Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1911-04-23

THY: "HEATHEN CHlNEE."
And ths Ce,ds Bret Harte Wrote Into
 His Flowing Sleeves.

His Flowing Sleeves.
 Every one who knows American poetry is familiar with Bret Harte's "Heathen Chinee," written in the ear " seventies at the time when the feel ing on the Pacific coast ran high against the mild eyed Celestial and voicing that feeling by portraying the hero, if such q term may be applied to An Sin. as a crafty card cheating villain wno outwits the sharps of the California mining camps.
 It is not generally known, however, that the poem Is unique in that 1t contains an error which the author failed to detect when reading the gal lev proofs and which survived and still survives all attempts at correc- ton. Perhaps 1t is the only instance in literature where a grossly patent airor in the copy reading of an after ward famous article, whether prose or poem, has persisted through nu. merous editions despite all efforts of author and editor to kill it.
 The poem was written while Bret Harte was employed on San Fran cisco daily and, to him, was merely part of the days work. It tells of Chinee, An Sin, who. "with smile that was childlike aud bland," sat in a game of euchre with Truthful James and Bill Nye.
 At crucial point of the game the artless Chinese plays the winning card, which" says Truthful James. the narrator of the catastrophe, 'the same Nye had dealt unto me!' Where upon Truthful and Nye proceed to "go for that heather Chinee.' The damaging evidence disclosed by their rough and searching investigation is told as follows in the poem as it was printed-and has been printed ever since the initial publications:
 Tn his sleeves. which were long, there were
 twenty-four packs.
 Which is coming 1t strong, yet I state but
 the facts
 In this form the busy Bret Harte let the proofs go down to the printer, and it was not until some time later that he recalled having overlooked an error in it. He hurried down to the press, but already several hundred copies had been struck off and were being distributed about the city to the morning subscribers. Bret Harte, at taching no importance to the fugitive verses, which had merely oozed from his pen the afternoon previous, made no effort at correction then. When, however, the eastern press enthusiaS tically copied it and publishers and il illustrators rang all manner of comic changes in 1t he tried 10 substitute the correct phrase. but without avail, and ""The Heathen Chinee'' has persisted Tn its original form through number
 "Toueh Not the Queen"
 Under this title Paris journal pro tesses to give an account of the tragi death of the queen of Siam. who wa> as greatly loved as her cOnsort. Some years "@o her majesty was boating with ladies of the court in a lake in the gardens of the palace at Bangkok. The boat overturned, and the queen coulC not swim. She was surrounded by nu merous personages who could h:iv. saved her life. but no one has the righ' to extend the hand upon the queen. The king alone could have held her up and prevented her from sinking. and he was nowhere at hand. Respectful ly the court allowed the queen u drown.
 Thanksgiving.
 Thesnrst national Thanksgiving may be said to have Eeen the one offered up at St. Paul's cathedral, London, for the defeat of the Spanish armada. September, l5SS. The English settlers iii this country naturally adopted the custom of their native land. and at an early period in our colonial history Thanksgiving became quite common. The institution may be said to be the natural outgrowth of human nature and has probably existed ill some for;:, 1T other from the earliest ..me<
 EXcLa0cs