THELA'DTOF THE mel.FjM f ci^i^aiv Qlocnell Hnineraitg SItbcatg Dt^ara. ^tm fork CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION CHINA AND THE CHINESE THE GIFT OF CHARLES WILLIAM WASON CLASS OF 1876 1918 Cornell University Library HQ 1170.C59 The lady of the lily feet and other stor 3 1924 023 566 361 Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023566361 An Lixc, THE La[.v .if tiik Hi.v Feet, as Hride. THE LADY OF THE LILY FEET AND OTHER STORIES OF CHINATOWN BY HELEN F. CLARK PHILADELPHIA ttbc ©rlffitb a. 1Rowlan& ipress 1900 Copyright igoo by the American Baptist Publication Society PREFACE The writer begs permission to say to all who may read this volume that the condition herein described exists to- day, and not in China only, but in New York, San Fran- cisco, and all those large centers wherein the Chinese have established themselves in any considerable numbers. It must be to the regret of every lover of womanly virtue that it is so. It must be to the grief of every woman who sym- pathizes with her sisters of the Orient in their unspeakable sufferings that such things take place here, and with al- most the freedom that they occur in China. But such is undeniably the case. Exclusion laws do not mend the matter, though they lessen the number of cases. Educa- tion does not always change the masculine mind of Asiatics upon these subjects, although it often helps to do so. But one remedy has been found — Christianity ; and this remedy works as well in India as in China, and it is the only fac- tor which accomplishes that end among these heathen in America. The writer has studied this question of the social condi- tion of the Chinese in America with an ever-saddening heart. The wider the view, the more extensive the ac- quaintance with the problem, the darker and more hopeless does it appear. I do not know if the wisest of legislative enactments can ever control it. The reformation seems to 5 6 PREFACE require a complete change of mind on the part of these Oriental men, a thing which no statutes can bring about. It is only when the law of God is written on their hearts that they lift woman to her true place of honor and respect. It is with the sincere hope that missionary activity among tliese people may be increased and every effort for their re- demption be sustained and strengthened, both in our own land and in China, that this little volume is sent forth. It is also with the further prayer, wrung from my heart by my own intimate knowledge of these dear women, that some even of these in America may be delivered from their sad bondage and a bit of earth's sweet happiness find its way into their sorrow-filled lives. Helen F. Cl-usk. New Yokk City. CONTENTS I The Lady of the Lily Feet 9 II Mee Lee's Great Happiness 31 III Joy Come .... 45 IV The Wedding Bells that Eanq for Ah Lon 69 V "Who Cly?" 87 VI Ah Fay 99 VII Tai Mun Ill THE LADY OF THE LILY FEET THE LADY OF THE LILY FEET MEE LEE was looking anxiously from her third-story window. For three hours she had spent most of the time at this post of observation. Everything was in readi- ness. The floor was scrubbed until it was almost white. Indeed, the oil-cloth was beginning to wear through because of Mee Lee's perseverance in this line. The stove was as black as American polish put on by strong young hands could make it. There was no speck of dust to be seen. The lace curtains hung over the windows white and gleaming in their starched stiffness, and the brass chandeliers were or- namented with queer paper roses that Mee Lee had learned to make from the little Irish girl next door. On the table was spread a fine array of Chinese confections, preserved fish, sugared nuts and raisins, with the finest oranges Cali- fornia could produce. Fresh offerings, double the usual quantity, were placed before the household god on the altar fastened to the wall ; and over in the restaurant a savory meal of rice, pig's feet, and Chinese vegetables, cooked with chopped meat and fish, was in preparation. Mee Lee herself wore a gorgeous jacket of purple silk trimmed with blue, and her feet were shod with a new pair of the round- soled slippers which, in Chinatown, were considered so very genteel. 11 12 THE LADY OP THE LILY FEET The occasion of all this was the advent of a new mistress to the household. The old mistress had been sent back to China by the last steamer, and now a new one was ex- pected every moment ; for Young Sing, Mee Lee's master, had gone to the dock to meet the incoming steamer some hours before. Mee Lee had not greatly regretted the de- parture of her old mistress, for she had received many beatings from that somewhat irascible person's hands. Perhaps the new mistress might be worse, Mee Lee re- flected, but she certainly hoped for the best. Just as the sun was beginning to sink Mee Lee heard a clatter far down the street, and stretching over the window- sill as far as the preservation of her balance would permit, she looked at the approaching carriage. A moment later it stopped directly in front of the house, and Mee Lee watched with anxious eyes and bated breath for the first appearance of that much-expected lady. The carriage door opened and Young Sing, in his gorgeous green silk jacket, alighted, leaving the door open for his new bride to follow him. There was a moment's hesitation and then a slender, shrinking figure, clad in dark silk, with a red shawl thrown over her head and hiding the bowed face, stepped slowly and with difficulty out to the pavement. Mee Lee uttered a startled exclamation, in which admi- ration and awe were equally intermingled. " Oh, she got de lily feet ! She got de lily feet ! " Clasping her hands with reverent wonder, she slipped down from the window and waited with bated breath at the head of the stairs, while the shrinking stranger made her slow progress upward. Young Sing, as masculine dig- THE LADY OP THE LILY FEET 13 nity required, stalked on ahead, giving no heed to the toil of the tiny bound feet behind him. Truth to tell, Young Sing was not entirely satisfied witn his new wife. He had had two before. One was in China, and one he had sold. This latest acquisition he had pur- chased through a go-between in Hong Kong, who had mag- nified her beauty and her virtues until Young Sing had been induced to pay a large price for her ; and now when she had arrived, he found that she had come from a distant part of the province and spoke a dialect wholly foreign to his, so that to make her understand he was obliged to have recourse to broken English, a little of which she had learned in Hong Kong and on shipboard. Young Sing de- tested English, and had neither the desire nor the indus- try to learn it, so that his vocabulary was exceedingly lim- ited. His business was gambling, pure and simple, and he had always been successful enough to give him plenty of money and a haughty spirit, which did not fail to reveal itself in the carriage of his head and his general deportment. When the new wife had reached the little kitchen and stood leaning against the table for support, he watched silently while she slowly removed the covering that hid her face. A crowd of curious Chinese women gathered in the hall and watched expectantly, for all knew that Young Sing's number three wife had come at last. Young Sing looked at her intently ; yes, so far as beauty was concerned she was a very good bargain, and even he was not unsusceptible to the charm of the softly rounded cheek, the delicately curved lip and the skin of exquisite texture. Her eyes too were large and luminous, and her 14 THE LADY OF THE LILY FEET whole attitude and expression one of gentleness and pa- thetic timidity. But she was older than he supposed. She looked to be twenty-three at least, and certain sad lines around her mouth took from her expression the vivacity of even that age. The go-between had declared to him that she was only seventeen, and he particularly wanted a young wife, hence here was a second disappoint- ment. But looking at her keenly, he reflected, "She no got fight. Got velly good face," and these were two good points in her favor. Then, without a word of greeting or of friendliness, he strode down the stairs and over to his "Company's" store. But the shrinking bride had not once raised her eyes, or looked upon the face of her bride- groom. Mee Lee very quickly made the same discovery that her master had made, namely, that her mistress' Chinese was as foreign aa Arabic to her. But English, such as Mee lee possessed, was no difficulty to her. " What you name ? " she asked briskly. "Ah Ling," slowly replied the bride. • ' ' Where from you come ? ' ' " Me come Kwong Fu." " You got de lily feet. Me see ! " Mee Lee knelt reverently on the floor and lifted the tiny stump in her hand. It was scarcely three inches long and rested like a doll's foot in Mee Lee's palm.