The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-11-11

S~o~~~~~~~~~N~-N-~-~~-N
By Francis Aymar Mathews.
Author of "A Little Tragedy at Tien
Commercial Advertiser.
O land of queues,
And little Shoes,
Pagodas, rice and mice in stews.
OF almond eyes,
And curious pies;
OF Pings, and Tings, and Kis and Lis
OF big brown bears,
Who go UP stairs,
And sit in trees in married pairs,
Where men sail boats,
In petticoats;
And -four made of beans and oats,
o, land of pearls,
And lily girls,
Without cravats, or belts, or curls,
OF puddtngs, made
OF birds nest braid;
Wood pillows and great gods of Jade.
Where forks are sticks;
Lamps have no wicks,
And prayers are little flrework tricks.
Q, land of queues,
And tiny shoes,
I'd like to find
A window blind
Left open by some princess kind;
Where I might creep,
And take a peep,
And steal that princess in her sleep.
And sail away,
Across the bay
And snap my fingers night and day,
AT all the queues,
And all the shoes
Belonging to her fathers crews.
Mr. John Murray's rich, sweet voice ca
rolled forth this ditty as the swung his
little boat around in the brown end tran
Gull waters of the Pei-ho one cloudy
evening about 1870; he gained the deep
shadow of one of the hump backed ridges
and rested on his oars. His thoughts
were a medley as he thought there sing
ing of the princess; fact of the matter Is.
he was young, adventurous, with splendid
strength, too much leisure-looking after
his fathers bank in TEN Tsin six months
out of every twelve did not give him half
enough to do-entirely disengaged affec-
tons and literally aching in every artery
for something to come along and afford
him an outlet for all sorts of supel1lu-
Gus energies.
And snap my fingers night and day
AT all the queues
And all the shoes
Belonging to her father's-i
The cloud veil doubled up thicker than
ever over the face of the moon and weird
cries, curses, trampling feet, calls for
mercy a feminine shrek OF terror, rent
the air above MIR. Murray's head and
caused him to pull from under the bridge
bit and crane up his neck to behold
bunch of struggling humanity contending
for the mastery OF a sedan chair on the
bridge. Then all the torches went out,
and Mr. Murray sat down again and
whistled. when, staccatO! came the fem
inine Shrek again: tramp, pound, whack,
thump, whirr, whizZ, thud! and into Mr..
NIurrays boat into Mr.. Murray's very
arms fell the princess he had been vocal
~ craving. Incidentally both Mr.. Muir
ray, his new guest and the boat ali got
q tremendous ducking, but, casting the
princess aside for the moment, he righted
the craft, bailed out with his hat, and,
when the moon began to show signs OF
coming out again, retained his seat,
gathered the pTincesS's head to his knees
and her hands into his own. pounded
her palms and wrung out her clothes
as well as he could, squeezed her little
bits of feet, beat her chest, famed her
brow and wondered ii she were young or
old: speculated as to what he should
do with her a, trihe, as Chinese ladies
with little feet are not given to the mid
night adventure with the foreign devil,
save at the imminent risk OF the neck OF
the latter.
This natural train of thought was now
interrupted by the princess herself,
who said IN her native tongue, and in the
dark. grasping Mr. Murray's hands with
an impetuosity which Immediately caused
slim TO decide that his helpless burden
must be young.
''You are good, great mandarin; you
will not betray poor Princess Yu Tu, the
sole daughter OF Prince Ii Wang; tell
me that you Will notf'
Never" responded Murray. in very
fair Pekinese pulling an oar 20 that they
Should not drift and easing up the prin-
cess dropping head. '@Teil ms all about
it.
II am loved by Tn Moo; my father
Is his enemy, he is Of the Mahchus: twice
have | sought to escape and tolu Ia Moo;
lN'e~ l. Ec been captured by my cruel
EUtnrr who ut last sent me here 10 lien
l,,,i NJ IN
but all things Hre possible to many pray
prs, strong viii and g purse Of gold.
J was this night escaping from my aunt
IN e chair to &C to Pelkin, to be Joined
81 the right side Of the great yellow
bagOda by my adored ia Moo when the
red bearded bandit attacked me on the
bridEel they would have held me for a
ransom; in the tumult ! slipped from the
chair, beheld your boat, 1 crawle1
through the arch, 7 iumped-oh, do not
give me back to my aunt, honorable AMI
great mandarin, but help me to reach
Ia Moo, and l will give You much gold"
Murray patted the princess'-(iove! she
Was princess, really, and to get a CHI
nese princess to Pel1in under the cIrcum-
stances promised all the outlet for super
abundant vitality that he could possibly
desire)-hands and assured her he would
take her to the right side of the great
yellow pagoda or die in the attempt; still
even while swearing his fidelity to the
success Of the undertaking and pulling
uneasily at his soaked trousers, he did
wonder how he was going to do it.
Then the moon came out gloriOusly,
and Princess Yu To looked up at her
champion, and beheld q foreign devil
bending over her. and, as 1t Were encir-
cling her with its arms, cushioning her
tiny, dripping form and gazing down
at. her with his blush eyes. And she
trembled, shivared, turned cold, did all
the other things usual to the situation,
and then said in the best English she
could muster-for She had had some in
struction that way and was blessed with
cool head, IN intrepid spirit and a vast
passion for ga Moo:
'Foleign mister, hepee Chinee plince5s
Foleign mister lilIec plincess him side allie
same, likee Ia Moo, lilee Yu To, maybe?
Fa Moo tlavel county foleign mister,
helpee foleign plinccss, too. Nice foleign
mister!"
Murray laughed outright: they both
Chinese woman is found not altogether
elementariy to differ from the women
Of other tribes. The quick, steady, clear
headedness of the princess delighted him;
IN the matter of getting her successfully
TO Pekin and the right eide of the great
yellow pagoda," he should find her an
ally rather than the detriment he had
anticipated. Still he was fool enough to
wish Fa Moo had been a cherished
brother instead of a lover.
They We're both dripping wet; the hour