three children and half a million, while he, Chun Ah Chun, had
fifteen children and no one but himself knew how many millions.

"Our daughters are beautiful women," he said to his wife, one
evening. "There are many young men. The house is always full of
young men. My cigar bills are very heavy. Why are there no
marriages?"

Mamma Achun shrugged her shoulders and waited.

"Women are women and men are men--it is strange there are no
marriages. Perhaps the young men do not like our daughters."

"Ah, they like them well enough," Mamma Chun answered; "but you see,
they cannot forget that you are your daughters' father."

"Yet you forgot who my father was," Ah Chun said gravely. "All you
asked was for me to cut off my queue."

"The young men are more particular than I was, I fancy."

"What is the greatest thing in the world?" Ah Chun demanded with
abrupt irrelevance.

Mamma Achun pondered for a moment, then replied: "God."

He nodded. "There are gods and gods. Some are paper, some are
wood, some are bronze. I use a small one in the office for a paper-
weight. In the Bishop Museum are many gods of coral rock and lava
stone."