The herald., 1897-03-07

o2o South Broadway, Los Angeles, Cal

eat and he saw his stony ranch full Of
lily bulbs. At that time he had never
seen that kind of flower before, and he
did not know what kind it was. So he
took plenty of the bulbs to carry home
and told his wife to try to cook them.
But his wife said: You do not UNDER
stand what kind of nature there is to
that. You keep that and see what grows
from 1t. 1t is not good to eat" Ying
Fong started to find some wild vegeta-
bles again, but his wife said: You need
not go away any more for while you
were gone away two friends came.
whom you helped once before when they
We're sick, and now they have heard
from you and understand that you are
sick and one of them has left some mon
ey for you to buy plenty of food and
meat" and then the whole family was
happy.
A month afterward the lilies were
blooming and fragrant, and all the fam
lily spoke of the very curious flower,
and then a little siX-year-old girl came
running, very early one day. and said:
THAT is the sacred flower, and the God
is very glad for your good conduct and
has given this flower as present for
you, and it will make you very rich and
, also you VIII have everlasting happiness
by and by when you die" And while she
was still speaking many other children
came and said the same. 1t seems that
an angel made them say so and many
people came from all the country round
about and many of them bought that
kind of flower to celebrate the happy
New Year So, after several years. 1t
went all through China and Ying Fong
became very rich.
Now, Ying Fong's brother, I'll Fong.
had been keeping store and had lost all
his money. so that he had to sell all Of
his property, and one day Mrs. Ii Fong
sent for her husband and said: Your
brother Ying Fong, is man of good
conduct and the God loves him. We are
Il TNd
punish us" And I'll Fong answered:
'I fear so, but 1 will change my conduct
| to do good acts so that l can get away
from the punishment" And his wife
said: "That is what thought" and that
night they lay awake all night talking
about changing their conduct and doing
good, and early next morning they went
| to Ying Fong and embraced him ana
wept bitterly. and said: You do every
thing that is good; you Will receive ever
| lasting happiness; but we are sinners
and surely will be punished: now you
must find some way to save us" Then
Ying Fong answered them: THE ordi-
nary man when he commits some sin
are sinners and you understand your
sin. That Is a. good thing, very good
thing. / cannot find a better way to tell
| you that you are good already And II
Fong said: No, you must find some
could not answer him. but Mrs. Ying
Fong said: "Shall try one way to teach
them?" And I'll Fong said: II shall be
very glad If you will say something to
me-" Then Mrs. Ying Fong said: Long
ago there was q coolie man who taught
his students to make book with many
| different things in 1t with regard to con-
duct, and many different teachings as
to good acts and many about bad arts.
"They were divided into small, medi-
um and great things. The small things
were represented by the numbers l. 2, 3,
4 8; the medium by 10. 20. etc., and the
great by 100. 200. This book was Book
of the Good Doctrine and was called
Gou-go-gaw. 1t makes different lessons
lfor different treatments. One was how
TO treat the mother and father. one how
the emperor should treat his people and
| how the people should treat him. anoth-
er how the husband should treat the
wife, and the wife the husband, another
how to treat the brother and sister, an
other how to treat the friend, the mer-
chant, the proprietor, the servant etc.
He told the students to follow that book.
and every night before going to bed. to
take a book and write out how many
good acts in that day and how many
bad acts in that day. and then perform
worship before the God before going to
bed. The first year the bad things came
| TO more than the good things. and the
second year the bad and the good were
equal and the third year the good acts
were more than the bad acts. And the
| coolie said: when the GOOD acts arc
more than the bad acts, that becomes
merit, and then you will get everlasting
happiness in this way. New the book
lis all through the country and everybody
knows that you can try" Then Mrs. I'll
Fong said: THAT is a very good way:
that is a new life for me" and she would
like to perform worship before the God
right away and would like to commence
that day to begin to follow that book.
But Ying' Fong said: MANS duty is to
do all good. We cannot call partial
doing merit The coolie man knows
that but this way makes easy steps to
| the beginner" and after that TT Fong's
conduct became very good. When he
was bad he had been more bad than COM
mon, but when he was good he was more
| good than common, because he had the
more power in his nature. and all the
surrounding country afterward became
Christian and the jail was empty all the
time.
And after that Ying Fong prospered
and his children and his children's chill
dren. for he had more than thousand
descendants after him.
And from these came many high
judges and wise men. more than In any
other county and every year they divid-
ed the flower money. There was not one
poor man among them: all were rich.
Thus the goodness of one man brought
him and his descendants for SO long ,
time such great happiness.