Charles and Lucy wished to give Sky-High a surprise. They had come into
possession of a kite which had been described to them as marvelous, and
they got their mother's permission to take the little Chinaman to
Franklin Park to see them fly it for the first time.
Franklin Park is not far from Milton Hill; and the street-cars readily
carry the crowds of children to the pleasure-grounds of the immense
common of woods, fields, great rocks and elms, and whole prairies of
grass. It is quite free--the dwellers of close Boston and its bowery
suburbs own the vast pleasure-place--the people could hardly have more
privileges there did each one hold a deed of it. Little Sky-High thought
this wonderful when it was explained to him.
The Van Burens had ample grounds of their own, but Mrs. Van Buren and
the children liked to go to Franklin Park. Mrs. Van Buren liked to sit
in the great stone Emerson arbor on Schoolmaster's Hill, and watch the
white flocks of English sheep wander to and fro and feed, guarded and
guided by shepherd-dogs, and to gaze away in an idle reverie at the Blue
Hills under the purple charm of distance.
No one jeered now when the Van Buren children appeared in the street
with the little Chinaman. Nobody cried, "Rat-tail!" Nobody cried,
"Washee-washee-wang!" He often rode with them in the carriage. People
looked at him, to be sure, but only with interest--the fame of his
accomplishments in the English language had gone abroad.
It was a beautiful early summer day, the white daisies waving in the
west wind. Crossing the field, from a little green hill the children
prepared to send up the new kite. Out of his narrow black eyes little
Sky-High looked at it, as they took it from the package and sent it up.
It seemed simply a frame-work, but presently the American flag rolled
out in the sky, as though it hung alone, or had bloomed there.
Sky-High beheld it with pleasure. Great was America! He was contented to
sit and watch it for hours, or as long as the children pleased. It was
not until sunset that the starry kite was hauled down through the golden
air, and Lucy and Charles prepared to return home.
On the way the little serving-man said, "I have a kite in my trunk. You
let me fly it for you some day? You come with me here?"
So another breezy day the Van Buren children came to the Park with
Sky-High. Lucy danced about in the green world for very light-heartedness.
"You stay at the overlook," said Sky-High, pointing to the wild-flower
embankment surrounded by burning azalias, "and I will show you how
Chinese boys fly kites."
He had brought a thin package under his arm, and while Lucy and Charles
waited at the embankment he ran like a thing of air out into the open
field.
It was a glorious June day; and the great elms with their fresh young
foliage were glimmering thick in the fiery sky, and like an emerald sea
was the grass on the field, where hundreds of children were playing ball
and other games.
Sky-High threw to the air a bundle of red with a few light angles and
circles of bamboo, and it began at once to rise and expand. It went up
into the mid-air, and fold after fold rolled out, and there appeared a
great dragon.
All the children on the field stopped in their play to look up at it.
The sun turned the dragon to intense red. To all appearance a terrible
monster had taken possession of the air!
Suddenly the dragon wheeled about and went coiling along towards the
overlook, Sky-High following and guiding its course. When it was just
overhead it opened a great mouth, and smoke seemed to issue from it.
"Look out, little Lady of the Lotus," cried Sky-High merrily, "or it may
swallow you!"
The little girl ran aside, but the dragon made no attempt to come down.
When at a height some twenty feet above the earth it paused. Then
suddenly, with a puff, it poured down a shower of flowers, butterflies,
and gilded paper, like a gold shower. The air was full of them; they
drifted here, there, and everywhere. All the children on the field ran
to behold the wonder. Everybody shouted, and a great crowd of little
people gathered around Sky-High to pick up the tissue flowers and
butterflies.
"Ah," said the little Chinaman, "you ought to see him do that in the
night, when all he sends down turns into fire!"
There never had been seen a kite like Sky-High's before. But the Chinese
have been masters of kite-flying for more than two thousand years. Among
their national festivals they have a kite-flying day.
Sky-High often came there with his magic kite. He became a very popular
boy in the Park. The Boston boys said "Hello!" when they met him in his
azure suit, quiet fun shining in his eyes. Lucy and Charles walked by
his side with pride. They introduced him to all of their friends who
asked it, and everybody spoke of him.
"Oh, he is such a gentleman, and so educated! Haven't you heard about
him? He came to learn how to do business and understand our American
homes. He will go back to his country and teach sometime. No doubt
a working-boy can rise in China the same as in our land!"
Lucy often begged her mother to let Sky-High wear his beautiful Chinese
clothes to the Park--with his kite he would seem like a true enchanter!
But Mrs. Van Buren strictly forbade.