Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-06-03
s. Wung Lee"

YESTERDAY Wung Lee was not to-day
he is. He has ceased to be of Hibernian
extraction and confined to a caravan of
moral show, and has become in very
truth part and parcel of the community.
Established in little shop on side
street he has hung out his wash-tub on
the outer wall, and curious crowds
collect around the doors Of his UMPIRE
tending domic1le, watching with eager
scrutiny to discover by what method the
heathen IN his blindness, restores soiled
linen to its pristine purity. Little heed
does Wung pay to the anything but civil
curiosity Of his numerous self-invited
visitors. In no respect does he resemble
the demi-god Yung How, who had
"voice like thunder, and a temper like
galloping horse;" on the contrary his
gentle, quiet manner is to the last degree
humble, and his deprecating air is a con-
tinual apology for his existence. The
cynosure of as many eyes as can find
cracks to peep through, he silently pur-
sues his work unmoved by the excessive
demonstration of popular interest In his
proceedings, and as he stands arrayed in
quaint Eastern garb, and half-hidden by
the steam arising from the seething suds,
he suggests in no small degree the pict-
ure with which we are all familiar, of
Aladdin enveloped in the smoke arising
from the magical fire of the Arabian
astrologer. The position which this waif
hn
midst of cur Western civilization is not
little singular Like Eichendorff's genius,
whose one foot is planted on the present
and whose other reaches far out into the
future, Wung Lee straddles a gulf ex-
fencing from dawn to sunset, and, hold
ing this rather trying position, he unites
two widely different nations of men. All
his abstract interests are far away, while
his concrete interests are entirely here,
and he labors diligently and waits long
to reap the desired harvest of his much
loved silver coin, to the end that he may
brighten home that is to be in another
cline There is certain patient hero
ism, or a certain coarse Indifference, in
the way Wung Lee, while working to this
end, puts up with Sights, accepts rude
ness and smiles cheerfully in the face of
open sc0rn, which seems to indicate that
he is made either Of much finer or much
commoner clay than that used in the
manufacture of mankind at large. Moth
ing but death can turn him from his pur-
pose, and in the face Of overwhelming
difficulties in the shape of strange Ian
guage and strange customs-with both
of which he must become to some eX-
tent familiar before he can even make a
forward staTt-he generally succeeds IN
accomplishing his purpose and retracing
his steps in the capacity of victor He
may not be creative are pretty sure
that he is not good-but Wung Lee has
an amount of perseverance that IS simply
and in that he possesses this
one sterling quality he deserves, if not
our respect, at least our respectful con-
sideration, until such time as it shall
please him, with full pockets and merry
heart, and with his queue tapping blither
against his happy heels, to wend
his way back to the Flowery Kingdom,
there to offer sacrifice and give praise at
the tombs of his ancestors, and to settle
down for the remainder of his DAYS
contented man.-Philadelphia Press
sTRUCK-The man who was
knocked over By an omnibus