The Poor Little Man Wept When He Said Good-By To Me In
Helena.
We had just arrived and were still on the walk in front of the
hotel, and of course all the small boys in the street gathered around
us.
I felt very much like weeping, too, and am afraid I will feel even
more so when I get in my own home. Hang is going right on to China, to
visit his mother one year, and I presume that his people will consider
him a very rich man, with the twelve hundred dollars he has saved. He
has never cut his hair, and has never worn American clothes. Even in
the winter, when it has been freezing cold, he would shuffle along on
the snow with his Chinese shoes.
I shall miss the pretty silk coats about the house, and his swift,
almost noiseless going around. That Chinamen are not more generally
employed I cannot understand, for they make such exceptional servants.
They are wonderfully economical, and can easily do the work of two
maids, and if once you win their confidence and their affection they
are your slaves. But they are very suspicious. Once, when Bishop
Tuttle was with us, he wanted a pair of boots blackened, and set them
in his room where Hang could see them, and on the toe of one he put a
twenty-five cent piece. Hang blackened the boots beautifully, and then
put the money back precisely where it was in the first place. Then he
came to me and expressed his opinion of the dear bishop. He said,
"China-man no stealee - you tellee him me no stealee - he see me no
takee him" - and then he insisted upon my going to see for myself that
the money was on the boot. I was awfully distressed. The bishop was to
remain with us several days, and no one could tell how that Chinaman
might treat him, for I saw that he was deeply hurt, but it was utterly
impossible to make him believe otherwise than that the quarter had
been put there to test his honesty. I finally concluded to tell the
bishop all about it, knowing that his experience with all kinds of
human nature had been great in his travels about to his various
missions, and his kindness and tact with miner, ranchman, and cowboy;
he is now called by them lovingly "The Cowboy Bishop." He laughed
heartily about Hang, and said, "I'll fix that," which he must have
done to Hang's entire satisfaction, for he fairly danced around the
bishop during the remainder of his stay with us.
Faye was made post quartermaster and commissary as soon as he reported
for duty here, and is already hard at work. The post is not large, but
the office of quartermaster is no sinecure. An immense amount of
transportation has to be kept in readiness for the field, for which
the quartermaster alone is held responsible, and this is the base of
supplies for outfits for all parties - large and small - that go to the
Yellowstone Park, and these are many, now that Livingstone can be
reached from the north or the south by the Northern Pacific Railroad.
Immense pack trains have to be fitted out for generals, congressmen,
even the President himself, during the coming season.
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