the voluptuous glitter of Oriental
display; but he was a philosopher, and he clearly saw that his children's
tastes were correct according to Western standards.

Of course, his children were not known as the Ah Chun children. As he
had evolved from a coolie labourer to a multi-millionaire, so had his
name evolved. Mamma Ah Chun had spelled it A'Chun, but her wiser
offspring had elided the apostrophe and spelled it Achun. Ah Chun did
not object. The spelling of his name interfered no whit with his comfort
nor his philosophic calm. Besides, he was not proud. But when his
children arose to the height of a starched shirt, a stiff collar, and a
frock coat, they did interfere with his comfort and calm. Ah Chun would
have none of it. He preferred the loose-flowing robes of China, and
neither could they cajole nor bully him into making the change. They
tried both courses, and in the latter one failed especially disastrously.
They had not been to America for nothing. They had learned the virtues
of the boycott as employed by organized labour, and he, their father,
Chun Ah Chun, they boycotted in his own house, Mamma Achun aiding and
abetting. But Ah Chun himself, while unversed in Western culture, was
thoroughly conversant with Western labour conditions. An extensive
employer of labour himself, he knew how to cope with its tactics.
Promptly he imposed a lockout on his rebellious progeny and erring
spouse. He discharged his scores of servants, locked up his stables,
closed his houses, and went to live in the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, in which
enterprise he happened to be the heaviest stockholder. The family
fluttered distractedly on visits about with friends, while Ah Chun calmly
managed his many affairs, smoked his long pipe with the tiny silver bowl,
and pondered the problem of his wonderful progeny.

This problem did not disturb his calm. He knew in his philosopher's soul
that when it was ripe he would solve it. In the meantime he enforced the
lesson that complacent as he might be, he was nevertheless the absolute
dictator of the Achun destinies. The family held out for a week, then
returned, along with Ah Chun and the many servants, to occupy the
bungalow once more. And thereafter no question was raised when Ah Chun
elected to enter his brilliant drawing-room in blue silk robe, wadded
slippers, and black silk skull-cap with red button peak, or when he chose
to draw at his slender-stemmed silver-bowled pipe among