. A'Chu and other stories. eground had not become sacred, and the tomb could easilyhave been moved. A prjce for two acres was agreed upon. The mis-sionaries had sufficient money to buy only one amount they paid down, and received a deed forone acre of land, signed by all eight members of thefamily. They felt satisfied that part of the bargainwas now quite secure. The Lees promised to givethem time on the other half of the land, and so themissionaries eagerly awaited money from America withwhich to pay for the second acre. The time for which the owners had agreed to waithad nearly exp
. A'Chu and other stories. eground had not become sacred, and the tomb could easilyhave been moved. A prjce for two acres was agreed upon. The mis-sionaries had sufficient money to buy only one amount they paid down, and received a deed forone acre of land, signed by all eight members of thefamily. They felt satisfied that part of the bargainwas now quite secure. The Lees promised to givethem time on the other half of the land, and so themissionaries eagerly awaited money from America withwhich to pay for the second acre. The time for which the owners had agreed to waithad nearly expired. The missionaries, thinking it would The Fung-Shui 291 be a pity to lose their chance on this healthful loca-tion for their mission homes, went to talk with theLee family, and if possible to persuade them to extendthe time a little longer. How disappointed they wereto hear that the owners now refused to sell this landat any price! Usually when a Chinese makes a bar-gain, he can be depended upon to fulfil it. But these. A CHINESE DEED Each time property is sold, the new deed is pasted to\the former one, in this case making a stair carpet. I men obstinately refused. More than this, they abso-lutely denied having sold the acre for which they hadalready received their price. Workmen sent by themissionaries to prepare the site for buildings were drivenoff and their cargo boats seized. Swatow district was in a state of revolution at thetime. There was no court of law, no magistrate ofjustice to compel this rich and influential family to f nJ>\] 292 AChu and Other Stories fulfil their bargain. After a great deal of polite talkand some haggling over the amount due, the Leesfinally paid back the money they had received from themissionaries. Now what do you suppose was the cause of all thisfussing? said the missionary telling the story. Itwas simply this: After the Lee family had sold us theland, they got the idea of building an ancestral hallwhere the tomb then stood, just back
Size: 1889px × 1322px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, bookidachuothersto, bookyear1920
