== —
Bellefonte, Pa., February 5, 1926.
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SONG OF THE TEAKETTLE.
Here like a brooding goose I sit,
Watched over by the gander,
With nests of coals instead of eggs,
A patient salamander!
In the quaint urn that bubbles near,
Well charged with fragrant Hyson,
Is brewed the cup to granddames dear,
King George put such a price on.
Let others sing the Arab bean
That leaves the brain so merry;
It well may do for dull Hindu
Or torpid sons of Turkey.
Nectarian they may think it still,
Their taste I call in question;
I know it serves to spoil the nerves
And undermine digestion.
What woes, alas! are brought to pass
By social dissipation—
The fiery punch, the midnight lunch,
The morning agitation!
How grateful then the generous bowl,
That comes with hope and healing:
That lifts to life the sinking soul
And warms with fellow feeling!
Half frozen on his icy throne—
The Czar of all the Fussia.
I've heard him say, twelve times a day,
He qualffs it with his ushers!
And good Queen Vie, whene'er she's sick,
And headaches hold her too long,
Declines her customary part,
With “Brown, a cup of Qolong!”
Thus prince and pauper well agree
To laud with equal praises
The sacred herb of Con-fu-tze,
That cheers, but never crazes,
Whene’er an evening firelight glows,
The steam with music blending,
1 still keep singing through my nose
My supper song unending!
H. S. Cornwell.
ONE DAY TO LIVE.
“Heaven and I understand each
other,” the Emperor Yeng Ti dictat-
ed. And then he fell into profound.
thought, while Ming Foo, the copyist,
cut fresh wrinkles of awe into his
face, which was already as wrinkled
as a dried cassia leaf.
“Heaven accepts my omnipotence
in the world as I accept Its omnipo-
tence in celestial realms,” the Emper-
or resumed. “Of this I have had
abundant proof. My subjects must
honor the scroll which the four winds
hereafter will bear aloft, ‘Yeng Ti
and God!” ”
And the Emperor having finished,
ordered the necessary copies to be
made in readiness for dispatch to his
countless governors throughout his
kingdom, which ran even unto the far
Pamir.
“I will have Lo Chun, my sorcerer,”
he commanded then. The command
was swollen with a mighty arrogance.
None other than one who believed his
overlordship coequal with Heaven's
could have attained such a tone.
Bright-clad courtiers made a startled
lane for the hurrying messenger.
And, waiting, the Emperor Yeng
Ti leaned upon the arm of the gold-
en Dragon Throne and looked through
the window of his lofty Council Tow-
er to where the nearby Palace of De-
light vaulted azure and black and red.
This was the greatest palace in the
world and the most beautiful, and he
had builded it to be the home of his
daughter, the greatest Princess in the
world and the most beautiful—Bud-
ding Moon.
A fermentation broke out in the
multicolored host who swarmed before
. the Gate of the Emperor’s Daughter
in the sun-brightened wall of the Pal-
ace of Delight. And the Emperor,
obsvering this, was moved to an un-
common joy. For he knew that it
marked the long-expected home-com-
ing of his daughter.
The Princess Budding Moon was
come home to choose a husband. She
had sixteen summers, and besides
comprehending all wifely duties, to-
gether with the care of silkworms and
the weaving of silk and cotton and
the culture of the lotus, peony, hibis-
cus, wisteria and orchid, she was pro-
found in her knowledge of the phil-
osophies of both Lao-tse and Confu-
cius. Thus her mind was prepared
to essay responsibilities of matri-
mony.
As for other attributes, she was not
tall and she was very slender. She
went upon her little feet as the wind-
flower drifts. Her young waist was
as yielding as a bundle of new silk.
At sight of her palanquin that joy
welled up in the Emperor which only
he knows who centers all his love up-
on one being. And this was followed
by a little sadness. For the Emperor
knew that even the best man is scarce-
ly fit for any woman. Pondering up-
on this he wondered where, then, he
might find a mate for the Princess
Budding Moon. He became fearful,
realizing that even the greatest Prin-
cess in the world is only imperfectly
secured from sadness.
