on a -technicality.” - -He drew his chair a little nearer to her side and turned over the pages -of a book lying on her work-table. On the fly-leaf was inscribed in a -man’s writing: “To the dear little woman whose friendship is worth a -fortune.” - -Another book beside it bore the inscription: “With the love of all the -firm, including the boys,” and a volume of poems above it was dedicated -to the young person “with the high regards and stanch affection” of some -other masculine person. - -Will Carman pushed aside these evidences of his sweetheart’s popularity -with his own kind and leaned across the table. - -“Alice,” said he, “once upon a time you admitted that you loved me.” - -A blush suffused the young person’s countenance. - -“Did I?” she queried. - -“You did, indeed.” - -“Well?” - -“Well! If you love me and I love you—” - -“Oh, please!” protested the girl, covering her ears with her hands. - -“I _will_ please,” asserted the young man. “I have come here tonight, -Alice, to ask you to marry me—and at once.” - -“Deary me!” exclaimed the young person; but she let her needlework fall -into her lap as her lover, approaching nearer, laid his arm around her -shoulders and, bending his face close to hers, pleaded his most -important case. - -If for a moment the small mouth quivered, the firm little chin lost its -firmness, and the proud little head yielded to the pressure of a lover’s -arm, it was only for a moment so brief and fleeting that Will Carman had -hardly become aware of it before it had passed. - -“No,” said the young person sorrowfully but decidedly. She had arisen -and was standing on the other side of the table facing him. “I cannot -marry you while your mother regards me as beneath you.” - -“When she, knows you she will acknowledge you are above me. But I am not -asking you to come to my mother, I am asking you to come to me, dear. If -you will put your hand in mine and trust to me through all the coming -years, no man or woman born can come between us.” - -But the young person shook her head. - -“No,” she repeated. “I will not be your wife unless your mother welcomes -me with pride and with pleasure.” - -The night air was still sweet with the perfume of roses as Will Carman -passed out of the little cottage door; but he drew in no deep breath of -inspiration. His impetuous Irish heart was too heavy with -disappointment. It might have been a little lighter, however, had he -known that the eyes of the young person who gazed after him were misty -with a love and yearning beyond expression. - - - III - -“Will Carman has failed to snare his bird,” said Mr. Spring Fragrance -to Mrs. Spring Fragrance. - -Their neighbor’s son had just passed their veranda without turning to -bestow upon them his usual cheerful greeting. - -“It is too bad,” sighed Mrs. Spring Fragrance sympathetically. She -clasped her hands together and exclaimed: - -“Ah, these Americans! These mysterious, inscrutable, incomprehensible -Americans! Had I the divine right of learning I would put them into an -immortal book!” - -“The divine right of learning,” echoed Mr. Spring Fragrance, “Humph!” - -Mrs. Spring Fragrance looked up into her husband’s face in wonderment. - -“Is not the authority of the scholar, the student, almost divine?” she -queried. - -“So ’tis said,” responded he. “So it seems.” - -The evening before, Mr. Spring Fragrance, together with several Seattle -and San Francisco merchants, had given a dinner to a number of young -students who had just arrived from China. The morning papers had devoted -several columns to laudation of the students, prophecies as to their -future, and the great influence which they would exercise over the -destiny of their nation; but no comment whatever was made on the givers -of the feast, and Mr. Spring Fragrance was therefore feeling somewhat -unappreciated. Were not he and his brother merchants worthy of a little -attention? If the students had come to learn things in America, they, -the merchants, had accomplished things. There were those amongst them -who had been instrumental in bringing several of the students to -America. One of the boys was Mr. Spring Fragrance’s own young brother, -for whose maintenance and education he had himself sent the wherewithal -every year for many years. Mr. Spring Fragrance, though well read in the -Chinese classics, was not himself a scholar. As a boy he had come to the -shores of America, worked his way up, and by dint of painstaking study -after working hours acquired the Western language and Western business -ideas. He had made money, saved money, and sent money home. The years -had flown, his business had grown. Through his efforts trade between his -native town and the port city in which he lived had greatly increased. A -school in Canton was being builded in part with funds furnished by him, -and a railway syndicate, for the purpose of constructing a line of -railway from the big city of Canton to his own native town, was under -process of formation, with the name of Spring Fragrance at its head. - -No wonder then that Mr. Spring Fragrance muttered “Humph!” when Mrs. -Spring Fragrance dilated upon the “divine right of learning,” and that -he should feel irritated and humiliated, when, after explaining to her -his grievances, she should quote in the words of Confutze: “Be not -concerned that men do not know you; be only concerned that you do not -know them.” And he had expected wifely sympathy. - -He was about to leave the room in a somewhat chilled state of mind when -she surprised him again by pattering across to him and following up a -low curtsy with these words: - -“I bow to you as the grass bends to the wind. Allow me to detain you for -just one moment.” - -Mr. Spring Fragrance eyed her for a moment with suspicion. - -“As I have told you, O Great Man,” continued Mrs. Spring Fragrance, “I -desire to write an immortal book, and now that I have learned from you -that it is not necessary to acquire the ‘divine right of learning’ in -order to accomplish things, I will begin the work without delay. My -first subject will be ‘The Inferior Woman of America.’ Please advise me -how I shall best inform myself concerning her.” - -Mr. Spring Fragrance, perceiving that his wife was now serious, and -being easily mollified, sat himself down and rubbed his head. After -thinking for a few moments he replied: - -“It is the way in America, when a person is to be illustrated, for the -illustrator to interview the person’s friends. Perhaps, my dear, you had -better confer with the Superior Woman.” - -“Surely,” cried Mrs. Spring Fragrance, “no sage was ever so wise as my -Great Man.” - -“But I lack the ‘divine right of learning,’” dryly deplored Mr. Spring -Fragrance. - -“I am happy to hear it,” answered Mrs. Spring Fragrance. “If you were a -scholar you would have no time to read American poetry and American -newspapers.” - -Mr. Spring Fragrance laughed heartily. - -“You are no Chinese woman,” he teased. “You are an American.” - -“Please bring me my parasol and my folding fan,” said Mrs. Spring -Fragrance. “I am going out for a walk.” - -And Mr. Spring Fragrance obeyed her. - - - IV - -“This is from Mary Carman, who is in Portland,” said the mother of the -Superior Woman, looking up from the reading of a letter, as her daughter -came in from the garden. - -“Indeed,” carelessly responded Miss Evebrook. - -“Yes, it’s chiefly about Will.” - -“Oh, is it? Well, read it then, dear. I’m interested in Will Carman, -because of Alice Winthrop.” - -“I had hoped, Ethel, at one time that you would have been interested in -him for his own sake. However, this is what she writes: - - “I came here chiefly to rid myself of a melancholy mood which has - taken possession of me lately, and also because I cannot bear to see - my boy so changed towards me, owing to his infatuation for Alice - Winthrop. It is incomprehensible to me how a son of mine can find any - pleasure whatever in the society of such a girl. I have traced her - history, and find that she is not only uneducated in the ordinary - sense, but her environment, from childhood up, has been the sordid and - demoralizing one of extreme poverty and ignorance. This girl, Alice, - entered a law office at the age of fourteen, supposedly to do the work - of an office boy. Now, after seven years in business, through the - friendship and influence of men far above her socially, she holds the - position of private secretary to the most influential man in - Washington—a position which by rights belongs only to a well-educated - young woman of good family. Many such applied. I myself sought to have - Jane Walker appointed. Is it not disheartening to our woman’s cause to - be compelled to realize that girls such as this one can win men over - to be their friends and lovers, when there are so many splendid young - women who have been carefully trained to be companions and comrades of - educated men?” - -“Pardon me, mother,” interrupted Miss Evebrook, “but I have heard -enough. Mrs. Carman is your friend and a well-meaning woman sometimes; -but a woman suffragist, in the true sense, she certainly is not. Mark my -words: If any young man had accomplished for himself what Alice Winthrop -has accomplished, Mrs. Carman could not have said enough in his praise. -It is women such as Alice Winthrop who, in spite of every drawback, have -raised themselves to the level of those who have had every advantage, -who are the pride and glory of America. There are thousands of them, all -over this land: women who have been of service to others all their years -and who have graduated from the university of life with honor. Women -such as I, who are called the Superior Women of America, are after all -nothing but schoolgirls in comparison.” - -Mrs. Evebrook eyed her daughter mutinously. “I don’t see why you should -feel like that,” said she. “Alice is a dear bright child, and it is -prejudice engendered by Mary Carman’s disappointment about you and Will -which is the real cause of poor Mary’s bitterness towards her; but to my -mind, Alice does not compare with my daughter. She would be frightened -to death if she had to make a speech.” - -“You foolish mother!” rallied Miss Evebrook. “To stand upon a platform -at woman suffrage meetings and exploit myself is certainly a great -recompense to you and father for all the sacrifices you have made in my -behalf. But since it pleases you, I do it with pleasure even on the -nights when my beau should ‘come a courting.’” - -“There is many a one who would like to come, Ethel. You’re the -handsomest girl in this Western town—and you know it.” - -“Stop that, mother. You know very well I have set my mind upon having -ten years’ freedom; ten years in which to love, live, suffer, see the -world, and learn about men (not schoolboys) before I choose one.” - -“Alice Winthrop is the same age as you are, and looks like a child -beside you.” - -“Physically, maybe; but her heart and mind are better developed. She has -been out in the world all her life, I only a few months.” - -“Your lecture last week on ‘The Opposite Sex’ was splendid.” - -“Of course. I have studied one hundred books on the subject and attended -fifty lectures. All that was necessary was to repeat in an original -manner what was not by any means original.” - -Miss Evebrook went over to a desk and took a paper therefrom. - -“This,” said she, “is what Alice has written me in reply to my note -suggesting that she attend next week the suffrage meeting, and give some -of the experiences of her business career. The object I had in view when -I requested the relation of her experiences was to use them as -illustrations of the suppression and oppression of women by men. Strange -to say, Alice and I have never conversed on this particular subject. If -we had I would not have made this request of her, nor written her as I -did. Listen: - - “I should dearly love to please you, but I am afraid that my - experiences, if related, would not help the cause. It may be, as you - say, that men prevent women from rising to their level; but if there - are such men, I have not met them. Ever since, when a little girl, I - walked into a law office and asked for work, and the senior member - kindly looked me over through his spectacles and inquired if I thought - I could learn to index books, and the junior member glanced under my - hat and said: “This is a pretty little girl and we must be pretty to - her,” I have loved and respected the men amongst whom I have worked - and wherever I have worked. I may have been exceptionally fortunate, - but I know this: the men for whom I have worked and amongst whom I - have spent my life, whether they have been business or professional - men, students or great lawyers and politicians, all alike have upheld - me, inspired me, advised me, taught me, given me a broad outlook upon - life for a woman; interested me in themselves and in their work. As to - corrupting my mind and my morals, as you say so many men do, when they - have young and innocent girls to deal with: As a woman I look back - over my years spent amongst business and professional men, and see - myself, as I was at first, an impressionable, ignorant little girl, - born a Bohemian, easy to lead and easy to win, but borne aloft and - morally supported by the goodness of my brother men, the men amongst - whom I worked. That is why, dear Ethel, you will have to forgive me, - because I cannot carry out your design, and help your work, as - otherwise I would like to do.” - -“That, mother,” declared Miss Evebrook, “answers all Mrs. Carman’s -insinuations, and should make her ashamed of herself. Can any one know -the sentiments which little Alice entertains toward men, and wonder at -her winning out as she has?” - -Mrs. Evebrook was about to make reply, when her glance happening to -stray out of the window, she noticed a pink parasol. - -“Mrs. Spring Fragrance!” she ejaculated, while her daughter went to the -door and invited in the owner of the pink parasol, who was seated in a -veranda rocker calmly writing in a note-book. - -“I’m so sorry that we did not hear your ring, Mrs. Spring Fragrance,” -said she. - -“There is no necessity for you to sorrow,” replied the little Chinese -woman. “I did not expect you to hear a ring which rang not. I failed to -pull the bell.” - -“You forgot, I suppose,” suggested Ethel Evebrook. - -“Is it wise to tell secrets?” ingenuously inquired Mrs. Spring -Fragrance. - -“Yes, to your friends. Oh, Mrs. Spring Fragrance, you are _so_ -refreshing.” - -“I have pleasure, then, in confiding to you. I have an ambition to -accomplish an immortal book about the Americans, and the conversation I -heard through the window was so interesting to me that I thought I would -take some of it down for my book before I intruded myself. With your -kind permission I will translate for your correction.” - -“I shall be delighted—honored,” said Miss Evebrook, her cheeks glowing -and her laugh rippling, “if you will promise me, that you will also -translate for our friend, Mrs. Carman.” - -“Ah, yes, poor Mrs. Carman! My heart is so sad for her,” murmured the -little Chinese woman. - - - V - -When the mother of Will Carman returned from Portland, the first person -upon whom she called was Mrs. Spring Fragrance. Having lived in China -while her late husband was in the customs service there, Mrs. Carman’s -prejudices did not extend to the Chinese, and ever since the Spring -Fragrances had become the occupants of the villa beside the Carmans, -there had been social good feeling between the American and Chinese -families. Indeed, Mrs. Carman was wont to declare that amongst all her -acquaintances there was not one more congenial and interesting than -little Mrs. Spring Fragrance. So after she had sipped a cup of delicious -tea, tasted some piquant candied limes, and told Mrs. Spring Fragrance -all about her visit to the Oregon city and the Chinese people she had -met there, she reverted to a personal trouble confided to Mrs. Spring -Fragrance some months before and dwelt upon it for more than half an -hour. Then she checked herself and gazed at Mrs. Spring Fragrance in -surprise. Hitherto she had found the little Chinese woman sympathetic -and consoling. Chinese ideas of filial duty chimed in with her own. But -today Mrs. Spring Fragrance seemed strangely uninterested and -unresponsive. - -“Perhaps,” gently suggested the American woman, who was nothing if not -sensitive, “you have some trouble yourself. If so, my dear, tell me all -about it.” - -“Oh, no!” answered Mrs. Spring Fragrance brightly. “I have no troubles -to tell; but all the while I am thinking about the book I am writing.” - -“A book!” - -“Yes, a book about Americans, an immortal book.” - -“My dear Mrs. Spring Fragrance!” exclaimed her visitor in amazement. - -“The American woman writes books about the Chinese. Why not a Chinese -woman write books about the Americans?” - -“I see what you mean. Why, yes, of course. What an original idea!” - -“Yes, I think that is what it is. My book I shall take from the words of -others.” - -“What do you mean, my dear?” - -“I listen to what is said, I apprehend, I write it down. Let me -illustrate by the ‘Inferior Woman’ subject. The Inferior Woman is most -interesting to me because you have told me that your son is in much love -with her. My husband advised me to learn about the Inferior Woman from -the Superior Woman. I go to see the Superior Woman. I sit on the veranda -of the Superior Woman’s house. I listen to her converse with her mother -about the Inferior Woman. With the speed of flames I write down all I -hear. When I enter the house the Superior Woman advises me that what I -write is correct. May I read to you?” - -“I shall be pleased to hear what you have written; but I do not think -you were wise in your choice of subject,” returned Mrs. Carman somewhat -primly. - -“I am sorry I am not wise. Perhaps I had better not read?” said Mrs. -Spring Fragrance with humility. - -“Yes, yes, do, please.” - -There was eagerness in Mrs. Carman’s voice. What could Ethel Evebrook -have to say about that girl! - -When Mrs. Spring Fragrance had finished reading, she looked up into the -face of her American friend—a face in which there was nothing now but -tenderness. - -“Mrs. Mary Carman,” said she, “you are so good as to admire my husband -because he is what the Americans call ‘a man who has made himself.’ Why -then do you not admire the Inferior Woman who is a woman who has made -herself?” - -“I think I do,” said Mrs. Carman slowly. - - - VI - -It was an evening that invited to reverie. The far stretches of the sea -were gray with mist, and the city itself, lying around the sweep of the -Bay, seemed dusky and distant. From her cottage window Alice Winthrop -looked silently at the open world around her. It seemed a long time -since she had heard Will Carman’s whistle. She wondered if he were still -angry with her. She was sorry that he had left her in anger, and yet not -sorry. If she had not made him believe that she was proud and selfish, -the parting would have been much harder; and perhaps had he known the -truth and realized that it was for his sake, and not for her own, that -she was sending him away from her, he might have refused to leave her at -all. His was such an imperious nature. And then they would have -married—right away. Alice caught her breath a little, and then she -sighed. But they would not have been happy. No, that could not have been -possible if his mother did not like her. When a gulf of prejudice lies -between the wife and mother of a man, that man’s life is not what it -should be. And even supposing she and Will could have lost themselves in -each other, and been able to imagine themselves perfectly satisfied with -life together, would it have been right? The question of right and wrong -was a very real one to Alice Winthrop. She put herself in the place of -the mother of her lover—a lonely elderly woman, a widow with an only -son, upon whom she had expended all her love and care ever since, in her -early youth, she had been bereaved of his father. What anguish of heart -would be hers if that son deserted her for one whom she, his mother, -deemed unworthy! Prejudices are prejudices. They are like diseases. - -The poor, pale, elderly woman, who cherished bitter and resentful -feelings towards the girl whom her son loved, was more an object of pity -than condemnation to the girl herself. - -She lifted her eyes to the undulating line of hills beyond the water. -From behind them came a silver light. “Yes,” said she aloud to -herself—and, though she knew it not, there was an infinite pathos in -such philosophy from one so young—“if life cannot be bright and -beautiful for me, at least it can be peaceful and contented.” - -The light behind the hills died away; darkness crept over the sea. Alice -withdrew from the window and went and knelt before the open fire in her -sitting-room. Her cottage companion, the young woman who rented the -place with her, had not yet returned from town. - -Alice did not turn on the light. She was seeing pictures in the fire, -and in every picture was the same face and form—the face and form of a -fine, handsome young man with love and hope in his eyes. No, not always -love and hope. In the last picture of all there was an expression which -she wished she could forget. And yet she would remember—ever—always—and -with it, these words: “Is it nothing to you—nothing—to tell a man that -you love him, and then to bid him go?” - -Yes, but when she had told him she loved him she had not dreamed that -her love for him and his for her would estrange him from one who, before -ever she had come to this world, had pillowed his head on her breast. - -Suddenly this girl, so practical, so humorous, so clever in every-day -life, covered her face with her hands and sobbed like a child. Two roads -of life had lain before her and she had chosen the hardest. - -The warning bell of an automobile passing the cross-roads checked her -tears. That reminded her that Nellie Blake would soon be home. She -turned on the light and went to the bedroom and bathed her eyes. Nellie -must have forgotten her key. There she was knocking. - - * * * * * - -The chill sea air was sweet with the scent of roses as Mary Carman stood -upon the threshold of the little cottage, and beheld in the illumination -from within the young girl whom she had called “the Inferior Woman.” - -“I have come, Miss Winthrop,” said she, “to beg of you to return home -with me. Will, reckless boy, met with a slight accident while out -shooting, so could not come for you himself. He has told me that he -loves you, and if you love him, I want to arrange for the prettiest -wedding of the season. Come, dear!” - -“I am so glad,” said Mrs. Spring Fragrance, “that Will Carman’s bird is -in his nest and his felicity is assured.” - -“What about the Superior Woman?” asked Mr. Spring Fragrance. - -“Ah, the Superior Woman! Radiantly beautiful, and gifted with the divine -right of learning! I love well the Inferior Woman; but, O Great Man, -when we have a daughter, may Heaven ordain that she walk in the groove -of the Superior Woman.” - - - - - THE WISDOM OF THE NEW - - - I - -Old Li Wang, the peddler, who had lived in the land beyond the sea, was -wont to declare: “For every cent that a man makes here, he can make one -hundred there.” - -“Then, why,” would ask Sankwei, “do you now have to move from door to -door to fill your bowl with rice?” - -And the old man would sigh and answer: - -“Because where one learns how to make gold, one also learns how to lose -it.” - -“How to lose it!” echoed Wou Sankwei. “Tell me all about it.” - -So the old man would tell stories about the winning and the losing, and -the stories of the losing were even more fascinating than the stories of -the winning. - -“Yes, that was life,” he would conclude. “Life, life.” - -At such times the boy would gaze across the water with wistful eyes. The -land beyond the sea was calling to him. - -The place was a sleepy little south coast town where the years slipped -by monotonously. The boy was the only son of the man who had been the -town magistrate. - -Had his father lived, Wou Sankwei would have been sent to complete his -schooling in another province. As it was he did nothing but sleep, -dream, and occasionally get into mischief. What else was there to do? -His mother and sister waited upon him hand and foot. Was he not the son -of the house? The family income was small, scarcely sufficient for their -needs; but there was no way by which he could add to it, unless, indeed, -he disgraced the name of Wou by becoming a common fisherman. The great -green waves lifted white arms of foam to him, and the fishes gleaming -and lurking in the waters seemed to beseech him to draw them from the -deep; but his mother shook her head. - -“Should you become a fisherman,” said she, “your family would lose face. -Remember that your father was a magistrate.” - -When he was about nineteen there returned to the town one who had been -absent for many years. Ching Kee, like old Li Wang, had also lived in -the land beyond the sea; but unlike old Li Wang he had accumulated a -small fortune. - -“’Tis a hard life over there,” said he, “but ’tis worth while. At least -one can be a man, and can work at what work comes his way without losing -face.” Then he laughed at Wou Sankwei’s flabby muscles, at his soft, -dark eyes, and plump, white hands. - -“If you lived in America,” said he, “you would learn to be ashamed of -such beauty.” - -Whereupon Wou Sankwei made up his mind that he would go to America, the -land beyond the sea. Better any life than that of a woman man. - -He talked long and earnestly with his mother. “Give me your blessing,” -said he. “I will work and save money. What I send home will bring you -many a comfort, and when I come back to China, it may be that I shall be -able to complete my studies and obtain a degree. If not, my knowledge of -the foreign language which I shall acquire, will enable me to take a -position which will not disgrace the name of Wou.” - -His mother listened and thought. She was ambitious for her son whom she -loved beyond all things on earth. Moreover, had not Sik Ping, a Canton -merchant, who had visited the little town two moons ago, declared to Hum -Wah, who traded in palm leaves, that the signs of the times were that -the son of a cobbler, returned from America with the foreign language, -could easier command a position of consequence than the son of a -school-teacher unacquainted with any tongue but that of his motherland? - -“Very well,” she acquiesced; “but before you go I must find you a wife. -Only your son, my son, can comfort me for your loss.” - - - II - -Wou Sankwei stood behind his desk, busily entering figures in a long -yellow book. Now and then he would thrust the hair pencil with which he -worked behind his ears and manipulate with deft fingers a Chinese -counting machine. Wou Sankwei was the junior partner and bookkeeper of -the firm of Leung Tang Wou & Co. of San Francisco. He had been in -America seven years and had made good use of his time. Self-improvement -had been his object and ambition, even more than the acquirement of a -fortune, and who, looking at his fine, intelligent face and listening to -his careful English, could say that he had failed? - -One of his partners called his name. Some ladies wished to speak to him. -Wou Sankwei hastened to the front of the store. One of his callers, a -motherly looking woman, was the friend who had taken him under her wing -shortly after his arrival in America. She had come to invite him to -spend the evening with her and her niece, the young girl who accompanied -her. - -After his callers had left, Sankwei returned to his desk and worked -steadily until the hour for his evening meal, which he took in the -Chinese restaurant across the street from the bazaar. He hurried through -with this, as before going to his friend’s house, he had a somewhat -important letter to write and mail. His mother had died a year before, -and the uncle, to whom he was writing, had taken his wife and son into -his home until such time as his nephew could send for them. Now the time -had come. - -Wou Sankwei’s memory of the woman who was his wife was very faint. How -could it be otherwise? She had come to him but three weeks before the -sailing of the vessel which had brought him to America, and until then -he had not seen her face. But she was his wife and the mother of his -son. Ever since he had worked in America he had sent money for her -support, and she had proved a good daughter to his mother. - -As he sat down to write he decided that he would welcome her with a big -dinner to his countrymen. - -“Yes,” he replied to Mrs. Dean, later on in the evening, “I have sent -for my wife.” - -“I am so glad,” said the lady. “Mr. Wou”—turning to her niece—“has not -seen his wife for seven years.” - -“Deary me!” exclaimed the young girl. “What a lot of letters you must -have written!” - -“I have not written her one,” returned the young man somewhat stiffly. - -Adah Charlton looked up in surprise. “Why—” she began. - -“Mr. Wou used to be such a studious boy when I first knew him,” -interrupted Mrs. Dean, laying her hand affectionately upon the young -man’s shoulder. “Now, it is all business. But you won’t forget the -concert on Saturday evening.” - -“No, I will not forget,” answered Wou Sankwei. - -“He has never written to his wife,” explained Mrs. Dean when she and her -niece were alone, “because his wife can neither read nor write.” - -“Oh, isn’t that sad!” murmured Adah Charlton, her own winsome face -becoming pensive. - -“They don’t seem to think so. It is the Chinese custom to educate only -the boys. At least it has been so in the past. Sankwei himself is -unusually bright. Poor boy! He began life here as a laundryman, and you -may be sure that it must have been hard on him, for, as the son of a -petty Chinese Government official, he had not been accustomed to manual -labor. But Chinese character is wonderful; and now after seven years in -this country, he enjoys a reputation as a business man amongst his -countrymen, and is as up to date as any young American.” - -“But, Auntie, isn’t it dreadful to think that a man should live away -from his wife for so many years without any communication between them -whatsoever except through others.” - -“It is dreadful to our minds, but not to theirs. Everything with them is -a matter of duty. Sankwei married his wife as a matter of duty. He sends -for her as a matter of duty.” - -“I wonder if it is all duty on her side,” mused the girl. - -Mrs. Dean smiled. “You are too romantic, Adah,” said she. “I hope, -however, that when she does come, they will be happy together. I think -almost as much of Sankwei as I do of my own boy.” - - - III - -Pau Lin, the wife of Wou Sankwei, sat in a corner of the deck of the big -steamer, awaiting the coming of her husband. Beside her, leaning his -little queued head against her shoulder, stood her six-year-old son. He -had been ailing throughout the voyage, and his small face was pinched -with pain. His mother, who had been nursing him every night since the -ship had left port, appeared very worn and tired. This, despite the fact -that with a feminine desire to make herself fair to see in the eyes of -her husband, she had arrayed herself in a heavily embroidered purple -costume, whitened her forehead and cheeks with powder, and tinted her -lips with carmine. - -He came at last, looking over and beyond her; There were two others of -her countrywomen awaiting the men who had sent for them, and each had a -child, so that for a moment he seemed somewhat bewildered. Only when the -ship’s officer pointed out and named her, did he know her as his. Then -he came forward, spoke a few words of formal welcome, and, lifting the -child in his arms, began questioning her as to its health. - -She answered in low monosyllables. At his greeting she had raised her -patient eyes to his face—the face of the husband whom she had not seen -for seven long years—then the eager look of expectancy which had crossed -her own faded away, her eyelids drooped, and her countenance assumed an -almost sullen expression. - -“Ah, poor Sankwei!” exclaimed Mrs. Dean, who with Adah Charlton stood -some little distance apart from the family group. - -“Poor wife!” murmured the young girl. She moved forward and would have -taken in her own white hands the ringed ones of the Chinese woman, but -the young man gently restrained her. “She cannot understand you,” said -he. As the young girl fell back, he explained to his wife the presence -of the stranger women. They were there to bid her welcome; they were -kind and good and wished to be her friends as well as his. - -Pau Lin looked away. Adah Charlton’s bright face, and the tone in her -husband’s voice when he spoke to the young girl, aroused a suspicion in -her mind—a suspicion natural to one who had come from a land where -friendship between a man and woman is almost unknown. - -“Poor little thing! How shy she is!” exclaimed Mrs. Dean. - -Sankwei was glad that neither she nor the young girl understood the -meaning of the averted face. - -Thus began Wou Sankwei’s life in America as a family man. He soon became -accustomed to the change, which was not such a great one after all. Pau -Lin was more of an accessory than a part of his life. She interfered not -at all with his studies, his business, or his friends, and when not -engaged in housework or sewing, spent most of her time in the society of -one or the other of the merchants’ wives who lived in the flats and -apartments around her own. She kept up the Chinese custom of taking her -meals after her husband or at a separate table, and observed faithfully -the rule laid down for her by her late mother-in-law: to keep a quiet -tongue in the presence of her man. Sankwei, on his part, was always kind -and indulgent. He bought her silk dresses, hair ornaments, fans, and -sweetmeats. He ordered her favorite dishes from the Chinese restaurant. -When she wished to go out with her women friends, he hired a carriage, -and shortly after her advent erected behind her sleeping room a chapel -for the ancestral tablet and gorgeous goddess which she had brought over -seas with her. - -Upon the child both parents lavished affection. He was a quaint, serious -little fellow, small for his age and requiring much care. Although -naturally much attached to his mother, he became also very fond of his -father who, more like an elder brother than a parent, delighted in -playing all kinds of games with him, and whom he followed about like a -little dog. Adah Charlton took a great fancy to him and sketched him in -many different poses for a book on Chinese children which she was -illustrating. - -“He will be strong enough to go to school next year,” said Sankwei to -her one day. “Later on I intend to put him through an American college.” - -“What does your wife think of a Western training for him?” inquired the -young girl. - -“I have not consulted her about the matter,” he answered. “A woman does -not understand such things.” - -“A woman, Mr. Wou,” declared Adah, “understands such things as well as -and sometimes better than a man.” - -“An, American woman, maybe,” amended Sankwei; “but not a Chinese.” - -From the first Pau Lin had shown no disposition to become Americanized, -and Sankwei himself had not urged it. - -“I do appreciate the advantages of becoming westernized,” said he to -Mrs. Dean whose influence and interest in his studies in America had -helped him to become what he was, “but it is not as if she had come here -as I came, in her learning days. The time for learning with her is -over.” - -One evening, upon returning from his store, he found the little Yen -sobbing pitifully. - -“What!” he teased, “A man—and weeping.” - -The boy tried to hide his face, and as he did so, the father noticed -that his little hand was red and swollen. He strode into the kitchen -where Pau Lin was preparing the evening meal. - -“The little child who is not strong—is there anything he could do to -merit the infliction of pain?” he questioned. - -Pau Lin faced her husband. “Yes, I think so,” said she. - -“What?” - -“I forbade him to speak the language of the white women, and he -disobeyed me. He had words in that tongue with the white boy from the -next street.” - -Sankwei was astounded. - -“We are living in the white man’s country,” said he. “The child will -have to learn the white man’s language.” - -“Not my child,” answered Pau Lin. - -Sankwei turned away from her. “Come, little one,” said he to his son, -“we will take supper tonight at the restaurant, and afterwards Yen shall -see a show.” - -Pau Lin laid down the dish of vegetables which she was straining and -took from a hook as small wrap which she adjusted around the boy. - -“Now go with thy father,” said she sternly. - -But the boy clung to her—to the hand which had punished him. “I will sup -with you,” he cried, “I will sup with you.” - -“Go,” repeated his mother, pushing him from her. And as the two passed -over the threshold, she called to the father: “Keep the wrap around the -child. The night air is chill.” - -Late that night, while father and son were peacefully sleeping, the wife -and mother arose, and lifting gently the unconscious boy, bore him into -the next room where she sat down with him in a rocker. Waking, he -clasped his arms around her neck. Backwards and forwards she rocked him, -passionately caressing the wounded hand and crooning and crying until he -fell asleep again. - -The first chastisement that the son of Wou Sankwei had received from his -mother, was because he had striven to follow in the footsteps of his -father and use the language of the stranger. - -“You did perfectly right,” said old Sien Tau the following morning, as -she leaned over her balcony to speak to the wife of Wou Sankwei. “Had I -again a son to rear, I should see to it that he followed not after the -white people.” - -Sien Tau’s son had married a white woman, and his children passed their -grandame on the street without recognition. - -“In this country, she is most happy who has no child,” said Lae Choo, -resting her elbow upon the shoulder of Sien Tau. “A Toy, the young -daughter of Lew Wing, is as bold and free in her ways as are the white -women, and her name is on all the men’s tongues. What prudent man of our -race would take her as wife?” - -“One needs not to be born here to be made a fool of,” joined in Pau Lin, -appearing at another balcony door. “Think of Hum Wah. From sunrise till -midnight he worked for fourteen years, then a white man came along and -persuaded from him every dollar, promising to return doublefold within -the moon. Many moons have risen and waned, and Hum Wah still waits on -this side of the sea for the white man and his money. Meanwhile, his -father and mother, who looked long for his coming, have passed beyond -returning.” - -“The new religion—what trouble it brings!” exclaimed Lae Choo. “My man -received word yestereve that the good old mother of Chee Ping—he who was -baptized a Christian at the last baptizing in the Mission around the -corner—had her head secretly severed from her body by the steadfast -people of the village, as soon as the news reached there. ’Twas the -first violent death in the records of the place. This happened to the -mother of one of the boys attending the Mission corner of my street.” - -“No doubt, the poor old mother, having lost face, minded not so much the -losing of her head,” sighed Pau Lin. She gazed below her curiously. The -American Chinatown held a strange fascination for the girl from the -seacoast village. Streaming along the street was a motley throng made up -of all nationalities. The sing-song voices of girls whom respectable -merchants’ wives shudder to name, were calling to one another from high -balconies up shadowy alleys. A fat barber was laughing hilariously at a -drunken white man who had fallen into a gutter; a withered old fellow, -carrying a bird in a cage, stood at the corner entreating passersby to -have a good fortune told; some children were burning punk on the -curbstone. There went by a stalwart Chief of the Six Companies engaged -in earnest confab with a yellow-robed priest from the joss house. A -Chinese dressed in the latest American style and a very blonde woman, -laughing immoderately, were entering a Chinese restaurant together. -Above all the hubbub of voices was heard the clang of electric cars and -the jarring of heavy wheels over cobblestones. - -Pau Lin raised her head and looked her thoughts at the old woman, Sien -Tau. - -“Yes,” nodded the dame, “’tis a mad place in which to bring up a child.” - -Pau Lin went back into the house, gave little Yen his noonday meal, and -dressed him with care. His father was to take him out that afternoon. -She questioned the boy, as she braided his queue, concerning the white -women whom he visited with his father. - -It was evening when they returned—Wou Sankwei and his boy. The little -fellow ran up to her in high glee. “See, mother,” said he, pulling off -his cap, “I am like father now. I wear no queue.” - -The mother looked down upon him—at the little round head from which the -queue, which had been her pride, no longer dangled. - -“Ah!” she cried. “I am ashamed of you; I am ashamed!” - -The boy stared at her, hurt and disappointed. - -“Never mind, son,” comforted his father. “It is all right.” - -Pau Lin placed the bowls of seaweed and chickens’ liver before them and -went back to the kitchen where her own meal was waiting. But she did not -eat. She was saying within herself: “It is for the white woman he has -done this; it is for the white woman!” - -Later, as she laid the queue of her son within the trunk wherein lay -that of his father, long since cast aside, she discovered a picture of -Mrs. Dean, taken when the American woman had first become the teacher -and benefactress of the youthful laundryman. She ran over with it to her -husband. “Here,” said she; “it is a picture of one of your white -friends.” Sankwei took it from her almost reverently, “That woman,” he -explained, “has been to me as a mother.” - -“And the young woman—the one with eyes the color of blue china—is she -also as a mother?” inquired Pau Lin gently. - -But for all her gentleness, Wou Sankwei flushed angrily. - -“Never speak of her,” he cried. “Never speak of her!” - -“Ha, ha, ha! Ha, ha, ha!” laughed Pau Lin. It was a soft and not -unmelodious laugh, but to Wou Sankwei it sounded almost sacrilegious. - -Nevertheless, he soon calmed down. Pau Lin was his wife, and to be kind -to her was not only his duty but his nature. So when his little boy -climbed into his lap and besought his father to pipe him a tune, he -reached for his flute and called to Pau Lin to put aside work for that -night. He would play her some Chinese music. And Pau Lin, whose heart -and mind, undiverted by change, had been concentrated upon Wou Sankwei -ever since the day she had become his wife, smothered, for the time -being, the bitterness in her heart, and succumbed to the magic of her -husband’s playing—a magic which transported her in thought to the old -Chinese days, the old Chinese days whose impression and influence ever -remain with the exiled sons and daughters of China. - - - IV - -That a man should take to himself two wives, or even three, if he -thought proper, seemed natural and right in the eyes of Wou Pau Lin. She -herself had come from a home where there were two broods of children and -where her mother and her father’s other wife had eaten their meals -together as sisters. In that home there had not always been peace; but -each woman, at least, had the satisfaction of knowing that her man did -not regard or treat the other woman as her superior. To each had fallen -the common lot—to bear children to the man, and the man was master of -all. - -But, oh! the humiliation and shame of bearing children to a man who -looked up to another woman—and a woman of another race—as a being above -the common uses of women. There is a jealousy of the mind more poignant -than any mere animal jealousy. - -When Wou Sankwei’s second child was two weeks old, Adah Charlton and her -aunt called to see the little one, and the young girl chatted brightly -with the father and played merrily with Yen, who was growing strong and -merry. The American women could not, of course, converse with the -Chinese; but Adah placed beside her a bunch of beautiful flowers, -pressed her hand, and looked down upon her with radiant eyes. Secure in -the difference of race, in the love of many friends, and in the -happiness of her chosen work, no suspicion whatever crossed her mind -that the woman whose husband was her aunt’s protégé tasted everything -bitter because of her. - -After the visitors had gone, Pau Lin, who had been watching her -husband’s face while the young artist was in the room, said to him: - -“She can be happy who takes all and gives nothing.” - -“Takes all and gives nothing,” echoed her husband. “What do you mean?” - -“She has taken all your heart,” answered Pau Lin, “but she has not given -you a son. It is I who have had that task.” - -“You are my wife,” answered Wou Sankwei. “And she—oh! how can you speak -of her so? She, who is as a pure water-flower—a lily!” - -He went out of the room, carrying with him a little painting of their -boy, which Adah Charlton had given to him as she bade him