The Florence daily tribune. (Florence, Colo.) 1898-1903, 1899-02-13
All LON.

she had grown mp in China Town, re-
niHrlghly sweet. albeit with a tinge of
bi;te-nc.a. She was also pretty, with
soft curves in her face and intelligence
In her large. oblique eyes. She wore
neat fTuck of dark blue linen, made
with long square Chinese jacket and
fui! trousers, a round club of wood fit
ting the uape of her neck was her pill
low. She could only afford to have her
hair cumbed with the seven combs, and
worked into shining cues, stuck fast
with pnmatums, then pinned fast upon
her head.
For All Lon was not the daughter Of
IA rich merchant but of poor seam
stress. who lived in riclSety old build
ing. more respectable than many in
China Town but patronized by rats if
not by opium hends. All Lon and her
mother. withered old woman with n
determined temper. lived on the third
floor. and sewed week in and week out
Tor the Chinese women who spent the
dollars of the rich merchants.
Until ALI Lon passed her fifteenth
birthday she was happy enough. From
her window The could look into the
grand restaurant opposite, whose walls
were OF carved wood gilded and whose
balconies were crowded with palms in
beautiful vases and hung with Chinese
lanterns, There was banquet almost
every night and the wealthy merchants
in their satin and crepe garments sat
about the little tables and dined off tiny
plates of timer portions, while women
sat close by and sang in monotonous.
discordant voices. The opium smokers
lay on marble couches in the recesses of
the rooms and looked with filmy scurn
upon the beasts who cared for food
Once week All Lon went with her
mother to the josshouse and worshiped
the magnificent idols of ivory and gold.
and once she went to the theater and
listened for three hours to a play she
could not understand. But. although
there was no scenery, she admired the
gorgeous gold embroidered robes of the
actors SO much that she forgot to be
bored, and finally went to sleep ON her
mother shoulder
Beyond these brief experiences, and
what she saw from her eyrie, All Lon
knew nothing of the world. Her mother
had told her once that outside of China
town. swarning precinct not u half
mile squire was great dust colored
city called San Francisco. wherein only
an occasional washhouse bore the faint
est resemblance 10 any of her native
place, But All Lon had never seen il.
although strange foreign looking people
came sometimes with policeman to
poke their noses about China Town. to
10 ,,, - ha
that hled and despised them
Mother. said All Lon one day,
''somc girls have fathers Have not
onc."
Perhaps. said the mother, whose
wrinSled eye sockets suddenly contract
ed
where, then, is her.
Under the pavement in bunk,
smoking opium night and day-unlcss
he is dead
All Lon stared at her mother with
eNpandcd eyes She knew that life was
not particularly interesting for little
gir's whose mothers were poor, but it
WAS her first intimation that it might
he ugly. Usually, when her mother
spoke at all, it was to give her daugh-
No lin, talked of the Flowery Kingdom
of her youth. rocking herself back and
forth and grooming the while,
w Il he never come back y
ASK no more. interrupted her
mother tiercely. Il have told you this
that you may know what will befan
you if You marry. He beat me and he
beat you, but You We're too young when
he deserted MS to remember We We're
not So poor then, and had saved money
He tuo9 it all to buy him opium in
hole underground, and left us to work
our fingers TO the bone. Never shall yon
marry SO long rs | have strength in my
right arm To heat you.
But are all men alike9" asked All
Lon naively. She had seen slim and
prosperous looking young men sit down
Ia dinner opposite,
IAN that you will ever meet Talk
no more,
But "A week later All Lon came home
one day after delivering.a dozen little
jackets for merchants child and
found Wo Ling pounding her knees
with her clinched hands. The woman 5
patient face was contorted, her eyes
glittered with the sunken fires of her
nature. 1t was the first time that All
Lon had seen her mother excited and
she dropped the little bag of silver TO
the floor and stood wringing her hands
What is =" she asked What is
itr"
Wo Ling clasped her hands hard to-
gether and set her face
Your father" she said And it was
some moments before she could speak
again.
He is deadr' asked All Lon in a
whisper
Wo Ling shook her head. Finally she
spoke. He has been doing work for
one of the rival secret societies those
who rule us here in China Town and