Love fought with his great pride of
place, impelling him to arise and go
to greet her. But he denied himself
this gratification. On this day not
even for his daughter would he open-
ly reveal ordinary emotions. On this
day even she must come second to his
empire.
And he turned resolutely to meet :
the advancing Lo Chun, who was the
most mysterious man in all Yeng Ti’s
land. None knew whence he came
nor who were his ancestors. But his
power was greater than that of all
the Emperor’s other advisors in union.
He was old and tall and garbed in a
pale-blue robe. And he had a pale
pontifical face in which piercing eyes
were set. Rumor spoke of a mission
to which his hand had been put—
some said divinely.
“Lo Chun,” commanded the Emper-
or Yeng Ti, “I will be told whether I
may spread my new banners to-mor-
row. Will my General Wu T’ang be
successful in the battle he fights to-
day?”
“T have learned,” replied Lo Chun,
the sorcerer, “that to-day your foe be-
comes a Guest on High.”
“My last rival! Then my banners
will be finished none too soon. To-
i Foreigner.
! people to see her on the day of her
morrow it will, indeed, be ‘Yeng Ti
and God.” ”
Lo Chun, the sorcerer, gave no re-
sponse to this. A locust strummed
vibrantly from some chink in the tow-
er wall and for the space of the sound
the sorcerer was silent, tight-lipped.
As it ended, he seemed evanescently
to rise in his slender height up and
up until his head passed through the
open dome and vanished in the sky.
But this could have been nothing more | ed
than the fantastic swaying of his mys-
terious figure bowing before the Em-
peror’s exultation.
“And the battle!” cried the Emper-
or Yeng Ti. “My last rival departs—
but what of his army and his gen-
erals?”
“The event of the battle is in the
hands of the Emperor's general and
of the Emperor himself.”
“Then show me the scene that I
may know what I must tell my gen-
eral to do.”
Lo Chun, the sorcerer, fathomed
into his capacious blue sleeve, draw-
ing from its depths a sphere. This
was of a substance like frozen milk,
polished to opalescence. It seemed
a vast eye without a pupil. Yet the
Emperor Yeng Ti was to have proot
that it could see.
The sorcerer mounted now to the
throne level and the sphere was cup-
ped reverently in his hands. He
floated close to Yeng Ti. They bent
their heads and as they did the room
went black, as black as the faces of
Yeng Ti’s warrior dwarfs.
Outside sunlight flooded the world.
But the bright rays were turned back
at the window of the Council® Tower
as a spear is turned back by an im-
peneirable buckler. The room lay
under the hand of darkness. Only
the sphere in the grasp of Lo Chun,
the sorcerer, remained lucent. A
fierce light blazed within it, pouring
down upon the landscape which it re-
vealed.
This appeared a devastated country
with villages huddled like dusty beg-
gars who had died in their alms seats.
At one point a river spread out into
a broad lake. Above the lake a vast
fleet of war junks raised sails and
dropped oars. It moved forward and
uptm-the lean commander who stood
in the prow of the leading vessel sat
an air of harassed resolve. Below the
lake another great fleet advanced con-
fidently. And over this fleet floated
the banners of the Emperor Yeng Ti.
“Wu T’ang prepares to fight in the
wide lake,” explained Lo Chun.
“Send him more swiftly forward.
He must halt my enemy in confusion
at the narrow mouth of the lake.
Then into this confusion he must send
fireships. Thus he will win the event
with little risk.”
A fiercer luminosity within the
sphere burned down upon the land-
scape. And when this dimmed, the
sunlight flooded back into the Council
Tower. Lo Chun, the sorcerer, back-
ed down from the throne, making his
obeisance, while he returned the
sphere lightly to the depths of his
sleeve.
The Emperor Yeng Ti stared again
through the window of the Council
Tower. The bright wake of his
daughter’s retinue eddied into the Pal-
ace of Delight. He saw this even as
he imagined a vast banner, “Yeng Ti
and God.” And rising to descend, as
a special occasion demanded, into the
Hall of Judgment, he beckoned the
Greatest Noble.
