i have made a most astounding discovery. walking down the street yesterday i saw a great placard on a wall announcing a lecture; subject, "the yellow peril." what did it mean? i thought i was the yellow pearl, and that nobody outside of the family knew it. but this was spelled p-e-r-i-l instead of p-e-a-r-l. what could it mean? i could go no farther, but returned at once to question grandmother.
"grandmother!" i cried, entering her room, "what is the yellow peril?"
dear grandmother's cheeks flushed, and she said, "my dear child, why bother yourself about that?"
"why, grandmother, i thought when i overheard aunt gwendolin talk, that i was the yellow pearl; she called me such the first day i came," i said. "but on the placard it is spelled p-e-r-i-l. what does it mean?"
"i am sorry you saw it," said grandmother hesitatingly. "there is too much being said on that subject by a certain class of people—it is the world god loves," she added as if talking to herself, "not the united states, great britain, germany; the yellow people are just as dear to god as we are. the gentle christ looked widely over the world, shed tears for it, shed blood for it."
"what does the yellow peril mean, grandmother?" i repeated anxiously.
"the mongolian races are more yellow than the caucasian races," said grandmother, when forced to answer. "they are also more numerous, and some people fear that if we allow them in the country they may get the upper hand, and become a menace to our people. do not think any more about it, pearl. our dear late phillips brooks," she added after a short pause, "said, 'no nation, as no man, has a right to take possession of a choice bit of god's earth, to exclude the foreigner from its territory, that it may live more comfortably and be a little more at peace. but if this particular nation has been given the development of a certain part of god's earth for universal purposes, if the world in the great march of centuries is going to be richer for the development of a certain national character, built up by a larger type of manhood here, then for the world's sake, for the sake of every nation that would pour in upon it that which would disturb that development, we have a right to stand guard over it.'"
this was a long speech for dear grandmother, who is not given to speechifying, and i know the subject must have given her serious thought, or she would never have remembered it.
"is america being built up by a larger type of manhood, grandmother?" i asked.
"oh, my dear, i do not know, i do not know," returned grandmother.
i stopped talking to grandmother, because she looked worried, but i could not stop thinking, i am both the yellow pearl, and the yellow peril! why am i here? what were four hundred millions of us born into the world for? is yellow badness any worse than white badness?
