Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-02-09
HOOEE Sin Fab.
THE QUAINT OLD LEGEND OF THE CHI.
NESE WATER LILY.
If 1t Blooms on New Years, Good
Luck VIII Surely Come to
Its Owner.

Luck VIII Surely Come to
Its Owner.
Splash!
1t just missed the reporters head and
was now lost to sight in the deep mud of
street.
A Mongol loiterer, who occupied seat
on one of the numerous guard rails to the
more numerous cellar doors, grinned
hugely at the newspaper man as the latter
| wiped the mud spots from his trousers, in
such vigorous manner that there was no
| mistaking the condition of his mind just
at that moment. and when he observed
that grin, it didn't serve to smooth his
temper.
What are you grinning at, you pig.
tailed, copper colored loafer? 1 suppose
you think that was funny, eh2n
"Heap funny! hel hel he! Mclean man
mad, Chinsman mad, everybody mad Hel
bel hep' and the heather nearly rolled off
his perch with laughter.
why, you don't look very mad" said
the scribe, smiling in spite of himself at
the Chinaman's antics.
Me? No, me no mad. Chinaman
upstairs mad. Throw 'um hoee sin fab
out 'um window-hel he he--velly mad
he! he! hel-no catchee good luck-velly
mad"
The mud-spatteriDg was forgotten, and
the reporters curiosity was aroused.
What are you talking about-hooee sin
fab, and DO catchee good luck-what do
you mean?"
You no sabe hooee sin fah?'
mo"
"Hooee sin fah all same watel angel"
well, what's watel angelo"
'Chinee lily. You sabe him?''
"0h But what's that go to do with all
this ?''
He hel he Watel angel bling good
luck-heap good luck. Chinaman plantee
twenty days TO New Veal. If catchee
bloom on New Veal, hab heap good luck;
Mebbe get sick. Mebbe get die"
well, was that a hooee sin fab, or
watel angel, or a Chinee lily, or whatever
you call it. that came from that window ?''
Him hooee sin fab. Chinaman up
stairs no catchee good luck. Velly mad.
Throw UNI out window. Sabe?h
Yes, think So"
The reporter walked away, but the Incl
dent had set him to thinking. He made
note of it in his memorandum book, and
subsequently, made inquiries among few
intelligent Cinnamon, and learned that
hooee sin fab is the technical Chinese term
for the water angel lily'-not watel, as
that loiterer had pronounced it.
The Chinese have great faith in the pre-
dictions of the water angel, and regularly
rNIo hnf q NIY1fr IF IA
Year, and watch most anxiously for its
blooming. This belief comes from pretty
legend of the plant.
Many years ago, so the legend runs, there
lived in China rich and Influential farmer.
As the custom of his country goes, he mar
ried wife of high birth and gentle breed
ing, which was shown by her little cramped
feet and her long and pearly fngernails.
Then he married another wife, PEASANTS
daughter, not because he wanted her so
much as to have her to wait on the lady
wife and work. She was a strong, we'll
built woman, whose feet had never been
broken, and who had been trained to carry
water and TO boil the rice while the lady
wife rested helpless as baby. The latter
did not like the low-born wife, and when,
in the course of time, son was born TO
each, the dislike of the lady wife developed
into downright hatred, which made the
lives of the mental wife and her little
almond-eyed son most miserable.
The old farmer kept them from pulling
hair, however, and grew richer each year
until the boys were about five years old,
when one day he left this life TO join Con-
fucius and the fathers. with big funeral
and a roast pig to cheer him on his way.
The first wife was master of the situa-
ton now. By right of birth and her first
oho oil ha IL.
was worth taking. All the money, all the
stock, all the land that she wanted she
took. She was naturally coyetous. and be-
hind this was all the jealousy and hatred
which had ranked in her heart for years.
All that was left the poor peasant wife and
her little son was a barren, swampy little
piece of ground between two hills. Upon
it was miserable little tumble-down hut,
matched with rice straw, which let in both
rain and sunshine. Times went pretty
hard with them. They suffered with both
hunger and cold, but the rich widow would
give them nothing.
One day it commenced raining and it
rsined every day for a week. The water
came up till it completely covered the land
and drove the poor mother and her little
son to the roof OF their howell. There they
nearly persisted from cold and hunger.
They had a little rice, and the mother
killed water pigeon which flew upon the
roof, and upon this they subsisted for sew
eral days.
One morning they awoke a,Aost dead,
to find that the water had gone down and
that the sun was shining brightly. The
little boy was overjoyed, and climbed from
the hut and began playing on the muddy
ground. In few minutes he ran back
with handful of bulbs about the size and
aho of ha fbar no.
seen anything like them before. but she
grasped one and ate it. 1t was not very
palatable, but it saved life. The ground
was covered with the bulbs, and in few
days the little green leaves were shooting
up from them, and in few days more the
whole of their barren plot was transformed
into blooming flower garden. What the
flower was no one could tell, for no one
had ever seen anything of the kind before.
So they decided that the gods must have
sent it, and as it was brought by the water
they named it the water angel plant.
From far and near the people came to
see the field of lilies, and every one of them
fell in love with the pale blue flowers and
their sturdy green stems. Each visitor
bought some Of the plants. and money be-
gan to flow into the pocket of the poor
mother. So great did the rage for the flow
ers become that the woman grew very rich,
and built her a fine house between the
high hill, and was even greater than the
rich widow who had been her enemy Thus
honesty and virtuous poverty were re-
warded by the gods, and the Chinese ever
since looked upon hooee sin fab SIS harb-
niger Of good luck, aud every Chinaman
plants one about three weeks before the
New Year, and watches eagerly for the
coveted flowers which are to bring him
health, wealth and 'heapee good luck for
the coming year.
FIVE-HANDED.
An Early Morning Fight in Notorious