Mr. Van Buren's home was on Milton Hill. It overlooked Boston and the
harbor. The upper windows commanded a glorious view in the morning.
Before it glittered the sea with its white sails, and behind it rose the
Blue Hills with their green orchards and woods. The house was colonial,
with gables and cupola, and was surrounded by hour-glass elms, arbors,
and evergreen trees. It had been built by Mr. Van Buren's father in the
days of the China trade and of the primitive mandarin merchant, Hoqua.
Mr. Van Buren, a tea-merchant of Boston, received his goods through
merchant vessels, and not through his own ships as his father had done.
The next morning Mrs. Van Buren went down early into her kitchen to
assign Sky-High his work.
Nora, in a loud whisper that the birds in the apple-boughs might have
heard, informed Mrs. Van Buren that the new Chinese servant was "no good
as a sweeper," and asked what he did with his pigtail when he slept. "It
must take him a good part of to-morrer to comb his hair, it is that long,"
she said. "And wouldn't you better use him up-stairs for an errand-boy
altogether now? Sure, you wouldn't be after teaching him any cooking at
all?" Nora was an old servant and had many privileges of speech.
Mrs. Van Buren smiled, and arranged that little Sky-High should wash and
iron clothes in the cabin under the blooming trees, at the end of the
arbor.
"And if you learn well," said she, "I may let you tend the door, and
wait upon the table, and keep the rooms in order."
"And then you will be up-stairs," said little Lucy, "where it is very
pleasant."
"And now, Sky-High, tell me how it is that you can speak English so
well," said Mrs. Van Buren, as they stood in the cabin, where the
prospect of solitude seemed to please the boy. A gleam of something like
mischief appeared on little Sky-High's face.
"And, Madame de Mandarin," said he, "I speak French too. _Parlez-vous
Français_, Mademoiselle Lucy?" he added rapidly, turning to the
little American girl. "_Pardonne_, Madame la Mandarin!"
"Sky-High will not say 'Mandarin' any more," said Mrs. Van Buren. "There
are no mandarins in this country, and when Sky-High is called into the
rooms above he will wear his plain clothes, not spangled clothes. Now,
who taught you English?"
"My master, madam."
"Say mistress, Sky-High."
"My master, mistress."
"Where did you live in Manchuria?"
"In the house of a mandarin."
"And who was your master?"
"The mandarin, mistress."
"Do mandarins in China teach their servants to speak English?"
"Some mandarins do, your grace."
"Do not say 'your grace,' Sky-High, but simply mistress. Ladies have no
titles in America. Where is the city in which you lived?"
"In Manchuria, on the coast, on the Crystal Sea."
The kitten came running into the kitchen, and at once leaped on to the
end of Sky-High's pigtail.
The boy gave his pigtail a sudden whisk.
"Pie-cat?" asked he.
"No, no!" said Mrs. Van Buren in horror. "We have no pie-cats in this
country. Was there an English teacher in your house?"
Little Sky-High was winding his pigtail about his neck for safety. He
saw Lucy giggling, and a laugh came into his own eyes.
"_Pardonne_, mistress. We had an English trader at the hong--at the
trade-house."
"Do they send servants to English teachers in China?"
"When they are to grow up and deal with English business, mistress."
"Did you meet English people at the hong?"
"Yes, mistress."
"Who were they?"
"I cannot name them. There were my lords and the admiral; and the
American Consul he came, and the German Consul he came, and the American
travelers they came, and Russian officers they came."
"How old are you, Sky-High?"
"There have passed over me fifteen New-Year days, mistress."
"Well, Sky-High," said his mistress, "I am going to give you this cabin
under the trees, where you may do your washings and all your ironings.
No one else shall come here to work. I have decided to have you begin
to-morrow to bring up the breakfast."
The next morning Sky-High performed his first service at the
breakfast-table. He brought up the coffee while Mr. Van Buren was saying
grace. He paused before the table.
"Sleepy, sleepy!" he exclaimed softly, "all sleepy!"
Mrs. Van Buren put out her hand as a signal for him to wait. Sky-High
did not understand, and the grace was concluded amid smiles.
Sky-High wondered much what had made the family sleepy at that time of
the day. They did not go to sleep at the breakfast-table in China.
"The mistress and her people," said he to Nora, "shut their eyes and go
to sleep at the breakfast."
"An' sure, it is quare you are yourself! They were praying. Don't you
ever say prayers, Sky-High?"
"My country has printed prayers," said Sky-High with lofty dignity.
"You're a hathen people. Here we call such as you a 'hathen Chinee,' and
there was a Californan poet that wrote a whole piece about the likes of
you. Children speak it at school. Here is the toast--carry it up!"
Lucy liked to see the little olive-colored "wang" moving about.
One day at the table she requested him to bring her a cup of tea. The
little Chinaman well knew that Lucy and Charles were not permitted to
have tea. He inquired whether he should make it in the American or the
Chinese way.
"In the way you would for a wang," said Lucy.
Sky-High soon re-appeared, his tray bearing a pretty little covered cup
and a silver pitcher.
"Where is the tea?" asked Lucy.
"It is in the cup, like a wang's," said Sky-High.
He poured the hot water on the tea, and fragrance filled the room.
Lucy, with a glance asking her mother's leave, tasted the tea she had
roguishly ordered.
"We do not have tea like this," she said; "is it tea?"
"Like a wang's," said Sky-High, blinking.
"Where did you get it?" asked Lucy.
"Out of my tea-canister," said Sky-High.
Little Lucy did not drink the tea, for little Lucy had never drunk
a cup of tea; but its fragrance lingered about the house through the
day, and set her wondering what else the little Chinaman's immense trunk
might hold.
It had been agreed between the Consul and Mrs. Van Buren that little
Sky-High might talk with the family; and like her husband she found the
Chinese boy "a new book." She asked him many a curious question about
the "Flowery Kingdom," and one day she learned that "we never send our
finest teas out of China." Yes "we" said the washee-washee-wang, as the
neighbor-boys called him.