Bonanza
~*~*~ Advent Calendar ~*~*~
* Day 12 *

Summary:  On Christmas Eve, Hop Sing shares with the Cartwrights the meaning of the Christmas bells in his own life.
Rating:  G
Words:  2,440

I Heard the Bells

The year was 1865. The Civil War was over and the people were celebrating Christmas like they never had before. Peace was once again flowing through the land.

In a small town built on the side of the Sierra Nevada mountains (Mount Davidson to be precise), a man with almond eyes gazed through a frosted window at the small crystals drifting out of the gray clouds.

A hand came to rest on the man’s shoulder. “Your thoughts are far from here, my friend. Do you fret about the snow?”

Hop Sing turned to see the wise and smiling eyes of his friend, Cam Lee. He had come to share Christmas Eve with the good doctor and Su Ling, now Cam Lee’s wife.

“No, only memories of long ago.” His gaze returned to the snow, now falling faster. “The family will be here soon. I can hear the church bells ringing.”

“Then come, share one more cup of tea with us while we await their arrival.”

With warmth in his heart, Hop Sing basked in the friendships he now held dear.

A few blocks away, larger white flakes swirled downward, coming to rest on horses and carriages, buildings and roads, and now hats and coats as parishioners exited a small church. To the sound of joyful bells, the townsfolk made their way to their homes, families filled wagons to ride to their farms, and four men climbed into a sleigh.

“Pa, don’t forget to pick up Hop Sing.”

“What’s the matter, Hoss. Are you afraid we’ll leave him behind and not have any meals for Christmas?

“You be quiet, Adam.”

“Alright boys, settle down. I’m heading there now, Hoss.”

“Thanks, Pa.”

Snickering drifted from the back seat causing Hoss to frown while Ben guided the horse across town to Cam Lee’s home.

In no time, the large sleigh, bearing five pensive men, was gliding through the snow toward home in the mountains.

Ben focused on the whitening road as the number of falling flakes increased with every mile. Hoss considered which cookies he wanted to try first, after dinner of course. Joe was trying to figure out a certain odd shaped present under the tree, and apparently with no name attached. Adam pondered a poem to read for Christmas, one he had found in a new book of poetry.

While the four Cartwrights were focused on current events, Hop Sing was remembering certain events in his past. That afternoon, he celebrated Christmas the Chinese way with his friends, sharing a light meal of beef and plum pie before small gifts were exchanged. Just before the Cartwrights arrived to carry him home, he heard the chiming of the distant church bells. Those bells brought back memories of a time long ago, a time when he was much younger and in a new land. It was another Christmas when he had heard, for the first time, such melodious bells singing the joy of Christmas day.

By the time Ben pulled the sleigh up to the front door of the Ponderosa, the snow was several inches deep. A few ranch hands who were overwintering with the Cartwrights, came from the warmth of the bunkhouse to help with the horse and sleigh.

“Adam and Hoss, help Hop Sing get the food gifts into the kitchen while Joe and I take everything else to the living room. Jake, you and the other men come in after you eat your dinner to enjoy some cider and carols.”

“Yessir, Mister Cartwright. That would be right nice. Thank you.”

In the kitchen Hoss carried the canned fruits and vegetables, received from friends in town, to the cellar. Adam helped Hop Sing get the meal for the ranch hands into serving containers so they could enjoy their dinner while the family ate. As they bustled about the kitchen, Adam was surprised that Hop Sing  was not his animated self and only spoke when giving him instructions about the food.

After he and Hoss returned from delivering the meal to the men and Hoss disappeared into the living room with a couple of pilfered cookies, Adam approached their cook. “You’re rather quiet this evening. Did you enjoy your time with Cam Lee and Su Ling?”

“Yes, Hop Sing had good visit with friends and nice food.”

“Is something else on your mind?”

Hop Sing put the last of the beef on a tray and handed it to Adam to carry to the table. He followed with bowls of potatoes and green beans. When both returned to the kitchen Hop Sing paused at the work table then turned to Adam and asked, “The church bells. Why they ring more loudly today?”

Taken aback by the abrupt and odd question, Adam considered his answer then smiled at his Chinese friend, “You know Christmas is about celebrating Christ’s birth.”

Hop Sing nodded once.

“Well, that’s why the bells are rung at Christmas time. They are celebrating Jesus’ birth and the peace in the land that God promised when the angels in the Bible sang, ‘Peace on earth, goodwill toward men.’* And I guess this year, since the war is over, they are ringing more profusely.”

Hop Sing lowered his eyes and pondered Adam’s answer before speaking. “Each Christmas I hear the bells, and think of the special birth. But tonight, when I hear church bells ring, I remember first time I hear bells ring, long, long ago…”

“Hop Sing, are we ready to eat?”

Adam and Hop Sing both jumped, having been lost in their conversation. “We’re on our way, Pa,” and to Hop Sing he whispered, “Will you tell us while we eat?”

Hop Sing smiled as he lifted the last of the serving dishes. “It is time to tell story to family.”

