Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1901-01-16
CHAPTER XII.

THE SOCIETY OF THE HIDDEN MEANING.
Feeling the hand Of God and man
against me and knowing not at what
moment shall fall victim to the
Vaccinations Of my enemies, think L
owe you, my son, some explanation Of
my strange manner of living and of the
apparent desertion of your mother.
And there Is still another reason which
personally concerns you and Of which
you shall read further on. For as fall
SO shall the nearest and dearest to me,
until there Is not one left who bears
my name. So runs the law which you
have already exemplified SO bitterly,
which you shall see again, which you,
too, shall suffer, unless you kill Kung!
II need not here enter into detailed
description of my various voyages, for,
as you know, have spent most of my
days in the China seas, but what you
may not know is that l lived in China
for many years before knew your
mother, that spoke the language like
a native, that in short for some time
lived the life of native. Not thing
4 w CS phodo OAs Su NCil, hOy lGlluSI
am l. But when man has voyaged SO
far he looks back complacently enough
on the dirty weather through which he
has sailed. Not that dirty weather is
good for man. Fools handy the word
experience Us though it possessed no
fine distinction - experience is good
for man and such like vague express
sions. Aye, good experience is good,
but bad experience is bad.
Nov though you do not know Chi
no personally l am well aware that
your book knowledge Of it is compre-
hensive, for since you have been with
me / have marked your decided predi-
lection for the literature pertaining to
that country. Yes, yes. have seen
through your subterfuges and have In
wardly applauded your many vain eff
forts to surprise me of my secret do
not blame you. 1t was fair enough. l
think also that you guessed enough to
insure you clew to the right road.
But 1t was only conjecture, was it not?
And that is exasperating. Yet your
stoicism under defeat has not passed
unrecognlzed. / have no words to ex-
press my admiration of your splendid
silence, of the strength of your will. In
that you are my son. l, too, had it
once, though 1t is more than possible
you will never fully realize the state
ment.
''In your readings Of China you could
not fail to come across some mention
of the secret societies of that country,
of which the number is legion. You
will likewise have read of their far
reaching power and influence. Indeed
such things are universally admitted.
but even those who talk and write so
glibly do not really guess the extent of
that power. Not alone does it extend
over the east, near and far. but the
west is also brought within its infiu-
ence. These societies absorb men of
every grade, and, had he cared to
speak, it is highly probable that the
Chinese ambassador could have ex-
planned the meaning of the egg shaped
sign. OF course If you were to ask him
he would shake his head, for the Chi
naman, like all orlentals, is natural
liar. He will lie even when he gains
nothing by 1t. Imagine then what he
would do when the truth might injure
him. 1t is curious how In all these
years our rulers seem to have learned
nothing of the Chinese character. i
grow furious when l read of them
treating the yellow monkeys with gen.
tlemanly forbearance and Cancellation.
There are times when to stand too
much upon the gentleman is bad
thing. AS rule people who do that
sort Of thing have nothing else to stand
upon. The oriental respects no one but
his master. Cancellation is but sign
of weakness. No man bothers much
about Cancellation when he knows he
can thrash his opponent. Picking Is
not London. 1t is not even st. Peters
burg. You will presently see what the
gentlemanlike conduct of the Russians
will accomplish.
But this Is all beside my story,
though at times my Indignation runs
away with me, and l say my say,
which is wrong, for no sensible man
should let himself get angry with that
which he cannot alter, which is equiva-
lent to saying that no sensible man ex-
cept the politician should take politics
seriously. fear my interest is self
ish one as regards China. loathe the
pestilential monkeys. l have longed
for the roar of our guns. have dream.
ed of the jack waving over the Forbid
den City, over the rich provinces of the
Yang-tse And shall see nothing.
II dare not enter into detailed &C.
count of my early wanderings In that
country; butras you may have already
guessed. ] was more or less Of a rolling
stone, and one day rolled against
Kung. The impact was not hard one.
No corners We're Clipped off, no dam
age done. We smiled and shook hands
and vowed an everlasting friendship.
"Ostensibly a boatbuilder at Fu-
chau. Kung was in reality the head Of
one of the largest secret societies Of
the empire. that of the Hidden Mean.
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