^ ^I have a Chinese lady's slipper in my possession, given me by a ■woman who was making a pair lilre them for her own wear, and the sole measures one-sixteenth of an inch less than three inches in length, and the heel is one inch broad. Chinese Women's Shoes. Page 14. THE LADY OF THE LILY FEET 16 " See ! " she called to the women who crowded around. "See de lovely lily feet ! Oh, so little ! Nevfer see so little before! How old when make de feet?" " Me four years. Me very small. But," she said with a timid glance, "me no likee now. Me likee big foot now. Can walkee more better. No can walk got lily feet." "Oh!" exclaimed the women in disgust. "She no good, she not likee de lily feet." The stranger shrank back at this rebuke, but Mee Lee answered nothing. She put the little foot down very gently and brought the stranger something to eat. As the days passed by Mee Lee and her mistress grew to be close friends. The one was too gentle to oppress her servant, and the other too affectionately attentive to grieve or annoy her mistress. Young Sing seemed to be only par- tially satisfied with his new bride, but household affairs ran along with comparative smoothness. The neighbor women soon found that "Som Ni," as they called her, meaning "Wife Number Three," was not quarrelsome, that she never cheated at dominoes, and was always generous in sharing any delicacy she might have. So they liked her well enough, although she was too retiring to be exactly popular. Mee Lee secretly resented the name " Som Ni," although she was entirely familiar with her master's previous matri- monial ventures. She scorned to call this lady of the lovely lily feet by this disrespectful sobriquet of "Third Wife," and herself always spoke of her either as Mrs. Sing, in American style, or else she called her with affectionate abandon, "Me Mama." 16 THE LADY OF THE LILY FEET There were three things that contributed to make Ah Ling the most? remarkable lady in Chinatown : her beauty, her exceptionally small feet, and her exquisite needle- work. She was an adept in embroidery, and could make any sort of handkerchief or shawl, covering them with flowers of bright hue worked so as to look exactly alike on both sides. All these awoke the admiration and awe of the entire colony, and Young Sing was looked upon as a re- markably lucky man since he owned so valuable a piece uf property. But Ah Ling was not permitted to embroider in America. Making buttonholes for Chinese jackets paid much better ; so all day long Ah Ling and Mee Lee sat on opposite sides of the table, with the flaming gas jet between them on cloudy days, and sewed the long slender cords which form both the button and the buttonhole on the Ce- lestial's jackets. Thus they fully earned their cost to their regal lord and provided a comfortable surplus for him at the end of the year besides. For the money did not come to them, but was collected annually from the tailors by the husband just before the Chinese New Year. There were two gala days in the week for Mee Lee. They were the days when the teacher from the mission came to give her a lesson from an English primer, and great was her joy and industry when she sat poring over the little thumb-marked book. Her progress in reading and writing was excellent, but her speech always reflected the dialect of the foreigners about them, and never lost its pe- culiar Chinese-American idioms. Mee Lee also learned some other things from her teacher that did not quite please Ah Ling and their neighboring countrywomen. For Mee LI'.E Page 17. THE LADY OF THE LILY FEET 17 instance, when this otherwise exemplary servant went to light the joss sticks before the household god at five o'clock in the afternoon she was very apt to laugh, and quite shocked Ah Ling several times. Once she even went so far as to turn up her nose at the picture of the idol and de- clared derisively : "He no good, he only paper god. Jesus-god more better." "Mee Lee ! " cried Ah Ling in dismay, "he sendee you velly bad luck you laugh at him." Mee Lee laughed the louder. " He sendee bad luck ? How he sendee bad luck ? He only paper. He no can see. Got ears, he no can hear. See ! " She caught up a grain of rice from the offering on the altar, and with intentional impertinence flung it di- rectly under his nose. Ah Ling screamed with fear, but the pictured face gazed down as calmly as before. Mee Lee desisted, but said quietly, "Jesus-god alive. He muchee more better. He too muchee good. Take care Mee Lee every day. Give Mee Lee velly good mamma," and she stooped down and patted the little feet of her mis- tress with passionate affection. Then with the boisterous fun of a happy girl, she drop- ped beside her chair, drumming with her fingers as she had seen her teacher play the piano at the mission, and be- gan to sing at the top of her voice, Jesus loves me, this I know. Ah Ling, shocked yet laughing, caught up a stick and slyly rapped the merry fingers until Mee Lee left off her mischief and ran back to her sewing. 18 THE LADY OF THE LILY FEET And so the pleasant weeks passed until a full year had slipped by, and Mee Lee was old enough to be married. Then came the hour so momentous, ofttimes so tragic, in the Chinese woman's life. Ah Ling first broke the news to her. "Young Sing say you too muchee big gal now. Some Chinaman talkee takee you get mallied." ^ Mee Lee flushed scarlet to the very roots of her jet black hair. " One Chinaman talkee velly good house. Buy de good carpet, buy de chair, buy de table, buy de dish, an' all samee Melican bed. Give de too muchee good clo's, an' de rings an' de bracelets. Young Sing say velly good." But Mee Lee was still dumb. "Young Sing say you velly good gal, can sew little, got muchee good face, can cook de rice. Young Sing say givee you two, tlee muchee good jackets, an' de bracelets an' de rings." The color had slowly faded from Mee Lee's face, and her fingers had grown cold. At last the question throbbing in her heart rose to her pale lips. "Dis Chinaman — ^he — he — Clistian'-' man?" Ah Ling looked at her with startled wonder. "No, he not Clistian. Maybe he be Clistian, China-gods givee bad luck. Givee velly bad luck Clistian man." Mee Lee's face fell. Little romancing is allowed a Chi- nese girl. She does not see her bridegroom until the mar- riage rites are celebrated. She cannot hope for love, nor give love in return, when neither has beheld the other's face. The most she can hope for is that something less 1 Married. 2 christian. THE LADY OF THE JLIJA' FEET 19 than aversion may fill her breast when she knows the man who has bought and married her. And Mee Lee was not foolish enough to indulge any romantic fancies. But one thing she had longed for with all the strength of her pas- sionate young heart, and that was that her husband might be a Christian man. The Christian men did not sell their wives, nor take away their children. Then too, most sur- prising of all, Mee Lee had been told confidentially that the Christian men never took but one wife, not because they were too poor, but because the Jesus-book would not let them. But of this Mee Lee did not dare to be sure. It sounded too good to be true. But oh ! Never to be sold ! Mee Lee had clasped her hands to her heart in an ecstacy of joy as she had contemplated so blessed a future. And now her hopes were all blasted ! Young Sing was going to sell her to only a heathen man. Great tears fell slowly down on her little cold fingers, and convulsive sobs shook her from head to foot. Ah Ling looked frightened. " Why for you cry ? Why for 'fraid ? Nobody can hurt. He velly good man. He no hurt." "Maybe he takee me go sell some day. Clistian man no sellee," was the sad answer. Ah Ling sank back in her chair, and passed her slender hand over her face. Before her eyes she saw again her child- hood's home, her mother and the young brothers she had loved so much. And then the hour of parting came back to her memory, when for a few hundred cash ^ she was sold into a stranger's hand, and sold and sold again until she ' The " cash " is the Chinese coin. 20 THE LADY OF THE LILY FEET was at last a lonely waif on a foreign shore, separated forever from all that she had once held dear. And she could not answer Mee Lee. The next day six gorgeous jackets arrived from the "Company's" store, and Mee Lee was made resplendent for her betrothal ceremonies, which were soon to take place. She had hidden her disappointment under the sto- icism of her race, and went about her preparations pa- tiently, if not gladly. But still there was some lingering hope that this man who had bought her might be one of the progressive sort of Chinese who wore American clothes, and had put on also a few American ideas as to the educa- tion and position of women. She did not know any such men, but she had heard of them. She was therefore curious as to the appearance and personnel of her bridegroom, a knowledge usually forbidden to the Chinese bride as immodest and entirely unnecessary. One day she placed her cheek close against Ah Ling's, and whispered softly : "Ah Ling, me want somet'ing velly bad. You givee sure?" " What you want ?" asked Ah Ling cautiously. " You givee? Tellee me sure you givee." " Maybe me givee." "All hght. Some day Chinaman me mally by and by lookee in store window, maybe walkee down stleet, you tellee me ? No, you no tellee for sure. Jus' say, ' Mee Lee, one man lookee in window,' or maybe you say, 'one man got de long queue,' or 'got de Melican shoe' ; me no look long. Jus' one minute me lookee, dat's all." THE LADY OF THE IJLY FEET 21 Ah Ling looked very grave, and made no answer, but Mee Lee felt that her request was not denied. The day before her betrothal supper Ah Ling, who was near the window, suddenly called softly : " Mee Lee, one man by lamp-post. Got Melican hat." Mee Lee sprang to the window, hiding behind the lace curtain, her little heart beating with excitement. She saw a tall, rather slender man, dressed in a Chinese jacket of dark blue with American trousers, shoes, and hat. But a long queue hung down his back, and his carriage