goodbye and -which he had intended showing with pride to the mother. - -It was on the day that the baby died that Pau Lin first saw the little -picture. It had fallen out of her husband’s coat pocket when he lifted -the tiny form in his arms and declared it lifeless. Even in that first -moment of loss Pau Lin, stooping to pick up the portrait, had shrunk -back in horror, crying: “She would cast a spell! She would cast a -spell!” - -She set her heel upon the face of the picture and destroyed it beyond -restoration. - -“You know not what you say and do,” sternly rebuked Sankwei. He would -have added more, but the mystery of the dead child’s look forbade him. - -“The loss of a son is as the loss of a limb,” said he to his childless -partner, as under the red glare of the lanterns they sat discussing the -sad event. - -“But you are not without consolation,” returned Leung Tsao. “Your -firstborn grows in strength and beauty.” - -“True,” assented Wou Sankwei, his heavy thoughts becoming lighter. - -And Pau Lin, in her curtained balcony overhead, drew closer her child -and passionately cried: - -“Sooner would I, O heart of my heart, that the light of thine eyes were -also quenched, than that thou shouldst be contaminated with the wisdom -of the new.” - - - V - -The Chinese women friends of Wou Pau Lin gossiped among themselves, and -their gossip reached the ears of the American woman friend of Pau Lin’s -husband. Since the days of her widowhood Mrs. Dean had devoted herself -earnestly and whole-heartedly to the betterment of the condition and the -uplifting of the young workingmen of Chinese race who came to America. -Their appeal and need, as she had told her niece, was for closer -acquaintance with the knowledge of the Western people, and _that_ she -had undertaken to give them, as far as she was able. The rewards and -satisfactions of her work had been rich in some cases. Witness Wou -Sankwei. - -But the gossip had reached and much perturbed her. What was it that they -said Wou Sankwei’s wife had declared—that her little son should not go -to an American school nor learn the American learning. Such bigotry and -narrow-mindedness! How sad to think of! Here was a man who had benefited -and profited by living in America, anxious to have his son receive the -benefits of a Western education—and here was this man’s wife opposing -him with her ignorance and hampering him with her unreasonable jealousy. - -Yes, she had heard that too. That Wou Sankwei’s wife was -jealous—jealous—and her husband the most moral of men, the kindest and -the most generous. - -“Of what is she jealous?” she questioned Adah Charlton. “Other Chinese -men’s wives, I have known, have had cause to be jealous, for it is true -some of them are dreadfully immoral and openly support two or more -wives. But not Wou Sankwei. And this little Pau Lin. She has everything -that a Chinese woman could wish for.” - -A sudden flash of intuition came to the girl, rendering her for a moment -speechless. When she did find words, she said: - -“Everything that a Chinese woman could wish for, you say. Auntie, I do -not believe there is any real difference between the feelings of a -Chinese wife and an American wife. Sankwei is treating Pau Lin as he -would treat her were he living in China. Yet it cannot be the same to -her as if she were in their own country, where he would not come in -contact with American women. A woman is a woman with intuitions and -perceptions, whether Chinese or American, whether educated or -uneducated, and Sankwei’s wife must have noticed, even on the day of her -arrival, her husband’s manner towards us, and contrasted it with his -manner towards her. I did not realize this before you told me that she -was jealous. I only wish I had. Now, for all her ignorance, I can see -that the poor little thing became more of an American in that one half -hour on the steamer than Wou Sankwei, for all your pride in him, has -become in seven years.” - -Mrs. Dean rested her head on her hand. She was evidently much perplexed. - -“What you say may be, Adah,” she replied after a while; “but even so, it -is Sankwei whom I have known so long, who has my sympathies. He has much -to put up with. They have drifted seven years of life apart. There is no -bond of interest or sympathy between them, save the boy. Yet never the -slightest hint of trouble has come to me from his own lips. Before the -coming of Pau Lin, he would confide in me every little thing that -worried him, as if he were my own son. Now he maintains absolute silence -as to his private affairs.” - -“Chinese principles,” observed Adah, resuming her work. “Yes, I admit -Sankwei has some puzzles to solve. Naturally, when he tries to live two -lives—that of a Chinese and that of an American.” - -“He is compelled to that,” retorted Mrs. Dean. “Is it not what we teach -these Chinese boys—to become Americans? And yet, they are Chinese, and -must, in a sense, remain so.” - -Adah did not answer. - -Mrs. Dean sighed. “Poor, dear children, both of them,” mused she. “I -feel very low-spirited over the matter. I suppose you wouldn’t care to -come down town with me. I should like to have another chat with Mrs. -Wing Sing.” - -“I shall be glad of the change,” replied Adah, laying down her brushes. - -Rows of lanterns suspended from many balconies shed a mellow, moonshiny -radiance. On the walls and doors were splashes of red paper inscribed -with hieroglyphics. In the narrow streets, booths decorated with -flowers, and banners and screens painted with immense figures of josses -diverted the eye; while bands of musicians in gaudy silks, shrilled and -banged, piped and fluted. - -Everybody seemed to be out of doors—men, women, and children—and nearly -all were in holiday attire. A couple of priests, in vivid scarlet and -yellow robes, were kotowing before an altar covered with a rich cloth, -embroidered in white and silver. Some Chinese students from the -University of California stood looking on with comprehending, -half-scornful interest; three girls lavishly dressed in colored silks, -with their black hair plastered back from their faces and heavily -bejewelled behind, chirped and chattered in a gilded balcony above them -like birds in a cage. Little children, their hands full of -half-moon-shaped cakes, were pattering about, with eyes, for all the -hour, as bright as stars. - -Chinatown was celebrating the Harvest Moon Festival, and Adah Charlton -was glad that she had an opportunity to see something of the celebration -before she returned East. Mrs. Dean, familiar with the Chinese people -and the mazes of Chinatown, led her around fearlessly, pointing out this -and that object of interest and explaining to her its meaning. Seeing -that it was a gala night, she had abandoned her idea of calling upon the -Chinese friend. - -Just as they turned a corner leading up to the street where Wou -Sankwei’s place of business and residence was situated, a pair of little -hands grasped Mrs. Dean’s skirt and a delighted little voice piped: “See -me! See me!” It was little Yen, resplendent in mauve-colored pantaloons -and embroidered vest and cap. Behind him was a tall man whom both women -recognized. - -“How do you happen to have Yen with you?” Adah asked. - -“His father handed him over to me as a sort of guide, counsellor, and -friend. The little fellow is very amusing.” - -“See over here,” interrupted Yen. He hopped over the alley to where the -priests stood by the altar. The grown people followed him. - -“What is that man chanting?” asked Adah. One of the priests had mounted -a table, and with arms outstretched towards the moon sailing high in the -heavens, seemed to be making some sort of an invocation. - -Her friend listened for some moments before replying: - -“It is a sort of apotheosis of the moon. I have heard it on a like -occasion in Hankow, and the Chinese _bonze_ who officiated gave me a -translation. I almost know it by heart. May I repeat it to you?” - -Mrs. Dean and Yen were examining the screen with the big josses. - -“Yes, I should like to hear it,” said Adah. - -“Then fix your eyes upon Diana.” - -“Dear and lovely moon, as I watch thee pursuing thy solitary course o’er -the silent heavens, heart-easing thoughts steal o’er me and calm my -passionate soul. Thou art so sweet, so serious, so serene, that thou -causest me to forget the stormy emotions which crash like jarring -discords across the harmony of life, and bringest to my memory a voice -scarce ever heard amidst the warring of the world—love’s low voice. - -“Thou art so peaceful and so pure that it seemeth as if naught false or -ignoble could dwell beneath thy gentle radiance, and that -earnestness—even the earnestness of genius—must glow within the bosom of -him on whose head thy beams fall like blessings. - -“The magic of thy sympathy disburtheneth me of many sorrows, and -thoughts, which, like the songs of the sweetest sylvan singer, are too -dear and sacred for the careless ears of day, gush forth with -unconscious eloquence when thou art the only listener. - -“Dear and lovely moon, there are some who say that those who dwell in -the sunlit fields of reason should fear to wander through the moonlit -valleys of imagination; but I, who have ever been a pilgrim and a -stranger in the realm of the wise, offer to thee the homage of a heart -which appreciates that thou graciously shinest—even on the fool.” - -“Is that really Chinese?” queried Adah. - -“No doubt about it—in the main. Of course, I cannot swear to it word for -word.” - -“I should think that there would be some reference to the fruits of the -earth—the harvest. I always understood that the Chinese religion was so -practical.” - -“Confucianism is. But the Chinese mind requires two religions. Even the -most commonplace Chinese has yearnings for something above everyday -life. Therefore, he combines with his Confucianism, Buddhism—or, in this -country, Christianity.” - -“Thank you for the information. It has given me a key to the mind of a -certain Chinese in whom Auntie and I are interested.” - -“And who is this particular Chinese in whom you are interested.” - -“The father of the little boy who is with us tonight.” - -“Wou Sankwei! Why, here he comes with Lee Tong Hay. Are you acquainted -with Lee Tong Hay?” - -“No, but I believe Aunt is. Plays and sings in vaudeville, doesn’t he?” - -“Yes; he can turn himself into a German, a Scotchman, an Irishman, or an -American, with the greatest ease, and is as natural in each character as -he is as a Chinaman. Hello, Lee Tong Hay.” - -“Hello, Mr. Stimson.” - -While her friend was talking to the lively young Chinese who had -answered his greeting, Adah went over to where Wou Sankwei stood -speaking to Mrs. Dean. - -“Yen begins school next week,” said her aunt, drawing her arm within her -own. It was time to go home. - -Adah made no reply. She was settling her mind to do something quite out -of the ordinary. Her aunt often called her romantic and impractical. -Perhaps she was. - - - VI - -“Auntie went out of town this morning,” said Adah Charlton. “I, ’phoned -for you to come up, Sankwei because I wished to have a personal and -private talk with you.” - -“Any trouble, Miss Adah,” inquired the young merchant. “Anything I can -do for you?” - -Mrs. Dean often called upon him to transact little business matters for -her or to consult with him on various phases of her social and family -life. - -“I don’t know what I would do without Sankwei’s head to manage for me,” -she often said to her niece. - -“No,” replied the girl, “you do too much for us. You always have, ever -since I’ve known you. It’s a shame for us to have allowed you.” - -“What are you talking about, Miss Adah? Since I came to America your -aunt has made this house like a home to me, and, of course, I take an -interest in it and like to do anything for it that a man can. I am -always happy when I come here.” - -“Yes, I know you are, poor old boy,” said Adah to herself. - -Aloud she said: “I have something to say to you which I would like you -to hear. Will you listen, Sankwei?” - -“Of course I will,” he answered. - -“Well then,” went on Adah, “I asked you to come here today because I -have heard that there is trouble at your house and that your wife is -jealous of you.” - -“Would you please not talk about that, Miss Adah. It is a matter which -you cannot understand.” - -“You promised to listen and heed. I do understand, even though I cannot -speak to your wife nor find out what she feels and thinks. I know you, -Sankwei, and I can see just how the trouble has arisen. As soon as I -heard that your wife was jealous I knew why she was jealous.” - -“Why?” he queried. - -“Because,” she answered unflinchingly, “you are thinking far too much of -other women.” - -“Too much of other women?” echoed Sankwei dazedly. “I did not know -that.” - -“No, you didn’t. That is why I am telling you. But you are, Sankwei. And -you are becoming too Americanized. My aunt encourages you to become so, -and she is a good woman, with the best and highest of motives; but we -are all liable to make mistakes, and it is a mistake to try and make a -Chinese man into an American—if he has a wife who is to remain as she -always has been. It would be different if you were not married and were -a man free to advance. But you are not.” - -“What am I to do then, Miss Adah? You say that I think too much of other -women besides her, and that I am too much Americanized. What can I do -about it now that it is so?” - -“First of all you must think of your wife. She has done for you what no -American woman would do—came to you to be your wife, love you and serve -you without even knowing you—took you on trust altogether. You must -remember that for many years she was chained in a little cottage to care -for your ailing and aged mother—a hard task indeed for a young girl. You -must remember that you are the only man in the world to her, and that -you have always been the only one that she has ever cared for. Think of -her during all the years you are here, living a lonely hard-working -life—a baby and an old woman her only companions. For this, she had left -all her own relations. No American woman would have sacrificed herself -so. - -“And, now, what has she? Only you and her housework. The white woman -reads, plays, paints, attends concerts, entertainments, lectures, -absorbs herself in the work she likes, and in the course of her life -thinks of and cares for a great many people. She has much to make her -happy besides her husband. The Chinese woman has him only.” - -“And her boy.” - -“Yes, her boy,” repeated Adah Charlton, smiling in spite of herself, but -lapsing into seriousness the moment after. “There’s another reason for -you to drop the American for a time and go back to being a Chinese. For -sake of your darling little boy, you and your wife should live together -kindly and cheerfully. That is much more important for his welfare than -that he should go to the American school and become Americanized.” - -“It is my ambition to put him through both American and Chinese -schools.” - -“But what he needs most of all is a loving mother.” - -“She loves him all right.” - -“Then why do you not love her as you should? If I were married I would -not think my husband loved me very much if he preferred spending his -evenings in the society of other women than in mine, and was so much -more polite and deferential to other women than he was to me. Can’t you -understand now why your wife is jealous?” - -Wou Sankwei stood up. - -“Goodbye,” said Adah Charlton, giving him her hand. - -“Goodbye,” said Wou Sankwei. - -Had he been a white man, there is no doubt that Adah Charlton’s little -lecture would have had a contrary effect from what she meant it to have. -At least, the lectured would have been somewhat cynical as to her -sincerity. But Wou Sankwei was not a white man. He was a Chinese, and -did not see any reason for insincerity in a matter as important as that -which Adah Charlton had brought before him. He felt himself exiled from -Paradise, yet it did not occur to him to question, as a white man would -have done, whether the angel with the flaming sword had authority for -her action. Neither did he lay the blame for things gone wrong upon any -woman. He simply made up his mind to make the best of what was. - - - VII - -It had been a peaceful week in the Wou household—the week before little -Yen was to enter the American school. So peaceful indeed that Wou -Sankwei had begun to think that his wife was reconciled to his wishes -with regard to the boy. He whistled softly as he whittled away at a -little ship he was making for him. Adah Charlton’s suggestions had set -coursing a train of thought which had curved around Pau Lin so closely -that he had decided that, should she offer any further opposition to the -boy’s attending the American school, he would not insist upon it. After -all, though the American language might be useful during this century, -the wheel of the world would turn again, and then it might not be -necessary at all. Who could tell? He came very near to expressing -himself thus to Pau Lin. - -And now it was the evening before the morning that little Yen was to -march away to the American school. He had been excited all day over the -prospect, and to calm him, his father finally told him to read aloud a -little story from the Chinese book which he had given him on his first -birthday in America and which he had taught him to read. Obediently the -little fellow drew his stool to his mother’s side and read in his -childish sing-song the story of an irreverent lad who came to great -grief because he followed after the funeral of his grandfather and -regaled himself on the crisply roasted chickens and loose-skinned -oranges which were left on the grave for the feasting of the spirit. - -Wou Sankwei laughed heartily over the story. It reminded him of some of -his own boyish escapades. But Pau Lin stroked silently the head of the -little reader, and seemed lost in reverie. - -A whiff of fresh salt air blew in from the Bay. The mother shivered, and -Wou Sankwei, looking up from the fastening of the boat’s rigging, bade -Yen close the door. As the little fellow came back to his mother’s side, -he stumbled over her knee. - -“Oh, poor mother!” he exclaimed with quaint apology. “’Twas the stupid -feet, not Yen.” - -“So,” she replied, curling her arm around his neck, “’tis always the -feet. They are to the spirit as the cocoon to the butterfly. Listen, and -I will sing you the song of the Happy Butterfly.” - -She began singing the old Chinese ditty in a fresh birdlike voice. Wou -Sankwei, listening, was glad to hear her. He liked having everyone -around him cheerful and happy. That had been the charm of the Dean -household. - -The ship was finished before the little family retired. Yen examined it, -critically at first, then exultingly. Finally, he carried it away and -placed it carefully in the closet where he kept his kites, balls, tops, -and other treasures. “We will set sail with it tomorrow after school,” -said he to his father, hugging gratefully that father’s arm. - -Sankwei rubbed the little round head. The boy and he were great chums. - - * * * * * - -What was that sound which caused Sankwei to start from his sleep? It was -just on the border land of night and day, an unusual time for Pau Lin to -be up. Yet, he could hear her voice in Yen’s room. He raised himself on -his elbow and listened. She was softly singing a nursery song about some -little squirrels and a huntsman. Sankwei wondered at her singing in that -way at such an hour. From where he lay he could just perceive the -child’s cot and the silent child figure lying motionless in the dim -light. How very motionless! In a moment Sankwei was beside it. - -The empty cup with its dark dregs told the tale. - -The thing he loved the best in all the world—the darling son who had -crept into his heart with his joyousness and beauty—had been taken from -him—by her who had given. - -Sankwei reeled against the wall. The kneeling figure by the cot arose. -The face of her was solemn and tender. - -“He is saved,” smiled she, “from the Wisdom of the New.” - -In grief too bitter for words the father bowed his head upon his hands. - -“Why! Why!” queried Pau Lin, gazing upon him bewilderedly. “The child is -happy. The butterfly mourns not o’er the shed cocoon.” - -Sankwei put up his shutters and wrote this note to Adah Charlton: - - I have lost my boy through an accident. I am returning to China with - my wife whose health requires a change. - - - - - “ITS WAVERING IMAGE” - - - I - -Pan was a half white, half Chinese girl. Her mother was dead, and Pan -lived with her father who kept an Oriental Bazaar on Dupont Street. All -her life had Pan lived in Chinatown, and if she were different in any -sense from those around her, she gave little thought to it. It was only -after the coming of Mark Carson that the mystery of her nature began to -trouble her. - -They met at the time of the boycott of the Sam Yups by the See Yups. -After the heat and dust and unsavoriness of the highways and byways of -Chinatown, the young reporter who had been sent to find a story, had -stepped across the threshold of a cool, deep room, fragrant with the -odor of dried lilies and sandalwood, and found Pan. - -She did not speak to him, nor he to her. His business was with the -spectacled merchant, who, with a pointed brush, was making up accounts -in brown paper books and rolling balls in an abacus box. As to Pan, she -always turned from whites. With her father’s people she was natural and -at home; but in the presence of her mother’s she felt strange and -constrained, shrinking from their curious scrutiny as she would from the -sharp edge of a sword. - -When Mark Carson returned to the office, he asked some questions -concerning the girl who had puzzled him. What was she? Chinese or white? -The city editor answered him, adding: “She is an unusually bright girl, -and could tell more stories about the Chinese than any other person in -this city—if she would.” - -Mark Carson had a determined chin, clever eyes, and a tone to his voice -which easily won for him the confidence of the unwary. In the reporter’s -room he was spoken of as “a man who would sell his soul for a story.” - -After Pan’s first shyness had worn off, he found her bewilderingly frank -and free with him; but he had all the instincts of a gentleman save one, -and made no ordinary mistake about her. He was Pan’s first white friend. -She was born a Bohemian, exempt from the conventional restrictions -imposed upon either the white or Chinese woman; and the Oriental who was -her father mingled with his affection for his child so great a respect -for and trust in the daughter of the dead white woman, that everything -she did or said was right to him. And Pan herself! A white woman might -pass over an insult; a Chinese woman fail to see one. But Pan! He would -be a brave man indeed who offered one to childish little Pan. - -All this Mark Carson’s clear eyes perceived, and with delicate tact and -subtlety he taught the young girl that, all unconscious until his -coming, she had lived her life alone. So well did she learn this lesson -that it seemed at times as if her white self must entirely dominate and -trample under foot her Chinese. - -Meanwhile, in full trust and confidence, she led him about Chinatown, -initiating him into the simple mystery and history of many things, for -which she, being of her father’s race, had a tender regard and pride. -For her sake he was received as a brother by the yellow-robed priest in -the joss house, the Astrologer of Prospect Place, and other conservative -Chinese. The Water Lily Club opened its doors to him when she knocked, -and the Sublimely Pure Brothers’ organization admitted him as one of its -honorary members, thereby enabling him not only to see but to take part -in a ceremony in which no American had ever before participated. With -her by his side, he was welcomed wherever he went. Even the little -Chinese women in the midst of their babies, received him with gentle -smiles, and the children solemnly munched his candies and repeated -nursery rhymes for his edification. - -He enjoyed it all, and so did Pan. They were both young and -light-hearted. And when the afternoon was spent, there was always that -high room open to the stars, with its China bowls full of flowers and -its big colored lanterns, shedding a mellow light. - -Sometimes there was music. A Chinese band played three evenings a week -in the gilded restaurant beneath them, and the louder the gongs sounded -and the fiddlers fiddled, the more delighted was Pan. Just below the -restaurant was her father’s bazaar. Occasionally Mun You would stroll -upstairs and inquire of the young couple if there was anything needed to -complete their felicity, and Pan would answer: “Thou only.” Pan was very -proud of her Chinese father. “I would rather have a Chinese for a father -than a white man,” she often told Mark Carson. The last time she had -said that he had asked whom she would prefer for a husband, a white man -or a Chinese. And Pan, for the first time since he had known her, had no -answer for him. - - - II - -It was a cool, quiet evening, after a hot day. A new moon was in the -sky. - -“How beautiful above! How unbeautiful below!” exclaimed Mark Carson -involuntarily. - -He and Pan had been gazing down from their open retreat into the -lantern-lighted, motley-thronged street beneath them. - -“Perhaps it isn’t very beautiful,” replied Pan, “but it is here I live. -It is my home.” Her voice quivered a little. - -He leaned towards her suddenly and grasped her hands. - -“Pan,” he cried, “you do not belong here. You are white—white.” - -“No! no!” protested Pan. - -“You are,” he asserted. “You have no right to be here.” - -“I was born here,” she answered, “and the Chinese people look upon me as -their own.” - -“But they do not understand you,” he went on. “Your real self is alien -to them. What interest have they in the books you read—the thoughts you -think?” - -“They have an interest in me,” answered faithful Pan. “Oh, do not speak -in that way any more.” - -“But I must,” the young man persisted. “Pan, don’t you see that you have -got to decide what you will be—Chinese or white? You cannot be both.” - -“Hush! Hush!” bade Pan. “I do not love you when you talk to me like -that.” - -A little Chinese boy brought tea and saffron cakes. He was a picturesque -little fellow with a quaint manner of speech. Mark Carson jested merrily -with him, while Pan holding a tea-bowl between her two small hands -laughed and sipped. - -When they were alone again, the silver stream and the crescent moon -became the objects of their study. It was a very beautiful evening. - -After a while Mark Carson, his hand on Pan’s shoulder, sang: - - “And forever, and forever, - As long as the river flows, - As long as the heart has passions, - As long as life has woes, - The moon and its broken reflection, - And its shadows shall appear, - As the symbol of love in heaven, - And its wavering image here.” - -Listening to that irresistible voice singing her heart away, the girl -broke down and wept. She was so young and so happy. - -“Look up at me,” bade Mark Carson. “Oh, Pan! Pan! Those tears prove that -you are white.” - -Pan lifted her wet face. - -“Kiss me, Pan,” said he. It was the first time. - -Next morning Mark Carson began work on the special-feature article which -he had been promising his paper for some weeks. - - - III - -“Cursed be his ancestors,” bayed Man You. - -He cast a paper at his daughter’s feet and left the room. - -Startled by her father’s unwonted passion, Pan picked up the paper, and -in the clear passionless light of the afternoon read that which forever -after was blotted upon her memory. - -“Betrayed! Betrayed! Betrayed to be a betrayer!” - -It burnt red hot; agony unrelieved by words, unassuaged by tears. - -So till evening fell. Then she stumbled up the dark stairs which led to -the high room open to the stars and tried to think it out. Someone had -hurt her. Who was it? She raised her eyes. There shone: “Its Wavering -Image.” It helped her to lucidity. He had done it. Was it unconsciously -dealt—that cruel blow? Ah, well did he know that the sword which pierced -her through others, would carry with it to her own heart, the pain of -all those others. None knew better than he that she, whom he had called -“a white girl, a white woman,” would rather that her own naked body and -soul had been exposed, than that things, sacred and secret to those who -loved her, should be cruelly unveiled and ruthlessly spread before the -ridiculing and uncomprehending foreigner. And knowing all this so well, -so well, he had carelessly sung her heart away, and with her kiss upon -his lips, had smilingly turned and stabbed her. She, who was of the race -that remembers. - - - IV - -Mark Carson, back in the city after an absence of two months, thought of -Pan. He would see her that very evening. Dear little Pan, pretty Pan, -clever Pan, amusing Pan; Pan, who was always so frankly glad to have him -come to her; so eager to hear all that he was doing; so appreciative, so -inspiring, so loving. She would have forgotten that article by now. Why -should a white woman care about such things? Her true self was above it -all. Had he not taught her _that_ during the weeks in which they had -seen so much of one another? True, his last lesson had been a little -harsh, and as yet he knew not how she had taken it; but even if its -roughness had hurt and irritated, there was a healing balm, a wizard’s -oil which none knew so well as he how to apply. - -But for all these soothing reflections, there was an undercurrent of -feeling which caused his steps to falter on his way to Pan. He turned -into Portsmouth Square and took a seat on one of the benches facing the -fountain erected in memory of Robert Louis Stevenson. Why had Pan failed -to answer the note he had written telling her of the assignment which -would keep him out of town for a couple of months and giving her his -address? Would Robert Louis Stevenson have known why? Yes—and so did -Mark Carson. But though Robert Louis Stevenson would have boldly -answered himself the question, Mark Carson thrust it aside, arose, and -pressed up the hill. - -“I knew they would not blame you, Pan!” - -“Yes.” - -“And there was no word of you, dear. I was careful about that, not only -for your sake, but for mine.” - -Silence. - -“It is mere superstition anyway. These things have got to be exposed and -done away with.” - -Still silence. - -Mark Carson felt strangely chilled. Pan was not herself tonight. She did -not even look herself. He had been accustomed to seeing her in American -dress. Tonight she wore the Chinese costume. But for her clear-cut -features she might have been a Chinese girl. He shivered. - -“Pan,” he asked, “why do you wear that dress?” - -Within her sleeves Pan’s small hands struggled together; but her face -and voice were calm. - -“Because I am a Chinese woman,” she answered. - -“You are not,” cried Mark Carson, fiercely. “You cannot say that now, -Pan. You are a white woman—white. Did your kiss not promise me that?” - -“A white woman!” echoed Pan her voice rising high and clear to the stars -above them. “I would not be a white woman for all the world. _You_ are a -white man. And _what_ is a promise to a white man!” - - * * * * * - -When she was lying low, the element of Fire having raged so fiercely -within her that it had almost shriveled up the childish frame, there -came to the house of Man You a little toddler who could scarcely speak. -Climbing upon Pan’s couch, she pressed her head upon the sick girl’s -bosom. The feel of that little head brought tears. - -“Lo!” said the mother of the toddler. “Thou wilt bear a child thyself -some day, and all the bitterness of this will pass away.” - -And Pan, being a Chinese woman, was comforted. - - - - - THE GIFT OF LITTLE ME - - -The schoolroom was decorated with banners and flags wrought in various -colors. Chinese lanterns swung overhead. A big, green, porcelain frog -with yellow eyes squatted in the centre of the teacher’s desk. Tropical -and native plants: azaleas, hyacinths, palms, and Chinese lilies, filled -the air with their fragrance. - -It was the day before the Chinese New Year of 18— and Miss McLeod’s -little scholars, in the decoration of their schoolroom, had expressed -their love of quaint conceits and their appreciation of the beautiful. -They were all in holiday attire. There was Han Wenti in sky-hued raiment -and loose, flowing sleeves, upon each of which was embroidered a yellow -dragon. Han Wenti’s father was the Chief of his clan in America. There -was San Kee, the son of the Americanized merchant, stiff and slim in -American store clothes. Little Choy, on the girls’ side, proudly wore a -checked louisine Mother Hubbard gown, while Fei and Sie looked like -humming-birds in their native costume of bright-colored silks flowered -with gold. - -Miss McLeod’s eyes wandered over the heap of gifts piled on three chairs -before her desk, and over the heads of the young givers, to where on a -back seat a little fellow in blue cotton tunic and pantaloons sat -swinging a pair of white-soled shoes in a “don’t care for anybody” -fashion. - -Little Me was looked upon almost as a criminal by his schoolfellows. He -was the only scholar in all the school who failed to offer at the shrine -of the Teacher, and the fact that he was the son of a man who dined on -no richer dish than rice and soy gravy did not palliate his offense. -There were other scholars who knew not the taste of mushrooms, bamboo -shoots, and sucking pigs, yet who were unceasing in their offerings of -paper mats, wild flowers, pebbles, strange insects, and other gifts -possessing at least a sentimental value. The truth of the matter, -however, was that Little Me was neither unappreciative nor unloving. He -was simply afflicted with pride. If he could not give in the princely -fashion of Hom Hing and Lee Chu, the sons of the richest merchants in -Chinatown, he would not give at all. - -Yet if Miss McLeod, in her Scotch heart, allowed herself a favorite -amongst her scholars, it was Little Me. Many a time had she incurred the -displeasure of the parents of Hom Hing and Lee Chu by rejecting the -oft-times valuable presents of their chubby, complacent-faced sons. She -had seen Little Me’s eyes cloud and his small hands draw up in his -sleeves when the pattering footsteps of the braided darlings of the rich -led them, with their offerings, to her desk. - -“Attention, children!” said Miss McLeod; and she made a little speech in -which she thanked her scholars for their tokens of appreciation and -affection, but impressed upon them that she prized as much a wooden -image of his own carving from a boy who had nothing more to offer, as -she did an ivory or jade figure from one whose father could afford to -wear gold buttons; that a lichi from the orphan Amoy was as refreshing -to her as a basket of oranges from the only daughter of the owner of -many fruit ranches. The greatest of all gifts was beyond price. They -must remember the story she had told them at Christmas time of the -giving of a darling and only Son to a loved people. All the money in the -world could not have paid for that dear little boy. He was a free gift. - -Little Me stopped swinging his feet in their white-soled shoes. With -solemn eyes and puckered brow he meditated over this speech. - - * * * * * - -The first day of the new year was kept with much rejoicing. There were -gay times under the lanterns, quaint ceremonies, and fine feasting. The -flutist came out with his flute, the banjo man with his banjo, and the -fiddler with his fiddle. No child but had a piece of gold or silver -given to him or her, and sweetmeats, loose-skinned oranges, and -watermelon seeds were scattered around galore. Strains of music -enlivened the dark alleys, and “flowers” or fireworks delighted both old -and young. The Literary and Benevolent Societies brought forth those of -their number whose imaginations and experiences gave them the power to -portray the achievements of heroes, the despair of lovers, the blessings -which fall to the lot of the filial son, and the terrible fate of the -undutiful, and while the sun went down and long after it had set, groups -of fascinated youths sat listening to tales of magic and enchantment. - -In the midst of it all Little Me wandered around in his white-soled -shoes, and thought of that other story—the story of the Babe. - -On the second day of the Chinese New Year, Miss McLeod, her twine bag -full to overflowing with little red parcels of joy, stopped before the -door of the Chee house. As there was no response to her knock, she -lifted the latch and entered a darkened room. By a couch in the furthest -corner of the room a woman knelt, moaning and tearful. It was Chee A -Tae, Little Me’s mother. Little Me’s proper name was Chee Ping. Miss -McLeod touched her shoulder sympathetically. The woman shuddered and the -low moans became heartrending cries and sobs. Did the teacher know that -her baby was stolen? Some evil spirit had witched him away. Her husband, -with some friends, was searching for the child; but she felt sure they -would find him—never. She had burnt incense to “Mother” and besought the -aid of the goddess of children; but her prayers would not avail, because -her husband had neglected that month to send his parents cash for -ginseng and broth. He had tried his luck with the Gambling Cash Tiger -and failed. Had he been fortunate, his parents would have received twice -their usual portion, but as it was, he had lost. And now the baby, the -younger brother of Little Me, was lost too. - -“How did it happen?” inquired Miss McLeod. - -“We were alone—the babe and I,” replied the mother. “My man was visiting -and Little Me was playing in the alley. I stepped over with a bowl of -boiled rice and a pot of tea for old Sien Tau. We have not much for our -own mouths, but it is well to begin the New Year by being kind to those -who may not see another. The babe was sleeping when I last beheld him. -When I returned, whether he was asleep, awake, in the land of the living -or in the spirit world, was withheld from me. A wolf—a tiger heart—alone -knew.” - -This was truly a case needing sympathy. Miss McLeod did her best, and -after a while Chee A Tae sat up and listened with some hope for her -husband’s footsteps. He came at last, a tired, gaunt-looking man, -wearing in the face of the holiday, the blue cotton blouse and -pantaloons of a working Chinaman, and a very dilapidated American slouch -hat, around which he had wound his queue. He was followed into the room -by several of his countrymen who cast suspicious glances at the white -woman present; but, upon recognition came forward, each in turn, and -saluted her in American fashion. There were several points of difference -between Miss McLeod and the other white teachers of Chinatown which had -won for her the special favor of her pupil’s parents. One was that -though it was plain to all that she loved her work and taught the -children committed to her charge with the utmost patience and care, she -was not a child-cuddling and caressing woman. Another, that she had -taken pains to learn the Chinese language before attempting to teach her -own. Thirdly, she lived in Chinatown, and made herself at home amongst -its denizens. - -Chee A Tae was bitterly disappointed at seeing her husband without the -babe. She arose from her couch, and pulling open the door, which the men -had closed behind them, pointed them out again, crying: “Go, find my -son! Go, find my son!” - -Chee Ping the First turned upon her resentfully. “Woman,” he cried, -“that he is lost is your fault. I have searched with my eyes, ears, -tongue, and limbs; but one might as well look for a pin at the bottom of -the ocean.” - -The mother began to weep pitifully. “’Tis the Gambling Cash Tiger,” she -sobbed. “’Twas he who caused you to forget your parents and ill fortune -has followed therefor. A-ya, A-ya, A-ya. My heart is as heavy as the -blackest heavens!” - -“What nonsense!” exclaimed Miss McLeod, thinking it time to interfere. -“The child cannot be far away. Let us all hunt and see who will find him -first.” - -A crowd of men, women, and children had gathered outside the door, most -of them in gay holiday attire. At these words of the teacher there was -an assenting babel of voices, followed by a darting into passages, up -stairways, and behind doors. Lanterns were lit for the exploration of -underground cellars, stores, closets, stairways, balconies. Not a hole -in the vicinity of the Chee dwelling but was penetrated by keen eyes. -Rich and poor alike joined in the search, a yellow-robed priest from the -joss house and one of the Chiefs of the Six Companies being -conspicuously interested. - -The mother, following in the footsteps of Miss McLeod, kept up a -plaintive wailing. “A-Ya, my young bud, my jade jewel, my peach bloom. -Little hands, veined like young leaves; voice like the breath of a -zephyr. Alas, the fates are against me! You are lost to your poor mother -who is without resource and bound with fetters. Death would be sweet -indeed; but that boon is denied.” - -The day wore on and evening gradually stole upon them, followed by -night. The wind blew in gusts, but the moon had risen and was shining -bright so that there was a kind of moonlight even in the dark alleys. -The main portion of Chinatown had been thoroughly scoured, and most -attention was now being given to the hills which crept up to Powell -Street. It was in a top story of a half-way hill tenement that Miss -McLeod’s room was located; a cozy little place, for all its apparently -comfortless environment. When the wind began to blow bleak from the Bay, -her thoughts drifted longingly to her easy chair and cheery grate fire; -but only for a moment. Until the baby was found she could know no rest. -The distress of these Chinese people was hers; their troubles also. Had -she not adopted them as her own when kinfolk had failed her? Their -grateful appreciation of the smallest service; their undemonstrative but -faithful affection had been as balm to a heart wounded by the -indifference and bruised by the ingratitude of those to whom she had -devoted her youth, her strength, and her abilities. - -Suddenly a cry was heard. Wang Hom Hing, a merchant Chinaman, who had -taken command of the search party detailed to explore the upper part of -Chinatown, appeared at the door of a rickety tenement—the one in which -Miss McLeod had built her nest—and waved, under the lanterns, a Chinese -flag, signal that the child was found. - -Pell-mell the Chinese rushed towards their country’s emblem. With the -exception of Miss McLeod, not a single white person, not even a -policeman, had been impressed into the search. - -Leading the rushing crowd was Chee Ping the First; in the midst panted A -Tae and her white woman friend, and in the wake of all calmly and -quietly pattered Little Me. Though usually the chief object of his -parents’ attention, this day, or rather night, he seemed altogether -forgotten. - -Up several flights of stairs streamed the searchers, while from every -door on the landings, men, women, and children peered out, inquiring -what it all meant. Hemmed in by numbers, the teacher found herself at -last blocked outside her own room. - -Someone was talking loudly and excitedly. It was Wang Hom Hing, the -father of her pupil of that name, and the uncle of another pupil, Lee -Chu. What was he saying? The teacher strained her ears to catch his -words. Gracious Heavens! He was declaring that she had stolen the child; -that it lay in her room, hidden under the coverlets of her bed—positive -evidence that she who, under the guise of friendship, had ingratiated -herself into their hearts and homes, was in reality a secret enemy. - -“Trust her no more—this McLeod, Jean,” he cried. “Though her smile is as -sweet as honey, her heart is like a razor.” - -There was an ominous silence after this speech. - -Wang Hom Hing was a pompous man whose conceit had been inflated by the -flattery of wily white people, who, unlike the undiplomatic Scotch -woman, did discriminate between the gifts of the rich and poor. -Nevertheless, as President of the Water Lily Club and Secretary of the -Society of Celestial Reason, he was a man of influence in Chinatown, and -this was painfully impressed upon the teacher when Chee A Tae cast upon -her a shuddering glance and fell swooning into the arms of a stout -countrywoman behind her. - -Now, the blood of Scottish chieftains throbbed in Miss McLeod’s veins; -and it was this brave blood which, when all the ships in which she had -stored her early hopes and dreams had one by one been lost, had borne up -her soul above the stormy flood, and helped her to launch another ship -in a sea both wild and strange. That ship had weathered many a gale. -Should she, after steering it safely into port, allow it to founder—in -harbor? Never! That ship was the safe-deposit bank for all her womanly -affection and energy. It carried her Chinese work—the work in which she -had found consolation, peace, and happiness. Hom Hing should not wreck -it without some effort on her part to save. - -The intrepid woman, nerved by these thoughts, pushed through the human -wall before her and