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second wife and the chance of posterity by reason of the rules and practices of that

queer organization.

He decided to divorce him from such silly scruples by forcing his hand. He
therefore purchased an eligible daughter from an impecunious father, paid her

traveling expenses for the journey up the Grand Canal and across the country, and
sent her on her way to the ancestral village.

Deacon Lee answered a knock on his door and found a strange damsel standing

without. When he inquired what her business was, she informed him that she sought
one Lee-Hope-to-get-Rich, saying that she had come from Nanking at the behest of
his brother to become his wife! In token of which she produced documentary
evidence, receipts, bills of lading, etcetera. Imagine a pious churchman being in such

a predicament!

To say that the Deacon was flabbergasted would be to state it conservatively. His
first amazement gave place to baffled rage. He was between Scylla and Charybdis. If

he took her into his home his reputation with his fellow-communicants at the Jesus
Hall would be damaged well-nigh beyond repair. If he turned her away to tell her
story to all and sundry in the streets, the House of Lee would become a public
laughing-stock.

He chose the first as the least bitter of the two pills, received the unwelcome
woman from the South into his house and ordered that she be entertained as a guest.

Knowing that the news would fly on the wings of the wind, he hastened around to
the Jesus Hall to explain how he had been victimized by his brother who had learned
the vicious ways of the South.

Such a juicy topic of conversation had not been forthcoming in years, and was the
occasion for the bedlam of gossip that we referred to at the outset of this history.

The war of words continued to rage over a period of weeks, during which time the

Deacon was striving feverishly to marry off his unwelcome guest to any eligible male
in sight. To all such he dilated upon the charms, culture and beauty of the fair one
from the South, his main problem being to conceal his eagerness to be rid of her.
Negotiations were under way with several parties within the church and without,

and the freshness of the event to Deacon Lee having worn off, the discussion had

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