The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 29, 1901, Page 15

THE SUNDAY CALL. 15 T was the first night of the Chins w Year. Chung Goy ran as fast as his sandals would permit up the nar- row flight of stairs which led to the hinese restaurant, and out on the , where the crowd of Celestials re watching for the great procession of e dragon. His little legs, encasec pele green trousers, were tled a! enkles, and his lavender shom use) gleamed in the light of the many gon lanterns swaying in the nighi ze. His hair was in & long queue ané s head he wore a little round black nese cap with & button on top. Chung y was so afraid he would miss seeing éragon. He had never seen it yet, e was not very old, and now that the & expected moment had come he fairly mbled with excitement. Ho Chun (father) was on the bal- ¥ and he hurried to nestle up to him, < it was cold and the wind was always wing in San Francisco. It seemed as he procession would never come. He srew tired watching so many people pass, perhaps the fumes of the opium Ho 1 was smoking got into his brain, but ny rate the first thing he knew he saw reat, squirmy thing approaching him. was spitting fire from its eyes 1 mouth and at first he felt afraid. Oh, & dreadful monster! It would sure! evour him. He heard himself saying: “Velly bad snake—I no likee. Go "way. flaid.” d *hen he heard a voice like the mut- of thunder, and the voice came of the dragon's mouth, and it was n the Chinese language: *‘Samen tie boy), I have come to take you gon Land. Slip away from Ho and fiy with me.” gasped the trembling boy. much ’flald the big dlagon eat And then the dragon spoke but this time the voice was as soft sweet as music, and the fire no longer e from his eyes and mouth. e had such a kind look on his face, and spoke in such a persuasive tone t the samen jai ceased to be afraid, slipping down from his father he ran n the narrow steps again and out into e street and climbed wupon the big gon's back, and then he saw lots of er Chinese boys doing the same thing. e held on tightly, for the dragon went n such & squirming way that he was fraid he would fall off. And he held on his little silk cap as the dragon's speed ased, for it was his best one, and did not wish to lose it. Oh, this was jolly! He had certainly ver thought that he would ever ride on e dragon’s back. And what a lot he would have to tell Mo Chun (mother) when he reached home. It was a good thing Mo Chun @id not know it now, he himself. or she would be “velly 14.” After squirming through 2ll sorts of queer countries the big dragon d so suddenly that they all fell off ‘Oh, n vell up. d to ch * s back and down his slippery sides. ng Goy rubbed his eves and looked round him, and oh, how funny! There were just thousands of dragons of all s, and this beautiful place was thelr They all had such kind faces and ke in such a gentle way that no one feel afraid. There were great groves ¢ orange trees, all full of the mandarin, e tiny fiat Chinese orange. Chung Goy ed those “ollanges,” but he had r before picked them from a tree. n had always bought them from eet stands in Chinatown. Then were trees of Il chee (nuts) and tables just filled with Chinese candy, s preserved ginger, watermelon d those good things so dear to the rt of a Chinese child. was night, but the trees were so full great dragon lanterns that it made nost as light as day, and there were dark corners anywhere. There was a gon orchestra under one of the trees 4 they were playing the loveliest Chi- music, and the shrill piping of the flageolets and the beating of the tom- , were indeed beautiful to the ears hung Goy and his friends. And it ked too funny for anything to see dra- ns holding the different instruments th their claws. The Chinese children marched in a row to the music, hold- # each.other by the queue. Chung Goy never had so much fun in his little fo as he was having now. But just as be beginning to feel hungry there ap- red before his gaze a very long table, filled with everything that a child possibly want, and all served by unningest little dragons. ere were such dainty little china ips without handles, and in them the delicious chah (tea). Everybody ~d all the time, in that funny little way, and no ope told them to op. While they were sitting at the able the dragons brought them each a £ basket of fireworks. Now, a Chinese biid is even more fond of fireworks than American child, and so they kicked their little sandals with delight, and aljer each one had been given a lighted Ofinese punk, they began to pop the rackers, and oh, what fun it was! There was such a delightful noise, with so many popping, and the odor of the punks was most