“The Princess Budding Moon will
sit with me to-day. It should please
her to see me pass judgment upon the
And it should please my
return from the philosophers. You
will carry this message to her in the
Palace of Delight.”
The Greatest Noble prostrated him-
self. Then he arose and departed
swiftly. He was a meager man with
a face like blank steel. He wore a
yellow robe only a shade lighter than
that of the robe of Yeng Ti. He was
second to Yeng Ti in the empire, and
he was the personal attendant of the
Dragon Throne. “For,” argued Yprg
Ti, “if I make the highest do me daily
service, then will the lowest of my
subjects never cavil at according me
that humility which is my due.”
And the Emperor strode through
the door of green jade set in a wall
of porphyry. And he descended the
wide albaster stairway which led io
the Hall of Judgment.
As the Emperor Yeng Ti entered,
moving up the Asile of the Twenty-
five Statues, the walls rippled with
sound. This sound came from the
silks of the courtiers and the warriors’
armor as the audience bent in homage.
The Emperor Yeng Ti advanced
haughtily to the great double Dragon
Throne and seated himself. His em-
broidered yellow robe fell open a
little at the waist, revealing his
breastplate of gold. Upon his head
rested the imperial cap ornamented
with one hundred and forty-four
precious stones. Twelve pearl pend-
! ants hung from this to veil the Em-
peror’s eyes. Thus, ordinarily, was
a blind fair justice insured. But to-
day the ropes of pearl were pushed
aside and the Emperor held a naked
sword. This was because his pride
had been audaciously flouted.
So, justly or unjustly, the Foreign-
er was being brought now to see his
past service blotted out by one dis-
service. A murmur about the West-
ern Door marked his approach. And
as he entered, the soldiers were won
anew by his gallant youth and the
| murmur swelled. The courtiers, who
knew him from the amazing tales of
his beardless bravery, gave way cur-
iously before the advancing square of
warders,
The Foreigner advanced proudly.
His head, with its shock of yellow
hair, was high. He was tall and mov-
ed with a lightness betokening great
strength, although he was slender in
comparison with the Emperor’s body-
guard who grouped about the Dragon
Throne. Beside the leader of these,
Li Kong Ho, he seemed a stripling.
And indeed he was young, although
the leather lining of his suit of mail
was scarred with many blows. By
blows, also, the tall cross upon his
shield had been effaced. By much use,
too, the freshness of the little gold-
en spurs upon his heels had been worn
dim. Yet, if the long sword at his
side had been drawn, an armorer
would have said the cross upon the
blade had been engraved new within
three years. But the sword would
not be drawn, for it was bound into
its scabbard by the golden prison cord
of the Emperor.
The Foreigner performed a genu-
flection at the foot of the double
Dragon Throne, but he did not pros-
trate himself, and the Emperor frown-
“Hurl him onto his face!”
The command was upon the Emper-
or’s lips, half uttered indeed, and the
giant Li Kong Ho was shuffling pond-
erously in anticipatory obedience,
when the speech was interrupted.
Subdued cymbals clashed outside the
Eastern Door. Soft harps sounded.
Mellow flageolets blew. And then
the Princess Budding Moon entered.
The Princess Budding Moon was
come in obedience to her imperial
father’s command, walking modestly
beside the Great Noble down through
the Aisle of the Twenty-five Statues.
Her little smile, like a child's appeal-
ing fingers, touched one man after
another in the great hall. Smiles
broke out in answer. And as she
howed before her father’s throne a
thunder of voices avouched her serene
i
charm:
“Hail! Hail! Hail! Our Princess, :
hail!
Hail, our Princess! Hail! Hail!
Hail!”
The Emperor Yeng Ti greeted his
daughter distantly lest he should be-
tray a common father’s pride, but he
helped her into the left seat of the
double throne. There she sat, a but-
terfly shining in a cumbrous frame.
