Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 140: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

(450 nished with prodigiously long nails, saved, after the olden manner among his kind, to show that he was not a man who labored. From the Temple, Chong dashed to the home of Hong Kew, the carpenter. a friend of his father’s. Li Muck Pow and even Good Dip, the printer, were enlisted. Nine friends and ninety dollars were deployed along the firing line in the strategic ar- rangement to stimulate business. His last visit was to the humble abode of Bong Lee. “For you I will do much, but ask me not to consort with that pious fraud who disgraces the tribe of Ho,” declared the scholar when Charlie had unfolded his plan. **T should hate to soil good steel with the green gaul that courses through his veins, - but—” His voice trailed off into narrow chilling imprecations idiomatic to the tongue of Canton. Could I avail myself of your immeasur- able aid in the office again to-day?” the young editor inquired. “I shall be very busy and your trenchant brush will add much to our poor columns.” -- Bong Lee forgot his time-honored feud at this chance to write once more for publi- nursed literary ambitions and he was only seventy-two. Like many schoolmasters, he Charlie Chong found that the copy pre- = 3 pared for him by Harry Estcourt was in the usual style of the American advertising : bureau. To translate it literally would pro- - duce only a meaningless congeries of words and his heart sank as he realized the result such an effort would bring. would first stare incredulously and then burst into toothful smiles—Chinatown never laughed aloud. It had not been done since the Chow dynasty. Chinatown And Charlie Chong knew his own people. That is why he threw away his glasses, stripped off his collar and then his coat to labor through -the night upon what must be his masterpiece — an advertisement that would appeal to the Chinese and bring re- sults—immediate results. ~ Two things he kept ever before him, the Chinese love for maxim and racial thrift. When the wisdom of his ancestral land failed to supply sage saw and appealing Y ~ ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. * = aphorism, he borrowed from his adopted tongue and its philosophers. Finished— he studied his effort with applauding eyes —the eyes of a satisfied artist-connoisseur, appreciating his own greatest work. Trans- lated into discordant English, it lost the musical cadences of the Cantonese, but read something in this wise: A aN SAVED IS A PENNY EARNED —Ben Frank Len So says a seer whose prophetic eyes must have foreseen the magnificent opening to-day of the GATE TO A THOUSAND JOYS Home of Temple of Bargain Thrift Known to the White Ones as FIVE AND TEN CENT EMPORIUM What says the Sage of Shantung—the Heaven sent Kong Fu Tze. Doubtlessly his inspired eye beheld this great event even from the hoary past when he said: THE PRUDENT MAN MAKES WISE SELECTION These are the Master’s words. Give heed and remember that both He and the Illustrious Ben Frank Len agreed on this: THE EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM Therefore, be wise—be an early bird, a pru- dent man and make wise selection from this galaxy of bargains: A gift from the gods. The light of heaven Tack hammers, 10c. Electric globes, 10c. for a song. Tin cups, 5c. do not break. Clothes pins, 10c. (doz.) The thrifty will note this and be wise. A prudent purchase — they : Followed long lists of typical chain store offerings to which Charlie Chong added quaint bits of oriental philosophy. He scanned the pages of a book of popular quotations borrowed from the near-by Chinese Y. M. C. A. and the names of the authors limned in Celestial characters were enough to make more than one celebrated ghost sit up in musty grave with puzzled skull]. In addition to Ben Frank Len, there were gems of thought from Pla Tow, Tac Ti Tus, Ir Vin Kob and Koo Ay. ““FEach day, each way, we get more better,’ says the learned Koo Ay,” wrote Charlie at the end of the advertisement as a cap sheaf to his shock of harvested phil- - Eomichbooks:co