pleasant. It seemed like the more 22 they popped the more they had left in their baskets. Finally, the big king of the dragons sald he must take them home now, or he would not be back ir time for the New lear procession, and it would never do to disappoint the people. So each one was allowed to keep his basket, as.a New Year's gift, and squirm- ing away again, they at last entered the narrow streets of Chinatown, with its rows of dragon lanterns and its odor of incense everywhere. Once more he climbed the narrow steps, and crept intc the arms of Ho Chun. It seemed he not noticed his absence, and he arrived just in time, for just then there was a great noise of tom-toms and crowds shouting. The streets were aglare with a strange red light, and looking down he saw the familiar form of the King Drag- on. Now he was spitting fire from his eves and mouth, but this time little Chung Goy was not afraid, for he knew— he knew. JESSIE JULIET KNOX. fiajor Sayres Batter§ Continued from Page Nine. a-way, but thar's folks who sort o’ makes sadness a speshulty, women folks, lots of ‘em, who allows that what I'm about to recount to you all possesses them ele- ments of sorrow a whole lot. It's like this: weThar's a young captain—he more'n a boy—who's brought a troop of lancers along with us. This boy captain hails from some’ers up ‘round Waco, an’ thar ain't a handsomer or braver than what be is in all Pres'dent Davis' army. This captain—whose name is Edson—an’ me, bein’ we-all is both young, works ourse'fs into a clost friendship for each other; which I feels about him dike he’s my brother. Nacherally, over a campfire an’ mebby a stray bottle an’ a plece of roast antelope him an’ me confides all about ourse’fs. This Captain Edson back in Waco has got a old widowed mother, who's some rich for Texas; an’ also thar's a sweetheart he plans to marry when the war’s done an’ he settles down to practice Jaw, said sclence that a-way bein’ Cap- tain Edson’s profession. I reckons how him an’ me done talks of that mother an’ sweetheart of his a hundred times. wogg falls out that whar we fords the Pecos we runs up on a Mexican plaza— the “Plaza Chico,” they-all calls it—an’ we camps thar by the river a week, giv- in’ our cattle a chance to roll an’ recoop- erate up on the grass an’ water a whole lot. « “Then we goes p'intin’ out for the set- tin’ sun ag'in, aimin’ to strike the Rio ain’t Grande som’ers below Albuquerque. Cap- tain Edson, while we're pesterin’ 'round at the Plaza Chico, attaches to his re- tinoo a Mexican boy, an’ as our boogles begins to sing an’ we lines out for that push west'ard ho this yere boy rides along with Edson an’ them gallant lancers. “‘Our old war chief who has charge of our wanderin's is strictly stern an’ hard. An’ I reckons now he's the last gent to g0 makin’ soft allowances for any warmth of yooth or to puttin’ up with any “prim- rose paths of gentle dalliance,” as the poet observes, whoever buckles on a set of gidearms. It thus befalls that when he discovers on the mornin’ of the second day that this yere Mexican boy is a Mexi- can girl, a whole lot, he jest simply goes screamin’ into the ambient air like a eagle., Which thar’s shore a riot. ““‘The old man claps Edson onder ar- rest an’ commands the girl to saddle up an’ go streakin’ back for the Plaza Chico plenty abrupt. As it's only a slow day’s march an’ as these yere Mexicans knows the country like a coyote, it's of course a cinch the girl meets no harm an’ runs no resks. But it serves to plant the thorns * of wrath in the heart of Captain Edson. “‘The old man makes him loose an’ gives him back his lancers before ever we rides half a day, but it don't work no mollifications with Captain Edson. He offers no remarks back, bein’ too good a soldier that a-way; but he never speaks l to the old man no more except it's shore business. “+4Joe,” he says to me as we rides along, or mebby after we're in camp at night, “I'll never go back to Texas. I've been disgraced at the head of my troop an’ T'll take no sech record home.” “¢“You oughter not talk that a-way, E4,” I'd say, tryin’ to get his sensibilities soothed an’ bedded down. “If you don’{ care none for yourse'f or your footure you-all should remember thar's somethin comin’ to them loved ones at home. More- over, it's plumb weak about sayin’ you- all ain’t goin’ back to Texas no more. How be you goin’ to he'p it, onless you pa.es up shore enough disgrace by desert- in’ them lancers of yours?” “¢uWhich if we has the luck” says this Captain Edson, shakin' his head plen- ty downcast, ‘“to cut the trail of any Yanks who's capable of aimin’ low, an’ shootin’ halfway troo, I'll find a way to dodge that goin' back without