Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1891-10-22
A CHINAMAN'S BABY GOD

smoldering and the sacred fire Of t'aan-
heung was burning before the shrine.
Moi Hing. who married a chan white
woman, had become father. He had
lef. his t'ong-yan wife in Kwang-tung
AMI said no would never go back to the
iSnd Of his emperor. He married 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 Hank.
He rented one room up near the roof
Of four story tenement in Park street,
within the throw Of stone by child
from Mott street. IL was not fine
place for white man to live, and white
men had not lived there for years. Chi
namen 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 back 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 us that Of Peking belle,
learned how TO carve curious things ont
of wood from a master Of the art. He
had learned so well that he used to carve
the gods Of the sea and Of earth and Of
heaven for the shrines in the JOSS houses.
But the chuut-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 to
look upon the work done with sharp
knives and sknlful 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 upon
it," said Moi Hing when he first saw it.
"A little god has been sent to me to
atone for the work of the Chinese mon
ster," and he passed one hand over his
pitted face, and taking off his sandals,
salaamed three times before the bed and
poured wine upon the floor.
He went ont and bought woods that
were hard. and when he brought them
to the room, which was lighted only by
one window, he began to carve as he used
to do in Kwang-tung under the master
But he found new subjects for his work,
and instead of reproducing on the block
of wood the deities of the imperial dy-
nasty or the sea gods with eyes like fishes
and scales on their breasts, he carved
out the images Of children, with round
eyes like the blue ones his baby had, and
he put wreaths around their heads.
1t was wonderful piece of work, and
he kept at it by the yellow light Of his
tang at night and by the gray light
which came through the window during
the day. When it was finished he set il
on the floor against the wall, and he
built p'aang, or platform, in front OF
it, and upon this he made the baby's
bed. At each corner were burning joss
sticks, and as the incense went up in a
straight line he believed the God OF the
white people were satisfied.
All Of his money he spent for incense
offerings for the blue eyed one, and he
placed gifts before the platform-little
tooi-haai, made Of blue satin, which
should be put on the little feet some day
and made garments of brocaded silk
and cap with red button of the third
degree upon it.
The cousin In the laundry in Brooklyn
proved unfaithful, and said there was no
money there, and the hand of the evil
one was laid upon the brain of Moi Hing.
Hing saw strange things, and when he
walked on the street he talked to him
relf and cursed the men Of his own race
He went into the fan tan shops and de-
manded the money he had lost weeks
before. In order to get rid of him they
gave him few pieces Of silver. After
the first visit, when they saw him COM
ing, the keepers would say:
Here comes the crazy Freckled One.
Give him some cash or he will bring us
bad luck"
The story Of the Freckled Ones blue
eyed baby soon became common report,
but no Chinaman ever saw the face Of
the child, so zealously was that one little
room guarded. From want, the little
German mother grew thin and pale.
They hal their bowl OF rice three times
O day. and sometimes the Freckled One
would bring from the restaurant some
chan che gett, the feet Of sow, picked
But he had 10 eyes for the suffering Of
: mis- wife, nor would he listen to her just
complaints. He spent most of his time
N the worship of his little white god, as
ne called the baby. The Chinese society
would have helped him had he made
known his wants, but he scorned all who
spoke the language.
This story filled the forty who listened
with amazement. They had known
nothing of the life of the crazy Freckled
One who accused and cursed his own
race. And the teller came to almost the
last, and said that Moi Hing must be
lrut back TO the hills of Kwang-tung. for