The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1870-05-13
49,
NUMBER IS.
A PRINCE IN RAGS.
Romantic Story of Chinese Emperar'
(From the San Francisco Chronicle

4
tFrom the San Francisco Cirronirle)
Almost every day, at the entrance OF
the Occidental Hotel, on Bush street.
may be seen an old, lame CEinaman,
who lmportunes us for aims. 4 coun-
tenance traced with The burrows of care
and starvation is in no way improved
by its total abstinence from water. And
| yet, who of the many who bestow a
passing glance on that weather. beaten.
dirt-begrimmed face, think for mo-
ment that in those shrivelied old veins
courses blood of royalty? Yet this is
even so.
dreams of Oriental luxury were his.
He, the youngest of five brothers, had
for his father no less a parsonage than
the sovereign of the. Celestial Empire.
Until his tenth year, reared in the SPLEEN
dor of that court, of which so much is
! told, and yet so little known, he had not
| wish that was not at once gratified.
Mandarins of high rank were glad in
| deed to wait on this scion of a roval
house. He, with his brothers, had each
their little court. To one was allotted
the care of the royal fowls; to another.
the royal sheep; to another, the ROYAL
goats; and to him belonged the care OF
his mothers pet peacock.
Sinecures that exist in all well regulat-
ed governments are by no means I'M
known in China. So he grew up happy
in the execution of his duties and the
paternal commands. Already had he
been promised the command of the Thi.
betan frontier.
Far from the capital, in the country
where the rebels were most powerful
we can well imagine the Consideration
| caused his mother at the time this intelIi.
Ifror, \ 4.
son. Even at that early age he was eager
for this martial life. He dreamed ONLY
of great deeds and wars alarms; and
when his mother, gently braiding his
| tiny little queue, would gaze into her
boys bright eyes and read there the Ian.
guage which they spoke. her heart alter
| mated between hope and fear 4 gentle
little maiden had long been his betroth.
ed. She, too, felt keenly the pangs OF
parting, which his hopeful, chatting heart
had not time to feel. Bright, indeed
was the future for him; and yet, one
| short night cast him from his airy height
even to the depth into which he is sunk
One of these sudden revolutions to
| which that kingdom is so subject, hurled
his father from his throne, and caused
the murder of all who loved and hon
ored him. Through the fidelity of an
| old servant this young prince was saved
from the general butchery. Still, his
name alone would have been his death
warrant at any time. So he lived in
| poverty and constant dread, stunned by
| all and stunning all.
When the first cargoes of Chinese
were sent to our State, he welcomed
this as an opportunity for escape from
an atmosphere of death to him, SNUG.
gled himself on board one of the ships
| The close confinement which he had to
undergo, and the tossing of the cargo il
| the hold, ruined his health and crippled
him for life. Too weak to beg, and toe
honest to steal, nothing was left him but
to accept the bounty which the stranger
| in the strange land, saw fit TO bestow
upon him. Who can tell the pangs il
cost the proud heart to descend to this +:
As you see him now, so he has lived foI
the past ten years.
Through the aid of an interpreter, We
CLEANED the sad history of this poor old
prince. That hardship and want NAV
have affected the brain of the unfortun-
ate creature is more than likely: but his
tale was told with so much apparent
truthfulness, SO much earnestness, that
we have thought it worthy the hearing
of our readers. Bright, brighter was
his starting in life than one in ten thous-
and; dark, darker, perhaps, is its closing
than one i'll ten million.