FOUR BRASS BOWLS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 641, 19 October 1909, Page 8

FOUR BRASS BOWLS.

A COMMON CHINESE SCENE. IN THE CITY OF WELLINGTON.

(By Gteo:)

Night. ■ Night in Chinatown:' We. etop at the , corner of Tatanafi .Street, and -perceive that, Asia is. a->warm. , Each house, is - emptying Chinamen into the "road, and the'hum of many tongues comes down the little winds of the night. "Fan kee," one hears some distinctness, and presently" again. . . "Fan kce" . v and then: "Fan kee Lutledge." "A disgraceful fra'ckass'!" observes some intelligent citizen who reads his newspaper, but the tracas, if such it Be, is'soon, ended.. Tho street clears, the closing doors Wot out rows of .oblongs of light,. and all is quiet, except a soitary dog, who is booing at the moon. We meet Nan Peh-ha who sells us the vegetables, and hold parley with Mm. Now, Nan I en, as his name plainly shows, is a doubleba"c'Jcd rascal, for "Nan" means "south," and Teh .is "north," so that he is really a twentieth/century revival of one of John Uunyan s ■ ■ characters—Mr. Facing-both-waye. Indeed, all these Chinese proper names have their meaning.' Nan states (with some evasions) that the sergeant has been: in th-> street, but has now gone, and he hints that ?? J" "llamics ,will recommence as soon as the faithful scouts in Tory Street report that the, sergeant has gone back to, "Ma Kook Sashin,, which-.bit of Orientalism, if one takes the trouble to look into it, merely means the familiar brick building where two or three inebriates are.daily fined by a J.P. Nan further volm-feers; to show 'us the Gamo of the Rod Splashes.. : .. In a. room where a slush-light works, a persevering passage through an atmosphere of butter, where the .blinds are gummed to the sashes,, and the key is tactically adjusted in the Jocfcv so that no' man, may see,- we behold the Four Brass 136w15-the bowl Yet, the lowl £ee, .the- bowl Sam; and,the! bowl See-each nte'^rT ,, ™' chosen, haphazard. Behind; them, at the table ~sit three .sinister- 1 looking ■ Chmamen,-,.whose translated name*. , we will suppose, ore:/ Ability/ Blazing Vermilion, nnd Captain Courageous. They are the understrappers .for the chief director and.fmancierI ~ via* -Moonbeams jrith the Painted Eye- ? j ■*? t V ?r; W M °onbeams himself is. not-here. end of. the street, watching the flower boats of Canton, as.ther sail past in the fire-light, and very, comfortable . tfe who is.caught b.T the ,pq ce. that night may look after himself. It will, certainly .not be Father of Moonbeams. The wind went down with the sunset, .The; mists came up with , the .tide, W^ra e SVnVtfi!inS an W fSr , ',? ,1 ' Bllia, "°r'swim," 6he said, . Its alj you will get from, mo., •■: Andthat is the, finish of him," sho said, . And the Egg-shell went to sea. • - The wind got up with the .morning, . •And the mists .blew. off. with, the rain, : When the .Witca of the East saw the Egg-shell And. the little Blue Devil β-ain Did you swjm?" she said. "Did you sink?" she said,- • .'■■■'■ • ■ •'•■ .And the; .little Blue' Devil replied:' : ■ I' swam; but I think," be'said" ' "There's somebody sinking outside? .Mathematically, and according to', the pro., ;|^S&dn«K^. .for, Ca,ptain Courageous advances on us,. Hi ,n ' lma , tes in, a .round-about' way that' those whodo not contribute must depart. So with for thfnri'T d l ?f aD - d PWng.sixpence for the privilege, let ue imagine that wecharge iZ>*°* -° ■ ljatt ! ilionß ■■?* Green -figures X ployed dn rice-paper as follow-— . ~

Slowlyranarrpatafnlfe^with^theVdiemal brush • fSuWw te ? num^re - ■ ***' toeanS tatnor. of .Moonbeams, in his safelv-disfainf "£& a ?^P lear -- s trcanis,..of l far Yunnan and 8,911.827 war-junks (which is him) bearing down Sf l"° i '''I' 6 ca T ( * hicli is «s)."And, no doubt, he laughs and'chortles a'litUe ' th™,th' IB s ■ a W? n riow a hand ™™ S'/^ - .. et, Bee > 6am ' see?"' The ?f e the bowl- which he Bowl yif T m^' n , U, 5 bers ' aud me Bowl. ret,. the Bowl Sam, and Bowl Srw are.removed,..and filled with which■ ? h "" on ,; ,DO ""'P a tory things within the mea n ' begins '° iNTMsWk.in red :ink now iHiii A small vegetable hawker (Uncle of Ciuli' than that, he has backed his .ticket with a small wager sufficient; if tho odds .were fair OTe?rti?L r ? c - e ' a n re " l,able *« * a 'k over B S f,,, Captai l C <> urfl ?eous is'plainly .uphe IK ,1 e have taken.- ,} .Shen'sui" Aid wir»S ■■ tbe ;, never caught, on anrf w£w '.sits on, and sits on, and watches tho visions in. the firelight. Is n-umher of the tombs pf.his ohemica; and are ? ot w the tombs' of these fully 8,911,827 which dlrtSbHfc er h rf ' Pi -^ s4n k same which ho 3™' A h ' he , in 1 be.a rich man some day, tmv Anf h" boats , aud op"«™-shops.in CanKfJi« ' m , ,p ?S a ?' ne ust smiles one I ttle more smile. What a gran* thing it was that-the .police came along and stopped proceedings, just as Uncle of tlie Cauliflowers bad broken the bank! And now let us shut np ho v\ f0 - r * ,e ?, amo of the Fo «f Brass Bowls, which.is also tho Game of Red Splashes, which is also thei game of pak-a-poo, has been played. It should perhaps-he added, because it is not generally 'known, that ■ largo,. numbers of Uimese. disapprove the game, and: also disapproT? -i ,°P mm - I" faot,.Haining Street is as divided .among itself over those matters as wiropoans are over such questions as lense-noldii-and freeholds, retrenchment and borrowing, horse-racing and No-License. >

'■'• ■ ■ r '■'&& F-:«' : .«- : ,33:'2S'■ii7-.:9V'ii ■/■: , . : 71 66 .,58,50 42.-34 26 -.18 10 75 67 59 51 -43 35 27 19 11 V ■ ; , ■ .76 68 60 ; 52 41. 36 28 20. 12 j, S ■>,:,/: 27..,69 ,61' 53; ; 45 37. 29' 21' 13 Z-β'. , ■. . :•' -. .78..,'70 .62, U 46.38 30-22 14. .-6 79 71 63 55 47 39 31 23 15 7 80 .72 64 56.48 40 32 24, 16 8 •'