lacked the life and energy of the Americanized man. She could not see his face, only the long profile and two thin hands clasped behind him. She was again disappointed. This man was neither the one thing nor the other, and she could not conjecture the future that awaited her. She went through the betrothal supper, the week of seclusion following, and the long and complex ceremonies of the marriage with an unmoved face, but with no joy or gladness at her heart. She donned her wedding dress, the red robe of beauty and good fortune, and threw over her head the embroid- ered red silk bridal veil, and bade her mistress good-bye with a sob of genuine pain at parting, and went forth in the carrriage to her husband's home in another street. And here we must leave her for a time. Ah Ling was very lonely when Mee Lee had left her. The young girl's attachment had been sincere, and Ah Ling had been happier than at any time during those long years since she had been torn from her childhood's home. No little babe had come to comfort her lonely heart, or fill 22 THE LADY OF THE LILY FEET her long day with loving cares. Hour after hour she sat patiently sewing at her table, or painfully hobbling about on her bound feet over her household duties. The teacher who had come to teach Mee Lee now came sometimes to see Ah Ling, and this gave the lonely woman some fresh material for reflection during her almost solitary labor. True, her Chinese neighbors came in sometimes to see her, and on other days she was asked into their rooms ; but she never went from her own floor in the tenement, nor caught a breath of the throbbing life of the great city about her. She scarcely dared to look down from her window into the busy street below, and never by any means went out under the blue sky to breathe the great Maker's fresh air, or bask under the life-giving rays of his sun. All this seclusion was enjoined by Chinese decorum and custom, and for her to have done otherwise would have been to make herself a subject of. gossip and of contemptuous comment, and few Chinese women had the courage to face this, even though they felt the custom to be wrong and foolish. Ah Ling often engaged her own attention by sacrifices to her god. She had brought with her from China her own special deity. Ah Nye, the goddess of mercy. The little image was about four inches high, cut out of bamboo wood and painted in bright colors. Its face was now partly worn away with Ah Ling's kisses and caresses, and with the kisses and caresses of the votaries who had owned it be- fore her. To gain favor with the god Ah Ling had made a little Chinese hood which covered the head and face of the image, and hung down to its heels in the back. She chose bits of her brightest silk for this, and sewed it with many Ah Ling as Wife. Page 22. 24 THE liADY OF THE LILY FEET a Chinese Ah Ling could not understand. He showed her lily feet, he revealed her softly rounded arm, he dilated on her delicate face, while Ah Ling shrank back with pitiful pleading and blinding tears. " Oh, no sell Ah Ling, Young Sing. No sellee me ! " she cried. But he made no answer, only continued his talk to the other, whose vicious and hardened face struck an awful terror into the heart of the timid woman. " Oh, no sell Ah Ling, Young Sing ! No sellee me ! " she repeated again, catching his arm with her shaking hands. "Me velly good wife. Me sew, me cook, me clean de house ; oh, no sellee me, Young Sing." He shook her off angrily. " Oh, Young Sing, you killee me. Oh, no sell ! no sell ! " Her cry died away into a sharp wail as the men left the room, and she fell in a shivering, sobbing heap on the floor. All night she wept and moaned and prayed to her goddess. She burned the joss sticks incessantly, and put a great bowl heaped full of rice before the tiny image. But no help came in her terrible sorrow, and no peace calmed her agonized heart. The next day Mee Lee's teacher came to see her, and wondered at the swollen eyes and piteous lips, but to all her questions Ah Ling answered nothing of the truth. She was afraid of the "Clistian" teacher, and feared to utter a word of her trouble. The teacher saw the image and its huge offering upon the table, and finally said very gently : "That wooden god cannot help you. Ah Ling. Why do you not pray to the Jesus-god. He can hear you, and he loves you, and is your friend," THE LADY OF THE LILY FEET 25 ' ' De Jesus-god lo ve de China- woman ? ' ' asked Ah Ling in surprise. "Certainly he does. Before he came into the world all women were oppressed as you are to-day, hut the religion he taught lifted up woman out of her sad condition and placed her in her present place as you see her in this coun- try. The Lord Jesus loves all women, and is always tender and merciful to them." Ah Ling listened in amazement. "It is because Jesus honored them that now all Christian men honor women, and do not sell them in this country as they do in yours, but women are as free here as are the men. Will you not pray to Jesus hereafter? He will surely hear you and answer you." When the teacher had gone Ah Ling pondered much over the words, but not yet did they find full entrance into her heart. Chinatown was a place of complex life. Business places seemed mixed up inseparably with joss altars and gambling dens. Bachelor apartments abounded, but some examples of Chinese family life also existed. Schools were just be- ginning to make headway among them, and some mission- ary enterprises were struggling against the heathen dark- ness which prevailed everywhere. American ideas of the utilitarian class gained some ground, but American ideas of the moral side of life were not easily assimilated. Hence it was that evils, not unknown also among Americans, flourished like rank weeds in a neglected garden. Vallejo Street was the scene of the worst of these evils. Here house after house hid behind its half-closed shutters 26 THE LADY OP THE LILY FEET painted faces and sin-corrupted lips, which sliould have been closed away from human sight forever. "Vallee" Street, as the Chinese called it, was but a synonym for vice . and degradation, and good men and women uttered the word only with loathing, while the outside world looked upon it as oracular proof that the whole Chinese race was all that human beings ought not to be. Ah Ling lived through two days of heart-brealsing sus- pense and deadly fear. She tried to allay these fears, but every instinct told her that Young Sing was against her, and that neither cries nor entreaties would avail to change his mind. When he came in that night she stood before him, showing her little bound feet, twisting her delicate hands in appeal, while she poured out her persuasions and entreaties. " Oh, Young Sing, what for sell ? What me do ? Me do anyt'ing you tellee. Me sew, me sew all de night you no sellee. Oh, no sell, Young Sing.' No sell ! " But he paid no heed to her words. " Me come China all samee your wife. You no tellee go- between you takee me go sell. You say all samee your Number One wife. How can tell? Me come for wife." • Still he was silent. " Oh, no go sell. Killee me go sell be bad woman. Oh, no, no ! No sell, Young Sing, no sell ! " She sank down at his feet, clasping them in her entreaty and showering them with her flowing tears. He pushed her rudely away and went angrily into his room. That night a carriage came, and they carried Ah Ling to " Vallee " Street. THE LADY OF THE LILY FEET 27 Months later a crowd of excited women gathered in a hall were talking to a messenger: "You go tell Mee Lee her mamma velly sick. Velly sick all samee die. You tell she go Valiee Stleet two months. Young Sing sell Ah Ling down "Valiee" Stleet one bad man. He name Sow Men. He velly bad man. Why for he sell go down ' Valiee ' Stleet? That not nice. That velly bad. Now Ah Ling all samee die. You go tellee Mee Lee, Young Sing too muchee bad man." The messenger sped on her way. Mee Lee sat by an open window sewing endless button- holes on an endless pile of jackets. Her little home looked clean and comfortable, and if her marriage had not proved all she had desired it to be, yet no great trouble had con- fronted her and she looked quietly contented as the mes- senger broke in upon her with the startling tidings that Ah Ling had been sold and was very ill. Mee Lee listened, dumfounded. Her beloved mistress, her lady of the lily feet, her "mamma," in "Valiee" Street ! As the whole dreadful truth dawned on her she grew white and stern, while a terrible anger took posses- sion of her. Her mamma in " Valiee " Street ! With scarcely a word to the messenger she locked her door, and bareheaded, clad only in her house jacket of blue cloth with the black trousers, she made her way to " Val- iee " Street, and entered Sow Mon's house. The girl at the door looked at her in surprise. "Me come see me mamma," said Mee Lee with unbend- ing brows. " Me see me mamma got de lily feet." The servant girl showed the way to an upper room. On 28 THE LADY OF THE LILY FEET a rude bed lay the slender figure, wasted with grief and sickness. Mee Lee's arms were about her, and Mee Lee's hot tears were falling over her face before she scarcely saw her visitor. Then the joy proved almost more than she could bear, and convulsive sobs shook her from head to foot. She was very weak and at times could scarcely speak, but with an effort she said at last : "Why for me come Vallee Stleet? Me no wantee. Me play de gods killee Ah Ling every