The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 6, 1902, Page 3

ONCE & CHINESE NOSLEZMAN, NOW AN EXILE WITH ] HE SUNDAY CALL. RRRE CHANCE FOR EXISTENCE AND R WIND.SWEPT, OCEAN- LARPPRD CAVE FOR R HOME. N exile from his country, an out- cast of his , for not one of poor or mean as not to hope e among those of his the ban that drove y should follow him 3 ive him of the f his fellow countrymen is Pow dare not take rancisco’s Ck wn. His t is as complete as though he n a desolate island s rock-ribbed cave by day he 4 igh the Golden Gate the track water leads to the land his dreams, the home to never return. When night w he shrinks back into depths of the giooms recess, of his wrongs and the or company. Thus is on middle age, ude exile. man of the realm of the sun, Len Pow’s early were spent in the midst of a luxury t ls. Stll vivid in the pictures of the courts bles, the ceremonials of the whom the supreme 4i- the Chinese Empire 1s vested, & whom Len Pow would in time aken his place but for—who knows he can unravel the mysteries of Chi- nese official life? Perhaps Len Pow knows why he lost favor master; perhaps not. which he is silent. no longer with his imperial It is a subject on It is enough that he the right to wear the em- broidered robes and the cap button of su- perior rank in the court of the Son of Heaven. Born to the purple, he must con- tent himself with overalls and a jumper. And when Len Pow takes off his broad- brimmed felt hat it discloses another sign of his degradation. Len Pow's quéue js gone. For a year this lonely outcast has made his home in the cleft of rock whose only outiook is a stretch of sand with a stretch of sea beyond. The only path to the cave from the world above is down the sheer, chalky cliff that rises abruptly from the water. No recluse could find a more secluded spot. At high tide the waVes creep to the very entrance of the cave; but far back and safe from the fiercest storm is a ledge that serves as a bunk. and with wreck- age wa d ashore by the sea the hermit has carefully partitioned off his sleebing rcom. Rude comfort it affords, this bed of rock, with a single, worn counterpane for covering, but with the stoic courage of his race Len Pow accepts his fate without complaint. At low tide he is less cramped for room, and outside on the sand he builds his little fire and cooks his meals. Only a bit of fish, a meager portion of rice and, by way of luxury now and then, a cup of tea, for one whose appetite was once tempted by bird's nest soup and bamboo buds and lily pods and the what-nots of delight to the Chinese epicure. Even this modest fare would be impos- sible to the penniless hermit but for the charity of strangers, who have discovered his haunt. It has come to be a common practice for Sunday picnickers to leave their empty bottles at the entrance of the cave and by the sale of these Len Pow manages to eke out his living. Once a day he, journeys up' the trail and to the CHff House, where he does his small bar- teriggs, then back again and down the steen path to his stretch of sand. This is his only Intercourse with those of his kind, save when some curious stranger chances upon him in his retreat, To visitors he talks freely, showing him. self to be a student, well travhled and well versed in the customs of men of other countries than that which was once his own. g % g / F % Sitting on a boulder in front of his cave travéls, of the part he played as one of plques our curiosity—the - cause he talked one day for an hour, of his a picturesque and powerful nobility, of downfall. early life, of his home In Peking, of his everything but the one thing that most longer or stronger line thaa the Pow, rn in/Peking and up to his ear was under the protection was uncle, His educa- asts a amily of L was by entieth this ted in morak the othes which would it him he was to oceupy. igh in the Grand spent some years In he had opportunity to , their usages and their knowledge of can and ae- with them lessened the preju- is so natural to Chinese of the Hongkong e holles, when— DS The face that was erest in thoughts of the past ges. To press him for rea. orbidden ground. . will say is that an ediet and his life was in peril. His was taken from him, and with e gather of his private ed assassins that uld at least live. mere life. The sheiter and as- un him as i » thing. and Americans. He t since his own peo- ng of him . too, has ican and he is glad of it. ! lay will come, and % lowed to live In peace is good ot to be forced to move on a blessing. So whatever Len Pow's past has beem, of his however harsh the present, he bears his - fate with a rare that in No family in all that great empire most a rebuke to pity. is way to. this" t 1