Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1901-02-02
KU YUIi'S LITTLE SISTER
The Story of n Chinese Child.
BY SIN SIN FAR.

.oHOHONoHo. Ho.oH.o.o.o@oaomoS
ku Yum lived her little life in large
room in the top story of San Fran
cisco Chinatown tenement. 1t was
quite Il pleasant place with bamboo
panels hanging on the walls and a cav
mating on the tlOor-airy and sun
shiny. too with a breeze from the bay
wandering through the windows which
opened on to balcony bright with
Towering plants and bowls of Chinese
lilies
ku Yum was scarcely as high as the
railing around the balcony. and passcrs
i'll the street below who might happen
to glance UP could easily discern her
small black head through the rails. 1t
was nearly always there, for Ku Yum
liked we'll 10 watch the life in the
street. Besides. Ku Yum was on the
lookout for a little sister. There was
nothing in this world that I[u Yum
wanted so much as a little sister
Nu Yum had two small brothers to
play with and an old nurse to look aft
or her. She had an elder brother. too.
but he lived down stairs with her IA
thcr and the men who worked in her
fathers cigar factory. lie was II
years old and went to the Chinese GOV
crnmcnt school, so that Ku Yum had
almost as much respect for him as she
had for her parent.
One day Ku Yum said to her nurse.
Il wish | had little sister"
And her nurse replied: "You have
better than a little sister. You have
brothers."
but | more badly want what is like
myself than what is better persisted
Ku Yum.
| was about 4 o'clock in the after
noon. Her father had taken her broth
ers to a hill where they could fly their
kites. and Ku Yum was alone with her
nurse. The old woman was stitching
rows of imitation pearls upon n bright
cOlorcd velvet band that was to adorn
Ku IUm'S head during the first days of
the coming New Year. The little girl
sat on Il stool learning how to en-
brOidcr.
"Tcll me story, Woo Ma" she
pleaded,
And Woo Ma, the nurse. told her n
story OF one who had attained to great
honors because when II lad of he had
chcCrfully cut piece of flesh out of his
arm to please his mother who had eX-
pressed wish to see blood flow.
Ku Yum did not like that story and
insisted that mistake had been made
In the telling and that 1t could not have
been the boys mother that had allowed
him to cut his flcSh-that it must have
been his nurse.
"Oh," exclaimed the old woman,
what n tongue the child has. Listen,
then. and | will tell you what you will
like to hear" and she began:
every year when the almond tree
bursts into bloom the Queen of Mercy,
seated on lily throne, wraps spirit
sword in "A cloth of violets and gives it
to Il dove that flies with it into the
heavens
but how can little bird carry any
thing so heavy as Il swOrd:" asked Ku
Yum. examining Il weapon made Of
Chinese cash strung together which
hung over Il couch In a corner of tho
room, charm to ward away evil splr.
its.
81 said that it was n spirit sword"
replied the nurse rather GROSSLY. She
did not like to be interrupted.
Some one knocked at the door. 1t
was the tailors wife from across the
street. Her baby boy, who the day be-
fore had "Complctcd the mOon," which
means attained to the age of ono
month, had, according to established
Chinese custom, been shaved then for
the first time. The result was violent
cold. and the mother was anxious that
Woo Ma, who was skilled in nursing
sick children, should accompany her
back to the house. SO away went Woo
Ma. leaving Ku Yum alone.
Now there were dreams in Ku Yum's
eyes and longings In her heart, and five
minutes after the departure of Woo
Ma saw the little girl slipping quietly
down the tcncment's steep stairs. Up
on reaching the street she looked
around wOnderlngly and perceiving a
al, Of nj I,, a