day. Oh, why for Ah Ling no die?" Mee Lee's face grew dark. " Me play 1 Ah Nye all time savee me go Vallee Stleet. Ah Nye-god no hear. Me go allee same. Now me play Jesus-god. One time teacher tellee me Jesus-god allee same lovee China-woman, no let hurtee China-woman. Me play Jesus-god every day now." "De Jesus-god more better," said Mee Lee. "Me no wantee come Vallee Stleet. Young Sing sellee me one bad man, me no can help. Oh, why for Ah Ling no die?" "Maybe one Clistian teacher takee you go good housie, you go Ah Ling ? " asked Mee Lee. " Oh, me go sure. Me no likee Vallee Stleet. Oh, takee me go good housie. Oh, why for Ah Ling no die ? " At that moment the door opened and a Chinaman's dark, sinister face came toward them. Ah Ling uttered a des- pairing cry and hid her face in the bedclothes, while Mee Lee, terrified, slipped away to the street and sped home. 1 Pray. THE I.ADY OF THE LILY FEET 29 Here, without loss of time, she made a careful toilet. She oiled her hair and put in its choicest ornaments. She donned her handsomest silk jacket, then, unattended, she got into a carriage and drove to the mission house. It was early evening when she arrived, and the shades were down and few pedestrians were passing, which was all the better for Mee Lee. She rang the bell and entered the pleasant parlor, to be greeted wondering! y by her beloved teacher. " My dear Mee Lee, what has happened to bring you to see me?" "Me come velly bad business. Me mamma velly sick. Young Sing sell me mamma go down Vallee Stleet." "What! Go to Vallejo Street? They told me he had sent her back to Cliina." " No go China. Young Sing sell velly bad man. Sow Mon, down Vallee Stleet. Me mamma velly sick. Allee samee die. You go? You take Ah Ling to good housie ? " "Will she come here? Does she want to come here?" "Yeh, she likee come too muchee. You go getee too quick? Maybe she plitty soon die." " Yes, we'll get an officer and go at once." Mee Lee returned to her home. An hour later, a stalwart policeman bore a wasted woman with tiny bound feet down a dark stairway. But they did not take her easily. With difficulty they found her, and only by blows and force did they obtain possession of her. And when they drove her in the carriage through the streets of Chinatown, they were followed by a howling mob of maddened Chinese. But they reached the mission house and placed her safely 30 THE LADY OF THE LILY FEET within its doors. Then tliey guarded the door and held back the furious mob all night. But Ah Ling, with a look of peace on her gentle face, lay with clasped hands in a safe bed, and thanked the tender Jesus-god for her wonderful deliverance. II MEE LEE'S GREAT HAPPINESS MEE LEE'S GREAT HAPPINESS MEE LEE had been married about a month when it dawned upon Ing John, her husband, that the house- hold gods were not receiving the attention due to them. He had set up a shelf at one side of the room, and built a miniature pagoda above it, inside of which was a China statuette of one of the most popular gods now worshiped in certain parts of China, said to be the god of Good For- tune, who was believed to always prosper the business ven- tures of those who put their trust in him. In a well-ordered Chinese household a dish of rice should be placed before the gods every day and a little wine should be drunk in their honor, and at five o'clock in the afternoon joss sticks should be burned before them. But as time went on Ing John became sensible that the only of- ferings given to these gods were the ones which his own hands had placed there. " Why do you not offer to the gods ? " he asked Mee Lee one day, in the musical cadence of their native tongue. "Because those gods are of no value," Mee Lee replied. "They are stone, and can be easily broken. They are not so strong as you are. You, a man, are more powerful than they." Ing John looked at his china image reflectively for some time. C 33 34 MEE lee's great happiness " Then I will buy the wooden god, which is stronger and which you cannot break." "A wooden god you can burn, or you can break it with your axe, and it cannot cry or scream. Nor can it suffer any pain, as you would do. A wooden god is not so great as the man who worships it." Ing John looked at his wife in amazement. "The god not so great as the man ? Why these are the great gods, the Wo Hop gods ! Do they not give the good fortune ? Who should not worship them, the great, the Wo Hop gods?" "There is one God who is greater than these gods. He is greater than you, a man. He can give life or death. He can kill or make alive. He has made the world, and has put you, the man, upon it. And he has made the sun, and the moon, and the stars." "What god is that?" " That is the Jesus-god." Ing John's brows grew dark. In an instant he compre- hended his wife's apostasy from her father's religion, and his anger was hot. He strode through the room and dealt her a blow across the face. " I will beat you every day if you do not put the incense before the gods," he said. "You can beat me," replied Mee Lee without a sign of emotion save a wave of deep color that mounted to her brow and burned there, deeper even than the red tinge the blow had brought to her cheek. "You will not worship my gods?" Ing John was fu- rious now. " I will make you worship them, or I will beat you every day." MEE lee's GEEAT HAPPINESS 35 "When the god can come down and eat the rice I will give it to him," said Mee Lee. Once more the man looked at her in sheer amazement, and the words went home to his conscience in spite of his anger. He went out, but the demeanor of his wife troubled him, and her singular words returned often to his memory. He did not fulfill his promise to beat her daily, but he took especial pains to himself place the offerings and the incense before his idols, so as to ward oft their anger over his wife's neglect. Ing John was not a bad husband. He provided well for his wife's needs, and was fairly kind to her. He did not enjoy domestic dissensions, and was given to over- looking some things rather than to disturb his own peace of mind. Thus he endured Mee Lee's neglect of the gods rather than to quarrel with her continually. He even gave a lazy assent to her occasional visits from the mission teacher, and was rather proud than otherwise over her ability to read and understand English. He himself knew more of the American tongue tha-n most of his neigh- bors, but he could not read or write as could Mee Lee. Sometimes he received letters from American business houses, and once he was highly gratified when he found that Mee Lee replied to a letter at his dictation in quite in- telligible style. But when that memorable day came on which Mee Lee visited Ah Ling in " Vallee" Street, these pleasant relations ceased, and Ing John hired a schoolboy who was half-Chinese, to write his English letters for him. On that day also a change came over the young wife, a change much more sad and tragic. The fears that haunted 36 MEE lee's geeat happiness her- before her marriage returned again. Would Ing John ever sell her ? And could he be so cruel as to sell her as Young Sing had sold his lady of the lily feet? As this terrible doubt of her husband rose in her heart Mee Lee came to a resolve — a resolve as relentless and sad as her na- ture was determined and from which her religion, but imperfectly comprehended, did not save her. Before night she had acted upon this resolve, and from that hour on there hung concealed in the folds of her gown a tiny vial whose contents meant safety from dishonor in this world, whatever of eternal loss they might bring in the world to come. In a few hours after Ah Ling's tumultuous rescue, it was known throughout Chinatown that Ing John's wife had told the missionaries where to find her. Great was the in- dignation against Ing John. A meeting of the " Com- pany's " council was quickly called, and Ing John was sum- moned before them. He was violently rebuked for his lax discipline, and for the fact that his wife was a Christian. In vain he pleaded that in Mee Lee's case the harm had been done before he_married her, and that therefore Young Sing was to blame, and that he himself had been deceived. He was sharply reminded that a few beatings would bring his wife to submission, and that he was accordingly held responsible for Sow Mon's loss ; and that angry individual demanded that Ing John reimburse him the three thou- sand dollars which he had paid for the beautiful Ah Ling. The discussion lasted almost all night, and was no nearer settlement at the end than at the beginning. But late as it was, when Ing John finally sought his home, Mee Lee still S[EE Lee as a Christian- Woman. Page 37. MEE lee's GEEAT HAPPINESS 37 sat at her sewing, although the first gleams of the morning sun were streaming across her table and struggling with the feeble flicker of the gas light. When Mee Lee had returned from the Mission House she knew full well what to expect as the consequence of her rash action. To have herself given the information that should cost a countryman three thousand dollars was an offense absolutely beyond pardon in the eyes of the gen- eral Chinese public, and to have interfered with a man's natural right to dispose of his wife as he pleased was an outrage which no masculine temper could be expected to brook. All this was present in the mind of this set-faced, seventeen-year-old wife, as she stood at her window, still robed in her rich silken jacket, and waited with