St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-03-13
JOSS JOINS THE GAME.
Lo HONG Invoked the Great and Bsnef-
cent Kwang Coon.
10 BEAT THE LOTTERY.
For Kwang Coon, the God Of War and
Good Fortune, Had Heard His
Prayer.

thought convinced him that he had bet
ter stay long enough to take another
whack at the scheme. and break the
bank thoroughly. Meantime he is go
ing to blow Joss off to first-class Ash
attic dinner. Roast turkey and baked
Sucking-pig will abound as plentifully
as beer and beef at rowing crews dim
ner.
Lo Hong embarked in the laundry in
duStry in Harlem about two years ago.
Trade was fairly active and he began to
put away little money against the
rainy day when he would want to go
home to China. The price of soap and
starch went up last fall and poor Lo be-
came discouraged. Like any Celestial,
he took to his long pipe as a refuge
troubles. The long pipe was loaded
with opium, and Lo hit it faithfully and
frequently query day. Pretty soon he
became poor Lo in earnest. He got
things mixed and bungled his accounts.
Harlemite after Harlemite came around
and collected money for hypothetical
shirts and collars he SWOre LO had
lost. The laundryman couldn't under
stand just how things were going,
but he found himself sliding down
pOverty's hill at high rate of speed.
That he could comprehend quite well.
The further he went the faster he slid,
and last Saturday morning he counted
up his cash, discovered that he had only
55 cents in his possession and then sat
down to figure on how he was to make
it pay his S25 rent due Monday morning.
The more Lo Hong calculated the
more puzzled he was. Listlessly he rat
tied the beads along the wires of his
Chinese counting machine and kept
finding out the same answer all the time
-S25 rent into So cents capital meant
the grand bounce OF its equivalent i'll
Chinese and HarlemeSe. In this eX-
tremity Lo took frantically to piety. 81
will HE me unto Mott street." said he
softly unto himself in cultural syllables,
land there | will chin-chin Joss about
the chances of pulling stake
out of the lottery. When LO
and paid his nickel and dropped
pink ticket in the elevated gate-box
on the way to Chatham square he had
just one broad 50-cent piece left. That
was all his fortune, and it was forlorn
bit of fortune for full-grOwn CeleS-
tial to be carrying around in the fold of
his blouse. Lo Shuffied sadly along the
crowded Mott street sidewalk, and with
heavy feet climbed the flight of stone
steps to the Lung Hee Ia temple at No.
Is. The temple is tenement house
making feeble show of the greatness
it used to shelter years ago, when it was
the home of a wealthy shipping mer-
chant. Cinnamon and tenants of other
nations lived in it now, but a couple of
rooms are reserved for the use of the
joss Kwang Coon, the god of war, good
fortune and games of chance. There
any Chinaman may drop in and have
few words with the joss at any time.
He may pay what tribute he chooses, or
he need pay none. Lo explained to the
mighty Kwang Coon that he was clean
broke and would be much obliged for
tip ION credit as to how the lottery was
coming out that night. Joss sat silent
in his painted majesty, and didn't even
wink by way of reply.
Now see how accommodating really
frSt-clasS JOSS is. In vase at the altar
were eight bits of rice paper bearing
fac-similes of the eighty numbers from
which the twenty lucky ones were to be
drawn that night. LO Hong lighted an
incense stick of sandalWOod, waved it
deferentially before Kwang Coon and
muttered in fair Chinese something that
meant: i'Please, Kwang Coon, give me
a fair chance at the bank this time.
You can't keep the wOrkingman down.
and I'm wOrkingman from waybaek."
So saying he waited till the incense
stick had sputtered out in a last tiny
gasp of fragrant smoke, and then drew
a number from the vase. He laid it be-
fore him on the altar, took a fresh
prayer-Stick, lighted it, and again invited
the great Kwang Coon, god of war, good
fortune and games of chance, to give
him straight tip on the On Tai lottery.
AS the stick stopped burning he helped
himself to another numbered scrap of
paper from the vase and laid it beside
the first. So he went on praying
and choosing until he had fshed out
ten numbers from the great Kwang
GOon's lucky vase. Then he wrote
down the numbers on pocket tablet,
put back the bits of paper in the vase
and watched Kwang G0on'S face for
sign. Faint murmurS of the street
dOws, and the echoes of an occasional
list-soled shoe dragging along the rag
ged hallway floor near by were the only
marked sounds that he heard beyond
his own breathing. He regarded
KWang Goon's face sharply. After
long study he came to the conclusion
that the Joss was smiling down good
luck at him. He lifted his hands to his
head, salaamed profoundly and toddled
off in peace and happiness. Things
looked promising.
The great On Tai game is a sporting
bird of passage. The name On Tai
means ''good secusity against arrest"
The game is lottery. 1t has one
night stands. This is because young
Capt. McCullagh's vigorous policemen
chase it merrily from place to place,
and the gamesterS have to move around
70
That is why the dealers call it ION Tai"
Full of hope, LO Hong went in and laid
down his last broad 50-cent piece. He
drew his pen, loaded with red ink,
through ten of the eighty numbers
written on a broad placard.
Now, out of these eighty numbers
twenty come out as lucky III the draw
ing which takes place every evening.
A man who invests so cents and in his
ten-fold guess hits only one number
gets nothing. To get his money back
he must have selected at least four out
of the lucky twenty. Five pay him 81
for so cents; six $40 for so cents, seven
S11OO for 80 cents, and eight S62j for 30
cents. When the winning numbers
were announced that evening Lo Hong
found that he had named eight out of
the possible ten lucky figures. So much
good luck nearly made him faint. He
Sat up all night and thought about it.
He continued in a happy meditation
over Sunday and forgot to go to Sunday
school.
Monday morning, bright and early,
he came down town again and drew his
prize, less $50 commission charged by
the lottery dealers. He paid off his
landlord, bought new set of wash tubs
and put $3.50 in bank. He says he is
soon going to do the square thing by
Kwang Coon, the god of war, good
fortune and games of chance, by blow
ing him off to a first-claSS Chinese din
her. Celestial gamblers i'll hard luck
will help Joss to dispose of the PROV
ender.
The Italian Stiletto.