Show Yellow Men Sleep By JEREMY LANE Tk n. c C IIII v CHEE MING Synopsis John Levington a poet visionary and Impractical and Mary Martin the daughter of rich and worldly par parents hear the call caU of or love and unito their lives They so go to a small email Michigan city where John finds 1 work in a stove factory and on Sundays writes verses verse The Martins Martina try In vain aln to tog g set get t the happy wife to leave her husband Mary begins to breath breathe for tor two John loses his hla job He appeals In vain to the Martins Mar Mary goes to the hospital and hospital and never nevar returns Thus comes Into the story Cornelius Levington John leaves town and the city farms out the child Two years cars later John appears claims his bis little son on and takes him with him himon himon himon on his wanderings over the whole earth t Under the same me conditions condition do you believe you could have bave made more of life than Con Levington made of hi his hi oiw B CHAPTER I I Continued 2 2 In Frisco again with the boy nearly four our years ears of age John work worked d In Inman Inmany Inmany man many strange places They lived Ih-ed near icar near Dory street John was a marked man He no did not drink often but he chose the most fatal occasions for Jt lt The gray shadows beneath his eyes e deepened Con learned to cut bread and light the fires fires fires-a a rather solemn young person person who was w well n aware aware that his Ills father was not always S the same His eyes ees were blue large ready fo to trust In his consciousness there was no MO such thin thing as stranger stronger The matter tf t f hom home remained world world- wide tride c. c lie Ile ventured down to the steam ferries and pondered the mystery of their endless coming and going He lIe loved Jo the strength of horses ns fiS they hulled hailed heaping toads loads over the cobbles He lie wondered what made the loads so o heavy And where had everything tome come from The fire-engines fire were de de- At night when they passed p below helow the window and he could not get up he he- helay lay beside his father and wondered what might be burning and andt imagined how the smoke would come out and blacken the stars and the fire crackle and curl up tip high as the firemen fire fire- men Inca worked from the street Was It Ita Ita ita a a- abig big building burning Who was wa's was getting getting getting get get- ting burned up What would they have done if they hadn't been burned buried up tip to bight On some occasions his father would would talk but he was asleep all the while hile and how hots could he lie know what he was saying Con listened and It was like Bill the Chink He could not understand understand under under- stand the words of either of them but butt ft It t was wonderful to hear There was wasa a rhythmic pulse to these night words of John Levington Le and upon it Con was frequently carried Into magic dreams Im going The father usually said this to the boy In the morning and It did not mean he was going to work Con understood so much but no no more more John J said it more and more and more often otten Con himself became marked for different At the age of he felt It He did nearly everything the boys In the Dory street neighborhood even eyen the soiled little yellow boys whose play was weird with forty centuries of ot Asiatic wickedness but Con was not always admitted He could fight and climb was generous and bold But the clear light in his eyes ees betrayed him he was different At length he realized that things were said sad concerning his father which he be could not quite fathom John seemed I tired and always very gentle drowsy but never ready for bed Their little I kitchen was clean The bedroom smelled like Father himself a friendly personal scent rather like cinnamon and whisky This went with the shadowed gray eyes and grew more perceptible when John began to stay at home eyer every da day being out of work Often otten now John Levington would take the child between his knees and look for a long time steadily Into the blue eyes Con found that this was better than talking He received his father Into an open heart giving him utter Titter devotion John slept a great deal when out of ot work vork His eyes ees were shadowed and sunken They returned to Dowagiac The house ouse was rented by strangers but the slovenly woman next door was there thereas as always her ber sparse black hair stand stand- ing out at angles anglen from her head It seemed she wore th same snagged apron pron stiff with grease She moved out to the sidewalk to td shake hands bands You aint looking well well and and Is this I the baby She nonchalantly pinched Cons Con's aud and he coldly suffered red her touch I t IJohn IJohn tJohn John Levington did not reach the cemetery A As s he was leading Ms his son sonto sonto sonto to that hill the blaze of un August iron Fun n mastered him Ills His vitality was gone jotie one had hall left him long since Con Oon crossed the street to ask at a p house for water because his father fathel was down not get up Dowa Down gla ur S hl rne new fie r ambulance thus found Its premier case The boy was Vas handed over oer to the matron of the tho city rest room After supper supper they took him t to his father In the hospital Im going said sad John Con was