reached the speaker’s side. Sleeping in the midst of -the tumult lay the babe, its little hand under its cheek. So pretty a -picture that even in her stress and excitement she paused for a moment -to wonder and admire. - -Then she faced the big Chinaman in his gorgeous holiday robes, her -small, slight form drawn to its fullest height, her light blue eyes -ablaze. - -“Wang Hom Hing,” she cried. “You know you are trying to make my friends -believe what you do not believe yourself! I know no more than its mother -does about how the dear baby came here.” - -The Chinese merchant shrugged his shoulders insolently, and addressing -the people again, asked them to judge for themselves. The child had been -stolen. The teacher had pretended to aid in a search, yet it had been he -and not she who had led the way to her room where it had been found. - -Low mutterings were heard throughout the place; but after they had -subsided, the white woman, looking around for a friendly face, was -surprised and cheered to find many. Her spirits rose. - -“How was I to know the child lay in my room?” she indignantly inquired. -“I left the place in the early morning. It has been brought there since -by someone unknown to me.” - -Wang Hom Hing laughed scornfully as he moved away, his revenge, as he -thought, complete. - -The father of the babe raised his son in his arms and passed him on to -the mother who stood with arms outstretched. Clutching the child -convulsively, she gazed with horror-struck eyes at the teacher. - -“Friends,” cried the white woman, raising her voice in a last effort, -“will you allow that man to turn from me your hearts? Have you not known -me long enough to believe that though I cannot explain to you how the -baby came to be in my room, yet I am innocent of having brought it -there. A Tae”—addressing the mother—“can you believe that I would harm -one hair of your baby’s head?” - -A Tae hesitated, her eyes full of tears. She had loved the teacher, but -Wang Hom Hing had sown a poisonous seed in her superstitious mind. Miss -McLeod noted her hesitation with a sinking of the heart that was almost -despair. - -Up hobbled a very old and very tiny woman. - -“McLeod, Jean,” she cried, “your gracious and noble qualities of mind -and soul merit a happier New Year’s Day than this. Wang Hom Hing’s words -cannot deceive old Sien Tau.” - -Ah! The Scotch woman grasped gratefully the old Chinese woman’s hand. -She could not speak for the tickle in her throat. - -Then spake A Tae: “Teacher, forgive me,” besought she. - -And the teacher smiled her answer. - -A number of men and women came forward, looked into the teacher’s face, -thanked her for past kindnesses, and expressed their confidence in her. - -“McLeod, Jean,” declared an old man, “you are a hundred women good.” - -Which was the highest compliment that Jean McLeod had ever received. - -“You are wrong, mother!” said she, turning with a beaming face to old -Sien Tau. “This is the happiest day I have known.” - -Explained the father of the babe: “The gods, seeing my unworthiness, -took from me to give to you.” - -And Little Me, straggling to the teacher’s side, piped in the language -she herself had taught him: - -“I have one brother. I love him all over. You say baby boy best gift, so -I give him to you when my father and mother not see. Little Me give -better than Lee Chu and Hom Hing.” - -It was some time before the tumult occasioned by Little Me’s boastful -but sweet confession subsided. It had been heard by all, but was -understood wholly by none save the teacher. - - * * * * * - -That when no watchful eye was there to see, the baby had been carried in -Little Me’s sturdy arms from under the home roof to the teacher’s -tenement room, was made plain to everyone by the child himself. But it -devolved upon Miss McLeod, in order to save her little scholar from -obviously justifiable paternal wrath, to explain his reason for the -kidnapping, and this she did so clearly and eloquently that the father, -raising his first born to his knee, declared in English: “I proud of -him. He Number One scholar,” while the mother fondly smiled. - -Little Me looked at the baby in his mother’s lap, and then at the -teacher. His eyes filled with tears. - -“You not like what I give you well enough to keep him,” he sobbed. - -“Yes, yes,” consoled Miss McLeod. “I like him so well that I put him -away in my heart where I keep the baby of my story. Don’t you remember? -That was what the Father of the story gave the baby for. To be kept in -the people’s hearts after he had gone back to Him!” - -“Ah, yes,” responded the child, his face brightening. “You keep my -brother in your heart and I keep him in the house with me and my father -and mother. That best of all!” - - - - - THE STORY OF ONE WHITE WOMAN - WHO MARRIED A CHINESE - - - I - -Why did I marry Liu Kanghi, a Chinese? Well, in the first place, because -I loved him; in the second place, because I was weary of working, -struggling and fighting with the world; in the third place, because my -child needed a home. - -My first husband was an American fifteen years older than myself. For a -few months I was very happy with him. I had been a working girl—a -stenographer. A home of my own filled my heart with joy. It was a -pleasure to me to wait upon James, cook him nice little dinners and -suppers, read to him little pieces from the papers and magazines, and -sing and play to him my little songs and melodies. And for a few months -he seemed to be perfectly contented. I suppose I was a novelty to him, -he having lived a bachelor existence until he was thirty-four. But it -was not long before he left off smiling at my little jokes, grew restive -and cross when I teased him, and when I tried to get him to listen to a -story in which I was interested and longed to communicate, he would bid -me not bother him. I was quick to see the change and realize that there -was a gulf of differences between us. Nevertheless, I loved and was -proud of him. He was considered a very bright and well-informed man, and -although his parents had been uneducated working people he had himself -been through the public schools. He was also an omnivorous reader of -socialistic and new-thought literature. Woman suffrage was one of his -particular hobbies. Whenever I had a magazine around he would pick it up -and read aloud to me the columns of advice to women who were ambitious -to become comrades to men and walk shoulder to shoulder with their -brothers. Once I ventured to remark that much as I admired a column of -men keeping step together, yet men and women thus ranked would, to my -mind, make a very unbeautiful and disorderly spectacle. He frowned and -answered that I did not understand him, and was too frivolous. He would -often draw my attention to newspaper reports concerning women of marked -business ability and enterprise. Once I told him that I did not admire -clever business women, as I had usually found them, and so had other -girls of my acquaintance, not nearly so kind-hearted, generous, and -helpful as the humble drudges of the world—the ordinary working women. -His answer to this was that I was jealous and childish. - -But, in spite of his unkind remarks and evident contempt for me, I -wished to please him. He was my husband and I loved him. Many an -afternoon, when through with my domestic duties, did I spend in trying -to acquire a knowledge of labor politics, socialism, woman suffrage, and -baseball, the things in which he was most interested. - -It was hard work, but I persevered until one day. It was about six -months after our marriage. My husband came home a little earlier than -usual, and found me engaged in trying to work out problems in -subtraction and addition. He laughed sneeringly. “Give it up, Minnie,” -said he. “You weren’t built for anything but taking care of kids. Gee! -But there’s a woman at our place who has a head for figures that makes -her worth over a hundred dollars a month. _Her_ husband would have a -chance to develop himself.” - -This speech wounded me. I knew it was James’ ambition to write a book on -social reform. - -The next day, unknown to my husband, I called upon the wife of the man -who had employed me as stenographer before I was married, and inquired -of her whether she thought I could get back my old position. - -“But, my dear,” she exclaimed, “your husband is receiving a good salary! -Why should you work?” - -I told her that my husband had in mind the writing of a book on social -reform, and I wished to help him in his ambition by earning some money -towards its publication. - -“Social reform!” she echoed. “What sort of social reformer is he who -would allow his wife to work when he is well able to support her!” - -She bade me go home and think no more of an office position. I was -disappointed. I said: “Oh! I wish I could earn some money for James. If -I were earning money, perhaps he would not think me so stupid.” - -“Stupid, my dear girl! You are one of the brightest little women I -know,” kindly comforted Mrs. Rogers. - -But I knew differently and went on to tell her of my inability to figure -with my husband how much he had made on certain sales, of my lack of -interest in politics, labor questions, woman suffrage, and world -reformation. “Oh!” I cried, “I am a narrow-minded woman. All I care for -is for my husband to love me and be kind to me, for life to be pleasant -and easy, and to be able to help a wee bit the poor and sick around me.” - -Mrs. Rogers looked very serious as she told me that there were -differences of opinion as to what was meant by “narrow-mindedness,” and -that the majority of men had no wish to drag their wives into all their -business perplexities, and found more comfort in a woman who was unlike -rather than like themselves. Only that morning her husband had said to -her: “I hate a woman who tries to get into every kink of a man’s mind, -and who must be forever at his elbow meddling with all his affairs.” - -I went home comforted. Perhaps after a while James would feel and see as -did Mr. Rogers. Vain hope! - -My child was six weeks old when I entered business life again as -stenographer for Rutherford & Rutherford. My salary was fifty dollars a -month—more than I had ever earned before, and James was well pleased, -for he had feared that it would be difficult for me to obtain a paying -place after having been out of practise for so long. This fifty dollars -paid for all our living expenses, with the exception of rent, so that -James would be able to put by his balance against the time when his book -would be ready for publication. - -He began writing his book, and Miss Moran the young woman bookkeeper at -his place collaborated with him. They gave three evenings a week to the -work, sometimes four. She came one evening when the baby was sick and -James had gone for the doctor. She looked at the child with the curious -eyes of one who neither loved nor understood children. “There is no -necessity for its being sick,” said she. “There must be an error -somewhere.” I made no answer, so she went on: “Sin, sorrow, and sickness -all mean the same thing. We have no disease that we do not deserve, no -trouble which we do not bring upon ourselves.” - -I did not argue with her. I knew that I could not; but as I looked at -her standing there in the prime of her life and strength, -broad-shouldered, masculine-featured, and, as it seemed to me, -heartless, I disliked her more than I had ever disliked anyone before. -My own father had died after suffering for many years from a terrible -malady, contracted while doing his duty as a physician and surgeon. And -my little innocent child! What had sin to do with its measles? - -When James came in she discussed with him the baseball game which had -been played that afternoon, and also a woman suffrage meeting which she -had attended the evening before. - -After she had gone he seemed to be quite exhilarated. “That’s a great -woman!” he remarked. - -“I do not think so!” I answered him. “One who would take from the -sorrowful and suffering their hope of a happier existence hereafter, and -add to their trials on earth by branding them as objects of aversion and -contempt, is not only not a great woman but, to my mind, no woman at -all.” - -He picked up a paper and walked into another room. - -“What do you think now?” I cried after him. - -“What would be the use of my explaining to you?” he returned. “You -wouldn’t understand.” - -How my heart yearned over my child those days! I would sit before the -typewriter and in fancy hear her crying for her mother. Poor, sick -little one, watched over by a strange woman, deprived of her proper -nourishment. While I took dictation from my employer I thought only of -her. The result, of course, was, that I lost my place. My husband showed -his displeasure at this in various ways, and as the weeks went by and I -was unsuccessful in obtaining another position, he became colder and -more indifferent. He was neither a drinking nor an abusive man; but he -could say such cruel and cutting things that I would a hundred times -rather have been beaten and ill-used than compelled, as I was, to hear -them. He even made me feel it a disgrace to be a woman and a mother. -Once he said to me: “If you had had ambition of the right sort you would -have perfected yourself in your stenography so that you could have taken -cases in court. There’s a little fortune in that business.” - -I was acquainted with a woman stenographer who reported divorce cases -and who had described to me the work, so I answered: “I would rather die -of hunger, my baby in my arms, then report divorce proceedings under the -eyes of men in a court house.” - -“Other women, as good as you, have done and are doing it,” he retorted. - -“Other women, perhaps better than I, have done and are doing it,” I -replied, “but all women are not alike. I am not that kind.” - -“That’s so,” said he. “Well, they are the kind who are up to date. You -are behind the times.” - -One evening I left James and Miss Moran engaged with their work and went -across the street to see a sick friend. When I returned I let myself -into the house very softly for fear of awakening the baby whom I had -left sleeping. As I stood in the hall I heard my husband’s voice in the -sitting-room. This is what he was saying: - -“I am a lonely man. There is no companionship between me and my wife.” - -“Nonsense!” answered Miss Moran, as I thought a little impatiently. -“Look over this paragraph, please, and tell me if you do not think it -would be well to have it follow after the one ending with the words -‘ultimate concord,’ in place of that beginning with ‘These great -principles.’” - -“I cannot settle my mind upon the work tonight,” said James in a sort of -thick, tired voice. “I want to talk to you—to win your sympathy—your -love.” - -I heard a chair pushed back. I knew Miss Moran had arisen. - -“Good night!” I heard her say. “Much as I would like to see this work -accomplished, I shall come no more!” - -“But, my God! You cannot throw the thing up at this late date.” - -“I can and I will. Let me pass, sir.” - -“If there were no millstone around my neck, you would not say, sir,’ in -that tone of voice.” - -The next I heard was a heavy fall. Miss Moran had knocked my big husband -down. - -I pushed open the door. Miss Moran, cool and collected, was pulling on -her gloves. James was struggling to his feet. - -“Oh, Mrs. Carson!” exclaimed the former. “Your husband fell over the -stool. Wasn’t it stupid of him!” - - * * * * * - -James, of course, got his divorce six months after I deserted him. He -did not ask for the child, and I was allowed to keep it. - - - II - -I was on my way to the waterfront, the baby in my arms. I was walking -quickly, for my state of mind was such that I could have borne twice my -burden and not have felt it. Just as I turned down a hill which led to -the docks, someone touched my arm and I heard a voice say: - -“Pardon me, lady; but you have dropped your baby’s shoe!” - -“Oh, yes!” I answered, taking the shoe mechanically from an outstretched -hand, and pushing on. - -I could hear the waves lapping against the pier when the voice again -fell upon my ear. - -“If you go any further, lady, you will fall into the water!” - -My answer was a step forward. - -A strong hand was laid upon my arm and I was swung around against my -will. - -“Poor little baby,” went on the voice, which was unusually soft for a -man’s. “Let me hold him!” - -I surrendered my child to the voice. - -“Better come over where it is light and you can see where to walk!” - -I allowed myself to be led into the light. - -Thus I met Liu Kanghi, the Chinese who afterwards became my husband. I -followed him, obeyed him, trusted him from the very first. It never -occurred to me to ask myself what manner of man was succoring me. I only -knew that he was a man, and that I was being cared for as no one had -ever cared for me since my father died. And my grim determination to -leave a world which had been cruel to me, passed away—and in its place I -experienced a strange calmness and content. - -“I am going to take you to the house of a friend of mine,” he said as he -preceded me up the hill, the baby in his arms. - -“You will not mind living with Chinese people?” he added. - -An electric light under which we were passing flashed across his face. - -I did not recoil—not even at first. It may have been because he was -wearing American clothes, wore his hair cut, and, even to my American -eyes, appeared a good-looking young man—and it may have been because of -my troubles; but whatever it was I answered him, and I meant it: “I -would much rather live with Chinese than Americans.” - -He did not ask me why, and I did not tell him until long afterwards the -story of my unhappy marriage, my desertion of the man who had made it -impossible for me to remain under his roof; the shame of the divorce, -the averted faces of those who had been my friends; the cruelty of the -world; the awful struggle for an existence for myself and child; -sickness followed by despair. - -The Chinese family with which he placed me were kind, simple folk. The -father had been living in America for more than twenty years. The family -consisted of his wife, a grown daughter, and several small sons and -daughters, all of whom had been born in America. They made me very -welcome and adored the baby. Liu Jusong, the father, was a working -jeweler; but, because of an accident by which he had lost the use of one -hand, was partially incapacitated for work. Therefore, their family -depended for maintenance chiefly upon their kinsman, Liu Kanghi, the -Chinese who had brought me to them. - -“We love much our cousin,” said one of the little girls to me one day. -“He teaches us so many games and brings us toys and sweets.” - -As soon as I recovered from the attack of nervous prostration which laid -me low for over a month after being received into the Liu home, my mind -began to form plans for my own and my child’s maintenance. One morning I -put on my hat and jacket and told Mrs. Liu I would go down town and make -an application for work as a stenographer at the different typewriting -offices. She pleaded with me to wait a week longer—until, as she said, -“your limbs are more fortified with strength”; but I assured her that I -felt myself well able to begin to do for myself, and that I was anxious -to repay some little part of the expense I had been to them. - -“For all we have done for you,” she answered, “our cousin has paid us -doublefold.” - -“No money can recompense your kindness to myself and child,” I replied; -“but if it is your cousin to whom I am indebted for board and lodging, -all the greater is my anxiety to repay what I owe.” - -When I returned to the house that evening, tired out with my quest for -work, I found Liu Kanghi tossing ball with little Fong in the front -porch. - -Mrs. Liu bustled out to meet me and began scolding in motherly fashion. - -“Oh, why you go down town before you strong enough? See! You look all -sick again!” said she. - -She turned to Liu Kanghi and said something in Chinese. He threw the -ball back to the boy and came toward me, his face grave and concerned. - -“Please be so good as to take my cousin’s advice,” he urged. - -“I am well enough to work now,” I replied, “and I cannot sink deeper -into your debt.” - -“You need not,” said he. “I know a way by which you can quickly pay me -off and earn a good living without wearing yourself out and leaving the -baby all day. My cousin tells me that you can create most beautiful -flowers on silk, velvet, and linen. Why not then you do some of that -work for my store? I will buy all you can make.” - -“Oh!” I exclaimed, “I should be only too glad to do such work! But do -you really think I can earn a living in that way?” - -“You certainly can,” was his reply. “I am requiring an embroiderer, and -if you will do the work for me I will try to pay you what it is worth.” - -So I gladly gave up my quest for office work. I lived in the Liu Jusong -house and worked for Liu Kanghi. The days, weeks, and months passed -peacefully and happily. Artistic needlework had always been my favorite -occupation, and when it became a source both of remuneration and -pleasure, I began to feel that life was worth living, after all. I -watched with complacency my child grow amongst the little Chinese -children. My life’s experience had taught me that the virtues do not all -belong to the whites. I was interested in all that concerned the Liu -household, became acquainted with all their friends, and lost altogether -the prejudice against the foreigner in which I had been reared. - -I had been living thus more than a year when, one afternoon as I was -walking home from Liu Kanghi’s store on Kearney Street, a parcel of -silks and floss under my arm, and my little girl trudging by my side, I -came face to face with James Carson. - -“Well, now,” said he, planting himself in front of me, “you are looking -pretty well. How are you making out?” - -I caught up my child and pushed past him without a word. When I reached -the Liu house I was trembling in every limb, so great was my dislike and -fear of the man who had been my husband. - -About a week later a letter came to the house addressed to me. It read: - - 204 BUCHANAN STREET - - DEAR MINNIE,—If you are willing to forget the past and make up, I am, - too. I was surprised to see you the other day, prettier than ever—and - much more of a woman. Let me know your mind at an early date. - - Your affectionate husband, - JAMES - -I ignored this letter, but a heavy fear oppressed me. Liu Kanghi, who -called the evening of the day I received it, remarked as he arose to -greet me that I was looking troubled, and hoped that it was not the -embroidery flowers. - -“It is the shadow from my big hat,” I answered lightly. I was dressed -for going down town with Mrs. Liu who was preparing her eldest -daughter’s trousseau. - -“Some day,” said Liu Kanghi earnestly, “I hope that you will tell to me -all that is in your heart and mind.” - -I found comfort in his kind face. - -“If you will wait until I return, I will tell you all tonight,” I -answered. - -Strange as it may seem, although I had known Liu Kanghi now for more -than a year, I had had little talk alone with him, and all he knew about -me was what he had learned from Mrs. Liu; namely, that I was a divorced -woman who, when saved from self-destruction, was homeless and starving. - -That night, however, after hearing my story, he asked me to be his wife. -He said: “I love you and would protect you from all trouble. Your child -shall be as my own.” - -I replied: “I appreciate your love and kindness, but I cannot answer you -just yet. Be my friend for a little while longer.” - -“Do you have for me the love feeling?” he asked. - -“I do not know,” I answered truthfully. - -Another letter came. It was written in a different spirit from the first -and contained a threat about the child. - -There seemed but one course open to me. That was to leave my Chinese -friends. I did. With much sorrow and regret I bade them goodbye, and -took lodgings in a part of the city far removed from the outskirts of -Chinatown where my home had been with the Lius. My little girl pined for -her Chinese playmates, and I myself felt strange and lonely; but I knew -that if I wished to keep my child I could no longer remain with my -friends. - -I still continued working for Liu Kanghi, and carried my embroidery to -his store in the evening after the little one had been put to sleep. He -usually escorted me back; but never asked to be allowed, and I never -invited him, to visit me, or even enter the house. I was a young woman, -and alone, and what I had suffered from scandal since I had left James -Carson had made me wise. - -It was a cold, wet evening in November when he accosted me once again. I -had run over to a delicatessen store at the corner of the block where I -lived. As I stepped out, his burly figure loomed up in the gloom before -me. I started back with a little cry, but he grasped my arm and held it. - -“Walk beside me quietly if you do not wish to attract attention,” said -he, “and by God, if you do, I will take the kid tonight!” - -“You dare not!” I answered. “You have no right to her whatever. She is -my child and I have supported her for the last two years alone.” - -“Alone! What will the judges say when I tell them about the Chinaman?” - -“What will the judges say!” I echoed. “What can they say? Is there any -disgrace in working for a Chinese merchant and receiving pay for my -labor?” - -“And walking in the evening with him, and living for over a year in a -house for which he paid the rent. Ha! ha! ha! Ha! ha! ha!” - -His laugh was low and sneering. He had evidently been making enquiries -concerning the Liu family, and also watching me for some time. How a -woman can loathe and hate the man she has once loved! - -We were nearing my lodgings. Perhaps the child had awakened and was -crying for me. I would not, however, have entered the house, had he not -stopped at the door and pushed it open. - -“Lead the way upstairs!” said he. “I want to see the kid.” - -“You shall not,” I cried. In my desperation I wrenched myself from his -grasp and faced him, blocking the stairs. - -“If you use violence,” I declared, “the lodgers will come to my -assistance. They know me!” - -He released my arm. - -“Bah!” said he. “I’ve no use for the kid. It is you I’m after getting -reconciled to. Don’t you know, Minnie, that once your husband, always -your husband? Since I saw you the other day on the street, I have been -more in love with you than ever before. Suppose we forget all and begin -over again!” - -Though the tone of his voice had softened, my fear of him grew greater. -I would have fled up the stairs had he not again laid his hand on my -arm. - -“Answer me, girl,” said he. - -And in spite of my fear, I shook off his hand and answered him: “No -husband of mine are you, either legally or morally. And I have no -feeling whatever for you other than contempt.” - -“Ah! So you have sunk!”—his expression was evil—“The oily little Chink -has won you!” - -I was no longer afraid of him. - -“Won me!” I cried, unheeding who heard me. “Yes, honorably and like a -man. And what are you that dare sneer at one like him. For all your six -feet of grossness, your small soul cannot measure up to his great one. -You were unwilling to protect and care for the woman who was your wife -or the little child you caused to come into this world; but he succored -and saved the stranger woman, treated her as a woman, with reverence and -respect; gave her child a home, and made them both independent, not only -of others but of himself. Now, hearing you insult him behind his back, I -know, what I did not know before—that I love him, and all I have to say -to you is, Go!” - -And James Carson went. I heard of him again but once. That was when the -papers reported his death of apoplexy while exercising at a public -gymnasium. - -Loving Liu Kanghi, I became his wife, and though it is true that there -are many Americans who look down upon me for so becoming, I have never -regretted it. No, not even when men cast upon me the glances they cast -upon sporting women. I accept the lot of the American wife of an humble -Chinaman in America. The happiness of the man who loves me is more to me -than the approval or disapproval of those who in my dark days left me to -die like a dog. My Chinese husband has his faults. He is hot-tempered -and, at times, arbitrary; but he is always a man, and has never sought -to take away from me the privilege of being but a woman. I can lean upon -and trust in him. I feel him behind me, protecting and caring for me, -and that, to an ordinary woman like myself, means more than anything -else. - -Only when the son of Liu Kanghi lays his little head upon my bosom do I -question whether I have done wisely. For my boy, the son of the Chinese -man, is possessed of a childish wisdom which brings the tears to my -eyes; and as he stands between his father and myself, like yet unlike us -both, so will he stand in after years between his father’s and his -mother’s people. And if there is no kindliness nor understanding between -them, what will my boy’s fate be? - - - - - HER CHINESE HUSBAND - - SEQUEL TO THE STORY OF THE WHITE WOMAN - WHO MARRIED A CHINESE - - -Now that Liu Kanghi is no longer with me, I feel that it will ease my -heart to record some memories of him—if I can. The task, though calling -to me, is not an easy one, so throng to my mind the invincible proofs of -his love for me, the things he has said and done. My memories of him are -so vivid and pertinacious, my thoughts of him so tender. - -To my Chinese husband I could go with all my little troubles and -perplexities; to him I could talk as women love to do at times of the -past and the future, the mysteries of religion, of life and death. He -was not above discussing such things with me. With him I was never -strange or embarrassed. My Chinese husband was simple in his tastes. He -liked to hear a good story, and though unlearned in a sense, could -discriminate between the good and bad in literature. This came of his -Chinese education. He told me one day that he thought the stories in the -Bible were more like Chinese than American stories, and added: “If you -had not told me what you have about it, I should say that it was -composed by the Chinese.” Music had a soothing though not a deep -influence over him. It could not sway his mind, but he enjoyed it just -as he did a beautiful picture. Because I was interested in fancy work, -so also was he. I can see his face, looking so grave and concerned, -because one day by accident I spilt some ink on a piece of embroidery I -was working. If he came home in the evenings and found me tired and out -of sorts, he would cook the dinner himself, and go about it in such a -way that I felt that he rather enjoyed showing off his skill as a cook. -The next evening, if he found everything ready, he would humorously -declare himself much disappointed that I was so exceedingly well. - -At such times a gray memory of James Carson would arise. How his cold -anger and contempt, as exhibited on like occasions, had shrivelled me up -in the long ago. And then—I would fall to musing on the difference -between the two men as lovers and husbands. - -James Carson had been much more of an ardent lover than ever had been -Liu Kanghi. Indeed it was his passion, real or feigned, which had -carried me off my feet. When wooing he had constantly reproached me with -being cold, unfeeling, a marble statue, and so forth; and I, poor, -ignorant little girl, would wonder how it was I appeared so when I felt -so differently. For I had given James Carson my first love. Upon him my -life had been concentrated as it has never been concentrated upon any -other. Yet—! - -There was nothing feigned about my Chinese husband. Simple and sincere -as he was before marriage, so was he afterwards. As my union with James -Carson had meant misery, bitterness, and narrowness, so my union with -Liu Kanghi meant, on the whole, happiness, health, and development. Yet -the former, according to American ideas, had been an educated -broad-minded man; the other, just an ordinary Chinaman. - -But the ordinary Chinaman that I would show to you was the sort of man -that children, birds, animals, and some women love. Every morning he -would go to the window and call to his pigeons, and they would flock -around him, hearing and responding to his whistling and cooing. The -rooms we lived in had been his rooms ever since he had come to America. -They were above his store, and large and cool. The furniture had been -brought from China, but there was nothing of tinsel about it. Dark wood, -almost black, carved and antique, some of the pieces set with -mother-of-pearl. On one side of the inner room stood a case of books and -an ancestral tablet. I have seen Liu Kanghi touch the tablet with -reverence, but the faith of his fathers was not strong enough to cause -him to bow before it. The elegant simplicity of these rooms had -surprised me much when I was first taken to them. I looked at him then, -standing for a moment by the window, a solitary pigeon peeking in at -him, perhaps wondering who had come to divert from her her friend’s -attention. So had he lived since he had come to this country—quietly and -undisturbed—from twenty years of age to twenty-five. I felt myself an -intruder. A feeling of pity for the boy—for such he seemed in his -enthusiasm—arose in my breast. Why had I come to confuse his calm? Was -it ordained, as he declared? - -My little girl loved him better than she loved me. He took great -pleasure in playing with her, curling her hair over his fingers, tying -her sash, and all the simple tasks from which so many men turn aside. - -Once the baby got hold of a set rat trap, and was holding it in such a -way that the slightest move would have released the spring and plunged -the cruel steel into her tender arms. Kanghi’s eyes and mine beheld her -thus at the same moment. I stood transfixed with horror. Kanghi quietly -went up to the child and took from her the trap. Then he asked me to -release his hand. I almost fainted when I saw it. “It was the only way,” -said he. We had to send for the doctor, and even as it was, came very -near having a case of blood poisoning. - -I have heard people say that he was a keen business man, this Liu -Kanghi, and I imagine that he was. I did not, however, discuss his -business with him. All I was interested in were the pretty things and -the women who would come in and jest with him. He could jest too. Of -course, the women did not know that I was his wife. Once a woman in rich -clothes gave him her card and asked him to call upon her. After she had -left he passed the card to me. I tore it up. He took those things as a -matter of course, and was not affected by them. “They are a part of -Chinatown life,” he explained. - -He was a member of the Reform Club, a Chinese social club, and the -Chinese Board of Trade. He liked to discuss business affairs and Chinese -and American politics with his countrymen, and occasionally enjoyed an -evening away from me. But I never needed to worry over him. - -He had his littlenesses as well as his bignesses, had Liu Kanghi. For -instance, he thought he knew better about what was good for my health -and other things, purely personal, than I did myself, and if my ideas -opposed or did not tally with his, he would very vigorously denounce -what he called “the foolishness of women.” If he admired a certain -dress, he would have me wear it on every occasion possible, and did not -seem to be able to understand that it was not always suitable. - -“Wear the dress with the silver lines,” he said to me one day somewhat -authoritatively. I was attired for going out, but not as he wished to -see me. I answered that the dress with the silver lines was unsuitable -for a long and dusty ride on an open car. - -“Never mind,” said he, “whether it is unsuitable or not. I wish you to -wear it.” - -“All right,” I said. “I will wear it, but I will stay at home.” - -I stayed at home, and so did he. - -At another time, he reproved me for certain opinions I had expressed in -the presence of some of his countrymen. “You should not talk like that,” -said he. “They will think you are a bad woman.” - -My white blood rose at that, and I answered him in a way which grieves -me to remember. For Kanghi had never meant to insult or hurt me. -Imperious by nature, he often spoke before he thought—and he was so -boyishly anxious for me to appear in the best light possible before his -own people. - -There were other things too: a sort of childish jealousy and suspicion -which it was difficult to allay. But a woman can forgive much to a man, -the sincerity and strength of whose love makes her own, though true, -seem slight and mean. - -Yes, life with Liu Kanghi was not without its trials and tribulations. -There was the continual uncertainty about his own life here in America, -the constant irritation caused by the assumption of the white men that a -white woman does not love her Chinese husband, and their actions -accordingly; also sneers and offensive remarks. There was also on Liu -Kanghi’s side an acute consciousness that, though belonging to him as -his wife, yet in a sense I was not his, but of the dominant race, which -claimed, even while it professed to despise me. This consciousness -betrayed itself in words and ways which filled me with a passion of pain -and humiliation. “Kanghi,” I would sharply say, for I had to cloak my -tenderness, “do not talk to me like that. You _are_ my superior.... I -would not love you if you were not.” - -But in spite of all I could do or say, it was there between us: that -strange, invisible—what? Was it the barrier of race—that consciousness? - -Sometimes he would talk about returning to China. The thought filled me -with horror. I had heard rumors of secondary wives. One afternoon the -cousin of Liu Kanghi, with whom I had lived, came to see me, and showed -me a letter which she had received from a little Chinese girl who had -been born and brought up in America until the age of ten. The last -paragraph in the letter read: “Emma and I are very sad and wish we were -back in America.” Kanghi’s cousin explained that the father of the -little girls, having no sons, had taken to himself another wife, and the -new wife lived with the little girls and their mother. - -That was before my little boy was born. That evening I told Kanghi that -he need never expect me to go to China with him. - -“You see,” I began, “I look upon you as belonging to me.” - -He would not let me say more. After a while he said: “It is true that in -China a man may and occasionally does take a secondary wife, but that -custom is custom, not only because sons are denied to the first wife, -but because the first wife is selected by parents and guardians before a -man is hardly a man. If a Chinese marries for love, his life is a -filled-up cup, and he wants no secondary wife. No, not even for sake of -a son. Take, for example, me, your great husband.” - -I sometimes commented upon his boyish ways and appearance, which was the -reason why, when he was in high spirits, he would call himself my “great -husband.” He was not boyish always. I have seen him, when shouldering -the troubles of kinfolk, the quarrels of his clan, and other -responsibilities, acting and looking like a man of twice his years. - -But for all the strange marriage customs of my husband’s people I -considered them far more moral in their lives than the majority of -Americans. I expressed myself thus to Liu Kanghi, and he replied: “The -American people think higher. If only more of them lived up to what they -thought, the Chinese would not be so confused in trying to follow their -leadership.” - -If ever a man rejoiced over the birth of his child, it was Liu Kanghi. -The boy was born with a veil over his face. “A prophet!” cried the old -mulatto Jewess who nursed me. “A prophet has come into the world.” - -She told this to his father when he came to look upon him, and he -replied: “He is my son; that is all I care about.” But he was so glad, -and there was feasting and rejoicing with his Chinese friends for over -two weeks. He came in one evening and found me weeping over my poor -little boy. I shall never forget the expression on his face. - -“Oh, shame!” he murmured, drawing my head down to his shoulder. “What is -there to weep about? The child is beautiful! The feeling heart, the -understanding mind is his. And we will bring him up to be proud that he -is of Chinese blood; he will fear none and, after him, the name of -half-breed will no longer be one of contempt.” - -Kanghi as a youth had attended a school in Hong Kong, and while there -had made the acquaintance of several half Chinese half English lads. -“They were the brightest of all,” he told me, “but they lowered -themselves in the eyes of the Chinese by being ashamed of their Chinese -blood and ignoring it.” - -His theory, therefore, was that if his own son was brought up to be -proud instead of ashamed of his Chinese half, the boy would become a -great man. - -Perhaps he was right, but he could not see as could I, an American -woman, the conflict before our boy. - -After the little Kanghi had passed his first month, and we had found a -reliable woman to look after him, his father began to take me around -with him much more than formerly, and life became very enjoyable. We -dined often at a Chinese restaurant kept by a friend of his, and -afterwards attended theatres, concerts, and other places of -entertainment. We frequently met Americans with whom he had become -acquainted through business, and he would introduce them with great -pride in me shining in his eyes. The little jealousies and suspicions of -the first year seemed no longer to irritate him, and though I had still -cause to shrink from the gaze of strangers, I know that my Chinese -husband was for several years a very happy man. - - * * * * * - -Now, I have come to the end. He left home one morning, followed to the -gate by the little girl and boy (we had moved to a cottage in the -suburbs). - -“Bring me a red ball,” pleaded the little girl. - -“And me too,” cried the boy. - -“All right, chickens,” he responded, waving his hand to them. - -He was brought home at night, shot through the head. There are some -Chinese, just as there are some Americans, who are opposed to all -progress, and who hate with a bitter hatred all who would enlighten or -be enlightened. - -But that I have not the heart to dwell upon. I can only remember that -when they brought my Chinese husband home there were two red balls in -his pocket. Such was Liu Kanghi—a man. - - - - - THE AMERICANIZING OF PAU TSU - - - I - -When Wan Hom Hing came to Seattle to start a branch of the merchant -business which his firm carried on so successfully in the different -ports of China, he brought with him his nephew, Wan Lin Fo, then -eighteen years of age. Wan Lin Fo was a well-educated Chinese youth, -with bright eyes and keen ears. In a few years’ time he knew as much -about the business as did any of the senior partners. Moreover, he -learned to speak and write the American language with such fluency that -he was never at a loss for an answer, when the white man, as was -sometimes the case, sought to pose him. “All work and no play,” however, -is as much against the principles of a Chinese youth as it is against -those of a young American, and now and again Lin Fo would while away an -evening at the Chinese Literary Club, above the Chinese restaurant, -discussing with some chosen companions the works and merits of Chinese -sages—and some other things. New Year’s Day, or rather, Week, would also -see him, business forgotten, arrayed in national costume of finest silk, -and color “the blue of the sky after rain,” visiting with his friends, -both Chinese and American, and scattering silver and gold coin amongst -the youngsters of the families visited. - -It was on the occasion of one of these New Year’s visits that Wan Lin Fo -first made known to the family of his firm’s silent American partner, -Thomas Raymond, that he was betrothed. It came about in this wise: One -of the young ladies of the house, who was fair and frank of face and -friendly and cheery in manner, observing as she handed him a cup of tea -that Lin Fo’s eyes wore a rather wistful expression, questioned him as -to the wherefore: - -“Miss Adah,” replied Lin Fo, “may I tell you something?” - -“Certainly, Mr. Wan,” replied the girl. “You know how I enjoy hearing -your tales.” - -“But this is no tale. Miss Adah, you have inspired in me a love—” - -Adah Raymond started. Wan Lin Fo spake slowly. - -“For the little girl in China to whom I am betrothed.” - -“Oh, Mr. Wan! That is good news. But what have I to do with it?” - -“This, Miss Adah! Every time I come to this house, I see you, so good -and so beautiful, dispensing tea and happiness to all around, and I -think, could I have in my home and ever by my side one who is also both -good and beautiful, what a felicitious life mine would be!” - -“You must not flatter me, Mr. Wan!” - -“All that I say is founded on my heart. But I will speak not of you. I -will speak of Pau Tsu.” - -“Pau Tsu?” - -“Yes. That is the name of my future wife. It means a pearl.” - -“How pretty! Tell me all about her!” - -“I was betrothed to Pau Tsu before leaving China. My parents adopted her -to be my wife. As I remember, she had shining eyes and the good-luck -color was on her cheek. Her mouth was like a red vine leaf, and her -eyebrows most exquisitely arched. As slender as a willow was her form, -and when she spoke, her voice lilted from note to note in the sweetest -melody.” - -Adah Raymond softly clapped her hands. - -“Ah! You were even then in love with her.” - -“No,” replied Lin Fo thoughtfully. “I was too young to be in -love—sixteen years of age. Pau Tsu was thirteen. But, as I have -confessed, you have caused me to remember and love her.” - -Adah Raymond was not a self-conscious girl, but for the life of her she -could think of no reply to Lin Fo’s speech. - -“I am twenty-two years old now,” he continued. “Pau Tsu is eighteen. -Tomorrow I will write to my parents and persuade them to send her to me -at the time of the spring festival. My elder brother was married last -year, and his wife is now under my parents’ roof, so that Pau Tsu, who -has been the daughter of the house for so many years, can now be spared -to me.” - -“What a sweet little thing she must be,” commented Adah Raymond. - -“You will say that when you see her,” proudly responded Lin Fo. “My -parents say she is always happy. There is not a bird or flower or -dewdrop in which she does not find some glad meaning.” - -“I shall be so glad to know her. Can she speak English?” - -Lin Fo’s face fell. - -“No,” he replied, “but,”—brightening—“when she comes I will have her -learn to speak like you—and be like you.” - - - II - -Pau Tsu came with the spring, and Wan Lin Fo was one of the happiest and -proudest of bridegrooms. The tiny bride was really very pretty—even to -American eyes. In her peach and plum colored robes, her little arms and -hands sparkling with jewels, and her shiny black head decorated with -wonderful combs and pins, she appeared a bit of Eastern coloring amidst -the Western lights and shades. - -Lin Fo had not been forgotten, and her eyes under their downcast lids -discovered him at once, as he stood awaiting her amongst a group of -young Chinese merchants on the deck of the vessel. - -The apartments he had prepared for her were furnished in American style, -and her birdlike little figure in Oriental dress seemed rather out of -place at first. It was not long, however, before she brought forth from -the great box, which she had brought over seas, screens and fans, vases, -panels, Chinese matting, artificial flowers and birds, and a number of -exquisite carvings and pieces of antique porcelain. With these she -transformed the American flat into an Oriental bower, even setting up in -her sleeping-room a little chapel, enshrined in which was an image of -the Goddess of Mercy, two ancestral tablets, and other emblems of her -faith in the Gods of her fathers. - -The Misses Raymond called upon her soon after arrival, and she smiled -and looked pleased. She shyly presented each girl with a Chinese cup and -saucer, also a couple of antique vases, covered with whimsical pictures, -which Lin Fo tried his best to explain. - -The girls were delighted with the gifts, and having fallen, as they -expressed themselves, in love with the little bride, invited her through -her husband to attend a launch party, which they intended giving the -following Wednesday on Lake Washington. - -Lin Fo accepted the invitation in behalf of himself and wife. He was -quite at home with the Americans and, being a young man, enjoyed their -rather effusive appreciation of him as an educated Chinaman. Moreover, -he was of the opinion that the society of the American young ladies -would benefit Pau Tsu in helping her to acquire the ways and language of -the land in which he hoped to make a fortune. - -Wan Lin Fo was a true son of the Middle Kingdom and secretly pitied all -those who were born far away from its influences; but there was much -about the Americans that he admired. He also entertained sentiments of -respect for a motto which hung in his room which bore the legend: “When -in Rome, do as the Romans do.” - -“What is best for men is also best for women in this country,” he told -Pau Tsu when she wept over his suggestion that she should take some -lessons in English from a white woman. - -“It may be best for a man who goes out in the street,” she sobbed, “to -learn the new language, but of what importance is it to a woman who -lives only within the house and her husband’s heart?” - -It was seldom, however, that she protested against the wishes of Lin Fo. -As her mother-in-law had said, she was a docile, happy little creature. -Moreover, she loved her husband. - -But as the days and weeks went by the girl bride whose life hitherto had -been spent in the quiet retirement of a Chinese home in the performance -of filial duties, in embroidery work and lute playing, in sipping tea -and chatting with gentle girl companions, felt very much bewildered by -the novelty and stir of the new world into which she had been suddenly -thrown. She could not understand, for all Lin Fo’s explanations, why it -was required of her to learn the strangers’ language and adopt their -ways. Her husband’s tongue was the same as her own. So also her little -maid’s. It puzzled her to be always seeing this and hearing that—sights -and sounds which as yet had no meaning for her. Why also was it -necessary to receive visitors nearly every evening?