throb- bing pulse for the dhiouemeni. An hour had not passed after she had reached her home again before a noise of horse's hoofs and confused shouts was heard in the direc- tion of " Vallee" Street, and a carriage with its burden of stalwart officers and a blanket-wrapped woman had dashed by, while a mob of howling men had rushed after it. Yet, with all this before her eyes, as she again sat at her sewing, Mee Lee did not fear ; or rather a deep, unspeakable peace in her heart superseded all fear. But when Ing John came in the early morning his anger was terrible. He commanded her to stand up before him. She did so, pale, but still, while it seemed to her the peace in her heart was turning to a soft song of joy, and she could hear it singing within her, even though she knew all Ing John's fury toward her. 38 MEE lee's gee at happiness "You do not worship the gods. You go to believe the Christian gods. You disgrace your fathers and your fathers' house. You became a snare to me to bring me to shame and ruin before all the gods and my people. You are a curse and a contempt to me," he said. And then he beat her, furiously, mercilessly. And when he was done, Mee Lee lay still, where she had fallen, and looked up into the streaming sunbeams wonder- ingly, for surely she had not been alone. Surely One stood there in the room with her. She could almost make out the gleam of wondrous light about him, could almost see the incomparable face of the Majesty from on high. And she did not grieve. She could not, for that peace was sing- ing in her heart so sweetly, so joyously, ere she knew it her bleeding lips parted in a smile, and her weak fingers clasped rapturously over her breast. About this time Ing John embarked upon a new business venture. He and some cousins owned a small importing business. They annually brought from China about twenty thousand dollars' worth of preserved meats, fruits, and vege- tables, which they sold again to their countrymen at a small margin of profit. Ing John's share of the capital was about three thousand dollars. Now there was a certain kind of fish that was especially delightful to the Chinese palate. These fish were sent to the American market in a dried state, which took from them the delicate flavor of their nat- ural condition. Ing John long meditated some better way of preserving this fish. Finally he decided that it could be canned as the Americans canned their own salmon and sardines. So Ing John, but imperfectly informed of the MEE lee's GEEAT HAPPINESS 39 American process, sent home his directions and some sam- ple cans of the salmon, and ordered his favorite fish to be prepared in this manner and sent to him. Now, as every loyal Chinaman did, Ing John sought the advice of his god before he undertook this venture. Going to the temple he made the customary offering of incense and rice before the grim-faced paper god, who hung be- tween the brilliant red panels at the back of the shriije, and then cast the divining sticks into the air. He plainly asked the question of his god if this venture should or should not prove successful. The augury was favorable, and Ing John felt gratified ; but to make assurance doubly sure, he again cast the sticks, asking the same question. The answer was again highly favorable. Ing John now asked if he should invest as much as five hundred dollars in it, and the augury showed a high degree of approval. Ing John was willing to make all the money he could, so he cast once more, and asked if he should invest one thou- sand dollars. This proposition also was approved. But yet again did Ing John try, and suggested another five hundred dollars of investment, and now the sticks showed promise of the greatest degree of prosperity of which they were capable. With great elation Ing John sent his order across the Pacific, and six months later the consignment arrived. It had Tiot reached the door when they were made rudely aware of its presence. Passers-by were holding their noses, and the truckman was indulging in language not at all to his credit. Ing John hastened to unload, although the task nearly made him sick, and one opened can settled the 40 MEE lee's GEEAT HAPPINESS business forever. Another good ten-dollar bill was con- sumed in getting that pile of cans into the river, and then Ing John gave himself up to bitter reflection. Why had his god so deceived him? For the first time in his life he was angry with his god. It seemed so unjustifiable, and when he went into the joss house and looked his deity squarely in the eyes, that paper face seemed to leer at him, and Ing John turned away with loathing and hatred in his heart. He even complained of it to a cousin of his, Moy Den, who was a Christian, and bitterly accused the Wo Hop of unfeeling deceit. But Moy Den only laughed, and told him that the Wo Hop were no gods at all, only man's imagination. Then Moy Den began a discourse that Ing John never forgot, and ended at last by pulling a New Testament out of his pocket and making Ing John read it. Before the evening was over, Ing John had borrowed the book and carried it to his store for careful perusal. The months dragged slowly by to Mee Lee, yet they were not unhappy months, for the peace "that passeth understanding" remained with the solitary girl and com- forted her. On the table beside her an English book was always lying — the Book of books ; and in its life-giving pages Mee Lee drank continually from the source of all life and joy. Her calm patience disquieted Ing John. He could not understand it. Had she cried out under his chastisements he would have been satisfied with the righteousness of his course. But this still patience seemed supernatural to him, and left him with a feeling of guilt, almost of fear, which he could not shake off. MEB lee's great HAPPINESS 41 This feeling was curiously confirmed in him when their baby came — a girl. Most Chinese women would have be- wailed the birth of a girl, looking upon her as contempt- uously as men did, and would have felt that the gods had deserted them ; but Mee Lee did not do so. She seemed almost glad when she knew that her baby was a girl, and took the little one to her heart as if she were the most pre- cious gift her God could have given her. When Ing John expostulated with her for this, Mee Lee only answered, "If the Jesus-god gave me a boy he would worship your devil- gods. But I am glad he gave me a girl, for she will worship the Jesus-god." "Why will the girl worship the Jesus-god?" asked the heathen husband. " Because the girl has much trouble. The tears are in her heart all the days of her life. Only the Jesus-god loves the China- woman. Therefore she worships the Jesus-god." Ing John's awakened conscience smote him again, and he went out with a troubled face. When the baby was four months old a wonderful thing happened. Ah Ling came to see her. She did not come alone, but two ladies from the Mission House came with her. Oh, what a happy afternoon that was ! How Ah Ling hugged the baby, and held her in her arms all the afternoon, and would not let her go ! And how fast the happy tongues chattered ! Then too. Ah Ling showed her feet to Mee Lee, now unbound, and insisted on crossing the room again and again just to let Mee Lee see how well she could walk. At first Mee Lee found it a little hard to reconcile herself to the sacrifice of the wonderful 42 MEE lee's geeat happiness "lily feet," but being a philosophical little person, she soon accepted the change, and admitted that it was much better for Ah Ling. But before the afternoon had passed, another wonderful thing happened, which so surprised Mee Lee that she almost fainted in her chair. It was this, and it was told her by her teacher : " Mee Lee, I have some very good news for you. Do you know that Ing John has been coming to our mission ever since your dear little baby was born ? And to-day he told our missionary preacher, Li Sue, that he has been con- verted, and that he now worships the Jesus-god just as you do." Ah, Mee Lee, what can express the feelings of your heart now ? Nothing but tears, nothing but happy, happy tears. And bending her face on the table, Mee Lee gave vent to that relieving flood until the sharp tension of the sudden joy had given way. "Me so glad, so glad," she said. "Me pray every day me get married. Me pray all the time Ing John be by and by Clistian man. Oh, me so glad, so glad ! " That night Ing John came in just as baby had fallen asleep, and while she was still in her mother's arms. There was a look on his face that Mee Lee had never seen there before. When he came in he went deliberately over to his idol altar, and with blow after blow he broke it into splinters and crushed the china god into shining bits beneath his feet. The baby woke with the noise, but with a joyous song Mee Lee stilled her again, and then with the wrecked idol still on the floor, Ing John took his Bible and sat down before Mee Lee and read aloud. When he had done reading he MEE lee's great HAPPINESS 43 prayed, and Mee Lee knew that all the heart-change she had desired had come to pass in him. Then he rose from his knees, and coming over to his wife he stooped down and kissed her, and that moment there was born in their hearts the true love that can alone make the marriage tie all that the Almighty meant it to be. "I have beaten you many times," said he, "but now the Jesus-god has put light into my heart, I will beat you no more." And he folded her in his