St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1874-08-28
VOLUME 3S--NUMBER 1885.

1t was deemed advisable for the next
three weeks to keep Wan Lee closely
confined to the printing office, and the
purely mechanical part of the business.
Here he developed surprising quick
ness and adaptability. winning even
the favor and good will of the printers
and foreman, who ut first looked upon
his Introduction into the secrets of their
trade as traught with the graveSt poIit
ical Significance. He learned to set
type readily and neatly. his wonderful
skill i'll manipulation aiding him in the
mere mechanical act. and his ignorance
of the language contining him simply
to the mechanical cifnrt-contirming the
printers axiom that the printer who
considers oT follows the ideas of his
copy makes IL poor cGmpoSitor. He
would set up deliberately long diatrihcS
against himself. composed 10y his fellow
printers, and hung on his hook as copy.
and even such short sentences lis EVAN
Lee is the devils own imp" EVAN Lee
is Il Mongolian rascal and bring the
proof To me with happiness heaming
from every tooth and satisfaction SHIN
ing i'll his hucklcbcrry eyes.
1t was not long, however. before he
learned t" r"tnlintC on his mischicyous
prosecutors. | remember one instance
i'll which his rcprisal came very near
involving me in a serious mis,u,I,r
standing. Our forcman's name was
Webster. and Wan Lee presently learn
ed 70 know and reco"uilc tbe individu-
i'll and combined letters of his name. II
WIS during Il poIiticoI c,mr,imu and
the clouucnt and fiery Col. Stnrhnttle
of SiSkivou. had delivered an effective
snccch. which WAS rcnnrtcd cSncci,Ii,
for ..Thc Northern Star" In 8, worry
sublime nrroI:tiou Col. St,rhnttI,. L,d
said ..Iu the lan"uaur of thc cod
like Webster I rrnr,t and hero fol
lnyed the uunt,tinn which I h,,-,. f,-
rottcn. Now. il CHANGED th,t W,,
lee lnokinr over thr galley after i,
had been revised. saw the name of his
chief pcrS,cutor. and. of coursr. i'm
a,riurd thc uuotltion his After thr
form WAS locked up. Wan Lee took nd
yautarc of WchStcrS absence to remove.
thc uIntatiou. and substitute = Thin
piece of lead of the same size a< the
type. engraved with Chinese characters.
making sentence which. | had reason
to believe. was AN utter and ahicct con-
fcSSiun of the incapacitv and offensive
ness OF the Webster family generally
and exceedingly culumiStic of Wan Lee
himself personally.
The next mornings paper contained
Col. Starhottlc'S speech in full, in which
il appcarrd that the "und-likc" Web
stcr had on one occasion uttered his
thoughts in excellent hut p,ri,ctIy
cmirmatic:il Chinese. The rare of Col.
StaIbottlr knew no hounds. have 4
vivid recollection of that admirable.
man walking into my office ana de
mandiur Il rctractinu of the statement.
"But my dear sir" asked. ..urr vou
willing to deny. over your own sigma
tIrc. that Webster ever uttered such 4
sentence , Dare Won DENY that. with
Nh. WrhStcr's weli-known attainmrntS.
a knowledge of Chinese. might not have.
been among the uumhcre Are Won
wiIlin" 10 submit 4 translation suitabI..
to the coporit, of uur renders. and de
nv. upon vomr honor a, a gentleman.
~ w.I....." ..,.r uttered
~ ;ir;,,o -, ',,'iIi.b ,oi,,. ,Io,i.L.
rhnr'j wen, nnt .nJ Inf, Li"LIv in
,Ii,runnt
WnhSt.r Wis. fine Fireman took it mora.
.,,II, II,nniI,- he v.,. un.,r,rc th,t