The San Francisco call., 1907-06-30
By Elizabeth Haight Strong

II MONT the CllneSe conSuIS many
treasures is a large Jade brace
let OF wondrous beauty and
rare workmanship. OF a pure,
Incompatible green that would be the
despair OF an artist, its translucent
depths glow mysteriously and seem TO
promise future revelations that must.
perforce. remain forever vague. Moth
ing like 1t had ever before been wor-
Fied through the custom house except
stH mate, and that now may be seen in
~octions only at a well known jewelry
establishment on Van Ness avenue. It's
unusual size made it possible to utilize
It for many different articles OF jew
elry, and fortunate. indeed. is the
woman who gets a belt buckle made
from a quarter section of the large
medallion that ornamented its top,
fragment OF the carving mounted for &
brooch or one Of the wonderful convo-
lutions OF the circle to hang on her
neck chain
If you ask the Chinese consul any,
thing about the beautiful ornament he
viii tell you that the original owner
OF it, who gave it to him, is dead, and
then he will take refuge behind the
Gec4 that he does not speak English.
There is 10 enc either 10 vouch for the
sYsth % the statement or to deny it,
CEsess 3 fascinating mite of Chinese
fezininity should bob up some day in
q way quite typical of her irresponsible
self and attempt to explain what may
leniently be termed her vararies. To
the Chinese she is dead, for she COM
mitted, in their eyes, the objectionable
sin Of running away from her husband.
And who is there in the whole wide
land Of COnfucius who will deny that
The husband is indeed the better half?
The bracelet is oId-old even as the
Chinese reckon age, SO its earliest his
tory is lost in obscurity. The first
fhing known about it on this side of
the continent was when Sing Kee
prominent merchant of old Chinatown
returned from the land Of his ancestors
bringing with him his wife and chill
drel and pretty little Chinese maiden
Of barely IL years. Even to the eve not
trained to the lines of oriental Beauty
she possessed decided charms Her
glossy black hair shone until IL looked
as though ii were polished; her firmly
rounded cheeks had damask roses un-
der their clear olive; the soft dark
eyes were pools at twilight, and their
ADAAE AtAcliNH tAAllEu the DfOMn SKIN rs
she kept them cast down and shufHed
along demurely in her gay little shoes.
year passed; a hard year for the
child OF the orient. She was not only
at the beck and cali Of Slug Kee. but
Mrs. Sing Kee and all the children OF
the Sing KEGS. But sorrow and lone
liness taught her much. Loneliness
tauEht her TO press her wistful face
against the latticed psnes Of the Gaze
~frrr4
ang wonder and interest tho crowds
moving below; 10 study them and
ponder Anericsn girls attracted her
particularly. They seemed always
Laughing and happy. There must be
some reason for n, she argued Their
lives must be very different from hers
Could it be the queer looking clothes
they wore, and the funny shaped hats
with the bright ribbons? They didn't
probably have 10 work hard all day
running errands, cooking rice, making
chop suey or taking care Of fretful
children. II they did they would not
always be talking so gayly. And Amer
lean girls nearly always had American
men by their sides-and these men
how kind they seemed. They did not
expect the american girls TO work,
WORK, ali the time. II she could but
get nearer, perhaps. she could hear
what they were saying to each other.
The Little Juliet
She opeaed the low window noise
lessly and stoic ou- on the balcony
that jutted over a blind alley, beneath
which soft soled Chinese slipped silent
~. passed and disappeared into dark
doorways as suddenly as though the
earth had opened and swallowed them.
From the end of the balcony she could
get a rectangular view or the street
and the passersby, and see the crowds
riding on the cars that went changing
down the hill.
And IL was there one afternoon. just
as the rosy tfnts of the setting sun
were being driven from the crest of
Clay street hill by aggressive clouds
Of fog. that the Chinese maiden, her
glossy head bending under the sway
ing lanterns. leaned far out over the
lilies in their fat dishes TO study at
closer range these object lessons Of
the occident, and suddenly found her
self gazing fnf0 fhe. fruffrred evea OF