The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-02-10
FOONG LAS SMILE.

benefits and her power; when she came to
look upon bright eyes and gliEtening teeth
as moro potent factors in the conversion
of the erring male heather than Biblical
lore and weekly tuition. Up to this period
her Chinese maid, Foong La, had been
her favorite convert.
Foong La was glib and discreet. Her
teeth Were white in contrast to her full
red lips, and she smiled frequently as
she spoke which reveals her possession of
another quality peculiar to any woman of
any race. There was only one occasion
on which she was seen to look grave.
Meanwhile imagine her smiling and cast
ing her slanting black eyes dangerously to
the right Of her, seductively to the left of
her. What wonder that poor All Chin
sueeumbed straightway to the fascination
of the yellow maiden's glance?
All Chin was peripatetic Chinese chair
repairer. He is aptly described poor,
not only because he possessed an INSULT
cient amount of this worlds goods, but
because he was also a twisted, nisshapen
creature, whom any one would have pitied.
His first glimpse of Foong La had been
acquired legitimately enough in the pres
ence of Mrs. Armstrong, her mistress and
president of the board of foreign missions.
The day was hot and All Chin's burden
of single broken cane chair, which he
was carrying home-God save the word
was heavy on his shoulders. 1t seemed to
him that he limped more painfully than
ever. The windows of the houses that he
passed were all deserted and gloomy, whom
suddenly he looked up and saw Foong La
smiling in one. She beckoned to him to
stop, then disappeared and arrived smiling
at the front door a second later with her
mistress at her elbow. Foong La smiled
because there were half dozen chairs in
the house that needed mending and be-
cause their opportunity had arrived SO
easily.
"You poor man, said Mrs. Armstrong
alphabetically the moment that the
mending of her cane chairs had been dis
posed of.
"Me poo man? Yeh, me poo man.
And All Chin glanced at Foong La. She
smiled encouragingly.
Zone damn Mclean man, he cried,
with sudden force, 'him make me poo.
Me allie same Itch, allie same stlaigh5 only
one day one Mclean man, him knock me
down, him lun over meme only one
damn Chinaman-white man no ca. Me
go hospital. Me come ou' one poo man
allie twists
Mrs. Armstrong scarcely exerted herself
to listen after she had caught the first
foroeful outburst A revengeful China
man seemed to her the one convert in the
world worth making.
"Alle same some day me likee find him
mo SMASHED him shu' - The man
1OTGn again MS WTdGn TSCaA46Q
her to the duties of the present.
'TelI him about the school, our songs
and our good times, Foong La, - she said.
The girl responded quickly, with a
smile. Then she talked earnestly and
with much gesture Him come be Mel
lean Clistian, too" she announced sudden
~, her white teeth cleaning and her black
eyes sparkling.
"Yeh, me come be Mclean CIistian allie
same Foong La, - he cried out, grinning
back at her.
All Chin proved a most tractable pupil.
He fell easily into the manners and ways
of the school. He asked none of the ques-
lions that the ignorant sometimes ask-he
accepted everything with what Mrs. Arm
strong called delightful faith and simple
ity. His code was briefly: " Mclean
Joss, big man. Him live up in blue sky.
Me no see him. bu' him the ale same.
Him do evelyting-Foong La she sable,
me sable ale same like Foong La
It was the hour after dinner when Foong
La, having finished her work, was won't
to stand in the front area of the house
smiling in the moonlight at some token of
All Chin's affection. 1t generally took the
form of cheap stones or cOlored beads. He
had early learned that her brightest smiles
followed more easily upon his trinkets
than upon his caresses. He came slowly
1imping up the sidewalk. In his hand he
carried shining green stone set deep in
broad gilt band. If FoOng La had never
smiled before, All Chin would have sworn
she would smile now. At that moment
her low, soft gurgle reached him. She
was standing leaning on the gate looking
up at the butchers boy. She was looking
just as she had looked at him in his proud
est moments.
'She foolee me- ,muttered All Chin
under his breath 1I1S-1hee foolee ne!' he
repeated, gritting his teeth. And then the
American did something that further
aroused the savage blood in All Chin's
breast. He caught sight of the small,
twisted figure of one of FOong Las coun-
trymen. whom by natural instinct every
butchers boy holds in contempt He gave
a loud laugh and skipped stone across
the street as one might skip it over lake.
It missed it's mark, and he fired another.
The Chinaman gave shrill scream This
time it had struck home. The butchers
boy laughed aloud, and, oh, the pity of It'll
the girl laughed too.
Mrs. Armstrong was attracted to her
door by the noise in the street before it.
There she saw All Chin, pale and wound
ed, in the hands of a policeman, the butch
er's boy, ugly and sullen, also bleeding, in
the grasp of another, and between them
Foong La, highly colored, gazing at the
men in uniform. Mrs. Armstrong was
seized with an almost irresistible desire to
spread her hand over the girls liquid eyes.
Butcher boy him thlow stone, " ex-
planned Foong La excitedly. "Ah Chin,
him have knife in his hand''-
flush! hushl'' cried Mrs. Armstrong.
"Don't you be the one to convict him. -
She moved to All Chin's side and caught
in gasping breaths the tale of his Chris
tianity and his love.
g Mclean man, him no go stlaight an
me go twist no mo'-'Melican joss him no
COCHIN no gil me Foong La, him no
makee me stlaight, him no can do evely
ting, him one heep big haud, ale same,
ale same, like They were the last
words he sn0l<a