The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-12-10

IN the secret society; to him she went
mot That there Is any recourse for a
Cninese wife II her husband wishes to
| take unto himself No. spouse. for II
is according to the law But all things
1 naturally should be done in order, and
the law OF dignity and self-respect had
been transgressed by Sing Low, who had
not even advised Fay Lee of his inten-
] ton. 1t was an insult to her and all
her family. which the cousin was not
slow to realize. But insults are not
! prison offenses. and must be avenged pri-
vately; wherefore the cousin and Fay
Lee said nothing, but bided their time,
having in mind a way in which they could
be more than avenged
For quite a long time. as much. as a
month. Sing Low was exceedingly happy
with his pretty young wife. But Fellpa
was young woman of much sprightli-
| ness, and she had not married the portly
| old Chinaman for the sole purpose of
kow-towing to him and embroidering his
| clothes and waiting on him hand and
| foet-not bit of it. And so she en-
! phatically stated. On the contrary, she
| wished many friends. and pretty costumes,
and boxes at the bull fights and the one
small theater that Madre de Dios pos
| sessed. She had no intention of being
any mans slave!
And SO began the tormenting OF poor
old Sing Low. He soon learned that In
the bewitching Felipa he had caught a
veritable tartar, and that, unless hui
mored, she could and would make his life
torment to him. Wherefore, like a wise
man, he promptly gave in to her and hui
mored her in all things-that is, in all
things but one. Despite her every en-
deavor she could not make him tell her
what went on at the meetings of his Sc
cret society. On that one subject alone
Sing Low remained mute, and no ca
jolery or Establishment could move him.
AS time went on, and the influence of his
Mexican wife told on him, Sing Low be-
gan to sink lower and lower, both moral
ly and physically. He drank steadily
now, and more and more of the "black
smoke" became necessary-and even the
apple of his eye, his restaurant, with it's
American pies, began to be neglected
So that many whisperings and reports
got about, and more than one high ofi-
cial of the secret society murmured dis
trust Meanwhile a worn and aged
woman hardly to be recognized as the
portly Fay Lee of yore watched and
waited, eager for revenge And in the
secret society of the Sons of the Silver
Land one of the high officials went about
stealthiiy spreading reports that traitor
was among them; that important secrets
had more than once been given away
and that if not located and dealt with
the traitor would soon accomplish the
ruin OF the society.
All this came to a head one night when
the most important meeting of the year
was held. For more than an hour the
rooms Of the secret society had been filled
with an ominously quiet crowd Of China
men, who were waiting in perfect still
ness the return of one of the officials
who had gone to fetch their erstwhile
head, Sing Low. For the first time in
G191@
pear at the meeting of the society, and,
more than that, all the private records
and documents of the Sons of the Silver
Land had been stolen. No wonder there
was perfect stiffness in the secret rooms
and that over in the corner one Chinaman
waited, holding a; huge razor-edged
sword. These things are dealt with quick
ly among Chinese guilds.
They brought him In presently, the
cousin and another society member car
rying him, for the honorable head was
too much overcome with the mixture of
opium and bad cognac to walk Of his own
accord. He was dropped Imply into the
corner where the Chinaman and his
sword waited, and to Indignantly quiet
set of members the cousin showed the
precious papers and records that he had
just taken from Sing Lows si1ken vest.
The man had been found dead drunk in
the Mexican part of the town, while the
society. papers and reeords-had access to
by only two men, the cousin and Sing
Low himself-were dropping unheeded to
the cantina floor, to be seen there by all
who might care to read. And but for the
cousin who had found them in time, the
papers would have been distributed far
and wide before the setting Of tomerrow's
sun, and the society, 'Sons of the Silver
Land with all its important secrets,
would have been ruined, and many Of its
members implicated in all sorts of crimes
and given up to prison cells, or perhaps
the gallows. The sin of Sing Low had
been tremendous one, for which no
atonement could be made and there was
but one thing to do, SO far as his punish
ment was concerned.
The meeting lasted a long time, and
finally Sing Low was released from the
hands Of his torturers, far more dead
than alive. His drunken stupor had
lasted but a short time under their hands,
and, In a. frenzy of terror, he awaited
what he knew was still to come. The
room was still now, and you could have
heard a pin drop as the wretched man
was placed on his knees just in front of
the masked Chinman, who held in both
hands the great sharp sword. Another
man, the cousin of Sing Low, knelt quiet
ly in front of him, and drew his barred
head and neck down and forward so as
to meet the uplifted sword. Then there
was deathly quiet as the huge blade as
cended. 1t made q circle and a whistling
sweep in the air before 1t descended slow
ly and touched the neck of the con-
demned man. There it stopped. No
blood came, and there was no cry or
moan from Sing Low, for the reason that
the blade had just touched his flesh, and
no more Then the cousin stood up, fac
ing the judge, and the executioner did
likewise, holding the sword erect, as he
announced, solenanly:
Honorable judge this man is dead!'
Five minutes later the Cinnamon We're
all hurrying from the hall. Sing Low had
been dragged, still on his knees, from
the room, and flung into the narrow, weed
choked street outside. He had endeavor-
ed to beg mercy, but his lips were stiff
and dumb Then he had chung to the
judges knees, Jabbering hysterically, only
to be cast aside like a truly dead thing,
for a Chinaman lost to caste and his
secret society is worse than dead. He had
moaned and begged at the feet of his
cousin, but he, too, had passed relent-
lessly on, paying no attention to "a dead
mans speech. And So at last, they had
all gone-among the crowd Sing Lows
own clerks and employes-and the dead
crouched, alone and deserted of ALL in
the darkness of night.
In the-early dawn Sing Low stumbled
drankenly homeward-not to the house in
which he lived with his Mexican wife, but
to Chinatown, for at the last, whether in
joy, sorrow, death or disgrace the heart
of even an Oriental turns to his own peo-
pie, such as they may be. And Sing Low
had no thought for Felipa, much as he
had loved her, or even for his restaurant,
with its American sign, that had brought