The Irish standard., 1905-01-28
" y
The Joss
That Answered
Prayer
By T. DUNCAN FERGUSON


ence | have endeavored to keep
wholly out of my life-a mouse, a woman
and lie.
A strange notion this, perhaps, but
who among us is without his or her &C.
centrcities?
am not effeminate but the presence
of mouse ever gives me a creepy SEN
sation.
A woman-belieye me, | mean no dis
respect when say she probably has her
particular place in the world, and may
remove all offeuse when | add that l
have ever seemed totally unable to un-
derstand them.
This may mean mental incapacity
on my part. but 10 years of single sol-
tUie has confirmed opinions, whether
good or evil. Being not altogether un-
handsome and Withal, gentle to our
rival sex, | sometimes marvel that am
as | am. can remember testimonies
to my virtues in my younger days.
Thirty-tnree, | think was, when my
poetic dreams were eXtravasant, and my
passionate bubblins youth sought some
congenial soul to accept my devotion.
that battled with the breeze; she with
the flashing eyes that demand your
obedience and you stand seemingly firm,
yet irresoute. and say within yourself:
81 won't" and move at length to do her
bidding; she with the ripping laugh
that you'd know among a million, the
last thing you hear at night before you
sleep, start from it in your dreams, and
wake with it in your ears in the morn
ing, feeling as though you have imbibed
some subtle narcotic whose spell is
void in it's absence.
l met her, | say, and told her the
whole story with an eloquencc that
would have moved murGerer'S jury to
tears.
At length she spoke. though foreign
to the subject: Have you ever had
much sorrow, Mr.. BraLtlon?" Not an
unbearable amount / replied; why"
81 was thinking OF the prcNerb that sor-
row has a tendency to soften one. and
questioned ii you had not had goodly
Share
This tender reference to a virtue of
which | was never cognizant won the
day. | pressed my suit, but she seemed
to grow more foreign to me, and the
matter ended in a manner ineXplicable.
From that day to this, have lived alone,
beyond the constant companionship OF
faithful though uncommunicatiye,
Chinaman
Then as to the lie-well, moral phil
osophy teaches that spontaneous false
hood betokens insanity, and dread the
thought Of ever being called peculiar.
Wong was poor literary enthusiast s
necessity, and be my personal wants
small or great, | never failed to pay that
Chinaman his $50 month. have few
visitors, and these only come for the al
mighty quantity. Wong answered these
calls, and being capable of srasping my
unenviable position, the sum total OF
the conversation Oh his part was: ME
no sabbe.' How often from my room
in the garnet have heard that creature,
intensely human. retire from my humble
quarters, indul2ing in vernacular not
found in any ethical system with which
am familiar.
Again, often becoming absorbed in my
work, took my meals at unreasonable
hours, and, strange to say, Wong never
complained
With the coming of Wong, | was forced
to take another into my family, and
herein lies my tale.
1 noted the fact that his worldly goods
were limited to two pieces of luggage
one being large sack in which he car.
n ~
something wrapped with the care of q
mummy, the which he allowed no one tc
touch save himself, and he staggered un.
der the load.
l was somWhat curious, since grave
necessity demanded that we occupy thu
same room. With gentle touch he ln
wrapped the bundle and stood the thinf
next to the cot in which he was to sleep
One look was enough. l forbade thu
thing in my room, and to my chagrin h,
informed me that he went with the oh
ject.
l had seen them before, but when i
came to sleeping in the same room Will
that cross between a totempole and al
inebriate's dreams, the hideousness o
1T fully daWne6 upon me. To Wong i
seemed sacred. and | was forced to con
sent to the increase in my family in or
der to retain the Chinaman. Once O
twice during the first month awoke t.
behold those hideous eyes starin
straieht in my face, and the effect wa
rendered more friahtful by the fain
glow of tile moon through the window
and settling on its form. At length
however we became better friends; no
on speaking terms, cs course. but tha
friendly Indifference that brings neithe
good nor evil
Thirteen years that Chinaman serve
me faithfully. and in that proverbia
s year he took his celestial flight. Thi1
teen years of much the same thing, da
In and day out, probably made me care
ri less to the fact that there is ever tur
in the road, and when it came this har
old heart of mine was touched. since put
ting all the sweet things out Of my lii