She looked about in gentle confusion.
And then her hands convulfed in her
lap.
The Foreigner continued to stare
at her and she at him until that which
his gaze proclaimed forced her eyes
aside and deepened the dawn in her
delectable cheeks. Terror started in
her face when her father aroze and
spoke.
“Because you have disobeyed my
command, Foreigner, you are here.
Do you deny my right to infli& pun-
ishment in proportion to your crime ?” |
“I ask but justice, O Emperor!” re-
plied the stranger youth.
“Justice is my word. You shall
hear that accordingly as I balance
your deeds against your misdeeds.”
And thereupon the Emperor res- |
olutely gripped his naked sword.
No demurrer came from the strang-
er youth. Indeed he may not have
heard, for the Princess Budding Moon
had taken a flower from her hair and
it had slipped down through her fin-
gers to his feet. Li Kong Ho strode
to rescue it, but he took scarcely one
step to the other’s five. And there
was the flower in the hands of the
golden-spurred youth.
“You came among us as you stand
now,” began the Emperor Yeng Ti,
intent only upon voicing the venge- |
ance of his pride. “You brought noth.
ing save your sword and shield with
their strange device and your strange
armor. You said you had been an un-
willing warrior upon the pirate ship
which broke upon our shores.
“You told a tale of a vow made to
your God, of much fighting in a cer-
tain land which you called Holy. You
told of treachery, capture, slavery.
“We gave you an honorable place.
Your prowess gained due reward.
Were you not, until the day of your
crime, a favored general despite your !
beardless face?”
The stranger youth bent low before
the just tally. And at the nadir of
his obeisance his lips lingered unseen
upon the flower in his hands, unseen
save by the Pricess Budding Moon.
“Did I not, honoring your merits,
intrust you with a paramount duty?”
the Emperor resumed. “I ordered
you to capture the Prince Cho Sun.
And I who stand equal with God look
to have my commands obeyed through
out my empire even as His commands
are obeyed in Heaven. Yet how do
my emissaries report your conduct?
‘He stopped in his pursuit ten hours,’
they tell me, ‘to gain a second glace
at & maiden he saw upon a temple
wall.
“And so my General Wu T’ang must
to-day hurl into battle fifty times ten
thousand men.”
The flame of denial burned in the
face of the stranger youth. Yeng Ti
held out an imperious hand.
“You are about to say my emis-
saries accused without cause. You
would tell me your delay did not open
the net to Cho Sun. Your friends al~
ready have told me that if you had
not been seized you could have con-
tinued the pursuit to success. But
I do not know this. I know only that
a maiden made you forget my com-
mands.”
As he paused, the Princess Budding
Moon in her golden seat quivered
like a shining butterfly in a blast.
“Only the greatest of the five pun-
ishments will suffice for this crime.”
“I grant the day,” he said. “But
the decree stands for both. It is
death.” :
He paused in a weighted silence.
“Heaven,” he ended arrogantly,
“will endorse my act as I have always
endorsed the acts of Heaven.”
The weighted silence held. The
echo of the Emperor's voice was the
one sound in the shadowy hall. No
shade, however, dimmed the shining
eyes of the stranger youth and the
Princess. These two turned to each
other in joy. Sorrow chilled the hall,
but they held happiness in their
breasts and were warm. Never once
did they cease gazing upon the wonder
they saw in the eyes of each other. On-
ly the Emperor seemed unsoftened by
their love. With a mien like adamant
he flung down his sword, dismissing
the audience.
“Ch’ou Chang,” he ordered, “im-
prison these in the Palace of Delight.”
Then he hurried toward the Council
Tower. .
- Lo Chun followed the Emperor, but
slowly, for he stopped in the arcade
to watch an itinerant magician. This
man had set up his little stand before
the dismissed audience. Thrice, to
attract attention, he thrust a long
knife into the body of his apprentice
who recieved no harm therefrom.
Then the magician found Lo Chun
watching him and chagrin crimson-
ed his face. His shame was plain at
being caught debasing his mysterious
art before a master. Lo Chun only
looked long into the apprentice’s face
turned skyward as in a mesmeric
trance.