somewhat closer to the meaning now Johns John's eyes were more deeply shadowed but even eyen In this new situation the boy was reassured by the familiar scent of wine and cinnamon about the bed The young son did not like the funeral He lie refused to weep as In In- In But Dut he screamed when they let him see that his father was in the box He knew all an about It now He had seen funerals before and thrown stones at them It meant as some said along Dory street goodnight good I Realization of ot his fathers father's death lentil came like a shower of hot needles and then thena a slow weight on I his ls chest It was as unbelievable To-morrow To would be all an allright allright right it must be Con was stupefied So the city council extended Its humanity once more and voted care for the waif walt and It happened that the lowest bidder for his keep was the woman next door the door the cheerful slattern slattern slat slat- tern with four of her het own own and and to her fou foul dwelling Con Can went to to be raised raised CHAPTER II III 1 I Purple Tracery In the darkness of ot the months and years that followed Con Levington Le did not suffer suITer consciously from the horrors of his environment lIe He became became became be be- came much like it and through the accumulating films of sordid e experience he lie saw but vaguely that there was more in life than this Whenever er anything beautiful forced Its Us way toward to- to toward ward him he could not Imagine that It might be for himself Yet the true true- heritage in his blood was not lost Merely his decent poetic young oung self crossed with filth He lie companioned with the scum of cities after running away from Dowagiac Dowagiac Do Do- also took tool toola a few music lessons of Max Markov a young Russian spirit in Chicago He spent much of or his time at a club of yet manag managed d to make a firm friend of ot a Spaniard In French diplo diplo- diplomatic diplomatic matic matte circles a princely person of Irreproachable Irreproachable Ir Ir- reproachable standing Con never ne realized what an nn Indigestible layer- layer cake he was making out of life The nearest he ever came to straightening himself out was during recurrences of ofa a longing to know more to see deeper Into nto the complexities about him He lie forgot his father and mother even forgot forgot forgot for for- got the dirty woman whose marks were still upon his habits but this tills longing would come frequently out of ot the wells of his spirit perhaps to be Instantly polluted denied smiled down Con Condid Condid Condid did not believe belleve that real life was for tor such such as himself Both Doth to the underworld underworld underworld under under- world and to the upper realms of society society so so- clet- clet clethe he felt somehow an outsider There was at last a series of ot events that quickened his longing to a degree that would not be put aside The pressure pl of these strange events C formed formed formed form form- ed his life liCe once for all The better story begins here the final raveling out of the ugly weave In his days t I I t J II III I I e I He Tried Not to Show the Strain This Hour Held for Him Through these events all the longings of early years ears even the yearnings of those who vho went before him were intensified and definitely answered Destiny for tor Con Levington Le began begau swiftly to untangle at a dinner n a quiet affair with with- one of ot his newest st friends This laden fate-laden dinner was shaded and silvery served for Cor two In the tle smaller room dining of ot the house The members of the family were all aIt away except one 1 Cecil s 1 sat at opposite his guest est Levington and talked candidly of the numerous picture motion stars In his golden orbit The guest while attentive attentive attentive atten atten- tive and never neve missing his hosts host's callow callow callow cal cal- low pleasantries was merely bearing up as best he might under boredom boredom boredom bore bore- dom and at the same time concealing the thc commotion In his heart Con was aware of Destiny The wine w was s expensive If It not mellow mellow mellow mel mel- low and the cooking was undeniably good having haYing been accomplished by Cecils Cecil's own a a Chinese whose existence seemed to begin and end In Inthe inthe the night flying son of the hedgers Con taller taUer than his father held a alikeness alikeness alikeness likeness to John Levington only about the eyes and temples something grave gra and tense that disappeared when he laughed He tried not to show the strain that this hour our held for him al although although although al- al though in hl the luminous haze of cigarette cigarette cigarette cigar cigar- ette smoke his features were a degree deree drawn and pale His voice oice had a natural sincerity The eyes ees gray blue-gray and steady seemed to hide none of the secrets that hovered In the lines around his mouth The gentle excellence of ot othis his brow and head ranked him one with tho those c who had been carefully directed well combed at the start Con was a good listener His were well built limbs the shoulders almost too massive though he lie was slim through the waist and sometimes abashed at the fineness of at his hands The Integrity of oC this only son of oft t two tO O consummate