arms. In the night Mee Lee crept from her bed. All sleep had gone from her eyes because of this great joy. She went and stood by her window and looked up into the blessed sky. With her eyes on those fair stars she thanked her God with a heart so full that she could not speak all its fullness, and she whispered again and again : "Ing John never sell Mee Lee now. Never sell now. And baby girl safe too ; baby girl safe too. Oh, thank the blessed Jesus-god forever ! " Ill JOY COME JIai-1'v Jov Come. Page 47. JOY COME JOY COME had the biggest, roundest black eyes in China- town. But there was one thing very unusual about Joy Gome's eyes. Everybody noticed it. They were al- ways laughing. You could not by any means look down into Joy Gome's two big eyes and not break into a smile yourself. They were like dancing sunlight on rippling water. But her little red lips smiled as incessantly as her great black eyes, for her temper was usually as sunny as her face. Do you think her name a strange one? "Joy Come" is the nearest English equivalent to the curious Chinese syllables which I can find. Perhaps I ought to spell it Joi Kum, but no one, looking into that little laughing face, could have it in his heart for a moment to put so sweet a name into such an uncouth form. "Joy Come" is she, and may Love grant she always may be ! At the opening of this story Joy Gome was a tiny maiden of six years, and lived on the top floor of a tenement in one of the most populous streets of Chinatown. She wore Chinese jackets of bright red or green, or sometimes of pur- ple trimmed with blue, and funny little embroidered pants. She also wore Chinese slippers with round, wooden soles, when she could not possibly avoid it. Joy Come did not 47 48 JOY COME like round-soled slippers. She could not dance and play half so well in the kindergarten when she had to balance herself all the time to keep from tumbling over. Her black hair was neatly shaved for about three inches all around the crown of her head, and the rest of it was gathered to the right side and braided with a heavy bunch of red silk cords into a long queue which hung entrancingly down her back. Joy Come and Chun Lon were fast friends. To be sure Chun Lon was sixteen years old, and could read Joy Gome's primer all the way through ; but her superior knowledge had not made her proud. Besides, Joy Gome's broader ex- perience of life outside the tenement house made Chun Lon almost humble before her tiny friend. Does this seem strange ? It would not to one knowing the Chinese customs. Little girls and young women of this race would not be thought modest if they did not remain always in their own narrow living rooms. Chun Lon had only been down in the street once in a whole year, and that was when they went to make the customary New Year's visit to their cousin Hong Chy. So that with each passing month Chun Lon looked out from her little win- dows upon the great world outside with ever-growing wonder. But Joy Come was a maid of different mold. She loved the sunshine as the flowers do, and fresh cool breezes were as the elixir of life to her. Joy Come would not stay in the tenement house, but with a persistence and strength of will so often a characteristic of her race she daily sought the street, and all her "cousin's" stores, as well as her ac- JOY COME 49 quaintances' homes. Had she not been the very pink of propriety in all she did this would not have been allowed. But Joy Gome's flawless behavior as well as her laughing eyes overcame all prejudices and proscriptions, and the merry maid went and came at her own sweet will. Joy Gome's mother was Dong Ho, a widow, under the control of her heathen brother-in-law, Ship Sing. Upon Dong Ho all the shadows of the midnight seemed to have fallen, and her face was as sad as Joy Gome's was bright. Her eyes had shed tears till there seemed to be none left to shed, and her lips had not smiled in all the years of her womanhood. Persecutions had been her unvaried portion from her cradle, and suffering the one companion that never left her. Dong Ho was born in China, and being the second daughter in the family she was very unwel- come, and was considered a burden from the beginning. When she was five years old she became a victim to the cruel custom of footbinding. Each toe, except the great toe, was pulled out of joint, the nail wrenched off, and the mutilated stumps were bent under against the sole of the feet and bound there. Months and months were spent upon the bed or upon the floor, while the terrible agony never ceased, until at last the poor, bound feet were so be- numbed and dead that she could begin to bear her weight upon them. When she was eight years old she was able to walk again, though only for a short distance without rest- ing. At this time some missionaries came to live in their city, and to little Dong Ho's delight they settled in the house next door to her own. Then a children's school was opened, and two kind foreign ladies came and asked D 50 JOY COME permission for Dong Ho to attend. Being only a worth- less girl, the permission was given, and for one whole year Dong Ho drank in the Christian teaching, till a new light was kindled in her dark and saddened soul, a light which never went out during all those heart-breaking years which followed. For Dong Ho became a Christian, and from the hour of her conversion she never worshiped an idol or ac- knowledged any god but the one true God of heaven. This occasioned great persecution. Her mother was furiously angry when little Dong Ho would not bow down to the kitchen-god, nor worship the tablet of her ancestors. Beat- ings and punishments fell hard and fast upon the unfor- tunate child, but her steadfast little spirit never wavered. She bore it all without complaint, for while her face grew sadder and more sad, living joy in her soul sustained her through it all. And then a passing slave-trader saw her one day, and noted her graceful figure and clear, soft voice ; for a few hundred cash he bought her, and carried her away down the river to one of the great coast cities. Here Dong Ho was taught to sing, and would soon have been sent to one of the public gardens by her vicious owner, but she fell sick and grew more weak each day, until her fresh beauty was gone, and her owner sold her again in disgust. This time she went to a woman to be a servant, and for three years more she was in hard bondage. Her work seemed never to cease. Day and night, night and day, she must always work, with scarcely any time to sleep, and so little food to eat that she was always hungry. As she bent over her ceaseless tasks the tears fell uncon- JOY COMJB 61 scionsly from her eyes, and unnoticed sighs came with every breath. And then she was sold again. A man who was going to America, Ship Sing, wanted to take over a wife to his brother, so he came and looked at Dong Ho, and that after- noon the bargain was completed. A week later she was on board a great ocean steamship and was crossing the Pacific Ocean. There were none but strangers around her, and but few of her own nationality. But the strange customs of the foreigners frightened her more than the strangers them- selves. The constant intermingling of men and women was particularly shocking to her. She had never seen so many men before in her life, and she could not grow used to it all, and was more desolate and sad than ever. In San Francisco she was married. Her husband. Dock Yee, proved to be an old man', whose heathenism had not been cured in any degree by his long residence in America. He approved her small feet and pretty face, but punished her for not worshiping the idols. Blows and revilrngs were still her lot, and the sad lines in her face never relaxed. After a time they moved to New York, and now Dong Ho found again a Christian mission, and confided the se- cret of her faith to the missionaries. Here she found some comfort, for the foreign teachers often visited her and strove to bring into her hard life as much brightness as possible. Then bright-eyed Joy Come came into the world, and filled the hungering heart full of tenderest mother-love. The father was displeased that his child "was a girl, but the mother cared little, save that she foresaw the trials 52 JOY COME which might fall to the girl child's lot. But Dong Ho determined to avert them if possible, and from the begin- ning she sought to make her daughter's life all that her own had not been. Love and caresses were bestowed on the little one lavishly, till the sunshine of happiness seemed always in the childish face, and even her father's harsh temper was softened by it. When just old enough to talk in an amusing mixture of Chinese and English, little Joy Come was taken to the mis- sion kindergarten, and her earliest impressions were em- phatically Christian rather than heathen. But when she was four years old, troubles that her mother could not prevent began to gather about her, for her father gave commands that her feet should be bound. That was the one thing which her Christian mother had determined should never be done. Many an hour she now spent turn- ing over in her mind all possible means of evading her hus- band's will. As far as she could she avoided open conflict on the point, but constantly postponed the operation with one plausible excuse after the other. A year passed in this way, until at last Dock Yee angrily demanded that it be done at once, and set a day for the cruel binding. Joy Come heard the