TWO CHINESE

Evening Star, Issue 19661, 14 September 1927, Page 12

TWO CHINESE

SERVICE OH A RAHCH tsar of the kitchen. Ron was bom in San Francisco’s Chinatown and started at the ago of ’thirteen to work (for two dollars a week) in a family which did not; give him enough to eat (writes Ellen inter, in the 1 Manchester Guardian ). that was forty years ago. To-day he is kitchen Tsar of a 30,000-acrc Californian ranch; ho is cook, waiter, laundry - man, servant, gardener; ho raises bees and poultry and pigeons, rims holds of kitchen-garden and fruit trees, and earns 130 dollars (£26) a mouth. He camo twelve years ago and earned 00 dollars a month. He did only the cooking and waiting at table; even that was rare, for most Chinese cooks in America will do nothing at all but cook But Ton was different from them. Was ho not content also to live three ]iours from town and go in only one evening every three months? There were four children on Ihe ranch, but for eight months in the rear thev were away at hoarding school, and that was when Ron found that lie had too muck time, bo one day. he went out on the range and caimlit a swarm of bees, and so started his Tice farm. To-day ho has twentyfour hives behind the house and a tew more out in a field that is thick with saoc-brush, because sage-brush honey is "better-tasting than ordinary honey. Ho makes twelve hundred pounds of honey ix season and sells it lor &o\J. Whenever Ton’s wages wore raised the rancher gave him one or more new jobs to take over. At the last rise, from 120 dollars to IdO dolla the Chinaman was so pleased that his smile was as if stuck on; and all the while it continued, his master, as it hypnotised by so much cheeiiu ness, kept adding to the list. I want you to water the garden-keen the sprinkler going all day—and clean the upstairs rooms while my wife mn t wcl and wash tho table linen, and—and dean mv gun, and—(there was the smile still)—and look after the flower mirdcii, and (as the smile did not wear off) anything else you hud about Hm place to do.” Ron the imperturbable made no remonstrance. Me docs things his own way,. o«vcr. When his master ami misUCos were away lie planted new beds of marigolds in front ot a dark bank ivv; he used his own methuds of poultry rearing; and only ultc JCMS of experience, when he found 3m was not -ettiim as good results as Ins mistress" with* 9 her more recent scictitdic methods, did he consent to clia No one presses Ron very much to do iliiims against Jus will. Evorv few vears Ron Hi rot. lens U> go to China. Ho has a 'vifo there, and until recently ho had a child too—|,is adopted snueTon, "ho lived with the mother. But in spitemil; his th.tats Ron lias onlv been to China once in those twelve'years. Ho does like to Jose his wages-even foi a y*- r nor his Tsardmn; ho may have to ref-oiirpier it all over again when J.c comes back. But those are not the nifiocl. Once It mi tho Pjg trouble in China; once Hio U { discovery of oil on the rune >1 " Ron had been promised a hnull shauh. Once it was a long war m the ~,,,] course, Ron could not leave 'until it had been decided which man ”" s to ho killed ami the murdcrei "STktel. dclvrngl, lo ■md the most likely to last is tlic melciico of Ton. His father had sent or' him, and the mother had not icTd- and so fifteen-y car-old ion cross’d fbo ocean alone and an nod on 11 vo ranch —a brown, J.utppy. chec ' fill hoc, smiling at anything. tl at strange to him, am everyth u & wns slramau Ron was happy; ho conic fcachYho boy English mid cooking. and liousmvnrk. and waiting at the taDie, ho could get help with ail tho outdoor work ; ho would have someone to hms ami order around and iced; someone to whom ho could be gruff ami cram ■md kirn I ami lordly and hn‘lß. ' would be able to show oJV Ins ore of ranch life to the ope.i-nimubed bo . la; would show him how U caldi gophers ami moles, tell a niUic-siiiiKC in,m a water snake, catch fish m Hit. mmk, fell the tracks of a racoon Irani those of a deer. And meanwhile Hm was "citing twenty dollars a month, and hchi" trained to earn the highest wages any servant in tho word could .••ft *• And while he’s out hero mi won’t get into had company m tin town aiid learn only to waste time and spend money,” said Ron. The father reioices m the picsrn c of Ids son. After washing "P ih A; breakfast the two of Hie" l change Hum white coats and trousers. and apions for blue overalls and gaiicrs.. I hey n„ out in the garden ami pick Hu. vegetables for the clay-ra<ldisl.cs - tree, summer squash, beaus—chaise tho sprinkler, examine the plant out or dig or water m tlio variable garden. AVh.Io Inn propa cs tho vegetables for lunch, Jon mil hake walnut cookies or ladvlmgers-spccmh-lics of his which he has improvcc oi from the original receipt-. ho all( i - noon is crowded. Ton Reels. Hie chickens and cleans out J ho PJjJ™' coops while Ron turns tho jwCarrot, beet, and turnip seeds have sprouted and need tlinmnig or plan L i.ng out; raspberry canes and black currants have to be tied 1 nkls oi corn and lima beaus are to he irrigated. HI the Hum -Ron is on Hie. go—swiftly, silently, .here, tbcrc-jnckmg peas, watering, digging, cleaning. Ho talks’ little. Then comes Hm prepariim of the evening meal, and if ■ cowhovs have been working in -mi ■ neighborhood lliev come out to Hi-R in a barn lielimd Hm ia,'chlionsc. They arc supposed to cod themselves; hut Ron mil sneak them up sonic chicken or squab or cookies , that bo bus baked that day. He knows 1 11 io tastes of every person mi the place, and even- visitor who has hern I here a short while. It is important to , keep on Ron’s right side. , , > After supper comes rest lor ns, <m., I not far Chinatown. Ton pores over his English reader; Ron sits by him to I prod him every time his head nods, [ while ho extracts the heart am liver ’ of Hm rattlesnake he caught in-day. in 1 make into a special preparation wlueii lie will send to his friends, m town. ’ At nine or ten o clock they go io bed 1 (they will be up again, by five’).; lon ' to his room ofl the kitchen. lon In ’ Hie little one-room bouse that, his ’ father built for him before he came. ; Their kingdom of birds and beasts and flowers is asleep already; and soon Hie lights arc out and no sound > heard over range or canyon, but the wair of coyote or Hie stealthy steps - I a ’conn loping down Io the ranchhouse in search of loot.