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Contents (93)
  1. CONTENTS
  2. MRS. SPRING FRAGRANCE
  3. I
  4. II
  5. III
  6. IV
  7. THE INFERIOR WOMAN
  8. I
  9. II
  10. III
  11. IV
  12. V
  13. VI
  14. THE WISDOM OF THE NEW
  15. I
  16. II
  17. III
  18. IV
  19. V
  20. VI
  21. VII
  22. “ITS WAVERING IMAGE”
  23. I
  24. II
  25. IT WAS A COOL, QUIET evening, after a hot day. A new moon was in the sky.
  26. III
  27. “CURSED BE HIS ANCESTORS,” BAYED Man You.
  28. IV
  29. THE GIFT OF LITTLE ME
  30. THE STORY OF ONE WHITE WOMAN WHO MARRIED A CHINESE
  31. I
  32. II
  33. HER CHINESE HUSBAND
  34. THE AMERICANIZING OF PAU TSU
  35. I
  36. II
  37. III
  38. IV
  39. IN THE LAND OF THE FREE
  40. I
  41. II
  42. III
  43. IV
  44. THE CHINESE LILY
  45. THE SMUGGLING OF TIE CO
  46. THE GOD OF RESTORATION
  47. THE THREE SOULS OF AH SO NAN
  48. I
  49. II
  50. III
  51. IV
  52. THE PRIZE CHINA BABY
  53. LIN JOHN
  54. TIAN SHAN’S KINDRED SPIRIT
  55. THE SING SONG WOMAN
  56. I
  57. II
  58. TALES OF CHINESE CHILDREN
  59. THE SILVER LEAVES
  60. THE PEACOCK LANTERN
  61. CHILDREN OF PEACE
  62. I
  63. II
  64. III
  65. IV
  66. V
  67. “HOW MANY MOONS, LIU VENTI, since our little ones went from us?” asked Pau Tsu.
  68. THE BANISHMENT OF MING AND MAI
  69. I
  70. II The Tiger’s Farewell
  71. THE STORY OF A LITTLE CHINESE SEABIRD
  72. WHAT ABOUT THE CAT?
  73. THE WILD MAN AND THE GENTLE BOY
  74. THE GARMENTS OF THE FAIRIES
  75. THE DREAMS THAT FAILED
  76. GLAD YEN
  77. THE DECEPTIVE MAT
  78. THE HEART’S DESIRE
  79. THE CANDY THAT IS NOT SWEET
  80. THE INFERIOR MAN
  81. THE MERRY BLIND-MAN
  82. MISUNDERSTOOD
  83. THE LITTLE FAT ONE
  84. A CHINESE BOY-GIRL
  85. I
  86. II
  87. PAT AND PAN
  88. I
  89. II
  90. III
  91. THE CROCODILE PAGODA
  92. A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  93. A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

Laura was with Mrs. Spring Fragrance and Mrs. Spring Fragrance was trying to cheer her.

“I had such a pretty walk today,” said she. “I crossed the banks above the beach and came back by the long road. In the green grass the daffodils were blowing, in the cottage gardens the currant bushes were flowering, and in the air was the perfume of the wallflower. I wished, Laura, that you were with me.”

Laura burst into tears. “That is the walk,” she sobbed, “Kai Tzu and I so love; but never, ah, never, can we take it together again.”

“Now, Little Sister,” comforted Mrs. Spring Fragrance, “you really must not grieve like that. Is there not a beautiful American poem written by a noble American named Tennyson, which says:

“’Tis better to have loved and lost,

Than never to have loved at all?”

Mrs. Spring Fragrance was unaware that Mr. Spring Fragrance, having returned from the city, tired with the day’s business, had thrown himself down on the bamboo settee on the veranda, and that although his eyes were engaged in scanning the pages of the Chinese World, his ears could not help receiving the words which were borne to him through the open window.

“’Tis better to have loved and lost,

Than never to have loved at all,”

repeated Mr. Spring Fragrance. Not wishing to hear more of the secret talk of women, he arose and sauntered around the veranda to the other side of the house. Two pigeons circled around his head. He felt in his pocket for a li-chi which he usually carried for their pecking. His fingers touched a little box. It contained a jadestone pendant, which Mrs. Spring Fragrance had particularly admired the last time she was down town. It was the fifth anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Spring Fragrance’s wedding day.

Mr. Spring Fragrance pressed the little box down into the depths of his pocket.

A young man came out of the back door of the house at Mr. Spring Fragrance’s left. The Chin Yuen house was at his right.

“Good evening,” said the young man. “Good evening,” returned Mr. Spring Fragrance. He stepped down from his porch and went and leaned over the railing which separated this yard from the yard in which stood the young man.

“Will you please tell me,” said Mr. Spring Fragrance, “the meaning of two lines of an American verse which I have heard?”

“Certainly,” returned the young man with a genial smile. He was a star student at the University of Washington, and had not the slightest doubt that he could explain the meaning of all things in the universe.

“Well,” said Mr. Spring Fragrance, “it is this:

“’Tis better to have loved and lost,

Than never to have loved at all.”

“Ah!” responded the young man with an air of profound wisdom. “That, Mr. Spring Fragrance, means that it is a good thing to love anyway—even if we can’t get what we love, or, as the poet tells us, lose what we love. Of course, one needs experience to feel the truth of this teaching.”