The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1894-02-22
LUNG HIS STRANGE STOH
Fold to Consul Bedloe as a Warning y
Scold Animals.

| Told to Consul Bedloe as a Warning NJ
| ScoId Animals. IA
This is the story told Dr. EdN',',sll
Bedloe, consul to Annoy, by his sasa
panman Though it was told the d.,
tor in pigeon English, its renditio y
inlo purer tone and classic phrase ha,.
taken from it naught of truth nor
added aught of falsehood. By the souls
of the ancestors of Lung Hi, the sam
panman, it is a true tale, and let no
man deny it lest his tongue rot out
and his entrails groan with pain. The
| sampaaman told it as he sat on the
veranda near the doctors feet one day
after tifiin. He smoke bit of the doc
tors good Virginia bright tobacco i'm a
pipe with bowl no bigger than p&a.-
The doctor had thrown a stone at a
passing dog which had threatened to
intrude on the porch and repealed him
with harsh epithets: Lung Hi had
rowed the doctor a good ten miles in
the official sampan that day and was
philosophical.
"One cannot be too careful what one
does or says to an animal, observed
Lung Hi. ut possesses the intelli-
gence of the soul it contains and may
be the soul of ones grandfather or
some other near relative who should
be treated with respect
Lung Iii drew full breath of smoke
and craftily waited. The doctor dropped
his tobacco pouch near the sampan-
man; a teaspoonful spilled upon the
spOtlessly clean floor of the veranda.
Lung Iii handed back the pouch, aql
swept the spilled portion sllillfu&y
into his pipe, relit it, and continued:
81 speak thus to the illustrious chin
chin doctor because of a wonderful
thing which happened in my own fam
lily and which shall never forget. My
grandfather was a poor coolie who
worked for day wage. But he was am
bilious and anxious to rise above his
caste. He earned eight cents day,
| two cents he spent for living and the
other six he saved until at the end of
year he had saved $40. With that he
| bought sampan and joined the guild
of sampanmen. At this trade he pros
pered, and in time bought other sam
pans and hired men to row them. So
in time my grandfather became a very
rich man, and when he died was the
very richest man in my native village
richer than any other two men in the
place. His body was cremated and his
ashes placed in an urn and put on
shelf in my fathers house, where they
remained many years, until after | was
born.
Il remember the urn we'll One day
a careless servant in cleaning the room
knocked the urn to the floor and it
broke, scattering my grandfather )
ashes all over the room. As they were
being swept up, tiny baby serpent
wriggled ont from among them, and
we knew at once that it held my
grandfather soul. So we put it in u
box, and fed it daily on new milk, and
as it grew larger on mice and small
birds, until in about year my grand
father had become a fine large snake
six feet long and three inches thick
about that time my mother gave
birth to fine man child II was d
splendid baby, and the whole village
sung its praises. My little brother
grew fat and handsome, but in a few
months it sickened, became pale and
thin, and we could not see what was
the matter with it. Finally my father
went to a clairvoyant, who consulted
the stars and the rocks, and said that a
vampire came at night and was suck
ing my little brothers life away and
that he must sit up and beat him off.
$50 that night my father sat in my
mothers room all night long but
nothing came; nor was there any thing
the next night, but the night follow
ing, as my father sat on the floor half
awake and half asleep, he heard a
sound which filed him with terror,
but he remained very quiet and opened
one eye slowly. To his horror he saw
my grandfather wriggle stealthily
across the floor, crawl into my mothers
! bed, and tasten his mouth upon her
breast She slept soundly while the
! snake drew her milk. In a few min
utes my little brother began to whine
and rolled toward my mother My
grandfather coiled his body around my
brother, and put the tip of his tail in
my. little brothers mouth to suck
while he drew the sustenance which
belonged to the child. After he had
filed his stomach he glided away.
My father had sat perfectly silent,
but in the morning a family council Of
war was held, and my grandfather was
condemned to death lie was executed
with an AK, his body was thrown to
the pig, and his head was nailed to the
outer wall of the village temple, where
it still is.
This was the true tale of Lung Hi,
the sam Janman, told to Dr. Bedloe,
consul to Annoy. Washington Post.
Rapidly of Mental Perceptions.
Prof. Donders of L trecht, has made
some interesting experiments in regard
to the rapidity of thought. BY means
of two instruments, which he calls the