| Show THE SOUL OF THE GAT yee sam ling was a lonely one H had friends in plenty sad relatives too for that matter but ling had his own views on matrimony and he believe anybody coald be happy without ft wife it was strange why hw had 50 suddenly taken on that belief for ha lived fifteen years away from his own flowery landl of coarse he had he came first to the golden hills and went to work in the mines ant he stand it for he to feel the strange white devils punching him in the back so he gave hafl claim ln the golden hills to a relative and traveled across the continent to new york curled up lika a mink ov a seat of the smoking car he wa sIdle for awhile and then started in to sell soap to the laundrymen until finally he got enough of the american mans each to rent a store he put out his red sign with the fluttering red streamers on it to keep afie evil ones away and he became a merchant every night for years be had crawled into his little bunk curtained off atthe back of the store and after comforting bim belf with the opium he loved so well had fallen to sleep to dream of pretty chinese giran tottering on pink clonda across the water and stretching their arms ont to him he often thought of china and the home life there and he used tb count the money in his trunk and wonder when he would have enough to go back and buy a koon foos rauk and wear a cap with the red button of the third degree then he thought he would buy with come of his money the prettiest girl in the province and she wild w ild have feet so mall that she at allon lesa nhe had a throng i vant holding each hand he often played the lottery in the hope that he would win and he burned prayer sticks before his kat god that he might have luck but he might just aa well have eared the sticks for luck never came so persistently did he lose that more than once he wag tempted to let one of the burning prayer bhicks fall over against the god and burn it but ha was afraid lest the deceit should be discovered and the god seek a enst revenge one day there came into hia batore A white girl who lived on the top floor of the tenement around the corner she had hair like the wong abik gold he used to dig out of the golden bills asay john she said me mothers run out 0 sope an ashes up to her neck in babbin himme a barl ling was smitten with a great love he remembered having been this girl go past his store many times ant he never had such a chance as this to speak to her you commee want sope he asked she yes I 1 want er bar an I 1 want if quick alle lite said aling and he clattered behind the narrow counter and polled ont from a bhear two bars of soap yon tahkee two he said no ngan tsin yon tahkee you sabe and he pushed the soap and the five pennies she had laid down away from him thee he went on 1 I lackee yon yon heap nicel lat yon name gee what grafer said the girl BO 1 get de sope for do 1 john well me names maggie sullivan if yer wanter know ling looked at her with admiring eyes then be pointed to the soap and pennies and said simply yon tahkee I 1 heap lackee you sabe yon clam glain yes I 1 sabe john said the girl an ill come again so she went ont and ling went to the door and looked after her antil she had disappeared around the corner then he went back behind the narrow and sat down on a stool he rested his elbows on a pile of paper sunk his shin in his hands and thought very hard uia thinking amounted to something for he went to the little cubley boorn curtained off at the back of the store and out of the big camphor wood chest he pulled some carefully folded clothes he was a new man when he came oat into the store again and a comple of big countrymen who had dropped in to have a friendly chat and a smoke began to chaff him his old cloth blouse with the shiny place on the back where his well oiled cue had hung lay in a heap on the floor with his old pow tail and coarse trousers instead he wore clothes of brocaded dark blue and hia sandals were like those of a koon foo A cold wind was blowing ap the street it made him shiver but he stood hia ground and watched for the coming of maggie every day for a week he watched nn atzl on the eighth day he saw her running by with a shawl over her head and a pitcher in her band hilo hi lo he cried hi lu maggie yoo corn ni abue hello john lows thing ril see yer when 1 get ili old mans beer and she dashed on while ling went in and waited after awhile she came in witha rush yon lackee china candy began ling before she could say anything heap goedl and he shoved a queer little box full of keung toward her 1 lackee you he continued while he picked at the gilt buttons on hia blouse 1 I byingyon blin gyon nice close heap nice yon sabe mackee yon nice chloee yon adless heap nice sabe you mally me you hab heap money marry you joam well I 1 guess not mo old woman would pull the pigtail out of your head if she heard you makin any breaks like that f you mally me said ling as though he felt sure he would win so long john I 1 she said as she went out munching the candy that was the first of the queer courtship it struck meggie seriously as though she thought she might do worse 1 dont know but what HI marry the chink she said to herself m get all ther clothes an money 1 want an HI be bof you can betl there was a cat which ased to deep noder lings counter she grew fat on the scraps of chow chop suey and chue yank which fell from the table and altogether lived a life of peace put the day ling proposed to maggie sullivan the cats manner changed instead of sleeping ander the counter all the day she took to walking on the counter mewing uneasily in a wailing voice which filled the roona with a distressful sound then ehe would pauso in hr walk and sitting on her haunches glare at ling with staring eyes olpe or twice he drove her away but she came back and glared until her ayea turned from green to purple once he struck her with his bamboo tung and she retreated to a high shelf and watched him tho evil one possesses her aard ling and more prayer bhicks before his kashat joss nac he wailing of the cat never ceased she crept iander lings bed that night arid scratched at the matting