command, and her little face grew white with fear. She shrank from the torture and deformity with all the loathing of her passionate little soul, and when her father had gone she burst into incontrollable sobbing. "Me no want bind de feet! Oh, me no want!" she cried. Joy Come never spoke Chinese if she could help it. "I will not bind your feet," said her mother. "I will think what I can do, but I will not bind them." JOY COME 53 When the day arrived Dong Ho's plan was made, and she quietly administered to her daughter a Chinese powder which made that damsel immediately ill, and when her father arrived with the bandages and cruel nippers she was unmistakably too sick for any operation, and it was again postponed. Dong Ho and her daughter now lived in hourly dread ; but a week later Dock Yee himself was taken with ill- ness, and thenceforward he thought only of his own con- dition. A few months later he died, and Dong Ho and her daughter saw him buried with all the ceremony of a heathen funeral. According to Chinese custom the brother of the deceased man now took possession of his property, and incidentally of his family also. Ship Sing was not a man to be trifled with. He was quite as much of a heathen as his brother had been, and possessed even more will and force of char- acter. He also was determined that Joy Come should be a lady, and that her feet should be formed according to the Chinese fashion. It was with a sinking heart that Dong Ho saw her affairs pass into his hands. True, he allowed her to live alone with Joy Come in their own apartment, but he kept a close watch upon their movements, and she was uncomfortably conscious that he was meditating some plan which boded ill for them. Dong Ho possessed one relative who was, like herself, a Christian. But he was only a distant cousin, and Ship Sing permitted him no voice in her affairs. This cousin was Lee Young Sing. He was employed in the Custom House, and knew rather more English than most of his countrymen, 54 JOY COME which he was very fond of using. He had cut off his queue and wore American clothes. He also followed the Ameri- can fashion in names, and wrote his own, "Y. S. Lee," placing his surname in the position best understood by his employers. Lee had no sympathy with the heathen cus- toms of his people, and looked with disgust upon foot-bind- ing and the slavery of women. He lived with his mother on one of the side streets of Chinatown, and beautiful Chun Lon lived with them during her father's absence in China. Young Sing and his family were profoundly attached to Joy Come, and Young Sing might perhaps have owned to something more than a mere friendly interest in the patient Dong Ho had he been quite conscious of it himself. But Chinese social customs forbade him to see much of his cousin, and matters came to a crisis with her unknown to him. Ship Sing waited for one month after his brother's death, then he walked boldly into Dong Ho's room and said in Chinese : "What is the reason that you do not follow the China custom and give Joy Come the beautiful feet ? You are a bad and stupid woman. Now, I tell you that you must make the little feet in one day. I will come here to-mor- row night. If you do not make the little feet to-morrow I will sell you to Jung Kong. I will myself bind her feet and give her to a better woman." "You will take Joy Come away?" gasped the startled mother. "Yes, and you shall not see her again." JOY COMB 55 All night the mother and daughter sought for some way of escape from the impending trouble, but they were appar- ently helpless, and their tears fell fast. The next day Ship Sing came in again late in the afternoon, and without a word of explanation he dragged Joy Come from her mother's side and carried her by force to a carriage which stood at the door, and drove rapidly away to the station. Here he took the train for Boston. He turned the child over to an elderly Chinese woman whom he called Ah Mo, and told her to bind the child's feet. Meanwhile the poor mother was frantic with fear and grief. She sent for Young Sing, and when he came she poured out her trouble in pitiful cries and exclamations. Young Sing quickly investigated, and was told at the company's store that Ship Sing had said he was going to Philadelphia. An hour later Young Sing was on his way to that city. He spent three days there in fruitless search, and returned disappointed and angry to his own home. He visited other cities where distant cousins lived, but there was no trace of the missing child. In Boston Ah Mo did her best to persuade Joy Come to submit to her uncle's will, but neither tempting jade brace- lets nor promised diamond rings could induce her to con- sent to become a cripple. When Ship Sing grew furious Ah Mo finally refused outright to do the binding herself, for Ah Mo had a secret fear of the American police, and she was dimly aware that they sometimes interfered in family affairs if a child cried too much. So she only shrugged her shoulders at Ship Sing and told him to take Joy Come back to New York. 56 JOY COME They arrived in the middle of the night, and the child was sleeping heavily when Ship Sing carried her to his kitchen and laid her down upon the couch. He was dis- appointed at the outcome of his visit, but his determina- tion was still unshaken, and this the child very well knew. Morning had not dawned when Joy Come awoke and recognized her surroundings. Without an instant's hesi- tation she crept down from the couch, slipped back the lock, and went out. Joy Come knew that her mother was powerless to defend her, and she had long meditated a plan to save herself. In Young Sing's house there was a store- room back of the kitchen. A high and broad shelf ran across a window in this storeroom and reached from wall to wall. A step-ladder stood near, and upon this Joy Come had set her eye. Her plan was to reach this closet, hide on this shelf among the bundles and boxes there, and stay until — until she was sure her feet would not be bound. Down the street she sped in the gray twilight till she reached Young Sing's house. But the door was locked. She did not want to ring the bell, and could scarcely reach it if she did. But a gate to the rear stood invitingly open, and Joy Come made her way through the covered alley be- tween two abutting walls until she reached the back yard. But here was her real difficulty. Young Sing lived on the second floor, and Chun Lon's window looked out over the porch roof. How should she reach Chun Lon? Joy Come peered around her in the darkness, and her brave little spirit began to quail. But an expedient did not fail her. A high board fence led di- rectly up to the roof of the porch, and Joy Come knew a JOY COME 57 place where she could climb up on this fence. She had been up there many a time and walked across it at the imminent risk of breaking her neck. Fortunately she had on Ameri- can shoes, and now with many misgivings and mufHed ex- clamations she managed to reach the top of the fence, and moved cautiously toward the porch. It was hard work in that dim twilight, and once a big cat jumped down from a neighboring roof and scared her nearly to death ; but with inherent pluck she pushed on. At last she reached the roof, and clambered over to safety with a beating heart. Ah Lon's' window was just even with the top of her head, but it was partly open, and Joy Come called very softly for a time. But Ah Lon was sleeping, as any tired, healthy girl should sleep, and her little friend's soft plead- ings did not wake her. Then Joy Come felt along the roof till she found some bits of mud and threw them into the room. But still Ah Lon slept on. Joy Come was almost in tears, and now the morning was beginning to dawn and she feared the neighbors would waken and see her. But just at that moment there began a most terrific caterwaul- ing right on that back fence which she had just left. Ah Lon awoke with a start as Joy Come uttered a little shriek of fear and dismay. ' ' Who dere ? What' s matter ? ' ' "It me. Ah Lon, it me. Come takee quick." Ah Lon flung up the sash in an instant and lifted in the frightened child. 