Back in the Council Tower the Em-
peror clapped his hands imperiously.
“I will have Lo Chun, my sorcerer,”
he called.
“Shall we read the progress of the
battle of Wu T’ang ?” asked Lo Chun.
But when he would have drawn the
white sphere the Emperor caught his
hand. The sound of a multitude
floated up from the base of the Coun-
cil Tower, many voices lifted in a conx
mon burden:
“Mercy for the Princess and the
Foreigner. They love!”
The Emperor seemed to devour the
supplication.
“I would be transcendentally mag-
nanimous were I to free those two,”
he remarked. He gazed at his closed
fist as though it held the world in its
compass. “My people would bow be-
fore me as before benign god.”
“Do you torture that rare child,”
Lo Chun, the sorcerer, demanded,
“save in a sincere though misshapen
sense of justice?”
“I torture! I wield the power
i which is mine.”
“You flout Heaven with your acts.
i Do you not think Heaven has long ob-
served your swollen pride and Las
! looked to humble it?”
| “To humble me?” The Emperor
Yeng Ti was so amazed that he pass-
.ed over the affront of the assertion.
| “Be warned! Be warned! Mod-
! est must be the mien of him whom
| Heaven forgives. I see the hand of
‘Heaven reaching vengefully toward
. you who usurp its power.”
And then he dipped into his sleeve
find the opalescent sphere.
“Rejoice at the progress of your
general Wu T’ang and see in his suc-
cess cause for magnanimity.”
| The Empercr shook his head.
“Later!”
| “But Wu T’ang may lose without
“your advice. And if your rival con-
quers, he becomes stronger.”
| “At the proper time Ishall brush
i my rival aside like cobweb. But not
now. Show me, instead, my daugh-
| ter.”
Lo Chun, the sorcerer, drew close
i with the opalescent sphere and the
|
to
1
| two bent their heads and the room
went black as before.
“See!” whispered the Emperor, and
then he repeated softly, “See!”
They gazed into a room revealed
i in the sphere’s immanent light, a room
| all draped in softly colored silks and
!with many flowers in it. Gently
‘swinging censers cast a mild per-
fume. And here, upon two closely
‘drawn seats of ivory and fur, were
{ the Princess and the stranger youth.
"A broad window let in a gentle light
above their heads.
i “Love is the key to joy, Lo Chun,”
‘the Emperor murmured. “See these
two. They sit in the timeless Valley
| of Happiness. Death is an avalanche
“unseen upon the distant mountain-top
- of To-morrow.
“He kisses her hands. How tender-
ily! No custom of ours—but sweet.
1 Zephyr could not meet flower more
‘gently. She bends over his bowed
head and her loosened hair enfolds
| them. Like a tent. A tent our beauti-
| ful Lady of the Moon might have
| pitched to shield her love.
“She is very like her mother.”
And Yeng Ti suddenly pushed the
! sphere from him and light flooded
back into the Council Tower.
“Lo Chun,” he cried, “I shall give
‘my daughter happiness. This being
| her last day, she shall spend it as her
heart urges. I shall wed her to the
Foreigner.”
And then without waiting for a
word from Lo Chun, he called sharp-
ly for his chief eunuch. And the
chief eunuch hurried up.
“The Princess Budding Moon will
be wedded within the hour in the
Green Mound Pavilion,” the Emperor
informed him. “You will prepare all
things needful, and tell the Princess
this is my favor.”
When the chief eunuch had retireds
the Emperor went to the window of
the Council Tower. Up to his ear
floated the unceasing plea of the
multitude: “Mercy for the Princess
and the Foreigner. They love.”
He espied the Greatest Noble cir-
culating through the crowd. And he
observed that wherever his servant
stood the agitation was intense. He
smiled. He smiled still when Lo Chun
renewed his warning.
“Take heed!” said the sorcerer.
“I see the hand of Heaven reaching
against you who assume its power.”