on the floor she paraded the latue room and h gr 1 l jl ali ll I seemed to agni up ina oare place aroa that night the cat was never at rest ami Ling became so stricken with a silent terror that be would go oni into street rather than cross her path he forgot about the cat a couple d days later when maggie sullivan cana in she was better dressed than hello john she began had a row with the old woman and ive din out im dead sick of gittin jumped on now if yon wanter marry me on ther square fm with yon but 1 dont want any funny business in miner mally me asked ling while a smile crept over his face allee lite I 1 mally you but ill tell you john the girl went on youve got to cut that pigtail off and wear citizens clothes you got to be pretty near a white man you got to be aa white as clothes can ddn anke you an you got to treat me white too or ill shake youl ling want to lose his cne and he fought against what he considered a sacrilege but he found maggie relent 1 I curl him ap so he said as he twisted it about hia head n I 1 puttee on hlat so and ha pulled an old hat down over his head n alim ha no even that do and maggie went away baying im goin ap to a lady friends 0 mine ter stay ter nite john an ill see you to an it ther pigtail dont go I 1 dont git married bee ling quite see but he thought a lot he thought maggie was the prettiest girl he hail ever seen there wag nothing aban about her she had fine blue eyes a trim figure and a shock of golden hair that attracted the china man the old cat jumped on the coun berand bowled yowled and stared at him and he went out to get away from those green eyes he went to the joss house and burned thirty cents worth of and paper he made up his mind quickly after that almost ran down the dark creaking steps and across the wiy to where the tai tau io lived and did business take off this he said when be at dawn oh the abool in front of the little razors and scissors vvo said the barber are yon crazy or have the foreign devils got bod too cut it off J tell youl are yon no here to do such work as this no that is wron I 1 knew your mother what would she say if I 1 did it her would come to me as well as io yon unworthy son ling ran out while bia courage laste he went to a kwang tung man who lived near pell street and had no cue cufr this thing off I 1 be said he did not need to beg this time ha hal laughed the kwang tang man you are going to be one of us goedl and he picked op a big pair of shears knipl and lings cue was gone cut close to his bead out ling ran leaving his cne behind him he went into his store and sat down to think when up jumped the cat her eyes were yellow this time and she howled yet away yon evil thins 1 and ha unshed her off with a stick he did not sleep that night he dreamed strange things and baw eights lie thought of his home in far off china and his mother and the little chinese maidens whom he bad known before he came to the new country he smoked and saw faces in the clouds in the morning his eyes were heavy and red with the opium and he let his hired man do all the work he lay in hia cubby bunk and smoked the opium until he beard a voice it sounded as if it camp from a great distance it said hello sherea the boss in the back room all righta the curtains were pulled back and sullivan came in dittin ther pipe eh well bad fri te blood hows yer pigtail 1 I cut alim he glone said ling halt stupidly good I 1 knew come around the chinks allers da git up if yer a goin ter git married ling had a vague idea that he waa very happy the opium had brought a peaceful feeling hut he was rather stupid maggie sat on the edge of the bunk and the cat walked across the room with stately tread glaring at her she paused at her feet and at one bound was on fsr lap hello pussy I 1 sho caid putting her face down and s the fur like a flash a paw shot out five hooked sharp claws were unsheathed and dragged across the girls cheek she gave a frightened scream and when ling looked he saw three red lines down her face from which blood was dap ping and the cat walked slowly across the floor with the same stately ive got a nice looking face now laid maggie and I 1 think ill have that cat killed less said ling kill alim a rose dreamily and tried to drive the out but she go he gave up and cursed the spirit which possessed the cat some enemy of mine has died be thought and his soul has gone into the cat maggie washed the blood from her face and put on three long strips of plaster and then went around to the five points mission ahei they were married the minister mr boughton asked them both a great many questions and satisfied himself that everything was all right before he dismissed them he eaid he hoped maggie would be happy 1 hope so air said ehe an they say the chinka are good to their wun men they went back to the store then there was a letter bithe counter beai the scales it had come from china and was for yee sam ling the cat sat near it and would not move ling pushed hei way with a stick but she came back he was afraid to put bis hand out for the letter so he pulled it toward liia with his pipe it was from his native town your good mother is dead it said the scourge devil carried her away it was her will that you return and marry the girl she has betrothed to you the letter fell from lings hands ht looked up and saw the cat still staring at him my mothers soul is there to curse me ha whispered to himself backing toward the door it is she she has come across big water because I 1 did not return and he kept stepping backward the curse has come upon cef and he felt for his cue then he looked at maggie and saw the marks of the claws with a he opened the door and rushed out johns gone plumb crazym said maggie to the attendant its tb opium 1 guess it knocks em all when they get the habit ling never came back so maggie patched a truce with her mother aud went back to tho tenement nobody but the minister knows she is mrs yee sam ling and the new sign which swings over the booro the little etora tells every one who looks up at it thai sun quong sells chinese groceries there sun quong was the attendant fred A in new york evening sun |
