Page:Frank Owen - Rare Earth, 1931.djvu/53

 garden without change, nor should paintings remain endlessly on a wall."

Hung Long Tom's father taught him the lure and lore of precious stones. How some stones are lucky while others bring disaster. Of the charming evil of black pearls. Of the sinister beauty of opal fires. Of the sweet fragrance of certain jewels. Of the medicinal quality of others. Of the transmutation of jewels and perfume. Perfumes are elixirs to be prescribed in certain illnesses. White violets for the stomach. For the mind vine-leaves, for the heart a rose. The Color of Music, the Fragrance of Jewels and the Music of Color—these were the three prime principles of life which his father taught him. All fine arts are interchangeable.

Hung Long Tom was nobly ancestored. The strain of his blood was pure, the blood of artists and philosophers. It is not odd then that the boy should have turned to poetry as a means of expression. It was in his blood. It is in the very air of China. As the years glided past he wrote some fragrant bits of verse that