The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 12, 1905, Page 3

DY CLARENCE SOV - story for this week, “The Burglar,” is from the pen Ludlow Brownell, author of Japan” and many Mr. Brownell was resident of Japan s ughly conversant with the elic: and Western ears, idioms of the Japanese lan- s the “honorable” The prizc ne Clarence The Heart stories years a to such a use of “ Jap- not r,* said Spring his look. “but we keey he pa- ked into d valuable ked at it with an then he looke d the bur cupboard h once mc t on the futon. unworthy thanks. J “Your au- as I have ntery to come i e pulled a large from his sleeve. k¥ no up in it e celeri bowed quite to muring “Deign to enjoy repose,” and was gone. yrning when Spring Blossom n to breakfast she received a rimand from Miss Godspeed, the r, who presided at the table, for without her jacket, or haori, panese say, whkich goes on over e native kimono. The girl said she was extremely sorry to come down tidy, but honorable burglar had n her jacket. onorable burglar!™ Blossom t do exclaimed DROWNELL FR.G. S Miss Ge peed in a gaspy “What , child? lossom told what had hap- can 3 But why did you mot cry asked the after the event, ming upon her. able bt r took only things and he did not make out to— teacher. It but she to—warn my could —but ” — Miss Godspeed x of anything to say. however, she went through the dormitories with a policeman by her side and found everything in place ex- cept S ng Bl om's silken robes. Spring Blossom’s W to the the stairway, the first y, that honorable burglar The talk he had had with audience had delayed him too for visiting the oth rooms, or perhaps he lost his n t probably though, the policeman ble burglar could not elf from the ided that having there would be a warning of the nearest room he per- ve; fr been seen The sort. was a warning, but not from g Blossom. She declared she re- membered nothing distinctive about ncrab burglar’'s appearance, there was but little light in the room. But he had not quite escaped other observation on leaving the premises the next day, at the shop of a deal- Sr as er in second-hand clothes who was not notori particular, honorable burg- lar f the grasp of the law. As Spring Blossom’s kimono was with him, the police knew they had the right man. To prison he went. Spring Blossom went to the prison, o time after, having persuaded Godsneed, rather to that worthy rson’s astonishment, that one ought t prisons if one really believes. ch a thing had not occurred to the ess of the mission’s flock be- t at length she said “Yes,” and young believer who was z her what belief was she vis- honorable burglar in his coop. Vhen honcrable burglar saw Spring Blossom as much surprise as a Jap- anese face can show was manifest, but there was no sign of ill will about him even when he received a quantity of good advice and the gift of one of the mission’s publications for his enlighten- ment. ‘When she came away from the prison Spring Blossom was quite happy at the chance she had had of doing the right thing. “If kimono had lost for ever I should be glad same as now,” she said. “Hon- orable teacher wlill augustly conde- scend to see honorable burglar with me several times?” Once more Miss Godspeed assented and the days for visiting were full of joy for the small daughter of Japan. Spring Blossom had been at the mis- sion school two years and thought it a sort of Paradise. How near she had come to being in another of Yoko- too, sor M ' FOR FICTION ANN a < e | A0 g (AT 0y il Tty iy T SPRING BLOSSOM hama’s recognized institutions for a equal length of time when she would have led a life as evil as her present life was good she had no suspicion. But she had been as near as near can be and not. It was the Rev. Mr. Chol- mondeley to whom she was indebted for the happy fact that she was on the Yama, as Yokohamites call the Hill, instead of in XKuban down beloyw, a place much worse than sheol. Chol- mondeley declared himself, however, that it was not he but Providence. He was merely the humble instrument. Spring Blossom’s father, Ototsusan, was a farmer. He lived in Suruga. He was not an actual worker in the fields, a most miserable occupation in Japan, but was the owner of some dozens of those irregular quadrilaterals of mud that are separated, one from another, by low ridges instead of by fences, and are cultivated by hand. They are slop- py with filth eight months out of the twelve, and dry only at harvest when — THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. § f‘hl‘ they look like a checkerboard an earth- quake has been playing with. As an owner Ototsusan had prosper- ed untjl a few years before when heavy rains had washed away the banks and dams, and the water had carried off the sprcuting rice. These floods had dcne sad work. But worse than this had happened; vouchers for certain moneys he had loaned before the Restoration, and other papers which concerned Government and the honor of his house had disappeared. They could not be of use to other folk, but chould the Government call upon him to state his pcsitlon as to certain oc- currences during the time of the Go Ishin, the revolution, which made the Restoration possible, the absence of these papers signed by the thumbmarks of their writers would be awkward. Ototsusan indeed wculd lose his “face” if not his head—and to lose his face while those worthy persons, his hon- ored parents, were yet alive, that would be the ultimate anguish the Japanese mind can suffer—harakiri would be joy compared to it. Had he not lost his vouchers he might have raised money from the Government and done some- thing toward the recovery of the pa- pers, but as it was he went to th money lenders. = It was in these evil days that an agent came from Yokohama. Suruga was on his route. Twice a year he passed through