Evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1907-1913, 1912-09-09

fees. ! knew that for some time Chi
ma had been calling upon her sons of
western education to return to their
mother country for service, and l
feared that little Now Chez might al
ready be customs taokai of Shantung,
or some other imperial province But
my misgivings were very promptly al
layed; for no sooner had l stepped
within the outer office than he saw
me. and came hastily forward, with a
smile of greeting on his square, fiat
tened, yellow face.
His desk was just back Of the long
counter which ran the length of the
room, and a glance at its piled con-
tents showed me that he was very
busy. Moreover, there was no oppor-
tunity here for the privacy which !
DESIRED so after an exchange Of greet
ings, and a few conventional inquiries,
I invited Now to lunch with me at the
savarin, at whatever hour would best
suit his convenience.
Somewhat to my dismay, he fixed
upon one o'clock. AS it still wanted
ten minutes Of noon | now had over
an hour Of leisure, which, as may be
imagined, promised to hang rather
heavy, the more so, as I was impa-
tent to make some real progress in
my quest.
Wall street being at hand, l conclud-
ed to call on a friend there who usu-
ally handles my Investments, and
make convenience of his office. On
the way, bought an afternoon paper,
and as my broker happened to be at
the Stock Exchange, had ample OPP
portunity to read it from first column
to last It proved about as thrillngly
interesting as the early afternoon re-
prints of what one has already read
at breakfast usually are, and was
about to drop it to the floor, when
my eye caught group of headlines
on the last page, which, up to that
moment, had escaped me, but which
now suddenly riveted my attention:
CELESTIAL CLAIMS MYSTERIOUS
BOX ON FALL RIVER PIER.
Anything concerning Celestials,
suppose, would have attracted me.
just then, but the burden of this was
SO peculiarly pertinent, that it seemed
as if it must have intimate connection
with the tangle l had undertaken to
unravel.
With the paper gripped tightly in
both hands, and my head bent intently
forward | raced through the frivo-
lously.written article which followed;
and from q superabundance Of cheap
wit and East side slang managed to
extract the somewhat meager facts.
A truck, driven by a Chinaman, 1t
seemed, had that morning taken from
the pier of the Fall River Line Q
square bcX, measuring about five feet
each way, and perforated with num-
Der of auger holes. The brilliant
space-writer had given his magma
/ ton free rein as to the contents, spec
ulating as to the possibilities, from ed
ible Chinese dogs to struggled opium,
but he had omitted to furnish the
name and address of either the CON
signor or consignee. THE truck,
drawn by the slant-eyed white horse
and driven by the phlegmatlc Chink,
clattered away in the direction Of
Mott street" the account concluded
After all, it was very common
place, everyday occurrence. Probably
the auger holes were only knot holes,
transformed by the reporters tmagl-
nation. Nevertheless, l thrust the Pc
per into my pocket Now Chez might
throw some light on the matter. He
would know, in all likelihood, what
sort Of goods were shipped by way of
the Fall River Line to his countrymen
in New York.
We secured corner table In the
inner room at The Sayarin. It was
not SO crowded there and it was less
busting and noisy. My companion at
tracted some little attention, Of course.
but not sufficient to prove annoying.
New York, as a rule, pays small heed
simply to the unusual, and Cinnamon
are common enough not to be abso-
Lutte curiosities even in the big down
town restaurants.
very dapper little fellow was Mr..
Nov; neatly and inconspicuously clad.
and we'll brushed and combed. He
was for recalling old college days,
when he was coxswain of the class
crew and I pulled the stroke oar, but
my time vas too precious for such
"reminiscences, and as speedily as pos
sible preached the subject l had at
heart
Now" I began. perhaps less deli,
eately than should, there's saying,
you know, that the only good Indian is
Il dead Indian. That wouldn't apply
to the Chinese, would it? And yet,
while there are some very excellent
Cinnamon, there are some pretty bad
ones, aren't there?"
He grinned, exposing his fine teeth.
"Oh, yes" he answered, there are
good and bad, but the percentage Of
bad is less in my country than in
somo others" I caught the signih-
canoe of his remark, and realized that
l deserved the rebuke.
And amongst the educated Chinese,
here in New York;" l went on, with.
ont c4oDpipo for corprnnp+ sfrT'l,or>