—visitors who could -neither understand nor make themselves understood by her, for all their -curious smiles and stares, which she bore like a second Vashti—or -rather, Esther. And why, oh! why should she be constrained to eat her -food with clumsy, murderous looking American implements instead of with -her own elegant and easily manipulated ivory chopsticks? - -Adah Raymond, who at Lin Fo’s request was a frequent visitor to the -house, could not fail to observe that Pau Tsu’s small face grew daily -smaller and thinner, and that the smile with which she invariably -greeted her, though sweet, was tinged with melancholy. Her woman’s -instinct told her that something was wrong, but what it was the light -within her failed to discover. She would reach over to Pau Tsu and take -within her own firm, white hand the small, trembling fingers, pressing -them lovingly and sympathetically; and the little Chinese woman would -look up into the beautiful face bent above hers and think to herself: -“No wonder he wishes me to be like her!” - -If Lin Fo happened to come in before Adah Raymond left he would engage -the visitor in bright and animated conversation. They had so much of -common interest to discuss, as is always the way with young people who -have lived any length of time in a growing city of the West. But to Pau -Tsu, pouring tea and dispensing sweetmeats, it was all Greek, or rather, -all American. - -“Look, my pearl, what I have brought you,” said Lin Fo one afternoon as -he entered his wife’s apartments, followed by a messenger-boy, who -deposited in the middle of the room a large cardboard box. - -With murmurs of wonder Pau Tsu drew near, and the messenger-boy having -withdrawn Lin Fo cut the string, and drew forth a beautiful lace evening -dress and dark blue walking costume, both made in American style. - -For a moment there was silence in the room. Lin Fo looked at his wife in -surprise. Her face was pale and her little body was trembling, while her -hands were drawn up into her sleeves. - -“Why, Pau Tsu!” he exclaimed, “I thought to make you glad.” - -At these words the girl bent over the dress of filmy lace, and gathering -the flounce in her hand smoothed it over her knee; then lifting a -smiling face to her husband, replied: “Oh, you are too good, too kind to -your unworthy Pau Tsu. My speech is slow, because I am overcome with -happiness.” - -Then with exclamations of delight and admiration she lifted the dresses -out of the box and laid them carefully over the couch. - -“I wish you to dress like an American woman when we go out or receive,” -said her husband. “It is the proper thing in America to do as the -Americans do. You will notice, light of my eyes, that it is only on New -Year and our national holidays that I wear the costume of our country -and attach a queue. The wife should follow the husband in all things.” - -A ripple of laughter escaped Pau Tsu’s lips. - -“When I wear that dress,” said she, touching the walking costume, “I -will look like your friend, Miss Raymond.” - -She struck her hands together gleefully, but when her husband had gone -to his business she bowed upon the floor and wept pitifully. - - - III - -During the rainy season Pau Tsu was attacked with a very bad cough. A -daughter of Southern China, the chill, moist climate of the Puget Sound -winter was very hard on her delicate lungs. Lin Fo worried much over the -state of her health, and meeting Adah Raymond on the street one -afternoon told her of his anxiety. The kind-hearted girl immediately -returned with him to the house. Pau Tsu was lying on her couch, feverish -and breathing hard. The American girl felt her hands and head. - -“She must have a doctor,” said she, mentioning the name of her family’s -physician. - -Pau Tsu shuddered. She understood a little English by this time. - -“No! No! Not a man, _not_ a man!” she cried. - -Adah Raymond looked up at Lin Fo. - -“I understand,” said she. “There are several women doctors in this town. -Let us send for one.” - -But Lin Fo’s face was set. - -“No!” he declared. “We are in America. Pau Tsu shall be attended to by -your physician.” - -Adah Raymond was about to protest against this dictum when the sick -wife, who had also heard it, touched her hand and whispered: “I not mind -now. Man all right.” - -So the other girl closed her lips, feeling that if the wife would not -dispute her husband’s will it was not her place to do so; but her heart -ached with compassion as she bared Pau Tsu’s chest for the stethoscope. - -“It was like preparing a lamb for slaughter,” she told her sister -afterwards. “Pau Tsu was motionless, her eyes closed and her lips -sealed, while the doctor remained; but after he had left and we two were -alone she shuddered and moaned like one bereft of reason. I honestly -believe that the examination was worse than death to that little Chinese -woman. The modesty of generations of maternal ancestors was crucified as -I rolled down the neck of her silk tunic.” - -It was a week after the doctor’s visit, and Pau Tsu, whose cough had -yielded to treatment, though she was still far from well, was playing on -her lute, and whisperingly singing this little song, said to have been -written on a fan which was presented to an ancient Chinese emperor by -one of his wives: - - “Of fresh new silk, - All snowy white, - And round as a harvest moon, - A pledge of purity and love, - A small but welcome boon. - - While summer lasts, - When borne in hand, - Or folded on thy breast, - ’Twill gently soothe thy burning brow, - And charm thee to thy rest. - - But, oh, when Autumn winds blow chill, - And days are bleak and cold, - No longer sought, no longer loved, - ’Twill lie in dust and mould. - - This silken fan then deign accept, - Sad emblem of my lot, - Caressed and cherished for an hour, - Then speedily forgot.” - -“Why so melancholy, my pearl?” asked Lin Fo, entering from the street. - -“When a bird is about to die, its notes are sad,” returned Pau Tsu. - -“But thou art not for death—thou art for life,” declared Lin Fo, drawing -her towards him and gazing into a face which day by day seemed to grow -finer and more transparent. - - - IV - -A Chinese messenger-boy ran up the street, entered the store of Wan Hom -Hing & Co. and asked for the junior partner. When Lin Fo came forward he -handed him a dainty, flowered missive, neatly folded and addressed. The -receiver opened it and read: - - DEAR AND HONORED HUSBAND,—Your unworthy Pau Tsu lacks the courage to - face the ordeal before her. She has, therefore, left you and prays you - to obtain a divorce, as is the custom in America, so that you may be - happy with the Beautiful One, who is so much your Pau Tsu’s superior. - This, she acknowledges, for she sees with your eyes, in which, like a - star, the Beautiful One shineth. Else, why should you have your Pau - Tsu follow in her footsteps? She has tried to obey your will and to be - as an American woman; but now she is very weary, and the terror of - what is before her has overcome. - - Your stupid thorn, - PAU TSU - -Mechanically Lin Fo folded the letter and thrust it within his breast -pocket. A customer inquired of him the price of a lacquered tray. “I -wish you good morning,” he replied, reaching for his hat. The customer -and clerks gaped after him as he left the store. - -Out in the street, as fate would have it, he met Adah Raymond. He would -have turned aside had she not spoken to him. - -“Whatever is the matter with you, Mr. Wan?” she inquired. “You don’t -look yourself at all.” - -“The density of my difficulties you cannot understand,” he replied, -striding past her. - -But Adah Raymond was persistent. She had worried lately over Pau Tsu. - -“Something is wrong with your wife,” she declared. - -Lin Fo wheeled around. - -“Do you know where she is?” he asked with quick suspicion. - -“Why, no!” exclaimed the girl in surprise. - -“Well, she has left me.” - -Adah Raymond stood incredulous for a moment, then with indignant eyes -she turned upon the deserted husband. - -“You deserve it!” she cried, “I have seen it for some time: your cruel, -arbitrary treatment of the dearest, sweetest little soul in the world.” - -“I beg your pardon, Miss Adah,” returned Lin Fo, “but I do not -understand. Pau Tsu is heart of my heart. How then could I be cruel to -her?” - -“Oh, you stupid!” exclaimed the girl. “You’re a Chinaman, but you’re -almost as stupid as an American. Your cruelty consisted in forcing Pau -Tsu to be—what nature never intended her to be—an American woman; to -adapt and adopt in a few months’ time all our ways and customs. I saw it -long ago, but as Pau Tsu was too sweet and meek to see any faults in her -man I had not the heart to open her eyes—or yours. Is it not true that -she has left you for this reason?” - -“Yes,” murmured Lin Fo. He was completely crushed. “And some other -things.” - -“What other things?” - -“She—is—afraid—of—the—doctor.” - -“She is!”—fiercely—“Shame upon you!” - -Lin Fo began to walk on, but the girl kept by his side and continued: - -“You wanted your wife to be an American woman while you remained a -Chinaman. For all your clever adaptation of our American ways you are a -thorough Chinaman. Do you think an American would dare treat his wife as -you have treated yours?” - -Wan Lin Fo made no response. He was wondering how he could ever have -wished his gentle Pau Tsu to be like this angry woman. Now his Pau Tsu -was gone. His anguish for the moment made him oblivious to the presence -of his companion and the words she was saying. His silence softened the -American girl. After all, men, even Chinamen, were nothing but big, -clumsy boys, and she didn’t believe in kicking a man after he was down. - -“But, cheer up, you’re sure to find her,” said she, suddenly changing -her tone. “Probably her maid has friends in Chinatown who have taken -them in.” - -“If I find her,” said Lin Fo fervently, “I will not care if she never -speaks an American word, and I will take her for a trip to China, so -that our son may be born in the country that Heaven loves.” - -“You cannot make too much amends for all she has suffered. As to -Americanizing Pau Tsu—that will come in time. I am quite sure that were -I transferred to your country and commanded to turn myself into a -Chinese woman in the space of two or three months I would prove a sorry -disappointment to whomever built their hopes upon me.” - -Many hours elapsed before any trace could be found of the missing one. -All the known friends and acquaintances of little Pau Tsu were called -upon and questioned; but if they had knowledge of the young wife’s -hiding place they refused to divulge it. Though Lin Fo’s face was grave -with an unexpressed fear, their sympathies were certainly not with him. - -The seekers were about giving up the search in despair when a little -boy, dangling in his hands a string of blue beads, arrested the -attention of the young husband. He knew the necklace to be a gift from -Pau Tsu to the maid, A-Toy. He had bought it himself. Stopping and -questioning the little fellow he learned to his great joy that his wife -and her maid were at the boy’s home, under the care of his grandmother, -who was a woman learned in herb lore. - -Adah Raymond smiled in sympathy with her companion’s evident great -relief. - -“Everything will now be all right,” said she, following Lin Fo as he -proceeded to the house pointed out by the lad. Arrived there, she -suggested that the husband enter first and alone. She would wait a few -moments. - -“Miss Adah,” said Lin Fo, “ten thousand times I beg your pardon, but -perhaps you will come to see my wife some other time—not today?” - -He hesitated, embarrassed and humiliated. - -In one silent moment Adah Raymond grasped the meaning of all the -morning’s trouble—of all Pau Tsu’s sadness. - -“Lord, what fools we mortals be!” she soliloquized as she walked home -alone. “I ought to have known. What else could Pau Tsu have -thought?—coming from a land where women have no men friends save their -husbands. How she must have suffered under her smiles! Poor, brave -little soul!” - - - - - IN THE LAND OF THE FREE - - - I - -“See, Little One—the hills in the morning sun. There is thy home for -years to come. It is very beautiful and thou wilt be very happy there.” - -The Little One looked up into his mother’s face in perfect faith. He was -engaged in the pleasant occupation of sucking a sweetmeat; but that did -not prevent him from gurgling responsively. - -“Yes, my olive bud; there is where thy father is making a fortune for -thee. Thy father! Oh, wilt thou not be glad to behold his dear face. -’Twas for thee I left him.” - -The Little One ducked his chin sympathetically against his mother’s -knee. She lifted him on to her lap. He was two years old, a round, -dimple-cheeked boy with bright brown eyes and a sturdy little frame. - -“Ah! Ah! Ah! Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!” puffed he, mocking a tugboat steaming by. - -San Francisco’s waterfront was lined with ships and steamers, while -other craft, large and small, including a couple of white transports -from the Philippines, lay at anchor here and there off shore. It was -some time before the _Eastern Queen_ could get docked, and even after -that was accomplished, a lone Chinaman who had been waiting on the wharf -for an hour was detained that much longer by men with the initials U. S. -C. on their caps, before he could board the steamer and welcome his wife -and child. - -“This is thy son,” announced the happy Lae Choo. - -Hom Hing lifted the child, felt of his little body and limbs, gazed into -his face with proud and joyous eyes; then turned inquiringly to a -customs officer at his elbow. - -“That’s a fine boy you have there,” said the man. “Where was he born?” - -“In China,” answered Hom Hing, swinging the Little One on his right -shoulder, preparatory to leading his wife off the steamer. - -“Ever been to America before?” - -“No, not he,” answered the father with a happy laugh. - -The customs officer beckoned to another. - -“This little fellow,” said he, “is visiting America for the first time.” - -The other customs officer stroked his chin reflectively. - -“Good day,” said Hom Hing. - -“Wait!” commanded one of the officers. “You cannot go just yet.” - -“What more now?” asked Hom Hing. - -“I’m afraid,” said the first customs officer, “that we cannot allow the -boy to go ashore. There is nothing in the papers that you have shown -us—your wife’s papers and your own—having any bearing upon the child.” - -“There was no child when the papers were made out,” returned Hom Hing. -He spoke calmly; but there was apprehension in his eyes and in his -tightening grip on his son. - -“What is it? What is it?” quavered Lae Choo, who understood a little -English. - -The second customs officer regarded her pityingly. - -“I don’t like this part of the business,” he muttered. - -The first officer turned to Hom Hing and in an official tone of voice, -said: - -“Seeing that the boy has no certificate entitling him to admission to -this country you will have to leave him with us.” - -“Leave my boy!” exclaimed Hom Hing. - -“Yes; he will be well taken care of, and just as soon as we can hear -from Washington he will be handed over to you.” - -“But,” protested Hom Hing, “he is my son.” - -“We have no proof,” answered the man with a shrug of his shoulders; “and -even if so we cannot let him pass without orders from the Government.” - -“He is my son,” reiterated Hom Hing, slowly and solemnly. “I am a -Chinese merchant and have been in business in San Francisco for many -years. When my wife told to me one morning that she dreamed of a green -tree with spreading branches and one beautiful red flower growing -thereon, I answered her that I wished my son to be born in our country, -and for her to prepare to go to China. My wife complied with my wish. -After my son was born my mother fell sick and my wife nursed and cared -for her; then my father, too, fell sick, and my wife also nursed and -cared for him. For twenty moons my wife care for and nurse the old -people, and when they die they bless her and my son, and I send for her -to return to me. I had no fear of trouble. I was a Chinese merchant and -my son was my son.” - -“Very good, Hom Hing,” replied the first officer. “Nevertheless, we take -your son.” - -“No, you not take him; he my son too.” - -It was Lae Choo. Snatching the child from his father’s arms she held and -covered him with her own. - -The officers conferred together for a few moments; then one drew Hom -Hing aside and spoke in his ear. - -Resignedly Hom Hing bowed his head, then approached his wife. “’Tis the -law,” said he, speaking in Chinese, “and ’twill be but for a little -while—until tomorrow’s sun arises.” - -“You, too,” reproached Lae Choo in a voice eloquent with pain. But -accustomed to obedience she yielded the boy to her husband, who in turn -delivered him to the first officer. The Little One protested lustily -against the transfer; but his mother covered her face with her sleeve -and his father silently led her away. Thus was the law of the land -complied with. - - - II - -Day was breaking. Lae Choo, who had been awake all night, dressed -herself, then awoke her husband. - -“’Tis the morn,” she cried. “Go, bring our son.” - -The man rubbed his eyes and arose upon his elbow so that he could see -out of the window. A pale star was visible in the sky. The petals of a -lily in a bowl on the window-sill were unfurled. - -“’Tis not yet time,” said he, laying his head down again. - -“Not yet time. Ah, all the time that I lived before yesterday is not so -much as the time that has been since my little one was taken from me.” - -The mother threw herself down beside the bed and covered her face. - -Hom Hing turned on the light, and touching his wife’s bowed head with a -sympathetic hand inquired if she had slept. - -“Slept!” she echoed, weepingly. “Ah, how could I close my eyes with my -arms empty of the little body that has filled them every night for more -than twenty moons! You do not know—man—what it is to miss the feel of -the little fingers and the little toes and the soft round limbs of your -little one. Even in the darkness his darling eyes used to shine up to -mine, and often have I fallen into slumber with his pretty babble at my -ear. And now, I see him not; I touch him not; I hear him not. My baby, -my little fat one!” - -“Now! Now! Now!” consoled Hom Hing, patting his wife’s shoulder -reassuringly; “there is no need to grieve so; he will soon gladden you -again. There cannot be any law that would keep a child from its mother!” - -Lae Choo dried her tears. - -“You are right, my husband,” she meekly murmured. She arose and stepped -about the apartment, setting things to rights. The box of presents she -had brought for her California friends had been opened the evening -before; and silks, embroideries, carved ivories, ornamental -lacquer-ware, brasses, camphorwood boxes, fans, and chinaware were -scattered around in confused heaps. In the midst of unpacking the -thought of her child in the hands of strangers had overpowered her, and -she had left everything to crawl into bed and weep. - -Having arranged her gifts in order she stepped out on to the deep -balcony. - -The star had faded from view and there were bright streaks in the -western sky. Lae Choo looked down the street and around. Beneath the -flat occupied by her and her husband were quarters for a number of -bachelor Chinamen, and she could hear them from where she stood, taking -their early morning breakfast. Below their dining-room was her husband’s -grocery store. Across the way was a large restaurant. Last night it had -been resplendent with gay colored lanterns and the sound of music. The -rejoicings over “the completion of the moon,” by Quong Sum’s firstborn, -had been long and loud, and had caused her to tie a handkerchief over -her ears. She, a bereaved mother, had it not in her heart to rejoice -with other parents. This morning the place was more in accord with her -mood. It was still and quiet. The revellers had dispersed or were -asleep. - -A roly-poly woman in black sateen, with long pendant earrings in her -ears, looked up from the street below and waved her a smiling greeting. -It was her old neighbor, Kuie Hoe, the wife of the gold embosser, Mark -Sing. With her was a little boy in yellow jacket and lavender -pantaloons. Lae Choo remembered him as a baby. She used to like to play -with him in those days when she had no child of her own. What a long -time ago that seemed! She caught her breath in a sigh, and laughed -instead. - -“Why are you so merry?” called her husband from within. - -“Because my Little One is coming home,” answered Lae Choo. “I am a happy -mother—a happy mother.” - -She pattered into the room with a smile on her face. - - * * * * * - -The noon hour had arrived. The rice was steaming in the bowls and a -fragrant dish of chicken and bamboo shoots was awaiting Hom Hing. Not -for one moment had Lae Choo paused to rest during the morning hours; her -activity had been ceaseless. Every now and again, however, she had -raised her eyes to the gilded clock on the curiously carved mantelpiece. -Once, she had exclaimed: - -“Why so long, oh! why so long?” Then apostrophizing herself: “Lae Choo, -be happy. The Little One is coming! The Little One is coming!” Several -times she burst into tears and several times she laughed aloud. - -Hom Hing entered the room; his arms hung down by his side. - -“The Little One!” shrieked Lae Choo. - -“They bid me call tomorrow.” - -With a moan the mother sank to the floor. - -The noon hour passed. The dinner remained on the table. - - - III - -The winter rains were over: the spring had come to California, flushing -the hills with green and causing an ever-changing pageant of flowers to -pass over them. But there was no spring in Lae Choo’s heart, for the -Little One remained away from her arms. He was being kept in a mission. -White women were caring for him, and though for one full moon he had -pined for his mother and refused to be comforted he was now apparently -happy and contented. Five moons or five months had gone by since the day -he had passed with Lae Choo through the Golden Gate; but the great -Government at Washington still delayed sending the answer which would -return him to his parents. - - * * * * * - -Hom Hing was disconsolately rolling up and down the balls in his abacus -box when a keen-faced young man stepped into his store. - -“What news?” asked the Chinese merchant. - -“This!” The young man brought forth a typewritten letter. Hom Hing read -the words: - -“Re Chinese child, alleged to be the son of Hom Hing, Chinese merchant, -doing business at 425 Clay street, San Francisco. - -“Same will have attention as soon as possible.” - -Hom Hing returned the letter, and without a word continued his -manipulation of the counting machine. - -“Have you anything to say?” asked the young man. - -“Nothing. They have sent the same letter fifteen times before. Have you -not yourself showed it to me?” - -“True!” The young man eyed the Chinese merchant furtively. He had a -proposition to make and he was pondering whether or not the time was -opportune. - -“How is your wife?” he inquired solicitously—and diplomatically. - -Hom Hing shook his head mournfully. - -“She seems less every day,” he replied. “Her food she takes only when I -bid her and her tears fall continually. She finds no pleasure in dress -or flowers and cares not to see her friends. Her eyes stare all night. I -think before another moon she will pass into the land of spirits.” - -“No!” exclaimed the young man, genuinely startled. - -“If the boy not come home I lose my wife sure,” continued Hom Hing with -bitter sadness. - -“It’s not right,” cried the young man indignantly. Then he made his -proposition. - -The Chinese father’s eyes brightened exceedingly. - -“Will I like you to go to Washington and make them give you the paper to -restore my son?” cried he. “How can you ask when you know my heart’s -desire?” - -“Then,” said the young fellow, “I will start next week. I am anxious to -see this thing through if only for the sake of your wife’s peace of -mind.” - -“I will call her. To hear what you think to do will make her glad,” said -Hom Hing. - -He called a message to Lae Choo upstairs through a tube in the wall. - -In a few moments she appeared, listless, wan, and hollow-eyed; but when -her husband told her the young lawyer’s suggestion she became as one -electrified; her form straightened, her eyes glistened; the color -flushed to her cheeks. - -“Oh,” she cried, turning to James Clancy, “You are a hundred man good!” - -The young man felt somewhat embarrassed; his eyes shifted a little under -the intense gaze of the Chinese mother. - -“Well, we must get your boy for you,” he responded. “Of course”—turning -to Hom Hing—“it will cost a little money. You can’t get fellows to hurry -the Government for you without gold in your pocket.” - -Hom Hing stared blankly for a moment. Then: “How much do you want, Mr. -Clancy?” he asked quietly. - -“Well, I will need at least five hundred to start with.” - -Hom Hing cleared his throat. - -“I think I told to you the time I last paid you for writing letters for -me and seeing the Custom boss here that nearly all I had was gone!” - -“Oh, well then we won’t talk about it, old fellow. It won’t harm the boy -to stay where he is, and your wife may get over it all right.” - -“What that you say?” quavered Lae Choo. - -James Clancy looked out of the window. - -“He says,” explained Hom Hing in English, “that to get our boy we have -to have much money.” - -“Money! Oh, yes.” - -Lae Choo nodded her head. - -“I have not got the money to give him.” - -For a moment Lae Choo gazed wonderingly from one face to the other; -then, comprehension dawning upon her, with swift anger, pointing to the -lawyer, she cried: “You not one hundred man good; you just common white -man.” - -“Yes, ma’am,” returned James Clancy, bowing and smiling ironically. - -Hom Hing pushed his wife behind him and addressed the lawyer again: “I -might try,” said he, “to raise something; but five hundred—it is not -possible.” - -“What about four?” - -“I tell you I have next to nothing left and my friends are not rich.” - -“Very well!” - -The lawyer moved leisurely toward the door, pausing on its threshold to -light a cigarette. - -“Stop, white man; white man, stop!” - -Lae Choo, panting and terrified, had started forward and now stood -beside him, clutching his sleeve excitedly. - -“You say you can go to get paper to bring my Little One to me if Hom -Hing give you five hundred dollars?” - -The lawyer nodded carelessly; his eyes were intent upon the cigarette -which would not take the fire from the match. - -“Then you go get paper. If Hom Hing not can give you five hundred -dollars—I give you perhaps what more that much.” - -She slipped a heavy gold bracelet from her wrist and held it out to the -man. Mechanically he took it. - -“I go get more!” - -She scurried away, disappearing behind the door through which she had -come. - -“Oh, look here, I can’t accept this,” said James Clancy, walking back to -Hom Hing and laying down the bracelet before him. - -“It’s all right,” said Hom Hing, seriously, “pure China gold. My wife’s -parent give it to her when we married.” - -“But I can’t take it anyway,” protested the young man. - -“It is all same as money. And you want money to go to Washington,” -replied Hom Hing in a matter of fact manner. - -“See, my jade earrings—my gold buttons—my hairpins—my comb of pearl and -my rings—one, two, three, four, five rings; very good—very good—all same -much money. I give them all to you. You take and bring me paper for my -Little One.” - -Lae Choo piled up her jewels before the lawyer. - -Hom Hing laid a restraining hand upon her shoulder. “Not all, my wife,” -he said in Chinese. He selected a ring—his gift to Lae Choo when she -dreamed of the tree with the red flower. The rest of the jewels he -pushed toward the white man. - -“Take them and sell them,” said he. “They will pay your fare to -Washington and bring you back with the paper.” - -For one moment James Clancy hesitated. He was not a sentimental man; but -something within him arose against accepting such payment for his -services. - -“They are good, good,” pleadingly asserted Lae Choo, seeing his -hesitation. - -Whereupon he seized the jewels, thrust them into his coat pocket, and -walked rapidly away from the store. - - - IV - -Lae Choo followed after the missionary woman through the mission nursery -school. Her heart was beating so high with happiness that she could -scarcely breathe. The paper had come at last—the precious paper which -gave Hom Hing and his wife the right to the possession of their own -child. It was ten months now since he had been taken from them—ten -months since the sun had ceased to shine for Lae Choo. - -The room was filled with children—most of them wee tots, but none so wee -as her own. The mission woman talked as she walked. She told Lae Choo -that little Kim, as he had been named by the school, was the pet of the -place, and that his little tricks and ways amused and delighted every -one. He had been rather difficult to manage at first and had cried much -for his mother; “but children so soon forget, and after a month he -seemed quite at home and played around as bright and happy as a bird.” - -“Yes,” responded Lae Choo. “Oh, yes, yes!” - -But she did not hear what was said to her. She was walking in a maze of -anticipatory joy. - -“Wait here, please,” said the mission woman, placing Lae Choo in a -chair. “The very youngest ones are having their breakfast.” - -She withdrew for a moment—it seemed like an hour to the mother—then she -reappeared leading by the hand a little boy dressed in blue cotton -overalls and white-soled shoes. The little boy’s face was round and -dimpled and his eyes were very bright. - -“Little One, ah, my Little One!” cried Lae Choo. - -She fell on her knees and stretched her hungry arms toward her son. - -But the Little One shrunk from her and tried to hide himself in the -folds of the white woman’s skirt. - -“Go’way, go’way!” he bade his mother. - - - - - THE CHINESE LILY - - -Mermei lived in an upstairs room of a Chinatown dwelling-house. There -were other little Chinese women living on the same floor, but Mermei -never went amongst them. She was not as they were. She was a cripple. A -fall had twisted her legs so that she moved around with difficulty and -scarred her face so terribly that none save Lin John cared to look upon -it. Lin John, her brother, was a laundryman, working for another of his -countrymen. Lin John and Mermei had come to San Francisco with their -parents when they were small children. Their mother had died the day she -entered the foreign city, and the father the week following, both having -contracted a fever on the steamer. Mermei and Lin John were then taken -in charge by their father’s brother, and although he was a poor man he -did his best for them until called away by death. - -Long before her Uncle died Mermei had met with the accident that had -made her not as other girls; but that had only strengthened her -brother’s affection, and old Lin Wan died happy in the knowledge that -Lin John would ever put Mermei before himself. - -So Mermei lived in her little upstairs room, cared for by Lin John, and -scarcely an evening passed that he did not call to see her. One evening, -however, Lin John failed to appear, and Mermei began to feel very sad -and lonely. Mermei could embroider all day in contented silence if she -knew that in the evening someone would come to whom she could -communicate all the thoughts that filled a small black head that knew -nothing of life save what it saw from an upstairs window. Mermei’s -window looked down upon the street, and she would sit for hours, pressed -close against it, watching those who passed below and all that took -place. That day she had seen many things which she had put into her -mental portfolio for Lin John’s edification when evening should come. -Two yellow-robed priests had passed below on their way to the joss house -in the next street; a little bird with a white breast had fluttered -against the window pane; a man carrying an image of a Gambling Cash -Tiger had entered the house across the street; and six young girls of -about her own age, dressed gaily as if to attend a wedding, had also -passed over the same threshold. - -But when nine o’clock came and no Lin John, the girl began to cry -softly. She did not often shed tears, but for some reason unknown to -Mermei herself, the sight of those joyous girls caused sad reflections. -In the midst of her weeping a timid knock was heard. It was not Lin -John. He always gave a loud rap, then entered without waiting to be -bidden. Mermei hobbled to the door, pulled it open, and there, in the -dim light of the hall without, beheld a young girl—the most beautiful -young girl that Mermei had ever seen—and she stood there extending to -Mermei a blossom from a Chinese lily plant. Mermei understood the -meaning of the offered flower, and accepting it, beckoned for her -visitor to follow her into her room. - -What a delightful hour that was to Mermei! She forgot that she was -scarred and crippled, and she and the young girl chattered out their -little hearts to one another. “Lin John is dear, but one can’t talk to a -man, even if he is a brother, as one can to one the same as oneself,” -said Mermei to Sin Far—her new friend, and Sin Far, the meaning of whose -name was Pure Flower, or Chinese Lily, answered: - -“Yes, indeed. The woman must be the friend of the woman, and the man the -friend of the man. Is it not so in the country that Heaven loves?” - -“What beneficent spirit moved you to come to my door?” asked Mermei. - -“I know not,” replied Sin Far, “save that I was lonely. We have but -lately moved here, my sister, my sister’s husband, and myself. My sister -is a bride, and there is much to say between her and her husband. -Therefore, in the evening, when the day’s duties are done, I am alone. -Several times, hearing that you were sick, I ventured to your door; but -failed to knock, because always when I drew near, I heard the voice of -him whom they call your brother. Tonight, as I returned from an errand -for my sister, I heard only the sound of weeping—so I hastened to my -room and plucked the lily for you.” - -The next evening when Lin John explained how he had been obliged to work -the evening before Mermei answered brightly that that was all right. She -loved him just as much as ever and was just as glad to see him as ever; -but if work prevented him from calling he was not to worry. She had -found a friend who would cheer her loneliness. - -Lin John was surprised, but glad to hear such news, and it came to pass -that when he beheld Sin Far, her sweet and gentle face, her pretty -drooped eyelids and arched eyebrows, he began to think of apple and -peach and plum trees showering their dainty blossoms in the country that -Heaven loves. - - * * * * * - -It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. Lin John, working in his -laundry, paid little attention to the street uproar and the clang of the -engines rushing by. He had no thought of what it meant to him and would -have continued at his work undisturbed had not a boy put his head into -the door and shouted: - -“Lin John, the house in which your sister lives is on fire!” - -The tall building was in flames when Lin John reached it. The uprising -tongues licked his face as he sprung up the ladder no other man dared -ascend. - -“I will not go. It is best for me to die,” and Mermei resisted her -friend with all her puny strength. - -“The ladder will not bear the weight of both of us. You are his sister,” -calmly replied Sin Far. - -“But he loves you best. You and he can be happy together. I am not fit -to live.” - -“May Lin John decide, Mermei?” - -“Yes, Lin John may decide.” - -Lin John reached the casement. For one awful second he wavered. Then his -eyes sought the eyes of his sister’s friend. - -“Come, Mermei,” he called. - - * * * * * - -“Where is Sin Far?” asked Mermei when she became conscious. - -“Sin Far is in the land of happy spirits.” - -“And I am still in this sad, dark world.” - -“Speak not so, little one. Your brother loves you and will protect you -from the darkness.” - -“But you loved Sin Far better—and she loved you.” - -Lin John bowed his head. - -“Alas!” wept Mermei. “That I should live to make others sad!” - -“Nay,” said Lin John, “Sin Far is happy. And I—I did my duty with her -approval, aye, at her bidding. How then, little sister, can I be sad?” - - - - - THE SMUGGLING OF TIE CO - - -Amongst the daring men who engage in contrabanding Chinese from Canada -into the United States Jack Fabian ranks as the boldest in deed, the -cleverest in scheming, and the most successful in outwitting Government -officers. - -Uncommonly strong in person, tall and well built, with fine features and -a pair of keen, steady blue eyes, gifted with a sort of rough eloquence -and of much personal fascination, it is no wonder that we fellows regard -him as our chief and are bound to follow where he leads. With Fabian at -our head we engage in the wildest adventures and find such places of -concealment for our human goods as none but those who take part in a -desperate business would dare to dream of. - -Jack, however, is not in search of glory—money is his object. One day -when a romantic friend remarked that it was very kind of him to help the -poor Chinamen over the border, a cynical smile curled his moustache. - -“Kind!” he echoed. “Well, I haven’t yet had time to become sentimental -over the matter. It is merely a matter of dollars and cents, though, of -course, to a man of my strict principles, there is a certain pleasure to -be derived from getting ahead of the Government. A poor devil does now -and then like to take a little out of those millionaire concerns.” - -It was last summer and Fabian was somewhat down on his luck. A few -months previously, to the surprise of us all, he had made a blunder, -which resulted in his capture by American officers, and he and his -companion, together with five uncustomed Chinamen, had been lodged in a -county jail to await trial. - -But loafing behind bars did not agree with Fabian’s energetic nature, so -one dark night, by means of a saw which had been given to him by a very -innocent-looking visitor the day before, he made good his escape, and -after a long, hungry, detective-hunted tramp through woods and bushes, -found himself safe in Canada. - -He had had a three months’ sojourn in prison, and during that time some -changes had taken place in smuggling circles. Some ingenious lawyers had -devised a scheme by which any young Chinaman on payment of a couple of -hundred dollars could procure a father which father would swear the -young Chinaman was born in America—thus proving him to be an American -citizen with the right to breathe United States air. And the Chinese -themselves, assisted by some white men, were manufacturing certificates -establishing their right to cross the border, and in that way were -crossing over in large batches. - -That sort of trick naturally spoiled our fellows’ business, but we all -know that “Yankee sharper” games can hold good only for a short while; -so we bided our time and waited in patience. - -Not so Fabian. He became very restless and wandered around with -glowering looks. He was sitting one day in a laundry, the proprietor of -which had sent out many a boy through our chief’s instrumentality. -Indeed, Fabian is said to have “rushed over” to “Uncle Sam” himself some -five hundred Celestials, and if Fabian had not been an exceedingly -generous fellow he might now be a gentleman of leisure instead of an -unimmortalized Rob Roy. - -Well, Fabian was sitting in the laundry of Chen Ting Lung & Co., telling -a nice-looking young Chinaman that he was so broke that he’d be willing -to take over even one man at a time. - -The young Chinaman looked thoughtfully into Fabian’s face. “Would you -take me?” he inquired. - -“Take you!” echoed Fabian. “Why, you are one of the ‘bosses’ here. You -don’t mean to say that you are hankering after a place where it would -take you years to get as high up in the ‘washee, washee’ business as you -are now?” - -“Yes, I want go,” replied Tie Co. “I want go to New York and I will pay -you fifty dollars and all expense if you take me, and not say you take -me to my partners.” - -“There’s no accounting for a Chinaman,” muttered Fabian; but he gladly -agreed to the proposal and a night was fixed. - -“What is the name of the firm you are going to?” inquired the white man. - -Chinamen who intend being smuggled always make arrangements with some -Chinese firm in the States to receive them. - -Tie Co hesitated, then mumbled something which sounded like “Quong Wo -Yuen” or “Long Lo Toon,” Fabian was not sure which, but did not repeat -the question, not being sufficiently interested. - -He left the laundry, nodding goodbye to Tie Co as he passed outside the -window, and the Chinaman nodded back, a faint smile on his small, -delicate face lingering until Fabian’s receding form was lost to view. - -It was a pleasant night on which the two men set out. Fabian had a rig -waiting at the corner of the street; Tie Co, dressed in citizen’s -clothes, stepped into it unobserved, and the smuggler and -would-be-smuggled were soon out of the city. They had a merry drive, for -Fabian’s liking for Tie Co was very real; he had known him for several -years, and the lad’s quick intelligence interested him. - -The second day they left their horse at a farmhouse, where Fabian would -call for it on his return trip, crossed a river in a row-boat before the -sun was up, and plunged into a wood in which they would remain till -evening. It was raining, but through mud and wind and rain they trudged -slowly and heavily. - -Tie Co paused now and then to take breath. Once Fabian remarked: - -“You are not a very strong lad, Tie Co. It’s a pity you have to work as -you do for your living,” and Tie Co had answered: - -“Work velly good! No work, Tie Co die.” - -Fabian looked at the lad protectingly, wondering in a careless way why -this Chinaman seemed to him so different from the others. - -“Wouldn’t you like to be back in China?” he asked. - -“No,” said Tie Co decidedly. - -“Why?” - -“I not know why,” answered Tie Co. - -Fabian laughed. - -“Haven’t you got a nice little wife at home?” he continued. “I hear you -people marry very young.” - -“No, I no wife,” asserted his companion with a choky little laugh. “I -never have no wife.” - -“Nonsense,” joked Fabian. “Why, Tie Co, think how nice it would be to -have a little woman cook your rice and to love you.” - -“I not have wife,” repeated Tie Co seriously. “I not like woman, I like -man.” - -“You confirmed old bachelor!” ejaculated Fabian. - -“I like you,” said Tie Co, his boyish voice sounding clear and sweet in -the wet woods. “I like you so much that I want go to New York, so you -make fifty dollars. I no flend in New York.” - -“What!” exclaimed Fabian. - -“Oh, I solly I tell you, Tie Co velly solly,” and the Chinese boy -shuffled on with bowed head. - -“Look here, Tie Co,” said Fabian; “I won’t have you do this for my sake. -You have been very foolish, and I don’t care for your fifty dollars. I -do not need it half as much as you do. Good God! how ashamed you make me -feel—I who have blown in my thousands in idle pleasures cannot take the -little you have slaved for. We are in New York State now. When we get -out of this wood we will have to walk over a bridge which crosses a -river. On the other side, not far from where we cross, there is a -railway station. Instead of buying you a ticket for the city of New York -I shall take train with you for Toronto.” - -Tie Co did not answer—he seemed to be thinking deeply. Suddenly he -pointed to where some fallen trees lay. - -“Two men run away behind there,” cried he. - -Fabian looked round them anxiously; his keen eyes seemed to pierce the -gloom in his endeavor to catch a glimpse of any person; but no man was -visible, and, save the dismal sighing of the wind among the trees, all -was quiet. - -“There’s no one,” he said somewhat gruffly—he was rather startled, for -they were a mile over the border and he knew that the Government -officers were on a sharp lookout for him, and felt, despite his -strength, if any trick or surprise were attempted it would go hard with -him. - -“If they catch you with me it be too bad,” sententiously remarked Tie -Co. It seemed as if his words were in answer to Fabian’s thoughts. - -“But they will not catch us; so cheer up your heart, my boy,” replied -the latter, more heartily than he felt. - -“If they come, and I not with you, they not take you and it be all -lite.” - -“Yes,” assented Fabian, wondering what his companion was thinking about. - -They emerged from the woods in the dusk of the evening and were soon on -the bridge crossing the river. When they were near the centre Tie Co -stopped and looked into Fabian’s face. - -“Man come for you, I not here, man no hurt you.” And with the words he -whirled like a flash over the rail. - -In another flash Fabian was after him. But though a first-class swimmer, -the white man’s efforts were of no avail, and Tie Co was borne away from -him by the swift current. - -Cold and dripping wet, Fabian dragged himself up the bank and found -himself a prisoner. - -“So your Chinaman threw himself into the river. What was that for?” -asked one of the Government officers. - -“I think he was out of his head,” replied Fabian. And he fully believed -what he uttered. - -“We tracked you right through the woods,” said another of the captors. -“We thought once the boy caught sight of us.” - -Fabian remained silent. - - * * * * * - -Tie Co’s body was picked up the next day. Tie Co’s body, and yet not Tie -Co, for Tie Co was a youth, and the body found with Tie Co’s face and -dressed in Tie Co’s clothes was the body of a girl—a woman. - -Nobody in the laundry of Chen Ting Lung & Co.