The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1906-06-01
AN IMPERIAL DRAGON.
GETTING A cONNOlSSEUR'S.
VERDICT.
BY I. X. FRIEDMAN.

BY I. X. FRIEDMAN.
When Miss Harding's uncle returned
from China he presented his niece, who
was an enthusiastic collector Of curios,
with any number of cups and saucers, a
variety of eivories, some rare and artis-
tic samples of lacquer.work and one i'm
perial Chinese dragoN.
Ellen" he had sai@ on taking the
dragon from the box, II need not tell you
what a rare thing an imperial Chinese
dragon is. They are made, you know,
in the imperial potteries and it is only |
once in century that one manages to
crawl out of the royal family and find its
way in the outside world. Dragons are
common enough in China; they curl
around everything there, but imperial
dragons, my dear, are very discrimin-
ating in the subjects that they conde-
scend to strangle."
Miss Harding thanked her uncle
warmly. She gave the great vase with
the imperial beast curled so fantastical-
lyabout it place of honor in her par
lor. Then she sat down to advise her
friend, Mr. Green, another enthusiastic
collector of curios, of her prize.
Il really hope you have an imperial
| dragon" said Mr. Green when he called
| the next afternoon.
20, have" she answered. There's
no doubt about that!"
! Mr.. Green smiled skeptically.
"You are smiling" she remarked,
slightly piqued "even before you have
seen the dragon Is there anything hui
morous about the idea of an imperial
dragon?"
That depends upon the imperial
dragon" he retorted "A friend Of
mine had an imperial dragon once
that is, he thought 1t was an imperial
dragon until we began to count its
toes. There was one toe too many and
| that settled the nobility of Mr.. Dragon.
It takes only four toes to make up the
foot Of an imperial dragon while five
toes make up the foot of the ordinary
run of dragons. A dragon of royal
lineage gets along very nicely on four
toes; presumably it rides more and
walks less than its common brethren"
There was no question about 1t;
Green was UP in dragons as well as in
everything else. Miss Harding's heart
sunk as she crossed the room to count
the toes of the royal beasts foot.
81 am very sorry" sighed Green
'4but it would have been SO much bet
ter il your uncle had secured four
toed dragon; 1t would have put your
dragon on a footing with the nobility.
Made it toe the mark, so to speak"
Her mood did not lend itself to the
enjoyment Of his poor pun. She tried
to argue the question, insisting that
her uncle's long residence In China
would have saved him from having
committed such stupid error.
1T ought to have done SO, but it
didn't" declared Green, smiling but
firm. can extra toe is an awkward
thing-in an imperial dragon!"
In the end the skeptical Green had
his way and the dragon went to what
Miss Harding called Green's landing, .
which is the place where he had sent
7 host of other curios that he had
proved base impositions
Whenever she looked toward
Green's landing she could see the
odious dragon leering at her and
drawing itself back as if preparing to
spring at her throat, coil around her
body and choke her to death with its
horrible claws Meet death for hav.
ing displaced it from the throne of roy
, atty!
The thing began actually to prey
upon her mind and she turned its face
to the wall Still the uncanny beast
j, haunted her and she ordered the maid
to remove it to the garret. Even ther
the fact that the dragon still existed
tormented her and she. was fearful lest
, it crawl down the stairs and throttle
her In her sleep II she had had the
, courage of st. George she would nave
gone upstairs and have slain the drag
on beyond any hope of resurrection.
But what couSage would not do fol
, Miss Harding carelessness did for hel
! maid.
, "Oh. Miss Ellen" she faltered ont
day, coming to her mistress in tears
IL broke the Chinese dragon"
Don't bother" returned Miss Hard
ing, half-ashamed to admit that she
considered its destruction fortunate
Don't bother. can easily get an
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