like that!

"Would it reach the hands of his good genius on
the opposite side, unruffled and
unsoiled?"--WALTER PATER.

"To radiate the heat of the affections into a
clod, which absorbs all that is poured into it,
but never warms beneath the sunshine of smiles or
the pressure of hand or lip--this is the great
martyrdom of sensitive beings--most of all in that
perpetual _auto-da-fe_ where young womanhood is
the sacrifice."--O. W. HOLMES.

CHAPTER XI

THE GREAT FURNACE FOR A GREAT SOUL

BEING THE STORY OF AI DO

MRS. FAN'S second daughter came into the world under the shadow of
sorrow, for apart from the fact that she was a girl, whereas a boy had
been ardently desired, her first lusty yells revealed the fact that she
was born with a tooth visible. This was well known by every woman in the
village to indicate antagonism to her mother's life, and disaster would
surely ensue were she not promptly drowned or thrown out to perish by
the riverside.

Her fate seemed sealed, but that a woman seeing what a dear little baby
she was, was moved with pity, and declared herself willing to take the
responsibility of asserting that the child was hers in order that the
demons which were ordering these events might be deceived, and thus her
real mother would escape the fate which threatened her life, if the baby
were not killed.

An incredible amount of ingenuity is expended in China on deceptions
practised to mislead the _gwei_ or demon, whose influence you have cause
to fear. Being a malignant spirit, his object is to hurt that which you
specially value, therefore it is well to deceive him into thinking that
your precious son is only a useless girl, or even a little animal. This
is not difficult to manage, for the _gwei_, though powerful to work
evil, is a simple creature, and it is sufficient for him to see earrings
dangling from your boy's ears to make him think he sees a girl, or if
you call the child by some such name as "puppy," "little pig," "kitten,"
or "goat," he will quite fail to perceive that the object of your
affection is two legs short of what one might be led to expect.

When a _gwei_ has really determined to injure your child, it is
sometimes necessary to kill a dog and wrap your boy in its skin, that it
may be perfectly evident to the whole spirit world that if you are
bestowing any affection, it i