The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1877-12-08

would have been betrayed by well-dis-
positioned Newfoundland dog.
cit will certainly be fine tree you
will obtain from All Kim" said l.
" Better put such notions away at once,
my dears."
"But, papa" said Tommy, earnestly,
" he swears he will come here Christmas
morning and make lovely Christmas
tree grow right out of the ground"
-" Yes" put in Bella, "and he prom
ises that it shall be ever SO much better
than the Cameron girls are to have"
All covered with silver and dold,"
chimed in Jenny, clapping her little
hands.
"And a real tree, growed right out of
the ground before our very eyes, !" reit-
Grated Tommy.
Nonsensep said /, little Grossly.
/ shall give the stupid fellow lesson
for putting silly notions into your
heads"
But / have somewhere read of
Oriental jugglers producing a full grown,
matured tree of dwarf size in few min
utes," said my wife, whose prediction
in favor of All Kin was greater than
my own, chiefly because he attended
her Bible class in the Sunday-school,
and led her to believe that he was
in a fair way of being converted to Chris
tianity.
$50 have l." / replied, "but they
must have been far more expert than
our poor simpleton of an All Kin. How
ever"
Twas interrupted by the entrance into
our little garden-where the foregoing
conversation had taken place-of the
very object of our remarks himself.
He was, without doubt the most inane,
ultra-addled, super-stupid specimen of
even a John Chinaman / ever saw. He
might have been almost any age from
twenty-five to sixty, so utterly express
sionless was his fiat, vapid, sheepish phys
iognomy, the skin of which looked like
nothing SO much as imperfect mahogany
veneering that had been exposed to the
weather for an indefinite period, whose
little Sits of eyes were not without sort
of canine af1ectionateness when they en-
countercd me or mine. His develop
ment of forehead and chin-or rather
the lack of twas after the manner of
the princely Aztec descendants that were
once exhibited through the country !;
his yellow protuberant tusk like teeth
were constantly exposed; and one WON
uated pig-tail did not preponderate over
his cerebral incapacity to PROSTATE him
altogether on his back.
The children were not long in making
this cheerful specimen of Celestial civil
ization acquainted with the nature of
the conversation that he had inter-
rupted, and the doubts we had expressed
in respect to the promised Christmas
tree. He contented himself with making
a low salaam, with which he always
greeted us, especially my wife, and simply
said:
"Waitee till Kistmass Gomez, and see
what | do. | know what it means, for
the good lady makee me lovee the Melli-
can mans Joss. Inever forget kindness,
not me. was a big lick magic man in
China. | make grow light here in this
garden splendid tree, SO high (meas-
uring off about yard with his
hands), can Kistmassee morning
Waitee and see."
With that All Kin went into the
|
We saw little of him until the Christmas
morning following, when our garden
contained number of neighbors and
their children, attracted thither by the
wonderful promises of All Kin. which
Tommy and Bella had noised through
the entire nesghborhood.
1t was lovely weather, as warm and
balmy as a day in June in New England.
The sunshine caressed the sward with a
loving hand, the birds were melodious in
the cedars, the gold fish flashed ruddily
in the little fountain l had improvised
near the gate, and the children were dis
porting upon the steps of the cottage
piazza with new toys and jimcracks, in
which, however, Tommy, Bella, and
Jenny were constrained to take a back
seat, inasmuch as / had only been able
to afford an extra dinner for the family
and their parents and nurses near at
hand, among whom 1 noticed, with an
uncomfortable feeling, both Mr.. and
Mrs. Cameron, who appeared to look
down upon me with ostentatious commits
Grafton at my poverty.
l bore it as well as could, and my wife,
knowing the humiliation that oppressed
me, moved famiarily among those who
had constituted themselves our guests.
and made such show of appearance at
her ease that she overdid it a little.
L took care, however, to make every
one understand that placed no reliance
in the Chinaman's promise-as, indeed,
| did not-and would not consider my
self responsible for whatever disappoint-
ment might occur. They were welcome
to sit in my garden as long as they
wished, but had not invited them, and
should not exert myself to afford them
entertainment.
All Kin made his appearance at ten
o'clock, accompanied by another China
man bearing basket containing appar-
emily nothing but fresh new earth.
They were both dressed in clean but
coarse cotton clothes, and All Kin-who
looked more emaciated than / had ever
seen him since he had newly arisen from
his sick bed-carried over his arm a large
mantle of faded yellow silk.
He selected spot ofgreen sward upon
which he directed the basket carrier to
empty the earth, after which he dis
missed him, and throwing himself upon
his knees, proceeded to press and pat
the soil into a smoothly rounded little
mound, about the size of an inverted
washbowl.
He then took from somewhere in the
folds of the silk mantle a little round
purple seed or bean, which he held I'D