“Let Heaven take heed!” exclaimed
the Emperor defiantly. “It is my
fancy to do as I do. None shall stay
me. No man nor any Heaven.”
And the Emperor called for ser-
vants to bring wedding robes for him-
self and for Lo Chun. And after don-
ning these they waited, the Emperor
scornfully aloof, until the chief
eunuch returned.
“The pavilion is prepared, O Son of
Heaven. The Princess and the For-
eigner rest in it. All await you. Even
now the musicians play upon harps
of cassia wood.”
So the Emperor descended to the
foot of the Council Tower. And Lo
Chun followed, after he had linger-
ed behind to fling his arms high, as
though in prayer.
After the formal rites, the strang-
er youth performed a curious service.
From a little pouch he drew a gold
circlet, very worn and old. This he
placed upon the third finger of the
left hand of the Princess. Then, rev-
erently, he uttered six words in his
own tongue. When all was over, the
Princess shyly touched her lips to
the Emperor's hands. And the
stranger youth bowed before him. At
one side a handmaiden with a face
like a Spring flower wept softly and
unceasingly.
“You are like a god, O Emperor!
exclaimed the stranger youth. “You
have accorded us Heaven to-day. Even
that other Heaven will not make
room for us until to-morrow.”
“I am a god!” the Emperor cried
triumphantly. “With one hand I give
you death, but with the other I give
joy incomparable. And no law halts
“hut I receive neo answer. Yet I saw
- aS
or urges me. I am myself the law
and the judge.”
The ceremony over, Lo Chun, the
sorcerer, departed, his face white un-
der the frosty pinch of anger. The
Emperor followed, but stood in the
curtained portals of the pavillion for
a long moment. He saw the strang-
er youth stcop slowly and cup the
Princess’s slender face in gentle |
hands. Humbly the youth bent to her
waiting lips.
Night, falling gently, darkened the
path of the Emperor and Lo Chun.
“Stay with me through this night,
Lo Chun,” the Emperor commanded.
And they went to the Council Tow-
er where Yeng Ti dropped upon a di-
van and fell into profound sleep. Con-
fused fancies pressed his mind. The
Princess Budding Moon fled before
the army of Wu T’ang. Lo Chun slew
the giant Li Kong Ho. Once the
mother of Budding Moon appeared
and she was sad. But no matter what |
other pictures grew, the splendid ban-
ner of his own creation floated ever.
“Yeng Ti and God!” It danced in his
sleep like a flame. And then a bright
sun rose below it. The bright sun ad-
vanced. It seemed to threaten, and
thereupon the Emperor Yeng Ti leap-
ed to his feet. And he observed with
relief that the bright sun was only
the true sun of Heaven shining into
the tower. Day had come.
Lo Chun was gone and, again
vaguely disturbed, the Emperor call-
ed imperiously. His own voice gave
him courage and he called again ar-
rogantly. And this time his voice had
scarcely lifted when the sorcerer hur-
ried in. Faintly from below came
the still uttered prayer of a multi-
tude: ‘Mercy for the Princess and the
Foreigner.”
The Emperor was bursting with
speech.
“All night they have been crying,”
“All night long they have been cry-
ing,” he exulted. “And now I will
them marvel at my greatness and
magnanimity. I will forgive my
daughter and the Foreigner. Will I
not then be hailed as a god ?”’ :
“Q impious man!” warned Lo Chun.
“You have planned thus to exalt your
person in the eyes of your empire.
But what plans has Heaven made?”
The Emperor drew up audaciously.
“Heaven will make no plans on
earth which conflict with mine. I go
now to take the welcome news to my
daughter.”
And he hurried down to his palan-
quin. Lo Chun followed.
‘Humble yourself,” rebuked the sor-
cerer, “and you yet may be spared.
I warn you again that the hand of
Heaven is raised vengefully against
your head.”
But the Emperor gave no heed and,
climbing into his palanquin, he was
carried to the Palace of Delight. Lo
Chun followed hastily.
