The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1895-01-02
WANDERING SPIRITS.

WANDERING SPIRITS.
Itwas the festival Of the Wandering
Spirits in Annoy. Usually the day is
warm and balmy. The breeze from the
great Formosa channel flakes the lower
bay with silver dashes and flaunts every
flag upon the numerous junks which lie
in the water edge of that populous city.
But this year it was different. Gray
clouds hung over the universe, and a
cold and cherries wind from the north
made fire positively agreeable despite
the fact that the place lies almost with
in the tropics.
In small house near Banyan villa
lived poor Chinese family. The father,
Tan Sin, was away at the time on the
tea gardens Of Formosa, where he went
every year to earn the little money that
supported his household. The mother,
All He, bright eyed and pretty woman,
was at home nursing the baby. 1t had
been very sick for several days, so sick
that the ordinary medicines had pro-
duced no result. An Ho had been COM
PEELED 70 call in an aged and distin-
guished physician from Annoy.
The wise man had examined the in
FAINT, shaken his head, given some nIys-
terious drugs, again shaken his head
and gone off in his chair carried ly four
stout coolies. Before he went he said to
Tai, the old family servant. That Is a
very sick child, and | am afraid it VIII
not live until tomorrow.
After DC had gone An Eo cooked the
drugs into tea and administered it in
the patient and mechanical manner
which Is SO characteristic OF the people
in the cast.
A. the afternoon wore on the baby
grew worse. The little face became wan
/ and pinchcd, tie eyes closed a. If tired
with the weighs Of the eyelids and the
/ feeble pulse beat more slowly and slow
/ II. Tai got ready tie simple evening
meal, but Al Ho cogld not eat. Il was
her only child, and this was the first
time that she had ever been face 10 face
with the great mystery We call death.
( The old servant lit the lamps, and then
remembering il was the night OF the
( Wandering Spirits lit handful Of joss
sticks and placed them IN groups Of
( three upon the ilantelpiecc il the sick
room, ia the ancient bronze vase before
! the ancestral tablets and IL the VAIN
/ sc0ting Of the door opening into the
/ quadrangular yard. As She dil the last
she looked up and noticed that the sa-
cred talisnan which had been fastened
10 the wall early in the morning had
either dropped of or been blown away.
When she noticed the fact, she trembled
end began TO weep. 1t was her duty 70
/ have seen that the talisman remained
where it was The moment 1t fell the
house became open TO any evil spirit
that might be passing, and this was the
day and the night Of the Wandering
Spirits
She looked about the quadrangle and
finally found the yellow cardboard in
scribed with the curved characters Of q
language that died 1000 years ago,
when a greater and wiser race had ruled
in the faroff districts Of Quin Lun. She
picked it mp and with her palsied fin
!
sideways in through tie doorway and
saw All Ho sitting there grooming love
song over the sick child, and saw the
/ ohild's face thinner and pGler than be-
/ foro. There came a terrible fright over
Tai's mind. 1t might be that through
her carelessncss some wicked spirit had
entered the house and was about to car
I . l,., s.f . -. Ir-sl l.
The old woman wTGng hen hands and
mumbled a prayer 10 Budiha. Then she
stood still with her old head bowed
down upon her breast and tried 10 think
/ The medicine had done no good. TIE
/ great doctor had done 10 good The joss
/ sticks and the talisman had been cf 10
avail. There was no doubt that the lit
/ tie boy IN the room beyond must cross
/ the sacred river. Then she remembered
/ the great English doctor who lived in
/ kuiangsu. He was an eminent man,
who made more money IN 4 day than
/ Chinese mechanic could make in a year.
I 20 lived in a palace and had a retinuc
/ Of servants in beautiful uniforms who
said that he knew moro than all the
/ Chinese doctors IN Annoy together.
Once before, when She was sick nigh
unto death. he had taken pity Epon heg
and had visited her miserable. abode. lie
had given her costly medicine and shown
her strange instruments, and she had
I recovered. This was the only man who
could be Of any benefit to her little mas
tC-. But could he be induced to come?
Ain 10 had neither money nor jewels,
and IS for herself her sole posse essions
were the clothes she were and another
silt which hung near her bedside
Would he come? He must c0IneI She
would bring himi She did not know
how she could do il, but inspired By
iove she felt that if she could but see
him and talk to him a moment lie
Tould come to the house and bring with
him that u hich would make the child
strong and well once moro.
i had gIown dark ty this time, and
the clouds Lad become heavier and heay-
ir. Grasping her old walking stick, she
started ont into the night in search Of
the English sorgeon.
The sick child had grown heavier as
the hours rolled by. All Ho had fallen
into doze, seeing nothing but the ba-
by's face IL her ayms. OF a sudden sho
started, looked at the child and broke
into a passionate scream. The feeble
pulse 10 longer seemed to beat, and the
hands wezs tuning ccld Then size re-
mem5erCd It was the night of the y II
Gering Spirits and fell upon LCr knees
with her face toward the little Buddhist
altar il tie corner Of the room. She b5-
gan her prayer as she had been taught
when a htt!e girl by her mother, bat
the words sounded flat and hollow as
they were uttered. She burst into fren-
zied appeal to Buddha and all the good
spirits, her voice broken with sols and
her eyes blinded with fears As she
prayed, the wind, which had increased
II volume - the evening wore ca, SEEM
cd 70 change into 4 confused mass Ct
sounds, and the sounds 10 SEPARATE into
voices. Some were whispers whose &c
cents fell upon her ear strangely famil-
lar; others were wild walls Of people
dying IN some dreadful catastrophe;
Others again were songs of ineffable
sweetness, while still others were like
the notes Of birds. The sounds ever deep
oned and varied. The prattlins Of chill
dren, the r0iso OF boys at play, tie hub-
bub Of the market place. the chant Of
the singer, the call os the soldier, the
shout Of the sampan man mingled and
yet were separate and apart. Then the