Bridgeton pioneer., 1885-03-19
CHI LUNG;
A BIT OF HUMAN NATURE.
by DAVID CHRISTIE MURRAY.


gether. 1t was not crisp sn"%, but snow
half-meted in the air; heay close-cing.
ing and wet; and it had no mere power tc
whiten the earth than soap and water to
blanch blackamoor. The mud received it,
absorbed it. and blackened it, flake by flake,
let it fall as quickly as it might Since the
thaw had set in the cold had intensified for
everything but the thermometer, which, in
the face of fact, persisted in the indication
of milder temperature.
The place was MontcOurtois, and the day
was the first of December. The village Ker-
messe had always been held on that day,
and it was tradition that the weather had
always been inclement.
In the middle of the muddy roadway stood
the last figure in the whole wide world one
might have expected to find there. Yester-
day the stranger had been mobbed and fol-
lowed, and had had his tail pulled, but to-
day Montcourtois had grown accustomed to
him, and no man regarded him. He had
palled even upon the children, and the wo-
men were too busy with their fairings to af.
ford him more than passing glance.
There was no sign of complaint or suffer
Ing in his face, which was as impassive and
expressionless as an Egyptian sculpture.
He stood in the mud and the snow, and sung
in a shrill miawling treble, keeping time to
his song with wheeZy German concertina.
His notions of accompaniment were rudi-
mental, for he did no more than press four
keys on the bass side when he crushed the
instrument together, and four keys on the
treble side when he drew it to its length, so
that the concertina gave forth a gasping and
monotonous "Ha-ha!' in which both tones
were discordant. In one sense the accom-
paniment was artistic, for at least it suited
as we'll as anything could have done the
Celestial ditty he chanted. He stood there
solemn and impassive, and continued his
miawling ditty, and kept time to it with the
drawing and discOrdant ''Ha-haw of the
concertina, and no living creature took the
remotest notice of him.
Suddenly, in mOmentary pause in the
chant, he heard the noise of horses bells.
The sound came nearer and nearer and in
awhile the lamps of carriage beamed out
on the road with two broadening lanes of
light. With prodigious noise of whip
cracking, but with no acceleration of speed,
the driver covered the last thirty yards of
his Journey, and drew up between the musi-
clan and the hotel. Then a man heavily
wrapped against the weather descended,
somebody from within opened the door of
the hotel, the driver got down from his
perch and drew a portmanteau from the
carriage. The melancholy musician cater
wauled little louder than before and the
concertina sobbed and shrieked a little
faster "Ha-ha ha-ha" but the driver took
his horse by the bride, the door was closed,
and the man with the pagoda hat, the pig
tail, and the thin blue cottons was alone
with the night again. The chant ceased, and
the concertina hung loosely in his suspend
ed hands. The tramp of the horses feet,
the humping of the wheels, and the tingling
of the bells were all moving away together
with something sick and dreamlike in their
tone, when the door opened again, and
voice cried out in French, but with an un-
mistakably English accent:
'Driver! Where is my gun? You have
forgotten my gum"
The carriage paused, and dead Silence fell.
Out of the silence sprung soaring cater
waul, and the concertina sobbed and Shrek
ed almost madly.
"Hillo" said the traveller, peering into
the darkness. In the name of Chaos, what
is this? Music! Pll bet my boots it's meant
for music!' He took step or two into the
snow. Come come. This is masquerade.
A real Chinaman in the Ardennes is too i'm
possible. And yet he looks like the genuine
article, too" There was not much light to
see by, even now that the door was open.
Come inside" said the traveller.
The musician obeyed the beckoning hand,
and entered; the driver, with broad Belgian
smile at the pigtail, handed guncase to the
traveller and retired; and the Englishman
and the Chinaman stood beneath the lamp,
and looked at each other.
DO you speak English?" asked the trav-
eler. 'Parlez vous Francas? Sprechen sic
Deutsch? None of them? Well, that's
little comfortless, isn't it? One may just as
well speak in one language as another, and
find English easiest. Come in" He en-
tered a little salon, in which circular iron
stove bloomed red-hot all round and the
Chinaman, again obeying his uplifted finger,
followed The room had a bare boarded
floor and painted walls, and on table in
the center was spread snowy table-cloth
with swinging lamp suspended over it. A
thick-set woman was arranging the table as
If for meal. She looked up and laughed
brightly when she saw the impassive figure
in the blue cottons
DO you know this parsonage, Fifne"
asked the traveller.
No, monsieur" said the woman, still
laughing. 'He came into Montcourtos yes
terday, and all the boys in the village ran
after him and pulled that bell-rope," indi-
eating the Orientaps pigtail, "as if they
would ring the house down."
Does he speak Walloon? Try him." The
woman addressed him in Walloon with no
effect. DO you speak Flamand, Fifne?
Try him with that" The experiment re-
suited as unfavorably as the others. Leave
him to me-" said the traveller. "Hi, Neb-
uchadnezzar! Look here" He tapped the
third button of his heavy Overcoat with the
middle finger of his left hand. "Eh?" he
said, and looked inquiry. The Orentaps
eyes glittered and he inclined his head with
solemn assent. Look here again." said the
traveller. He made elaborate pretense of
drinking from an imaginary glass, and said
''Eh?" once more. The Eastern stranger
understood this signal also, and answered
by second inclination of the head. Fifine
looked on admiringly.
"IIe has hunger and thirst, monsieur" she
said.
Admirable woman" responded the trav-
eler; you have dscerned his malady. You
know the cure? Give him something to eat.
And, in the first place, bring for each of us
H. IL. 81,