At the top of the Green Mound’s
spiraling stairway the Empercr bade
the guard announce him. Lo Chun
arrived as the guard came back.
“I have knocked,” the man said,
the Princess and ’ther Foreigner ‘not
two hours ago, watching the dawn up-
on the balcony.”
The vague fears of his awakening
returned to the Emperor, although he
could not say why, save that the eyes
of Lo Chun, the sorcerer, seemed full
of omen.
“Open the door!” he cried.
And to rout his own terrors he rush-
ed at the barrier and hammered upon
it. The echo of his blows rolled back,
the only answer.
“Open me this door!” he ‘command-
ed a spearsman.
And when the door had been forced
he leaped through into a lifeless void.
He hurried into an inner chamber and
was still.
When he came back, his face was
buried in his hands. His fingers tore
at his eyes as though to blot out
sight of horror.
=o
a
“Lo Chun,” he stammered. “Lo
Chun!”
They reentered together. Upon a
divan lay the Princess and the stran-
ger youth. They held each other
loosely. The silken draperies of the
Princess did not quite conceal the
handle of a double-bladed dagger.
And the blades were buried in the
breasts of the two who were coldly
immobile.
“In your vainglorious planning,”
Lo Chun rubuked, “ you never re-
flected that these two, believing your
mock death sentence, would not await
your headsmen. Yet I warned you
Heaven’s plans would not match
yours. This is your punishment.
You, who would have divided Heav-
en’s power, are stripped of the one
being you love.”
The overbearing pride of the Em-
peror Yeng Ti was shorn away. He
shivered in the bleak wind that
brought him understanding. In that
moment he knew how deeply he loved
the Princess, his daughter. And he
knew that his empire meant nothing
without her.
“This is my punishment,” he whisp-
ered. And then, because he could no
longer endure the sight of his handi-
work, he groped a blind way out of
the pavilion.
A soldier leaped from a lathering
house at the foot of the Green Mount
and rushed to Yeng Ti’s side.
“I heard the victory of your gen-
eral Wu T’ang,” he gasped. “Your
enemy is slain. His army is in flight.
His leaders are in chains.”
“Now, indeed,” murmured Lo Chun,
the sorcerer, “it is ‘Yeng Ti and
God.” ”
The Emperor shuddered. To
spearsman he cried:
“Go. Have my new banners
brought.”
And when they had come he went
with his own hands and made a pyre
of them. As the flames rose, he bow-
ed his head in supplication.
Lo Chun, the sorcerer, nodded as
though he had been waiting for these
words a long time. He seemed evan-
escently to rise up and up in his slend-
er height until his head vanished in
the sky. But this could have been no
more than the fantastic swaying o
his mysterious figure as he took the
Emperor’s hand.
And he led the sorrow-laden Em-
a
! knees.
peror back to the Princess and the
stranger youth. He bent over the
-
recumbent pair and pulled gently at
the doubled-bladed dagger. It left
their breasts, leaving no mark upon
the two who now stirred faintly. Un-
der the eyes of Lo Chun, the sorcerer,
they sat up and brushed their eyes,
as though aroused from sleep.
The Emperor Yeng Ti fell upon his
Without understanding, with-
out asking, he clasped his hands in
joy. His eyes lifted humbly to Heay-
en. He prayed.
The Princess Budding Moon smil-
ed a welcome at him and then turn-
ed in a flash to the arms of the strang-
youth.
Above these three, Lo Chut%, the
sorcerer, stood erect and reverent.
And as he looked through the little
window of the pavilion down upon a
people who would be happier now with
a more humble ruler, he smiled.
His face was filled with that con-
tent which spells the end of a mis-
sion.—By Maud and Delos W. Love-
lace in The Delineator.
THE LIBERTY BELL.
On New Years eve the tones of the
Liberty Bell were broadcast by radio
for the first time in history, when 1-9-
2-6 was tapped out by Mrs. W. Free-
land Kendrick, wife of the mayor of
Philadelphia announcing the dawn of
the Sesqui-Centennial year; a year to
be made memorable by the Sesqui-
Centennial International Exposition
commemorating the one hundred and
fiftieth anniversary of American Inde-
pendence, which is expected to open
in Philadelphia on June 1.
