The sun., 1903-09-13
THE CHILDREN OF CHINATOWN
WELL CARED FOR DESPITE
SOME POPULAR NOTIONS.
Long Journey Of q Chinese Merchant I"
save SONS lIife-sacrifice Of Mother
and Father Little Ones n Their Play
In ChInatOwn-Their FavOrite Games.

1
and E.ther--lIttlr Ones n Their Play
| I'm ChInatown-Their FavOrite Games.
| Despite some popular notions on the
sub ject, the children in the Chinese colony
OF an American city have pretty Rooo
| time Az evidence Of the love OF their
parents for them here is u story OF mer-
| chant OF New York's Chinatown.
This particular merchant came from
China some twenty years ago. From the
day he began ironing shirts prosperity
| followed him, and soon he was able 10
| set up as merchant in Mott street. Iheh'
~ his savings grew, he married.
For five years the merchant and his whe
were childless, and then one morning.
when the man went into his store to serve
his customers with tea. his face was filed
with joy.
1T is n son, he told them.
A little over a year ago, when the boy
had reached his sixth year, he was attacked
by a spinal disease. Chinese doctors were
called in, one after another. They could
bring no relief Then the father turned
to American physicians, but they. too,
shook their heads.
-Your son will not live the year out"
| they said.
How to save the child was the one thought
that ran through the merchants mind.
At last there flashed to his memory day
when, far up il. the interior OF China-far
away from his home in Canton-he stood
| with his father in a great rich, black fleld
at the foot Of a towering mountain.
His father had taken him there that they
might gather certain roots with which to
cure the child of his fathers brother, who
lay i'll with some spinal complaint. Az they
| gathered the roots his father told him that
those same roots had been used in the
| family for generations and had never
failed to cure the trouble. The merchant
| was a mere boy at the time. The years
had all but obliterated the incident from
| his memory. But now it had all come
! back to him, and the father took fresh hope
He went into the room where the child lay.
Light of my eye" he said. Il am going
far away to get wonderful root that will
make you we'll again
Then he committed the boy to an aunt's
care, and few days later he was speeding
across the continent for China. In four
months he was back in New York. In the
meantime he had gone to Canton, spent
days in river boat, then travelled on foot
many miles until the field where the wonder
full root grew was reached. He brought
back great bundles of the herb and GER
tain kind of ginseng for giving strength
to his boy after the other root had accom-
plished its purpose.
He returned to find the child all but dead.
He saw that quick work was necessary
and he wasted no time. Straightway he
set to work and shaved down root after
root. and then, when he had the right
quantity, he made a bath of it.
In this he placed the wasted little body
of his son. and after the prescribed time,
put the child in bed again. This treat
ment the father kept up for two weeks
and after each bath the child seemed to take
a firmer grip on life. Then. one day. the
native doctors were called III.
"Wonderful!" they exclaimed. -The boy
is all but well again"
To-day the boy is running around the
streets of New York's Chinese colony as
healthy and robust as any boy can be.
But not one of the many white customers
of the fathers tea store knows how the cure
was made possible by parental love. They
only know that he was cured.
The doctors at a certain hospital in New
York can also give testimony concerning
parental love among the Chinese,
few months ago boy from Mott street,
Lu Long How by name. went uptown to
visit cousin who runs laundry. While
there he accidentally backed up against a
red-hot stove and before he could move
his back was badly burned.
The boy was taken to the hospital where
despite all that could be done, the burns
would not heal and the child's life was
DIES paired Of.
The only thing that will save him,
the doctols told his father, "is skin grating n
After the Chnanan had grasped what
skin grating meant he put a hand to his
throat, and the next moment was standing
naked to the waist before the doctors
Take the skin off there" he said simply
pointing to his own back. And the mother
who was present, quietly made a similar
offer.
The next day nine square inches of skin
were removed from the woman and eleven
inches from the man, and neither would
allow cocaine to be used to deaden the
pain.
at was one Of the finest cases of nerve
sustained by parental love that | have
ever known" said one of the surgeons who
performed the operation. Ard l am happy
to say that the parents got their reward
Lu Long was sent back to them we'll and
sound"
To him who knows the American China
men well, their love of their sons and daugh-
tors is also displayed in their everyday
solcitude for the health of the Youngsters,
He who let's his children he weaklings il a
weakling in his love-" is a rough transa-
tiCn Of Il Chinese prOverb.
In their effort to keep their children
strong and healthy the parents of Chinese
colonies, notably those in New York and
other Eastern cities have set a play hour
for the little ones. As a result, long b, fore
white boys and girls are teginning to rub
the sleep out Of their eyes of mornings
the yellow boys and Giils of Chinatown
are romping up and down the streets.
Here. with the fresh morning air tossino
their little pigtails about, and urged on l,v
the grown-ups to healthful exertion, Wan
Sing Lee Vow, Fong Dow, Lee Chung. Lee
Now and their little sisters, Wan Hong
Nee Ngod, Huey Chow. Dung Mann, Nom
Kong and many others with equally funny
names play the fayorite of all their games
| "saunka."
"siaunka" il fascinating game 70 a
| yellow boy or girl. First a little girl is
! chosen and stood in the centre of the 81 rect
! Then four boys are stationed around her
as her guards or officers two in front and
two behind. Next the remaining children
IN MARIN