desertin’.” “‘No, I don’t make no argyments with him; it's hopeless talkin’ to a gent who's melancholy an’ who's pride’s been jarred; thar's nothin’ but time can fix things up for him. An’ I allers allows that this boy captain would have emerged from them clouds eventooal, only it happens he don’t get time enough.. His chance comes too soon; an’ he shorely plays it plumb desperate: | “+Our first offishal act after reachin’ the Rio Grande is to lay for a passel or Yank cavalry—thar’s plumb two thousand of 'em, I reckons. We rides up on these yere lively persons jest as we sounds a halt for the evenin’. It looks like our boogles is a summons to ’em, for they comes buttin’ into view through*a dry arroyo an’ out on to the flat green bots toms of the Rio Grande at the first call They're about a mile away, an’ at sigh of us they begins in a leeshurely fashion to throw out a line of battle. They fights on foot, them bloo folks do; dismountin’, with every fourth man to hold the hosses. They displays a heap of insolence, for nothin’ but cavalry, an’ no big guns; but as they-all fights like infantry, an’ is armed with Spencer seven-shooters be- sides, the play ain’t so owdacious, neither. o® “ ‘Thar's mebby a hour of sun yet, an’ I'm gettin’ my battery into line. I'm tired an’ a heap disgusted to think we've got to fight for our night's camp, an’ I'm swearin’ to myse'f in a’luw tone, so’s not to set profane examples to my men, at the idee that these yere Yanks is so pree- cip'tate they can’t wait till mornin’ for their war jig. But I can’t he’p myse'f. That proverb about it takin’ two to make a fight is all a bluff. It only takes one to make a fight. As far as we-all rebs is concerned that time, we ain’t honin’ none for trouble, leastwise, not until mornin’, but them inordinate Yanks will have it, an’ thar you be. That fight can’t be post- poned. * ‘Thar's no tumblin’ hurry about how any of us goes to work. Both sides has got some old at the game, an’ war ain’t the novelty she is once. Them Yanks Is takin’ their p'sition, an’ we're locatin’ our lines an’ all as ca’mly an’ with no more excitement than if it's dress p'rade. The Yanks is from Colorado. My sergeant speaks of ‘em to me the next day an’ glves his opinions touchin’ their merits. “¢“Where did you say them Yankees comes from, major?” says my sergeant. “Colorado,” I replies. ‘ “Which thar’s about thirty minutes last evenin’,” says my sergeant, ‘“when I shorely thinks they're recrooted in" hell. They're warm members, them Yan- kees be, an’ that's whatever!” “ ‘While, lates, T'm linin’ up my battery plumbd discontented an’ dis- gruntled, my orderly pulls my sleeve. ¢ ¢ “Look thar, ma- jor,” he says. T turns, an’ thar over on our right, all alone, goes Captain Edson an’ his lan- cers, as straight as arrers for them Yanks. Without waitin’ for the rest, an’ without them commands of the Old Man, Captain , Edson has his boog- ler sound a charge, an’ thar them lan- cers be stampedin’ along like they're a whole army corps, an’ capable of sweepin’ them 2000 ol an’ c'llected Yankees off the Rio Grande. “‘For a moment all we does is stand an’ look. The sure prise of it at first leaves no idee of ac- tion. Them lancers swings across the grassy levels. Thar's not 2 shot fired; tte as I re- lancers ain't got nothin’ but them ¥ reedic’lous s p ears, an’ the Yanks, who seems to know it stands like the rest of us without firin’ an’ watches ‘em come. It's like a picture; in the thin bright air, an’ with the settin’ sun shin- In" over the gray line of mountains fiftty miles to the west. “‘I never sees folks more ca'm an’ placid - than® them Yanks, an’ at the same time so plumb alert. Mountain lions is lethargic to 'em. When Captain Ed- son an’ his lancers charges into 'em the Yanks opens right an’ left, each sharp of ’em gettin’ outen the way of the partic’lar lancer who's tryin’ to spear him; but all in a steady, onruffled fashion that's as threatenin’ as it is excellent. Them lan- cers with Captain Edson goes through, full charge, twenty rods to the r'ar of ttre Yankee line. An’, gents, never a man rides back. “‘As Edson an’ his troop flashes through, them Yanks turns an’ opens on ‘em. The voices of them Spencer seves shooters sounds like the long roll of & drum. Hoss an’ man goes down, dead an’ wounded; never a gent of ‘em all rides back through that awful Yankee line. Pore Edson shorely had his wish; at least Wwe cuts the trail of folks who's cap’ble of almin’ low an’ shootin’ half way troo. ““ ‘These yere sperited moves I've been reelin’ off don’t take no time in the dein’. This harebrain play of Captain Edson sort o’ forces our hands. The Old Man orders a charge all along our line. We