The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-06-13
FOOK GUM BURIED.
Catholic and Chinese Rites at Chi
cago Fun eraL

Chicago, June 13-Catholic and
heather rites struggled for the ascen-
dency at the funeral of little Moy Fook
Gum Hoy. 1t was an odd spectacle
even In that quarter of quaint sights
the part of Clark street which has been
informally taken possession of by the
children Of Cathay and which CORE
spends to the Chinatown" of other
large cities.
Moy Tong Hoy has been converted to
the Romish faith. AS the father of
wee Fook Gum, he naturally had deal
to say concerning the disposal of the
remains and the proper ceremonies to
be observed, and he insisted that a
priest officiate.
But the friends and relatives of the
dead lad who in their solemn, unen-.
thusiastic, oriental way, had been fond
of him, while being obliged to bow to
the parents wishes touching the mat
ter of the attendance of a holy man,
had ideas of their own about what was
fitting at the funeral of one brought up
under the direction of the elder gods
and now at the critical moment Of his
fate.
So when the procession started out
for Rose Hill cemetery the faithful fol-
lowers of the sitters in judgment of
wood and stone took very good care
to strew behind the hearSe little per-
forated slips of paper. For did they
not know that through these apertures
the devils, attracted, perhaps, by the
novelty of the performance, would have
to pass before beginning their work on
the soul of the dead? A man surely
did not have to be wise to understand
this much.
For fear some of the evil spirits
would grow weary of the sport and
hasten to the cemetery before thread
ing each of the thousands of cur1ously
lettered squares, the willy mourners
cunningly drummed on tOm-toms. 1t
is we'll known fact that no properly
brought up devil likes the music OF a
tomtom. Those who had escaped the
fra them
expected would beat a hasty retreat
when they heard the funeral din.
All morning the body Of the boy lay
in the Chinese temple at 323 Clark
street, and while a priest was saying
mass for the soul the cautious relatives
were burning joss-sticks of a fr1ghttul
odOr but of wonderful potency IN gam
ing the favor of the gods VINO SIT all DAY
and all night at the gates or the terri
tory of the dead and grow angry II
they are not propitiated whenever
flame of life is newly Snuffed out.
Moy Long Hoy loved his little son,
whose mother has crossed the China
seas on a visit to her own folks: 30
he said nothing at the mixing OF r1t-
uals. In his blood flowed that of thou
sands of believers in the deitles that
are as old as the world, and IT may
have occurred to him that there was
a chance for his own people to be right
in their faith after all At any rate
it was no harm to try both kinds. The
boy was a good boy and there should
be no drawbacks to his salvation from
demons and dragons, he may have rea-
soned At his sons birth sheep had
been killed, and this life thus taken was
supposed to be substitute for that
of his first offspring until the latter
grew I'D to manhood. Now that the
heaven-born also had been taken it did
seem as if there was something wrong
with the ancient mythology.
The Chinese love flowers, as they love
everything that appeals strongly to the
iuagination There was a plenty OF
hIossons on the small coffin and the
father. although he refused to show
his grief by cutting off his queue, wore
garments of the richest material and OF
brilliant dye.
At the grave 8. painstaking watcher
slipped a coin with a square hole In It's
middle into the casket. He was not
going to embarrass the dead by send
ing it across the oriental Styx without
fare for the grim ferryman.
Then the Catholic father did his part,
the wailing cortege started back to the
CITY and the funeral was ended.