Identifier: charmofmiddlekin01mars (find matches)
Title: The charm of the Middle kingdom
Year: 1922 (1920s)
Authors: Marsh, James Reid
Subjects:
Publisher: Boston, Little, Brown, and company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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s smile through her tearsand dragged her impassioned companion intothe lobby. That night I started to learn theRussian language. Late one afternoon in August of 1918 aHsun-pu, or revenue soldier, came into myoffice with his mouth all shot away. Thebullet must have been a large one, for it hadsheared off his teeth as if they had been somuch wool. He babbled to me unintelligiblythrough his bleeding lips what he deemed apitiful story. A Chinese writer, a particularlyastute man, gave me the gist of the tale. The Hsun-pu knew his duty and did it, butat the cost of his teeth. A big fat Chinesegeneral, than whom nothing is bigger or fatter,had contended that, being a general and verymuch removed from common men, he wasnot subject to search in the usual way. TheHsun-pu, whose nostrils were untowardly sensi-tive, became rightly aggressive. I can picturethe big fat general sitting there with his bootsoff and his feet curled under him like a josh.No doubt his breast was gleaming with medals. 150
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A EIVEK PIKATE AT HOME THE CHARM OF THE MIDDLE KINGDOM Some of his nails were long so that when hebrushed his face it was with the heel of hishand. Then he would scratch his close-croppedhead and blink with swinish contentment. But the Hsun-pu was obdurate, and in theend the general had drawn his Mauser andtaken a pot-shot at my Hsun-pus head. Itwas quite a random shot, merely raking thepoor fellows teeth. The general was forciblypacified by foreign officers and there theincident ended. My Hsun-pu was not likeSpinny, who put toads in her mouth. Hesubmitted to being tortured by an Americandentist, and at the end of the month came into show me two rows of false gleaming ivories. But if this Hsun-pu was a heroic fellow andrichly deserving of the thirty cents increase inhis weekly pay, I had another who played meutterly false. I had suspicions of him, so onenight I ordered a raid on his quarters. Theresult was truly astounding. Besides bringingto light three huge chests of gold and silver

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