—no Chinaman in Canada or -New York—could explain the mystery. Tie Co had come out to Canada with a -number of other youths. Though not very strong he had always been a good -worker and “very smart.” He had been quiet and reserved among his own -countrymen; had refused to smoke tobacco or opium, and had been a -regular attendant at Sunday schools and a great favorite with Mission -ladies. - -Fabian was released in less than a week. “No evidence against him,” said -the Commissioner, who was not aware that the prisoner was the man who -had broken out of jail but a month before. - -Fabian is now very busy; there are lots of boys taking his helping hand -over the border, but none of them are like Tie Co; and sometimes, -between whiles, Fabian finds himself pondering long and earnestly over -the mystery of Tie Co’s life—and death. - - - - - THE GOD OF RESTORATION - - -“He that hath wine hath many friends,” muttered Koan-lo the Second, as -he glanced backwards into the store out of which he was stepping. It was -a Chinese general store, well stocked with all manner of quaint wares, -and about a dozen Chinamen were sitting around; whilst in an adjoining -room could be seen the recumbent forms of several smokers who were -discussing business and indulging in the fascinating pipe during the -intervals of conversation. - -Noticeable amongst the smokers was Koan-lo the First, a tall, -middle-aged Chinaman, wearing a black cap with a red button. Koan-lo the -First was cousin to Koan-lo the Second, but whereas Koan-lo the Second -was young and penniless, Koan-lo the First was one of the wealthiest -Chinese merchants in San Francisco and a mighty man amongst the people -of his name in that city, who regarded him as a father. - -Koan-lo the Second had been instructed by Koan-lo the First to meet Sie, -the latter’s bride, who was arriving that day by steamer from China. -Koan-lo the First was too busy a man to go down himself to the docks. - -So Koan-lo the Second and Sie met—though not for the first time. Five -years before in a suburb of Canton City they had said to one another: “I -love you.” - -Koan-lo the Second was an orphan and had been educated and cared for -from youth upwards by Koan-lo the First. - -Sie was the daughter of a slave, which will explain why she and Koan-lo -the Second had had the opportunity to know one another before the latter -left with his cousin for America. In China the daughters of slaves are -allowed far more liberty than girls belonging to a higher class of -society. - -“Koan-lo, ah Koan-lo,” cooed Sie softly and happily as she recognized -her lover. - -“Sie, my sweetest heart,” returned Koan-lo the Second, his voice both -glad and sad. - -He saw that a mistake had been made—that Sie believed that the man who -was to be her husband was himself—Koan-lo the Second. - -And all the love that was in him awoke, and he became dizzy thinking of -what might yet be. - -Could he explain that the Koan-lo who had purchased Sie for his bride, -and to whom she of right belonged, was his cousin and not himself? Could -he deliver to the Koan-lo who had many friends and stores of precious -valuables the only friend, the only treasure he had ever possessed? And -was it likely that Sie would be happy eating the rice of Koan-lo the -First when she loved him, Koan-lo the Second? - -Sie’s little fingers crept into his. She leaned against him. “I am -tired. Shall we soon rest?” said she. - -“Yes, very soon, my Sie,” he murmured, putting his arm around her. - -“I was too glad when my father told me that you had sent for me,” she -whispered. - -“I said: ‘How good of Koan-lo to remember me all these years.’” - -“And did you not remember me, my jess’-mine flower?” - -“Why need you ask? You know the days and nights have been filled with -you.” - -“Having remembered me, why should you have dreamt that I might have -forgotten you?” - -“There is a difference. You are a man; I am a woman.” - -“You have been mine now for over two weeks,” said Koan-lo the Second. -“Do you still love me, Sie?” - -“Look into mine eyes and see,” she answered. - -“And are you happy?” - -“Happy! Yes, and this is the happiest day of all, because today my -father obtains his freedom.” - -“How is that, Sie?” - -“Why, Koan-lo, you know. Does not my father receive today the balance of -the price you pay for me, and is not that, added to what you sent in -advance, sufficient to purchase my father’s freedom? My dear, good -father—he has worked so hard all these years. He has ever been so kind -to me. How glad am I to think that through me the God of Restoration has -decreed that he shall no longer be a slave. Yes, I am the happiest woman -in the world today.” - -Sie kissed her husband’s hand. - -He drew it away and hid with it his face. - -“Ah, dear husband!” cried Sie. “You are very sick.” - -“No, not sick,” replied the miserable Koan-lo—“but, Sie, I must tell you -that I am a very poor man, and we have got to leave this pretty house in -the country and go to some city where I will have to work hard and you -will scarcely have enough to eat.” - -“Kind, generous Koan-lo,” answered Sie, “you have ruined yourself for my -sake; you paid too high a price for me. Ah, unhappy Sie, who has pulled -Koan-lo into the dust! Now let me be your servant, for gladly would I -starve for your sake. I care for Koan-lo, not riches.” - -And she fell on her knees before the young man, who raised her gently, -saying: - -“Sie, I am unworthy of such devotion, and your words drive a thousand -spears into my heart. Hear my confession. I am your husband, but I am -not the man who bought you. My cousin, Koan-lo the First, sent for you -to come from China. It was he who bargained for you, and paid half the -price your father asked whilst you were in Canton, and agreed to pay the -balance upon sight of your face. Alas! the balance will never be paid, -for as I have stolen you from my cousin, he is not bound to keep to the -agreement, and your father is still a slave.” - -Sie stood motionless, overwhelmed by the sudden and terrible news. She -looked at her husband bewilderedly. - -“Is it true, Koan-lo? Must my father remain a slave?” she asked. - -“Yes, it is true,” replied her husband. “But we have still one another, -and you say you care not for poverty. So forgive me and forget your -father. I forgot all for love of you.” - -He attempted to draw her to him, but with a pitiful cry she turned and -fled. - - * * * * * - -Koan-lo the first sat smoking and meditating. - -Many moons had gone by since Koan-lo the Second had betrayed the trust -of Koan-lo the First, and Koan-lo the First was wondering what Koan-lo -the Second was doing, and how he was living. “He had little money and -was unused to working hard, and with a woman to support what will the -dog do?” thought the old man. He felt injured and bitter, but towards -the evening, after long smoking, his heart became softened, and he said -to his pipe: “Well, well, he had a loving feeling for her, and the young -I suppose must mate with the young. I think I could overlook his -ungratefulness were he to come and seek forgiveness.” - -“Great and honored sir, the dishonored Sie kneels before you and begs -you to put your foot on her head.” - -These words were uttered by a young Chinese girl of rare beauty who had -entered the room suddenly and prostrated herself before Koan-lo the -First. He looked up angrily. - -“Ah, I see the false woman who made her father a liar!” he cried. - -Tears fell from the downcast eyes of Sie, the kneeler. - -“Good sir,” said she, “ere I had become a woman or your cousin a man, we -loved one another, and when we met after a long separation, we both -forgot our duty. But the God of Restoration worked with my heart. I -repented and now am come to you to give myself up to be your slave, to -work for you until the flesh drops from my bones, if such be your -desire, only asking that you will send to my father the balance of my -purchase price, for he is too old and feeble to be a slave. Sir, you are -known to be a more than just man. Oh, grant my request! ’Tis for my -father’s sake I plead. For many years he nourished me, with trouble and -care; and my heart almost breaks when I think of him. Punish me for my -misdeeds, dress me in rags, and feed me on the meanest food! Only let me -serve you and make myself of use to you, so that I may be worth my -father’s freedom.” - -“And what of my cousin? Are you now false to him?” - -“No, not false to Koan-lo, my husband—only true to my father.” - -“And you wish me, whom you have injured, to free your father?” - -Sie’s head dropped lower as she replied: - -“I wish to be your slave. I wish to pay with the labor of my hands the -debt I owe you and the debt I owe my father. For this I have left my -husband.” - -Koan-lo the First arose, lifted Sie’s chin with his hand, and -contemplated with earnest eyes her face. - -“Your heart is not all bad,” he observed. “Sit down and listen. I will -not buy you for my slave, for in this country it is against the law to -buy a woman for a slave; but I will hire you for five years to be my -servant, and for that time you will do my bidding, and after that you -will be free. Rest in peace concerning your father.” - -“May the sun ever shine on you, most gracious master!” cried Sie. - -Then Koan-lo the First pointed out to her a hallway leading to a little -room, which room he said she could have for her own private use while -she remained with him. - -Sie thanked him and was leaving his presence when the door was burst -open and Koan-lo the Second, looking haggard and wild, entered. He -rushed up to Sie and clutched her by the shoulder. - -“You are mine!” he shouted. “I will kill you before you become another -man’s!” - -“Cousin,” said Koan-lo the First, “I wish not to have the woman to be my -wife, but I claim her as my servant. She has already received her -wages—her father’s freedom.” - -Koan-lo the Second gazed bewilderedly into the faces of his wife and -cousin. Then he threw up his hands and cried: - -“Oh, Koan-lo, my cousin, I have been evil. Always have I envied you and -carried bitter thoughts of you in my heart. Even your kindness to me in -the past has provoked my ill-will, and when I have seen you surrounded -by friends, I have said scornfully: ‘He that hath wine hath many -friends,’ although I well knew the people loved you for your good heart. -And Sie I have deceived. I took her to myself, knowing that she thought -I was what I was not. I caused her to believe she was mine by all -rights.” - -“So I am yours,” broke in Sie tremblingly. - -“So she shall be yours—when you are worthy of such a pearl and can guard -and keep it,” said Koan-lo the First. Then waving his cousin away from -Sie, he continued: - -“This is your punishment; the God of Restoration demands it. For five -years you shall not see the face of Sie, your wife. Meanwhile, study, -think, be honest, and work.” - - * * * * * - -“Your husband comes for you today. Does the thought make you glad?” -questioned Koan-lo the First. - -Sie smiled and blushed. - -“I shall be sorry to leave you,” she replied. - -“But more glad than sad,” said the old man. “Sie, your husband is now a -fine fellow. He has changed wonderfully during his years of probation.” - -“Then I shall neither know nor love him,” said Sie mischievously. “Why, -here he—” - -“My sweet one!” - -“My husband!” - -“My children, take my blessing; be good and be happy. I go to my pipe, -to dream of bliss if not to find it.” - -With these words Koan-lo the First retired. - -“Is he not almost as a god?” said Sie. - -“Yes,” answered her husband, drawing her on to his knee. “He has been -better to me than I have deserved. And you—ah, Sie, how can you care for -me when you know what a bad fellow I have been?” - -“Well,” said Sie contentedly, “it is always our best friends who know -how bad we are.” - - - - - THE THREE SOULS OF AH SO NAN - - I - -The sun was conquering the morning fog, dappling with gold the gray -waters of San Francisco’s bay, and throwing an emerald radiance over the -islands around. - -Close to the long line of wharves lay motionless brigs and schooners, -while farther off in the harbor were ships of many nations riding at -anchor. - -A fishing fleet was steering in from the open sea, scudding before the -wind like a flock of seabirds. All night long had the fishers toiled in -the deep. Now they were returning with the results of their labor. - -A young Chinese girl, watching the fleet from the beach of Fisherman’s -Cove, shivered in the morning air. Over her blue cotton blouse she wore -no wrap; on her head, no covering. All her interest was centred in one -lone boat which lagged behind the rest, being heavier freighted. The -fisherman was of her own race. When his boat was beached he sprang to -her side. - -“O’Yam, what brings you here?” he questioned low, for the curious eyes -of his fellow fishermen were on her. - -“Your mother is dying,” she answered. - -The young man spake a few words in English to a Greek whose boat lay -alongside his. The Greek answered in the same tongue. Then Fou Wang -threw down his nets and, with the girl following, walked quickly along -the waterfront, past the wharves, the warehouses, and the grogshops, up -a zigzag hill and into the heart of Chinatown. Neither spoke until they -reached their destination, a dingy three-storied building. - -The young man began to ascend the stairs, the girl to follow. Fou Wang -looked back and shook his head. The girl paused on the lowest step. - -“May I not come?” she pleaded. - -“Today is for sorrow,” returned Fou Wang. “I would, for a time, forget -all that belongs to the joy of life.” - -The girl threw her sleeve over her head and backed out of the open door. - -“What is the matter?” inquired a kind voice, and a woman laid her hand -upon her shoulder. - -O’Yam’s bosom heaved. - -“Oh, Liuchi,” she cried, “the mother of Fou Wang is dying, and you know -what that means to me.” - -The woman eyed her compassionately. - -“Your father, I know,” said she, as she unlocked a door and led her -companion into a room opening on to the street, “has long wished for an -excuse to set at naught your betrothal to Fou Wang; but I am sure the -lad to whom you are both sun and moon will never give him one.” - -She offered O’Yam some tea, but the girl pushed it aside. “You know not -Fou Wang,” she replied, sadly yet proudly. “He will follow his -conscience, though he lose the sun, the moon, and the whole world.” - -A young woman thrust her head through the door. - -“The mother of Fou Wang is dead,” cried she. - - * * * * * - -“She was a good woman—a kind and loving mother,” said Liuchi, as she -gazed down upon the still features of her friend. - -The young daughter of Ah So Nan burst into fresh weeping. Her pretty -face was much swollen. Ah So Nan had been well loved by her children, -and the falling tears were not merely waters of ceremony. - -At the foot of the couch upon which the dead was laid, stood Fou Wang, -his face stern and immovable, his eye solemn, yet luminous with a -steadfast fire. Over his head was thrown a white cloth. From morn till -eve had he stood thus, contemplating the serene countenance of his -mother and vowing that nothing should be left undone which could be done -to prove his filial affection and desire to comfort her spirit in the -land to which it had flown. “Three years, O mother, will I give to thee -and grief. Three years will I minister to thy three souls,” he vowed -within himself, remembering how sacred to the dead woman were the -customs and observances of her own country. They were also sacred to -him. Living in America, in the midst of Americans and Americanized -Chinese, the family of Fou Wang, with the exception of one, had clung -tenaciously to the beliefs of their forefathers. - -“All the living must die, and dying, return to the ground. The limbs and -the flesh moulder away below, and hidden away, become the earth of the -fields; but the spirit issues forth and is displayed on high in a -condition of glorious brightness,” quoted a yellow-robed priest, -swinging an incense burner before a small candle-lighted altar. - -It was midnight when the mourning friends of the family of Fou Wang left -the chief mourner alone with his dead mother. - -His sister, Fin Fan, and the girl who was his betrothed wife brushed his -garments as they passed him by. The latter timidly touched his hand—an -involuntary act of sympathy—but if he were conscious of that sympathy, -he paid no heed to it, and his gaze never wavered from the face of the -dead. - - - II - -“My girl, Moy Ding Fong is ready if Fou Wang is not, and you must marry -this year. I have sworn you shall.” - -Kien Lung walked out of the room with a determined step. He was an -Americanized Chinese and had little regard for what he derided as “the -antiquated customs of China,” save when it was to his interest to follow -them. He was also a widower desirous of marrying again, but undesirous -of having two women of like years, one his wife, the other his daughter, -under the same roof-tree. - -Left alone, O’Yam’s thoughts became sorrowful, almost despairing. Six -moons had gone by since Ah So Nan had passed away, yet the son of Ah So -Nan had not once, during that time, spoken one word to his betrothed -wife. Occasionally she had passed him on the street; but always he had -gone by with uplifted countenance, and in his eyes the beauty of piety -and peace. At least, so it seemed to the girl, and the thought of -marriage with him had seemed almost sacrilegious. But now it had come to -this. If Fou Wang adhered to his resolve to mourn three years for his -mother, what would become of her? She thought of old Moy Ding Fong and -shuddered. It was bitter, bitter. - -There was a rapping at the door. A young girl lifted the latch and -stepped in. It was Fin Fan, the sister of her betrothed. - -“I have brought my embroidery work,” said she, “I thought we could have -a little talk before sundown when I must away to prepare the evening -meal.” - -O’Yam, who was glad to see her visitor, brewed some fresh tea and -settled down for an exchange of confidences. - -“I am not going to abide by it,” said Fin Fan at last. “Hom Hing is -obliged to return to China two weeks hence, and with or without Fou -Wang’s consent I go with the man to whom my mother betrothed me.” - -“Without Fou Wang’s consent!” echoed O’Yam. - -“Yes,” returned Fin Fan, snapping off a thread. “Without my honorable -brother’s consent.” - -“And your mother gone but six moons!” - -O’Yam’s face wore a shocked expression. - -“Does the fallen leaf grieve because the green one remains on the tree?” -queried Fin Fan. - -“You must love Hom Hing well,” murmured O’Yam—“more than Fou Wang loves -me.” - -“Nay,” returned her companion, “Fou Wang’s love for you is as big as -mine for Hom Hing. It is my brother’s conscience alone that stands -between him and you. You know that.” - -“He loves not me,” sighed O’Yam. - -“If he does not love you,” returned Fin Fan, “why, when we heard that -you were unwell, did he sleeplessly pace his room night after night -until the news came that you were restored to health? Why does he -treasure a broken fan you have cast aside?” - -“Ah, well!” smiled O’Yam. - -Fin Fan laughed softly. - -“Fou Wang is not as other men,” said she. “His conscience is an -inheritance from his great-great-grandfather.” Her face became pensive -as she added: “It is sad to go across the sea without an elder brother’s -blessing.” - -She repeated this to Liuchi and Mai Gwi Far, the widow, whom she met on -her way home. - -“Why should you,” inquired the latter, “when there is a way by which to -obtain it?” - -“How?” - -“Did Ah So Nan leave no garments behind her—such garments as would well -fit her three souls—and is it not always easy to delude the serious and -the wise?” - -“Ah!” - - - III - -O’Yam climbed the stairs to the joss house. The desire for solitude -brought her there; but when she had closed the door upon herself, she -found that she was not alone. Fou Wang was there. Before the images of -the Three Wise Ones he stood, silent, motionless. - -“He is communing with his mother’s spirit,” thought O’Yam. She beheld -him through a mist of tears. Love filled her whole being. She dared not -move, because she was afraid he would turn and see her, and then, of -course, he would go away. She would stay near him for a few moments and -then retire. - -The dim light of the place, the quietness in the midst of noise, the -fragrance of some burning incense, soothed and calmed her. It was as if -all the sorrow and despair that had overwhelmed her when her father had -told her to prepare for her wedding with Moy Ding Fong had passed away. - -After a few moments she stepped back softly towards the door. But she -was too late. Fou Wang turned and beheld her. - -She fluttered like a bird until she saw that, surprised by her presence, -he had forgotten death and thought only of life—of life and love. A -glad, eager light shone in his eyes. He made a swift step towards her. -Then—he covered his face with his hands. - -“Fou Wang!” cried O’Yam, love at last overcoming superstition, “must I -become the wife of Moy Ding Fong?” - -“No, ah no!” he moaned. - -“Then,” said the girl in desperation, “take me to yourself.” - -Fou Wang’s hands fell to his side. For a moment he looked into that -pleading face—and wavered. - -A little bird flew in through an open window, and perching itself upon -an altar, began twittering. - -Fou Wang started back, the expression on his face changing. - -“A warning from the dead,” he muttered, “a warning from the dead!” - -An iron hand gripped O’Yam’s heart. Life itself seemed to have closed -upon her. - - - IV - -It was afternoon before evening, and the fog was rolling in from the -sea. Quietness reigned in the plot of ground sacred to San Francisco’s -Chinese dead when Fou Wang deposited a bundle at the foot of his -mother’s grave and prepared for the ceremony of ministering to her three -souls. - -The fragrance from a wall of fir trees near by stole to his nostrils as -he cleared the weeds and withered leaves from his parent’s resting -place. As he placed the bowls of rice and chicken and the vase of -incense where he was accustomed to place it, he became dimly conscious -of a presence or presences behind the fir wall. - -He sighed deeply. No doubt the shade of his parent was restless, -because— - -“Fou Wang,” spake a voice, low but distinct. - -The young man fell upon his knees. - -“Honored Mother!” he cried. - -“Fou Wang,” repeated the voice, “though my name is on thy lips, O’Yam’s -is in thy heart.” - -Conscience-stricken, Fou Wang yet retained spirit enough to gasp: - -“Have I not been a dutiful son? Have I not sacrificed all for thee, O -Mother! Why, then, dost thou reproach me?” - -“I do not reproach thee,” chanted three voices, and Fou Wang, lifting -his head, saw three figures emerge from behind the fir wall. “I do not -reproach thee. Thou hast been a most dutiful son, and thy offerings at -my grave and in the temple have been fully appreciated. Far from -reproaching thee, I am here to say to thee that the dead have regard for -the living who faithfully mourn and minister to them, and to bid thee -sacrifice no more until thou hast satisfied thine own heart by taking to -wife the daughter of Kien Lung and given to thy sister and thy sister’s -husband an elder brother’s blessing. Thy departed mother requires not -the sacrifice of a broken heart. The fallen leaf grieves not because the -green leaf still clings to the bough.” - -Saying this, the three figures flapped the loose sleeves of the -well-known garments of Ah So Nan and faded from his vision. - -For a moment Fou Wang gazed after them as if spellbound. Then he arose -and rushed towards the fir wall, behind which they seemed to have -vanished. - -“Mother, honored parent! Come back and tell me of the new birth!” he -cried. - -But there was no response. - -Fou Wang returned to the grave and lighted the incense. But he did not -wait to see its smoke ascend. Instead he hastened to the house of Kien -Lung and said to the girl who met him at the door: - -“No more shall my longing for thee take the fragrance from the flowers -and the light from the sun and moon.” - - - - - THE PRIZE CHINA BABY - - -The baby was the one gleam of sunshine in Fin Fan’s life, and how she -loved it no words can tell. When it was first born, she used to lie with -her face turned to its little soft, breathing mouth and think there was -nothing quite so lovely in the world as the wee pink face before her, -while the touch of its tiny toes and fingers would send wonderful -thrills through her whole body. Those were delightful days, but, oh, how -quickly they sped. A week after the birth of the little Jessamine -Flower, Fin Fan was busy winding tobacco leaves in the dark room behind -her husband’s factory. Winding tobacco leaves had been Fin Fan’s -occupation ever since she had become Chung Kee’s wife, and hard and -dreary work it was. Now, however, she did not mind it quite so much, for -in a bunk which was built on one side of the room was a most precious -bundle, and every now and then she would go over to that bunk and crow -and coo to the baby therein. - -But though Fin Fan prized her child so highly, Jessamine Flower’s father -would rather she had not been born, and considered the babe a nuisance -because she took up so much of her mother’s time. He would rather that -Fin Fan spent the hours in winding tobacco leaves than in nursing baby. -However, Fin Fan managed to do both, and by dint of getting up very -early in the morning and retiring very late at night, made as much money -for her husband after baby was born as she ever did before. And it was -well for her that that was so, as the baby would otherwise have been -taken from her and given to some other more fortunate woman. Not that -Fin Fan considered herself unfortunate. Oh, no! She had been a -hard-working little slave all her life, and after her mistress sold her -to be wife to Chung Kee, she never dreamt of complaining, because, -though a wife, she was still a slave. - -When Jessamine flower was about six months old one of the ladies of the -Mission, in making her round of Chinatown, ran in to see Fin Fan and her -baby. - -“What a beautiful child!” exclaimed the lady. “And, oh, how cunning,” -she continued, noting the amulets on the little ankles and wrists, the -tiny, quilted vest and gay little trousers in which Fin Fan had arrayed -her treasure. - -Fin Fan sat still and shyly smiled, rubbing her chin slowly against the -baby’s round cheek. Fin Fan was scarcely more than a child herself in -years. - -“Oh, I want to ask you, dear little mother,” said the lady, “if you will -not send your little one to the Chinese baby show which we are going to -have on Christmas Eve in the Presbyterian Mission schoolroom.” - -Fin Fan’s eyes brightened. - -“What you think? That my baby get a prize?” she asked hesitatingly. - -“I think so, indeed,” answered the lady, feeling the tiny, perfectly -shaped limbs and peeping into the brightest of black eyes. - -From that day until Christmas Eve, Fin Fan thought of nothing but the -baby show. She would be there with her baby, and if it won a prize, why, -perhaps its father might be got to regard it with more favor, so that he -would not frown so blackly and mutter under his breath at the slightest -cry or coo. - -On the morning of Christmas Eve, Chung Kee brought into Fin Fan’s room a -great bundle of tobacco which he declared had to be rolled by the -evening, and when it was time to start for the show, the work was not -nearly finished. However, Fin Fan dressed her baby, rolled it in a -shawl, and with it in her arms, stealthily left the place. - -It was a bright scene that greeted her upon arrival at the Mission -house. The little competitors, in the enclosure that had been arranged -for them, presented a peculiarly gorgeous appearance. All had been -carefully prepared for the beauty test and looked as pretty as possible, -though in some cases bejewelled head dresses and voluminous silken -garments almost hid the competitors. Some small figures quite blazed in -gold and tinsel, and then there were solemn cherubs almost free from -clothing. The majority were plump and well-formed children, and there -wasn’t a cross or crying baby in the forty-five. Fin Fan’s baby made the -forty-sixth, and it was immediately surrounded by a group of admiring -ladies. - -How Fin Fan’s eyes danced. Her baby would get a prize, and she would -never more need to fear that her husband would give it away. That -terrible dread had haunted her ever since its birth. “But surely,” -thought the little mother, “if it gets a prize he will be so proud that -he will let me keep it forever.” - -And Fin Fan’s baby did get a prize—a shining gold bit—and Fin Fan, -delighted and excited, started for home. She was so happy and proud. - - * * * * * - -Chung Kee was very angry. Fin Fan was not in her room, and the work he -had given her to do that morning was lying on the table undone. He said -some hard words in a soft voice, which was his way sometimes, and then -told the old woman who helped the men in the factory to be ready to -carry a baby to the herb doctor’s wife that night. “Tell her,” said he, -“that my cousin, the doctor, says that she long has desired a child, and -so I send her one as a Christmas present, according to American custom.” - -Just then came a loud knocking at the door. Chung Kee slowly unbarred -it, and two men entered, bearing a stretcher upon which a covered form -lay. - -“Why be you come to my store?” asked Chung Kee in broken English. - -The men put down their burden, and one pulled down the covering from -that which lay on the stretcher and revealed an unconscious woman and a -dead baby. - -“It was on Jackson Street. The woman was trying to run with the baby in -her arms, and just as she reached the crossing a butcher’s cart came -around the corner. Some Chinese who knows you advised me to bring them -here. Your wife and child, eh?” - -Chung Kee stared speechlessly at the still faces—an awful horror in his -eyes. - -A curious crowd began to fill the place. A doctor was in the midst of it -and elbowed his way to where Fin Fan was beginning to regain -consciousness. - -“Move back all of you; we want some air here!” he shouted -authoritatively, and Fin Fan, roused by the loud voice, feebly raised -her head, and looking straight into her husband’s eyes, said: - -“Chung Kee’s baby got first prize. Chung Kee let Fin Fan keep baby -always.” - -That was all. Fin Fan’s eyes closed. Her head fell back beside the prize -baby’s—hers forever. - - - - - LIN JOHN - - -It was New Year’s Eve. Lin John mused over the brightly burning fire. -Through the beams of the roof the stars shone, far away in the deep -night sky they shone down upon him, and he felt their beauty, though he -had no words for it. The long braid which was wound around his head -lazily uncoiled and fell down his back; his smooth young face was placid -and content. Lin John was at peace with the world. Within one of his -blouse sleeves lay a small bag of gold, the accumulated earnings of -three years, and that gold was to release his only sister from a -humiliating and secret bondage. A sense of duty done led him to dream of -the To-Come. What a fortunate fellow he was to have been able to obtain -profitable work, and within three years to have saved four hundred -dollars! In the next three years, he might be able to establish a little -business and send his sister to their parents in China to live like an -honest woman. The sharp edges of his life were forgotten in the drowsy -warmth and the world faded into dreamland. - -The latch was softly lifted; with stealthy step a woman approached the -boy and knelt beside him. By the flickering gleam of the dying fire she -found that for which she searched, and hiding it in her breast swiftly -and noiselessly withdrew. - - * * * * * - -Lin John arose. His spirits were light—and so were his sleeves. He -reached for his bowl of rice, then set it down, and suddenly his -chopsticks clattered on the floor. With hands thrust into his blouse he -felt for what was not there. Thus, with bewildered eyes for a few -moments. Then he uttered a low cry and his face became old and gray. - - * * * * * - -A large apartment, richly carpeted; furniture of dark and valuable wood -artistically carved; ceiling decorated with beautiful Chinese ornaments -and gold incense burners; walls hung from top to bottom with long bamboo -panels covered with silk, on which were printed Chinese characters; -tropical plants, on stands; heavy curtains draped over windows. This, in -the heart of Chinatown. And in the midst of these surroundings a girl -dressed in a robe of dark blue silk worn over a full skirt richly -embroidered. The sleeves fell over hands glittering with rings, and -shoes of light silk were on her feet. Her hair was ornamented with -flowers made of jewels; she wore three or four pairs of bracelets; her -jewel earrings were over an inch long. - -The girl was fair to see in that her face was smooth and oval, eyes long -and dark, mouth small and round, hair of jetty hue, and figure petite -and graceful. - -Hanging over a chair by her side was a sealskin sacque, such as is worn -by fashionable American women. The girl eyed it admiringly and every few -moments stroked the soft fur with caressing fingers. - -“Pau Sang,” she called. - -A curtain was pushed aside and a heavy, broad-faced Chinese woman in -blouse and trousers of black sateen stood revealed. - -“Look,” said the beauty. “I have a cloak like the American ladies. Is it -not fine?” - -Pau Sang nodded. “I wonder at Moy Loy,” said she. “He is not in favor -with the Gambling Cash Tiger and is losing money.” - -“Moy Loy gave it not to me. I bought it myself.” - -“But from whom did you obtain the money?” - -“If I let out a secret, will you lock it up?” - -Pau Sang smiled grimly, and her companion, sidling closer to her, said: -“I took the money from my brother—it was my money; for years he had been -working to make it for me, and last week he told me that he had saved -four hundred dollars to pay to Moy Loy, so that I might be free. Now, -what do I want to be free for? To be poor? To have no one to buy me good -dinners and pretty things—to be gay no more? Lin John meant well, but he -knows little. As to me, I wanted a sealskin sacque like the fine -American ladies. So two moons gone by I stole away to the country and -found him asleep. I did not awaken him—and for the first day of the New -Year I had this cloak. See?” - - * * * * * - -“Heaven frowns on me,” said Lin John sadly, speaking to Moy Loy. “I made -the money with which to redeem my sister and I have lost it. I grieve, -and I would have you say to her that for her sake, I will engage myself -laboriously and conform to virtue till three more New Years have grown -old, and that though I merit blame for my carelessness, yet I am -faithful unto her.” - -And with his spade over his shoulder he shuffled away from a house, from -an upper window of which a woman looked down and under her breath called -“Fool!” - - - - - TIAN SHAN’S KINDRED SPIRIT - - -Had Tian Shan been an American and China to him a forbidden country, his -daring exploits and thrilling adventures would have furnished -inspiration for many a newspaper and magazine article, novel, and short -story. As a hero, he would certainly have far outshone Dewey, Peary, or -Cook. Being, however, a Chinese, and the forbidden country America, he -was simply recorded by the American press as “a wily Oriental, who, ‘by -ways that are dark and tricks that are vain,’ is eluding the vigilance -of our brave customs officers.” As to his experiences, the only one who -took any particular interest in them was Fin Fan. - -Fin Fan was Tian Shan’s kindred spirit. She was the daughter of a -Canadian Chinese storekeeper and the object of much concern to both -Protestant Mission ladies and good Catholic sisters. - -“I like learn talk and dress like you,” she would respond to attempts to -bring her into the folds, “but I not want think like you. Too much -discuss.” And when it was urged upon her that her father was a -convert—the Mission ladies declaring, to the Protestant faith, and the -nuns, to the Catholic—she would calmly answer: “That so? Well, I not my -father. Beside I think my father just say he Catholic (or Protestant) -for sake of be amiable to you. He good-natured man and want to please -you.” - -This independent and original stand led Fin Fan to live, as it were, in -an atmosphere of outlawry even amongst her own countrywomen, for all -proper Chinese females in Canada and America, unless their husbands are -men of influence in their own country, conform upon request to the -religion of the women of the white race. - - * * * * * - -Fin Fan sat on her father’s doorstep amusing herself with a ball of yarn -and a kitten. She was a pretty girl, with the delicate features, long -slanting eyes, and pouting mouth of the women of Soo Chow, to which -province her dead mother had belonged. - -Tian Shan came along. - -“Will you come for a walk around the mountain?” asked he. - -“I don’t know,” answered Fin Fan. - -“Do!” he urged. - -The walk around the mountain is enjoyable at all seasons, but -particularly so in the fall of the year when the leaves on the trees are -turning all colors, making the mount itself look like one big posy. - -The air was fresh, sweet, and piny. As Tian Shan and Fin Fan walked, -they chatted gaily—not so much of Tian Shan or Fin Fan as of the -brilliant landscape, the sun shining through a grove of black-trunked -trees with golden leaves, the squirrels that whisked past them, the -birds twittering and soliloquizing over their vanishing homes, and many -other objects of nature. Tian Shan’s roving life had made him quite a -woodsman, and Fin Fan—well, Fin Fan was his kindred spirit. - -A large oak, looking like a smouldering pyre, invited them to a seat -under its boughs. - -After happily munching half a dozen acorns, Fin Fan requested to be told -all about Tian Shan’s last adventure. Every time he crossed the border, -he was obliged to devise some new scheme by which to accomplish his -object, and as he usually succeeded, there was always a new story to -tell whenever he returned to Canada. - -This time he had run across the river a mile above the Lachine Rapids in -an Indian war canoe, and landed in a cove surrounded by reefs, where -pursuit was impossible. It had been a perilous undertaking, for he had -had to make his way right through the swift current of the St. Lawrence, -the turbulent rapids so near that it seemed as if indeed he must yield -life to the raging cataract. But with indomitable courage he had forged -ahead, the canoe, with every plunge of his paddles, rising on the swells -and cutting through the whitecaps, until at last he reached the shore -for which he had risked so much. - -Fin Fan was thoughtful for a few moments after listening to his -narration. - -“Why,” she queried at last, “when you can make so much more money in the -States than in Canada, do you come so often to this side and endanger -your life as you do when returning?” - -Tian Shan was puzzled himself. He was not accustomed to