pushes them Yanks back onto thelr hosses an’' rescoos what's left of Edson an’ his lancers. After skirmishin’ awhile the Yanks draws plumb off an’ leaves us alone on the field. They shore earns them encomiums of my sergeant though before ever they decides to vamos. “ ‘Edson’s been shot hard an’ frequent; thar’s no chance for him left. He looks up at me, when we're bringin’ him off, an’ say: “**“Joe,” an’ he smiles an’ squeezes my hand, while his tones {s plenty feeble, “Joe, you notes, don’t you, that I aln’t goin’ back to Texas, an’ I don’t have to desert.” “‘That night we beds down that boy captain in a sol'tary Mexican 'doby. He's layin’ on a pile of blankets, clost to the door, while the moon shines down an’ makes things light as noonday. He's been talkin' to me an’ givin' me messages for his mother an’ the rest of his outfit at Waco, an’ I promises to carry 'em safe an’ deliver 'em when I trails in on good old Texas later. At last he wants his mare brought up where he can pat her nose an’ say “Adios” to her. “‘“For Joe,” he says, “I'm doo to go at once now, an’' my days is down to minutes.” “‘“The medicine man, Ed,” I says, “tells me that at the worst you-all has hours to live.” ‘¢ “But, Joe,” he replies, “I knows. An" I'm a mighty good prophet, you recalls, about my not goin' back nome, an’ you can gamble I'm not makin’ any mistakes now. It's down to minutes, I tells you, an’ I wants to see my mare.” ““WHich the mare is brought up an’ stands thar with her velvet muzzle in his face.. Her name’s Ruth, after Edson's sweetheart back by Waco that a-way. The mare is as splendid as a plcture; pure blood she is, an’ her speed an’ bot- tom is the wonder of the army. Usual a hoss is locoed by the smell of blood, but it don’t stampede this Ruth; leastwise pore Edson’s blood, an’ she stays thar with him as still an’ tender as a woman, an’ most likely with all the sorrow in her heart of folks. As Edson rubs her nose with his weak hand an’ pets her a whole lot, he asks me to take this Ruth back to his sweetheart with all his love: “*“Which, of course,” he whispers, “now I'm goin’ no one’s ever to mention that cepisode of the Rio Pecos an’ the lit- tle Mexican girl of the Plaza Chico.” “‘Edson lays plumb still awhile; an’ then after sayin’ “Good by he lets on he desires me to leave him alone with the mare. “*“I'll give Ruth yere a kiss an’ a ex- tra message for my sweetheart,” he says, “an’ then I reckons I'll sleep some.” I camps down jest outside the 'doby an’ looks up at the moon an’ begins to let my thoughts go grazin’ off toward Texas, like a gent allers does when any sorrow prounces on him. It's perhaps a minute when thar's the sharp crack! of a six-shooter, an’ the mare Ruth r'ars up an’ back’ard until she's almost down. But she recovers hers’f an’ stands sweatin’ an’ shiverin’ an’ her eyes burnin’ like she sees a ghost. Shore, it's ail over. Pore Edson can’t wait; he gets to his guns an® puts a bullet through his head.’ " PERFECT IMITATION OF AURORA BOREALIS made some wonderful experiments in electricity that will crown his name with honor. By plunging th: negative wire of a powerful induction co'l in a vessel of water and bringing the positive wire Into contact with the surface of the water or slightly below it he has succeeded In creatirg the perfect aurora borealls or northern lights we have seen in the sky with such wonder and admiration. The flickering streamers, now faint, now brillliant; the dark arc or half circle from which they flow—all the varied phe- nomena that have puzzled the mind of the observer are accurately repeated on a small scale. M. Plante thinks that the aurora of our northern skies is produced by a flow of positive electricity through the upper re- gions of the air into ylanetary space, the fact that lightning and other similar phe- nomenon are not frequent at the polar regions showing that the discharge is not toward the earth. He belleves that all the planets are charged with positive electricity and that this flows out from the neighborhood of their magnetic poles. When it meets no resistance it goes off in obscure rays, but when it encounters masses of vapor then it becomes the glorious aurora. These mysterious lights, waving and dancing in the northern sky, have always been a marvel and a puzzle to mankind and any information that we can gain to the cause of their coming and going is welcomed by old and young. This beauti- ful experiment proves that the aurora is but another form of the mysterious force that speaks to us through the telephone AFOREIGN scientist has recently ana telegraph, that heats our houses, cooks our food, gives us light in darkness and conveys us over land aad sea.