The famous relic has not been rung
since 1835, when it cracked as it tolled
the sad tidings of the funeral of Chief
Justice John Marshall. Since then it
has been lightly tapped twice, once on
February 11, 1915, when its reverber-
ations were caught up by telephone
across the continent. :
The Liberty Bell was orginally cast
by Thomas Lister of Whitechapel,
Londen, and arrived in Philadelphia
in the latter part of August, 1752. It
was hung on the trusses in Indepen-
dence Square to try out its tone before
it was raised to the tower.
Early in September “it was cracked
by a stroke of the clapper during a
test without any violence,” according
to a contemporary account, and was
recast. It was recast twice in Phila-
delphia. For some time it hung in the
steeple of Independence Hall, where
it remained until the steeple was taken
down, July 16, 1781. Then it was low-
ered into the brick tower, where it re-
mained until 1846. During the follow.
ing years it was moved several times
and was finally placed in its present
position in Independence Hall.
Few people realize the dimensions
of the bell. The circumference around
the lip is twelve feet,. around the
crown '. feet 6 inches, from the lip to
the crown it is 3 feet, and its weight
is 2080 pounds.
The greatest event in the history of
the bell was recorded when its notes
pealed forth to announce the procla-
mation of the adoption of the Declara-
tion of Independence on July 4, 1776,
and by so doing so gained for itself
the name by which it has since be-
come famous.—Exchange.
Lubrication of Magneto Should Not
Be Neglected.
Nothing could be simpler than the
proper lubrication of a magneto. The
very simplicity may be responsible for
the frequency with which the mag-
neto is neglected. Yet if lubrication
of the rest of the chassis were as sim-
ple, motoring would be a pleasure uu-
alloyed.
Most magnetos require just a drop
or two at two or three points once in
a fortnight to keep the ball bearings
moist, the oil being retained by a felt
pad which doles it out in homeopathic
doses. The magneto which requires
the most oil is no more difficult to care
for than others, and several important
electrical advantages which it contains
more than offset this.
There are two oil cups on the Dixie,
over the bearings, which require cil
every 1,000 miles of passenger car
travel or every 500 miles by a truck.
One is just back of the distributor
and requires four drops—no more and
no iess—and the other at the extreme
rear, requiring just two. Every other
time the bearings are oiled, the break-
er box should be removed and a drop
of oil on a toothpick dropped in the
little hole in the breaker frame, just
above the breaker arm bearing. This
requires ordinary care not to get any
of the oil onto the platinum points.
Some makers recommend sewing
machine oil, but any light oil, such as
is used in the crank case in winter,
will do.
omnes fp eee
Curbstone Bumping Very Injurious to
the Tires.
One of the hardest things for a
motorist to understand is that a tire
frequently suffers serious injury when
bumped against a curbstone. Because
the tire shows no external damage,
the owner is likely to feel that the
tire is defective if some time later it
blows out as a result of the bump.
All the ingenuity of the skilled tire
engineer will never be able to make
a tire that is comfortable to ride on
and at the same time able to stand up
under mistreatment of this sort. If a
driver wants to bang his tires around
he will find it more economical to
equip with old-fashioned iron tires
than with rubber. A rubber tire will
stand a great deal; it will deliver
thousands of miles of service over
rough roads. But it frequently under-
goes internal rupture when given un-
duly harsh treatment, such as being
bumped against a curb. The break-
down is not due to faulty construc-
tion, but to shabby treatment.
Trucks equipped with pneumatics
should be especially careful to avoid
this sort of damage to their tires, A
truck in backing up to a curb to dis-
charge a load will often crash into a
curbstone. The weight of the truck,
£ { combined with the tonnage of its car-
go, causes an especially damaging
blow to the tire. Curbstone ruptures
of this sort in big pneumatics usually
cause the tire to blow just above the
bead.