analyzing the -motives for his actions. - -Seeing that he remained silent, Fin Fan went on: - -“I think,” said she, “that it is very foolish of you to keep running -backwards and forwards from one country to another, wasting your time -and accomplishing nothing.” - -Tian Shan dug up some soft, black earth with the heels of his boots. - -“Perhaps it is,” he observed. - -That night Tian Shan’s relish for his supper was less keen than usual, -and when he laid his head upon his pillow, instead of sleeping, he could -only think of Fin Fan. Fin Fan! Fin Fan! Her face was before him, her -voice in his ears. The clock ticked Fin Fan; the cat purred it; a little -mouse squeaked it; a night-bird sang it. He tossed about, striving to -think what ailed him. With the first glimmer of morning came knowledge -of his condition. He loved Fin Fan, even as the American man loves the -girl he would make his wife. - -Now Tian Shan, unlike most Chinese, had never saved money and, -therefore, had no home to offer Fin Fan. He knew, also, that her father -had his eye upon a young merchant in Montreal, who would make a very -desirable son-in-law. - -In the early light of the morning Tian Shan arose and wrote a letter. In -this letter, which was written with a pointed brush on long yellow -sheets of paper, he told Fin Fan that, as she thought it was foolish, he -was going to relinquish the pleasure of running backwards and forwards -across the border, for some time at least. He was possessed of a desire -to save money so that he could have a wife and a home. In a year, -perhaps, he would see her again. - - * * * * * - -Lee Ping could hardly believe that his daughter was seriously opposed to -becoming the wife of such a good-looking, prosperous young merchant as -Wong Ling. He tried to bring her to reason, but instead of yielding her -will to the parental, she declared that she would take a place as a -domestic to some Canadian lady with whom she had become acquainted at -the Mission sooner than wed the man her father had chosen. - -“Is not Wong Ling a proper man?” inquired the amazed parent. - -“Whether he is proper or improper makes no difference to me,” returned -Fin Fan. “I will not marry him, and the law in this country is so that -you cannot compel me to wed against my will.” - -Lee Ping’s good-natured face became almost pitiful as he regarded his -daughter. Only a hen who has hatched a duckling and sees it take to the -water for the first time could have worn such an expression. - -Fin Fan’s heart softened. She was as fond of her father as he of her. -Sidling up to him, she began stroking his sleeve in a coaxing fashion. - -“For a little while longer I wish only to stay with you,” said she. - -Lee Ping shook his head, but gave in. - -“You must persuade her yourself,” said he to Wong Ling that evening. “We -are in a country where the sacred laws and customs of China are as -naught.” - -So Wong Ling pressed his own suit. He was not a bad-looking fellow, and -knew well also how to honey his speech. Moreover, he believed in paving -his way with offerings of flowers, trinkets, sweetmeats. - -Fin Fan looked, listened, and accepted. Every gift that could be kept -was carefully put by in a trunk which she hoped some day to take to New -York. “They will help to furnish Tian Shan’s home,” said she. - - * * * * * - -Twelve moons had gone by since Tian Shan had begun to think of saving -and once again he was writing to Fin Fan. - -“I have made and I have saved,” wrote he. “Shall I come for you?” - -And by return mail came an answer which was not “No.” - -Of course, Fin Fan’s heart beat high with happiness when Tian Shan -walked into her father’s store; but to gratify some indescribable -feminine instinct she simply nodded coolly in his direction, and -continued what might be called a flirtation with Wong Ling, who had that -morning presented her with the first Chinese lily of the season and a -box of the best preserved ginger. - -Tian Shan sat himself down on a box of dried mushrooms and glowered at -his would-be rival, who, unconscious of the fact that he was making a -third when there was needed but a two, chattered on like a running -stream. Thoughtlessly and kittenishly Fin Fan tossed a word, first to -this one, and next to that; and whilst loving with all her heart one -man, showed much more favor to the other. - -Finally Tian Shan arose from the mushrooms and marched over to the -counter. - -“These yours?” he inquired of Wong Ling, indicating the lily and the box -of ginger. - -“Miss Fin Fan has done me the honor of accepting them,” blandly replied -Wong Ling. - -“Very good,” commented Tian Shan. He picked up the gifts and hurled them -into the street. - -A scene of wild disorder followed. In the midst of it the father of Fin -Fan, who had been downtown, appeared at the door. - -“What is the meaning of this?” he demanded. - -“Oh, father, father, they are killing one another! Separate them, oh, -separate them!” pleaded Fin Fan. - -But her father’s interference was not needed. Wong Ling swerved to one -side, and falling, struck the iron foot of the stove. Tian Shan, seeing -his rival unconscious, rushed out of the store. - - * * * * * - -The moon hung in the sky like a great yellow pearl and the night was -beautiful and serene. But Fin Fan, miserable and unhappy, could not -rest. - -“All your fault! All your fault!” declared the voice of conscience. - -“Fin Fan,” spake a voice near to her. - -Could it be? Yes, it surely was Tian Shan. - -She could not refrain from a little scream. - -“Sh! Sh!” bade Tian Shan. “Is he dead?” - -“No,” replied Fin Fan, “he is very sick, but he will recover.” - -“I might have been a murderer,” mused Tian Shan. “As it is I am liable -to arrest and imprisonment for years.” - -“I am the cause of all the trouble,” wept Fin Fan. - -Tian Shan patted her shoulder in an attempt at consolation, but a sudden -footfall caused her to start away from him. - -“They are hunting you!” she cried. “Go! Go!” - -And Tian Shan, casting upon her one long farewell look, strode with -rapid steps away. - - * * * * * - -Poor Fin Fan! She had indeed lost every one, and added to that shame, -was the secret sorrow and remorse of her own heart. All the hopes and -the dreams which had filled the year that was gone were now as naught, -and he, around whom they had been woven, was, because of her, a fugitive -from justice, even in Canada. - -One day she picked up an American newspaper which a customer had left on -the counter, and, more as a habit than for any other reason, began -spelling out the paragraphs. - - A Chinese, who has been unlawfully breathing United States air for - several years, was captured last night crossing the border, a feat - which he is said to have successfully accomplished more than a dozen - times during the last few years. His name is Tian Shan, and there is - no doubt whatever that he will be deported to China as soon as the - necessary papers can be made out. - -Fin Fan lifted her head. Fresh air and light had come into her soul. Her -eyes sparkled. In the closet behind her hung a suit of her father’s -clothes. Fin Fan was a tall and well-developed young woman. - - * * * * * - -“You are to have company,” said the guard, pausing in front of Tian -Shan’s cage. “A boy without certificate was caught this morning by two -of our men this side of Rouse’s Point. He has been unable to give an -account of himself, so we are putting him in here with you. You will -probably take the trip to China together.” - -Tian Shan continued reading a Chinese paper which he had been allowed to -retain. He was not at all interested in the companion thrust upon him. -He would have preferred to be left alone. The face of the absent one is -so much easier conjured in silence and solitude. It was a foregone -conclusion with Tian Shan that he would never again behold Fin Fan, and -with true Chinese philosophy he had begun to reject realities and accept -dreams as the stuff upon which to live. Life itself was hard, bitter, -and disappointing. Only dreams are joyous and smiling. - -One star after another had appeared until the heavens were patterned -with twinkling lights. Through his prison bars Tian Shan gazed solemnly -upon the firmament. - -Some one touched his elbow. It was his fellow-prisoner. - -So far the boy had not intruded himself, having curled himself up in a -corner of the cell and slept soundly apparently, ever since his advent. - -“What do you want?” asked Tian Shan not unkindly. - -“To go to China with you and to be your wife,” was the softly surprising -reply. - -“Fin Fan!” exclaimed Tian Shan. “Fin Fan!” - -The boy pulled off his cap. - -“Aye,” said he. “’Tis Fin Fan!” - - - - - THE SING SONG WOMAN - - - I - -Ah Oi, the Chinese actress, threw herself down on the floor of her room -and, propping her chin on her hands, gazed up at the narrow strip of -blue sky which could be seen through her window. She seemed to have lost -her usually merry spirits. For the first time since she had left her -home her thoughts were seriously with the past, and she longed with a -great longing for the Chinese Sea, the boats, and the wet, blowing -sands. She had been a fisherman’s daughter, and many a spring had she -watched the gathering of the fishing fleet to which her father’s boat -belonged. Well could she remember clapping her hands as the vessels -steered out to sea for the season’s work, her father’s amongst them, -looking as bright as paint could make it, and flying a neat little flag -at its stern; and well could she also remember how her mother had taught -her to pray to “Our Lady of Pootoo,” the goddess of sailors. One does -not need to be a Christian to be religious, and Ah Oi’s parents had -carefully instructed their daughter according to their light, and it was -not their fault if their daughter was a despised actress in an American -Chinatown. - -The sound of footsteps outside her door seemed to chase away Ah Oi’s -melancholy mood, and when a girl crossed her threshold, she was gazing -amusedly into the street below—a populous thoroughfare of Chinatown. - -The newcomer presented a strange appearance. She was crying so hard that -red paint, white powder, and carmine lip salve were all besmeared over a -naturally pretty face. - -Ah Oi began to laugh. - -“Why, Mag-gee,” said she, “how odd you look with little red rivers -running over your face! What is the matter?” - -“What is the matter?” echoed Mag-gee, who was a half-white girl. “The -matter is that I wish that I were dead! I am to be married tonight to a -Chinaman whom I have never seen, and whom I can’t bear. It isn’t natural -that I should. I always took to other men, and never could put up with a -Chinaman. I was born in America, and I’m not Chinese in looks nor in any -other way. See! My eyes are blue, and there is gold in my hair; and I -love potatoes and beef, and every time I eat rice it makes me sick, and -so does chopped up food. He came down about a week ago and made -arrangements with father, and now everything is fixed and I’m going away -forever to live in China. I shall be a Chinese woman next year—I -commenced to be one today, when father made me put the paint and powder -on my face, and dress in Chinese clothes. Oh! I never want anyone to -feel as I do. To think of having to marry a Chinaman! How I hate the -Chinese! And the worst of it is, loving somebody else all the while.” - -The girl burst into passionate sobs. The actress, who was evidently -accustomed to hearing her compatriots reviled by the white and -half-white denizens of Chinatown, laughed—a light, rippling laugh. Her -eyes glinted mischievously. - -“Since you do not like the Chinese men,” said she, “why do you give -yourself to one? And if you care so much for somebody else, why do you -not fly to that somebody?” - -Bold words for a Chinese woman to utter! But Ah Oi was not as other -Chinese women, who all their lives have been sheltered by a husband or -father’s care. - -The half-white girl stared at her companion. - -“What do you mean?” she asked. - -“This,” said Ah Oi. The fair head and dark head drew near together; and -two women passing the door heard whispers and suppressed laughter. - -“Ah Oi is up to some trick,” said one. - - II - -“The Sing Song Woman! The Sing Song Woman!” It was a wild cry of anger -and surprise. - -The ceremony of unveiling the bride had just been performed, and Hwuy -Yen, the father of Mag-gee, and his friends, were in a state of great -excitement, for the unveiled, brilliantly clothed little figure standing -in the middle of the room was not the bride who was to have been; but Ah -Oi, the actress, the Sing Song Woman. - -Every voice but one was raised. The bridegroom, a tall, handsome man, -did not understand what had happened, and could find no words to express -his surprise at the uproar. But he was so newly wedded that it was not -until Hwuy Yen advanced to the bride and shook his hand threateningly in -her face, that he felt himself a husband, and interfered by placing -himself before the girl. - -“What is all this?” he inquired. “What has my wife done to merit such -abuse?” - -“Your wife!” scornfully ejaculated Hwuy Yen. “She is no wife of yours. -You were to have married my daughter, Mag-gee. This is not my daughter; -this is an impostor, an actress, a Sing Song Woman. Where is my -daughter?” - -Ah Oi laughed her peculiar, rippling, amused laugh. She was in no wise -abashed, and, indeed, appeared to be enjoying the situation. Her bright, -defiant eyes met her questioner’s boldly as she answered: - -“Mag-gee has gone to eat beef and potatoes with a white man. Oh, we had -such a merry time making this play!” - -“See how worthless a thing she is,” said Hwuy Yen to the young -bridegroom. - -The latter regarded Ah Oi compassionately. He was a man, and perhaps a -little tenderness crept into his heart for the girl towards whom so much -bitterness was evinced. She was beautiful. He drew near to her. - -“Can you not justify yourself?” he asked sadly. - -For a moment Ah Oi gazed into his eyes—the only eyes that had looked -with true kindness into hers for many a moon. - -“You justify me,” she replied with an upward, pleading glance. - -Then Ke Leang, the bridegroom, spoke. He said: “The daughter of Hwuy Yen -cared not to become my bride and has sought her happiness with another. -Ah Oi, having a kind heart, helped her to that happiness, and tried to -recompense me my loss by giving me herself. She has been unwise and -indiscreet; but the good that is in her is more than the evil, and now -that she is my wife, none shall say a word against her.” - -Ah Oi pulled at his sleeve. - -“You give me credit for what I do not deserve,” said she. “I had no kind -feelings. I thought only of mischief, and I am not your wife. It is but -a play like the play I shall act tomorrow.” - -“Hush!” bade Ke Leang. “You shall act no more. I will marry you again -and take you to China.” - -Then something in Ah Oi’s breast, which for a long time had been hard as -stone, became soft and tender, and her eyes ran over with tears. - -“Oh, sir,” said she, “it takes a heart to make a heart, and you have put -one today in the bosom of a Sing Song Woman.” - - - - - _Tales of Chinese Children_ - - - - - THE SILVER LEAVES - - -There was a fringe of trees along an open field. They were not very tall -trees, neither were they trees that flowered or fruited; but to the eyes -of Ah Leen they were very beautiful. Their slender branches were covered -with leaves of a light green showing a silvery under surface, and when -the wind moved or tossed them, silver gleams flashed through the green -in a most enchanting way. - -Ah Leen stood on the other side of the road admiring the trees with the -silver leaves. - -A little old woman carrying a basket full of ducks’ eggs came happily -hobbling along. She paused by the side of Ah Leen. - -“Happy love!” said she. “Your eyes are as bright as jade jewels!” - -Ah Leen drew a long breath. “See!” said she, “the dancing leaves.” - -The little old woman adjusted her blue goggles and looked up at the -trees. “If only,” said she, “some of that silver was up my sleeve, I -would buy you a pink parasol and a folding fan.” - -“And if some of it were mine,” answered Ah Leen, “I would give it to my -baby brother.” And she went on to tell the little old woman that that -eve there was to be a joyful time at her father’s house, for her baby -brother was to have his head shaved for the first time, and everybody -was coming to see it done and would give her baby brother gifts of gold -and silver. Her father and her mother, also, and her big brother and her -big sister, all had gifts to give. She loved well her baby brother. He -was so very small and so very lively, and his fingers and toes were so -pink. And to think that he had lived a whole moon, and she had no -offering to prove the big feeling that swelled and throbbed in her -little heart for him. - -Ah Leen sighed very wistfully. - -Just then a brisk breeze blew over the trees, and as it passed by, six -of the silver leaves floated to the ground. - -“Oh! Oh!” cried little Ah Leen. She pattered over to where they had -fallen and picked them up. - -Returning to the old woman, she displayed her treasures. - -“Three for you and three for me!” she cried. - -The old woman accepted the offering smilingly, and happily hobbled away. -In every house she entered, she showed her silver leaves, and told how -she had obtained them, and every housewife that saw and heard her, -bought her eggs at a double price. - -At sundown, the guests with their presents began streaming into the -house of Man You. Amongst them was a little old woman. She was not as -well off as the other guests, but because she was the oldest of all the -company, she was given the seat of honor. Ah Leen, the youngest daughter -of the house, sat on a footstool at her feet. Ah Leen’s eyes were very -bright and her cheeks glowed. She was wearing a pair of slippers with -butterfly toes, and up her little red sleeve, carefully folded in a -large leaf, were three small silver leaves. - -Once when the mother of Ah Leen brought a cup of tea to the little old -woman, the little old woman whispered in her ear, and the mother of Ah -Leen patted the head of her little daughter and smiled kindly down upon -her. - -Then the baby’s father shaved the head of the baby, the Little Bright -One. He did this very carefully, leaving a small patch of hair, the -shape of a peach, in the centre of the small head. That peach-shaped -patch would some day grow into a queue. Ah Leen touched it lovingly with -her little finger after the ceremony was over. Never had the Little -Bright One seemed so dear. - -The gifts were distributed after all the lanterns were lit. It was a -pretty sight. The mother of the Little Bright One held him on her lap, -whilst each guest, relative, or friend, in turn, laid on a table by her -side his gift of silver and gold, enclosed in a bright red envelope. - -The elder sister had just passed Ah Leen with her gift, when Ah Leen -arose, and following after her sister to the gift-laden table, proudly -deposited thereon three leaves. - -“They are silver—silver,” cried Ah Leen. - -Nearly everybody smiled aloud; but Ah Leen’s mother gently lifted the -leaves and murmured in Ah Leen’s ear, “They are the sweetest gift of -all.” - -How happy felt Ah Leen! As to the old woman who sold ducks’ eggs, she -beamed all over her little round face, and when she went away, she left -behind her a pink parasol and a folding fan. - - - - - THE PEACOCK LANTERN - - -It was such a pretty lantern—the prettiest of all the pretty lanterns -that the lantern men carried. Ah Wing longed to possess it. Upon the -transparent paper which covered the fine network of bamboo which -enclosed the candle, was painted a picture of a benevolent prince, -riding on a peacock with spreading tail. Never had Ah Wing seen such a -gorgeous lantern, or one so altogether admirable. - -“Honorable father,” said he, “is not that a lantern of illuminating -beauty, and is not thy string of cash too heavy for thine honorable -shoulders?” - -His father laughed. - -“Come hither,” he bade the lantern man. “Now,” said he to Ah Wing, -“choose which lantern pleaseth thee best. To me all are the same.” - -Ah Wing pointed to the peacock lantern, and hopped about impatiently, -whilst the lantern man fumbled with the wires which kept his lanterns -together. - -“Oh, hasten! hasten!” cried Ah Wing. - -The lantern man looked into his bright little face. - -“Honorable little one,” said he, “would not one of the other lanterns -please thee as well as this one? For indeed, I would, if I could, retain -the peacock lantern. It is the one lantern of all which delights my own -little lad and he is sick and cannot move from his bed.” - -Ah Wing’s face became red. - -“Why then dost thou display the lantern?” asked the father of Ah Wing. - -“To draw attention to the others,” answered the man. “I am very poor and -it is hard for me to provide my child with rice.” - -The father of Ah Wing looked at his little son. - -“Well?” said he. - -Ah Wing’s face was still red. - -“I want the peacock lantern,” he declared. - -The father of Ah Wing brought forth his string of cash and drew -therefrom more than double the price of the lantern. - -“Take this,” said he to the lantern man. “’Twill fill thy little sick -boy’s bowl with rice for many a day to come.” - -The lantern man returned humble thanks, but while unfastening the -peacock lantern from the others, his face looked very sad. - -Ah Wing shifted from one foot to another. - -The lantern man placed the lantern in his hand. Ah Wing stood still -holding it. - -“Thou hast thy heart’s desire now,” said his father. “Laugh and be -merry.” - -But with the lantern man’s sad face before him, Ah Wing could not laugh -and be merry. - -“If you please, honorable father,” said he, “may I go with the honorable -lantern man to see his little sick boy?” - -“Yes,” replied his father. “And I will go too.” - -When Ah Wing stood beside the bed of the little sick son of the lantern -man, he said: - -“I have come to see thee, because my father has bought for my pleasure -the lantern which gives thee pleasure; but he has paid therefor to thy -father what will buy thee food to make thee strong and well.” - -The little sick boy turned a very pale and very small face to Ah Wing. - -“I care not,” said he, “for food to make me strong and well—for strong -and well I shall never be; but I would that I had the lantern for the -sake of San Kee.” - -“And who may San Kee be?” inquired Ah Wing. - -“San Kee,” said the little sick boy, “is an honorable hunchback. Every -evening he comes to see me and to take pleasure in my peacock lantern. -It is the only thing in the world that gives poor San Kee pleasure. I -would for his sake that I might have kept the peacock lantern.” - -“For his sake!” echoed Ah Wing. - -“Yes, for his sake,” answered the little sick boy. “It is so good to see -him happy. It is that which makes me happy.” - -The tears came into Ah Wing’s eyes. - -“Honorable lantern man,” said he, turning to the father of the little -sick boy, “I wish no more for the peacock lantern. Keep it, I pray thee, -for thy little sick boy. And honorable father”—he took his father’s -hand—“kindly buy for me at the same price as the peacock lantern one of -the other beautiful lanterns belonging to the honorable lantern man.” - - - - - CHILDREN OF PEACE - - - I - -They were two young people with heads hot enough and hearts true enough -to believe that the world was well lost for love, and they were Chinese. - -They sat beneath the shade of a cluster of tall young pines forming a -perfect bower of greenness and coolness on the slope of Strawberry hill. -Their eyes were looking ocean-wards, following a ship nearing the misty -horizon. Very serious were their faces and voices. That ship, sailing -from west to east, carried from each a message to his and her kin—a -message which humbly but firmly set forth that they were resolved to act -upon their belief and to establish a home in the new country, where they -would ever pray for blessings upon the heads of those who could not see -as they could see, nor hear as they could hear. - -“My mother will weep when she reads,” sighed the girl. - -“Pau Tsu,” the young man asked, “do you repent?” - -“No,” she replied, “but—” - -She drew from her sleeve a letter written on silk paper. - -The young man ran his eye over the closely penciled characters. - -“’Tis very much in its tenor like what my father wrote to me,” he -commented. - -“Not that.” - -Pau Tsu indicated with the tip of her pink forefinger a paragraph which -read: - - Are you not ashamed to confess that you love a youth who is not yet - your husband? Such disgraceful boldness will surely bring upon your - head the punishment you deserve. Before twelve moons go by you will be - an Autumn Fan. - -The young man folded the missive and returned it to the girl, whose face -was averted from his. - -“Our parents,” said he, “knew not love in its springing and growing, its -bud and blossom. Let us, therefore, respectfully read their angry -letters, but heed them not. Shall I not love you dearer and more -faithfully because you became mine at my own request and not at my -father’s? And Pau Tsu, be not ashamed.” - -The girl lifted radiant eyes. - -“Listen,” said she. “When you, during vacation, went on that long -journey to New York, to beguile the time I wrote a play. My heroine is -very sad, for the one she loves is far away and she is much tormented by -enemies. They would make her ashamed of her love. But this is what she -replies to one cruel taunt: - - “When Memory sees his face and hears his voice, - The Bird of Love within my heart sings sweetly, - So sweetly, and so clear and jubilant, - That my little Home Bird, Sorrow, - Hides its head under its wing, - And appeareth as if dead. - Shame! Ah, speak not that word to one who loves! - For loving, all my noblest, tenderest feelings are awakened, - And I become too great to be ashamed.” - -“You do love me then, eh, Pau Tsu?” queried the young man. - -“If it is not love, what is it?” softly answered the girl. - -Happily chatting they descended the green hill. Their holiday was over. -A little later Liu Venti was on the ferry-boat which leaves every half -hour for the Western shore, bound for the Berkeley Hills opposite the -Golden Gate, and Pau Tsu was in her room at the San Francisco Seminary, -where her father’s ambition to make her the equal in learning of the son -of Liu Jusong had placed her. - - II - -The last little scholar of Pau Tsu’s free class for children was -pattering out of the front door when Liu Venti softly entered the -schoolroom. Pau Tsu was leaning against her desk, looking rather weary. -She did not hear her husband’s footstep, and when he approached her and -placed his hand upon her shoulder she gave a nervous start. - -“You are tired, dear one,” said he, leading her towards the door where a -seat was placed. - -“Teacher, the leaves of a flower you gave me are withering, and mother -says that is a bad omen.” - -The little scholar had turned back to tell her this. - -“Nay,” said Pau Tsu gently. “There are no bad omens. It is time for the -flower to wither and die. It cannot live always.” - -“Poor flower!” compassionated the child. - -“Not so poor!” smiled Pau Tsu. “The flower has seed from which other -flowers will spring, more beautiful than itself!” - -“Ah, I will tell my mother!” - -The little child ran off, her queue dangling and flopping as she loped -along. The teachers watched her join a group of youngsters playing on -the curb in front of the quarters of the Six Companies. One of the -Chiefs in passing had thrown a handful of firecrackers amongst the -children, and the result was a small bonfire and great glee. - -It was seven years since Liu Venti and Pau Tsu had begun their work in -San Francisco’s Chinatown; seven years of struggle and hardship, working -and waiting, living, learning, fighting, failing, loving—and conquering. -The victory, to an onlooker, might have seemed small; just a modest -school for adult pupils of their own race, a few white night pupils, and -a free school for children. But the latter was in itself evidence that -Liu Venti and Pau Tsu had not only sailed safely through the waters of -poverty, but had reached a haven from which they could enjoy the -blessedness of stretching out helping hands to others. - -During the third year of their marriage twin sons had been born to them, -and the children, long looked for and eagerly desired, were welcomed -with joy and pride. But mingled with this joy and pride was much serious -thought. Must their beloved sons ever remain exiles from the land of -their ancestors? For their little ones Liu Venti and Pau Tsu were much -more worldly than they had ever been themselves, and they could not -altogether stifle a yearning to be able to bestow upon them the -brightest and best that the world has to offer. Then, too, memories of -childhood came thronging with their children, and filial affection -reawakened. Both Liu Venti and Pau Tsu had been only children; both had -been beloved and had received all the advantages which wealth in their -own land could obtain; both had been the joy and pride of their homes. -They might, they sometimes sadly mused, have been a little less assured -in their declarations to the old folk; a little kinder, a little more -considerate. It was a higher light and a stronger motive than had ever -before influenced their lives which had led them to break the ties which -had bound them; yet those from whom they had cut away were ignorant of -such forces; at least, unable, by reason of education and environment, -to comprehend them. There were days when everything seemed to taste -bitter to Pau Tsu because she could not see her father and mother. And -Liu’s blood would tingle and his heart swell in his chest in the effort -to banish from his mind the shadows of those who had cared for him -before ever he had seen Pau Tsu. - -“I was a little fellow of just about that age when my mother first -taught me to kotow to my father and run to greet him when he came into -the house,” said he, pointing to Little Waking Eyes, who came straggling -after them, a kitten in his chubby arms. - -“Oh, Liu Venti,” replied Pau Tsu, “you are thinking of home—even as I. -This morning I thought I heard my mother’s voice, calling to me as I -have so often heard her on sunny mornings in the Province of the Happy -River. She would flutter her fan at me in a way that was peculiarly her -own. And my father! Oh, my dear father!” - -“Aye,” responded Liu Venti. “Our parents loved us, and the love of -parents is a good thing. Here, we live in exile, and though we are happy -in each other, in our children, and in the friendships which the new -light has made possible for us, yet I would that our sons could be -brought up in our own country and not in an American Chinatown.” - -He glanced comprehensively up the street as he said this. A motley -throng, made up, not only of his own countrymen, but of all -nationalities, was scuffling along. Two little children were eating rice -out of a tin dish on a near-by door-step. The singsong voices of girls -were calling to one another from high balconies up a shadowy alley. A -boy, balancing a wooden tray of viands on his head, was crossing the -street. The fat barber was laughing hilariously at a drunken white man -who had fallen into a gutter. A withered old fellow, carrying a bird in -a cage, stood at a corner entreating passers-by to pause and have a good -fortune told. A vender of dried fish and bunches of sausages held noisy -possession of the corner opposite. - -Liu Venti’s glance travelled back to the children eating rice on the -doorstep, then rested on the head of his own young son. - -“And our fathers’ mansions,” said he, “are empty of the voices of little -ones.” - - * * * * * - -“Let us go home,” said Pau Tsu suddenly. - -Liu Venti started. Pau Tsu’s words echoed the wish of his own heart. But -he was not as bold as she. - -“How dare we?” he asked. “Have not our fathers sworn that they will -never forgive us?” - -“The light within me this evening,” replied Pau Tsu, “reveals that our -parents sorrow because they have this sworn. Oh, Liu Venti, ought we not -to make our parents happy, even if we have to do so against their will?” - -“I would that we could,” replied Liu Venti. “But before we can approach -them, there is to be overcome your father’s hatred for my father and my -father’s hatred for thine.” - -A shadow crossed Pau Tsu’s face. But not for long. It lifted as she -softly said: “Love is stronger than hate.” - -Little Waking Eyes clambered upon his father’s knee. - -“Me too,” cried Little Sleeping Eyes, following him. With chubby fists -he pushed his brother to one side and mounted his father also. - -Pau Tsu looked across at her husband and sons. “Oh, Liu Venti,” she -said, “for the sake of our children; for the sake of our parents; for -the sake of a broader field of work for ourselves, we are called upon to -make a sacrifice!” - -Three months later, Liu Venti and Pau Tsu, with mingled sorrow and hope -in their hearts, bade goodbye to their little sons and sent them across -the sea, offerings of love to parents of whom both son and daughter -remembered nothing but love and kindness, yet from whom that son and -daughter were estranged by a poisonous thing called Hate. - - III - -Two little boys were playing together on a beach. One gazed across the -sea with wondering eyes. A thought had come—a memory. - -“Where are father and mother?” he asked, turning to his brother. - -The other little boy gazed bewilderedly back at him and echoed: - -“Where are father and mother?” - -Then the two little fellows sat down in the sand and began to talk to -one another in a queer little old-fashioned way of their own. - -“Grandfathers and grandmothers are very good,” said Little Waking Eyes. - -“Very good,” repeated Little Sleeping Eyes. - -“They give us lots of nice things.” - -“Lots of nice things!” - -“Balls and balloons and puff puffs and kitties.” - -“Balls and balloons and puff puffs and kitties.” - -“The puppet show is very beautiful!” - -“Very beautiful!” - -“And grandfathers fly kites and puff fire flowers!” - -“Fly kites and puff fire flowers!” - -“And grandmothers have cakes and sweeties.” - -“Cakes and sweeties!” - -“But where are father and mother?” - -Little Waking Eyes and Little Sleeping Eyes again searched each other’s -faces; but neither could answer the other’s question. Their little -mouths drooped pathetically; they propped their chubby little faces in -their hands and heaved queer little sighs. - -There were father and mother one time—always, always; father and mother -and Sung Sung. Then there was the big ship and Sung Sung only, and the -big water. After the big water, grandfathers and grandmothers; and -Little Waking Eyes had gone to live with one grandfather and -grandmother, and Little Sleeping Eyes had gone to live with another -grandfather and grandmother. And the old Sung Sung had gone away and two -new Sung Sungs had come. And Little Waking Eyes and Little Sleeping Eyes -had been good and had not cried at all. Had not father and mother said -that grandfathers and grandmothers were just the same as fathers and -mothers? - -“Just the same as fathers and mothers,” repeated Little Waking Eyes to -Little Sleeping Eyes, and Little Sleeping Eyes nodded his head and -solemnly repeated: “Just the same as fathers and mothers.” - -Then all of a sudden Little Waking Eyes stood up, rubbed his fists into -his eyes and shouted: “I want my father and mother; I want my father and -mother!” And Little Sleeping Eyes also stood up and echoed strong and -bold: “I want my father and mother; I want my father and mother.” - -It was the day of rebellion of the sons of Liu Venti and Pau Tsu. - -When the two new Sung Sungs who had been having their fortunes told by -an itinerant fortune-teller whom they had met some distance down the -beach, returned to where they had left their young charges, and found -them not, they were greatly perturbed and rent the air with their cries. -Where could the children have gone? The beach was a lonely one, several -miles from the seaport city where lived the grandparents of the -children. Behind the beach, the bare land rose for a little way back up -the sides and across hills to meet a forest dark and dense. - -Said one Sung Sung to another, looking towards this forest: “One might -as well search for a pin at the bottom of the ocean as search for the -children there. Besides, it is haunted with evil spirits.” - -“A-ya, A-ya, A-ya!” cried the other, “Oh, what will my master and -mistress say if I return home without Little Sleeping Eyes, who is the -golden plum of their hearts?” - -“And what will my master and mistress do to me if I enter their presence -without Little Waking Eyes? I verily believe that the sun shines for -them only when he is around.” - -For over an hour the two distracted servants walked up and down the -beach, calling the names of their little charges; but there was no -response. - - - IV - -Thy grandson—the beloved of my heart, is lost, is lost! Go forth, old -man, and find him.” - -Liu Jusong, who had just returned from the Hall, where from morn till -eve he adjusted the scales of justice, stared speechlessly at the old -lady who had thus accosted him. The loss of his grandson he scarcely -realized; but that his humble spouse had suddenly become his superior -officer, surprised him out of his dignity. - -“What meaneth thy manner?” he bewilderedly inquired. - -“It meaneth,” returned the old lady, “that I have borne all I can bear. -Thy grandson is lost through thy fault. Go, find him!” - -“How my fault? Surely, thou art demented!” - -“Hadst thou not hated Li Wang, Little Waking Eyes and Little Sleeping -Eyes could have played together in our own grounds or within the -compound of Li Wang. But this is no time to discourse on spilt plums. -Go, follow Li Wang in the search for thy grandsons. I hear that he has -already left for the place where the stupid thorns who had them in -charge, declare they disappeared.” - -The old lady broke down. - -“Oh, my little Bright Eyes! Where art thou wandering?” she wailed. - -Liu Jusong regarded her sternly. “If my enemy,” said he, “searcheth for -my grandsons, then will not I.” - -With dignified step he passed out of the room. But in the hall was a -child’s plaything. His glance fell upon it and his expression softened. -Following the servants despatched by his wife, the old mandarin joined -in the search for Little Waking Eyes and Little Sleeping Eyes. - - * * * * * - -Under the quiet stars they met—the two old men who had quarrelled in -student days and who ever since had cultivated hate for each other. The -cause of their quarrel had long been forgotten; but in the fertile soil -of minds irrigated with the belief that the superior man hates well and -long, the seed of hate had germinated and flourished. Was it not because -of that hate that their children were exiles from the homes of their -fathers—those children who had met in a foreign land, and in spite of -their fathers’ hatred, had linked themselves in love. - -They spread their fans before their faces, each pretending not to see -the other, while their servants inquired: “What news of the honorable -little ones?” - -“No news,” came the answer from each side. - -The old men pondered sternly. Finally Liu Jusong said to his servants: -“I will search in the forest.” - -“So also will I,” announced Li Wang. - -Liu Jusong lowered his fan. For the first time in many years he allowed -his eyes to rest on the countenance of his quondam friend, and that -quondam friend returned his glance. But the servant men shuddered. - -“It is the haunted forest,” they cried. “Oh, honorable masters, venture -not amongst evil spirits!” - -But Li Wang laughed them to scorn, as also did Liu Jusong. - -“Give me a lantern,” bade Li Wang. “I will search alone since you are -afraid.” - -He spake to his servants; but it was not his servants who answered: -“Nay, not alone. Thy grandson is my grandson and mine is thine!” - - * * * * * - -“Oh, grandfather,” cried Little Waking Eyes, clasping his arms around -Liu Jusong’s neck, “where are father and mother?” - -And Little Sleeping Eyes murmured in Li Wang’s ear, “I want my father -and mother!” - -Liu Jusong and Li Wang looked at each other. “Let us send for our -children,” said they. - - - V - -“How many moons, Liu Venti, since our little ones went from us?” asked -Pau Tsu. - -She was very pale, and there was a yearning expression in her eyes. - -“Nearly five,” returned Liu Venti, himself stifling a sigh. - -“Sometimes,” said Pau Tsu, “I feel I cannot any longer bear their -absence.” - -She drew from her bosom two little shoes, one red, one blue. - -“Their first,” said she. “Oh, my sons, my little sons!” - -A messenger boy approached, handed Liu Venti a message, and slipped -away. - -Liu Venti read: - - May the bamboo ever wave. Son and daughter, - return to your parents and your children. - - LIU JUSONG, LI WANG. - -“The answer to our prayer,” breathed Pau Tsu. “Oh Liu Venti, love is -indeed stronger than hate!” - - - - - THE BANISHMENT OF MING AND MAI - - - I - -Many years ago in the beautiful land of China, there lived a rich and -benevolent man named Chan Ah Sin. So kind of heart was he that he could -not pass through a market street without buying up all the live fish, -turtles, birds, and animals that he saw, for the purpose of giving them -liberty and life. The animals and birds he would set free in a cool -green forest called the Forest of the Freed, and the fish and turtles he -would release in a moon-loved pool called the Pool of Happy Life. He -also bought up and set free all animals that were caged for show, and -even remembered the reptiles. - -Some centuries after this good man had passed away, one of his -descendants was accused of having offended against the laws of the land, -and he and all of his kin were condemned to be punished therefor. -Amongst his kin were two little seventh cousins named Chan Ming and Chan -Mai, who had lived very happily all their lives with a kind uncle as -guardian and a good old nurse. The punishment meted out to this little -boy and girl was banishment to a wild and lonely forest, which forest -could only be reached by travelling up a dark and mysterious river in a -small boat. The journey was long and perilous, but on the evening of the -third day a black shadow loomed before Ming and Mai. This black shadow -was the forest, the trees of which grew so thickly together and so close -to the river’s edge that their roots interlaced under the water. - -The rough sailors who had taken the children from their home, beached -the boat, and without setting foot to land themselves, lifted the -children out, then quickly pushed away. Their faces were deathly pale, -for they were mortally afraid of the forest, which was said to be -inhabited by innumerable wild animals, winged and crawling things. - -Ming’s lip trembled. He realized that he and his little sister were now -entirely alone, on the edge of a fearsome forest on the shore of a -mysterious river. It seemed to the little fellow, as he thought of his -dear Canton, so full of bright and busy life, that he and Mai had come, -not to another province, but to another world. - -One great, big tear splashed down his cheek. Mai, turning to weep on his -sleeve, saw it, checked her own tears, and slipping a little hand into -his, murmured in his ear: - -“Look up to the heavens, O brother. Behold, the Silver Stream floweth -above us here as bright as it flowed above our own fair home.” (The -Chinese call the Milky Way the Silver Stream.) - -While thus they stood, hand in hand, a moving thing resembling a knobby -log of wood was seen in the river. Strange to say, the children felt no -fear and watched it float towards them with interest. Then a watery -voice was heard. “Most honorable youth and maid,” it said, “go back to -the woods and rest.” - -It was a crocodile. Swimming beside it were a silver and a gold fish, -who leaped in the water and echoed the crocodile’s words; and following -in the wake of the trio, was a big green turtle mumbling: “To the woods, -most excellent, most gracious, and most honorable.” - -Obediently the children turned and began to find their way among the -trees. The woods were not at all rough and thorny as they had supposed -they would be. They were warm and fragrant with aromatic herbs and -shrubs. Moreover, the ground was covered with moss and grass, and the -bushes and young trees bent themselves to allow them to pass through. -But they did not wander far. They were too tired and sleepy. Choosing a -comfortable place in which to rest, they lay down side by side and fell -asleep. - -When they awoke the sun was well up. Mai was the first to open her eyes, -and seeing it shining through the trees, exclaimed: “How beautiful is -the ceiling of my room!” She thought she was at home and had forgotten -the river journey. But the next moment Ming raised his head and said: -“The beauty you see is the sun filtering through the trees and the -forest where—” - -He paused, for he did not wish to alarm his little sister, and he had -nearly said: “Where wild birds and beasts abound.” - -“Oh, dear!” exclaimed Mai in distress. She also thought