The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-21

that his son had committed a crime Whlch should be expiated. and until 1t was expl- ated the ancestors of both the Nyng ana Lung houses would rest uneasily Tn the hazv world beyond the grave. HIS son would not come in and yield his neck to the headsman's sword, nor his throat to the strangler's cord, so he hlmselI "ouio pav the penalty, and by that means lay the troubled shades and remove the ols- grace from the Nyng family
 Old Nyng, on the night of the day on which he had determined upon his course, went quietly to the house of Yup Gung, the notary. who also served as sort or town crier, and paid him to draw up a sort of declaration to the people in form al language The declaration went 10 the effect that Nyng Poo Toi admitted the heiniousness of his sons crime, Lung Wung Chow was father, and had the right to say whether his daughter should marry: the crime should have its atone ment. and the father of the murderer bade all tie village to his house on the n orrow at sundown.
 Yup Gung drew the declaration up, made several copies of it and posted them on the gates of the temple and other places where they would be seen by the villagers. The villagers read the notice, and toward sundown the whole population moved slowly to Nyng Poo Tofs house, divining, as it were, the dark tragedy that was to be enacted.
 The townpeope halted in the roadway in front of the low palings behind which Nyng's humble home stood and waited. They waited and said never a word, and iust when the sun was about to drop behind the western hills Nyng Poo Tofs emaciated form appeared, framed in the doorway of the dwelling. Nyng Poo Toi wore a long scarlet robe, covered over with hieroglyphics, and his queue. neatly braided, lay in coil on top of his head.
 The old mans face was drawn and hag- gard: his eyes had receded far back into their sockets, and 1t needed only glance at his features to tell that he had suf- fered. and suffered deeply. Nyng looked at the villagers and then addressed them.
 My neighbors have come out to see the sin of my son atoned," he said in hollow tones. "They come like the sweet breezes of evening to make glad my tired eyes. and I thank them. The blood that is shed, the innocent blood that makes unholy the ground, cannot be washed away by my tears, and so I give my an- cestors peace and make easy the sleep of Lung Wung Chow by releasing my spirit, that it might be borne on the wings of night to sup in the halls of Tseng- Moi"
 
 Nyng Poo Toi ceased speaking, and, with slow deiberation, he opened his scarlet robe and from the belt of his loose cam brio pantaloons he drew an ugly curved knife. The knife he grasped in his right hand, and with his left he unfastened his white undershirt and laid his stomach bare. The villagers gazed as though fas- clnated, but no man made a move to stay the rash purpose of the disgraced father all living by the same awful code that Nyng Poo Toi was following and all agreeing in its Justice.
 Nyng Poo Toi raised his knife aloft, suddenly seized the hilt with both hands, and then, with all the strength that he was capable of. brought the bright, keen blade down swiftly and unerringly The point entered just below the breastbone and the blade sunk to the very haft two streams of blood shooting in jets from either side of the dagger. Nyng Poo Toi swayed uncertainty on his feet but did not fall; the lines In his face became rigid and his eyes bulged forward in a horrid stare. The knife was stayed-it had gone the blades length-and Nyngs brown