Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1898-12-23
@ <SAH 900 $50 Dj
2 AS YOU
J LIKE 1T
9 ORLAkDo-Hs remember, II was upon fhis
q fashion.
b (AcT l, SCENE I.
THE MERRY SEASON.

evidence around town these days.
Christmas greens peep out from nearly
every store window along Washington
avenue. The dining rooms of the no
tells, the restaurants and other places Of
public resort are decorated with
boughs of holly and mistletoe, and loads
upon loads of cedar have been carted
in from the woods during the week by
farmers ard peddlers. The supply OF
Christmas trees is largely in excess Of
the demand so far and the prices at
which they are sold are comparatively
low. The vendors Of these necessary
adjuncts to the happiness of the house
hold that includes one or more little
folks. however. will carry on a thriving
trade tomorrow.
An old negro, driving an OK cart,
heavily freighted with cedar and holly,
came to town last evening about dusk.
He fell asleep on the cart when near
Thirty-fourth street, but his faithful
steed continued to jog along down
the avenue at an easy gait. a crowd
OF small boys discovered the old fell
lows condition. and proceeded to avail
themselves of the opportunity to sur
reptitiously possess themselves of his
stock. They ran alongide the cart
and, while the darkey slunbered each
selected a choice sample from the pile
that heaped it to overflowing. The
colored man opened his eyes two blocks
further down the avenue. but failing to
notice the depletion of his stock, con-
tinued on his way in ignorance of the
robbery that had been perpetrated upon
him.. The boys had Christmas tree
parade, marching up and down the
street for an hour or so, bearing aloft
the stolen boughS to the amusement of
the neighborhood and to the intense
delight Of themselves.
CHIN SUEY GETS WAR NEWS
Chin Suey is no warrior. He is meek
eyed and gentle as the sportive lamb.
and his musical name is symbolic of
the even, harmonious tenor in which
the current Of his existence flows. calm,
quiet and unruffed. And SO shall it
continue to flow, until it mingles in
another and SUMMER world With the
hosts of Celestial spirits that surround
the immortal Confucius, beating from
eternal tom-toms everlasting paeans of
joy, while the Great joss smiles on,
and on, and on
When Chin iSuey succeeded to the pro-
prietorship Of the laundry. on Twenty
seventh street, a few doors east Of
Washington avenue, after the flight of
I>u lily, the Prosecuted Chat was sew
eral months ago., his amiable DISPOSE
ton made him a favorite in the neigh
borhood from the start.
Even the small boys whose constant
attentions to Tu Hy had embittered
that more excitable gentleman's exist
ence and made fife such a burden to
him that he was forced to betake him
self elsewhere. We're won over by She
cherubic Chin Suey. Where Tu Hy had
tried to win them over with a club, a
dashboard, fat-iron. or anything
that came handy, Chin Suey employed
kindness. He sang and whistled and
grinned at the mischievous youths
who trespassed upon his premises and
his patience. until they became com
pletely disguised and longed for the
return OF the less serene Tu Hy, who
was always willing to swear cuss
words and throw things at them upon
fair and reasonable provocation. The
AASH NuSuC-CdiilOS1So ie&a4lOi iLldIl just
wouldn't fight, but laughed long and
loud at the boys who came to tease
him. and chirped merry roundelays. all
the livelong day, while he hung snow
white garments Of Immaculate linen
on the line stretched across the length
Of his back room; and anon, as the
breezes swept in through the win
dow opening upon his rear lawn, and
the pendant linen f1uttered, typical Of
white-winged peace. the ever gentle,
Acknowledged Chinaman sat upon an
inverted washtub and laughed lowly,
''ha! ha!'
Yesterday, however, there came a
wonderful metamorphosis over the
spirit of the meek-eyed Chin Suey.
And he rose up and became another and
more terrible being.
The cause of it all was the news that
China and Japan had been at war and
China had been licked. Chin Suey was
a little slow in ascertaining the fact-a
matter OF several years, but Chin
doesn't read the newspa pers and nobody
ever thought to convey the intell-
gence to him before. When the two
newspaper men who, by a chance re-
mark, inadvertently informed him that
there had really been war between the
two Oriental nations, Chin Suey was
at first iEcredulous. Then he became
curious, waxing by degrees apprehen-
siye, and, finally becoming convinced,
he grew wrothy. He swore large
blue oaths and called down the ven
genace of all the losses in the House
Of the Seventeen Grandfathers. The
spirit Of patriotism burned within him
and it was obvious that he yearned to
leave the reservation and so on the war
path. He denied that the Cinnamon
had been defeated. He was willing to
acknowledge that his infornants had