Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1897-02-11

his aching head on his weary arms on
the table and racked his brain in great
agony of spirit The dies irae had
come-his day Of reckoning. 1t was
the day before the Chinese new years
Feb. 5, according to your calendar
when every good Chinaman must settle
up or go up the spout and confess him
self dishOnored. He owed only a little
the day before the Chinese new years
Feb. 3, according to your calendar
when every good Chinaman must settle
up or go up the spout and confess him
self dishonored. He owed only a little
matter of 100 taels-not pigtails nor
coWtails, you understand but silver
taels-eQuiyalent to $1.30 in American
money If he had that many taels, he
would gladly have paid up, for there
was nothing small about Ding; but he
didn't, and thereby hangs tale.
If Ding had only possessed the glo-
rious birthright of an American, instead
Of worrying over such a trifling matter
he would have let his ceditor do so,
get an extension of time, and then
settle up at 20 cents on the dollar
AS it was, poor Ding only saw ruin
alton before him and dilapidation of
his air castles. Grim despair, like an
immense bat, spread her sable wings
and overcast his sensitive soul with
shadows and dark forebodings.
Ding Dong was poor and an orphan
not quite as poor as a church mouse,
perhaps, for be still had something
better to eat than hymn books and
velvet cushions, but still so poor that
the patches on his gown made it look
like a crazy quilt, while it's back had
received such a deposit of oil from his
braided hair as would gladden. the
heart of a Pennsylvania capitalist to
strike.
His father was the famous Ding
Dung, who had been a mandarin in
the service Of the emperor. Dung W
the service of the emperor. Dung was
a true father to the people over whom
ne was sent to rule, and, knowing that
too much money would not be good for
them, squeezed" them on all occasions,
thereby growing enormously rich. But,
as he was not prudent enough to share
his i'll gotten gains with his superiOrs,
he was denounced by the censors for
malfeasance in Office and had his head
taken off and his property confiscated.
His mother having died during his
fathers financial crisis the younger
Ding found himself at the age Of Is a
lone orphan and penniless. Now that
he had TO shift for himself, our hero
opened a school and was so far sue
cessful that he had plenty to eat and
good clothes on his back until ambi-
ton and a laudable desire to better his
condition prompted him to borrow
money to defray the expense of a
journey to Canton, where he proposed
to test his luck and skill in the public
examination. From this literary con-
test he came out with flying colors
He was no siouoh as a scholar, though
he might be wanting when weighed in
the scales of Mammon. In scholastic
attainments he had few equals and
hardly any superiors. He had van
pushed many antagonists in the ex-
animation halls of his native town,
where he proved again and again that
he could quote Confucius and other
sages at a longer stretch than any one,
compose poems with greater elegance
and ease and write Chinese hierogly-
phics with finer touch and finish. He
led his class in the examination al
Canton thereby climbing the first rung
on the ladder of fame and winning the
seu-tsais brass button. There re-
manned only two more trials, which,
successfully passed through, would
land him at the top of the heap, from
which he could fatten at the public crib
at his leisure.
But his triumph was shortened and
his dreams of future greatness were
disturbed by thoughts of the debt he
still owed, whose interest he had been
able to pay by dint of economy, but
whose principal he saw no chance of
settling before the new year rolled in.
His creditor was no other than his
future father-in-law, to whose daugh-
ter he had been engaged while the ell
der Ding was making money hand over
fist, and the Ding family seemed to be
IN the food tide of worldly prosperity.
But when the family was reduced in
numbers as well as in means by order
OF his sacred majesty, the son of heav-
en-, the father of the girl said to his
wife, L told you So" and regretted
his haste in making the match The
old gentleman, who went by the name
of Jul Dun, was rich and more worldly
minded than common. He, too, grew
wealthy by squeezing" the people
not, however, as their father, like Ding
Dung, but as their uncle" whose gol-
den rule was, do others or they will
do YOU" He was in the habit of loan
Ing little sums to people in straitened
circumstances at 10 per cent. per month
interest, and by adding this to the prin-
cipal in case Of it's nonpayment at the
end of the month. BY this method of
ccn:rounding interest he got many per-
sons to give up houses and lands, and
even daughters, to him in payment of
debts. Those who could not settle up
thus had to settle down in the debtors
prison, where they languished in chains
and misery until death came to their
relief
Ju Dun was withal a miser and
boarded the money he did not lend
as If he were to excel Methusaleh in
longevity. His clothes were worn as
long as they could stand mending. He
grudged his wife and only child the