Little Sky-High | Page 6

all in an unselfish temper, until one day a big lump of dirt fell upon one of little Lucy's dainty muslin frocks as he was ironing it. Then he said something that sounded like, "cockle-cockle-cockle," and closed all the doors and windows.
At this crisis Charles and Lucy came to his side. They set wide again the doors and windows of the cabin under the green boughs, and promised him that they would forever be his true friends and protectors. "It is time we began to treat him like a wang, as mother wished," said Lucy to Charlie.
"The American boys throw dirt at me in the street," admitted little Sky-High, in a reluctant tone--he did not like to bear witness against anyone in this sunshiny world.
"I will go out with you," said Charlie, "when you are sent out to do errands. I will stand between you and the dirt. The dirt comes out of their souls."
"And I will watch around the corners and speak to them," said Lucy.
Sky-High's heart bounded at these pledges of friendship, and he leaped about in a way that made the parrot laugh--sometimes he had the parrot in his cabin, and taught it Chinese words. "The sun shines for all, the earth blossoms for all," he said to the children; "it is only the heart that needs washee-washee and smoothee-smoothee. Everything will be better by and by. I talk flowery talk, like home, out here among the birds, butterflies, and bees."
(Nora said he "jabbered" all day long in the cabin.)
Mrs. Van Buren very soon promoted the careful little Chinaman to have all the care of the beautiful living rooms and the quaint old parlors. He brought the flowers and admitted the visitors. He did his work in admirable taste. It shed a kind of good influence through the house, to see the little fellow in his fine linens flitting around, so careful was he to keep all things in speckless order.
The chief drawback was that he still used "flowery talk"; to him the world was a field of poetry, and he spoke in figures whenever he forgot himself. Mrs. Van Buren was still Madam the Mandarin, and he called Lucy the "Lotus of the Shining Sea." He received many reprimands for the use of these Oriental forms of speech; but found it hard to harness his thoughts to track-horses, especially after the June days began to fill the gardens with orioles and humming-birds and roses.
"Why not let me talk after nature?" little Sky-High used to beg.
One day the governor of the State came to visit the Van Burens. Sky-High spoke of him as the "Mandarin of the Golden Dome." He had several times been in Boston to see Consul Bradley, and knew the State House.
In the evening Mrs. Van Buren gave him his morning orders. "You will call the governor to-morrow at seven o'clock. You will knock on his door, and you must use plain language! You must not say, 'O Mandarin of the Golden Dome!' We do not use flowery terms of address in this country. Mind, Sky-High, use plain language."
The little Chinaman feared that he would be "flowery" in spite of all his care. So he consulted with Irish Nora in the blooming hours of the morning.
"What shall I say when I knock on the governor's chamber-door?" asked he earnestly. "What shall I say in the plain American language?"
"What shall you say? Say, 'Get up!'"
"Is that all?" asked he doubtfully.
"Well, if you want to say more, say, 'Get up! The world is all growing and crowing--the roosters are crowing their heads off!'"
Sky-High went to the door of the governor's room and knocked.
There came a voice from within. "Well?"
"Get up! The world is all growing and crowing,--the roosters are crowing their heads off."
The "Mandarin of the Golden Dome" did not wait for a second summons, but got up even as Sky-High had bidden him. It was a June morning, and he found the world as he had been warned, "all growing and crowing."
"Have you called the governor?" asked Mrs. Van Buren, as she met Sky-High on the stairs.
"Yes, my Lady of the Beautiful Morning."
"Did you use plain language?"
"Sky-High used the American language."
"What did you say?"
"I said, 'Get up!'"
"Oh, Sky-High, now I will have to apologize for you!"
"We never use plain language to mandarins in China," said Sky-High. "If we did, 'whish, whish,' and our heads would be off before we could turn!"
The Mandarin of the Golden Dome came down from the chamber; and the Lady of the Beautiful Morning explained to him that her new boy had not yet mastered the arts of American manners, although he intended to be correct when addressing his superiors.
"I didn't notice anything whatever incorrect," said the governor, who had hugely enjoyed the manner of his summons. "He awoke me--what more