The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-07-11

on. One OF tne fers1ans 6ot kiiieu inn
row at night by the big we'll near the
shut up b well, because they said It was
full of foul air. They found him dead at
the bottom of II. So, You see. there Is
only me, the Chinaman, the half-caste
woman that we call the Memsdhio lshe
used to live with Fung-T ching, the other
Eurasian. and one of the Persians. The
Memsahib looks very old now. l think
she was a young when h Gate
was opened; but we are all old Tor the
matter of that. Hundreds and hundreds
of years old. II is very hard to keep count
of time in the gate, and besides, time
doesn't matter to me. i draw 90 rupees
fresh and fresh every month. A very,
very long while ago, when l used to he
getting $50 rupees n month,and pickings,
on a big timber contract at Calcutta, had
a wife Of sorts. But she's dead now. Pee
pie SAT- l killed her by taking to the Black
Smoke. Perhaps l did, but IT'S so long
since that il doesn't matter. Sometimes
when I first came to the Gate, | used to
feel sorry for II; but that's all over aud
done with long ago and i draw my %
rupees fresh and fresh every month, and
am quite happy. Not drunk happy, you
know, but always quiet and soothed and
contented.
How did I take to it? II
hogan at Calcutta. used TO
try il in my own house. just TO see what Il
Wdf llhts Il hettT WIN WHY iht oat u
think my wife must nave died then. Any
how. i found myself here, and gotto know
Fung-Tching. don remember rightly
how hat came about; but he old me of
the Gate u i used to go there, n some
how, l have never got away from IL since.
Mind You, though, the Gate was a re-
spectacle place in Fung-Tching's time
where you he comfortable, and not
at all like the ch~dndoo-khahds where the
niggers go. No; il was clean n quiet,
and not crowded. on course, there were
others besides us ten and the man; but
we always had a mat apiece. with a
wadded woollen head-piece, all covered
with black and red dragons and things;
just like the collin in the corner.
At the end of ones third pipe the
dragons used to move aboutand fight. I've
watched 'em many and many a night
through. / used Ia regulate my smoke
that way, n now IL takes a dozen pipes
to make ZEN stir. Besides, they are all
torn and dirty. like the mats, aud old
Eung-Tching is dead. He died n couple
of ear ago, n gave me the pipe l al
ways Use nova silver one. with queer
beasts crawling up and down the receiver
bottle below the cup. Before that, / think,
i used a big bamboo stem with a copper
cup "a very small one, and "A green jade
m~outh.piece. II was "A little thicker than
a walking-stick stem, and smoked sweet,
very sweet. The bamboo seemed To suck
up the smoke. Silver doesn't, and I've
got to clean il out now and then, that's a
great deal of trouble. but l smoke il for
the old mans sake. He must have made
a good thing out of me, but he always
gave me clean mats and pillows, and the
best stuff you could get anywhere.
When he died, his nephew Tsin-lng
took up the gate, and he called IL the
''Temple of the Three Possessions" hut
we CID ones speak of II as the "Hundred
Sorrows" all the same. The nephew
does things very stability, and i think the
Memsahib must help Inn She lives with
him; same as she used to with the old
man. The two let in all sorts of low peo-
pie, niggers and all. and the Black
Smoke isn't as good as il
used to he. found burnt
bran In my pipe over and over again. he
old man would have died III hat had hap
pened in his time. Besides, the room is
never cleaned, and all the mats are torn
and cut ut the edges. The collin is gone
gone to China again-with the old man
and two ounces of smoke inside il, in case
he hould want 'en OH the way.
The Joss don't get SO many sticks burnt
under his nose as he used to; that's n sign
of ill-luck, as sure as death. He's all
brown, too, and no n ever attends To
him. That the Memsahib's work. Il know:
because when Tsin-ling tried To burn gilt
paper before him, she said il was a waste
of money, and, il ne kept a stick burn
ing very slowly the Joss would not
know the difference. So now we've got
the sticks mixed with a lot of glue, and
they take half an hour longer To burn and
smell stinky. Let alone the smell of the
room by itself. No business a get on
if they try that sort of thing. The Joss
d~oesn'tlike il. | can see hat. Late at night,
sometimes, he turns all sorts of queer
colors-blue and green and robust as
ie used To do when old Fung.Tching was
alive; and he rolls his eyes and stamps
his feet like n devil.
don't know why don't leave the place
and smoke quietly i'm a little room of my
W in The bazaar. Most like, Tsin.ling
would kill me If | went away-he draws
my sixty rupees now-and besides. MS so
much trouble, and I've grown to be very
at. Not what il was i'm the old mans
time, but / couldn't cave il. I've seen SO
many come i'm and out. And I've seen so
many die here on the mats that / should
be afraid of dying in the open now. I've
seen some things that people would call
when you're on the Black Smoke. except
the Black Smoke. And il il was, il wouldn't
matter. Fung-Tching used to he very
particular about his people, aud never got
in any one who'd give trouble by dying
messy and such. But the nephew isn't
half SO careful. He tells everywhere that
he keeps n "hrst-chop" house. Never
tries to get men in quietly, and make them
comfortable like Fung-Tching did.
That's why the the Gate is
getting n little bit more known
than il used To be. Among the niggers
of course. The nephew daren't get a
white, or. for matter of that, a mixed skin
into the place. He has to keep us three
OF course-me and the Memsahib and the
other Eurasian. We're fixtures. But lie
wouldn't give us credit for a p~ipeful-not
for anything.
One of these days, | hope, | shall die in
the gate. The Persian and the Madras
men are terribly shaky now. They've
got a boy To light their pipes for them.
always do that myself, Most like. ! shall
see them carried out before me. / don't