lovers had been tempered tempered tempered tem tem- in the roaring pits of ot the world Con had never ne been heen one to wait walt for temptation As the reticence of ot childhood childhood childhood child child- hood had been rubbed awa away and before before be be- fore a mans man's dignity had come to him he had been famously read ready lie He had hind scaled the wally walls around the garden of ot illusion battered his Ws wa way joyfully alon along Its paths and plunged ed Into every ery j alluring pool He lIe had found Its promises worthless and had aged In Ina Ina ina I a a dozen years rs His Hs Inner prompting had taken tal a false lead but he lie had no nore re regrets regret With help he had hud at length found his wa way out Into the thc clean and anti cooling winds of bf humanity He lie had discovered again the treasures of a I town small boyhood the satisfaction II of ot open fields the sun In his eyes e Morning 1 air on the slopes was wine to him In the lie blue rush of or the th sea he tried his strength and found It sufficient These were what he had wanted all the while But nut the guideposts guideposts guideposts guide- guide posts hart hail all aIt pointed the other way Cecil invitation to dinner was part of ot a plan The loquacious sprout had no 00 notion that he was being used Nor did Con feel guilty in the deception for he lie was stepping into a work that claimed all an his best hest energies The Chinese servant entered like a living shadow bringing fresh fresl coffee cortee Cecil made his own cup Into a gloria b by brimming It with brandy brondy Levington Leving Leving- ton smiled and waved the bottle away This was not so easy as It appeared His ills nostrils twitched at the fragrance from his hosts host's cup Perhaps the Chinese understood for he nodded gravely Now Cecil to show his democratic spirit spoke to the servant very nearly as one man might address another Chee Ming lIng what do you think of a chap who turns deacon and wont won't drink drink anything anythIng at the age of oC twenty twenty- five The Chinese countenance unfolded a few more small wrinkles near the nose and antI a light appeared In the narrow narrow narrow nar nar- row eyes as Chee Ming lIng made reply Doubtless wise Deacon Is hardly the word declared declared de tie- the young man of twenty Deacons are a thirsty brotherhood Cecil considered this remarkable humor He was glad he had asked Levington to corne come The servants servant's face was the yellow yellow- ellow gray of ot summer dust and when the light of a moment vanished from his eyes they became smooth wet stones His Ills body was spare pare a kind of unnaturally unnaturally unnaturally un un- naturally prolonged youth In in It and Cecil to publish his own magnanimity and good taste had insisted that Chee Chico CheeMing CheelIng Ming lIng continue to robe In n native dress a loose blousing Housing smock with white sash and narrow straight trousers Chee Ming lIng was scoured and brushed clean lie He was not young oung had newer never been heen young and possibly would never grow old A power that was wire wire- I nerved ner and psychic radiated from rem his motionless form The essence of sober cunning showed shoved In n his countenance countenance ages of or calm Iniquity had wrought In Inthe Inthe the lie lore or of his soul his was a n face impossible to 10 read while a n well tarred scorn lurked In tn hI his hands He lIe smoothly retired to the pantry I was telling you about my little I friend wasn't I resumed Cecil livening livening liven u I ing to the he task Yes replied his guest you were going to show me her picture Pinkest little thing you ever sa saw asserted the pride of ot the Coffee wont won't be enough for you when you see see see- Cecil left tlc tle table and hastened for forthe forthe forthe the photograph of ot his newest darling Con hen heard Id I'd him whistling as lie he went up through the deserted mansion Alone In n the dining Con Gon al' al o arose e rpm the table The tension rn about his hla eyes es esa way wa a morn mou mm Led Unit Half n a smile drew at ut his hit mouth h. h a 0 gathering close of faculties He went to the door of ot the butlers butler's pantry and passed on through In the low light beyond was Chee Cheo CheeMing CheeMing Ming taking Inking care of the silver The face was shadowed showing neither surprise nor Interest at the approach of ot Levington yet one bony hand moved along tho the shelf shelt toward t the e handle of ot the tIle bread The two men same came together as swiftly as aa struggling g phantoms Chee Ming was built of ot live tendons The knife bread-knife came around In the grip of ot yellow fingers closer over Levington's Levington's Lev- Lev ev- ev ington's stomach but could not go on Con pinioned his arms and with a 11 apang apang pang of ot regret bent him backward with a n force that might have snapped a white mans man's spine but the Chinese would I not be broken Neither uttered a R sound An Instant they locked Their feet seemed fast ast to th the floor Then under necessity the white young younK man forgot to be tender hearted n ft quick gasp of or pain came from the Oriental lips Ups and Chee Ming's weapon rattled to the floor The victim sighed and crumpled In Levington's arms On the floor he quivered while the victor |