of the wild -birds and beasts, but like Ming, she also refrained from mentioning -them. - -“I am impatiently hungry,” cried Ming. He eyed enviously a bright little -bird hopping near. The bird had found a good, fat grasshopper for its -breakfast, but when it heard Ming speak, it left the grasshopper and -flew quickly away. - -A moment later there was a great trampling and rustling amongst the -grasses and bushes. The hearts of the children stood still. They clasped -hands. Under every bush and tree, on the branches above them, in a pool -near by, and close beside them, almost touching their knees, appeared a -great company of living things from the animal, fish, fowl, and insect -kingdoms. - -It was true then—what the sailors had told them—only worse; for whereas -they had expected to meet the denizens of the forest, either singly or -in couples, here they were all massed together. - -A tiger opened its mouth. Ming put his sister behind him and said: -“Please, honorable animals, birds, and other kinds of living things, -would some of you kindly retire for a few minutes. We expected to meet -you, but not so many at once, and are naturally overwhelmed with the -honor.” - -“Oh, yes, please your excellencies,” quavered Mai, “or else be so kind -as to give us space in which to retire ourselves, so that we may walk -into the river and trouble you no more. Will we not, honorable brother?” - -“Nay, sister,” answered Ming. “These honorable beings have to be subdued -and made to acknowledge that man is master of this forest. I am here to -conquer them in fight, and am willing to take them singly, in couples, -or even three at a time; but as I said before, the honor of all at once -is somewhat overwhelming.” - -“Oh! ah!” exclaimed Mai, gazing awestruck at her brother. His words made -him more terrible to her than any of the beasts of the field. Just then -the tiger, who had politely waited for Ming and Mai to say their say, -made a strange purring sound, loud, yet strangely soft; fierce, yet -wonderfully kind. It had a surprising effect upon the children, seeming -to soothe them and drive away all fear. One of little Mai’s hands -dropped upon the head of a leopard crouching near, whilst Ming gazed -straight into the tiger’s eyes and smiled as at an old friend. The tiger -smiled in return, and advancing to Ming, laid himself down at his feet, -the tip of his nose resting on the boy’s little red shoes. Then he -rolled his body around three times. Thus in turn did every other animal, -bird, fish, and insect present. It took quite a time and Mai was glad -that she stood behind her brother and received the obeisances by proxy. - -This surprising ceremony over, the tiger sat back upon his haunches and, -addressing Ming, said: - -“Most valorous and honorable descendant of Chan Ah Sin the First: Your -coming and the coming of your exquisite sister will cause the flowers to -bloom fairer and the sun to shine brighter for us. There is, therefore, -no necessity for a trial of your strength or skill with any here. -Believe me, Your Highness, we were conquered many years ago—and not in -fight.” - -“Why! How?” cried Ming. - -“Why! How?” echoed Mai. - -And the tiger said: - -“Many years ago in the beautiful land of China, there lived a rich and -benevolent man named Chan Ah Sin. So kind of heart was he that he could -not pass through a market street without buying up all the live fish, -turtles, birds, and animals that he saw, for the purpose of giving them -liberty and life. These animals and birds he would set free in a cool -green forest called the Forest of the Freed, and the fish and turtles he -would release in a moon-loved pool called the Pool of Happy Life. He -also bought up and set free all animals that were caged for show, and -even remembered the reptiles.” - -The tiger paused. - -“And you,” observed Ming, “you, sir tiger, and your forest companions, -are the descendants of the animals, fish, and turtles thus saved by Chan -Ah Sin the First.” - -“We are, Your Excellency,” replied the tiger, again prostrating himself. -“The beneficent influence of Chan Ah Sin the First, extending throughout -the centuries, has preserved the lives of his young descendants, Chan -Ming and Chan Mai.” - - - II - THE TIGER’S FAREWELL - -Many a moon rose and waned over the Forest of the Freed and the -Moon-loved Pool of Happy Life, and Ming and Mai lived happily and -contentedly amongst their strange companions. To be sure, there were -times when their hearts would ache and their tears would flow for their -kind uncle and good old nurse, also for their little playfellows in -far-away Canton; but those times were few and far between. Full well the -children knew how much brighter and better was their fate than it might -have been. - -One day, when they were by the river, amusing themselves with the -crocodiles and turtles, the water became suddenly disturbed, and lashed -and dashed the shore in a very strange manner for a river naturally calm -and silent. - -“Why, what can be the matter?” cried Ming. - -“An honorable boat is coming,” shouted a goldfish. - -Ming and Mai clasped hands and trembled. - -“It is the sailors,” said they to one another; then stood and watched -with terrified eyes a large boat sail majestically up the broad stream. - -Meanwhile down from the forest had rushed the tiger with his tigress and -cubs, the leopard with his leopardess and cubs, and all the other -animals with their young, and all the birds, and all the insects, and -all the living things that lived in the Forest of the Freed and the -Moon-loved Pool. They surrounded Ming and Mai, crouched at their feet, -swarmed in the trees above their heads, and crowded one another on the -beach and in the water. - -The boat stopped in the middle of the stream, in front of the strip of -forest thus lined with living things. There were two silk-robed men on -it and a number of sailors, also an old woman carrying a gigantic -parasol and a fan whose breeze fluttered the leaves in the Forest of the -Freed. - -When the boat stopped, the old woman cried: “Behold, I see my precious -nurslings surrounded by wild beasts. A-ya, A-ya, A-ya.” Her cries rent -the air and Ming and Mai, seeing that the old woman was Woo Ma, their -old nurse, clapped their little hands in joy. - -“Come hither,” they cried. “Our dear friends will welcome you. They are -not wild beasts. They are elegant and accomplished superior beings.” - -Then one of the men in silken robes commanded the sailors to steer for -the shore, and the other silk-robed man came and leaned over the side of -the boat and said to the tiger and leopard: - -“As I perceive, honorable beings, that you are indeed the friends of my -dear nephew and niece, Chan Ming and Chan Mai, I humbly ask your -permission to allow me to disembark on the shore of this river on the -edge of your forest.” - -The tiger prostrated himself, so also did his brother animals, and all -shouted: - -“Welcome, O most illustrious, most benevolent, and most excellent Chan -Ah Sin the Ninth.” - -So Mai crept into the arms of her nurse and Ming hung on to his uncle’s -robe, and the other silk-robed man explained how and why they had come -to the Forest of the Freed and the Moon-loved Pool. - -A fairy fish, a fairy duck, a fairy butterfly, and a fairy bird, who had -seen the children on the river when the cruel sailors were taking them -from their home, had carried the news to the peasants of the rice -fields, the tea plantations, the palm and bamboo groves. Whereupon great -indignation had prevailed, and the people of the province, who loved -well the Chan family, arose in their might and demanded that an -investigation be made into the charges against that Chan who was reputed -to have broken the law, and whose relatives as well as himself had been -condemned to suffer therefor. So it came to pass that the charges, which -had been made by some malicious enemy of high official rank, were -entirely disproved, and the edict of banishment against the Chan family -recalled. - -The first thought of the uncle of Ming and Mai, upon being liberated -from prison, was for his little nephew and niece, and great indeed was -his alarm and grief upon learning that the two tender scions of the -house of Chan had been banished to a lonely forest by a haunted river, -which forest and river were said to be inhabited by wild and cruel -beings. Moreover, since the sailors who had taken them there, and who -were the only persons who knew where the forest was situated, had been -drowned in a swift rushing rapid upon their return journey, it seemed -almost impossible to trace the little ones, and Chan Ah Sin the Ninth -was about giving up in despair, when the fairy bird, fish, and -butterfly, who had aroused the peasants, also aroused the uncle by -appearing to him and telling him where the forest of banishment lay and -how to reach it. - -“Yes,” said Chan Ah Sin the Ninth, when his friend ceased speaking, “but -they did not tell me that I should find my niece and nephew so tenderly -cared for. Heaven alone knows why you have been so good to my beloved -children.” - -He bowed low to the tiger, leopard, and all the living things around -him. - -“Most excellent and honorable Chan Ah Sin the Ninth,” replied the Tiger, -prostrating himself, “we have had the pleasure and privilege of being -good to these little ones, because many years ago in the beautiful land -of China, your honorable ancestor, Chan Ah Sin the First, was good and -kind to our forefathers.” - -Then arising upon his hind legs, he turned to Ming and Mai and tenderly -touching them with his paws, said: - -“Honorable little ones, your banishment is over, and those who roam the -Forest of the Freed, and dwell in the depths of the Pool of Happy Life, -will behold no more the light of your eyes. May heaven bless you and -preserve you to be as good and noble ancestors to your descendants as -your ancestor, Chan Ah Sin the First, was to you.” - - - - - THE STORY OF A LITTLE CHINESE - SEABIRD - -A little Chinese seabird sat in the grass which grew on a rocky island. -The little Chinese seabird was very sad. Her wing was broken and all her -brothers and sisters had flown away, leaving her alone. Why, oh why, had -she broken her wing? Why, oh why, were brothers and sisters so? - -The little Chinese seabird looked over the sea. How very beautiful its -life and movement! The sea was the only consolation the little Chinese -seabird had. It was always lovely and loving to the little Chinese -seabird. No matter how often the white-fringed waves spent themselves -for her delight, there were always more to follow. Changeably unchanged, -they never deserted her nor her island home. Not so with her brothers -and sisters. When she could fly with them, circle in the air, float upon -the water, dive for little fish, and be happy and gay—then indeed she -was one of them and they loved her. But since she had broken her wing, -it was different. The little Chinese seabird shook her little head -mournfully. - -But what was that which the waves were bearing towards her island? The -little Chinese seabird gave a quick glance, then put her little head -under the wing that was not broken. - -Now, what the little Chinese seabird had seen was a boat. Within the -boat were three boys—and these boys were coming to the island to hunt -for birds’ eggs. The little Chinese seabird knew this, and her bright, -wild little eyes glistened like jewels, and she shivered and shuddered -as she spread herself as close to the ground as she could. - -The boys beached the boat and were soon scrambling over the island, -gathering all the eggs that they could find. Sometimes they passed so -near to the little Chinese seabird that she thought she must surely be -trampled upon, and she set her little beak tight and close so that she -might make no sound, should so painful an accident occur. Once, however, -when the tip of a boy’s queue dangled against her head and tickled it, -the little Chinese seabird forgot entirely her prudent resolve to suffer -in silence, and recklessly peeked at the dangling queue. Fortunately for -her, the mother who had braided the queue of the boy had neglected to -tie properly the bright red cord at the end thereof. Therefore when the -little Chinese seabird pecked at the braid, the effect of the peck was -not to cause pain to the boy and make him turn around, as might -otherwise have been the case, but to pull out of his queue the bright -red cord. This, the little Chinese seabird held in her beak for quite a -long time. She enjoyed glancing down at its bright red color, and was -afraid to let it fall in case the boys might hear. - -Meanwhile, the boys, having gathered all the eggs they could find, -plotted together against the little Chinese seabird and against her -brothers and sisters, and the little seabird, holding the red cord in -her beak, listened with interest. For many hours after the boys had left -the island, the little Chinese seabird sat meditating over what she had -heard. So deeply did she meditate that she forgot all about the pain of -her broken wing. - -Towards evening her brothers and sisters came home and settled over the -island like a wide-spreading mantle of wings. - -For some time the little Chinese seabird remained perfectly still and -quiet. She kept saying to herself, “Why should I care? Why should I -care?” But as she did care, she suddenly let fall the bright red cord -and opened and closed her beak several times. - -“What is all that noise?” inquired the eldest seabird. - -“Dear brother,” returned the little Chinese seabird, “I hope I have not -disturbed you; but is not this a very lovely night? See how radiant the -moon.” - -“Go to sleep! Go to sleep!” - -“Did you have an enjoyable flight today, brother?” - -“Tiresome little bird, go to sleep, go to sleep.” - -It was the little Chinese seabird’s eldest sister that last spoke. - -“Oh, sister, is that you?” replied the little Chinese seabird. “I could -see you last of the flock as you departed from our island, and I did so -admire the satin white of your under-wings and tail.” - -“Mine is whiter,” chirped the youngest of all the birds. - -“Go to sleep, go to sleep!” snapped the eldest brother. - -“What did you have to eat today?” inquired the second brother of the -little Chinese seabird. - -“I had a very tasty worm porridge, dear brother,” replied the little -Chinese seabird. “I scooped it out of the ground beside me, because you -know I dared not move any distance for fear of making worse my broken -wing.” - -“Your broken wing? Ah, yes, your broken wing!” murmured the second -brother. - -“Ah, yes, your broken wing!” faintly echoed the others. - -Then they all, except the very youngest one, put their heads under their -own wings, for they all, except the very youngest one, felt a little bit -ashamed of themselves. - -But the little Chinese seabird did not wish her brothers and sisters to -feel ashamed of themselves. It embarrassed her, so she lifted up her -little voice again, and said: - -“But I enjoyed the day exceedingly. The sea was never so lovely nor the -sky either. When I was tired of watching the waves chase each other, I -could look up and watch the clouds. They sailed over the blue sky so -soft and white.” - -“There’s no fun in just watching things,” said the youngest of all the -birds: “we went right up into the clouds and then deep down into the -waves. How we splashed and dived and swam! When I fluttered my wings -after a bath in silver spray, it seemed as if a shower of jewels dropped -therefrom.” - -“How lovely!” exclaimed the little Chinese seabird. Then she remembered -that if her brothers and sisters were to have just as good a time the -next day, she must tell them a story—a true one. - -So she did. - -After she had finished speaking, there was a great fluttering of wings, -and all her brothers and sisters rose in the air above her, ready for -flight. - -“To think,” they chattered to one another, “that if we had remained an -hour longer, those wicked boys would have come with lighted torches and -caught us and dashed us to death against stones.” - -“Yes, and dressed us and salted us!” - -“And dressed us and salted us!” - -“And dried us!” - -“And dried us!” - -“And eaten us!” - -“And eaten us!” - -“How rude!” - -“How inconsiderate!” - -“How altogether uncalled for!” - -“Are you quite sure?” inquired the eldest brother of the little Chinese -seabird. - -“See,” she replied, “here is the red cord from the queue of one of the -boys. I picked it out as his braid dangled against my head!” - -The brothers and sisters looked at one another. - -“How near they must have come to her!” exclaimed the eldest sister. - -“They might have trampled her to death in a very unbecoming manner!” -remarked the second. - -“They will be sure to do it tonight when they search with torchlight,” -was the opinion of the second brother. - -And the eldest brother looked sharply down upon the little Chinese -seabird, and said: - -“If you had not told us what these rude boys intended doing, you would -not have had to die alone.” - -“I prefer to die alone!” proudly replied the little Chinese seabird. “It -will be much pleasanter to die in quiet than with wailing screams in my -ears.” - -“Hear her, oh, hear her!” exclaimed the second sister. - -But the eldest sister, she with the satin-white under-wings and -spreading tail, descended to the ground, and began pulling up some tough -grass. “Come,” she cried to the other birds, “let us make a strong nest -for our broken-winged little sister—a nest in which we can bear away to -safety one who tonight has saved our lives without thought of her own.” - -“We will, with pleasure,” answered the other birds. - -Whereupon they fluttered down and helped to build the most wonderful -nest that ever was built, weaving in and out of it the bright red cord, -which the little Chinese seabird had plucked out of the boy’s queue. -This made the nest strong enough to bear the weight of the little -Chinese seabird, and when it was finished they dragged it beside her and -tenderly pushed her in. Then they clutched its sides with their beaks, -flapped their wings, and in a moment were soaring together far up in the -sky, the little Chinese seabird with the broken wing happy as she could -be in the midst of them. - - - - - WHAT ABOUT THE CAT? - - -“What about the cat?” asked the little princess of her eldest maid. - -“It is sitting on the sunny side of the garden wall, watching the -butterflies. It meowed for three of the prettiest to fall into its -mouth, and would you believe it, that is just what happened. A green, a -blue, a pink shaded with gold, all went down pussy’s red throat.” - -The princess smiled. “What about the cat?” she questioned her second -maid. - -“She is seated in your honorable father’s chair of state, and your -honorable father’s first body-slave is scratching her back with your -father’s own back-scratcher, made of the purest gold and ivory.” - -The princess laughed outright. She pattered gracefully into another -room. There she saw the youngest daughter of her foster-mother. - -“What about the cat?” she asked for the third time. - -“The cat! Oh, she has gone to Shinku’s duck farm. The ducks love her so -that when they see her, they swim to shore and embrace her with their -wings. Four of them combined to make a raft and she got upon their backs -and went down-stream with them. They met some of the ducklings on the -way and she patted them to death with her paws. How the big ducks -quacked!” - -“That is a good story,” quoth the princess. - -She went into the garden and, seeing one of the gardeners, said: “What -about the cat?” - -“It is frisking somewhere under the cherry tree, but you would not know -it if you saw it,” replied the gardener. - -“Why?” asked the princess. - -“Because, Your Highness, I gave it a strong worm porridge for its -dinner, and as soon as it ate it, its white fur coat became a glossy -green, striped with black. It looks like a giant caterpillar, and all -the little caterpillars are going to hold a festival tonight in its -honor.” - -“Deary me! What a great cat!” exclaimed the princess. - -A little further on she met one of the chamberlains of the palace. “What -about the cat?” she asked. - -“It is dancing in the ballroom in a dress of elegant cobwebs and a -necklace of pearl rice. For partner, she has the yellow dragon in the -hall, come to life, and they take such pretty steps together that all -who behold them shriek in ecstasy. Three little mice hold up her train -as she dances, and another sits perched on the tip of the dragon’s -curled tail.” - -At this the princess quivered like a willow tree and was obliged to seek -her apartments. When there, she recovered herself, and placing a blossom -on her exquisite eyebrow, commanded that all those of whom she had -inquired concerning the cat should be brought before her. When they -appeared she looked at them very severely and said: - -“You have all told me different stories when I have asked you: ‘What -about the cat?’ Which of these stories is true?” - -No one answered. All trembled and paled. - -“They are all untrue,” announced the princess. - -She lifted her arm and there crawled out of her sleeve her white cat. It -had been there all the time. - -Then the courtly chamberlain advanced towards her, kotowing three times. -“Princess,” said he, “would a story be a story if it were true? Would -you have been as well entertained this morning if, instead of our -stories, we, your unworthy servants, had simply told you that the cat -was up your sleeve?” - -The princess lost her severity in hilarity. “Thank you, my dear -servants,” said she. “I appreciate your desire to amuse me.” - -She looked at her cat, thought of all it had done and been in the minds -of her servants, and laughed like a princess again and again. - - - - - THE WILD MAN AND THE GENTLE - BOY - - -“Will you come with me?” said the Wild Man. - -“With pleasure,” replied the Gentle Boy. - -The Wild Man took the Gentle Boy by the hand, and together they waded -through rice fields, climbed tea hills, plunged through forests and at -last came to a wide road, shaded on either side by large evergreen -trees, with resting places made of bamboo sticks every mile or so. - -“My honorable father provided these resting places for the poor -carriers,” said the Gentle Boy. “Here they can lay their burdens down, -eat betel nuts, and rest.” - -“Oh, ho,” laughed the Wild Man. “I don’t think there will be many -carriers resting today. I cleared the road before I brought you.” - -“Indeed!” replied the Gentle Boy. “May I ask how?” - -“Ate them up.” - -“Ah!” sighed the Gentle Boy. He felt the silence and stillness around. -The very leaves had ceased to flutter, and only the soul of a bird -hovered near. - -The Wild Man had gigantic arms and legs and a broad, hairy chest. His -mouth was exceeding large and his head was unshaved. He wore a sack of -coarse linen, open in front with holes for arms. On his head was a -rattan cap, besmeared with the blood of a deer. - -The Gentle Boy was small and plump; his skin was like silk and the tips -of his little fingers were pink. His queue was neatly braided and -interwoven with silks of many colors. He wore a peach-colored blouse and -azure pantaloons, all richly embroidered, and of the finest material. -The buttons on his tunic were of pure gold, and the sign of the dragon -was worked on his cap. He was of the salt of the earth, a descendant of -Confutze, an aristocrat of aristocrats. - -“Of what are you thinking?” asked the Wild Man. - -“About the carriers. Did they taste good?” asked the Gentle Boy with -mild curiosity. - -“Yes, but there is something that will taste better, younger and -tenderer, you know.” - -He surveyed the Gentle Boy with glistening eyes. - -The Gentle Boy thought of his father’s mansion, the frescoed ceilings, -the chandeliers hung with pearls, the great blue vases, the dragon’s -smiles, the galleries of glass through which walked his mother and -sisters; but most of all, he thought of his noble ancestors. - -“What would Your Excellency be pleased to converse about?” he inquired -after a few minutes, during which the Wild Man had been engaged in -silent contemplation of the Gentle Boy’s chubby cheeks. - -“About good things to eat,” promptly replied the Wild Man. - -“Very well,” politely replied the Gentle Boy. “There are a great many,” -he dreamily observed, staring into space. - -“Tell me about some of the fine dishes in your father’s kitchen. It is -they who have made you.” - -The Gentle Boy looked complacently up and down himself. - -“I hope in all humility,” he said, “that I do honor to my father’s -cook’s dishes.” - -The Wild Man laughed so boisterously that the trees rocked. - -“There is iced seaweed jelly, for one thing,” began the Gentle Boy, “and -a ragout of water lilies, pork and chicken dumplings with bamboo shoots, -bird’s-nest soup and boiled almonds, ducks’ eggs one hundred years old, -garnished with strips of sucking pig and heavenly fish fried in paradise -oil, white balls of rice flour stuffed with sweetmeats, honey and -rose-leaves, candied frogs and salted crabs, sugared seaweed and pickled -stars.” - -He paused. - -“Now, tell me,” said the Wild Man, “which of all things would you like -best to eat?” - -The Gentle Boy’s eye wandered musingly over the Wild Man’s gigantic -proportions, his hungry mouth, his fanglike teeth. He flipped a ladybird -insect off his silken cuff and smiled at the Wild Man as he did so. - -“Best of all, honorable sir,” he slowly said, “I would like to eat you.” - -The Wild Man sat transfixed, staring at the Gentle Boy, his mouth half -open, the hair standing up on his head. And to this day he sits there, -on the high road to Cheang Che, a piece of petrified stone. - - - - - THE GARMENTS OF THE FAIRIES - -“Why do we never see the fairies?” asked Mermei. - -“Because,” replied her mother, “the fairies do not wish to be seen.” - -“But why, honorable mother, do they not wish to be seen?” - -“Would my jade jewel wish to show herself to strangers if she wore no -tunic or shoes or rosettes?” - -Mermei glanced down at her blue silk tunic embroidered in white and -gold, at her scarlet shoes beaded at the tips so as to resemble the -heads of kittens; and looking over to a mirror hung on the side of the -wall where the sun shone, noted the purple rosettes in her hair and the -bright butterfly’s wing. - -“Oh, no! honorable mother,” said she, shaking her head with quite a -shocked air. - -“Then, when you hear the reason why the fairies do not appear to you -except in your dreams, you will know that they are doing just as you -would do were you in a fairy’s shoes.” - -“A story! A story!” cried Mermei, clapping her hands and waving her fan, -and Choy and Fei and Wei and Sui, who were playing battledore and -shuttlecock on the green, ran into the house and grouped themselves -around Mermei and the mother. They all loved stories. - -“Many, many years ago,” began the mother of Mermei, “when the sun was a -warm-hearted but mischievous boy, playing all kinds of pranks with -fruits and flowers and growing things, and his sister, the moon, was too -young to be sad and serious, the fairies met together by night. The sun, -of course, was not present, and the moon had withdrawn behind a cloud. -Stars alone shone in the quiet sky. By their light the fairies looked -upon each other, and found themselves so fair and radiant in their robes -of varied hues, all wonderfully fashioned, fringed and laced, some -bright and brilliant, others, delicate and gauzy, but each and all a -perfect dream of loveliness, that they danced for very joy in themselves -and the garments in which they were arrayed. - -“The dance being over, the queen of all sighed a fragrant sigh of -happiness upon the air, and bowing to her lovely companions said: - -“‘Sweet sisters, the mission of the fairies is to gladden the hearts of -the mortals. Let us, therefore, this night, leave behind us on the earth -the exquisite garments whose hues and fashions have given us so much -pleasure. And because we may not be seen uncovered, let us from -henceforth be invisible.’ - -“‘We will! We will!’ cried the sister fairies. They were all good and -kind of heart, and much as they loved their dainty robes, they loved -better to give happiness to others. - -“And that is why the fairies are invisible, and why we have the -flowers.” - -“The flowers!” cried Mermei. “Why the flowers?” - -“And the fairies’ garments! Where can we find them?” asked Fei with the -starry eyes. - -“In the gardens, in the forests, and by the streams,” answered the -mother. “The flowers, dear children, are the bright-hued garments which -the fairies left behind them when they flew from earth, never to return -again, save invisible.” - - - - - THE DREAMS THAT FAILED - - -Ping Sik and Soon Yen sat by the roadside under a spreading olive tree. -They were on their way to market to sell two little pigs. With the money -to be obtained from the sale of the little pigs, they were to buy caps -and shoes with which to attend school. - -“When I get to be a man,” said Ping Sik, “I will be so great and so -glorious that the Emperor will allow me to wear a three-eyed peacock -feather, and whenever I walk abroad, all who meet me will bow to the -ground.” - -“And I,” said Soon Yen, “will be a great general. The reins of my steeds -will be purple and scarlet, and in my cap will wave a bright blue -plume.” - -“I shall be such a great poet and scholar,” continued Ping Sik, “that -the greatest university in the Middle Kingdom will present me with a -vase encrusted with pearls.” - -“And I shall be so valiant and trustworthy that the Pearly Emperor will -appoint me commander-in-chief of his army, and his enemies will tremble -at the sound of my name.” - -“I shall wear a yellow jacket with the names of three ancestors -inscribed thereon in seven colors.” - -“And I shall wear silk robes spun by princesses, and a cloak of throat -skins of sables.” - -“And I shall live in a mansion of marble and gold.” - -“And I in halls of jadestone.” - -“And I will own silk and tea plantations and tens of thousands of rice -farms.” - -“All the bamboo country shall be mine, and the rivers and sea shall be -full of my fishing boats, junks, and craft of all kinds.” - -“People will bow down before me and cry: ‘Oh, most excellent, most -gracious, most beautiful!’” - -“None will dare offend so mighty a man as I shall be!” - -“O ho! You good-for-nothing rascals!” cried the father of Ping Sik. -“What are you doing loafing under a tree when you should be speeding to -market?” - -“And the little pigs, where are they?” cried the father of Soon Yen. - -The boys looked down at the baskets which had held the little pigs. -While they had been dreaming of future glories, the young porkers had -managed to scramble out of the loosely woven bamboo thatch of which the -baskets were made. - -The fathers of Ping Sik and Soon Yen produced canes. - -“Without shoes and caps,” said they, “you cannot attend school. -Therefore, back to the farm and feed pigs.” - - - - - GLAD YEN - - -“I’m so glad! so glad!” shouted little Yen. - -“Why?” asked Wou. “Has any one given you a gold box with jewels, or a -peacock feather fan, or a coat of many colors, or a purse of gold? Has -your father become rich or been made a high mandarin?” - -Wou sighed as he put these questions. He had voiced his own longings. - -“No,” answered Yen, giving a hop, skip, and jump. - -“Then, why are you glad?” repeated Wou. - -“Why?” Yen’s bright face grew brighter. “Oh, because I have such a -beautiful blue sky, such a rippling river, waterfalls that look like -lace and pearls and diamonds, and sun-beams brighter and more radiant -than the finest jewels. Because I have chirping insects, and flying -beetles, and dear, wiggly worms—and birds, oh, such lovely birds, all -colors! And some of them can sing. I have a sun and a moon and stars. -And flowers? Wouldn’t any one be glad at the sight of flowers?” - -Wou’s sad and melancholy face suddenly lighted and overflowed with -smiles. - -“Why,” said he, “I have all these bright and beautiful things. I have -the beautiful sky, and water, and birds, and flowers, too! I have the -sun, and the moon, and the stars, just as you have! I never thought of -that before!” - -“Of course you have,” replied Yen. “You have all that is mine, and I all -that is yours, yet neither can take from the other!” - - - - - THE DECEPTIVE MAT - - -When Tsin Yen was about eight years old, he and his little brother were -one fine day enjoying a game of battledore and shuttlecock on the green -lawn, which their father had reserved as a playground for their use. The -lawn was a part of a very elaborate garden laid out with many rare -flowers and ferns and exquisite plants in costly porcelain jars. The -whole was enclosed behind high walls. - -It was a very warm day and the garden gate had been left open, so that -the breeze could better blow within. A man stood outside the gate, -watching the boys. He carried a small parcel under his arm. - -“Will not the jewel eyes of the honorable little ones deign to turn my -way?” he cried at last. - -Tsin Yen and Tsin Yo looked over at him. - -“What is your wish, honorable sir?” asked Tsin Yen. - -And the man replied: “That I may be allowed space in which to spread my -mat on your green. The road outside is dusty and the insects are more -lively than suits my melancholy mood.” - -“Spread your mat, good sir,” hastily answered Tsin Yen, giving a quick -glance at the small parcel, and returning to his play. - -The man began quietly to unroll his bundle, Tsin Yen and Tsin Yo being -too much interested in their play to pay much attention to him. But a -few minutes passed, however, before the stranger touched Tsin Yen’s -sleeve, and bade him stand aside. - -“For what reason, honorable sir?” asked Tsin Yen, much surprised. - -“Did not you consent to my spreading my mat, most ingenuous son of an -illustrious father?” returned the man. He pointed to his mat. Of cobweb -texture and cobweb color, it already covered almost the whole green -lawn, and there was a portion yet unrolled. - -“How could I know that so small a bundle would make so large a mat?” -exclaimed Tsin Yen protestingly. - -“But you should have thought, my son,” said the father of Tsin Yen, who -now appeared upon the scene. “If you had thought before consenting to -the spreading of the mat, you would not, this fine afternoon, be obliged -to yield your playground to a stranger. However, the word of a Tsin must -be made good. Stand aside, my sons.” - -So Tsin Yen and Tsin Yo stood aside and watched with indignant eyes the -deceptive mat unrolled over the whole space where they were wont to -play. When it was spread to its full capacity, the man seated himself in -the middle, and remained thereon until the setting of the sun. - -And that is the reason why Tsin Yen, when he became a man, always -thought for three minutes before allowing any word to escape his lips. - - - - - THE HEART’S DESIRE - - -She was dainty, slender, and of waxen pallor. Her eyes were long and -drooping, her eyebrows finely arched. She had the tiniest Golden Lily -feet and the glossiest black hair. Her name was Li Chung O’Yam, and she -lived in a sad, beautiful old palace surrounded by a sad, beautiful old -garden, situated on a charming island in the middle of a lake. This lake -was spanned by marble bridges, entwined with green creepers, reaching to -the mainland. No boats were ever seen on its waters, but the pink lotus -lily floated thereon and swans of marvellous whiteness. - -Li Chung O’Yam wore priceless silks and radiant jewels. The rarest -flowers bloomed for her alone. Her food and drink were of the finest -flavors and served in the purest gold and silver plates and goblets. The -sweetest music lulled her to sleep. - -Yet Li Chung O’Yam was not happy. In the midst of the grandeur of her -enchanted palace, she sighed for she knew not what. - -“She is weary of being alone,” said one of the attendants. And he who -ruled all within the palace save Li Chung O’Yam, said: “Bring her a -father!” - -A portly old mandarin was brought to O’Yam. She made humble obeisance, -and her august father inquired ceremoniously as to the state of her -health, but she sighed and was still weary. - -“We have made a mistake; it is a mother she needs,” said they. - -A comely matron, robed in rich silks and waving a beautiful peacock -feather fan, was presented to O’Yam as her mother. The lady delivered -herself of much good advice and wise instruction as to deportment and -speech, but O’Yam turned herself on her silken cushions and wished to -say goodbye to her mother. - -Then they led O’Yam into a courtyard which was profusely illuminated -with brilliant lanterns and flaring torches. There were a number of -little boys of about her own age dancing on stilts. One little fellow, -dressed all in scarlet and flourishing a small sword, was pointed out to -her as her brother. O’Yam was amused for a few moments, but in a little -while she was tired of the noise and confusion. - -In despair, they who lived but to please her consulted amongst -themselves. O’Yam, overhearing them, said: “Trouble not your minds. I -will find my own heart’s ease.” - -Then she called for her carrier dove, and had an attendant bind under -its wing a note which she had written. The dove went forth and flew with -the note to where a little girl named Ku Yum, with a face as round as a -harvest moon, and a mouth like a red vine leaf, was hugging a cat to -keep her warm and sucking her finger to prevent her from being hungry. -To this little girl the dove delivered O’Yam’s message, then returned to -its mistress. - -“Bring me my dolls and my cats, and attire me in my brightest and best,” -cried O’Yam. - -When Ku Yum came slowly over one of the marble bridges towards the -palace wherein dwelt Li Chung O’Yam, she wore a blue cotton blouse, -carried a peg doll in one hand and her cat in another. O’Yam ran to -greet her and brought her into the castle hall. Ku Yum looked at O’Yam, -at her radiant apparel, at her cats and her dolls. - -“Ah!” she exclaimed. “How beautifully you are robed! In the same colors -as I. And behold, your dolls and your cats, are they not much like -mine?” - -“Indeed they are,” replied O’Yam, lifting carefully the peg doll and -patting the rough fur of Ku Yum’s cat. - -Then she called her people together and said to them: - -“Behold, I have found my heart’s desire—a little sister.” - -And forever after O’Yam and Ku Yum lived happily together in a glad, -beautiful old palace, surrounded by a glad, beautiful old garden, on a -charming little island in the middle of a lake. - - - - - THE CANDY THAT IS NOT - SWEET - - -Grandfather Chan was dozing in a big red chair. Beside him stood the -baby’s cradle, a thick basket held in a stout framework of wood. Inside -the cradle lay the baby. He was very good and quiet and fast asleep. - -The cottage door was open. On the green in front played Yen. Mother -Chan, who was taking a cup of afternoon tea with a neighbor, had said to -him when she bade him goodbye, “Be a good little son and take good care -of the baby and your honorable grandfather.” - -Yen wore a scarlet silk skullcap, a gaily embroidered vest, and purple -trousers. He had the roundest and smoothest of faces and the brightest -of eyes. Some pretty stones which he had found heaped up in a corner of -the green were affording him great delight and joy, and he was rubbing -his fat little hands over them, when there arose upon the air the cry of -Bo Shuie, the candy man. Yen gave a hop and a jump. In a moment he was -at the corner of the street where stood the candy man, a whole hive of -little folks grouped around him. Never was there such a fascinating -fellow as this candy man. What a splendid big pole was that he had slung -over his broad shoulders, and, oh, the baskets of sweetmeats which -depended from it on either side! - -Yen gazed wistfully at the sugared almonds and limes, the ginger and -spice cakes, and the barley sugar and cocoanut. - -“I will take that, honorable candy man,” said he, pointing to a twisted -sugar stick of many colors. - -“Cash!” said the candy man holding out his hand. - -“Oh!” exclaimed Yen. He had thought only of sugar and forgotten he had -no cash. - -“Give it to me, honorable peddler man,” said Han Yu. “I have a cash.” - -The peddler man transferred from his basket to the eager little hands of -Han Yu the sugar stick of many colors. - -Quick as his chubby legs could carry him, Yen ran back to the cottage. -His grandfather was still dozing. - -“Grandfather, honorable grandfather,” cried Yen. But his grandfather did -not hear. - -Upon a hook on the wall hung a long string of cash. Mother Chan had hung -it there for her use when passing peddlers called. - -Yen had thought to ask his grandfather to give him one of the copper -coins which were strung on the string, but as his grandfather did not -awaken at his call, he changed his mind. You see, he had suddenly -remembered that the day before he had felt a pain, and when he had -cried, his mother had said: “No more candy for Yen.” - -For some moments Yen stood hesitating and looking at the many copper -coins on the bright red string. It hung just low enough to be reached, -and Yen knew how to work the cash over the knot at the end. His mother -had shown him how so that he could hand them over to her for the -peddlers. - -Ah, how pleasant, how good that smelt! The candy man, who carried with -his baskets a tin saucepan and a little charcoal stove, had set about -making candy, and the smell of the barley sugar was wafted from the -corner to Yen’s little nose. - -Yen hesitated no longer. Grabbing the end of the string of cash, he -pulled therefrom three coins, and with a hop and a jump was out in the -street again. - -“I will take three sticks of twisted candy of many colors,” said he to -the candy man. - -With his three sticks of candy Yen returned to the green. He had just -bitten a piece off the brightest stick of all when his eyes fell on a -spinning top which his mother had given him that morning. He crunched -the candy, but somehow or other it did not taste sweet. - -“Yen! Yen!” called his grandfather, awaking from his sleep. - -Yen ran across to him. - -“Honorable grandfather,” said he, “I have some beautiful candy for you!” - -He put the three sticks of candy upon his grandfather’s knees. - -“Dear child!” exclaimed the old man, adjusting his spectacles. “How did -you come to get the candy?” - -Yen’s little face became very red. He knew that he had done wrong, so -instead of answering his grandfather, he hopped three times. - -“How did you get the candy?” again inquired Grandfather Chan. - -“From the candy man,” said Yen, “from the candy man. Eat it, eat it.” - -Now Grandfather Chan was a little deaf, and taking for granted that Yen -had explained the candy all right, he nibbled a little at one of the -sticks, then put it down. - -“Eat some more, eat all, honorable grandfather,” urged Yen. - -The old man laughed and shook his head. - -“I cannot eat any more,” said he. “The old man is not the little boy.” - -“But—but,” puffed Yen, becoming red in the face again, “I want you to -eat it, honorable grandfather.” - -But Grandfather Chan would not eat any more candy, and Yen began to puff -and blow and talk very loud because he would not. Indeed, by the time -Mother Chan returned, he was as red as a turkeycock and chattering like -a little magpie. - -“I do not know what is the matter with the little boy,” said Grandfather -Chan. “He is so vexed because I cannot eat his candy.” - -Mother Chan glanced at the string of cash and then at her little son’s -flushed face. - -“I know,” said she. “The candy is not sweet to him, so he would have his -honorable grandfather eat it.” - -Yen stared at his mother. How did she know! How could she know! But he -was glad that she knew, and at sundown he crept softly to her side and -said, “Honorable mother, the string of cash is less than at morn, but -the candy, it was not sweet.” - - - - - THE INFERIOR MAN - - -Ku Yum, the little daughter of Wen Hing, the schoolmaster, trotted into -the school behind her father and crawled under his desk. From that safe -retreat, her bright eyes looked out in friendly fashion upon the boys. -Ku Yum was three years old and was the only little girl who had ever -been in the schoolroom. Naturally, the boys were very much interested in -her, and many were the covert glances bestowed upon the chubby little -figure in red under the schoolmaster’s desk. Now and then a little lad, -after an unusually penetrating glance, would throw his sleeve over or -lift his slate up to his face, and his form would quiver strangely. Well -for the little lad that the schoolmaster wore glasses which somewhat -clouded his vision. - -The wife of Wen Hing was not very well, which was the reason why the -teacher had been bringing the little Ku Yum to school with him for the -last three weeks. Wen Hing, being a kind husband, thought to help his -wife, who had two babies besides Ku Yum to look after. - -But for all his troubled mind, the schoolmaster’s sense of duty to his -scholars was as keen as ever; also his sense of smell. - -Suddenly he turned from the blackboard upon which he had been chalking. - -“He who thinks only of good things to eat is an inferior man,” and -pushing back