The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1891-11-21
A CHINAMAN'S BABY GOD

olivia Lowell Wilson In Good Housekeeping.
A CHINAMANS BABY GOD
This was told in the council room of
the Chong Wah Kung Saw, when the
incense sticks of the Sheung-tai were
smoldering and the.sacred fire Of t'aan-
heung was burning before the shrine.
Moi Hing, who married a chan white
woman, had become q father. he had
lef. his t'ong-yan wife In Kwang-tung
anu said he would never go back TO the
land Of his emperor, He married a Ger
man girl when he kept a laundry In
Brooklyn, and so great was the wrath of
her parents that he had TO run away TO
New York with her and leave his laun-
dry in the care Of his COUSIN, MOI Hsuk.
He rented one room up near the roof
Of four story tenement In Park street,
within the throw Of stone by a child
from Mott street. II was not fine
place for a white man to live, and white
men had not lived there for years. Chi
namep do not mind dark rooms, and the
German girl who married MOI Hing
made the best Of her bargain by not
complaining.
Around the yat bunlows and in the
fan tan shops they call Moi Hing pam
tim-ke-yat, the Freckled One, because
when the disease which the English call
smallpox ragged in the Kwang-tung dis
trict he came backt to life like one whom
the gods desire to reserve for different
fate. But his skin was no longer
smooth. 1t showed the claw marks of
the monster represented In the picture
books as having eyes Of FIRE and claws Of
steel.
The men in the fan tan shops always
liked to see the Freckled One come
around, for they knew he would not go
away until he left them all his money to
keep until he won 1T back. And he
never staid very long.
They talked Of these things because 1t
came before the story told with excited
gesture to the forty in the. ebony chairs.
The Freckled One had, when his face
was smooth as that Of Peking belle,
learned how to carve curious things out
of wood from a master Of the art. he
had learned so we'll that he used 10 carve
the gods Of the sea and Of earth and Of
heaven for the shrines In the joss houses.
But the ch'uut-tan monster who left
marks upon the faces of his victims when
he did not kill, had stricken MOI Hing
down while he was at labor, and when
he was well again he could not bear 10
look upon the work done with SHARP
knives and skillful hands.
The baby which was born to him had
blue eyes and hair like the fine threads
of gold with which the people Of Vat
poon-kwok made wonderful embroidery.
"The American God has smiled upor
it." said Moi Hing when he first saw It
"a little god has been sent to me tC
atone for the work Of the Chinese mon
ster," and he passed one hand over hi
pitted face, and taking of his sandals
salaamed three times before the bed ant
poured wine upon the floor.
He went out and bought woods tha'
were hard, and when he brought then
} to the room, which was lighted only BY
one window, he began TO carve as he use(
to do in Kwang-tung under the master
But he found new subjects for his work
and instead of reproducing on the blocl
Of wood the deities of the imperial dy
nasty or the sea gods with eyes like fishe
and scales on their breasts, he carve,
out the images of children, with rount
eyes like the blue ones his baby had, ant
he put wreaths around their heads.
a 1t was wonderful piece of work, aul
5 he kept at it by the yellow light Of hi
e tang at night and by the gray hgh
: which came through the window durin
the day. When 1t was finished he set
g on the floor against the wall, and h
built a p'aang, or platform, in front c
it, and upon this he made the baby
bed. At each corner were burning jos
: sticks, and as the incense went up In
straight line he believed the God OF tn
white people were satisfied.
All Of his money he spent for incenf
offerings for the blue eyed one, and /
placed gifts before the plstform-httl
tooi-haai, made of blue satin, whic
should be put on the little feet some da
: and made garments Of brocaded dl
4 and cap with a red button of the thiI
degree upon II.
The cousin In the laundry In Brookly
proved unfaithful, and said there was I
money there, and the hand Of the ev
one was laid upon the brain of Moi Hin
Hing saw strange things, and when
" walked on the street he talked to hin
self and cursed the men Of his own rae
He went into the fan tan shops and d
manded the money he had lost weel
Is before. In order to get rid of him th'
gave him few pieces Of silver. Aft
the first visit, when they saw him COZ
ing, the keepers would say;
Here comes the crazy Freckled On
Give him some cash or he will bring
" bad luck"
: The story of the Freckled Ones bll
eyed baby soon became common repol
but no Chinaman ever saw the face
the child, so zealously was that one lit
room guarded. From want, the lit
German mother grew thin and pa
L They had their bowl Of rice three tim
day, and sometimes the FrecAled o
would bring from the restaurant soT
= chan che gett, the feet of a SOW, pickle
X But he had no eyes for the suffering
his wife, nor would he listen 70 her j.
complaints. He spent most Of his til
In the worship of his little white god,
he called the baby. The Chinese socie
- would have helped HIM had he ma
T. known his wants, but he soorned all "
spoke the language.
4, This story filed the forty who lister
u! with amazement. They had lno'
nothing of the life of the crazy Freck
One who accused and cursed his o
race. And the teller came to almost
last, and said that MOI Hing must
sent back 10 the hills Of Kwang-tung,
even now his spirit was seeking rele
from a worn out body.
'e He told how MOI Hing had worshiI
all one night before the platform,
called the blue eyed baby a white 8
destined by heaven TO grow up int
fine woman and deliver the Chin
from the control Of the imperial dynal
= In fulfllment Of the prophecy m
- more than a thousand years ago.
WeaIied with his devotions. Moi II