sonmewhat as a recruit- ing sergeant might. He would have been invaluable to the census bureau were that work not done perfectly by SLRRR SIRUAN the Department of Police, for he Knew every household in thg province. Es- pecially had he an eye for homes where means were small and daughters beautiful. “Suruga augustly {mprovement,” said this agent to a brother agent who had come down with him from Kuban and was bound for Nagoya in the interests of the house for which both worked. * \ “Honorable floods have been exten- sive, poverty augustly prevails; honor- able business probably will augustly improve.” Then he put a pinch of the mildest of tobacco into his tiny pipe bowl, consumed it in three puffs, knocked the ash into tlre bamboo tube by the firebox and lost himself in-com- placent contemplation of probable net profits. Of course the agent went to Ototsu- san, for he knew that the conditions there were of the sort his business profited by. Spring Blossom had been on his list for several years. He dis- cussed the floods with the farmer, the lack of crops and the wickedness of money lenders, and came round grad- ually to the august parents, the deities of Ototsusan’s home, for whose wel- fare filial plety demanded every sacri- fice. Proud must be the man with a father and a mother of such nobility, enjoys honorable _ was the tenor of the agent’s words, and Ototsusan assented. What a joy, what an honor to keep them in com- fort while they lived. And‘again Otot- susan assented. What was a daugh- ter that a father should consider her when his parents’ comfort was at stake? continued the agent, and more to the same effect. It seemed that there would be a bar- gain and Spring Blossom would go to Yokohama for two or three years of " TIER aF i tB riitlin ity el o o 1L lwl“ service under conditions nominated in a form the office of police supplies, a form which Ototsusan, Spring Blos- som, Kuban's master and the inspec- tor of police would sign. One more day and Ototsusan would decide. That evening, however, the head of the Yama Mission School appeared at Spring Blossom’s home by chanece, Ototsusan thought, but the man from the Yama said chance had naught to do with it. He knew the hand of Providence, he declared, wherever it vouchsafed to manifest itself. He knew the Kuban agent, too, by reputation, and of Kuban he had a detestation he had never dared to express in words. He knew the “august parents” and the peril of the honor of the house, and though he had but little money compared to what the agent could ad- vance, he had the faith that over- cometh and he won. And so it happened, thanks to the promises he made with o bold a heart, that Spring Blossom journeyed to Yokohama later by the same route she would have taken had she traveled with the agent—all but the.final turn- ing to the right instead of to the left. Thege she profited greatly and in two years was nearly ready for her Govern- ment certificate admitting her as teacher to one of the imperial schools. Her examinations at the migsion as- sured of her success, but the prospect of so honorable employment did not occupy her mind to the exclusion of honorable burglar in durance vile. ‘With Miss Godspeed she saw him regu- larly, and if she did not work that somewhat uncertain miracle called conversfon, she did him good. He is mnot a burglar now. ‘When the day of his release came, Spring Blossom and the teacher met him at the entrance and took him to e [T iy < AND TURNED IT DEFTLY UPSIVE POWN o at the missiun grounds whe: often guests are entertained Th they served a dinner in mative Hororable burglar, who was no learned much about Spring Blos- s that afternoon. sundown, with the courtesy of a knight of the feudal days. a Samural, to use the native term, he withdrew, taking with him various presents from Spring Blossom and an assortment of tracts from Miss Godspeed. They did not see him for several weeks, but Spring Blossom did not forget him. Each night she asked that he might be *“delivered from temptation™ and never steal any more, “for ever and ever, amen.” Nor for a moment did she doubt that all would be well It was a month, perhaps, after the honorable burglar’s release that he appeared at the school one day and asked to see his friends. He was in the tea business and prospering. He had found an opportunity, he ex- plained, that suited him exactly and already had some honest money in the Specie Bark. The future was his for success and if Miss Godspeed would condescend to grant a rude request he would beg her to receive two sisters from “his unworthy home into her school. Miss Godspeed condescended with alacrity and then and there the honorable burglar, or ex-burglar, paid their fees for a full year in advance. On leaving, with many bows quite to the floor, and apologies for his pre- sumption, he begged Spring Blossom to augustly deign to accept an unworthy tin of contemptible tfea. In reality it was tea of the finest quality that the empire produced. That evening Spring Blossom opened the tin to transfer the tea to a pretty canister, one of several prizes she had won by her work in school. Half only of the tin held tea. The lower half contained a package wrapped in a silken handkerchief—a package of papers, those which Ototsusan had lost. and which, now that they had been re- ecvered, would “save his face.” After teaching school three years Spring Blossom became mistress of a house overlooking one of the most charming of the many charming views reund about Yokohama. It was com- Plete in its appointments and had sev- eral rooms furnished after the Euro- pean style, wherein one might often see Miss Godspeed digcussing a biscuit and a cup of tea, such tea as we know little of in this country. And it is a fact that the income of the household in this house came entirely from tea.