Once everyone was seated and Ben blessed the food, Adam tapped his glass with his fork. “Everyone, Hop Sing has a story to tell us while we enjoy this delicious meal. It’s about the first time he heard church bells ringing.” Adam tilted his head toward their cook. “Hop Sing…”

The Chinese man made eye contact with each man there, knowing how much of his heart belonged to each one. “The story I tell, you have not heard. It begins with sadness but ends with happiness. Mister Ben and Mister Adam, it has been twenty-five years since we first met.* But my story begins before that, in my home, in China, when our land was no longer happy…”

“In the fall of eighteen hundred thirty-nine, my country of China became dangerous place to live. At first, for long time, my people were happy working on farms and selling their wares in the cities. Then those you call English come to make trade for tea, fabrics, and much else. Chinese people happy about trade, but then bad traders come with opium*. It was said that English people brought opium from India to sell to Chinese, and our leaders did not want it. They said it was bad for health and would lead men to do bad things. Our leaders began to make many laws against Opium and people who have it.

“Hop Sing live in village near big city and worried about what all this meant. It was not many days when we heard that the English brought big ships and big guns. China leaders then fought with own ships.

“One day, Hop Sing is shaken awake by father before the sun has risen and told to pack and go work with Uncle near port in north. Father tell Hop Sing it is safer there but I argue it bad place too because of different ships there, ships that make Chinese people travel to far lands. Father say Uncle promise to keep Hop Sing safe.

“Hop Sing obey honorable father and when I arrive at Uncle’s home I find out Uncle is planning to sail to America. Hop Sing was grown man but still too young to argue with honorable Uncle. I tried to go back to father but uncle say ‘NO!’ That is when I hear big booms from south.

“Fear squeezed my heart. I wondered, ‘Are my father and mother safe?’ Father not in good health to travel with Hop Sing. Uncle told me it is better in America, and says with love in his eyes, that mother and father will find safety. It is more than Hop Sing can understand or bear, but I knew I must obey my Uncle and Father.

“When I arrived at the port with my Uncle, I felt my eyes widen at the size of the ship before me. In front of me rose a wooden wall, topped with what looked like branchless trees. Crossing those ‘trees’ were beams wrapped in cloth of some kind. People moved one after another up a long plank to the top of the wall. As the crowd thinned my fears grew greater. At last it was my turn to climb the plank. A man in uniform nudged me forward but my feet refused to move. I trembled with the thought of leaving my home, my parents. Tears dampened my cheek…I turned away, ashamed for anyone to see. That’s when the cannon thundered in the south, close enough to make the water ripple and the boat rock. Amid screams and pleas from the ship the ground shook beneath my feet. The man yelled at me to move. Spinning back around, I hugged my bag to my chest and ran up the plank which was pulled up as soon as I collapsed on the deck. A loud voice shouted for the boat to leave the harbor. When the ship jerked, I scooted myself into a dark corner and did not move again until the land was far away. It was there, on the cold and windy deck, that my uncle found me. In silence he sat with me until I was ready to go below and join my new family.

“After several weeks Hop Sing lose count how long we saw the water and no land. But one bitter cold day, the ship’s bell rang many times and someone in a basket near the sky cried, “Land, ho!” I looked to my uncle when we heard it, and he said it meant we were almost to our new home.

When we arrived we found a home with other Chinese who had come before us. They had tents on a hillside near a small trading center. We could see the water of the bay from there and the many ships that came and went. Hop Sing remember it was cold and my uncle told me the white men there were celebrating Christmas. I did not know much about Christmas at that time but when the day came we were awakened by chiming  bells. There were not many but they made a pleasing sound to my ears. Many others were scared by the sound, thinking we might be taken away, but an elder in our group only laughed and said the people shook them for joy for the birth of the Christ-child.

“Those years before I came to work for family here were difficult for my people, I learned to be happy whenever I heard those bells ring. And now, Hop Sing can smile at Christmas when the bells ring because I have a good home and family, both Chinese and white.”

Hop Sing clasped his hands and bowed his head in reverence to the Cartwrights who took him in so long ago. Ben lifted his wine glass with his sons following. “Here’s to Hop Sing, without whom our home would be without light and joy, and our family quite lost. Thank you for joining our family. Merry Christmas!”

Hop Sing’s face lit up and he bowed his head as joy overflowed his heart. He raised his glass as each man tapped their glasses together.

A knock interrupted the quiet celebration, for which Hop Sing was thankful, and he slipped from the table to answer the door. The four ranch hands entered just as Ben and his sons left the table to begin the festivities in the living room. Hop Sing vanished then returned with cider, cookies, donuts, and cake for all to enjoy.

The room was filled with laughter and the sharing of Christmas stories from the past. When the last of the cider was poured, Adam straightened in his blue chair and lifted a small book.

“If I could have everyone’s attention. I planned to share a poem of the season tonight, and the one I chose seems more fitting than I first realized. It is a new poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called “Christmas Bells.”

Adam gave a subtle smile and wink to Hop Sing then began his recitation.

“I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
and mild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

When Adam lowered his book, Hop Sing stood. In a soft voice he spoke. “Merry Christmas to all. May joy ring in your hearts.”

————

My phrase: “The cannon thundered in the south” from Christmas Bells by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

My Character: Hop Sing

Title and Adam’s recitation, taken from the poem, “Christmas Bells” which was written on Christmas Day, 1863 and first published in February, 1865.  Story is in the Public Domain.

(Special thanks to BettyHT for the story idea, and the concept of a story within a story, as I did not want to write a Civil War Story, which that phrase first conjured in my head.)

*Luke 2:14

*Referencing my story Lost and Found

*First Opium War – Wikipedia

Opium trade | History & Facts | Britannica Money

Link to Bonanza Brand 2023 Advent Calendar – Day 13 – Heap on More Wood by Heather-Crysalis