1 The syllable is used as a diminutive in the Chinese name, and may be placed either before or after the second syllable of the name. Thus Chun Lon is usually called Ah Lon or Lon Ah. 58 JOY COME "Joy Come! Where you go? No can find. Young Sing looli every day. You mamma cly, cly all time." "Me go Boston. Jus' come back. Now me hide, hide de big closet up high. No tell Young Sing. No tell Gum Yohe, he mamma." Ah Lon was aghast at the daring plan, and it took much discussion to pacify her, but Joy Come chuckled with glee at her escape. Just then a broad stream of sunlight burst through the breaking clouds. "See, de light come. Me go closet quick. Ship Sing no can find," and together the two girls made their way through the kitchen and pushed open the door of the store- room. When half-way up the ladder. Ah Lon went back to her own bed and got a blanket and pillow. These she spread on the shelf on a bundle of old carpets and tucked Joy Come inside. Then she piled the tea boxes along the front of the shelf so as to hide the child from view, and warned by a sound in Gum Yohe's room, she hastily re- turned to her bed. When Ship Sing awoke at noon he passed through the kitchen without a glance toward the couch on which he supposed the child was still sleeping. When he reached the street he came face to face with Young Sing, who ex- claimed, " Where have you been ? Where is Joy Come ? " "She is asleep in my house," replied Ship Sing indiffer- ently. Young Sing mounted the stairs with a bound. After repeated knockings, Ah Fay, the wife, opened the door, but Joy Come could not be found. Thoroughly angry he again sought his cousin and demanded to know the truth. Doxc; Ho, Joy Come's MoxiiEir Page 58. JOY COME 59 "I will tell you nothing," replied Ship Sing contempt- uously. " Why do you make all this noise? Only because you do not want her to be a lady and have the fine feet. And why do you make all this talk? Do you want to buy her? My price is seven hundred dollars. Will you pay my price?" "You know that in this 'Melican country nobody buys the girl or the woman. If I buy them I go against the laws of this country. Now I work for this 'Melican government. I will not go against this government." Ship Sing laughed. "You have not the good money. I will not give my brother's child to you for nothing." "I cannot buy her according to this government, and you cannot bind her feet. I will go to the Cruelty Society,' and they will take Joy Come away." Ship Sing's brow grew dark. "Maybe you have hidden Joy Come," continued Young Sing. " But I will arrest you, and force you to tell where she is," and he went out with angry determination in his face. Ship Sing was not greatly disturbed by his cousin's threat, for he was too much occupied that day in complet- ing his bargain with Jung Kong to think of it. And Dong Ho ! Oh, the pall of midnight darkness, the thick blackness of the storm-rent midnight was upon her ! The agony of suspense was written on every feature. Sharp, stinging pain was in every breath that went and came. Each passing moment was torture to her. Where was Joy Come? Would she ever see her again? Her arms were 1 Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. 60 JOY COME aching with their emptiness. Would she ever cradle that little form again ? The questions rang in her ears. They seemed written on the air. Every way she turned she saw them. Every sound she heard repeated them. And then, at dusk, Jung Kong came to take her, and in that culmination of her calamity, consciousness gave wa)', and she fell to the floor like one dead. Jung Kong looked at the deathlike face and muttered a curse on his poor bargain. He told the women that gath- ered round to pick her up, and that he would come the next day and take her away. Young Sing proceeded to make his threat good, and be- fore night his cousin was served with a summons to pro- duce Joy Come in court on the following day. This order, delivered by a policeman, caused Ship Sing great astonish- ment, but he finally mounted the tenement house stairs to tell his wife to make Joy Come ready. Ah Fay looked at him in undisguised amazement. "When it pleases you to bring Joy Come back again I will make her ready." " You have let her go," cried the angry husband. "Now therefore send and find her. She is in some one's house. I command you." Ah Fay sent out her neighbors in all directions, but no stray child with black, laughing, sunlit eyes could be found. Joy Come heard them calling her, and she cowered down with fear under her blanket, scarcely daring to breathe. The tea boxes and big bundles hid her in their heavy shadows, and no one but faithful Ah Lon knew where she JOY COME 61 was hidden. So she tried hard to still her fluttering heart, and to believe that Ship Sing could never, never find her, or put his big, cruel hands on her tender little feet. In the night when every one had gone to bed, and even Young Sing and Gum Yohe with sad and anxious faces had left the kitchen for the night, then Ah Lon crept softly up the ladder. " Joy Come ! Joy Come ! " she whispered. " You here ? You all lite ? " and she gathered the lonely child in her arms. " Yeh, me all lite. Me no likee dark, dat's all." "Ship Sing he belly mad. Oh, too muchee mad. He say can find Joy Come he send go China to-morrow. He alle same mad like de big — big You stay here, Joy Come. No go down laddee, you all lite. Me bring de rice you can eat. Ship Sing no can find. You stay here." With many comfortings and mutual confidences the two sustained each other till the morning sun warned Ah Lon to depart, and then blessed sleep relieved the little one during the long hours that followed. With Ship Sing matters were not peaceful. Nobody be- lieved that he had brought Joy Come home again, and many openly advised him to go and get the child, wherever she was. With a pertinacity characteristic of him, he re- fused to tell where he had been, nor would he give any account of his doings. When Ah Fay had failed to find Joy Come, he had beaten her, and now laid the whole blame of the trouble upon her unfortunate self. In the courtroom Ship Sing's defense was lame and in- coherent, and the judge finally turned to Young Sing and listened patiently as he stated the facts. 62 JOY COME "Ship Sing he my cousin. He 'brother' Joy Gome's father. Joy Gome's father he die. Den Ship Sing no tell anybody, but take Joy Come go some other city. He no tell where go. Bimeby he came back. No got Joy Gome. He say got, he no got. Joy Gome no came back. He all de time say bind Joy Gome's feet. I telling him no can bind de feet dis 'Melican country. He say can bind. He say sure take go bind. Me say Gruelty Society no let he bind de feet. He say he no care Gruelfcy Society, take go bind all the same. Joy Gome my cousin too, all de same my daughter. ' Me no likee Ship Sing do dat ting my cousin. Me talk much ; me no likee. Den Ship Sing take Joy Gome go somewheres. Now every man asking him. Where take she go ? " "What have you done with this girl?" asked the judge severely, as he turned to Ship Sing. " Me no do nothing. Me take go littee visit, dat's all." " Did you bring her back again ? " " Yeh, me bling back." " Where is she now ? " "Me no can tell." "No! No! He no bring back," cried Young Sing. "He wife say no bring back." The judge turned to the trembling wife. " Did you see your husband bring back this child ? " " N6,'me no see ; me no can find Joy Gome." "What have you done with that girl?" thundered the judge. " Me no can tell," was unhappy Ship Sing's blundering reply. JOY COME 63 "Lock him up for contempt of court," said the judge. " When he can produce the child, or tell where she is, he may go free." And Ship Sing was marched away to a cell. Discussion of the situation was prolonged and elaborate, but no solution was found for it. Nevertheless, Chinatown generally believed that Ship Sing had hidden Joy Come somewhere and had probably already bound her feet, and that it was to save himself from any possible interference by the "Cruelty Society" that he now refused to produce her. They considered the search for her through the neighborhood as a very good bluff, and quite commended his sagacity. That he'would eventually extricate himself from his present embarrassing position they did not for a moment doubt, and they smoked their long water pipes in serenity as they awaited the expected dlnouement. When Joy Come awoke that afternoon she w-as thor- oughly tired of her prison. The shelf was too near the ceiling for her to stand upright, and she longed to jump and run. She almost pushed one of the tea boxes off the shelf in trying to turn around. She pulled her primer and three marbles out of her pocket and began to play with them, but she was dreadfully lonesome just the same. Then too, she was hungry. Ah Lon could not bring her any breakfast because Gum Yohe would persist in sewing by the kitchen table, and Ah Lon dared not so much as look toward the store-room door. In vain did she suggest that Gum Yohe " Go sew front room," so that she, the in- dustrious Ah Lon, might wash the floor. Gum Yohe said it did not need washing that day. Ah Lon talked about Joy 64 JOY COME Come and expressed great curiosity as to the result of the morning's inquiry in the court-room. She even grew so anx- ious that she begged Gum Yohe to go to the neighbors, down by Ah Fay's liouse, to ask if they had heard what was done, for Young Sing had not yet returned home. But Gum Yohe did not feel like visiting her neighbors, and failed to fall into the trap. It was full four o'clock and Ah Lon was almost in despair because the cravings of a certain little stomach troubled her conscience greatly. At last Gum Yohe settled the question herself by going into her own room to cry, and then Ah Lon softly mounted the ladder and carried up the steaming breakfast. Joy Come was in tears, very big, hot tears, but they all disappeared when she saw Ah Lon and what she had for her to eat. It was near midnight when Young Sing at last came home and rehearsed the events of the day. Gum Yohe listened in silence, but there was still no answer to the question absorbing the mind of each, and which was also exasper- ating a certain lonely Chinaman in a cell over in the city prison, namely : " Where is Joy Come?" Now Ah Lon had left the store-room door open "just one littee crack " so that a tiny ray of light from the kitchen should fall against that upper shelf. It was a great comfort to Joy Come. Nevertheless, in utter wretchedness of spirit, she had crawled over to the edge of the shelf and cried herself to sleep. Young Sing and his mother sat by the fire, silent and de- jected. All at once a sigh reached them. Both started up. "What's matter?" said Young Sing, going toward Ah Lon's bedroom. YorNt; SiNi;'v MoTini:. V-AKv