his spectacles, declared in a voice which caused his pupils -to shake in their shoes: - -“Some degenerate son of an honorable parent is eating unfragrant sugar.” - -“Unfragrant sugar! honorable sir!” exclaimed Han Wenti. - -“Unfragrant sugar!” echoed little Yen Wing. - -“Unfragrant sugar!” - -“Unfragrant sugar!” - -The murmur passed around the room. - -“Silence!” commanded the teacher. - -There was silence. - -“Go Ek Ju,” said the teacher, “why is thy miserable head bowed?” - -“Because, O wise and just one, I am composing,” answered Go Ek Ju. - -“Read thy composition.” - -“A wild boar and a sucking pig were eating acorns from the bed of a -sunken stream,” shrilly declaimed Go Ek Ju. - -“Enough! It can easily be perceived what thy mind is on. Canst thou look -at me behind my back and declare that thou art not eating unfragrant -sugar?” - -“To thy illuminating back, honorable sir, I declare that I am not eating -unfragrant sugar.” - -The teacher’s brow became yet sterner. - -“You, Mark Sing! Art thou the unfragrant sugar eater?” - -“I know not the taste of that confection, most learned sir.” - -The teacher sniffed. - -“Some one,” he reasserted, “is eating unfragrant sugar. Whoever the -miserable culprit is, let him speak now, and four strokes from the -rattan is all that he shall receive.” - -He paused. The clock ticked sixty times; but there was no response to -his appeal. He lifted his rattan. - -“As no guilty one,” said he, “is honorable enough to acknowledge that he -is dishonorably eating unfragrant sugar, I shall punish all for the -offense, knowing that thereby the offender will receive justice. Go Ek -Ju, come forward, and receive eight strokes from the rattan.” - -Go Ek Ju went forward and received the eight strokes. As he stood -trembling with pain before the schoolmaster’s desk, he felt a small hand -grasp his foot. His lip tightened. Then he returned to his seat, sore, -but undaunted, and unconfessed. In like manner also his schoolmates -received the rattan. - -When the fifteen aching but unrepentant scholars were copying -industriously, “He who thinks only of good things to eat is an inferior -man,” and the schoolmaster, exhausted, had flung himself back on his -seat, a little figure in red emerged from under the schoolmaster’s desk -and attempted to clamber on to his lap. The schoolmaster held her back. - -“What! What!” he exclaimed. “What! what!” He rubbed his head in puzzled -fashion. Then he lifted up the little red figure, turning its face -around to the schoolboys. Such a chubby, happy little face as it was. -Dimpled cheeks and pearly teeth showing in a gleeful smile. And the -hands of the little red figure grasped two sticky balls of red and white -peppermint candy—unfragrant sugar. - -“Behold!” said the teacher, with a twinkle in his spectacles, “the -inferior man!” - -Whereupon the boys forgot that they were aching. You see, they loved the -little Ku Yum and believed that they had saved her from eight strokes of -the rattan. - - - - - THE MERRY BLIND-MAN - - -The little finger on Ah Yen’s little left hand was very sore. Ah Yen had -poked it into a hot honey tart. His honorable mother had said: “Yen, you -must not touch that tart,” but just as soon as his honorable mother had -left the room, Yen forgot what she had said, and thrust the littlest -finger of his little left hand right into the softest, sweetest, and -hottest part of the tart. - -Now he sat beside the window, feeling very sad and sore, for all the -piece of oiled white linen which his mother had carefully wrapped around -his little finger. It was a very happy-looking day. The sky was a lovely -blue, trimmed with pretty, soft white clouds, and on the purple lilac -tree which stood in front of his father’s cottage, two little yellow -eyebrows were chirping to each other. - -But Yen, with his sore finger, did not feel at all happy. You see, if -his finger had not been sore, he could have been spinning the -bright-colored top which his honorable uncle had given him the day -before. - -“Isn’t it a lovely day, little son?” called his mother. - -“I think it is a homely day,” answered Yen. - -“See those good little birds on the tree,” said his mother. - -“I don’t believe they are good,” replied the little boy. - -“Fie, for shame!” cried his mother; and she went on with her work. - -Just then an old blind-man carrying a guitar came down the street. He -stopped just under the window by which Yen was seated, and leaning -against the wall began thrumming away on his instrument. The tunes he -played were very lively and merry. Yen looked down upon him and wondered -why. The blind-man was such a very old man, and not only blind but lame, -and so thin that Yen felt quite sure that he never got more than half a -bowl of rice for his dinner. How was it then that he played such merry -tunes? So merry indeed that, listening to them, Yen quite forgot to be -sour and sad. The old man went on playing and Yen went on listening. -After a while, the little boy smiled, then he laughed. The old man -lifted his head. He could not see with his sightless eyes, but he knew -that there was a little boy near to him whom he was making happy. - -“Honorable great-grandfather of all the world,” said Yen. “Will you -please tell me why you, who are old, lame, and blind, make such merry -music that everybody who hears becomes merry also?” - -The old man stopped thrumming and rubbed his chin. Then he smiled around -him and answered: “Why, I think, little Jewel Eyes, that the joyful -music comes just because I am old, lame, and blind.” - -Yen looked down at his little finger. - -“Do you hear what says the honorable great-grandfather of the world?” he -asked. - -The little finger straightened itself up. It no longer felt sore, and -Yen was no longer sour and sad. - - - - - MISUNDERSTOOD - - -The baby was asleep. Ku Yum looked curiously at her little brother as he -lay in placid slumber. His head was to be shaved for the first time that -afternoon, and he was dressed for the occasion in three padded silk -vests, sky-blue trousers and an embroidered cap, which was surmounted by -a little gold god and a sprig of evergreen for good luck. This kept its -place on his head, even in sleep. On his arms and ankles were hung many -amulets and charms, and on the whole he appeared a very resplendent -baby. To Ku Yum, he was simply gorgeous, and she longed to get her -little arms around him and carry him to some place where she could -delight in him all by herself. - -Ku Yum’s mind had been in a state of wonder concerning the boy, Ko Ku, -ever since he had been born. Why was he so very small and so very noisy? -What made his fingers and toes so pink? Why did her mother always smile -and sing whenever she had the baby in her arms? Why did her father, when -he came in from his vegetable garden, gaze so long at Ko Ku? Why did -grandmother make so much fuss over him? And yet, why, oh why, did they -give him nothing nice to eat? - -The baby was sleeping very soundly. His little mouth was half open and a -faint, droning sound was issuing therefrom. He had just completed his -first moon and was a month old. Poor baby! that never got any rice to -eat, nor nice sweet cakes. Ku Yum’s heart swelled with compassion. In -her hand was a delicious half-moon cake. It was the time of the -harvest-moon festival and Ku Yum had already eaten three. Surely, the -baby would like a taste. She hesitated. Would she dare, when it lay upon -that silken coverlet? Ku Yum had a wholesome regard for her mother’s -bamboo slipper. - -The window blind was torn on one side. A vagrant wind lifted it, -revealing an open window. There was a way out of that window to the -vegetable garden. Beyond the vegetable garden was a cool, green spot -under a clump of trees; also a beautiful puddle of muddy water. - -An inspiration came to Ku Yum, born of benevolence. She lifted the -sleeping babe in her arms, and with hushed, panting breaths, bore him -slowly and laboriously to where her soul longed to be. He opened his -eyes once and gave a faint, disturbed cry, but lapsed again into -dreamland. - -Ku Yum laid him down on the grass, adjusted his cap, smoothed down his -garments, ran her small fingers over his brows, or where his brows ought -to have been, tenderly prodded his plump cheeks, and ruffled his -straight hair. Little sighs of delight escaped her lips. The past and -the future were as naught to her. She revelled only in the present. - -For a few minutes thus: then a baby’s cries filled the air. Ku Yum sat -up. She remembered the cake. It had been left behind. She found a large -green leaf, and placing that over the baby’s mouth in the hope of -mellowing its tones, cautiously wended her way back between the squash -and cabbages. - -All was quiet and still. It was just before sundown and it was very -warm. Her mother still slept her afternoon sleep. Hastily seizing the -confection, she returned to the babe, her face beaming with benevolence -and the desire to do good. She pushed some morsels into the child’s -mouth. It closed its eyes, wrinkled its nose and gurgled; but its mouth -did not seem to Ku Yum to work just as a proper mouth should under such -pleasant conditions. - -“Behold me! Behold me!” she cried, and herself swallowed the remainder -of the cake in two mouthfuls. Ko Ku, however, did not seem to be greatly -edified by the example set him. The crumbs remained, half on his tongue -and half on the creases of his cheek. He still emitted explosive noises. - -Ku Yum sadly surveyed him. - -“He doesn’t know how to eat. That’s why they don’t give him anything,” -she said to herself, and having come to this logical conclusion, she set -herself to benefit him in other ways than the one in which she had -failed. - -She found some worms and ants, which she arranged on leaves and stones, -meanwhile keeping up a running commentary on their charms. - -“See! This very small brown one—how many legs it has, and how fast it -runs. This one is so green that I think its father and mother must have -been blades of grass, don’t you? And look at the wings on this worm. -That one has no wings, but its belly is pretty pink. Feel how nice and -slimy it is. Don’t you just love slimy things that creep on their -bellies, and things that fly in the air, and things with four legs? Oh, -all kinds of things except grown-up things with two legs.” - -She inclined the baby’s head so that his eyes would be on a level with -her collection, but he screamed the louder for the change. - - “Oh, hush thee, baby, hush thee, - And never, never fear - The bogies of the dark land, - When the green bamboo is near,” - -she chanted in imitation of her mother. But the baby would not be -soothed. - -She wrinkled her childish brow. Her little mind was perplexed. She had -tried her best to amuse her brother, but her efforts seemed in vain. - -Her eyes fell on the pool of muddy water. They brightened. Of all things -in the world Ku Yum loved mud, real, good, clean mud. What bliss to dip -her feet into that tempting pool, to feel the slow brown water oozing -into her little shoes! Ku Yum had done that before and the memory -thrilled her. But with that memory came another—a memory of poignant -pain; the cause, a bamboo cane, which bamboo cane had been sent from -China by her father’s uncle, for the express purpose of helping Ku Yum -to walk in the straight and narrow path laid out for a proper little -Chinese girl living in Santa Barbara. - -Still the baby cried. Ku Yum looked down on him and the cloud on her -brow lifted. Ko Ku should have the exquisite pleasure of dipping his -feet into that soft velvety water. There would be no bamboo cane for -him. He was loved too well. Ku Yum forgot herself. Her thoughts were -entirely for Ko Ku. She half dragged, half carried him to the pool. In a -second his feet were immersed therein and small wiggling things were -wandering up his tiny legs. He gave a little gasp and ceased crying. Ku -Yum smiled. Ah! Ko Ku was happy at last! Then: - -Before Ku Yum’s vision flashed a large, cruel hand. Twice, thrice it -appeared, after which, for a space of time, Ku Yum could see nothing but -twinkling stars. - -“My son! My son! the evil spirit in your sister had almost lost you to -me!” cried her mother. - -“That this should happen on the day of the completion of the moon, when -the guests from San Francisco are arriving with the gold coins. Verily, -my son, your sister is possessed of a devil,” declared her father. - -And her grandmother, speaking low, said: “’Tis fortunate the child is -alive. But be not too hard on Ku Yum. The demon of jealousy can best be -exorcised by kindness.” - -And the sister of Ko Ku wailed low in the grass, for there were none to -understand. - - NOTE.—The ceremony of the “Completion of the Moon” takes place when a - Chinese boy child attains to a month old. His head is then shaved for - the first time amidst much rejoicing. The foundation of the babe’s - future fortune is laid on that day, for every guest invited to the - shaving is supposed to present the baby with a gold piece, no matter - how small. - - - - - THE LITTLE FAT ONE - - -Lee Chu and Lee Yen sat on a stone beneath the shade of a fig tree. The -way to school seemed a very long way and the morning was warm, the road -dusty. - -“The master’s new pair of goggles can see right through our heads,” -observed Lee Chu. - -“And his new cane made Hom Wo’s fingers blister yesterday,” said Lee -Yen. - -They looked sideways at one another and sighed. - -“The beach must be very cool today,” said Lee Chu after a few moments. - -“Ah, yes! It is not far from here.” Thus Lee Yen. - -“And there are many pebbles.” - -“Of all colors.” - -“Of all colors.” - -The two little boys turned and looked at each other. - -“Our honorable parents need never know,” mused one. - -“No!” murmured the other. “School is so far from home. And there are -five new scholars to keep the schoolmaster busy.” - -Yes, the beach was cool and pleasant, and the pebbles were many, and the -finest in color and shape that Lee Chu and Lee Yen had ever seen. The -tide washed up fresh ones every second—green, red, yellow, black, and -brown; also white and transparent beauties. The boys exclaimed with -delight as they gathered them. The last one spied was always the -brightest sparkler. - -“Here’s one like fire and all the colors in the sun,” cried Lee Chu. - -“And this one—it is such a bright green. There never was another one -like it!” declared Lee Yen. - -“Ah! most beautiful!” - -“Oh! most wonderful!” - -And so on until they had each made an iridescent little pile. Then they -sat down to rest and eat their lunch—some rice cakes which their mother -had placed within their sleeves. - -As they sat munching these, they became reflective. The charm of the sea -and sky was on them though they knew it not. - -“I think,” said Lee Chu, “that these are the most beautiful pebbles that -the sea has ever given to us.” - -“I think so too,” assented Lee Yen. - -“I think,” again said Lee Chu, “that I will give mine to the Little Fat -One.” - -“The Little Fat One shall also have mine,” said Lee Yen. He ran his -fingers through his pebbles and sighed with rapture over their -glittering. Lee Chu also sighed as his eyes dwelt on the shining heap -that was his. - -The Little Fat One ran to greet them on his little fat legs when they -returned home at sundown, and they poured their treasures into his -little tunic. - -“Why, where do these come from?” cried Lee Amoy, the mother, when she -tried to lift the Little Fat One on to her lap and found him too heavy -to raise. - -Lee Chu and Lee Yen looked away. - -“You bad boys!” exclaimed the mother angrily. “You have been on the -beach instead of at school. When your father comes in I shall tell him -to cane you.” - -“No, no, not bad!” contradicted the Little Fat One, scrambling after the -stones which were slipping from his tunic. His mother picked up some of -them, observing silently that they were particularly fine. - -“They are the most beautiful pebbles that ever were seen,” said Lee Chu -sorrowfully. He felt sure that his mother would cast them away. - -“The sea will never give up as fine again,” declared Lee Yen -despairingly. - -“Then why did you not each keep what you found?” asked the mother. - -“Because—” said Lee Chu, then looked at the Little Fat One. - -“Because—” echoed Lee Yen, and also looked at the Little Fat One. - -The mother’s eyes softened. - -“Well,” said she, “for this one time we will forget the cane.” - -“Good! Good!” cried the Little Fat One. - - - - - A CHINESE BOY-GIRL - - - I - -The warmth was deep and all-pervading. The dust lay on the leaves of the -palms and the other tropical plants that tried to flourish in the Plaza. -The persons of mixed nationalities lounging on the benches within and -without the square appeared to be even more listless and unambitious -than usual. The Italians who ran the peanut and fruit stands at the -corners were doing no business to speak of. The Chinese merchants’ -stores in front of the Plaza looked as quiet and respectable and drowsy -as such stores always do. Even the bowling alleys, billiard halls, and -saloons seemed under the influence of the heat, and only a subdued -clinking of glasses and roll of balls could be heard from behind the -half-open doors. It was almost as hot as an August day in New York City, -and that is unusually sultry for Southern California. - -A little Chinese girl, with bright eyes and round cheeks, attired in -blue cotton garments, and wearing her long, shining hair in a braid -interwoven with silks of many colors, paused beside a woman tourist who -was making a sketch of the old Spanish church. The tourist and the -little Chinese girl were the only persons visible who did not seem to be -affected by the heat. They might have been friends; but the lady, -fearing for her sketch, bade the child run off. Whereupon the little -thing shuffled across the Plaza, and in less than five minutes was at -the door of the Los Angeles Chinatown school for children. - -“Come in, little girl, and tell me what they call you,” said the young -American teacher, who was new to the place. - -“Ku Yum be my name,” was the unhesitating reply; and said Ku Yum walked -into the room, seated herself complacently on an empty bench in the -first row, and informed the teacher that she lived on Apablaza street, -that her parents were well, but her mother was dead, and her father, -whose name was Ten Suie, had a wicked and tormenting spirit in his foot. - -The teacher gave her a slate and pencil, and resumed the interrupted -lesson by indicating with her rule ten lichis (called “Chinese nuts” by -people in America) and counting them aloud. - -“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten,” the baby -class repeated. - -After having satisfied herself by dividing the lichis unequally among -the babies, that they might understand the difference between a singular -and a plural number, Miss Mason began a catechism on the features of the -face. Nose, eyes, lips, and cheeks were properly named, but the class -was mute when it came to the forehead. - -“What is this?” Miss Mason repeated, posing her finger on the fore part -of her head. - -“Me say, me say,” piped a shrill voice, and the new pupil stepped to the -front, and touching the forehead of the nearest child with the tips of -her fingers, christened it “one,” named the next in like fashion “two,” -a third “three,” then solemnly pronounced the fourth a “four head.” - -Thus Ku Yum made her début in school, and thus began the trials and -tribulations of her teacher. - -Ku Yum was bright and learned easily, but she seemed to be possessed -with the very spirit of mischief; to obey orders was to her an -impossibility, and though she entered the school a voluntary pupil, one -day at least out of every week found her a truant. - -“Where is Ku Yum?” Miss Mason would ask on some particularly alluring -morning, and a little girl with the air of one testifying to having seen -a murder committed, would reply: “She is running around with the boys.” -Then the rest of the class would settle themselves back in their seats -like a jury that has found a prisoner guilty of some heinous offense, -and, judging by the expression on their faces, were repeating a silent -prayer somewhat in the strain of “O Lord, I thank thee that I am not as -Ku Yum is!” For the other pupils were demure little maidens who, after -once being gathered into the fold, were very willing to remain. - -But if ever the teacher broke her heart over any one it was over Ku Yum. -When she first came, she took an almost unchildlike interest in the -rules and regulations, even at times asking to have them repeated to -her; but her study of such rules seemed only for the purpose of finding -a means to break them, and that means she never failed to discover and -put into effect. - -After a disappearance of a day or so she would reappear, bearing a -gorgeous bunch of flowers. These she would deposit on Miss Mason’s desk -with a little bow; and though one would have thought that the sweetness -of the gift and the apparent sweetness of the giver needed but a -gracious acknowledgment, something like the following conversation would -ensue: - -“Teacher, I plucked these flowers for you from the Garden of Heaven.” -(They were stolen from some park.) - -“Oh, Ku Yum, whatever shall I do with you?” - -“Maybe you better see my father.” - -“You are a naughty girl. You shall be punished. Take those flowers -away.” - -“Teacher, the eyebrow over your little eye is very pretty.” - -But the child was most exasperating when visitors were present. As she -was one of the brightest scholars, Miss Mason naturally expected her to -reflect credit on the school at the examinations. On one occasion she -requested her to say some verses which the little Chinese girl could -repeat as well as any young American, and with more expression than -most. Great was the teacher’s chagrin when Ku Yum hung her head and said -only: “Me ’shamed, me ’shamed!” - -“Poor little thing,” murmured the bishop’s wife. “She is too shy to -recite in public.” - -But Miss Mason, knowing that of all children Ku Yum was the least -troubled with shyness, was exceedingly annoyed. - -Ku Yum had been with Miss Mason about a year when she became convinced -that some steps would have to be taken to discipline the child, for -after school hours she simply ran wild on the streets of Chinatown, with -boys for companions. She felt that she had a duty to perform towards the -motherless little girl; and as the father, when apprised of the fact -that his daughter was growing up in ignorance of all home duties, and, -worse than that, shared the sports of boy children on the street, only -shrugged his shoulders and drawled: “Too bad! Too bad!” she determined -to act. - -She was interested in Ku Yum’s case the president of the Society for the -Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the matron of the Rescue Home, and -the most influential ministers, and the result, after a month’s work, -that an order went forth from the Superior Court of the State -decreeing that Ku Yum, the child of Ten Suie, should be removed from the -custody of her father, and, under the auspices of the Society for the -Prevention of Cruelty to Children, be put into a home for Chinese girls -in San Francisco. - -Her object being accomplished, strange to say, Miss Mason did not -experience that peaceful content which usually follows a benevolent -action. Instead, the question as to whether, after all, it was right, -under the circumstances, to deprive a father of the society of his -child, and a child of the love and care of a parent, disturbed her mind, -morning, noon, and night. What had previously seemed her distinct duty -no longer appeared so, and she began to wish with all her heart that she -had not interfered in the matter. - - - II - -Ku Yum had not been seen for weeks and those who were deputed to bring -her into the sheltering home were unable to find her. It was suspected -that the little thing purposely kept out of the way—no difficult matter, -all Chinatown being in sympathy with her and arrayed against Miss Mason. -Where formerly the teacher had met with smiles and pleased greetings, -she now beheld averted faces and downcast eyes, and her school had -within a week dwindled from twenty-four scholars to four. Verily, though -acting with the best of intentions, she had shown a lack of diplomacy. - -It was about nine o’clock in the evening. She had been visiting little -Lae Choo, who was lying low with typhoid fever. As she wended her way -home through Chinatown, she did not feel at all easy in mind; indeed, as -she passed one of the most unsavory corners and observed some men frown -and mutter among themselves as they recognized her, she lost her dignity -in a little run. As she stopped to take breath, she felt her skirt -pulled from behind and heard a familiar little voice say: - -“Teacher, be you afraid?” - -“Oh, Ku Yum,” she exclaimed, “is that you?” Then she added reprovingly: -“Do you think it is right for a little Chinese girl to be out alone at -this time of the night?” - -“I be not alone,” replied the little creature, and in the gloom Miss -Mason, could distinguish behind her two boyish figures. - -She shook her head. - -“Ku Yum, will you promise me that you will try to be a good little -girl?” she asked. - -Ku Yum answered solemnly: - -“Ku Yum _never_ be a good girl.” - -Her heart hardened. After all, it was best that the child should be -placed where she would be compelled to behave herself. - -“Come, see my father,” said Ku Yum pleadingly. - -Her voice was soft, and her expression was so subdued that the teacher -could hardly believe that the moment before she had defiantly stated -that she would never be a good girl. She paused irresolutely. Should she -make one more appeal to the parent to make her a promise which would be -a good excuse for restraining the order of the Court? Ah, if he only -would, and she only could prevent the carrying out of that order! - -They found Ten Suie among his curiosities, smoking a very long pipe with -a very small, ivory bowl. He calmly surveyed the teacher through a pair -of gold-rimmed goggles, and under such scrutiny it was hard indeed for -her to broach the subject that was on her mind. However, after admiring -the little carved animals, jars, vases, bronzes, dishes, pendants, -charms, and snuff-boxes displayed in his handsome showcase, she took -courage. - -“Mr. Ten Suie,” she began, “I have come to speak to you about Ku Yum.” - -Ten Suie laid down his pipe and leaned over the counter. Under his calm -exterior some strong excitement was working, for his eyes glittered -exceedingly. - -“Perhaps you speak too much about Ku Yum alleady,” he said. “Ku Yum be -my child. I bling him up, as I please. Now, teacher, I tell you -something. One, two, three, four, five, seven, eight, nine years go by, -I have five boy. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven years go, I -have four boy. One, two, three, four, five, six years go by, I have one -boy. Every year for three year evil spirit come, look at my boy, and -take him. Well, one, two, three, four, five, six years go by, I see but -one boy, he four year old. I say to me: Ten Suie, evil spirit be -jealous. I be ’flaid he want my one boy. I dless him like one girl. Evil -spirit think him one girl, and go away; no want girl.” - -Ten Suie ceased speaking, and settled back into his seat. - -For some moments Miss Mason stood uncomprehending. Then the full meaning -of Ten Suie’s words dawned upon her, and she turned to Ku Yum, and -taking the child’s little hand in hers, said: - -“Goodbye, Ku Yum. Your father, by passing you off as a girl, thought to -keep an evil spirit away from you; but just by that means he brought -another, and one which nearly took you from him too.” - -“Goodbye, teacher,” said Ku Yum, smiling wistfully. “I never be good -girl, but perhaps I be good boy.” - - - - - PAT AND PAN - - - I - -They lay there, in the entrance to the joss house, sound asleep in each -other’s arms. Her tiny face was hidden upon his bosom and his white, -upturned chin rested upon her black, rosetted head. - -It was that white chin which caused the passing Mission woman to pause -and look again at the little pair. Yes, it was a white boy and a little -Chinese girl; he, about five, she, not more than three years old. - -“Whose is that boy?” asked the Mission woman of the peripatetic vender -of Chinese fruits and sweetmeats. - -“That boy! Oh, him is boy of Lum Yook that make the China gold ring and -bracelet.” - -“But he is white.” - -“Yes, him white; but all same, China boy. His mother, she not have any -white flend, and the wife of Lum Yook give her lice and tea, so when she -go to the land of spilit, she give her boy to the wife of Lum Yook. -Lady, you want buy lichi?” - -While Anna Harrison was extracting a dime from her purse the black, -rosetted head slowly turned and a tiny fist began rubbing itself into a -tiny face. - -“Well, chickabiddy, have you had a nice nap?” - -“Tjo ho! tjo ho!” - -The black eyes gazed solemnly and disdainfully at the stranger. - -“She tell you to be good,” chuckled the old man. - -“Oh, you quaint little thing!” - -The quaint little thing hearing herself thus apostrophized, turned -herself around upon the bosom of the still sleeping boy and, reaching -her arms up to his neck, buried her face again, under his chin. This, of -course, awakened him. He sat up and stared bewilderedly at the Mission -woman. - -“What is the boy’s name?” she asked, noting his gray eyes and rosy skin. - -His reply, though audible, was wholly unintelligible to the American -woman. - -“He talk only Chinese talk,” said the old man. - -Anna Harrison was amazed. A white boy in America talking only Chinese -talk! She placed her bag of lichis beside him and was amused to see the -little girl instantly lean over her companion and possess herself of it. -The boy made no attempt to take it from her, and the little thing opened -the bag and cautiously peeped in. What she saw evoked a chirrup of -delight. Quickly she brought forth one of the browny-red fruit nuts, -crushed and pulled off its soft shell. But to the surprise of the -Mission woman, instead of putting it into her own mouth, she thrust the -sweetish, dried pulp into that of her companion. She repeated this -operation several times, then cocking her little head on one side, -asked: - -“Ho ’m ho? Is it good or bad?” - -“Ho! ho!” answered the boy, removing several pits from his mouth and -shaking his head to signify that he had had enough. Whereupon the little -girl tasted herself of the fruit. - -“Pat! Pan! Pat! Pan!” called a woman’s voice, and a sleek-headed, -kindly-faced matron in dark blue pantalettes and tunic, wearing double -hooped gold earrings, appeared around the corner. Hearing her voice, the -boy jumped up with a merry laugh and ran out into the street. The little -girl more seriously and slowly followed him. - -“Him mother!” informed the lichi man. - - -II - -When Anna Harrison, some months later, opened her school for white and -Chinese children in Chinatown, she determined that Pat, the adopted son -of Lum Yook, the Chinese jeweller, should learn to speak his mother -tongue. For a white boy to grow up as a Chinese was unthinkable. The -second time she saw him, it was some kind of a Chinese holiday, and he -was in great glee over a row of red Chinese candles and punk which he -was burning on the curb of the street, in company with a number of -Chinese urchins. Pat’s candle was giving a brighter and bigger flame -than any of the others, and he was jumping up and down with his legs -doubled under him from the knees like an india-rubber ball, while Pan, -from the doorstep of her father’s store, applauded him in vociferous, -infantile Chinese. - -Miss Harrison laid her hand upon the boy’s shoulder and spoke to him. It -had not been very difficult for her to pick up a few Chinese phrases. -Would he not like to come to her school and see some pretty pictures? -Pat shook his ruddy curls and looked at Pan. Would Pan come too? Yes, -Pan would. Pan’s memory was good, and so were lichis and shredded -cocoanut candy. - -Of course Pan was too young to go to school—a mere baby; but if Pat -could not be got without Pan, why then Pan must come too. Lum Yook and -his wife, upon being interviewed, were quite willing to have Pat learn -English. The foster-father could speak a little of the language himself; -but as he used it only when in business or when speaking to Americans, -Pat had not benefited thereby. However, he was more eager than otherwise -to have Pat learn “the speech of his ancestors,” and promised that he -would encourage the little ones to practise “American” together when at -home. - -So Pat and Pan went to the Mission school, and for the first time in -their lives suffered themselves to be divided, for Pat had to sit with -the boys and tiny Pan had a little red chair near Miss Harrison, beside -which were placed a number of baby toys. Pan was not supposed to learn, -only to play. - -But Pan did learn. In a year’s time, although her talk was more broken -and babyish, she had a better English vocabulary than had Pat. Moreover, -she could sing hymns and recite verses in a high, shrill voice; whereas -Pat, though he tried hard enough, poor little fellow, was unable to -memorize even a sentence. Naturally, Pat did not like school as well as -did Pan, and it was only Miss Harrison’s persistent ambition for him -that kept him there. - -One day, when Pan was five and Pat was seven, the little girl, for the -first time, came to school alone. - -“Where is Pat?” asked the teacher. - -“Pat, he is sick today,” replied Pan. - -“Sick!” echoed Miss Harrison. “Well, that is too bad. Poor Pat! What is -the matter with him?” - -“A big dog bite him.” - -That afternoon, the teacher, on her way to see the bitten Pat, beheld -him up an alley busily engaged in keeping five tops spinning at one -time, while several American boys stood around, loudly admiring the -Chinese feat. - -The next morning Pat received five strokes from a cane which Miss -Harrison kept within her desk and used only on special occasions. These -strokes made Pat’s right hand tingle smartly; but he received them with -smiling grace. - -Miss Harrison then turned to five year old Pan, who had watched the -caning with tearful interest. - -“Pan!” said the teacher, “you have been just as naughty as Pat, and you -must be punished too.” - -“I not stay away flom school!” protested Pan. - -“No,”—severely—“you did not stay away from school; but you told me a dog -had bitten Pat, and that was not true. Little girls must not say what is -not true. Teacher does not like to slap Pan’s hands, but she must do it, -so that Pan will remember that she must not say what is not true. Come -here!” - -Pan, hiding her face in her sleeve, sobbingly arose. - -The teacher leaned forward and pulling down the uplifted arm, took the -small hand in her own and slapped it. She was about to do this a second -time when Pat bounded from his seat, pushed Pan aside, and shaking his -little fist in the teacher’s face, dared her in a voice hoarse with -passion: - -“You hurt my Pan again! You hurt my Pan again!” - -They were not always lovers—those two. It was aggravating to Pat, when -the teacher finding he did not know his verse, would turn to Pan and -say: - -“Well, Pan, let us hear you.” - -And Pan, who was the youngest child in school and unusually small for -her years, would pharisaically clasp her tiny fingers and repeat word -for word the verse desired to be heard. - -“I hate you, Pan!” muttered Pat on one such occasion. - -Happily Pan did not hear him. She was serenely singing: - - “Yesu love me, t’is I know, - For the Bible tell me so.” - -But though a little seraph in the matter of singing hymns and repeating -verses, Pan, for a small Chinese girl, was very mischievous. Indeed, she -was the originator of most of the mischief which Pat carried out with -such spirit. Nevertheless, when Pat got into trouble, Pan, though -sympathetic, always had a lecture for him. “Too bad, too bad! Why not -you be good like me?” admonished she one day when he was suffering -“consequences.” - -Pat looked down upon her with wrathful eyes. - -“Why,” he asked, “is bad people always so good?” - - - III - -The child of the white woman, who had been given a babe into the arms of -the wife of Lum Yook, was regarded as their own by the Chinese jeweller -and his wife, and they bestowed upon him equal love and care with the -little daughter who came two years after him. If Mrs. Lum Yook showed -any favoritism whatever, it was to Pat. He was the first she had cradled -to her bosom; the first to gladden her heart with baby smiles and wiles; -the first to call her Ah Ma; the first to love her. On his eighth -birthday, she said to her husband: “The son of the white woman is the -son of the white woman, and there are many tongues wagging because he -lives under our roof. My heart is as heavy as the blackest heavens.” - -“Peace, my woman,” answered the easy-going man. “Why should we trouble -before trouble comes?” - -When trouble did come it was met calmly and bravely. To the comfortably -off American and wife who were to have the boy and “raise him as an -American boy should be raised,” they yielded him without protest. But -deep in their hearts was the sense of injustice and outraged love. If it -had not been for their pity for the unfortunate white girl, their care -and affection for her helpless offspring, there would have been no white -boy for others to “raise.” - -And Pat and Pan? “I will not leave my Pan! I will not leave my Pan!” -shouted Pat. - -“But you must!” sadly urged Lum Yook. “You are a white boy and Pan is -Chinese.” - -“I am Chinese too! I am Chinese too!” cried Pat. - -“He Chinese! He Chinese!” pleaded Pan. Her little nose was swollen with -crying; her little eyes red-rimmed. - -But Pat was driven away. - - * * * * * - -Pat, his schoolbooks under his arm, was walking down the hill, whistling -cheerily. His roving glance down a side street was suddenly arrested. - -“Gee!” he exclaimed. “If that isn’t Pan! Pan, oh, Pan!” he shouted. - -Pan turned. There was a shrill cry of delight, and Pan was clinging to -Pat, crying: “Nice Pat! Good Pat!” - -Then she pushed him away from her and scanned him from head to foot. - -“Nice coat! Nice boot! How many dollars?” she queried. - -Pat laughed good-humoredly. “I don’t know,” he answered. “Mother bought -them.” - -“Mother!” echoed Pan. She puckered her brows for a moment. - -“You are grown big, Pat,” was her next remark. - -“And you have grown little, Pan,” retorted Pat. It was a year since they -had seen one another and Pan was much smaller than any of his girl -schoolfellows. - -“Do you like to go to the big school?” asked Pan, noticing the books. - -“I don’t like it very much. But, say, Pan, I learn lots of things that -you don’t know anything about.” - -Pan eyed him wistfully. finally she said: “O Pat! A-Toy, she die.” - -“A-Toy! Who is A-Toy?” - -“The meow, Pat; the big gray meow! Pat, you have forgot to remember.” - -Pat looked across A-Toy’s head and far away. - -“Chinatown is very nice now,” assured Pan. “Hum Lock has two trays of -brass beetles in his store and Ah Ma has many flowers!” - -“I would like to see the brass beetles,” said Pat. - -“And father’s new glass case?” - -“Yes.” - -“And Ah Ma’s flowers?” - -“Yes.” - -“Then come, Pat.” - -“I can’t, Pan!” - -“Oh!” - -Again Pat was walking home from school, this time in company with some -boys. Suddenly a glad little voice sounded in his ear. It was Pan’s. - -“Ah, Pat!” cried she joyfully. “I find you! I find you!” - -“Hear the China kid!” laughed one of the boys. - -Then Pat turned upon Pan. “Get away from me,” he shouted. “Get away from -me!” - -And Pan did get away from him—just as fast as her little legs could -carry her. But when she reached the foot of the hill, she looked up and -shook her little head sorrowfully. “Poor Pat!” said she. “He Chinese no -more; he Chinese no more!” - - - - - THE CROCODILE PAGODA - - -When the father of Chung and Choy returned from the big city where lived -their uncle, he brought each of his little girls a present of a pretty, -painted porcelain cup and saucer. Chung’s was of the blue of the sky -after rain, and on the blue was painted a silver crane and a bird with a -golden breast. Choy’s cup was of a milky pink transparency, upon which -light bouquets of flowers appeared to have been thrown; it was so -beautiful in sight, form, and color that there seemed nothing in it to -be improved upon. Yet was Choy discontented and envied her sister, -Chung, the cup of the blue of the sky after rain. Not that she vented -her feelings in any unseemly noise or word. That was not Choy’s way. But -for one long night and one long day after the pretty cups had been -brought home, did Choy remain mute and still, refusing to eat her meals, -or to move from the couch upon which she had thrown herself at sight of -her sister’s cup. Choy was sulking. - -On the evening of the long day, little Chung, seated on her stool by her -mother’s side, asked her parent to tell her the story of the picture on -the vase which her father had brought from the city for her mother. It -was a charming little piece of china of a deep violet velvet color, -fluted on top with gold like the pipes of an organ, and in the centre -was a pagoda enamelled thereon in gold and silver. Chung knew that there -must be a story about that pagoda, for she had overheard her father tell -her mother that it was the famous Crocodile Pagoda. - -“There are no crocodiles in the picture. Why is it called a crocodile -pagoda?” asked Chung. - -“Listen, my Jes’mine flower,” replied the mother. She raised her voice, -for she wished Choy, her Orchid Flower, also to hear the story. - -“Once upon a time, there was a big family of crocodiles that lived in a -Rippling River by a beach whose sands were of gold. The young crocodiles -had a merry life of it, and their father and mother were very good and -kind to them. But one day, the young crocodiles wanted to climb a hill -back of the beach of golden sand, and the parents, knowing that their -children would perish if allowed to have their way, told them: ‘Nay, -nay.’ - -“The young crocodiles thereupon scooped a large hole in the sand and lay -down therein. For half a moon they lived there, without food or drink, -and when their parents cried to them to come out and sport as before in -the Rippling River, they paid no attention whatever, so sadly sulky -their mood. - -“One day there came along a number of powerful beings, who, when they -saw the golden sands of the Rippling River, exclaimed: ‘How gloriously -illuminating is this beach! Let us build a pagoda thereon.’ They saw the -hole which the young crocodiles had made, but they could not see the -hole-makers at the bottom thereof. So they set to work and filled the -hole, and on top thereof they built a great pagoda. That is the pagoda -of the picture on the vase.” - -“And did the children crocodiles never get out?” asked Chung in a sad -little voice. - -“No, daughter,” replied the mother. “After the pagoda was on top of them -they began to feel very hungry and frightened. It was so dark. They -cried to their father and mother to bring them food and find them a way -to the light; but the parent crocodiles, upon seeing the pagoda arise, -swam far away. They knew that they never more should see their children. -And from that day till now, the young crocodiles have remained in -darkness under the pagoda, shut off forever from the light of the sun -and the Rippling River.” - -“Please, honorable mother,” spake a weak little voice, “may I have some -tea in my pretty, pink porcelain cup?” - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - Transcriber’s Note - -Several words appear with and without hyphenation, and are retained as -printed: passersby/passers-by, everyday/every-day, singsong/sing-song, -doorstep/door-step. - -Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and -are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the original. - - 3.11 comforted Mrs. Spring Fragrance[,] Added. - 4.22 said Mr[.] Spring Fragrance Added. - 36.6 but schoolgirls in comparison.[”] Added. - 50.21 in a long yellow book[.] Added. - 114.26 “Oh![”] I cried, Added. - 119.28 ‘Let me pass, sir,[’] Added. - 119.29 in that tone of voice.[’]” Removed. - 146.29 think of no reply to Lin [W/F]o’s speech. Replaced. - 152.21 At these word[s] the girl bent Added. - 171.22 [“]She seems less every day,” Added. - 172.12 “Then,[”] said the young fellow, Added. - 174.21 The lawyer moved le[si/is]urely Transposed. - 228.8 a little mouse sq[u]eaked it Inserted. - 281.17 making worse my broken wing[?/.] Replaced. - 284.15 answered the other birds.[”] Removed. - 315.10 smile and sing whe[n]ever she had the baby Inserted. - 328.28 She [was] interested Inserted. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mrs. Spring Fragrance, by Sui Sin Far - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MRS. SPRING FRAGRANCE *** - -***** This file should be named 62940-0.txt or 62940-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/9/4/62940/ - -Produced by KD Weeks, Mary Glenn Krause and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. 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