The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1895-02-08
FEBRUARY =. 1895. NO. p.

membered it was the night of the Wan
dering Spirits and fell upon her knees
with her face toward the little Buddhist
altar in the corner of the room. She be-
gan her prayer as she had been taught
when a little girl by her mother, but
the words sounded fiat and hollow as
they were uttered. She burst into fren-
zied appeal to Buddha and all the good
spirits, her voice broken with sobs and
her eyes blinded with tears. AS she
prayed the wind, which had increased
in volume as the evening wore ON, SEEM
ed to change into confused mass Of
sounds, and the sounds to separate into
voices. Some were whispers whose &C.
cents fell upon her ear strangely famil-
lar; others were wild walls of people
dying i'll some dreadful catastrophe;
others again were songs of ineffable
sweetness, while still others were like
the notes of birds. The sounds ever deep
ened and varied The prattling of chill
dren, the noise of boys at play, the hub
bub of the market place, the chant of
the singer, the call of the soldier, the
shout OF the sampan man mingled and
yet were separate and apart. Then the
air grew lighter and began to break into
shadowy faces and forms. Some she
half recognized, and some were utter
strangers; some smiled upon her with
love, and others glared with the fierce
eyes of a tiger but as she prayed the
discordant sounds died away, and the
ugly looks and cruel faces dimmed and
vanished. She was surrounded by thou
sands of spirits who loved her and her
baby and who seemed to be bearing them
up and away into the heavens toward
the stars. Then there came great light,
like the sun rising over the mountains
of Annoy, and the walls vanished, and
she became unconscious.
1t was about o'clock in the morning
when DIR. Hugh McDowgle buttoned up
his coat and said goodby to Cassius
Blank, one of the tea kings of the east
Mr.. Blank was charming gentleman,
who, by careful cultivation of Old Bur-
gundy, Comet ports and matchless sher-
ries had succeeded in getting his system
into that simple condition which is best
described as being bounded by gout on
one side, hobnail liver on the other
with sprinkling of indigestion be-
tween. He required physician at least
twice week, not so much to treat any
particular disorder as to prevent the dis
order which was always about to attack
him. He had keen appreciation of the
doctor, who, besides being a master of
his profession, was as charming a COM
panion as the good Scotch universities
have ever graduated. The doctor said
good night and went out on the veran-
da His chair and porters were waiting
for him, but he preferred to walk the
brief distance that lay between him and
his home.
There had been change of weather
since dinner time. The wind had died
out, the clouds had disappeared, and the
blue sky of the tropics seemed all the
bluer and darker from the numberless
stars that shone down upon the Chinese
landscape.
AS he swung around the road near
Banyan villa an old woman tottered to-
ward him and almost fell upon the
ground from sheer exhaustion He rec
ognized her as the servant of a poor Chi
nese family in the neighhorhood and
asked her kindly what her trouble was.
Tai gave an inooherent statement, in
which she mixed the description of the
night and the sickness with pathetic
appeal for his assistance.
1t took five minutes for the doctor and
his head porter to make out what the
old servant meant, and then with his
customary gallantry he told her that he
would go to the house Immediately and
would let her act as his guide She
gasped: "I'm too weak, doctor, You go
ahead, and will follow you"
He walked rapidly forward to the
half open door of Tah Sins house and
passed in. On the floor lay Ah Ho and
the baby, both seemingly dead, He took
i'll the situation at glance. He had the
woman raised into her bed and gave her
some sleeping potion which he luckily
had brought with him. He then turned
to the baby, and after half an hours
hard work succeeded in restoring its an
imation, He laid the little one in its
mothers arms, and leaving small
amopnt OF money in case she should be
in need he placed one of his coolies Oh
guard and then went home.
Toward in the morning the baby
began to manifest symptoms of hunger.
The chair eooly smiled grimly and plac-
ed the child where nature could do the
rest. The arms of the sleeping mother
closed convulsively over the frail body,
and the room lapsed into silence, bro.
ken only by an occasional gurgling
sound beneath the coveret where the
two reposed
Tho eooiy sat still for another hour,
one-half of his mind fixed upon the lit
tie pile of coins the good doctor had left
and the other half upon dim and fan
tastic idea of duty. Then he rose, put
the money into some recess of his coat
and disappeared for the gambling house
on the main road. Shortly after that
the sun rose and bathed Annoy in unut-
terable splendor. The gold and scarlet
Went through tho narrow windows Of
Ah Hos house and painted the rooms
in hpes and tints worthy of manda-
rim A clear morning breeze stole
through the easements and shook the
little colored papers that hung around
the altar where she had knelt the night
before. From the street came the noise
of the busy world outside. All Ho woke
with start and gasp, and then burst
into a great smile shot through with
tears as she saw the sleeping child in
her arms with faint blush on its